Star Rover-Chosen to Die (Lens of Time) (31 page)

“According to my scanner, that area is approaching a temperature that can start a fusion reaction. We don’t need a small star this close to Earth.”

Gresha’s eyes went wide and she shook her head “I should have seen that.”

“I can’t understand why they haven’t opened another entry to the planet.”

Gresha nodded, “That doesn’t make sense.”

• • •

The Exalted looked at the thousands of feeds coming in from the other planets in the Milky Way and was working with his staff to determine how many fleets were going to be needed. He shook his head and saw something out of the corner of his eye. He jerked his head around and saw the video coming from the planet that was being attacked was dark. Nothing was coming through, “Why is the feed coming from the planet under attack dark?”

“We lost it just before the attack began, Exalted.”

“How many probes were there!?!”

“A hundred and eight.”

“And you’ve lost the feed from all of them. GET ME A PROBE IN THERE NOW!!”

The operator turned to his panel and pressed numerous buttons. The operator stared at the dark monitor and said, “Exalted, “I’ve sent more than a thousand and none of them are reporting.”

The Exalted walked over to the Operator’s panel and said, “If you don’t get me a view of what’s going on at that planet, I will execute you myself.”

The Operator’s nose was frozen against his mouth and he pressed buttons almost faster than the eye could follow. “I’ve sent two million probes there, Exalted.”

The monitor came on and the Exalted saw the giant fireball that was burning almost too bright for the monitor to handle. There were millions of large white ships around the planet and there wasn’t a rust colored warship in sight.

“Stop the fleet!”

“Exalted, all of them have entered normal space.”

The Exalted stared at the monitor and knew that more than a billion warships had been sent through that jump point. His two stomachs turned over and he felt his lower two arms weakened as he collapsed into a chair. The Herd had never suffered this magnitude of a loss. His anger was immediate and his face became a snarl, “Send three fleets against this planet and divide them between six entry points.” He turned to the Probe Operator and snarled, “If you lose the feed you’re dead.”

“Exalted, more than three quarters of the million probes I sent in are no longer reporting.”

“Then send ten million! You better not lose that feed.”

The Operator pressed a button and every probe the Herd had in their inventory moved into Earth’s Solar System.

Dat queried the probes in Green Space and said, “Gresha, pull your fleet back and organize to defend a jump point.”

Dat watched the twenty million ships jump back in line with the other six fleets and form up. Dat announced, “The probes tell me the wave has stopped. I suspect another will be arriving and Shane will take the first jump point to appear. If no others appear, Gibbs will join him. If another appears, Gibbs will take that one followed by Mark, Kelli, Kune, and then Gresha. Start firing immediately and this time launch a million penetrators. I want to start that fireball as quickly as possible. Angel, you and the Rovers will attack any that get through. Any questions?” Dat saw an alarm on his visor and looked at it. “Here they come. Make them pay.”

• • •

Angel watched space and suddenly saw six places begin glowing on her visor. All six fleets immediately jumped and opened fire. The six fleets didn’t form a complete cylinder but formed a half pipe with all their weapons discharging into the disturbance. Rust colored warships burst into normal space and were immediately obliterated by the massive barrages and penetrators. The missiles and reactors on board the Believer Warships were blasted and the explosions caused as much damage as the beams and penetrators fired by the Jukeboxes. All six jump points were exploding with a violence that was beyond belief.

Angel saw thousands of Believer Warships manage to move away from the carnage and she said over her fleet frequency, “Dizzy, your fleet will handle the first group of leakers.” Angel watched Dizzy’s Fleet rush out and engage the Rust Warships. Thousands more began escaping and she said, “All Ships in Strike Fleet, pick a target. Engage now!” The twenty four thousand Jukeboxes rushed forward and the battle beyond Earth’s moon took on an even higher intensity. The Exalted stood and screamed at the monitor, “None are breaking through!” He turned to his Communications Believer, “Order in three more fleets through six more jump points.” The Believer lifted his microphone and started speaking.

• • •

Katherine watched the battle and saw that the Union’s Fleets were holding their own against numbers that were unbelievable. “Admiral, another massive wave is moving through Green Space toward us.”

“Estimate on the numbers?”

“At least as many as are here now.” Katherine shook her head. Brad said, “Six new entry points have appeared.”

“Detonate the bomb!”

Hundreds of thousands of Believer Warships blew into normal space an instant before their entry point was closed by the nuclear blast disrupting Green Space. The Union Fleet saw the entry points disappear and they turned and fell on the million plus Believer Warships that had come through. They were all chased down and blown into fragments.

Dat looked at the wall monitor and shook his head, “All Fleets, form up and start moving out toward the outer planets. We’ll try to take out as many as possible before they arrive at Earth.” Gresha shook her head, “There’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one.”

Dat looked at her and saw her staring at the monitor. He looked at it and saw a mass of rust colored warships gathering outside the orbit of Neptune. It was beyond belief. Gresha saw his expression and said, “Fleet has more than three billion of them.”

Dat stared at the monitor and thought about how to go about attacking a force that large. If they attacked in formations, they would be immediately overwhelmed. Dat punched a frequency, “Angel, how do you see us going after those ships?”

“We’re all going to have to go in alone and kill as many as possible. Trying to work together will only get us killed.”

Dat started slowly nodding and knew she was right. He activated his panel and said, “Attention all Union Ships; we are going to skip out to those incoming ships once we arrive at Jupiter’s orbit and start attacking them. Every ship will operate alone and attempt to kill as many as possible. If we’re pushed back to Jupiter, skip away and go to other Union Planets and try to defend them. Take every opportunity to attack but don’t get trapped inside their formations. Hit them at the edges and run. Good luck and make your lives count.”

• • •

The Exalted looked at the Chosen on his display and expected him to be furious at the loss of ships. He was surprised when the Religious Leader was remarkably calm. “You’ve lost how many warships?”

“Close to two and a half fleets.”

The Chosen stared at the Exalted and after a long moment said, “Those ships are much more advanced than ours.” The Exalted nodded. “I see your pain at the loss of your forces but we knew that we would eventually encounter a foe that would challenge our faith. You must destroy that planet.”

The Exalted looked into the Chosen’s eyes and saw something. He looked at the monitor showing more than a hundred million of the large white ships accelerating way from the planet and moving toward his fleets. “It is going to take us more than twelve days to get to the planet. Our jump drives are inoperative and we’re going to be forced to fight our way through those ships moving out to meet us.”

The Chosen nodded and said, “I’ve ordered three more fleets to join you. They’ll be arriving shortly and you should wait for them to augment your numbers.”

The Exalted was shocked; more than fifty percent of their forces were being committed to this attack. “Thank you, Chosen.” The monitor went dark and the Exalted said, “Stop the fleets until the others arrive.”

• • •

Dat looked at his visor and saw the massive incoming wave of ships stop. “I wonder what they’re doing.”

Gresha shook her head and then knew the answer, “They’re waiting on the late arrivals.” Dat saw the new wave of warships appearing at the edge of disrupted space and start moving toward the first wave. He shook his head and heard Gresha say, “Looks like we have our work cut out for us.” Her statement struck him as funny and he started laughing. After a few moments, the rest of the bridge crew joined him and he said, “Indeed it does.”

• • •

The Union Ships arrived at Jupiter in two days and immediately skipped out to the incoming wave of rust colored ships. The Jukeboxes began savaging their ranks and death walked the outer solar system. The incoming wave was forced to fight on; they couldn’t use their jump drives to escape. Truth be told, they wouldn’t have run if they could. They were on a holy quest and none of them would shirk their duties. The Jukeboxes were defending their home and they attacked with a vengeance. Neither side asked for quarter nor would have accepted it if offered.

Arve flew the Melbourne over the top of the giant enemy formation and started firing barrages into the massed ships below. His beam crews targeted individual ships and the explosions below the Melbourne’s path marked its passage. Lt. Tisdale kept the tactical scan in his vision and saw a massive number of enemy beams being fired into the path of the fast moving Jukebox. He hit the jump button a moment before they hit the wall of beams. The Melbourne appeared ten thousand miles away from the enemy ships and Arve found another place to attack and jumped the Melbourne back in. Fatigue was becoming a factor after more than four days of fighting but he wouldn’t back off; the enemy would arrive at Jupiter’s orbit in three days and then there was no more stopping it. The Melbourne made three more runs and on the fourth, ten thousand enemy warships moved into the Jukebox’s path and it didn’t have time to avoid them. The Melbourne exploded taking out more than six hundred of the enemy with it.

• • •

Angel saw a small red light illuminate in the top right corner of her visor and she took a deep breath and hoped it was something else. She looked at the light and saw, “Melbourne lost with all hands.” She fought off her tears. Grest had died the day before and now she was the only survivor of the Arvolo Triplets. She loved her brothers more than life and now they were gone. Something inside her died with them. She jumped the ship out and took a moment to collect herself. The invading fleet had been reduced in size, but what remained was still huge. She blew out a breath and jumped the Wellington back into the fight. She noticed on the Fleet Frequency that more than two thirds of the Union’s Ships had been killed. Why did the universe have to be so ugly? She blasted more than five hundred enemy warships and barely escaped fifty rust colored ships attempting to ram her. Three days later, thirty five million Jukeboxes watched the giant invading fleet pass Jupiter and continue toward Earth. Angel went to her quarters and wept. The last ship destroyed in the fighting was the Havana. Her mother and father were gone along with her brothers. She had lost her entire family trying to stop the invaders. The very thing that gave her strength was now rubble left in space. The love she drew from her family was dust and felt more alone than she could handle. She wept for her loss and soon another emotion entered her consciousness; rage.

She pulled herself together and went back to the Wellington’s bridge. She looked at Lt. Detforth and said, “Status?”

“Sir, you’re the only surviving flag officer. What are your orders?”

Angel took a breath and watched the giant fleet moving toward Earth. Notify all ships to form up on the Wellington. Get me the names of the senior Captains and I’ll issue promotions. We will remain here until we know what happens at our home.” Angel thought for a moment, “How may Rovers survived?”

“We have more than six million, Sir.”

“Have them follow that fleet in to Earth and to stand by. I want them there in the event the penetrators can cut their numbers down. They can rejoin us afterwards.”

Detforth nodded and began sending the orders.

• • •

Katherine looked at Brad, “Are the commercial haulers ready?”

“Yes Sir, they are.” Brad looked at the wave of ships on the monitor and shook his head, “There are twice as many ships as we have penetrators.”

Katherine smiled, “Brad, we just have to take out two with each one. I have seen that they are prone to explode if they’re hit hard enough, right?” Brad nodded. “We have to allow them to gather around the planet and fire an even spread into their ranks. We should have enough to do that.”

“We do but the haulers are set to launch them one at a time.”

Katherine stared at her terminal and after a moment looked up, “Get word out to the teams to change the launching protocol. I want all of them fired simultaneously.”

Brad looked at the monitor and then back at Katherine, “I’ll issue the instructions.”

Brad left the office and Katherine watched the massive wave of ships move inside Mars orbit. They would arrive in another day.

• • •

The Exalted watched the fleet move past the single moon circling the planet and start spreading out to surround the planet. He had to admit that it was a beautiful world but it was going to pay a price for the number of believers that had died to its warships. The fleet was ten thousand miles away from the planet’s atmosphere when a bright white light burst out and surrounded the planet. He stood up from his chair and stared at the planet. It was now surrounded by what was obviously a force field. He moved his nose from side to side and up and down; what was it going to take to kill this civilization? He watched the first ships arrive just outside the force field and fire six nuclear missiles at the white field. The explosions were huge but had no visible effect on the planet. He looked over his shoulder, “What reading did you get from the missiles?”

The Probe Operator looked at his panel and then looked up, “They did not appear to have any measurable effect on the field.”

The Exalted stared at the planet on his monitor and was growing angrier by the moment. “Order all of our ships to surround the planet and commence firing into that force field. Take readings and tell me if it has any effect.”