“I’ll bet he was chewed up and spit out over that.”
“Not really. It wouldn’t complete the jump if it was too close to the sun and gravity interfered with the emergence. If it was too close it would just continue in non-space to the other side of the system until it was in a space that would allow it to work. He discovered that with screens as strong as those asteroids, they could jump almost to the stars outer corona.”
“Atlas, is that how you’re able to jump into a system?” Tag thought at Atlas.
“No. I use a different process but this was one of the steps that led to discovering the process I use. That’s also why they are so much faster; gravity and inertia has less of an effect on the ships mass.
Kosiev had continued talking, “With that discovery, we started to wonder about whether a ship could do the same thing. Our standard ships were just too small to put those eighty one square foot power cells on, they will only bend so far, so we took an old dreadnaught and covered it and flew it to the sun for a week while it’s power cells charged and then went to Earth Orbit and jumped out of the system. The screens on these new ships are another order of magnitude stronger than the one they replace. They’re twenty feet thick and can be expanded to forty miles and not lose their integrity. The leakage for our sensors extends almost a light week from our ships. These ships don’t even have to be in a system to see what’s going on.” Kosiev thought for a minute and said, “I don’t know if 200 dreadnaughts could crack its screen.”
“Could ten of them ramming the ship injure it?” Tag asked.
Kosiev looked startled at the question and said, “You know the screens will stop things like missiles and other objects of similar size and energy weapons just won’t come close to getting thru. I’m not sure about that much mass hitting. I’ll get the engineers to investigate how much the screen can handle.”
“We’ve seen that they will suicide if all else fails. I suspect that we would do the same if our backs were to the wall. How close can we jump into the Glod Home World?”
“Since their sun is much larger than ours and their world occupies an orbit further out, we should be able to jump in right to their planets orbit.”
Tag thought for a long time and then said, “Then her ship will jump directly to the planet. The others will come in the old fashioned way. Their process toward their planet should keep the Glod on their toes. Are you moving your flag to one of the new ships?”
“It’s already been done. The Washington is going to be part of your remote controlled fleet. She whispered to me that she wanted to make sure you were taken care of. You don’t think I would let you go without me being there. You heard the Director; I’m responsible for her safety. If you are planning to leave in the morning, I’m going to transfer to the Atlas immediately.”
Tag and Danielle looked at each other and Danielle said, “What is your new ships name?”
Kosiev looked at them and said, “She’s named Atlas.”
Danielle said, “Could you do me a favor and call it the Zeus.”
Kosiev looked at them and said, “Why.”
“Let’s just say it’s my intuition that it will be a lucky name for her that way.”
“Is that an order?”
“Yes Admiral it is,” Tag said. “I never question her intuition. Would you?”
“Absolutely not, Mr. Gardner; Kelly, contact ship registry and change the ships name to Zeus; besides wasn’t he the head honcho.”
“Tag and Danielle heard Atlas say in their mind, “Thank you for that.”
Danielle thought back, “Now you have another god to travel with.” They both laughed at that.
Kosiev said, “Now if you two will excuse me, I have some work to get ready for our on time departure.”
The next morning Kosiev welcomed Tag and Danielle aboard and ordered the fleet ready for jump. The ships sorted themselves out into formation and reported in their readiness for the non-space jump to the Glod system. Kosiev looked at Tag and said, “I have also brought along a body guard for the two of you.” Danielle looked at him quizzically and he said, “I’ve ordered a company of Naval Marines to accompany you to the planet.”
“Admiral, they can go with us to the surface but they will remain on board the shuttle unless my husband calls for them.”
Kosiev started to protest but Tag cut him off, “Admiral, these soldiers will be jump trained so they can use their jump armor to jump to anywhere in the city we’ll be. We have got to show trust to our new ally. I agree with her; they stay in the shuttle.”
Kelly turned and said, “All ships report in ready for jump, Admiral.”
Kosiev shrugged and looked at Captain Mikado and said, “Execute jump.” The fleet disappeared from Earth’s solar system and almost instantly reappeared in the Glod Home World’s system. The fleet fine tuned its formation and began moving toward the planet. Kosiev turned on the general command channel and ordered the fleet to continue in system. He also ordered all the ultra class battleships to keep their star drive on and be prepared to jump to the planet if he issued an emergency order. “Captain Mikado turned and said, “The welcoming party has cleared you to enter the system, Admiral.”
Kosiev looked at them and said, “Are you ready?” They both nodded and he said, “Execute jump.”
On the Glod Home World Tgon-Gee and his fleet leader was watching the Earth Fleet move in toward the planet. Suddenly they saw one of the big Earth Ships vanish and reappear close to their world. “Holy groad,” the fleet admiral said. “It’s impossible to jump that close and I’ve never seen that class of ship before.”
Tgon-gee looked at him and said, “Admiral, these Humans are just full of surprises and wonders. Be thankful we’re on the same side now. Tell the welcome staff that we don’t have as much time as I thought.”
The shuttle landed on the roof of the central government building and Danielle, Tag, and Kosiev exited the shuttle where they were greeted by Tgon-Gee, the fifty members of the Guidance Peers and the chosen representatives from the other 16 royal families. They went to a formal luncheon and were formally introduced. Tgon-Gee noticed that all of the Peers were almost mesmerized by the aura the two Humans possessed; especially the male human. He also saw that Danielle was captivating them with her charm and total lack of self importance. Each person she met was greeted warmly and treated as an equal. Even the representatives from the royal families who tried not to be impressed were genuinely drawn to this Human Female. Finally, Tgon-Gee said, “We will continue our welcoming ceremonies after our Queen has addressed the people assembled outside. We will walk down the Quilleron Path to the Solar Arch where she will enter the temple grounds and say hello to her new subjects.”
With that he led them out of the Central Government Building and out the front entrance. There were thousands of massed Glods lining the azure colored street that led to a huge Arch that dominated the central area of the buildings. “Won’t you join us Admiral?”
Kosiev said, “No I’ll watch from here,” and then he moved to the side and turned on his com.
As they walked along the path with Tgon-Gee in the center of Tag and Danielle a huge roar arose from the crowd as the Glod citizens got their first glimpse of their new queen. When they arrived fifty yards from the two arches at the entrance of the temple Tag put his arm in front of Tgon-Gee and Danielle and said, “Stop and stay where you are.”
Danielle felt a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, “What’s wrong, Tag?”
Tag was standing listening to his senses tell him of danger. “We’re going to be attacked momentarily and I can’t defend both of you. Tgon-Gee, move away from us into the crowd.” Tgon-Gee was confused and he didn’t move. Then Danielle said, “Your Queen orders you to go now!” He bowed and stepped off the path wondering what was happening.
Danielle looked around and couldn’t see what had Tag worried; then she saw. On both sides of the path Glod warriors were removing their white coverlet to expose their traditional armor and were stepping in to surround them. Tag looked at their leader and said, “That is as close as you get; don’t come any closer.”
The Circle of Glod Warriors turned out and faced the multitude and drew their weapons. In a loud voice the leader of the group yelled to the crowd. “I challenge these Aliens to the Quilleron Rite. I, Hakn-Yee, leader of my families make this challenge.”
Kosiev said into his com, Naval Marines jump now to my location, Ultra Ships jump in system now.”
Suddenly the company of naval marines landed at the front of the Central Building in full battle armor with blasters raised.
Danielle raised her voice and yelled to Kosiev, “Stay there! That is an order!” Kosiev reluctantly obeyed but ordered the Marines to be prepared to attack. The multitude grew deathly silent. Then Danielle turned to Tgon-Gee
