Lens of Time (35 page)

Jillian said, “Even she knows you can’t dance.”

“This coming from an old stiff leg.”

Jillian grabbed Chris’ hand and pulled him out into the center of the room. “We’ll see who’s old and stiff.”

For the moment, war was forgotten and happiness was the watch word.

• • •

The RSA looked at his display, “Did you see the disaster?”

“I did.”

“Can they do that to us again?”

“Not if we modify the structures slightly.”

“Are you certain?”

“I am.”

The RSA started at the lead weapons scientist and said, “Make the needed changes and notify me when they have been completed. Where are we with the movement?”

“Thirty percent completed. We’ll need to use some ships from the front to make sure we’re not discovered.”

“Are you satisfied that won’t be discovered?”

“None of their ships have ever ventured that far into our provinces.”

The RSA thought about the plans and said, “Make sure everyone knows their places and don’t waste time.”

“We’ve already had a trial and it went smoothly. You know we’ll probably lose more planets if we move forward?”

“We’ll lose them if we don’t; at least this way we can remove the problem.”

The scientist moved to the side and said, “I’ll let you know when we’re ready.”

• • •

The Dark Creature looked at the Ramst King and the Hive Controller on his display, “I’ve been notified that more of our members are ready to join in the campaign against the Red Sector.”

The King said, “I would have never thought we would have survived this long. Those, what do you call them, uhhhh…”

“Humans.”

“Yes, Humans, have made such a difference. Most of our old ships are now armed with the new beams and missiles. We just might stand a chance.”

The DC said, “Don’t get your hopes up too quickly. Their numbers are still staggering.”

“Yes but they have found a way to break into their formations.”

The Hive Controller said, “The Red Sector isn’t dumb. I’m sure they’re working on a counter to that tactic. Still, the longer we can keep them defending their territory, the longer we have to build ships.”

“How many do we have to use against them?”

“We’re over a billion main battleships.”

The DC slowly shook his head, “That’s still less than twenty percent of their ship totals.”

“The odds were at ten to one.”

“Just keep your attention on that sector. I just know they’re planning something and we’re not seeing it.” The Emperor paused and said, “Will you make the assignments of the new ships coming online?”

The Hive Controller said, “I’ll work the Minor’s new ships into the fleets if you’ll handle the two sector’s new ships.”

The King nodded, “I’ll take care of it.”

The display went dark and the Emperor worried about what they could be missing. Something had to be going on in the Red Sector.

• • •

Phil and Anne were jumping back to the fleets when Anne said, “Let’s run a quick scan of Sierra Space in the Red Sector.”

“Why, is something bothering you?”

“They haven’t attempted to take back the territory they lost to the Grillen. I wonder about that.”

“What do you want to look for?”

“Scan for their ship frequencies.”

Phil moved the Ninja into Sierra Space and extended the scanner fields. The massive number of black dots representing stars always amazed him. This galaxy was huge. After six minutes the computer put the results of the scan up on the main display. They looked at it and Anne said, “Something’s changed. Computer, put the scan up we completed three months ago.”

The two scans were placed side by side and Phil jumped out of his chair. “Computer, jump us to the Havana’s location. Do it now!”

Anne continued to stare at the two scans and wondered where the ships had gone. The Ninja jumped away at high velocity to warn the galaxy.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

R
V looked at the two scans and then contacted all the major players in the war against the Red Sector. George and Dolly were also in attendance and most of those present were impressed with the leader of the humans. After a brief get acquainted session, the Emperor called the video conference to order and said, “What have you found?”

RV put the two scans on the display and said, “More than sixty five percent of the Red Ships are no longer in their sector.”

Silence dominated the conference and RV said, “They were quite clever in their deception and we only caught this by accident. They moved more than seven hundred million ships around the sector that’s closest to us. Our probes didn’t process that the ships they were recording were the same ships that were constantly jumping around the sector.

The Nexu Council Leader said, “They’re forming up to attack.”

RV nodded, “Yes they are and we don’t have long to get ready.”

The Horde Master said, “Now would be an excellent time to jump in and start destroying their planets.”

Many on the conference agreed that they should do exactly that.

RV stared at the Emperor and saw him staring back. RV slowly shook his head and the Emperor said, “It would not be good for us to do that.”

The Hive Controller said, “It might force them to bring those ships back to defend them.”

The Emperor looked at RV and he said, “If they had just started forming up their ships; that might be a good strategy. However, we’ve looked at the pattern from our sensor buoys and we’ve determined that this has been going on for more than four months. If we send our ships into their sector, how are we going to organize to meet their fleets when they jump into our sectors and start killing everything?” RV paused, “It appears they are willing to write millions of planets off to eliminate us once and for all.”

The Emperor said, “So what do we do?”

“Move all of your critical citizens into ships and get them off your planets.”

“Why do you want us to do that?”

“Because we revealed our hand when we destroyed their formation in my home galaxy; I’m hoping it will still work but I don’t know if it will.”

The Ramst King said, “Why wouldn’t it?”

RV looked at the thousands on the video conference and said, “I thought about how to prevent our ships from breaking though their beams. I went and asked someone who I highly respect how he would counter our strategy and the answer was so simple I was shocked.”

The Emperor said, “How can they do it?”

“Just shorten their beams from seventy miles to twenty. They don’t need to do anything else.”

George sat back in his chair and immediately understood. RV saw the Emperor did as well. The Nexu Leader said, “How would that make a difference?”

“Our ships were able to fly through their beams because they went through them at high velocities. Their force fields were only affected by the beam for a brief moment. If they shorten their beams and overlap them like they would have to do to shorten that much, the temperature would go up more than a thousand times. Nothing could make it through without being burned instantly. We’ll know when their formations arrive whether or not they know this little piece of information.”

The Emperor said, “They may have their beams at seventy miles and instantly pull them in if you attack.”

RV shrugged, “That’s what I’d do. So when they arrive I’m sending a million small craft at their formation and have them break away at the last possible moment.” RV paused and said, “If they shorten those beams, there is nothing we can do to harm them and all of us are going see the end of time for our civilizations.”

The Emperor said, “Is there no way to break through their shortened beams?”

“I asked my friend that same question and he told me that you would have to have a ship big enough to contain fifty of those reactors used to power the planetary force fields.”

“But those reactors are more than twenty miles wide.”

“Actually, they’re closer to fifty miles wide. We could build ships like that if we were given time but I think all of you know, time is not what we have here.”

“So what do we do with our fleets if they’re useless?”

“We go to their sector and burn every planet we can. We leave them as little as possible to go back to.”

George said, “What purpose would that serve?”

“Our civilizations will survive just like they did the last time they attacked. The survivors in the fleets will build again. This time we want to ensure they have enough time to build what they need to face them again in the far future.”

“Where do you think they’ll attack first?”

“Oh, they’ll come right outside the galactic edge of your sectors and challenge you to bring your fleets out to meet them first. They know the danger your ships represent to them. Failing that, they will move into the sector burning everything.” RV waited for comments and said, “We need to form our own fleets up and move them out to the edge of the sector.”

“Why?”

“There is a remote chance they haven’t discovered the information on reducing their beams. It’s a remote possibility but it is a chance. We’re going to plan our defense around that possibility. I’ll be having my staff send you your assignments.”

The Emperor said, “Start your commercial vessels moving as many citizens as you can to a safe location. The Fleets will follow the Human Admiral’s instructions. This meeting is adjourned.”

• • •

Dolly sat at her console and turned the red light off on her board. George looked at her and said, “What was that?”

“I was recording the meeting.”

“That looked like a transmit button.”

“Silly, you don’t think I’m going to store it here do you?”

George shrugged and went to be with Meisa.

• • •

RV sat in his command chair and waited. Two weeks had passed and the constant expectation of the Red Ship’s arrival was nerve wracking. Cyanna said, “What about our worlds?”

“They won’t penetrate the force field quickly but they won’t bear up indefinitely. They will eventually burn their way through.” Cyanna started to ask another question but the alarms screamed and she looked up at the display. Her heart almost stopped. There wasn’t just one huge pyramid formation; there were six. RV looked at his sensor panel and said, “There are six billion ships in each of those pyramids.”

“How big are they?”

“They are more than eight hundred thousand miles long. The bases are two hundred thousand miles on each side.”

Cyanna stared at the formations and said, “They’re firing the beams at a hundred miles in length.”

RV pressed his panel and said, “Admiral, launch your shock ships at the center formation.”

Every ship in the two sector fleet watched as the million ships bore down on the planet size formation. As the ships reached the beams, they suddenly contracted to fifteen miles. The million ships went weightless and turned vertical. More than a million missiles were launched at the retreating ships but they weren’t able to match the attack craft’s speed and were burned out of existence by the main battleships as the entered their fire zones.

RV heard on his panel, “That was a clever maneuver. I gave myself away.”

RV said, “It’s not too late to stop this madness.”

“Oh but it is. You’ve killed too many of our planets to be allowed to survive.”

RV sighed, “If I spent the rest of the next ten years killing your planets, I wouldn’t come close to how many you’ve killed here.”

“I’m about to make that comparison even more dramatic.”

“I want you to consider this. If you go through with this attack, I promise you that we will not stop until every one of your worlds are burned. We will not allow any of your species to survive. If any escape, we will hunt them down and kill them. You didn’t believe me when we first communicated; you thought we represented no danger to you. You found out you were wrong. We will leave you alone and never enter your province if you will just call this attack off.”

The RSA was nervous. Did this being have another way to defeat his ships? He struggled with what to do. The Supreme Leader sitting in a raised throne on the RSA’s ship said, “Shut that being up. What are you waiting on?”

The RSA looked at the Supreme Leader and saw his excitement at seeing planets burned. The RSA said, “Perhaps in another universe we could have been brothers. But not here.”

RV knew the Fleet Commander had been ordered to attack. He hit the general ship frequency and said, “Attention all ships…”

“Don’t move the fleets, RV!”

RV looked at his display and said, “Dolly there’s nothing we can do and those formations are moving in on our ships!”

“RV, if you’ve ever trusted me in your life, you have to do it now! Don’t move the fleets!”

RV looked at Cyanna and she was troubled and frightened as the giant formations moved in on their fleets. RV said saw her give a quick nod and he said, “You will hold your positions.”

The combined sector fleets watched at the Red Pyramids picked up speed and moved in on the massed ships.

When the formations couldn’t grow any larger in the main display, RV keyed his board to order the fleets to escape…then all hell broke loose.

• • •

Cyanna yelled, “Look!!”

RV looked up at the main display and saw the six massive pyramids being hit by giant blue ships that flew into the their flanks with a beam as wide as the blue ship blasting away the red ships in front of them. RV sat down and watched as twenty million Blue Giant Ships blasted the six pyramids unrelentingly. The giant holes in the Red formations expanded as the nine hundred mile wide blue ships blasted their way through the formations and erupted out the other side without being slowed.

RV hit the general fleet frequency and said, “All attack craft, pick a ship and destroy it if they break formation. All ships in the fleet; launch penetrators if those formations come apart. Then select a ship and do not let it escape. Chase it to the end of the universe if you must.”

The Supreme Leader was screaming, “What are those ships?”

The RSA said, “The end of our civilization. Your blood lust has killed us.” The RSA pulled his hand blaster and shot the Supreme Ruler in the head. The Ruler’s body guards then shot the Red Sector Admiral. The ship was then obliterated by a Blue Giant Battleship that hit it head on.