Annihilation: A Rose Grows In Weeds (8 page)

Danielle looked down at Rose lying in her crib smiling up at them. She said, “Mr. Ereckson, can you get a picture of where all the planets are in your system right now.”

Ereckson turned on his com and started speaking into it. Danielle heard, “I don’t care, just do it and do it now.” They continued to watch the mobile move for five minutes and then Ereckson’s com buzzed. “I have it now, Your Majesty. Is there a screen I can send it?”

Danielle pointed to the one beside Rose’s bed and said, “Use that one.”

Ereckson pushed a button and a picture of Ross’s solar system appeared on the wall. They both stared at it and compared it to Rose’s mobile. The two were identical. Danielle looked at Ereckson and said, “Do you know how this could be happening?”

Ereckson said, “No but let’s try something.” He reached up and moved all the planets to different places around the sun. Rose looked up at him with a serious expression and then looked at the mobile and the planets all moved back to their previous locations.

“Let’s try it again but let me take her out of the room,” Danielle said. Ereckson nodded and Danielle picked up Rose and took her into the other room and put her in her play pen. She went back in and watched Ereckson give the mobile a spin. The planets whorled around the sun and then settled back into the positions they were in originally. Danielle and Ereckson mixed them up repeatedly but they always returned back to the current positions the planets and moons were located in the real solar system. Danielle and Mr. Ereckson looked at each other then went back in the office and found Rose asleep in her play pen. They went back and spun the mobile again and watched as it spun for a full minute and settled back into the current orbits of the Ross system. Danielle went back and looked at Rose sleeping peacefully in her play pen and wondered how she could have possibly known the current orbits of the Ross solar system. She looked at Ereckson and said, “How could she have made this happen?

He looked at her and moved one planet in the mobile to the opposite side of the sun and let it go. It slowly revolved around the sun until it returned to its proper place. “The only way she could have done this is to actually see the entire solar system as it is right now in real time. The light from our system won’t get here for thirteen years.” He then looked at Danielle and said, “I have absolutely no way of explaining how she did this.”

Danielle thanked him for his work on their new home and escorted him out to Leila. She walked back in and looked at her child sleeping soundly and wondered what she had just learned. Is it possible that she can actually see solar systems light years away? She had a lot to discuss with Tag.

Two months had passed since the incursion into the Pydres system and Admirals Kosiev, Dorg, and Mikado sat on board the Rossville watching the wall display which was showing a video of Mikado’s action with the Plant Fleet. “Groad, they build them big,” Dorg said.

Mikado nodded and said, “That was a small battleship the Tarpon Springs killed and it was more than seven miles long. I think that every one of their vessels is designed to participate in the harvesting of their food sources. It takes huge ships to load all the resources of a planet and transport them to another world. Matter of fact, the southern continent on the Pydres world is still basically untouched. Most of their cities were on the northern hemisphere so that’s where the Plants landed. It’s a shame to let them take the rest.”

Kosiev looked at Dorg and it was like they had the same thought simultaneously. “You make a good point, Lin. How would you go about stopping them?” Kosiev asked.

Mikado looked at the planet on the display and said, “I would take most of our Ultra’s and Empires and go in to confront the remaining ships around the planet. I would not jump in to the planet but would go in from the jump point at 1/3 speed which is what they saw during the last conflict. I think they would leave the planet to come meet us on our way in so as not to endanger their food source. The Plants would probably jump in a fleet behind us and try to pin us between the two fleets.”

“So how would you counter those tactics?” Kosiev asked.

“Before I even get into that, this war is going to be fought at long range if we can make it happen that way and there will be no hiding our capabilities from them. If we try to hoard the Megaships to get an edge in a significant battle then the war will be long over. This is Plant territory and they have more ships than we could ever handle in continuous battle. We would have to take the fleet out at the planet before the second fleet joins up. Once the second fleet jumps in we will have to go to full speed to open a large enough gap to finish off the ships from the planet. If we can do that, then we will turn and move on the incoming fleet. Just as we engage them we jump the Megaships in behind them and fire a full salvo of penetrators. The Megaships will stand off and target the missiles that will be launched at them. Trust me; it won’t be a small number. If they have to they will jump over the missile barrage and fire another salvo at the Plants and then jump in the middle of their formations fire all their needles, and then jump out of the system to reorganize.”

Kosiev looked at Mikado and shook his head. “Lin, I never knew you were so good at strategy. You should have been making suggestions long ago.”

“Quite frankly Admiral, I was more or less awestruck by Mr. Gardner. He seemed to always have the right answer and I didn’t feel confident enough to contribute. However, I learned a lot from watching the two of you. We also have to do something else when we start this action.”

“What is that?” Dorg asked.

If our goal is to prevent the Plants from harvesting the remainder of this planet; then immediately upon the completion of destroying their two fleets, we have to jump in some seventy foot asteroid forts and Marines to take control of the surface. Since the Empire ships can’t jump out of the system from the planet but would have to move out to the jump limit, we would park them in orbit around the planet inside the forts to support the Marine landings; they will need all the support they can get. The war then begins here with the Ultra and Megaships jumping in and out destroying as many ships as possible that the Algeans send to dislodge us. This also gives us a chance to see what the Plants can do against our technology without risking a populated planet. If they prevail here, we fall back to Dremel.”

The two admirals looked at each other and Dorg broke the silence by saying, “I’ll get the forts being sent to Cainth sent here instead.”

“Admiral, we will need them in Gamma Galaxy ready to jump in to the planet before we begin our attack. It might also be a good idea to have the marines and their transports on the surface of the Asteroids so that they don’t have to fight their way in system. If the Fleet is successful, then we move on the planet.”

Dorg got on the com and talked with Terl about the movement of the asteroids and after a brief description of their plans, Terl agreed that their current forts would suffice until a later date. Dorg then contacted the Asteroid Command and asked when the new forts could be jumped into the Gamma sector. Colonel Taz got on the line and said they were slotted for Cainth. “Colonel, Terl has already approved their use here in the fight against the Plants. Admiral Kosiev is standing by to back the request; what we need to know is how long it will be before they are capable of jumping into the Gamma Galaxy.”

“They have jump capability right now. With the seventy foot cells you could jump them directly to the planet you want to use them to protect. I, however, will have to confirm with the Cainth Clan leaders that this is their wish.” Kosiev and Dorg saw Colonel Taz look away from the display and listen to someone then look back and say, “Alrighty then, they’re yours, when do you want them delivered.”

Kosiev said, “Before we move them from Earth, I need to make some contacts and get some ground forces and their transports on their surface. While I’m doing that, will you jump them close to the sun and get them fully charged then bring them back to Earth.”

“Yes Admiral, I’ll issue the orders now. How many troops are you planning to take with you?”

Eight divisions will make the trip; one for each asteroid. We are going to issue orders to have our stronger Allies provide the troops and our agricultural worlds to provide transports with enough provisions to support them for a year.”

“Admiral, that could take a long time to organize.”

“Perhaps, but don’t let your end of this be the part that slows us down. I suspect that some of our Allies will fall all over themselves for the chance to face a real enemy in combat. I suspect I am going to have to slow them down enough to make sure that that they come prepared.”

General Richard Wiseman was in his office going over the delivery of his new Troop Armor and its specifications. His com beeped and he picked it up and saw Misty Nicole, Earth’s Director, on his display. “General, how long would it take for your division to be ready to fight for a prolonged tour of duty?”

“How long will we be fighting, Madam Director?” he asked.

“Maybe a year or longer,” she said.

“We could be ready in twenty days with all the military munitions we would need. We might take longer to get the provisions to feed the division for that long.”

“General, we will provide the provisions. You handle the military materials you need and organization of the men. When will you be ready to go fight?”

“The first Naval Marine Division will be ready in twenty days.”

“You will receive your orders from Admiral Mikado within six hours. Get your men back on base and get moving.”

“Yes, ma’am, right away.”

Richard jumped from his chair and yelled for his XO to get his grump in his office immediately and bring the staff with him. The ten staff members entered and Richard said, “It looks like we’re going back into the fray. Cancel all leaves, recall all our men, bring all of our armor and weapons platforms out of storage and into battle readiness. I want all of our officers down to company commanders in my briefing room six hours from now.”

Col. Jeremy Watson was packing his gear and thinking about the call up. He had been promoted to battalion commander knew that this call up was not a drill; there was going to be fighting. A pretty dark skinned lady came in and wrapped her arms around him from behind and hugged him tight. He turned and took her in his arms and kissed her lightly. “Please don’t worry, Maria. I’ll be fine.”

“How you can stand there and tell me that I’ll never understand; especially after my last husband was killed on Ross. However, I know who you are what you are and I know that you have to go or you wouldn’t be the man I love so much. Just do you utmost to come back to me. If I lose you I will thank the creator for our time together but I don’t want to lose you. Come back to me, Jer.”

Jer looked her in the eyes and said, “I miss Al too but I know he’ll be there with me. I’ll come back to you or die trying.”

Maria smiled and said, “That’s not funny. You know I’ll be waiting and I love you.”

“I love you too, Maria.”

Admiral Dorg had Tgon-Gee, Terl, and the Vgrig chancellor on his com screen. Tgon-Gee looked at him and said, “What are you up to, Admiral?”

“We are going to take the Pydres planet back from the Plants and we need some drop troops to make it happen.” The Vgrig Chancellor actually grinned and even Tgon-Gee and Terl looked excited. “We are going to need a total of eight Divisions to make the initial drop with all of their fighting gear. They will be on the eight asteroid forts with a division stationed on each with their transports. They will drop on the planet and then the forts will turn on the screen. We will hopefully have Naval ships overhead to support your drop but I can’t say how many will survive the fleet action to be available. You will not be brought in until we defeat the fleet the Plants send in against us. I am asking you the members of our Realm that have the finest fighting tradition first to see if you want to participate. If you don’t I will go to other Allies.”

“Thank Gexel our war god that you have found something for my warriors to do. They have not fought each other since we joined the SR but they are getting more and more anxious; they need an outlet. We could provide all eight divisions if you like,” the Vgrig Chancellor said.

Terl and Tgon-Gee both shouted at the same time that they needed the campaign as an outlet for their warriors also.

Dorg said, “Calm down, we may need to call in reinforcements if the ground battle goes poorly. The Vgrig will be allowed to contribute three divisions, the Cainth two, the Glod two and the Humans one.”

“Who will have overall command of the campaign?” Terl asked.

“The Human General Richard Wiseman who defeated two regiments on Ross with one small Battalion will be in overall command. The Human division will have the best technology and their Commander has been tested in battle. I need you to get your division commanders jumped to Earth to meet with him within three rotations. We have scheduled the mission twenty rotations from now. Are there any problems with the command selection?”

The Vgrig Chancellor looked at Dorg and said, “I’ve seen recordings of the action on Ross. He is one that I can count on to stand firm in the worse conditions. I support your decision.”