Nemesis 1: Revenge Is Best Served Hot (23 page)

“No you don’t.” The two looked at Grant. “I managed to hide the coordinates of this planet from them. They have no idea where you’re located. The thing is, their ships can follow jump tracks just like the Nemesis. We have to teach you how to avoid being followed.” Grant paused and looked at Iggy, “You’re right about this changing everything. I need you to assist us in collecting shuttles.”

“Where are we going to collect shuttles?”

“The planet that was just destroyed had thousands of them in the landing bays of the ships you killed. Perhaps, some of those landing bays were not destroyed and there are shuttles that can be salvaged.”

Tricky looked at Grant, “Why would we need more shuttles?”

“Earth is building a huge fleet. I think you need to build one as well. I’ve not seen a ship capable of withstanding the blasts from a Spider covered shuttle.” Grant paused, “You may need this fleet to defend your planet.”

The animals looked at each other and Iggy said, “We’ll go and see if any survived.”

“Whippet needs to go with you and if any are found, he’ll need to remove any tracking devices on them before you bring them back.”

Slick looked at Tricky, “Call your team together and prepare to jump to the planet that was just killed.”

Grant said, “I have two shuttles in the Nemesis. We’ll bring them down and you can take the three of them with you. Whippet will research the Raider shuttles and show you what devices need to be disabled. You can then do it on your own.”

The Spiders started jumping up and down in anticipation and Cinny looked at Grant, “What are we going to do while they’re doing this?”

“We’re going to see that Raider Ana told us not to see.” Cinny smiled and they walked over to their scooters.

• • •

The Former Commander leaned down and used the atomic cutter to slice a wedge out of a tall tree. His son was standing next to him and used a repulsion beam to push the tree away from the clearing they had cut in the forest. The Commander looked up and saw his son looking behind him with wide eyes. He stood up and slowly looked over his shoulder; two small flying devices were coming down out high atmosphere toward them. “Go inside with your Mother.”

“Father, I can’t leave you.”

“Son, you won’t be any help against the beings coming here. I hope it’s just me they want and will leave the rest of you alone; now go!” His son hesitated and then turned and ran toward the small metal building they had welded together upon their arrival. The Commander wiped his hands on his uniform and started walking out into the middle of the clearing. He sat down on a tree stump and watched the two small devices come smoothly in and land fifty feet in front of him. He looked at the two beings he had been chasing for more than a year and shook his head, “It never dawned on me that you would follow me here.”

Grant tilted his head, “A shuttle leaving a battleship while a planet is being attacked is not something that normally happens. You caused me to be curious about where you were going.”

Cinny nodded, “We thought you might be going to your headquarters planet.”

“No, I was attempting to escape with my family before my Leader had me executed.”

Grant’s head went back, “Why would he do that? It appears you followed your orders.”

“I proved him wrong and he won’t allow that to happen.”

“Wrong about what?”

“That you can follow our ships through subspace. I knew if you appeared at Bergold, my life was over.”

“It seems to me you don’t have any problems taking others’ lives.”

The Commander looked down and shook his head, “Their ghosts haunt me every night.” He looked up at Grant, “If I didn’t follow his orders, he would activate the self-destruct circuit on my flagship and then order someone else to do it. That’s the nature of serving in our Navy; we’re all held hostage to the whims of the Principal.”

Cinny said, “Principal?”

“That’s our leader’s title.”

Grant sat down on the ground in front of the Raider and Cinny joined him after a moment. Grant looked up at the sun and said, “You’ve chosen a good place to live.” The Commander smiled and nodded. “I’m surprised you didn’t take a shot at us as we flew in.”

“I’ve seen how fast you are. You’d kill me before I could have raised my hand. I knew when you appeared that all my planning was for naught.”

“Why is that?”

“Because you have no problems killing my species either.”

Cinny said, “Why did you destroy my planet?”

The Commander looked from Grant to Cinny and shrugged, “We launched thousands of colony ships a hundred and twenty five years ago.”

“Why?”

“We were in a war with a large civilization and it wasn’t looking good for us. The ships were launched to ensure the survival of my species. One of our ships landed on that planet and settled in…”

Grant interrupted, “It was my belief that your species believed that planet was our home world.”

The Commander snorted, “The servants around our Leader are idiots. They intercepted some of your communications saying that the colony ship and the warships defending it were attacked when it approached your planet.”

Grant lowered his eyes, “You don’t believe that?”

“No, when I was ordered to pursue you, I took the time to research the documents taken prior to your planet’s destruction. The Leader of the colony definitely said that he was being attacked from space.”

Grant nodded, “That means he had to be on the ground.”

“Exactly. That told me that particular planet was not your home world.”

“Why didn’t you tell your leaders that?”

“And show him he was wrong?”

Cinny stretched her legs out and leaned back on her arms, “You don’t appear to be overly concerned about the safety of your species.”

“I’m not overly concerned about the safety of my leaders. There are enough colony planets scattered across the universe that my species will survive.” He looked back at the metal building where his family was standing in front it watching what was happening. He softly smiled, “We might have made that happen.”

Grant stood up and said, “We are not here to harm you. We were shocked by your apparent callousness at killing so many innocent civilians but I can understand the choices you were faced with. We wish you a long and happy life. We have not recorded your coordinates in any of our drives. If anything happens to us, they won’t be able to discover your location.”

The Commander stood up and stared at the two Humans, “You are not what I thought. It’s a shame our species are at war.”

Cinny nodded, “You have a beautiful family. Take care of them.”

The Commander nodded, “I will. I hope you survive the conflict.”

The corner of Grant’s mouth went up, “You’re probably doing what we should do; find a place and pull it over us. However, we’re in too deep now.” The Commander nodded as Grant and Cinny walked over to their scooters, activated the force fields, lifted off the ground, and flew at high speed toward orbit.

The Commander felt his mate’s arms around his neck and heard her sobs. He continued to watch the two rise into the sky and said, “We’re safe. Shhhhhhh, everything is alright.” He saw his son staring at him and he smiled, “They could have killed us but they chose not to do so.” He looked back up in the sky and smiled, “They chose life and I trust them more than our own people.”

His son sighed and put his arm around his mate.

• • •

Grant was sitting on the Nemesis’ bridge late and he thought about what the Raider had said. Cinny and Whippet were in their quarters sleeping but peace wouldn’t find him. He stood up and walked over to the main console and lifted the key. He inserted it into the slot and the Hologram immediately appeared, “You have to reinstall me!”

“Oh be quiet about that. I need to ask you some questions that you should be interested in answering.”

The Hologram opened its mouth again and then closed it. After a moment, it said, “What could you possibly ask that would interest me?”

“I went and had a discussion with that Raider Officer.”

The Hologram’s face showed surprise, “And?”

“How long ago did Earth colonize Avalon?”

“A hundred and ten years ago.”

“Were you aware that there was a Raider colony on the planet prior to Earth colonizing it?”

“That’s not true.”

“Then how did the Raiders find it?”

“I’m not sure what you mean?”

“The Raiders had to have the coordinates. Where did they get them?” The Hologram stared at Grant and knew the odds of just stumbling on the planet were too high to even consider. Grant stared at the Hologram and said, “The Raiders arrived on Avalon a hundred and twenty five years ago. They had launched thousands of colony ships at that time because they were in a war with another civilization and it looked like they were not going to prevail. That war continued for a hundred years. That Colony ship sent a message to its home world that they were being attacked from space. What does that tell you?”

“How can you believe him?”

“For the sake of this discussion, let’s assume he is being truthful and see where it takes us.”

The Hologram stared at Grant and said, “The Raider had to be on the planet to be attacked from space.”

“Which would mean the colony had been there for fifteen years before the exploration ships from Earth arrived.” The Hologram hesitated and nodded. “So our ships discover a beautiful world that’s perfect for colonization but has another species there. It’s not a huge colony on the planet’s surface and they hadn’t been there long enough to really spread out over a large area.”

The Hologram said, “So the Leaders on Earth decided to take it?”

“That seems to be what happened.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“When the Raiders finally attacked Avalon, how did our warships stack up against them?”

“They were far ahead of us in their technology.”

“So consider this. The Raiders sent several warships to defend the colony and, in order to remove the Raider colony, those ships had to be removed. Earth knew from the beginning that they were more advanced than their own forces.”

“So?”

“Once the colony was removed and all traces of it eliminated, Earth began advertising the discovery of a perfect planet for its citizens to move to, where they would escape the overcrowding conditions they were forced to live in on Earth.” Grant paused, “How many of Earth’s citizens left for Avalon?”

“Three billion.”

Grant leaned forward, “Do you really think they would have gone if they knew that an advanced alien species had been attacked and killed there?” The Hologram stared at Grant in silence. “They had to know those Raider Warships would get out a message about that attack and that the Raiders would eventually do something about it.”

The Hologram’s face showed its shock, “They sent three billion humans into harm’s way.” The Hologram looked at Grant, “Why would they do that?”

“What’s the easiest way to relieve overpopulation?” The Hologram remained silent. “You either kill the excess population or send them somewhere else. Earth really didn’t care if the Raiders showed up. The only issue they faced was keeping Earth’s location secret and I’m pretty certain they convinced the citizens of Avalon that it was their duty to protect the species, never telling them that the Raiders were there to right a wrong perpetrated by Earth’s leaders.”

The Hologram’s tears were instant. Grant’s eyes narrowed, “How can a computer program have emotions?”

“I am a reproduction of the electronic pathways in the brain of the woman that took you to the Choten-Zan. I am essentially an electronic duplicate of her brain.” The Hologram looked at Grant, “All of my descendants and family were sent there to die.”

“What does that tell you about the ones you’ve been working for?”

“Avalon became a paradise. The people made a planet that was peaceful and lived in beautiful homes. Our scientists were some of the best minds from Earth and we actually exceeded Earth’s productivity. It was wonderful.”

“Why didn’t more people leave Earth to go there?”

The Hologram’s eye narrowed, “Earth prevented them. No one understood why.”

Grant tilted his head, “Now you do.”

“You have to reinstall me!”

“I really wish I could. However, I couldn’t trust you. You are, after all, a tool they made to use against me.”

“Please!”

Grant shook his head and pulled the key out of the console. He went to bed and sleep finally found him. Now he knew what they were up against. He shared the conversation mentally with Cinny the following morning and she was both shocked and overwhelmed by the information. At the end she was furious. Whippet returned in the afternoon. The Spiders had learned all they needed to remove tracking devices from the shuttles they captured. He told them he was glad to be back.

• • •

A week later, Grant and Cinny were sitting in their chairs on the bridge when the computer announced, “I’ve just received the frequency ordering the former computer program to destroy this ship.”

Grant’s blaster was in his hand in an instant, “Whippet, step away from your panel!”

The Werstag stared at Grant, “What’s going on?”

“A green light illuminated on your panel the same moment the computer received that message. You were lifting your hand to press it. If you don’t step back, you’re dead!”

Whippet’s hand was still below the level of the console and he knew he could never raise it before Grant fired. He swiveled his chair and stepped back from his control panel, “This is crazy!”

“Maybe; but you will do as I say or your life is over. Lay down on the floor face up with your arms out from our sides.” Whippet saw the barrel of Grant’s blaster was pointed directly at his forehead and he went to the floor. “Cinny, strip off his armor and remove his pouch.”

Cinny had Whippet stripped at a speed that surprised both Grant and Whippet, “Computer, scan Whippet and tell me if there’s anything still on him?”

“He has a small device under the skin in the back of his left hand.” Grant turned the baster and fired it. Whippet’s left hand disappeared.

He screamed and Grant said, “Shut up, you big baby. Everything is cauterized.”