Annihilation: Book 05 - Searcher (6 page)

The crowd rose and began cheering; they ran into the ranks to welcome the Realm’s newest defenders.

Every Red Warrior relived that moment as their Commander challenged them to use their strengths wisely. There was a moment of silence to allow them to remember and then the warriors heard, “Companies, prepare your teams; we teleport in ten hours.”

Brez turned and faced his company. “Alright, you know the drill; invisibility, now!”

His entire team disappeared. Brez looked at his helmet scanner and saw all of his troops but he could see nothing with his eyes. He looked closer and said, “Te-Dar, report to the armory after drills; I can see a small flash around your suit.” He paused and ordered, “Guns.” Every warrior raised their arms and he could see their beam and projectile weapons appear on their arms. This is where the Cainth with their four arms were truly formidable. They had a wide inventory of weapons at their disposal. They were usually assigned as the clean up member of the team. Being able to use those four arms to perform four different tasks simultaneously made them some of the best warriors in the regiment. Brez went through the rest of their inventory of weapons and then sat down in front of them. “We’ll wait on you to return, Te-Dar. I want everyone else to go through their assignment and be prepared to offer suggestions to help avoid unnecessary loss of life when you return.” The warriors in Brez’s company sat down and began analyzing their assigned tasks.

Goige made a call to Matt, “Why are you waiting until just before the scheduled execution to attempt this exercise?”

“Because we are hoping to neutralize all of their armed forces on the planet.”

Goige looked shocked, “How are you going to accomplish that?”

“We are using ten companies of our Naval Marines in this action and after we save the prisoners we are releasing our warriors to neutralize the other Gresh on the planet.”

“How many of your warriors will be used.”

“About five thousand.”

Goige looked skeptical, “There are more than six hundred thousand of their warriors on the planet.”

“That’s why we’re waiting until the last moment; we want them in large groups. They should be in gathered to prevent the population from taking action to prevent the executions.”

Goige just looked at Matt on his display. “Goige, we will also be using our ships in this exercise and though there may be some loss of life, we really think that it won’t be as severe if you just do nothing. We will send your ship a feed of what is happening so you can watch what transpires.”

“What are you going to do if you are successful? Will you then rule my world?”

“No, Select Leader; we will free your people and insure they are not attacked again. After that we will leave you in peace. It is against my Realm’s basic beliefs to force anyone to accept us by force or intimidation. We are driven to save life not rule it.”

“Just how are you going to make sure we are not attacked again?”

“Why we will go and ask the Gresh not to do it again in terms that they can understand.”

Goige stared at Matt on his display and then said with a smile, “That should be an interesting conversation.”

“You have no idea, Select Leader.”

“Al, have you linked to the other searchers?”

“Yes I have. Our systems are optimized and your link is ready for use when you activate our weapons.”

“Good, we should start in less than thirty drags.”

“I must say that the other Alpha in our group is impressive.”

“Why do you say that, Al?”

“Fly Girl is optimized and I picked up a few pointers from her.”

“Fly Girl?”

“You know her as Wings but she likes her short name better.”

Matt smiled and thought to Angel, “Fly Girl?”

Angel laughed and said, “It just happened during our initial bonding session. It just seemed to fit her.”

Matt thought a moment and said, “I agree; it’s a great name.”

“Thanks, Magic and thank you again for letting me participate. I have learned so much about my ship getting ready for this plan.”

“I’m glad to have you here. I feel better about our chances of success with two Alphas in the action.” Matt then paused and said, “Attention all Searchers. We will teleport in five minutes. Our Marines will arrive in two minutes using their invisibility mode and wait for us to initiate the plan. Does anyone have a question?” Matt heard in his mind that everyone was ready. The time marched forward and Matt thought, “Teleporting in 3,2,1, Go.”

On the planet the Gresh were warming up the heavy disintegrator platforms when a voice came over their communication devices. “Attention all Gresh military personnel, this is the Stars Realm Searcher Vessel Aladdin. We are not going to allow you to execute your prisoners. If you attempt to do so we will be forced to use killing force to prevent it. We will protect the prisoners and remove any threat you pose to the native population. Select Leader Goige has authorized us to take this action and we will assist him in protecting his people. If you attempt to carry out your plans then all Gresh forces in this system will be dealt with such that your threat is removed. If any Gresh ship moves inside the orbit of their closest moon, we will destroy it immediately. All Gresh ships inside the orbit that don’t move outside the orbit will be destroyed in the next minute.”

The Gresh Supreme Warrior on the planet heard the announcement and felt his rage grow. His sensor leader looked at him and said, “Excellency, a small ship has appeared over the ten cities scheduled to hold executions.”

“How small?”

“Less than 300 imns.”

“Order the executions to begin at once.”

The sensor leader pressed his device and said, “Begin the executions now.” Immediately his device erupted in a loud hiss and all contact with the Gresh Military ceased.

The disintegrator platforms heard the order and fired their weapons into a red field that had suddenly appeared surrounding the prisoners. The beams struck the field and disappeared without even making a flash. On one of the Gresh platforms the operator saw a bright white beam come out of nowhere and hit his weapon, the entire platform disappeared. It was the same at all ten sites. Every Gresh weapon platform was blown out of existence. The gathered Gresh Warriors began firing their mobile weapons at the prisoners only to see them stopped when they struck the red screen. Having no success with the prisoners, the Warriors turned to fire on the unarmed civilians gathered to mourn the death of the gathered prisoners.

“Red Warriors, go to visibility and eliminate the threat to the population,” Brez ordered.

A hundred and twenty red armored warriors suddenly appeared surrounding the site where the prisoners were being held and opened fire on the Gresh that were about to fire on the civilians. The Gresh were killed faster than they could fire their weapons. At every prisoner camp, every Gresh Warrior attempting to fire was gone.”

“Go to your assigned places,” Brez ordered and all but forty eight of the Red Warriors disappeared leaving only two to guard the camp while the remaining forty six fanned out into the city.

All ten cities saw the same thing. The Gresh units were trying to get orders from their leader when suddenly two red armored warriors appeared in their mist. “Drop your weapons and lay down and you won’t be harmed.”

The Gresh opened fire on the Red Warriors. The two red screened warriors immediately opened fire on any Gresh holding a weapon and began disappearing and reappearing in their ranks. Thousands of the Gresh died where they stood. Some of them had enough good sense to throw down their weapons and lay flat on the ground. They were hit with a yellow beam that wrapped them up in yellow bonds that held them in place. The two Red Warriors moved to their next target.

Matt remained stationary over the largest city on the planet and let his sensors direct his actions. There were individual Gresh Warriors scattered around the city that did not warrant a Red Warrior’s attention and Matt used his sensors to track them. If they raised their weapons to fire on the population, Matt would hit them with a small needle from space vaporizing them. It didn’t take long before every Gresh Warrior still alive threw down their weapons and ran toward their installations.

Simultaneously with the land battle, the fleet of Gresh ships began moving toward the planet. Matt had already killed eight ships that had refused to move outside the moon’s orbit and he did not relish killing the entire Gresh Fleet. How do we avoid so much loss of life?”

“Use terms they understand,” Al said.

Matt thought a moment and then hit his com, “Fleet Command, how many Defender Ships are available for our use?”

“Eight, Searcher.”

Please launch them immediately.”

Matt watched the Gresh Fleet move closer to the moon when there was a bright silver flash and eight huge Red Ships that were as large as the moon appeared in orbit around the planet. The Gresh Fleet came to a sudden stop.

“I ask you to leave this system immediately. If you do not begin moving toward the jump limit we will destroy all of you.”

The Fleet hesitated and then turned and accelerated toward the jump limit. “Right again, Al. This race only understands force.”

“And when you’ve been beat with two hammers, one doesn’t feel so bad,” Al responded.

Matt started laughing and though he tried to control himself he couldn’t stop. “Al, take over; I need a moment.”

“Your wish is my command.”

“On no, you’ve read the book.”

“Of course, it looks like the action on the planet is ending.”

Matt looked at his sensors and commed Goige, Planet Leader, it is safe for you to return home. I suggest you take your remaining ships and go restore order. I also need the location of the other six planets you have been trading with; I want to make sure they are safe.”

Goige had watched the entire battle with the Gresh and was totally amazed at the power these small ships and their warriors possessed. He looked over his shoulder and said, “Their coordinates are being sent to you now.” Then he looked at Matt with a serious expression and said, “You could have destroyed their fleet with your small ships; why didn’t you?”

“Planet Leader, we save lives; even the Gresh.”

“Thank you; you saved my people.”

“It was the right thing to do, Planet Leader.”

Matt ended the call and then thought, “I want a Searcher to go to each of these six locations and see if the Gresh are invading these systems. Wings and I will take position on opposite sides of this planet and make sure there is no further loss of life.”

The other eight Searchers disappeared from the planet.

Suddenly his com came on and there was an Algean on it. “You did a good job, Searcher. I ask permission to join you on your ship.”

“Oh crap,” Matt and Al thought at the same time. “Permission granted. Coordinates of my bridge follow.” Matt waited for the Algean to arrive and thought, “I was just starting to have fun.”

T
he King looked over at his Queen, “Have you been following the Searcher named Gardner?”

“I have.”

“It seems issuing commands comes easy for him.”

“There is a difference between one that issues commands that no one wants to follow and one that issues commands that everyone wants to follow.”

“What difference do you mean?”

“Intent.”

“How so?”

“The intent of this particular Searcher is pure. He does not seek to build himself up but rather to help those he comes into contact.”

The King stared at the Queen and she said, “You can feel him, too. Doesn’t he remind you of someone?”

The King smiled and said, “Yes, but that was long ago.”

“Keep watching; he’ll refresh your memory.”

Matt waited and then a silver flash appeared and the Algean was there on his ship. “Welcome aboard.”

The Algean looked at Matt and said, “I know, I know, you’re disappointed that now you have someone looking over your shoulder.”

Matt looked startled and then guilty.

“I don’t blame you. I had the same feeling when your Realm sent one of your scientists to watch our experiments in my lab. I just couldn’t relax with him snooping around.”

Al thought to Matt, “Imagine that.”

“I see your computer is developing a sense of humor, Searcher.”

Both Matt and Al were shocked that the Algean could hear the computer’s direct link to Matt’s brain.”

“Don’t be surprised; my mate and I built the little buzz box.”

Matt stood and smiled, “I think I may have misjudged you. I think you have a lot to teach us.”

“I notice you said us; are you also referring to your computer?”