Jesse's Starship 3: Joshua's Walls (22 page)

“I felt like you would hear me better if I did.”

“What do you want?”

“I want to use you to attack other mothers that are killing my…” Josh paused and said, “Children.”

The Weg stared at Josh and the noise in his mind grew. The Weg thought, “You were told to be silent.” The noise disappeared and the Weg said, “Are you talking about the ones that were with you the last time I saw you?”

“They are some of them. I have others on other planets.”

The Weg seemed to struggle with the concept of having children on different worlds and it thought, “Give me a moment.” Josh heard the noise in his mind explode and he quickly turned down the helmet’s volume. It continued for thirty minutes and Josh knew the Weg were discussing the illogical idea of children on multiple planets. Josh waited until the noise began falling and he turned the volume up on his helmet. The Flyer looked at him and tilted its head, “Why should we do this?”

Josh was surprised by the response. He expected to have to explain children on different planets but it appeared the Weg had gotten around that issue. Josh thought, “Do you enjoy anything?”

“Enjoy?”

“Is there anything you want to do more?” The Weg stared at Josh and Josh was surprised by the silence. It appeared his question had stumped all of them. Josh waited a moment and said, “Is there anything you want to do less?”

The noise in the helmet was instantaneous. Josh winced and turned the volume down and waited. Finally the noise disappeared and the Weg said, “We do not want to just stand around here doing nothing.”

“Then going to another planet to stop other mothers from killing my children would be an improvement over your current situation?”

The Weg shrugged again which surprised Cheng. It thought, “It would be an improvement over sitting around waiting to die of old age.”

“Will you follow my orders?”

“Your question doesn’t make sense.”

“Why not?”

“You are thinking on our Mother’s thought pattern. We have no option but to follow your orders.”

Josh’s smile was huge but Cheng suddenly interrupted his train of thought, “General, I have an emergency message coming in from the Gracken Home World.”

Josh changed the frequency being used by his communicator and heard, “….destroyed all but one of them. A Queen made it through our defenses and has landed in the center of the Capital.”

“Start the evacuation immediately!”

Josh pressed his communicator and said, “Who is in command of the Gracken defenses.”

“Who is this?”

“This is General Josh Adams. Who is in command!?!”

“Stand by.”

Josh waited and then heard, “General, this is Commander Tindel. We’ve had a Queen hit the surface of our capital.”

“Have your forces stand by and I’ll be arriving shortly.”

“We’re going to have to burn the city to kill that Queen before it gets out of range of our blasters.”

“Tindel, it’s already out of range. Stand by and give me some time.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going after that Queen. Now stand down and give me some time to get things moving.”

Tindel stared at Josh on his display and finally said, “You have an hour.”

Josh lifted his communicator, “Mike, answer me!”

“Josh, I’m busy at the moment.”

“Are you sending in a Q ship to fire at the Queen?”

“I am.”

“I want to try something else before you burn the city. Do you have a transport that is stripped of the interior walls?” Mike shook his head and Josh yelled, “COME ON. MIKE. I NEED YOU TO GET IT TOGETHER!!”

Mike shook his head again and looked at his panel, “I have an agricultural transport that is essentially empty.”

Josh started typing on his keypad, “Sent it to these coordinates now!”

“What…why…”

“Mike if you want to save the Gracken’s Home World, just do it!”

Mike stared at Josh and lifted his communicator. Josh ended the call and thought to the Weg, “I want as many a ten thousand of the best diggers to come here and remain hidden under the soil.” The Weg stared at Josh and after a moment Josh said, “Did you hear me?”

“They’re waiting.” Josh’s eyes narrowed and the Weg said, “We can all hear you. You don’t need me to tell them.”

Josh looked up and heard the thunderclap of a sonic boom as the giant transport moved into the atmosphere. Josh looked at the Weg, “Join the others underground.”

Josh heard the loudspeaker at the rear of the sled, “General, we’ve been sent here by Assembly Leader Sanders.”

“Get your transport down on the ground now!”

“Sir, I may damage the lower deck if I attempt to land on the surface.”

“I don’t care if you crush them. Move that transport to the ground now!”

The Transport moved quickly to the surface of the planet and Josh watched the pilot gingerly ease the transport to the ground. There was a loud creaking noise but the ship settled and remained still. “Open the port side landing bay.”

The pilot activated the landing bay door and Josh motioned for Cheng to take the sled through the door. The sled flew into the cavernous bay and Josh said, “Take us up to the bridge.”

Cheng flew the sled up to the top level of the transport and stopped next to the guardrail outside it. “Come with me!” Cheng followed Josh over the rail and entered the large bridge. Josh looked at the pilot open the landing bay door on the starboard side.”

The Pilot pushed a button and said, “What’s going on, General?”

Josh turned up the volume on the helmet and said, “I want as many of you as possible to enter the doors of the ship parked on the surface of our home without harming each other. Do it quickly!”

The Co-Pilot was looking out of the viewport and saw a massive wave of Weg rush into the landing bay doors on each side of the Transport. He jumped out of his chair and pointed at the ground far below trying to give voice to his fear but was only able to point. The pilot looked out of the view port and reached for the thruster controls. Josh jammed a sliver handgun in his ear and said, “You will keep your hands off the controls and move to the rear of the bridge!” The pilots stared at Josh as Cheng grabbed them by the collars and pulled them out of their chairs. Josh sat down in the Pilot’s Chair and saw many Weg were standing outside the doors. Josh thought, “Is this as many as we can get on the ship?”

“You said not to injure each other. This is the most we can move in without injury.”

Josh pushed the landing bay switches and the two giant doors began closing. Josh activated the thrusters and the transport began lifting off the surface. It rose a hundred feet and began accelerating higher. Josh keyed the ship’s communicator, “Tuffy, follow us to the Gracken Home World.”

“On my way.”

In ten minutes, the transport left the atmosphere and jumped away.

• • •

Tindel looked at his First Division Commander as he said, “Commander, there is panic in the streets. We need to get down and organize the mobs.”

Tindel shook his head, “If we have to nuke the city, I won’t have your warriors endangered.”

Tindel shook his head and reached for his communicator to order the Q ships to start firing into the planet’s surface. “Commander, I have an Alliance Transport entering normal space. It’s being flown by General Adams.”

Tindel yelled, “CONNECT ME WITH THAT SHIP!!” Josh appeared on his main monitor and he said, “What’s going on? I can’t delay any longer.”

“Do you know where the Queen went underground?”

Tindel shook his head, “We’ve lost track of her.”

“So you’re going to be shooting blind trying to hit her?” Tindel stared at Josh for a moment and then nodded. “I am going to see if I can’t remove her. I need you to follow the orders I’m about to give you and make sure all the forces under your command follow them as well. Do you understand?”

“What are your orders?”

“No matter what you see come out of my ship, you will not open fire. Can you do that?”

“Why would I?”

“I don’t have time to discuss this with you or go through channels. Will you trust me and do as I ask?”

Tindel stared at Josh and lifted his communicator, “All Gracken Military Forces will hold their fire unless you receive a direct order from me. If you fail to follow my command, you will be executed.”

Josh looked at Tindel, “Hold on to your hat, my friend. And trust that I know what I’m doing.”

“What are you doing, Josh?” But the screen went dark.

• • •

“Josh.” Josh turned around and saw Cheng nod toward the open door at the rear of the bridge. Josh looked through it and saw the Flyer that he had communicated with was standing on the balcony. Josh motioned it into the bridge and the four crew Cheng was holding at gunpoint backed away from it.

Josh saw the Weg was trembling slightly, “What’s wrong?”

“I sense a Mother below us.”

“Why are you trembling?”

“I cannot allow another mother on the same planet I occupy.”

Josh flew the transported down to the city and looked at the Weg, “Where is she?” The Weg lifted a wing and extended it toward the left front of the bridge. Josh turned the transporter toward the direction the Weg was pointing and it moved its wing until it was pointing slightly ahead and below the giant transport. Josh flew the transport forward and the Weg’s wing moved slightly down, down some more, and then pointed directly below the huge ship. Josh thought, “Is she directly below us?”

“She is.”

Josh picked up his communicator, “Tuffy, the Weg queen is directly below the transport. I’m moving a mile to the west and I want you to fire your main beam and burn a hole into the ground at an angle to this location.”

“How deep?”

Josh looked at the Weg, “How far down is she.”

“Just get us underground, we’ll find her.”

Josh stared at the Weg and said, “A mile down, Tuffy.” Josh moved the transporter over a large park on the western edge of the giant Gracken city and saw Tuffy fire his Q beam for four seconds. Josh brought the Transporter screaming down to the surface and landed damaging the bottom three decks. He punched the landing bay doors open and the thousands of Weg rushed out and disappeared down the tunnel the Q beam created.”

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!”

“Just remain calm and hold your fire, Tindel.”

“You’re released those monsters…”

“Just trust me and hold your fire.”

Tindel heard the calls from his forces to open fire and he had his hand on the blaster triggers at his command chair. He targeted the huge transport and then said, “Hold your fire!” He took his hands off the triggers and watched the giant transport on the surface of the Gracken Capital City. The thousands of Gracken Warships above the planet all targeted the transport with their main beams but waited for their Commander to take the first shot.

• • •

Thirty minutes later, Josh heard, “We have killed the Mother and all the eggs she laid.”

“Bring her head to the surface and return to the ship.”

Tindel watched the huge transport and then he stood up. The Weg that had rushed into the tunnel cut by the Q ship’s beam were pouring out of the ground and entering the transport. He looked at his Commanders on his Flagship and saw their shock. The mass exodus of Weg seemed to go on forever but actually lasted forty minutes. The last twenty Weg to exit the tunnel pulled a giant object out of the tunnel and left it on the ground behind them. Tindel moved his scan in closer and saw a giant head of…something. “Tindel, that is the head of the Queen that was under your city. The Weg I brought here with me have killed her and all the eggs she laid underground. I’ll be taking them back to their home planet in a moment. Thank you for trusting me and keeping the faith.”

“It was a mighty close thing, General.”

“I don’t know if I would have been able to do it.”

Tindel looked at Josh and lowered his head, “Rumel would have done it. How could I do less?”

Josh almost choked up but managed to nod and end the call.

The Flagship’s Communication Commander threw up his hands, “My board is overloaded, Commander.”

“Send a priority message over every main communication channel that the Weg Queen has been killed and the danger removed from our planet. Broadcast it and keep broadcasting until ordered otherwise.”

The Commander began pushing buttons and talking over his mic. The panic in the city was reaching dangerous levels until word began to spread that the Weg Queen had been killed by General Adams. Tindel was wise to use Josh as the Queen’s killer, the panicking civilians knew about the Spartan General and his kill of the first Weg Queen. They caught their breath and began listening to the all-clear sirens screaming out over the giant city. They sat down where they stood and slowly at first but then more loudly began cheering for the survival of their city and planet.

• • •

Josh looked at Cheng, “You can release the crew.”

The Pilot came over and said, “I can handle it from here, Sir. I apologize for what happened.”

Josh stood up and patted the Captain on is shoulder, “Don’t worry about it. It was a shock and I didn’t have time to explain.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

Josh walked off the bridge with Cheng and stood at the guardrail. The Flyer flew up and landed on the catwalk beside them. Josh looked at it and it thought, “This was better than just standing around. When are we going to do it again?”

Josh laughed and said, “Soon.”

• • •

Josh sat in a chair in the middle of a horseshoe shaped table facing Six Officers higher than the rank of Colonel. He had been ordered to Sparta after he left the transport along with the Weg on their planet.

Once he arrived, he was arrested and taken to a security center and stripped of his uniform. He was ordered to wear grey prison fatigues and left alone in his cell. Josh was not given a communicator and was left in solitary confinement for the next five days. He thought about why and after the second day he figured out why he was arrested. He had dropped thousands of the Gracken’s most feared enemies on their capital planet. The Gracken Council of Elders must have gone ballistic and called for him to be punished for putting their planet is danger. He hoped Tindel wasn’t going to be punished for supporting his actions.