Dahlia's Deception (The Annihilation Series) (30 page)

“A moment to the Senior could be years in our time. We’ve failed.”

“Failed at what?”

“Senior!”

“Open your mind to receive what I’ve seen. You were remarkably close to a solution.”

Jixie closed her eyes and Pixie entered her mother’s mind and saw what she was seeing. After ten seconds Jixie opened her eyes, “I should have seen this. It’s so simple.”

Pixie yelled, “Shut up and get to work, Mom!”

Pixie and Jixie rushed over the field emitter panel and began throwing switches at an incredible rate. The other four looked out of the viewport and saw the field start to have ripples roll across it. “Everyone go to their ships. Pixie, let’s go to Alex next.” Jixie and Pixie disappeared and Tag and Danielle teleported out a moment later. Sam looked at Ken, “I hope we can do this in time.”

Ken shook his head, “It’s going to be too close to call.” Ken teleported to his ship and Sam waited for Jixie to return. He looked out at the field and saw the ripples were now full blown waves rolling across it. By the time Jixie returned, the waves had stabilized into sharp peaks with gaps between them. Sam shook his head, “Jixie was right; they had missed that shape in their efforts.” A minute later, Jixie appeared and yelled, “Strap in Sam; this is going to be rough.” The blue field disappeared and the three ships teleported to a distant galaxy.

• • •

The three ships arrived outside the galaxy and Jixie said, “This must be done exactly; set your timers to one minute; power up the emitters at thirty seconds, turn on the vibration at full volume at fifteen seconds, and have the emitters activate the moment you enter normal space. Does anyone have any questions?”

Tag said, “How long will we wait before we make the move?”

“We have to wait until they are all captured.”

“Do we know how many aren’t present?”

“No, Alex will make a scan as soon as the field is activated and let us know. I really don’t think it will be long before any absentees show up.”

Pixie said, “Once the move is completed, everyone must exit that universe immediately after releasing the field and I do mean immediately.”

Jixie nodded, “Any more questions? No? Start the minute countdown starting righttttt….now!”

• • •

The three ships hung in empty space outside the giant galaxy and a minute later they all disappeared together and reappeared at the center of the galaxy surrounding a giant purple colored structure close to the galaxy’s core. The blue psychic field immediately activated and the structure disappeared inside it. Jixie yelled, “Alex?”

“Two thousand are not here.” Suddenly, bright flashes lit up the blue field. “Make that nine hundred.” The flashes appeared again and Alex said, “Ten are still…make that three…only one is still out. A bright flash hit close to Pixie’s ship and she yelled, “That’s the last one. Make the move!”

The blue field solidified and the peaks disappeared from its surface. The blue field covered and area more than ten light years across and something inside it was moving at an incredible velocity. Danielle yelled, “Count it down, Jixie!”

“On my mark, three, two, one, MARK!!”

The three giant blue psychic ships and the blue field between them disappeared.

C
aptain Phillip Lavor had chosen to teleport his Planter Battleship to a galaxy that was young and developing new stars at a prodigious rate. He moved his ship close to the core of the young galaxy and hoped the dust and excited energies being emitted by the formation of billions of stars and the massive energies being spewed out by the massive black hole would mask his presence. He sat in his command chair and watched the process of creation taking place outside his view port. He hoped whatever was going to take place would happen quickly. He had 60,000 civilians packed on board and nowhere near enough supplies to feed them.

“Sir, I’m detecting some kind of aberrant reading on my scanners.”

“What kind of reading?”

“I’m not sure; I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Captain Lavor had fought his battleship in every major battle the Planters had entered. He had commanded his ship with extraordinary bravery and cunning. He had never made a mistake in battle, having always done the exact right thing to survive and destroy his enemy. He was one of the Planter’s best ship commanders.

If he would have just remembered that he wasn’t using his ship as a weapon but as a transport for the civilians on board, he wouldn’t have made his first mistake. However, his curiosity made him ask two questions. “How strong is the reading?”

“It’s halfway up the scale, Sir.”

““What area does it cover?”

“My scanners see it everywhere as far as they can scan.”

Phillip jumped up and shouted, “Teleport us out of here,” just as the ship was surrounded by a vast blue field. If he recognized his responsibility was to the civilians on board, he would have immediately teleported away. His first and only mistake was his last.

“MY BOARD IS LOCKED AND INOPERATIVE!!”

The Navigator yelled, “SIR, ALL OUR SYSTEMS ARE OFFLINE.”

A moment later, the blue field surrounding them disappeared. The Communications Officer jumped up from his chair and started backing away from the front view port, “WHAT IS THAT!?!” Everyone on the bridge turned and saw something that blew their mind. It was easily four hundred times larger than the half mile long Battleship and it was sitting less than a mile from the bow of their ship. It was flashing multicolored lights and everyone could see it was angry. Beyond the giant object, they could see thousands of others flashing around them. Captain Lavor had just enough time to reach for the communicator as his ship was hit by a giant white globe; in less than an instant; nothing remained to ever show that more than sixty thousand beings had been erased from existence.

• • •

Danielle saw normal space appear and heard Jixie yell, “RELEASE THE FIELD ON MY MARK AND GET OUT! THREE, TWO, ONE, MARK!!”

Danielle listened to the countdown and heard Alex say, “Danielle, a Planter’s Battleship is trapped inside the field.”

Danielle and Tag jerked their heads around to the wall monitor and saw the giant battleship dead in space. Just before they disappeared they saw a giant object flash up and stop close to the stricken ship. Danielle screamed as the Kosiev disappeared.

• • •

“This is not possible! How could they have a ship in this galaxy!?!”

Alex said, “You know what this means and how it affects what’s going to happen.”

Tag said, “Contact the Prince, Alex.” Ping appeared on his display. “Ping, we have a problem.”

Ping saw Thomas Gardner on his display and said, “What do you mean a problem?”

“We’ve just released the device and one of your battleships was at the site of the release. We chose a galaxy for the release that was uninhabited and never expected to have a starship anywhere near it.”

“What’s the problem?”

Danielle yelled, “You don’t understand! The creatures we released will focus on your ships and planet to the exclusion of everything else. One of your ships was the first thing they saw upon entering your universe and they will not stop until every ship and planet of your species is erased from the universe. The possibility of this happening is more than a billion to one that one of your ships would be the first one they encountered.”

Ping shook his head, “What are you trying to say! If we’re going to die anyway, why is there a problem?”

“Because they will have to take time to find all of your ships and then destroy your planet. By the time that’s done, the Four will be sending millions of ships into the Realm. Their portals will be active before our device can remove you.”

Ping knew that time had run out. His hope of survival was just a dream. He looked at Dahlia and knew he would never see their unborn daughter. Dahlia saw his sorrow and turned to the display. She pressed a button on her panel and said, “Attention all Planter Ships, you will return to our planet and enter orbit. You will turn off your weapons and not activate them unless you are directly ordered to do so. This is an order from the crown and you will teleport back immediately.” Dahlia turned back to the monitor, “If they can destroy us fast enough, perhaps they can stop the Four.”

Danielle shook her head, “I’m so sorry; I’m so sorry.”

Dahlia looked up and said, “Pare, that order includes us; take us back.”

• • •

They arrived and Tess appeared on the display, “What’s going on?”

“One of our battleships was seen by the device the Gardners released. It appears that before it goes after the Four, it will have to remove us from existence. If we’re going to die either way, we might as well get it done quickly enough for it to go after the Four before they invade the Realm.”

“Are you certain none of us would have escaped?”

“The Gardners are and that’s enough to convince me, Tess.”

“I love you, Dahlia.”

Dahlia nodded, “I know, Sis. I’ve always known.”

Sprigly said, “A hornet has just appeared.”

Ping and Dahlia turned and looked out of the view port and saw something amazing. Ping said, “Do you know what this is?”

“I do.”

“What is that thing, Sprigly?”

“Ken and Pixie used that creature to destroy the last five evil civilizations the Realm was going to have to face to survive. The five civilizations were so far advanced, the Realm really didn’t have much of a chance against them. That creature was created to be the ultimate doomsday being.”

“Why did you call it a hornet?”

“It looks like a giant flying creature and exhibits all the characteristics of that earth insect. Once a hive locks on an intruder, they will chase it and never give up on attacking it. Their stings are one of the most powerful in the insect world. That creature you see in front of us is smaller than the last time I saw it. It has evidently evolved since the last time it was used.”

Pare said, “Smaller!! That thing is two hundred and fifty miles long.”

“They were five hundred miles long before. I can see that even at their smaller length, they still produce the same amount of energy. Millions of them were killed during the extinction of the Five in our universe when hundreds of ships would attack them together. I suspect that with their smaller size, nothing can harm them now.”

Ping looked at Sprigly, “You knew they were going to use these creatures.”

“I suspected they were. I really didn’t think they would come up with a safe way to move them to this universe. I guess I was wrong.”

“Why didn’t you tell us about them?”

“And allow you to feel despair and hopelessness? These creatures do not have a consciousness. They are totally instinct and once they lock on a civilization, that civilization dies.”

“Is there any way to escape them?”

Sprigly leaned back, “No, they are like you, Ping. Once one of them scans you, it can look out into the universe and see every place one of your species is located. It will then extend a violet colored field around itself and the other members of the hive will fly through it and have all the information transferred to them.” Sprigly pointed at the single hornet hanging is space twenty thousand miles out from the planet. “I suspect that is the one that destroyed our battleship. The others will arrive momentarily.”

Pare said, “How many others?”

“Well, since we’ve moved all of our ships here and they don’t have to go out and destroy them all over Creation; I suspect the entire hive will arrive.” Suddenly space around the planet was glowing with a brilliant violet color. Ping and Dahlia looked out and saw a globe of the giant creatures that filled their solar system all the way out to the last planet. All of them were flashing multicolored lights and Sprigly said, “There are quite a few of them and I can tell from their flashing lights that they are not exactly happy about being ripped from their former location and brought here.” Sprigly paused and leaned to the right side, “Can you feel the vibrations?”

Dahlia and Ping heard the hull of the Rover humming with the voice being created by the swarm. Sprigly was right, they weren’t happy.

Dahlia walked forward and leaned against her panel and stared at the first Hornet to arrive. It was out in front of the hive that was flashing through space faster than they could see behind it. Dahlia looked at it closely and she could feel its anger. She knew that it would be like taking her baby away from its home and dropping it in a strange location. She felt sorrow for what had been done to it and she shook her head. Sprigly said, “Here they come!”

• • •

The humming rose to an intensity almost too loud to bear and the huge swarm turned and rushed toward the planet. Dahlia straightened up from the panel, held out her arms, and screamed, “STOP!!!”

The onrushing swarm immediately stopped. The giant mass suddenly started humming at an even higher intensity but the one in front floated in space and was not flashing lights. Dahlia turned to Ping, “Take me out to it.” Ping looked at the giant Hornet and shook his head. Dahlia took his hands, “If we’re going to die, I want to see my killer up close. I’ve hurt that one and I have to go to it.” Dahlia’s armor appeared around her and Ping was surprised it fit around her huge midsection. “Take me, Ping.”

Ping glanced out of the viewport as the humming rose and sighed. His armor appeared and they disappeared out of the Searcher. They appeared less than twenty feet from the single hornet in front of the wildly rushing swarm around them and Dahlia stared at it. Its head was more than forty miles wide and the body of the Hornet disappeared in the distance. Ping watched the Hornets flashing around them but none of them stopped. He looked at Dahlia who had moved close to the giant and heard her say, “You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen.”

The Hornet’s purple colored light started flashing. Dahlia reached out and touched the fine covering and tiny hair that flashed at her touch. The crimson colored light moved out from where she touched the Hornet and moved the entire length of its body. Dahlia placed her other hand on the Hornet’s head and suddenly, multicolored lights appeared around her hands and moved down the Hornet’s body; violet, purple, orange, green, lime, yellow, blue, jade, and then violet again. Ping stared at the creature and then saw that all the other Hornets in the solar system had stopped vibrating and were moving gently from side to side as they emitted the identical colors of the Hornet Dahlia was touching. The view was incredible and beyond imagination.