Annihilation: The Power of a Queen (32 page)

“Why have you shown us this?” Terl asked.

“Because according to the one who took these recordings; they have just about totally consumed most of the life and natural resources in that Galaxy. That means they will have to move to new food sources,” Danielle answered. “We have been told their warships number in the millions and they don’t stop coming when confronted by resistance. The former members of the Alliance are not our enemy. You are looking at our enemy in these recordings and we are going to need every one of us to someday face this threat.”

“It might also interest you that the inhabitants you saw escaping from the planet in ships are currently on the Planet Ross where they were brought to safety,” Tag said.

Tgon-Gee said, “There appears to be much that you have not shared with us, why?”

“I have been of the opinion that this threat could be centuries in our future. I also cannot tell you how I was given this information or how those inhabitants were saved. I felt that by showing you this it would cause more questions than I could answer. However, Danielle disagrees with me on this issue and I find I must yield to her judgment. We are also sending Admiral Dorg to contact a race that is about to be attacked by these creatures to see if we can assist them.”

“I understand why you did not tell us but now we know. So you intended to wait centuries before we confront this menace? How much stronger will they be then?” Then Tgon-Gee turned to Terl and asked, “Do you want to wait for this to come to our door?”

Terl said, “Absolutely not!”

“Wait a moment,” Danielle said. “We have more than 800 allies waiting to join us. Before we go knocking on their door, I want to make sure that we are prepared. Are any of you still against these new races joining us?”

Director Nicole said, “I asked you to help me understand why and you have. We need these new allies. Are you going to share this with them?”

Danielle concentrated and everyone could see the struggle on her face. “They have to see it before they decide to join us. They all have to understand what they are signing up for and that we are united against this menace; our future course is one of preparing to deal with it and that they support what we do to prevail. Tgon-Gee, will you set up the meeting with the representatives and have this recording available for transmission to all worlds, even our own. Tag, will you bring a representative from the Pydres, they will be the newest member if they choose to join us.”

Tag asked, “Is everyone in agreement; is there anyone who disagrees with this new direction we are choosing this day?” There was silence until Terl said, “Make the meeting quickly; I don’t want to delay getting ready.” Everyone else echoed his sentiment.

State Leader Sten stood before the representatives of the former alliance members and wondered why the Star Realm had asked for this meeting. He sounded the tone and said, “This is Queen Danielle’s Mate. He wishes to address us before we apply for membership. He has also requested that this meeting be broadcast to all of our worlds. We have notified everyone of the time for this meeting and I believe most of the member worlds are watching. I now turn this meeting over to him.”

“Good Day, I am Queen Danielle’s husband and I am the leader of the Stars Realm military. I have requested to speak to you before you are allowed to join our Realm because our races feel it is important that you know what you’ll be getting into if you choose to join our company. I will play a video first for all of you to see and then I will tell you what it shows.”

The video began and all the billions that lived in the Alliance learned about the voracious race that was a killer of worlds. Tag spared nothing and slowed down the pace showing the hundreds of destroyed worlds with the derelict buildings left standing on bare ground. Finally, the video stopped and Tag looked out at an assembly of races that were shocked silent. “That race you see devouring the planet is in a galaxy a long way from here. They have almost totally stripped the galaxy they occupy of all life and they will soon be leaving to find new food sources. They are in our future. If they are not stopped, eventually, they won’t be because they will grow beyond any hope of success. Our Queen has decided that to wait will doom us. We have to try and stop them now. This is now the goal of my brothers and me. If you join us, you will be promising to give all you have and all you’re capable of giving to support us in this effort. I can’t stand by and let my children’s children face that.” He pointed to an image of a plant creature eating one of the planets inhabitants alive. “If you are willing to pledge your loyalty, your strength, and total commitment to defend your fellow brothers, then we will accept your pledge on my Home Planet in seven rotations at mid day. I will leave the coordinates with State Leader Sten. We genuinely felt that all of you should know what course we’re traveling before you made your choice. Thank you for allowing me to address you.” Tag turned and left the platform.

T
ag and Kosiev sat in a room overlooking the Former Central Alliance City. It was remarkable to see all the changes that had taken place in such a short time. It had been six months since all eight hundred and twenty nine members of the former Alliance had come and pledged their loyalty, possessions, and lives to the Stars Realm Queen. The immediate effects were enormous. Worlds ended tariffs and allowed free movement between all planets. There was an optimism that was felt by all and everyone exhibited pride to be a member of the new government. Planets fell over themselves trying to help old friends and enemies alike. Danielle attained a popularity and celebrity status that had no equal. It seemed that thousands of years of hate and mistrust were being balanced by the outright worship and love by the races of the Stars Realm for their new queen. Whatever she asked of her subjects they tried to do immediately. Her subjects trusted and adored her. Now that she was known to be expecting a child, the billions of individuals in the Stars Realm anxiously sought any information about her. The various news and entertainment companies could not give them enough to satisfy their curiosity about their Queen. She even learned to quit flinching when called “Your Majesty.” Tgon-Gee and Terl became the administrators of the new government and were doing an outstanding job of building relationships among all the new members. Leila and Eric became adept at planning her schedule such that her popularity only grew and with it the pride all the races felt for their new government.

Earth became the source of the scientists and engineers that were rapidly changing the face of the planets with power cell technology. The respect that Humans were given throughout the Stars Realm was enormous. A monument was built on Ross honoring the colonists that had been killed. Thousands of Cainth citizens would come to the monument each year, leave flowers and ask for forgiveness for their deaths and then thank them for the future that followed. Eventually, every person in the Stars Realm would plan a pilgrimage during their life to visit Ross to place flowers on the ground where the colonists had been killed and show respect to those that had lost their lives in that first founding conflict. Ross would later become the Capital of the new Stars Realm and was one of the most advanced of all its members; the government center and castle were enormous. Admiral Dorg was the first to lay flowers on the monument on Ross and he would return every year to lay flowers until he died. He became Humanity’s staunchest defender and he also contributed ninety percent of his profits from the sale of popcorn in the Realm to the surviving relatives of the colonists he had ordered murdered. He also paid for any pilgrim’s flight that chose to visit the site of their death to honor them. Every one of the colonist’s relatives became rich and every one of them could see the real sorrow he had for his actions. They forgave him even when he couldn’t forgive himself. Popcorn became one of the products that there was universal agreement on; every race loved it. When the history of the Human-Alliance war was eventually documented it was seen how the leaders consumed popcorn at the most critical times; people gave the kernels a superstitious power. It was eaten when important decisions had to be made. Legal documents just weren’t done without a bag present.

The former warriors of the old Alliance were amazed at their new ships and the power they had at their disposal. The warrior races were looking forward to confronting the new enemy and had stopped killing their brothers. The ship count was growing fast; which is what brought Tag and Kosiev to where they were today.

“Trust Sten to stay ahead of us all,” Tag said. “He adapted quicker than any of the others to the new order.” Sten knew that his world’s chief function of running the Alliance Government would disappear with the Alliance. He cleared huge tracks of land for agriculture to feed his planet and he brought in thousands of Human engineers and converted his entire planet to ship building. The first of the new generation of battleships was lifting today and Tag, Kosiev, Terl, Dorg, Tgon-Gee and Danielle were present to watch it go up. Danielle, Terl, and Dorg were at the spaceport with Tgon-Gee while Kosiev and Tag chose to watch it from the comfort of an office fifty stories high overlooking the spaceport. Kosiev leaned back with his ever present popcorn and said, “I guess the day of small ships like the Moscow is over. I understand that the new ships even dwarf the Ultra Ships that were recently built.”

Tag sighed and said, “The new ships will have to be able to travel to far galaxies and fight for extended periods; they have to be big just because of the weapons and provisions they’ll have to carry. They have power cells on their surface that are 45 feet square. It takes eight black hole reactors just to keep them charged and it’s twice as fast as the Ultras. It carries three hundred needle ports that can deliver more than 300 hornets each. The hornets have also tripled in power and six of them would kill one of the old dreadnaughts which used to take 200 or more. It can also jump into a system right next to the star. We’ve changed Admiral Dorg’s ship to one of these new ships and he will be leaving in two weeks to make contact with the Dremel. The Rossville will be the second ship to lift.”

Kosiev grunted and said, “The second, what about the first? Just how big is it? It seems that Sten won’t tell anyone and it has been a well kept secret.”

Tag smiled and said, “You’ll know is about ten seconds.”

The giant ship lifted from the ground and Kosiev gasped. There was no flame or any other evidence that the ship was being lifted. Tag said, “Sten discovered that with Coronado Cells that big, the ship is basically weightless. When the screens are at full power and pulled in next to the hull, gravity no longer affects the ship.”

Kosiev heard him but was amazed at the new ships size. It was five thousand feet long and had the sleek lines of the Ultras. Tag heard him mumble, “I’ve gotta get me one of those.”

Tag smiled at him and said, “The first ships name is “Moscow” and she is the new flag ship of our fleet. She’ll be waiting for you in orbit.”

Kosiev hollered like a little boy finding a new toy and ran from the room leaving his popcorn behind. Tag watched his long time friend leave and walked over and picked up the bag of popcorn he left and began munching on it. Tag thought as he watched the ship rise into orbit, “Sten says that within another four months his world would be building fifty of those monsters a month; within a year, a hundred. All of our facilities are being converted to begin building these monsters. “

He thought about his wife and how wonderfully lucky he was to have found her. He and she would talk to their baby as it grew; it could hear them without needing a link. He and she were amazed at the strength of their child’s mind. He leaned back in his chair and reached into his back pocket and pulled out an old worn red covered booklet. “Who would have thought how you would have caused so much change just by my taking you,” he thought as he held it. “It’s from little things that great things emerge.” He put it slowly back in his pocket and thought, “It won’t be long until we go to do some weed whacking. We now have the tools to do it.”

“G
et Mikado and Ren-Bir on the com,” Dorg ordered. The two ship captains appeared on his display and Dorg said, “We have a Plant scout that just jumped into the system on the other side of the sun. I am sending you the coordinates of the ship and I am planning to jump in and surround that ship with our three ships and fire immediately on emergence from null space. The Dremel are going to detonate a nuclear weapon on an asteroid close to the scout and we will all jump one sem before it goes off. Have your jump officers synchronize their systems with Rossville and use your primary beam and two needles. We’ll begin the operation as soon as the plant ship crosses the jump limit by 15 minutes, any questions?”

“No sir,” they both said and broke connection to ready their ships.

Lt. Glensh looked up from her display and said, Sir, the scout has crossed the jump limit and is 15 minutes inside it.

“Klas, tell the Dremel to launch the missiles on my mark, we will jump at 14 sems after launch. Ready, mark; please count down the launch for us.”

“Ten sems, nine, eight, seven….two, one, fire.”

“Mark 14 sems and jump; ready weapons,” Dorg ordered.

The time counted down and Glensh said, “Jumping now.”

The three megaships jumped and broke back into normal space surrounding the Algean Scout just as the nuclear explosion detonated. “Fire now,” Dorg yelled!