Child of Time (58 page)

“Do we have any ships guarding the portal?” Kiyan had
a nagging worry in the back of his mind.

“We control the sector. Even if there were more
drakken to crew the ships they couldn't get close enough to the
portal to get on board.” The thoran looked over Kiyan as if for the
first time. “Besides you killed Vagneur, the only dark lord in this
universe so there isn't any one to command them should they get a
crew.”

“Vagneur?” Kiyan was confused for an instant. “No we
killed Corsav. Is there another dark lord?”

The thoran's facial scales paled slightly. “Two
cycles ago while you were gone we captured some drakken vessels. In
the data banks of one was a communication about a command from Dark
Lord Vagneur.”

“Please tell me there are sensors monitoring the
portal.” Kendra leaned forward expectantly.

“Of course. I set the sensor grid up personally. It
kept alerting me every time a new ship came through but they were
all just hulks without a crew so I set the sensors to scan for
organic matter since none would be coming through the portal. Here
let me double check to reassure you.” Kendra was still leaning
forward but didn't look as intense. The thoran laid a hand on the
table and opened a connection from his ship. The glimmering edges
of the portal glowed like shreds in the fabric of space behind the
projection that appeared. Illuminated fan like sweeps crossed and
crisscrossed the sector as the scattered drones scanned for organic
matter. Nothing else was shown in the image. The thoran tapped a
few buttons and the sensor sweeps rapidly covered every inch of the
sector. Kiyan didn't see anything and began to relax a little until
he looked back at the thoran. The thin scales near his eyes had
turned pure white and the general shade over his face was pale.

“There should be dozens of ships here.” The thoran
tapped the buttons several times but nothing new appeared. With
each tap the sensors made mad sweeps across the sector but nothing
turned up. “I know there was at least a dozen ships there earlier
today.” There was a frantic tone in the thoran's voice. Suddenly
the portal lit up and began to spew hundreds of ships into the
sector. Shooting into the empty space they drifted for a moment
before the watchers saw flashes of light from the drives
initiating.

“It’s impossible. There can't be any drakken near
enough to board those ships. My scanners can pierce their cloaks.”
There was silence and a shocked look on the thorans face when
several of the ships turned from the main group and headed towards
the dots representing sensors. The ships lit up when they came
within range and the sweeping scanners went dark. Only a couple
remained online long enough to show the ships disappear into a warp
frame.

“But how?” The thoran finally managed a couple words
to break the silence.

“A mechanical crew.” Kiyan knew Kendra had seen the
same vision as he had when she said what he was thinking. “The
drakken have never used androids but it stands to reason they could
assimilate their imprinting technology. Kiyan, do you have any idea
where they could be heading? There aren't any ships close enough to
follow them into subspace.”

“I don't think I know.” Kiyan racked his brain
thinking. He felt like he knew the answer but couldn't place it.
The only fleet movement that he had any foreknowledge of was.....
“Kendra, what is the earth date?”

“I think it is late January in the year 2015. You
don't think...” There was a hint of a desperate look in Kendra's
eyes. “What do you know?”

“When I was on that mission to save Merlin, I met the
old Merlin. He gave me a warning about when the year 2015 was new.
He said the sky would rain fire. He said that he had been told to
tell me that by Arthur a long time ago.” Kiyan stomped to his feet.
“Why didn't I put the two visions together. I saw what they plan on
doing to earth.”

“There is yet time. Earth is a long ways from here
and our ships are faster.” Kendra tapped the table and opened a com
channel with her own ship. “We need to move fast if we are going to
make a successful ambush.” Kendra looked at Kiyan for a moment with
affection before Alec informed him of the Athena's arrival and
Kendra dematerialized.

“I feel this is my fault. I should never have
underestimated the dark one's machinations. Allow me to redeem
myself by joining you.” The thoran still looked pale but also
ashamed.

“It is truly my fault. I have been seeing a vision of
the ships coming through the portal but I never knew when they
would strike. We will need every one we can get to help us defend
earth.” Kiyan watched as the thoran nodded before disengaging his
hologram and disappearing. The ability to appear in a conference
room at great distances as if in person still amazed Kiyan. Hardly
a minute passed before Kendra reappeared from her own ship. She was
followed shortly by Theo and a couple dozen of the other commanders
that were still in the vicinity.

“Here is what we know. We only killed one of two dark
lords known to be in this universe. It would also appear that ships
crewed with drakken androids has come through the portal.” Kiyan
was glad that Kendra had volunteered to brief the assembled
commanders. “The fleet escaped to warp and we weren't able to track
them but we have Intel that earth is the target.”

“Earth is just one planet. We should hunt the dark
lord and rid ourselves of him while we have the chance.” One of the
other commanders spoke from the back of the room. Kiyan flinched at
the words. He felt Theo and Kendra flinch also. The question struck
a chord in his heart and he suspected it had struck a similar chord
in his parent's hearts also. He had spent several years of his life
on earth. All be it a damaged timeline and not the happiest years
of his life but he had happy memories also. There had been times
when a kind soul had offered him a compliment or a scrap of food
when he hadn't the money to buy his own. Kiyan scowled knowing his
reasons for wanting to protect earth were purely personal. In the
end it was Theo that broke the silence.

“Earth is known as a protected planet. It is our word
as the protectorate that is at stake here. If you feel that hunting
the dark lord is more important that protecting the weak then by
all means take any who see this your way and go on your hunt.” The
words left an icy chill in the air that made the alien commander
shiver.

“You weaken us by making pledges to protect unworthy
planets. I will have no part in your mistakes.” Kiyan scrutinized
the commander. He was the first member of the Calhath race that
Kiyan had seen. Yellow fur peeked out from under the uniform and
covered most of the alien's face. A low growl ascended in the air
before the calhathian disengaged his link and disappeared. A murmur
arose in a half dozen different languages as the assembly discussed
the proposal. In the end half of the people present disappeared as
they made their choices.

“These small men will lose much glory in the battle
that awaits us.” Kiyan recognized Seth the commander of the
draconic vessel. He knew that Seth had been chosen as commander by
the Assurian command so he commanded an Assurian battleship like
Kiyan. Sadly that only counted five Assurian class battleships in
the fleet. The rest were contributions by allied races. Few of
which seemed to hold any respect for the pledges made by the
protectorate. Many had been retrofit with Assurian tech and were
mighty cruisers and frigates in their own right but they faced a
fleet of the newest ships the drakken could offer crewed with
machines. Kiyan sensed Luke and Alec calculating the possible
affects this might have on the threat the fleet offered. Both the
AI were convinced in that the battleships could stand but they
differed on the possible outcomes of earth. Alec maintained that if
they engaged the drakken it was possible that ships might get past
them and unleash weapons like what Deep Current had discovered in
orbit of the elven world. A single strike from such a weapon could
devastate the planet.

“Tell me, if we win the war, will the timelines reset
and this battle never have happened either way?” Seth posed a
logical question.

“Time is soft around earth right now. Too many shifts
had damaged the flow of time. Even if we win some of the changes
could bleed through and tear the planet apart at the seams.” Theo
had calmed down some since the calhathian had left but he still
smoldered.

“Enough said. Let us continue this when we are in
subspace.” Seth's hologram melted and was soon followed by the
remaining commanders. When he was left alone Kiyan hardly had to
send a thought towards Alec before the Avenger slipped into motion.
Kiyan teleported to the bridge and updated Corban on what was
happening. Kiyan began interfacing with the ship and watched as the
small tiles that covering the floor in the center of the deck began
to float into the air. In a few seconds the command interface chair
hung before him. Kiyan took the seat and felt the tiles conform to
his form.

“I've always wanted to see earth.” Kiyan heard Corban
whisper as he completed the interface. For a second everything was
dark as his mind melded with the ship. An instant later he could
see everything. He saw or felt more accurately the control deck
from outside of his body. The chair that supported his body slowly
turned towards the front of the room. A protective force field
flickered into place around him. Corban was still standing watching
him but turned and stood in front of his console. A similar chair
floated up under him and he took a seat. A second later Kiyan felt
his first officer complete the interface. In normal operation
Corban would have performed his duties without the interface but in
a battle he could work ten times faster when he only had to think a
command to make it so. Jeremy and Fred appeared and joined the
interface.

One of the things that made these ships so powerful
was that the commander, ship and crew could think as one unit.
Kiyan was in charge but under him Alec dealt with a million things
like charging the weapons and sustaining force fields and
calculated aim and identifying targets. Corban was next to Alec but
he worked more closely with Kiyan by helping pick the targets and
overseeing point defense systems. Corban could fire weapons or
pilot support ships depending on the need. Of course Alec helped
where any one was lacking making everything flow as one unit. The
rest of the crew was hardly more than Ray, Fred, Jeremy, Savos and
Kronos but they played their part by developing and implementing
new tactics to support the command unit. Their fighters would make
daring strikes past the defenses of the enemy or they would play
tricks, offer a smoke screen to help.

“Greetings.” Kiyan received a message from Theo as
the Odyssey joined the Avenger's warp bubble. Once in the same
pocket universe they were able to communicate freely ship to ship
with their thoughts. Kendra's Athena joined shortly before the
rest. Together their warp bubble sped toward earth.

“Let the battleships take the front. Our fighter
squadrons will run interference and pick off any thing that slips
past us. There are only five of us so rest assured there will
frequently be plenty to worry about. After that I need all the
smaller cruisers and frigates to take care of whatever is too big
for the fighters to handle. Our drop ships will support us where
our defenses grow thin and add to our overall firepower.” Theo
began giving orders when the last of their group joined up. “My AI
tells me that these drakken ships may well be more capable than any
we have met to date.” Kiyan concurred that Atlas' calculations
matched with Luke and Alec's.

“There will be a glorious fight then.” Seth relished
the opportunity.

“Indeed. There will be more glory or gore than any of
us has the stomach for before this is ended.” Kiyan sensed the name
of the thoran he had spoken with at the beginning. The network told
him that the thoran’s name was Alefgoren. Together all of their
ships were able to warp space around their bubble increasing their
speed several times over. Subspace was a layer of space that
consisted of raw energy without any matter. Here one could create a
pocket universe with a warp frame and use the subspace energy to
manipulate real space causing faster than light travel without
actually moving. They were like on an island as the sea parted
ahead and closed behind. Unless one could track a signal from the
pocket universe it was virtually impossible to track. Real space
wasn't hardly affected at all by the manipulation. An outside
observer still saw space as it was. The stretching and compression
was only felt by the pocket universe. Outside one could be
stretched a dozen miles from a door but he could still see the room
as a room and could cross it in a few steps. It felt like what one
sees when they watch something from under a rippling pond
surface.

In more time than it takes to tell of the concepts
the protectorate fleet dropped out of their warp frame and beheld
the blue marble hanging in the inky void with its constant
companion the gray moon. Kiyan opened a chink in the Avenger's
armor and shot an exotic matter beacon out. This beacon would draw
any warp frames in the solar system to that spot. Now they knew
where their enemy would appear. Several of the smaller ships sped
off towards earth. Kiyan knew they were going to lay a thick mine
field behind earth so they could focus on defending one side. One
of the ships, a thoran frigate scattered a dozen heavy weapon
platforms to help care for any lucky enough to sneak behind the
blockade and avoid the mine field. Despite their superior warp
technology the protectorate fleet only had an hour to prepare for
the drakken fleet. They assumed their formation and slipped under
cloak to wait just before the drakken warp frame opened. A couple
dozen ships came out first. Kiyan had been expecting more until he
remembered the missing ships that Alefgoren had spoken of. That
meant there were more waves coming. How many was a guess. The first
ships had only just assumed a formation when the next wave flashed
into sight. They joined the first formation and began closing in on
earth.