The Fight for Creation: Book 02 - Scout Warrior (18 page)

“What do you mean?”

“I know my brother. Something serious has happened; I could tell it in his voice.”

They entered Bristone’s orbit and Sam received the coordinates in his wrist unit. He and Jixie teleported down and arrived at a hospital. A doctor met them and said, “Come with me.”

“What’s happened!?!” Is Jon OK?”

The doctor moved up the hall and opened a door. Sam rushed in with Jixie right behind him. Sam ran up to Jon who was standing next to a hospital bed. He turned and Sam saw Maranda holding their new baby. Jon said, “We wanted you to be the first to see him.”

Sam looked at Miranda and she smiled, “His name is Jon Anglo Mica Robbins.”

Sam looked at Jon and he nodded, “I suspect the way you’re making a difference that it will be his third name that he’ll want to answer to.”

Sam went around the bed and Miranda handed the baby to Sam. Sam was overcome with his emotions, “He’s so beautiful, Maranda.”

“He’s got your and your brother’s eyes, Sam.”

Jixie looked at the baby and felt Miranda’s heart. She saw the King’s heart and suddenly it all made sense. This is what the Creator felt for all life she had made. She looked at Sam and though she couldn’t hear his thoughts he could see his love for the child on his face. She thought about what would happen to Maranda if someone killed her baby. She knew Maranda would not survive easily and the Creator’s children were being killed by the trillions. It had to be devastating. Sam handed the baby back to Maranda and then saw Jixie, “Jon, Miranda, this is the one the Cats wanted to meet; this is Jixie.”

Jon looked at the beautiful blonde woman and said, “It’s a real pleasure to finally meet you. You have caused some disruption in the ranks.”

Jixie bowed and said, “I never intended to do that, Your Majesty.”

Jon looked at Sam, “I can see why you didn’t want her to leave.”

Jixie looked at Jon and said, “Why is that?”

“Sam loves you. I can see it in his face.”

Jixie looked at Sam and saw him frown. Neither of them had mentioned the word. Jixie smiled but remained silent. Sam looked at Jon and said, “The succession has now been established. I know how happy you both are.”

• • •

Sam and Jixie finally left the hospital and teleported back to the shuttle. They moved away from the planet in silence and after they teleported away from Bristone Jixie said, “Sam, I need to talk with you.”

“I’m sorry Jon said I loved you.”

“Do you?”

Sam looked at Jixie and nodded.

“You do know that I’m going to leave and return home?”

“I suspected you would.”

“And how does that make you feel, Sam?”

Sam stopped the shuttle a mile from the Fourth Sword and looked Jixie in the eyes, “I think you are also aware that I will be leaving you as well.”

Jixie did a double take and said, “No, I’m not aware of that at all. Are you going back to Lyla?”

“Nothing that simple, Jixie; I know that you’re going to live much longer than I am. When I die of old age, you’ll still be young and I will have left you alone. I’ve thought about you going home and no matter how I try to change it, one of us is going to leave the other no matter what we choose to do. If you leave or stay, one of us will be left behind.”

Jixie stared at Sam and knew he was right. She was just a young adult and she had lived more than three hundred years. The majority of her long life was still ahead of her. The thought of losing Sam troubled her greatly. She hadn’t even considered the possibility of him leaving her behind.

Sam saw her expression and continued, “I was attracted to you the first time I say you with your third tray of food in the training commissary. I fought my emotions once I discovered who you are. I knew what would happen if I allowed myself to love you but your exuberance and smile finally took me. The way I see it, if you leave me and return home after a short time, it will be the same thing as me leaving you when I die. If I only have a year or two or even just a few months, the joy I have from being with you will be worth whatever follows. I want you to know that I won’t make you feel bad if you have to go.”

“Sam, I’m not human. In spite of this body I’m in, I’m not. We’re not the same species.”

“I know that, Jixie. I probably know it better than you. I love who you are, not what you are. Life is brighter when I’m with you. I’ll make the most of whatever time we have. Besides, I could easily die in one of our attacks and it would all be a moot point. All I ask of you is that you give me what time you can and not take the high ground and try to save me from the sorrow of having you leave. Will you please do that for me?”

Jixie stared at Sam and didn’t want to cause him pain. Nothing in her experience equipped her to deal with what was happening. Then she remembered after downloading all the information at the library that she wanted to learn what love is. The left corner of her mouth moved up and she said, “Be careful what you ask for.”

“I’ve thought this through, Jixie. I know that this is what I want.”

“I’m not talking about you.” Jixie smiled, “For whatever time we have, however long that might be, I’ll be yours, Sam.”

Sam reached for her and said, “That’s all I ask.”

The shuttle remained a mile from the Forth Sword for another two hours. When it returned to the ship, Jixie knew what love was.

• • •

“Jason, do you have a moment?”

“What do you want?”

“I’d like to go out tonight and I was hoping you would go with me.”

“Why would you want to go with me? All I do is point out your bad attributes?”

“I haven’t gone out for three weeks and I just want to go and have an evening without being bothered by every male in the building.”

“When do you want to go?”

“In an hour, if you can come.”

“I’ll be there. Just try to behave.”

“I will.”

• • •

Jason looked at Lyla and could see her sorrow. She had chosen to wear a dress that was not her usual skin tight fashion. She looked…he struggled for the right word…elegant. “Lyla, I’m impressed with you appearance tonight. Why the change in fashion?”

Lyla looked up from her plate and said, “Thank you for being nice, if not honest.”

“No, I’m serious. You look better than I’ve ever seen you.”

Lyla saw he was being truthful. “Jason, you know you’d like the skin tight outfits better.”

“No, I wouldn’t. It cheapens your appearance. It makes you look…I don’t know…”

Lyla sighed, “Slutty.” Jason didn’t respond and Lyla said, “You don’t have to say anything. You know it’s true.”

“Lyla, what’s wrong? Your eyes are not on fire like I usually see them. The searching out everyone in the room is missing. Has Sam’s rejection hurt you so much?”

“No, it’s not that and you were right. I wasn’t really interested in him, but what he could do for me. I really don’t feel anything for him but his rejection showed me what I’ve been doing to others.” Lyla looked out from their table and saw many of the men present were staring at her. She shook her head and looked at Jason, “I did what you said I’d do and went out for another conquest that night to prove I haven’t lost my touch.”

“And?”

“My heart wasn’t in it. I saw his excitement over being with me and I knew he wasn’t what I wanted. I just couldn’t allow myself to hurt him. He didn’t do anything to deserve it.”

Jason stared at Lyla. “I’m starting to worry about you.”

“Why?”

“You’re sounding human.”

Lyla lowered her head, “I deserve that, Jason.”

They continued their meal in silence and when they arrived at Lyla’s quarters she said, “Thank you, Jason.”

“For what?”

“You’ve always remained a close friend even though you knew how awful I am. I thought about our time in school and you’re right. That was a much happier time for me.”

Lyla started to turn and Jason reached out and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her with a passion that stunned Lyla. He finally broke the kiss and saw Lyla’s eyes were still closed savoring the moment. “It was all worth it to see you finally find your heart, Lyla.”

He teleported away and Lyla fell into the chair behind her. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw her melancholy smile. She sighed and began undressing just as Jason reappeared; she rushed forward and threw her arms around his neck. She pulled him close and started crying as Jason held her tight. “I’ll always be here, Lyla.”

“Please promise me you’ll never leave.”

“I never have. I never will, my love.”

Lyla’s life began at that moment. Jason’s life had started with the stories about the universe so many years before.

• • •

Admiral Gardner looked at Jixie and liked her. She was so refreshing. Sam, Dort, Gon, Robby, Jennifer, and Captain Haines sat at the conference table and he wondered what they were planning. He looked up as Major Mirabal brought in the most recent reports on the enemy’s advances. Jason handed the reports to Thom and he said, “Stay here Major and record what we discuss.” Thom turned to the group and said, “Jason has been my XO for years and he’s the best we have at making things work.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

Thom turned to the group and said, “What have you got up your sleeves? I can see you’re up to something.”

Sam looked at the people around the table and said, “After considering where we are, I’ve decided to take a new direction in our war.”

“What is that?”

“We are on the defensive and are only responding to events that the aggressive civilizations cause. We can’t win if we continue that path.”

Thom looked around the table and saw that the other officers in Sam’s unit had not heard about this. “What are you suggesting?”

“How do you kill a cancerous tumor?”

“I’m not sure what you mean?”

“The tumor will constantly shed cancer cells that go out into the body to attack other vital organs. The only way to stop it is to remove the tumor. Fighting the shed cells will never stop, unless you remove the tumor.”

“I’m not sure I like where you’re going with this.”

Dort said, “What tumor are you planning to remove?”

“Merothe.”

Thom stood up, “Are you out of your mind!?!”

Jennifer said, “What’s Merothe?”

Jason said, “The home world of the Grogat and its Royal Caste. It has more than eight million warships around the planet along with orbital defenses, teleport suppression units, a hundred thousand heavy missile satellites, two million free floating beam platforms and twenty million warriors surrounding the capital city.”

Everyone in the room stared at Jason. Thom said, “How do you know that?”

“I had numerous probes placed in the system before they developed teleport suppression. They still function and the numbers I just quoted don’t include the fleets being serviced at the ship yards next to the fifth planet; there are usually four million ships in them. Merothe usually has between twelve and fifteen million Grogat Warships in the system at any given moment.”

“That’s not what I asked. Why do you know that information at this moment? That information is not something you’d keep in your mind unless it was called for.”

Jason looked at Thom and said, “I know the only way to even begin to win this struggle is to start with Merothe. If you intend to do more than react to the enemy, that’s where you’ll have to start. The other place is the home planet of the Swarm. It is also defended in a similar fashion as Merothe.”

“You’ve never mentioned this before.”

“You’ve never indicated you had the nerve to take it on, Sir. I completely understand your reluctance.”

Thom stared at Jason and he stared straight ahead. “Why do you bring it up now?”

“Because Duke Robbins obviously does have the nerve.”

Sam looked at Jason and said, “I suppose you’ve thought about how to do this?”

“I have.”

“And?”

“There should be no effort in taking on the defenses. You go in, kill the planet, and get out.”

Jennifer said, “Don’t we have enough ships in the fleet to take them on?”

Thom said, “There’s no way to go in. The suppression field and the density of the fleets around the planet prevent any ship from getting close. Without the ability to teleport, we might win the battle, but be so weakened that we’d not be able to continue the fight afterwards.”

Jason said, “There was a suppression field around the Grogat Advanced Weapons Planet, Sir and we still managed to get in.”

Jixie looked at the young Major’s mind and saw something. She smiled and said, “Congratulations.”

Jason flinched and looked at Jixie. He smiled and said, “Thank you.”

Thom thought he was being congratulated over his report. Sam looked at Jixie and knew it was something else. Thom looked at Sam and said, “Just how do you intend to do this?”

Sam started to speak and Jixie said, “Why don’t you tell us how you’d do it Major?”

Sam looked at Jixie and she nodded. He sat back in his chair. “Tell us what you’d do.”

Jason said, “Only one ship will go in.”

The room erupted and Jason waited. He looked at Jixie and she saw that he knew she was seeing his thoughts. He didn’t care and Jixie was impressed. Finally Sam held up his hand and said after the room grew silent, “Tell us what you mean.”

Several members of the support staff were still talking under their breath about the futility of that plan. Jason looked at Sam, “I believe you captured some of the Grogat cloaking devices along with the planet killing missiles. Did you not?”

“We have, but we haven’t been able to wire the cloaking device where it would work.”

“You haven’t wired the weapons on your ships to anything either and they appear to function perfectly.”

Everyone in the room stopped murmuring and grew silent. Jixie said, “You believe that if the device is absorbed by armor that hears the music, it will function properly.”

“I’ve seen the recordings of your battles and everything else you absorbed into your armor functioned even without launchers or guidance stations that are normally essential. Why would the cloaking device be any different?”

Thom said, “Even if you managed to get close, that planet killing missile would never make it through their orbital defenses.”