Trapped in Time-Extinction (38 page)

The original Andy had written that Earth had a number of extinctions in its long history but that this one was the largest. Life would emerge, eventually, but it wouldn’t be the giants that had ruled the planet for hundreds of millions of years. Next would come the age of mammals and, in the distant future, the rise of humans. But this was not something he would ever live to see. He was moving to a new planet and he knew deep in his heart it would never feel like home. Home was populated by giant monsters that could kill faster than one could imagine. But humans had found an equilibrium with them and lived side-by-side. He missed them more than he could say.

He looked up at another lander moving below the cloud layer and sighed. Now the monsters would be coming in starships looking to make his species extinct. But his descendants would ride starships out to meet them just like he had ridden Dinah out to confront the giant carnivores. The Time Takers had taken his ancestors and put them in the past planning all along to rob them of the future. He smiled and knew that this was one extinction that wouldn’t happen.

“Andy, it’s time to go.”

Andy waved at Melody and turned to go. Just before he turned completely around, he saw a single Pterodactyl dip below the cloud layer and he felt his tears. He thanked the planet for this farewell as he walked to his wife and children. He could go now and put the past behind him in peace. He boarded the lander and stared out of the viewport as it lifted. He saw the last lander rise just before a massive cloud of dust and debris blew out of the mountain below it. He put his arm around Melody and closed his eyes and was riding Dinah across the clearing toward a lone tree where he found Harmony. He smiled and pulled Melody closer. So much sorrow…but so much joy as well.

A
nthony banked the small ship to the right just as a brilliant beam flashed by. It made the control panel blink for an instant before it came back to full illumination. “You cut that one a little close wouldn’t you say?”

Anthony looked at Jalen and smiled, “I wasn’t able to see the gunner’s mind until just before he fired the blaster. Would the ship have survived the hit?”

Jalen looked at his panel and shrugged, “I’m not sure.”

“Why don’t you handle that battleship and I’ll line up another one.”

Jalen looked out of the viewport and saw the huge battleship’s blasters were turning in his direction. He focused on the ship and adjusted his helmet. He sent out the thought wave and the huge ship fell off course and the blasters stopped moving. He looked at his ship’s scanner display and looked at Anthony lining up another ship ahead of them. He flew in on the giant and fired a red beam at the front of the blue battleship. The ship veered up and started spiraling until it was moving bow over stern.

Anthony whipped the small warship under another small ship that flew past them in the opposite direction. Anthony smiled, “That was Andrea and her sidekick.”

“Your sister is a pretty good pilot.”

“That she is. Oh look, the Cleden are breaking off their attack.”

“Should we pursue them?”

“No, let them go. We’ll contact them and let them know their invading days are over.”

Jalen tilted his head, “You know the planet they’re attacking invaded them in the past?”

“Yes, but they sued for peace and vowed to pay reparations. The Cleden weren’t satisfied with the offer without spilling some blood.”

“I honestly think they should have been allowed to do it.”

Anthony shrugged, “I know, but the Dermish have asked to join the Dominion and their request was granted by the Regent and Andy.”

“When was that done?”

“About two weeks ago.”

“I thought we have learned that aggressive civilizations don’t assimilate very well into our society.”

“They don’t.”

“Then why did we accept the Dermish?”

“It was a close decision. They’re on the cusp of being too violent. I think they were given the benefit of the doubt. If they don’t have what it takes, they’ll be removed.”

“The Original Founders of the Dominion accepted many planets that were former aggressors.”

Anthony sighed, “They were but they were all eventually destroyed after most of them started attacking again hundreds of years later. Removing aggression from a civilization that has tasted it is almost impossible; it always shows up later.”

“Which brings me back to my original question, why did we accept the Dermish?”

“Actually, it was to prevent the Cleden from attacking them. The Cleden are a peaceful society that is seeking revenge for the atrocities the Dermish did to them. We need to prevent them from a successful invasion so they won’t develop a taste for it. I suspect the Dermish will make a mistake in the future and they’ll be gone.”

Jalen shook his head, “It really bothers me that I don’t have your telepathic ability to keep us with everything that’s going on in the Dominion.”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

“The Cleden deserve to have their vengeance. They were brutalized by the Dermish.”

“That’s why we’re doing all we can not to destroy their fleet.” Anthony looked at Jalen, “What’s bothering you?”

“Why don’t you just look in my head?”

“You know I won’t do that.”

Jalen sighed, “I’ve heard rumors that you’ve been selected to be in the Succession.”

“Where did you hear that!?”

“My mother mentioned that I might need to start looking for another partner. I pressed her on the issue and she told me on the condition that I not reveal it to anyone.”

“You just told me!”

“Yes, but I can tell her you saw it in my mind and she’ll understand.” Jalen watched Anthony’s expression and shook his head, “You didn’t know?”

“No, I didn’t.” Anthony brought the small ship to a stop and thought furiously. After a few minutes he said, “Jalen, there are too many that are more qualified than I am.”

“Not really.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Anthony, your judgment is better than any other Flier I’ve ever met. Even choosing to kill that Cleden Battleship was a good choice. It was too good to leave it alive to fire at other Fliers. You always make a good decision. I’m sure others have seen that as well.”

“I think the current Andy will be around for a long time to come.”

“You know that has nothing to do with the Succession.”

Anthony sighed, “I wish they did it like the old days. They didn’t choose the next Andy until the current one was dead.”

“Anthony, that was at least ten thousand years ago. Now if we can get the Cleden to accept our conditions, the cluster will be under our control. The rest of the galaxies have been tamed and peace rules the hundreds of galaxies in the Dominion.”

“I know; it’s just that…”

“You want to be with those that reach out into the untamed clusters around us.”

“Exactly.”

“Maybe my mother is wrong?”

“Jalen, your mother is the Regent’s Sister.”

“I know, but the selection of the Human’s Leader is entirely up to them.”

Anthony shook his head, “There are so many of us that are telepathic that I find it hard to believe I’m any better than the rest.”

Jalen shrugged, “It’s only a matter of time until every human will be telepathic.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Anthony, you know that all of Melody’s descendants are telepathic and all of them have twins. The telepathic gene is dominant and it’s only a matter of time until it’s a trait all of you have.”

“I guess.”

“More than half of all humans are telepathic now just ten thousand years since Melody had her children. Linnae and Harmony had six sets of twins each and telepathic humans are highly desired as mates. I don’t think it will take another ten thousand years for eighty or ninety percent of you to be telepathic.”

“Most Talens are telepathic.”

“Yes, but only with other Talens.”

“Well, this is not something I’m going to worry about.”

A button started flashing on Jalen’s panel and he pressed it, “Anthony Singer, you have been requested to report to Fleet Headquarters immediately.”

“Yes Sir. Do you know why I’m being asked to report?”

“No, the request comes directly from the Crown.”

“I’ll jump out momentarily, Fleet.”

Jalen shook his head, “I was afraid of that.”

“What?”

“If you have been chosen for the Succession, I’m sure fleet has been keeping an eye on you and that shot fired by that Cleden battleship came pretty close to us. They’ll probably be reprimanded by the Crown for allowing you to participate in a battle.”

Anthony shook his head and knew Jalen was right. “I’m just not qualified to do this.”

“Tell Andy. Maybe he’ll listen.”

The button started flashing again and Jalen pressed it. “Jalen Ren, you have been ordered to report to the Regent.”

“Why?”

“Ask him. We’re not privy to the Crown’s reasons.”

The two Fliers looked at each other and Jalen started shaking his head, “Surely I’m not…”

Anthony looked at him and sighed, “Let us pray it’s not that for either of us.”

Jalen could only shake his head all the way back to Talen.

• • •

Ten years later, Anthony became the four hundred and sixty sixth Andy in the Succession since Humanity moved to Talen. Jalen became the Regent at the same time and they were crowned together. The Dominion learned that the Regent and Andy worked best with each other when they shared the dangers of war and fought together for survival. It was under their leadership that the Dominion tripled its size. History recorded them as two of the Dominion’s greatest leaders rivaling the original Regent and Andy that had started the Dominion.

• • •

Mark Singer and Andolen Ren sat in the two command chairs on the fleet’s flagship Raptor’s Claws. Mark looked at his panel and saw his fifteen thousand Fliers were spread out in a spiral formation around them. The ship’s force fields were at full power and Andolen looked at Mark, “The last fleet has arrived and is in formation fifty thousand light years across the galaxy.”

“What does Fleet say about the Drogon Fleets?”

“They detected our arrival and are mobilizing their ships in the galactic center as we speak.”

Mark shook his head, “Any idea as to their numbers?”

“We outnumber them substantially when you include all the allies’ warships. But they outnumber the fliers two to one.” Mark nodded and thought about the numbers about to face-off against each other.

Over the last thirty million years, the Talen and Humans had expanded to more than twenty thousand uninhabited planets and the Dominion occupied more than half of known space. So far, the growth of the Dominion had moved forward at a steady pace. However, they ran into the Drogon a hundred and fifty years ago and that expansion came to an immediate halt. The Drogon were immune to the Talen’s thought waves and their force fields were strong enough to stop the Red Beams unless they were fired from close range. The Drogon Battleships’ beams would vaporize a Flyer if it moved in close enough to use the Red Blasters. The Dominion had spent the last century developing new ships that could survive the Drogon Warships. Today they would find out if the new ships would hold up against them.

The newest Flyer Vessels were no longer small two-man crafts. They were two hundred yards long and powered by new reactors that were more powerful than forty of the old ones. The battle was going to hinge on the Fliers’ force fields holding up against the giant Drogon Dreadnaughts. Those vessels were half a mile long and powered by eighty reactors.

The Drogon had originated on a single planet in their galaxy but over more than ten million years, they had conquered the entire galaxy and snuffed out every intelligent being in it. Every habitable planet was populated by the Drogon and they were starting to attempt an expansion into the Dominion. The Dominion fought them for more than a hundred years with old ships and were only capable of keeping them pinned down in their galaxy. Attempting to invade their galaxy was foolish; their numbers were far too high to even try. The Drogon emerged from their galaxy three times but were forced back each time. The number of ships lost making that happen was staggering. Now the Drogon were massing their fleets at the edge of their galaxy again to invade the Dominion. The Regent and Andy decided they couldn’t delay any longer. The scope of the coming battle was beyond imagination.

Mark’s fleet had been assigned a Drogon task force of thirty thousand Dreadnaughts. The beams on those giant ships were as hot as the surface of a large star and if a ship was directly hit, after a few seconds, there wouldn’t be anything left but gas. But the Drogon had never faced a fleet of telepaths. The Allies gathered to fight with the Talens and Humans; however, they did not stand much of a chance against the huge Dreadnaughts; but they hoped to distract them enough for the Flyers to get in to open fire on them. Mark was humbled by their bravery but the Allies knew if the Drogon weren’t stopped here, their planets were also in peril.

Andolen looked up from his control board, “The Allies are moving in.”

Mark pressed his panel, “Everyone link up and activate your weapon systems. We’re jumping in ten minutes.”

The vast fleets of Ally Warships disappeared from outside the edge of the galaxy and Mark stared at his display as they rushed in on the outer lines of Drogon Dreadnaughts firing beams and missiles at the giants. Very few got through the Drogon defenses and tens of thousands of Dominion Warships were vaporized. Mark waited and his heart was close to breaking at the losses being endured by the members of the Dominion. Finally, he pressed the communicator, “Stay linked and stay together. Attack…NOW!”

• • •

Allie and Gunney accelerated toward the distant Dreadnaughts maintaining their place in the long line. Allie focused on the Dreadnaughts in front of her and heard the thoughts of the Drogon gunners sighting their blasters at the incoming line. She heard the gunner on the top of the Dreadnaught directly in front of her lining up the ship on her right and thought to the pilot, “You’re being targeted, get ready to dodge right.” She heard, “You’re targeted, be ready to dodge.” Allie gripped the Flyer’s controls while she watched the gunner’s thoughts. He pressed the firing mechanism and she thought, “NOW!” She immediately heard, “NOW!”