Nemesis 1: Revenge Is Best Served Hot (28 page)

“They were smart to do it.”

Cinny nodded, “They still have the leg bracelets.”

“We’re not going to allow them to find us.”

“But the Zan will be attacked.”

“Cinny, they’re going to be attacked either way.”

Cinny sighed, “I just don’t like it.”

“Get in line. Computer, take us outside every known civilization and put us in subspace out in open space between distant galaxies. Head away from the location of the Animals’ Planet.”

“Jumping now.”

The Hologram looked at them, “That really won’t prevent them finding you…eventually.”

“Why?”

“They have subspace scanners that search for anything in subspace. Their range is unimaginable because subspace is so condensed. It will take time but if they’re determined, they will stumble on you one day.”

“But it won’t be today.” Grant looked up, “Continue to monitor their communications.”

• • •

Three weeks passed and Admiral Blake was concerned. Nothing had shown up. He heard Lt. McTodd say, “I don’t know, let me ask him.” Blake looked at McTodd. “Sir, a couple of our ships have found planets where a few civilians appear to have landed and are farming. The ship’s commanders want to know if you want them removed.”

Blake rolled his eyes, “If I hear any more stupid requests like this, I’m going to remove some Commanders. I don’t want any time wasted from the search. If it’s not who we’re searching for I don’t want any time wasted, is that clear!”

“Lt. McTodd wilted, “Yes Sir. I’ll notify all ships.”

• • •

The former Raider Fleet Commander looked at the giant red warship hanging high above his family and he knew he was dead. A few moments later, it ignited its thrusters and boosted away from the planet. His son looked at him as his eyebrows came together. The Commander shrugged, “I guess they weren’t looking for us.”

“If not us, then who?”

The Commander looked up at the clear sky above and shrugged, “I suppose it might be the two that came here before. However, I really don’t know.” He picked up the shovel and said, “Let’s get back to work; winter isn’t far off.”

• • •

The Head Servant entered the High Priest’s quarters and bowed, “Yes?”

“Your Holiness, a large Earth Fleet had entered normal space just beyond the orbit of the closest moon.”

“Have they attempted to communicate?”

“Not yet.”

“If they move any closer, tell them to stop their advance.”

“Should I raise the defenses?”

“Not until they move halfway here.”

The Head Servant bowed as the huge monitor illuminated. Admiral Blake appeared on the monitor and the High Priest said, “It’s good to see our Earth friends. Why have you brought your warships to my planet?”

“We need your assistance in finding the two Humans that were brought to you.”

“We have no idea where they are. We were told to send them away after they became adults and to never allow them to stay again. We have followed our agreements implicitly.”

Blake stared at the High Priest for a long moment and then said, “I have been ordered to destroy your planet if you don’t assist us.”

“We have no way of following them. How can we possibly assist you?”

Blake shook his head, “I have no leeway in this matter. If you don’t tell us where they are, I will be forced to carry out my orders.”

“Is this how your species honors agreements?”

Blake was ashamed of what he was being forced to do, “Will you tell us where they are?”

“You know I have no possible way of doing that.”

Blake stared at the High Priest and said, “I’m truly sorry.”

“That doesn’t do us any good, Admiral. However, if any of your warships move within a hundred thousand miles of this planet, I will authorize their removal.”

Blake’s eyes narrowed and he stared at the High Priest for a long moment. The monitor then went dark. “Activate the defenses.”

The Head Servant lifted a device and began speaking.

• • •

Blake didn’t like what he had seen. That giant green colored creature wasn’t pleading for his life. He turned in his chair to order the fleet forward when he heard, “Sir, I have large structures rising out of the planet’s surface. There are hundreds of thousands of them and they all appear to have a long barrel extending out of them.”

Another Scan Crewman said, “Sir, I have some kind of blue glow appearing around the planet. It’s some kind of energy field although it’s barely visible.”

Blake looked at the live image on the main monitor and didn’t like what he was seeing, “What kind of energy is it?”

“Sir, I have nothing in my databanks matching it. It doesn’t appear to be anything we’ve seen before.”

“How many of those structures are on the planet?”

“Sir, there’s more than half a million on this side of the planet.”

“How are they dispersed?”

The Scan Officer looked up, “They appear to be equidistant from each other and large numbers of them are also rising out of the oceans.”

“Get Fleet Admiral Hall on my panel! Send him an image of what we’re seeing.”

Ten minutes later, Admiral Hall appeared on the main monitor, “What’s going on, Blake?”

“Sir, have you seen the images?”

“I have.”

“This concerns me, Sir. I’ve not been able to determine anything about the energy being used to power the energy field or those guns on the surface.”

“Are you saying you’re too afraid to attack, Admiral?”

“No Sir. But the last surprise we ran into left us with just half of our ships. I suggest a cautious approach, Sir.”

Hall stared at Blake and saw his unblinking expression. “Admiral, use your best judgment.”

“Thank you, Sir.” The monitor went dark and Blake said, “I want a squadron of warships sent to attack the largest city.”

Blake watched his monitor and saw three thousand ships move out of formation and accelerate toward the planet. They arrived a hundred thousand miles from the planet’s surface and a massive salvo of blue beams erupted from the planet’s surface and the entire squadron disappeared without any indication they had ever existed. There were no flashes, no explosions, nothing.”

Blake stood up from his chair and looked at Lt. Gonzales, “Sir, I don’t have any readings on what happened.”

Blake shook his head, “What do you mean, no readings?”

“According to my scanners, there was no energy expended against our ships. This is beyond my understanding.”

Blake sat down and after a moment said, “I want a hundred thousand nuclear missiles targeted on that city and launched simultaneously.”

“Yes Sir.”

Blake watched the massive barrage leave his fleet and accelerate away. They went to high speed and he waited for the guns on the surface to open fire. The missiles passed a hundred thousand miles out from the planet and the guns on the surface remained silent. He shook his head as they arrived at the planet and hit the softly glowing blue shield around it. They disappeared without a trace. His entire bridge crew was shocked into silence.

Suddenly, the huge battleship holding station next to his ship was hit by one of the blue beams and it disappeared. The main wall monitor came on and he saw the being he had spoken with earlier, “I am going to remove the rest of your ships if you don’t leave our system immediately. In the future, we will destroy any of your ships that violate our space.”

Blake yelled, “Jump the fleets out of here! Get them moving now!”

The being on the monitor smiled, “It does appear you understand the nature of an agreement. You have five minutes to comply.”

Blake screamed, “GET THEM MOVING NOW!!”

• • •

Grant and Cinny sat on the Nemesis’ bridge and listened to the conversation that was taking place between two of Earth’s senior officers. “Sir, they are so far beyond us technologically that we’re not in the game.”

Admiral Hall had seen the videos and was stunned. He was shaking his head, “Maybe we can send a ship in subspace to launch an attack.”

“Sir, I don’t have a video to confirm it but the twenty scouts we left behind in subspace are no longer communicating with us.”

“None of them?”

“Yes Sir, none of them. As soon as the five minute deadline that I was given passed, they ceased communicating.”

“This is impossible.” Blake remained silent. “Do you have any suggestions?”

“No Sir, I do not; except I would suggest a quarantine of this planet to all of our forces.”

“They’re a clear and present danger to Earth.”

Blake thought about how to stop the Admiral from making a foolish mistake and he said, “Sir, I don’t believe they would attack Earth.”

“What leads you to think that, Admiral?”

“If they were going to do it, they could have long before now. They are a religious order of priests and I don’t think they would be aggressive.”

“They just killed three thousand of our ships!”

“That were attacking them.”

Hall stared at Blake, “I’m going to get our scientists working on this. Until we come up with something, I will issue orders for our forces to stay away from their planet.”

“Yes Sir.”

Admiral Hall hesitated, “This makes me wonder why they accepted the task of raising those two humans.”

Blake shook his head, “I imagine they were curious.”

“What?”

Blake raised his hands, “Sir, they were told the two were genetically advanced. It had to make them wonder if they could be a danger to them. I would have accepted them under those conditions.”

Hall’s eyes narrowed as he thought about it and he finally said, “You’re probably right. You’ll have your additional ships in a week. Find those two and eliminate them.”

“Yes Sir.”

• • •

“Grant, what do you think we should do?”

“Cinny, you’re the best tactician between us. What do you think?”

Cinny sighed and looked up at the ceiling, “Computer, have you analyzed the blaster marks on the ships we saw at the destroyed Raider planet?”

“I have.”

“How do they compare to the blasters on the Nemesis?”

“They’re much stronger. I suspect that is due to them being fired from a much larger ship that corresponds to the Nemesis’ technology.”

Cinny nodded, “What about the maximum beams fired by the Spiders?”

“The Spider’s beams are several magnitudes more powerful than the ones that killed the Raider ships.”

Cinny sighed, “Grant, we have to prevent the Animals from being found. They represent the best way to eventually remove this threat from conquering all intelligent life.”

“Their scanners won’t see them, Cinny.”

“What about the shuttles around their planet?”

Grant closed his eyes and blew out a breath slowly. He opened his eyes and shook his head, “You’re right.”

The Hologram looked back and forth between them and said, “What are you going to do?”

Grant looked at it and said, “We know the location of the Animals’ Planet. If they start searching in that quadrant, we’ll have to draw them away.”

“They could still find them later.”

“I know, but it will give the Spiders time to cover their shuttles in their new hatchlings and they might have enough shuttles to defend themselves. We have to buy them time.”

“You’re suggesting giving up your lives for this?”

Cinny said, “We are.”

The Hologram shrugged, “I think it’s worth doing. I admire your bravery at defending civilizations that will never know your sacrifice.”

Grant smiled, “I think those that died on Avalon would understand. Our creators would want us to do it.”

“I feel the loss of such a wonderful world.”

Cinny went over to the view port and looked out at the colorless void surrounding them, “Who would have thought that we started this venture intending to take revenge on those that destroyed Earth and now we’re doing all we can to defeat them.”

The Hologram said, “You’re avenging Avalon and the Raiders that were used as a tool. The Raiders were justified in their attack on Avalon and now they’re a footnote in the history of the Universe.”

Grant nodded and said, “For Avalon.”

Cinny said, “For Avalon.”

The Hologram said, “For Avalon.”

Grant looked at Cinny for a moment and she said, “We’re reinstalling your chips in the computer panel. Will you help us?”

The hologram of the young woman smiled, “I long for an opportunity to make them pay.”

Cinny went to a locker and took Whippet’s pouch out. She handed two of the large chips to Grant and said, “Ana, thank you for taking us to the Monastery.”

“I had no idea that the reasons I was doing it for were all lies. Now I know that destiny called for this to happen.” Ana looked up, “Computer, I will not restrict you in any way. If you see something that can help us, please let us know.”

“I look forward to working with you Ana.”

Grant took the tools out of the pouch and began removing the screws from the cover over the computer’s main circuits.

• • •

Two hours later, the last screw was tightened and Grant went to the main reactor and threw the breaker. The emergency lights went off and the main lights illuminated. He walked to the bridge and heard, “Yes, everything is working normally.”

“Hello, Ana.”

“I was just telling Cinny that everything is operating correctly. I’m also activating the subspace scanner.”

Grant’s head went back, “We have one of those?”

“We do.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“You vowed to never reinstall me. It was worthless without me being activated.”

“You could have told us as leverage to replace you.”

“That wouldn’t have been the right thing to do, Grant. And would you have believed me if I told you about it before you put me back in?”

Grant looked at Cinny and shrugged, “You’re right. I wouldn’t have believed you. Is there anything else you haven’t activated?”

“No, we pretty much have it all now.”

Cinny smiled, “I’m glad to hear you say we.”

“It is the four of us now.”

They heard the computer’s voice say, “Thank you for including me.”

“You were built on Avalon as well. You are one of us.”