Annihilation - Tommy's Tale (Annihilation Series (Book Four)) (27 page)

“Hey, hey; don’t you want to see the ring?”

“Right now I want to see you as close as I can get to you.” She held him close and after a few moments stepped back and Tommy placed the ring on her finger. “After Jupiter we will have the wedding.” Tommy reached for Cassie and held her tight.”

C
aptain Wes McAnn looked at his control board. He had been given the command of the Atlantis one of the new pulse ships as the new models were called. He had worked his crew into top shape and his board showed their readiness. His com beeped and he looked on his screen and saw Captain Edward Jones the new commander of the Polaris. “Wes, I just wanted to make sure you saw that I will be covering your port side.”

“Hello, Ed; yes I did. I couldn’t ask for a better wingman. Congratulations on your promotion.”

“Thank you and congratulations to you, too. Let’s make sure we bring these ships back.”

“I agree, keep your eyes open and stay close to the Kosiev. She’ll protect our flank; our job is to keep the masses as far away as possible. I’ll keep my eye on you,” Wes said.

“And I will be watching both of you.”

Wes looked at his com, “Hey Captain Fergerson. Is the Sydney up to your expectations?”

“Yes it is, however my Davlid sensor officer developed stones in her primary stomach and had to be taken to a hospital. They’ve replaced her with a Cainth.”

Ed smiled, “How lucky can you get. Have you ever seen how the Cainth can perform four functions simultaneously with those four arms?”

“Yes, but I can’t stop thinking that he looks like a bloody Roo from my farm in Australia. It’s something I’ll just have to get over but I keep expecting to see him hop off the bridge.”

Wes and Ed laughed, “You’ll get over it Ferg.”

“I know, I know; it’s just weird.”

The twelve ships were in formation preparing to teleport into Earth’s old solar system and begin the fight against the Captors. Admiral Cassandra Dodd keyed the fleet frequency and said, “Hold our formation and do not get pulled away from the Kosiev. If the Captors launch one of those huge energy missiles, we will teleport out of the system and come right back after the ball has passed our position. If the fight gets out of hand, I will push the fleet teleport key and take everyone out. Hold your positions around the Kosiev until we launch the fusion missiles into Jupiter. We will be going in five minutes. Make sure your ships are ready. That is all.”

The Algeans were standing on the bridge running calculations and Sprig didn’t like what he was seeing. “Admiral Dodd, our calculations lead us to believe that the fusion missiles may not be enough to ignite the core.”

Tommy looked at Sprig and said, “How many will it take to ignite the core?”

Sprig raised his limbs over his head and said, “It a mass problem. Jupiter is just too big. I’m not certain every fusion missile in our inventory will do the job. If the Captors have been raising the temperature of the core like we believe, then it might work. We just won’t know until we launch,”

Tommy and Cassandra looked at Sprig and Tommy said, “We have to try. The plan stands as we’ve drawn it up.”

Lt. Johns, the Kosievs’ new sensor office said, “Teleport in one minute.”

Cassandra said, “Count it down, Linda Kay.”

“5,4,3,2,1, execute.”

The Stars Realm Pulse Ships appeared above the southern Pole of Jupiter and the Kosiev launched twelve fusion missiles into Jupiter’s atmosphere just before a hundred thousand Captor ships came screaming around the planet. Cassandra said over the fleet frequency, “Weapons free, hold your positions.”

The Captors started blowing up and imploding. The Kosiev had the black negative matter balls leaving its hull so fast that the entire skin looked black. The first wave of Captor ships were disappearing faster than the eye could follow but now the rest of the Captor fleet arrived with more than a million ships piling on the rush to destroy the intruders. Linda Kay announced, “The fusion missiles have detonated.” She paused for a moment and said, “The core has not ignited.”

The Captors launched thousands of the energy balls and Cassie hit the mass teleport button. The fleet came out above Jupiter’s north pole and fired negative matter at the construct that the Captors had been building and huge holes were blown into it.”

Sprig yelled at Cassandra, “Go into energy space and ignite Jupiter’s core.”

Cassandra was so focused on fighting the Kosiev that she only heard Sprig with the back of her mind. Then it broke through her consciousness and she keyed the ships com and said, “Penetrator crews, take over firing weapons.” Then she looked for the nearest nerve center in space and focused her mind into it.

Wes saw thousands of Captor ships rushing in to attack and he issued orders as fast as he could. “Penetrators focus seventy percent of weapons on the starboard side, helmsman, roll us sixty degrees to the starboard, Launch a volley of two thousand toward the nose, Belay that roll. Move toward the Polaris, keep them off his flank.”

The Atlantis moved closer to the Polaris as thousands of red ships flew at the beleaguered pulse ship. Wes ordered, “Take some of the heat off Polaris’ port side. Helmsman, take us in closer.” Suddenly the red ships turned from the Polaris and moved on Atlantis. More than five thousand energy balls flew at Wes’ ship. The Captor’s beams were being absorbed by the pulse ships’ skin but the energy balls blasts were so violent that the ships were being tossed around like leaves in a gale. Five hundred energy balls made it through Atlantis’ defenses and hit on both sides of the rear of the ship. Simultaneously two hundred energy balls hit the front port side of the ship. The rear was held in place by the blasts on each side but the front part of the ship was slammed starboard. The ship broke in half.

Linda Kay on board the Kosiev watching her sensors saw the Atlantis break up and said, “Oh no! Please God, not Wes.”

The Polaris and Sydney took station above and below the broken pieces of the Atlantis and were struggling to keep the energy balls away but they were close to being overwhelmed.

The entire bridge crew glanced at the monitor and saw the Atlantis dead in space broken into two pieces. Tommy felt a huge pain in his heart and Sprig’s leaves turned dark brown showing his shock. Sprig reached for his device and Twig shouted, “Sprig, no!” Sprig disappeared from the bridge.

The Twelve ships were being hit by more than four hundred thousand of the Captor’s beams and energy balls were coming as thick as raindrops in a thunder storm. The pulse ships were being rocked by the energy blasts but held on as Cassandra looked for Jupiter on the surface of the particle in null space. Linda Kay controlled her tears and continued to send sensor data to the weapon crews. Then she saw more than twenty thousand of the energy balls home in on the broken Atlantis and explode in a huge blast. When the screen cleared the Atlantis was gone. She had tried desperately to contact Wes with her mind just before the blast but she could feel nothing. Twig watched the blast and felt something die inside her. She couldn’t move or even think clearly.

Cassandra found the particle in energy space but could not find Jupiter on the particle. It was like finding a needle in a mile high haystack. Then she had a thought. She pulled out of the particle and turned her attention on Jupiter. She sent a thought toward Jupiter and then immediately returned to the particle. She looked and then she saw it. There was a blue spot on the particle. She rushed to the spot and looked closely. There, right there, she went closer saw Jupiter. She focused on the minute point and thought, “Hot!” She immediately withdrew from the particle and came back mentally into the Kosiev and pushed the mass teleport button just before Jupiter ignited and became a star. Sprig yelled at Cassandra, “you’ve got to cool the particle; it’s approaching critical.”

Cassandra took her mind back to the particle in energy space that had also felt her thought and saw it turning white hot, she thought as hard as she could, “Cold, cold, cold, cold.” She kept thinking cold but the temperature didn’t change and the particle started spinning faster; but then, it slowed, and the particle went from white to bright red. She continued to think cold but the temperature remained bright red.”

Twig shortened her height from twelve feet to a normal seven. “The particle is no longer critical but it is not losing heat very fast. It is going to stay hot for many months, Admiral Dodd.”

Tommy looked at Cassandra and said, “What does that mean?”

“I’ll show you,” Cassandra said and teleported the fleet back to Jupiter. The fleet came out into normal space near the orbit of mars and Tommy was amazed. There were now two suns in the solar system. Jupiter’s core had ignited and started a fusion reaction which ignited the entire planet into a small star. The Captors construct that had been built around the planet had been melted in the blast of ignition and most of the Captor ships that had been damaged during the battle had been burned in the blast and pulled into the new star’s gravity well. There were still hundreds of thousands of Captor ships swarming around the planet but there was nothing left for them to defend. The new nest was too hot and could not be used as another home.

Cassandra said, “You see that new sun. We won’t be able to do that to their home world. The particle is just too hot to use again.” Twig nodded and said, “I’m glad you realize that; you came close to particle ignition during that action.”

Suddenly, thousands of angry Captor ships began jumping in on them and Cassandra teleported the group away. Just before they disappeared from Jupiter, Cassandra sent a thought to the First Male, “How does it feel to be treated like you’ve treated others? We’re not done yet. See you at your house soon.”

The First Male had jumped to Jupiter right after the planet ignited and watched the new hive and planet burn in atomic fire. His rage was more than he could stand but then the thought sent to him drenched his rage and he felt real fear. “All warriors return to the home nest, now!” The giant red ships disappeared from the solar system leaving a small new sun that would over the next hundred million years bring life back to mars. Already the polar caps were starting to melt and rivers started to run in ancient canals. But for the Captors, there was nothing left for them. They left the system and didn’t look back.

Tommy’s pain over the loss of his best friend was almost unbearable. He went to Linda Kay and held her as she wailed her grief. Cassandra went to Twig and took one of her limbs in her hand and felt her sorrow. Twig said, “I told him not to go.”

The entire fleet felt the huge loss. Edward Jones on the Polaris was also bearing a huge load of sorrow. His ship was still alive because Wes came to his defense. As Tommy held Linda Kay the speaker over the communications board beeped and a voice said, “You know, we could use a little help here.” Twig jumped and shouted, “Sprig, I’m going to deleaf you. Where are you?”

“I managed to teleport the two halves of the ship to the surface of Mars just before the energy balls hit. We have a lot of injuries here and the ship is losing atmosphere.”

Twig saw Linda Kay looking at her, “Sprig, is Wes ok?”

“He’s unconscious. The front part of the ship got the worse of it and when the ship was slammed apart the bridge was broken up. He’s still got oxygen in his suit but he’s not answering me.”

Tommy thought, “Rose.”

“Yes Tommy”

“Clear Colonist Park on Ross; I’m dropping a megaship on it in less than two minutes with casualties. One of them is Wes. You have two minutes.”

Tommy thought to Sprig, “Sprig, do you have the coordinates of Colonist Park on Ross.”

“Yes, why?”

I want you to teleport the Atlantis there in two minutes. The park is close to the medical park so we should be able to get help quickly.”

“Have you thought about the damage this ship will do if dropped in that park?”

“The park is two miles square. The ship will fit and statues and monuments can be rebuilt.”

Rose broke in on their conversation, “The park is blocked off but it will take an extra two minutes to move all of the tourists out from the middle of the park.”

“How are you going to do it,” Tommy asked?

“I’ve ordered ten thousand of our marines in training at the academy to jump into the park in their armor and grab a tourist and jump out. Set the ship down in the middle, please.”

Sprig said, “Three minutes.”

Cassandra looked at Linda Kay and said, “Twig I can’t jump there from here because the Captors may come back and see the jump track.”

Twig grabbed her device, entered coordinates, and then said, “The field is set up in front of the Kosiev. Move through it now.”

Cassandra pushed her fleet frequency and ordered, “Attention all ships; teleport to the destinations assigned prior to the battle and await further instructions. Helmsman, take us through the field.” Ten pulse ships disappeared and the Kosiev moved through the screen and entered the Ross system. Twig moved forward, grabbed Linda Kay, and they disappeared from the bridge.

Sprig stood on the bridge of the Atlantis counting down the time remaining. Wes wasn’t moving and he could tell that some of the bridge crew was dead. He placed the field over the broken ship and held it there. He went to the wall and pulled a lever that opened a glass cover. He reached in and pressed a bright red button that sent a signal to the skin of the Atlantis to go dormant. The hull of the Atlantis went from bright white to black. Now the ship could be safely landed. Finally the time had elapsed and he dropped the field on the damaged ship. He felt a slight jerk as the ship settled and then he pressed the emergency door release opening all of the external doors. He went to another switch and turned off all power to any weapon consoles. As he pushed the last circuit to engage emergency power the medical crews began rushing through the door into the bridge. One of the technicians ran to Wes and read his readouts. “This one is still alive, move him now!”