Annihilation: The Power of a Queen (25 page)

“My masters could defeat them because of their technology, but eventually had to resort to the virus because of their numbers. They just got tired of being bothered by their constant attacks. I do see where you’re going, Tag. Why do you want the video?”

“To show my government that the real threat is not the Alliance; we shouldn’t wait until they come after us. We have to do something about this. My children will not face this threat if I can prevent it. Do you have a picture of one of them?”

Tag saw an image appear on his display; Danielle could see it thru Tags mind. “Oh my God,” Danielle said. The creature looked like a green wingless mantis. It had bulging eyes and the mouth had two large mandibles that looked like two sabers. It walked up right and had two arms with four digits ending in sharp nails. The legs were huge and appeared to bend in two directions. It had a tail that looked like an alligators that helped it balance. Danielle shuddered and then asked, “Atlas you mentioned that these creatures came from spores. They look a lot like insects on our world that lay eggs.”

“They are not animal, Danielle. They are much closer to what you would call algae. The spores they create are about 21 inches in diameter and must be fertilized by a male. The spores that hatched must have been on one of their ships when it was destroyed and they stayed in the vacuum of space for millions of years before they fell on a planet. They can survive in very hostile environments. What makes them formidable adversaries is that like some of your plants, they can regenerate lost body parts. The only way to effectively kill one is to destroy the brain case that is located in their chest. These creatures will eat pretty much anything that is organic and their appetite is voracious.”

Tag looked at the display with great distaste and then said, “Are they intelligent?”

“Yes, but they will not communicate with anyone except another member of their race even when captured and threatened with death. I saw one of your old recordings of a swarm of locusts and that is pretty close to how they operate.”

Tag wondered for the first time if all life was precious. A cancer cell was alive but it would kill its host. The cancer had to be destroyed in order for the host to live. This was the embodiment of a living cancer cell that killed all it contaminated. He could sense that Danielle was thinking the same way. “We’ll come back to this if and when we solve our issues with the Alliance. I doubt that their leaders will take what we’ve done without a response.”

“While you’re doing that, I think I’m going to take a trip out toward the Horse Head and see what this race is currently doing. If you need me just throw me a thought.”

“Be careful, Atlas.” Danielle said. “We don’t want to lose you.”

“I’ll keep my distance but now you have me thinking and I feel a trip is warranted.”

Sten was in his office when he received the call from the Safety Prime Council. The leader of the council appeared on his display and Sten felt his two hearts speed up. “State Leader, I understand that the Humans have communicated with you.”

“Yes, Excellency, they have. I’m to understand that they broadcast their conversation to all members.”

“They did. How do you account for their superior technology? They represent what we fear the most, a race that is so technologically superior that they could defeat our entire Alliance. How many warships do we have in our total arsenal, State Leader?”

Sten could see where the council leader was going but he answered. “Our members have more than 40,000.”

“That should be enough to wipe these Humans out, wouldn’t you say.”

Sten considered his answer carefully and then said, “I fear that if I’m truthful with you that it will cost me my life, but to do anything else would be to fail in my responsibility. In the first battle, 200 Human ships defeated 1,800 of our ships. That’s a nine to one ratio. In the next battle, 900 of their ships destroyed 4,000 of our ships. That’s almost 5 to one ratio. Six hundred of their ships jumped into our system and destroyed almost 6,000 ships. That is a ten to one ratio again. Our fleet that invaded the Human system reports that the humans had more than 7000 war ships and that a new class of battleship able to jump in system to the atmosphere of our planet was recorded. Three hundred of those ships jumped in and were surrounding my planet. They could have totally destroyed all life if they chose. We have no idea how many of those new battleships they have. We thought they had only ninety to a hundred ships left. We were wrong. At our rates of loss to the Humans just assuming a seven to one we would need 50,000 ships and that doesn’t take into consideration that new class of battleship. My educated guess is that 70,000 ships could not defeat their fleet. If we choose to attack them with every ship, then even if we managed to win, which I greatly doubt, we will be so weakened that it would allow our members to turn on each other in retribution of past acts.”

The Council Leader just stared out of his screen at Sten and said, “Perhaps you’re too timid to occupy the post you’re assigned.”

Sten felt a rage building and said, “Excellency, why don’t you have the next fleet form up at your planet and see if I’m timid. The Humans could have totally wiped out the 17,000 ships we sent against them and they could have totally bombarded my world to ash. They did neither. They did warn us that the next time we gather a fleet that they will destroy those responsible. Are you willing to gamble your world against whether or not they can carry out their threat? I will have my resignation sent to you immediately.”

The Council Leader disappeared from the screen. Sten sat in his office after he commed his resignation for more than nine drags while he waited for the security team to come and arrest him. He refused to go home and endanger his family but after he had spent the rest of the night waiting, he notified his assistant of his resignation and left for his home.

Headman Dgzh looked at the Glods home world thru the viewport of his ship as it approached. He had jumped into the system 10 hours earlier. He saw on his ships sensors that his ship was surrounded quickly after he broke into normal space. The dreadnaught that challenged him was unlike any ship he had ever seen. It was white with its screen extending more that a trig from its hull. It had the characteristic glow of the Human screen and it flashed up on his ships at a speed that amazed him. The 3,700 deg ship was actually beautiful in its smooth lines that lacked the normal bulges and bumps from weapon ports. “Looks like the Glod have become much more powerful.” He felt a chill from that realization because he knew the ferocity of their warriors.

“Stop your engines and declare your intentions,” his communication board announced.

“I am Headman Grezel Dgzh and I’ve been sent by State leader Sten to discuss the recent developments. I ask permission to speak to your crown prince.”

He only waited a moment and the dreadnaught’s Commander commed, “Follow the ship next to you to a parking orbit. He will see you upon your arrival. If we detect any weapon charging, we will destroy your ship, do you understand?”

“Yes, I do and thank you.” That was ten hours ago and now the ship he was following told him to park in front of one of the asteroids circling the planet.

A shuttle left the Glod ship and he was instructed to board for the trip to the planet’s surface. It arrived then it flew thru the planets screen to the main city of the Glod Union. “The screen around the planet didn’t stop the shuttle. How can that be?” He was escorted to a massive building near a huge arch in the center of the city and was left in a large room surrounded by portraits of past Glod leaders. He saw a picture of the main Glod Temple and as he looked closer he saw two Glod long swords sticking out of the two pillars at the entrance. He was looking at one of the most famous when he heard behind him, “That is a portrait of Nim-Qur. He was the one that destroyed four civilizations and took their worlds to establish the Glod Union. He never lost a battle and until recently was considered our most famous warrior.” The Glod crown prince Tgon-Gee was standing behind him. “Those two swords you were looking at were thrown into those two pillars by our Queen’s mate when her right to rule was challenged. Now every warrior on the planet is making a pilgrimage to our temple to swear allegiance to our new ruler. What brings you to our world, Headman?”

“This Glod is huge,” Dgzh thought. “I’m here at the request of State Leader Sten to try and get a better understanding of the Humans. You are now an Ally of them and perhaps your view of them would be easier for a member of the Alliance to understand. There is some fear after their ships surrounded our planet.”

Tgon-Gee smiled and said, “Fear is often the byproduct of a lack of understanding. However, you might want to discuss this with our new Queen who now is the ruler of our Union.”

“So what I was told by the Ambassador was true; a Human now rules your race. Were you forced to accept her?”

Tgon-Gee laughed and said, “Come with me. If she had not agreed to be our queen, we would have bowed to the ground and begged her to accept the position until we all died of starvation. She is quite literally becoming the soul of my race. She and her mate are also the leaders of the Human home world. You saw him when he had his conversation with your State Leader.” Dgzh arched his brow and Tgon-Gee said, “I know, you think him young. Don’t be misled.” The Prince led Dgzh to a room where a young Human female was sitting talking to a small group of Glod children. The Glod approached the female and bowed on one knee to her and waited. She looked up from the children and said, “Tgon-Gee, welcome to our class. This must be the headman that the Alliance sent. Let me introduce you to the future royalty of the Glod.” She then gave each child’s name and they stood up and nodded to Dgzh. “Children, you will have to excuse me. We will have our class again in three rotations.” Even Dgzh could tell the children were disappointed to leave but they stood and left the room.”

Tgon-Gee was still bowing when the Human said, “Please stand Tgon-Gee, it is I who should be bowing to you. You’ve been royalty so much longer than I.” Dgzh could tell that she meant what she was saying, this Human was not self important.

Tgon-Gee said, “This is headman Dgzh and he is a member of the Yatcur race.” Danielle thought that he looked almost exactly like an otter except that he stood upright. His fur, his head, everything reminded her of an earth otter. The only thing missing was the whiskers that an earth otter had. “I’m pleased to meet you,” she said.

Dgzh looked at the young Human female, “I don’t know if I’m supposed to bow or what is the proper greeting.”

Danielle laughed and said, “I accept the bows from those I lead as an honor. I suppose that you should treat me just as you would any other person you meet seeing that I am most certainly not your leader.”

Dgzh spent the next three hours talking with her and learning how she had become the leader of the Glod, Cainth, and Humans. He also learned from Tgon-Gee the power of her husband and how it was demonstrated during the ritual challenge of her selection. He questioned her in detail about why the Humans had chose to release their ships and had not destroyed the Central Alliance Planet. By the time she was though explaining, he understood that Humans were not what he thought. They would not war on other people unless they were made to do so. He finally asked the question that brought him to the Glod world. “Your, what did you call him, husband? Anyway he said he was releasing our ships because if he didn’t, the Alliance would have a massive civil war. How did he reach that conclusion?”

Danielle looked at Dgzh and decided that he deserved the truth. “You are going to have a civil war. One of our psychics on earth has the ability to see possible futures. Sometimes she says there are thousands of possibilities but at others there could be as few as four. In three of the possible futures she saw, she could see hundreds of Alliance worlds bombed into rubble by other members almost immediately after we destroyed your fleet. There is a lot of bad blood between too many races. Even the Glod have a large number of enemies that have a blood debt they want to have paid. They are just now starting to realize how the mistreatment of others always comes back to be balanced.

“My people are trying to repair the past damages they caused.” Tgon-Gee said, “We have released all the slaves on the four worlds we originally attacked and have given them homes and full citizenship in our Union. We have apologized for our prior actions and though we cannot change what has happened, we hope that they and their descendents would someday be able to forgive us. We have promised to defend them and watch over their welfare.”

“I find it interesting that the slaves refused to believe the Glod at first but once they proved their sincerity, most celebrated their new freedom and chose to remain in our Union,” Danielle said. “We offered free transportation to any that chose to leave along with financial means to support themselves. So far, only three families chose to leave. All the others have been paying attention to the news and feel the Alliance is a very dangerous place to live right now. However, our psychic made it clear to us that if we destroyed the fleet you sent against us, then more than 900 billion would die in the ensuing war and that we would be the cause of all that loss of life. Headman, we can’t live with that knowledge and continue to feel good about our future. So we released your ships.”

Dgzh dreaded his next question but he had to know, “What about the fourth future?”