Sentient (14 page)

He had his carriers in full retreat mode to give him space, but the enemy was matching his pace and in less than ten minutes he’d have to either stop and face them, or abandon the planet he was protecting.  Either way would be a loss.

His own ships followed behind the enemy but weren’t gaining any ground either.

He had the second carrier slow slightly and routed all of the power from its assigned attack ships and rerouted the power to increase the carrier’s own shields and weapons.  It wouldn’t last long against five hundred scouts on its own, but it should last long enough.

As the scouts made it into weapons range the carrier reached out with its turrets and enemy scout ships started to be blown out of the sky.  But they also managed to get some shots off first.  As more and more came into range at a time he knew he was in deep shit.  Finally fifty enemy scouts hit his shield at the same time.  The shield fell and the outer hull turned to slag, two of the landing bays were damaged badly.

But slowing down had in turn slowed the enemy enough for four hundred ships, still fully powered from the leading carrier, let loose into the four hundred enemies still remaining.  His other four hundred fighters were right behind and the damaged carrier rerouted power back.

A few seconds later, all the enemy ships were dead, but not until they had managed to severely cripple the carrier.  The internal ring and shields were still fine and active, but much of the rest of the ship was damaged enough that it would take days to repair.

He’d managed to pull out a win in the simulation, but only barely.  He decided to take a break and hunt down Stacey.  He promised himself he’d never be that cocky again, and thanked god it’d just been a simulation.

With nine carriers in Earth’s orbit no one had any qualms about leaving the system.  According to the new sensors, there were a thousand scouts en route to Earth, that was over three to one odds in their favor and as long as he didn’t get cocky again, Kris should be able to handle that.

The other eight carriers headed for open space.  The trip to the outer edge of the solar system would take a few days.  In addition to their normal work, they all got language downloads for known alien languages, as well as cultures.  Obviously this wouldn’t help with first contact, but it should make things go smoother when they met the Alion, and perhaps the Sthellan as well, but Kris wasn’t holding his breath on the second one.

They dropped off the nanites on their way out at the asteroid belt which would supply matter for building for the foreseeable future.  It would also have the ships closer to the FTL point although they’d still be much closer to Earth than Neptune.

With the new enhanced sensors, they were able to backtrack the thousand scout ships to one of the Sthellan’s worlds.  They weren’t sure how many worlds the Sthellan inhabited but they decided to go there first in an effort to make peace.  They figured that would be more important than making friends with the Alion who after all weren’t attacking them… yet.

The world was just over forty three light years away, which at FTL speeds would take them a little over a day.  They were all a bit nervous; would the Sthellan even talk to them?  Or would they simply attack?  They decided when they came out of FTL they would hold at the perimeter of the system, so as not to appear aggressive, or so they hoped.

Kris was on the bridge, connected to the ships back at Earth.  It was only an hour or so before they reached the FTL perimeter and the Sthellan fleet was only a few hours away from Earth.  They had considered intercepting the fleet, but the nine ships left behind were already beyond overkill.  In fact they left two by the planet and only moved seven away from Earth toward Sthellan on an intercept course.  That would make the odds 2.8 to 1.

He launched the fighters, assigning two ships per enemy and left eight hundred in close proximity to defend the carriers in case something unforeseen happened and some of the enemy got through.  He was fairly sure however the only way any of them would live would be if they turned around before coming in range with one of their ships.

He wondered what the enemy was thinking, and then realized they had probably scanned the little ships and didn’t understand most of their power came from the carrier.  Based on their size, they would be too weak to withstand one plasma round from the enemy.  This was the first time the Sthellan would face these ships, so they had no clue it would take closer to ten shots to destroy the little ships, or that those little ships now had plasma beam weapons that will tear them apart in one sustained shot.

He almost felt a little sorry for them.  Almost.

It was a complete slaughter.  All the Sthellan ships attacked in ignorance of their updated systems and paid the price.  He actually held his weapons fire for a few moments and made sure they were all in range before firing.  He knew this would be the only freebie, no doubt their central command was monitoring the battle and would see the results.

In one very short moment, two thousand beams of plasma reached out and obliterated all the enemy ships in .2 seconds.  The enemy managed to fire at least twice before he did, since he waited for them to get in range, but he didn’t lose any ships at all.  They hadn’t known they’d need to hit one of the little fighter ships with a large group of theirs to score a kill, and they hadn’t had time to figure it out.

Kris blew out a breath and had the fighters return to the carriers and sent the carriers back to Earth orbit.  He knew if they sent more ships, it would be a lot more than a thousand.  Hopefully they would listen when they arrived at the Sthellan staging system in just over a day.  Don’t mess with Earth.

He got up and left the bridge with Stacey on his arm.  He wasn’t really hungry after that slaughter, but it was dinner time and he knew he should eat if he could.  It was something he had learned in the military.  Food is strength.

When they got to the lounge, they joined the others who were already eating.  He didn’t taste anything when he took his first bite.

Paula asked, “How did it go?”

Stacey said softly, “The battle lasted five seconds… we didn’t lose any ships.”

Aide added, “They weren’t cautious at all, next time, if there is a next time, will be harder.”

A screen came on and he looked up while Aide said, “We’re about to pass the FTL barrier.”

Aide said, “Engaging FTL drive.”

The stars on the screen seemed to blur and then go out as they entered FTL space.  He continued to eat without comment.  He was the warrior in the group, it was his job to run the ships and defend Earth.  He would do what he had to, but that slaughter hadn’t sat well with him.  Intellectually he knew if he hadn’t billions of humans would die back on Earth, but that didn’t mean taking all those lives in a split second was any easier on his conscience.

Or perhaps it was because he knew it was only the beginning.

His mental spiral was broken by Nate.

“I checked the power requirements of the battle, and I should have picked this up earlier.  The beams use twenty percent less power than the plasma cannons.”

He grunted, “What does that mean for the ship?”

Nate replied, “Well, it means it can support another fifty fighters, or we can route that extra power to eighty plasma beam turrets and give the carriers a lot more teethe, or lastly, we can route that power and make the shields a lot stronger.  It would be able to absorb a lot of hits; it would probably take close to a hundred hits to take the shields down in a short time period.  Which would you rather do?”

He frowned, he supposed he was the best one to make that decision.  He thought back to his messed up battle the other day.  His shields had been strong from the power reroute, the only thing that would have helped more was having more turrets.

“Add the eighty turrets.”

Aide chimed in, “Consider it done.”

They all decided they should rest and try and get a good night sleep before they reached their destination.

He’d gotten in a conversation with Aide and Olivia, he wasn’t sure why but Stacey had left before he could finish it up.  It wasn’t like her; she was extremely social and it was usually him trying to call it a night so he hoped everything was okay.  He’d find out in a few minutes as he made his way into the corridor and down the hall to their suite.

He walked through the entry hall and through the living room.  The back hallway had three rooms.  He assumed the other two were for family; he hadn’t done more than glance in the two smaller bedrooms since that first day they’d moved onto the new ship.  He didn’t give them a second thought tonight as he opened their bedroom door and walked in.

He stopped and stared, after a few seconds he remembered to breath, but he was still frozen and silent.

Stacey asked in an unsure voice, “You like?”

She looked sinfully delicious.  She was laying on her side holding her head up with her hand, the other arm laying down the side of her body.  Her waist was slightly twisted and her long silky smooth legs were arranged in a provocative manner.  She was wearing a dark red negligee that was sheer and sexy that barely reached her hips.  It was just transparent enough that he could make out her hardened nipples beneath the silk.  She had on silk panties of the same color.  Her long raven hair was artfully arranged, some of it splayed along the front of her body.

The slightly worried and insecure look on her face, and wide bright green eyes only served to make her look that much sexier.  Now he knew why she’d left early, to get this all set up for him.  God she was gorgeous.  His mouth was watering a bit and he swallowed and finally spoke.

“You look amazing love,” he barely recognized his voice, it was full of lust and hunger.

She must have heard it, and saw the effect she had on him in his eyes, because she smiled brightly and looked a lot more confident as he started walking toward the bed.  By the time he made it there he almost didn’t know what to do; he had a laundry list of ideas and wanted to do each one right in that moment.

He couldn’t help but smile as he quickly stripped and joined her in the bed.

“I love it,” he said as he moved in for a kiss.

He had wanted to ravage her, all the ideas in his head involved taking her hard and fast in some way or another.  It was almost a surprise to him when he kissed her not hungrily, but slowly, lovingly, barely touching lips as he put an arm around her and pulled her close.  She was perfect and she was his.  It blew his mind every time he realized how true that was.

“I love you,” he said softly as they broke the kiss.

He claimed her lips again, this time a little more passionately and she moaned deeply into his mouth while she scooted her body as tightly against his as she could.  Her smooth skin felt so good against him, and the silk lingerie both felt good, but also blocked him from feeling the skin of her breasts and hard nipples on his chest.

He could feel the warmth of her core against his thigh through the thin material of her panties, and his manhood strained against her smooth tight stomach as she moaned and rubbed her body against his.

She smiled and broke the kiss, “I love you too, I’ll have to do this more if it gets this reaction.”

He just nodded wordlessly and pulled her in and started to nibble on her neck as he ran his hands along her curves, stealing a hand under and up her negligee he ran his fingertips in circles on her lower back and the top of her ass.  He gasped as her hand found and squeezed him hard before she started to lightly stroke him.

He moaned as the scent of her arousal reached him when he slid his hand underneath the panties.  He found her wet and ready as he palmed her mound.  Apparently wearing the lingerie turned her on too.

He murmured as he kissed down her neck onto her shoulder, pushing the thin strap of the negligee off to the side, “What made you think of doing this?”

She whispered in his ear, “I wanted to make tonight memorable, special, I’m hoping tonight is the night it happens.”

His manhood jumped in her hand and he asked, “What makes you think that?”

She gasped as his fingers split her apart, feeding her pleasure two long digits as he pushed down on her clit with his palm.

She squeezed him tighter and said breathlessly, “Aide told me, nanites reported both the drugs out of my system, and I’m fertile.”

He pulled back and sat up before he reached for her panties and pulled them down slowly.  She lifted her butt and then her legs as he ran his hands slowly down her legs pushing her panties along.

He wanted to taste her, she smelled so good, but even more than that he wanted to fill her.  She was definitely ready for him; her swollen labia glistened in the dim light of their bedroom.  He grabbed her legs and pulled them to either side of him.  He lined himself up and then looked into her eyes as he slowly pushed into her heavenly bliss.

Her tight swollen lips caressed his entire length with tight wet friction until he was buried deeply inside her.  Her eyes widened in pleasure but he could also see the discomfort, he waited as her tight core hugged, undulated, and fluttered up and down his length as she grew accustomed to his invader.

He bent down and kissed her hard and passionately.  She mewled into his mouth as she wrapped her long sexy legs around his body and used them to pull herself up against him and ground their bodies together.  His manhood jumped and felt a surge of pleasure as she bit down on his bottom lip and ground herself against him again.

She mewled and did it again before she said sultrily, “Take me love, I need you.”

He started to stroke the full length of his manhood, in and out of her welcoming tight wet core.  She was more ready than he realized as she almost exploded in bliss immediately.  He had to concentrate on not cumming as her tight heat grew even tighter and milked him up and down as he felt her silken nectar burst around his manhood and drip down his balls.

When she came down a little, he started to drill her hard and fast.  He knew he wouldn’t last long; all he could think about was how she’d probably be knocked up as soon as he came inside her warmth.  It completely messed with his control.  Finally he just gave in to the pleasure he felt inside his love, they had plenty of time for another few rounds before they needed to rest for their arrival.

He grunted, “Going to cum Stace!”

The look of lust and want in her eyes at that declaration snapped the remaining tatters of his will and he reached rapturous bliss inside her heaven as he filled her with his essence.  He couldn’t move but he could feel her milking him and grinding up against him.  When he was done emptying himself he came down slowly and they started kissing tenderly.

He broke the kiss and they both smiled as they broke apart.  She still looked so sexy in the red lingerie, but he thought he’d probably strip her of that for round two.  He knew it wouldn’t take him long before he was ready to go again.  Not while he held her in his arms…

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General Bill Nells reported his findings.

“Mr. President, it appears they have new ships up there now.  They took out those thousand enemy craft like it was a walk in the park sir.  I’m not sure about this Aide or even our Sgt. Miller, but I don’t think we have much to fear from these… Sthellans?  It kind of makes me a little proud of humanity, it’s obvious to me that taking those scientists did wonders for the technology.

“Though I can’t say how of course.”

The President nodded, “Word is definitely out, I hear the battle is already going viral on YouTube.   One of the other governments must have leaked it.”

The SECDEF added, “So far there’s been no panicking in the streets, although from what we can tell more people have been skipping work and staying in the house.  I imagine between your speech about it, and now the leaked video people are confident it’s being handled.  There are certain outliers of course, some of those survival groups have gone to ground, but they aren’t a threat.”

The President sighed, “The Middle East is losing it, and tensions are high elsewhere, but so far so good.  I don’t have anything else today that can’t wait.”

They all nodded and the meeting broke up.  Bill was glad of that, he didn’t want to get home to late tonight.  His wife had been… a lot more demonstrative lately, almost like the beginning of their marriage.  Who said a little panic was bad?”

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When they passed the ten light year point the details of their target system increased a thousand fold thanks to her Olivia’s work.  They still had a few hours to go over the data, but of course her advanced processors only needed a few tenths of a second.  She frowned, that wasn’t very precise of her.  It took .34 seconds for her to analyze the data for any threats.

She had realized being that precise around humans got her teased, but rounding things off with herself was going too far.

The fourth planet from the sun was the only life bearing planet in the system.  It was surrounded by four thousand scout ships and twenty stationary weapons platforms.  There were also twenty nine cargo ships.  On the surface they seemed to be strip mining the planet for resources, as far as she could tell there was no indigenous intelligent life, though there were some mammals, insects and many species of trees, bushes, flowers, and spores.

There was one gas giant and three other planets in the system as well as two asteroid belts and various comets.  There were also sensor stations, she had no doubt they could already see their ships, even if the scans would only reveal very little else at this distance.  They would be able to scan them in detail when they were just a light year away.  She took note a thousand of the ships started moving in the direction they would leave FTL space.

It was a smaller system than Sol, so the ships would reach the FTL point in two days; they’d be there a long time before that happened.  Hopefully long enough they could open up communications with them.

Everyone else was still in their suite’s trying to relax, including her body.  She created a download with the useful facts only and sent it to the five humans in her care.  Now all they had to do was wait.  She spent some time going over the communication again and decided all was ready.

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Lethor cursed up a storm when the ships approaching hit the light year mark and he ordered the remaining ships to follow.  He wasn’t sure even four thousand ships would be enough.

“Sir!  Incoming transmission.”

Lethor growled at the communications officer, “On screen,” and was satisfied as he saw the junior officer shake in fear.  His canines were quite impressive he knew.

He frowned at the message for peace.  What foolishness.  There was no peace, only victory or death.  It was the way of nature.  Peace was an illusion for the weak.  The Alion had been foolish enough to ask for peace as well, though at the time the Sthellan were too primitive to reach the stars.  But as soon as they gained the technology they attacked as is right.

It is inevitable that the powerful will rule, his job was to see to it that it was the Sthellans that held that power.

The communications officer asked, “Will you speak to them sir?”

The other Sthellans held their breath as he pulled out his weapon and shot him.  It was a good weapon, cruel.  There were higher settings that immediately disintegrated the target, but Lethor would much rather hear the screams of his enemies.  The energy from the weapon in low doses, as he had it set, would ignite every nerve in the targets body causing unbelievable pain as it slowly ate their flesh.

He cursed as the damn fool passed out and the screaming stopped, he hated it when that happened.  He watched sourly as the comm. Officers body slowly came apart, as if the energy from the gun was slowly eating him one cell at a time.

He asked in a voice that promised death, “Anyone else want to suggest we roll over for our enemy?”

His smile was feral at the absolute silence and he ignored the continued hails at the communications station.  He’d replace the officer when he got back, he didn’t feel the need for one until after the battle.

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They stood firm at the FTL line, they weren’t here to attack after all.  Although he was starting to wonder at the wisdom of that given what he’d learned over the last few hours.  The Sthellan seemed to have no regard for life, how had the Alion people missed that fact?

From the scans of the approaching ships, it appeared there had been at least thirty murders over the last hour alone.  Unless they were going in to exterminate the bastards Nate wasn’t sure why they were staying.

Nate rarely offered his opinion except in his specialty but he couldn’t hold his tongue this time.

“We should leave; we are wasting our time here,” he paused for a moment, “Unless we plan on wiping them out of course.”

Paula frowned, “I agree.  We should leave or kill them.   We won’t get anywhere with our messages of peace.  This race is horrible, did the Alion have their heads up their asses for the uplift assessment?”

Aide nodded.  “They didn’t understand really, they don’t have the capacity for emotions, or perhaps they took it out of themselves millennia ago.  They didn’t recognize the threat for what it was.  It doesn’t fit at all logically.  I admit I am surprised too at how… animalistic they are.  They have no business being in space.”

He sighed, “So why are we still here?”

Kris replied, “I’m not sure, I guess I wanted to be sure of them before we did anything.  I think no matter how many times we win now that they’ll always come back.  I believe we need to deal with them in a more permanent way, but I’m not sure if that will trigger any protocols.”

Aide asked thoughtfully, “How permanently, remember the whole point of me showing up was to find a way to defeat them.  I don’t’ have any protocols to protect the Sthellan, only everyone else.  That said, the idea of wiping them out doesn’t appeal to me at all.  They deserve the chance to grow up as a species, it was the uplift that made them dangerous.”

Kris nodded, “No, I wasn’t thinking of genocide.  But I think we’ll need a lot more ships.  What we need to do is map out all their systems, how far they’ve spread, and then take out their ability to wage war and travel the stars.  I basically want to confine them to their planets, and leave ships both to protect them and to guard them so they can’t leave for a long time to come.”