‘Look for yourself, Leader.”
The Fleet Leader looked at his display and he saw the 500 big ships had been joined by 4,000 ships from the first stranger’s fleet. He could see on his display the three million missiles coming at his ships from the rear and an additional six million from the front. Then suddenly all the strange ships in front of his fleet disappeared. That’s when he saw hundreds of his heavy ships exploding in his fleet and suddenly saw one of the strange ships alongside his flagship. The last thought the Fleet Leader had was, “We had them where they wanted us.”
The SR fleet came back together above the Algean fleet and emptied their magazines of penetrators. Another 800 ships had been lost moving thru the Plant fleet with 165 of them being Megaships. They learned that some of the Plant ships were programmed to fire an anti-matter missile if a ship other than an Algean got close. In the Megaships that were lost, they had the misfortune to be hit by an Anti-matter missile on their first jump which moved their screens into the red and a subsequent hit destroyed them. Ships that were hit later survived the hit. The SR fleet looked down on the Algean fleet and saw it being destroyed. Everywhere Plant ships were turning to avoid the penetrators and collisions between ships were numerous. “Execute jump to the planet,” Mikado ordered. Of the 128,000 ships sent against the SR fleet, only three small ships emerged and two of them were damaged. The Stars Realm fleet lost almost 2,000 ships.
The Algean Half Fleet Leader that had just arrived with his fleet of half a million ships watched on his display as the strange ships demolished the ships that had called him for support. It had been thousands of eight seasons since the Common had to call in more than the tenth fleet that had just been destroyed. His half fleet was involved in harvesting efforts on the other side of the galaxy when the request was received. The Home Leaders made the request so he had moved his fleet immediately; now he saw why. Those strange ships were capable of making null moves inside the limiting band that restricted their own null moves. He was of the opinion that it was impossible to make those moves that close to a star but now he had seen it done and knew his scientists were in error. This was going to call for an examination of their decisions and processes. His fleet had spread out at the limiting band and waited for the strange ships to try and run for safety when the fifth fleet attacked. Obviously, it should have been the fifth fleet running for safety. Of course that would never happen because the Common never ran from conflicts. The Fleet Leader had it cross his mind that sometimes it might be better if they would run but then he dismissed it from his mind. He sent his captured views of the destruction of the fifth fleet and what he could see of the huge constructs now circling the food source planet. The ships that had destroyed the fifth fleet were also at the planet apparently waiting for them to come to them. He held his fleet at the limiting band and awaited instructions from the Home Leaders. He wondered how he was going to attack ships that were faster and could go into null inside the limiting band.
The Home Leaders were studying the views of the fleet battle between the strangers and their tenth fleet. They had already seen the harvester’s fleet destruction and that was why they had sent the half fleet to trap the strangers before they could get back to the limiting band. Now they knew; the effort to trap the strangers was wasted effort; they could escape anytime they chose. The leaders dug their feet deeper in the soil and thought about the current situation. “What do we do now,” one of the younger leaders inquired?
No one else spoke and it remained that way for several moments. The Elder Leader said, “We cannot trap those ships but we can do something about what they are trying to do at the planet. I recommend we send the half fleet in to remove the strangers and continue our removal of the food source.” The other Leaders shifted from leg to leg and finally one of them said, “We need new technology if we’re to prevail against those ships.”
The Elder Leader said, “Go waken the scientists in their grove and show them these views. Instruct them to develop new methods to defeat these ships. Also send in the half fleet to remove them from the system.”
The Younger Leader inquired, “What do we do if the half fleet is destroyed?”
“Then we send in a total fleet. If necessary we will destroy the planet with our most powerful missile. We will not allow these strangers to intrude on the Commons space. Set up our tracking ships to determine the line those ships leave on and ready a ship to follow them on that line.”
A Plant Elder swayed and said, “We have to be close to where they jump out to read the coordinates. We cannot get to the planet, read the coordinates and jump from that point because we can’t jump inside the null limit.”
The Eldest thought and said, “You’re right. We have to be prepared to go to one of their jump points outside the limit to get a direction on their escape.”
The half fleet leader looked at his board and saw the instructions that had just arrived. “Attention all elements, spread out and move in toward the planet; I don’t want a concentration of ships for them to mass launch against. Leave enough room between ships to use your energy weapons to defeat those stranger’s missiles. Once in system we will surround the planet and destroy those constructs.” The huge fleet began their movement toward the planet that was 20 hours away.
“Sir,” Colson said, “the Algean fleet is moving in system. They should be here within twenty hours. They are spreading out with twenty miles between ships.”
Mikado looked at his display and said, “They learned not to mass together. It won’t be as easy next time.” He looked at the landing operations and commed General Wiseman, “General, we are going to jump out of system shortly. We are going to leave the Empires under the forts screen for support. Is there anything else we can do?”
Richard Wiseman looked at Mikado and said, “Admiral, just get back with relief as soon as you can. There are several million Plant Warriors dirt side and they won’t be happy that we crashed their party. I thank you for the ground fort and screens; they should make a big difference in holding the plants off us.”
“Are you thinking that they will come to you or will you have to go to them?”
“Admiral, all their food was destroyed with their fleet. This continent is basically stripped bare and we’re the only food available. Oh they’ll come or they’ll starve.”
Mikado knew the Marine General was right. “General, I shall return as quickly as possible; you hold out until I do.”
“Yes sir. That is my intention.”
Mikado broke connection and asked Colson, “Are all ships ready to jump?”
“Yes Sir, they are, however, I’ve noticed something interesting.”
Mikado raised his eyebrows and asked, “What is that, Mr. Colson?”
“The fleet moving into our system has left 1000 ships evenly spaced around the system at the jump limit.”
Mikado thought for a moment and then said, “What do you think is their purpose?”
Logan looked at his display and then said, “I believe that they are there to get a line on the direction we jump out of the system and then those ships are to try and follow us to determine our origin.”
“Do we still have that old program that makes multiple jumps thru different galaxies?”
“Yes Sir, we do. I can download it to all our ships and reduce the time between the jumps to one second. Matter of fact if you’ll give me an hour I can modify it so that every one of our ships jumps out in a different direction and none of them toward our home.”
“Make it happen, Mr. Colson.”
One hour later the 4,238 SR ships jumped from the system in four thousand different directions. The 1000 ships set up to track the line of departure were overwhelmed with the data and failed to follow any of them. By the time they picked one at random and followed it; the trace in the other Galaxy had faded.
The Home Leaders were once again dismayed by the tactics of the strangers. “Next time we will have as many tracking ships as they have ships. Next time we won’t miss.”
Chapter 11
Tag sat in Danielle’s office holding their daughter. He felt a warm glow and he knew it was coming from her. He knew he would never tire of looking at Rose and the same could be said for staring at Danielle. Danielle finished talking with Leila about her schedule and came over and sat beside him. “She’s got your eyes Tag Master. They’re so green that they look like they’re on fire.”
Tag smiled and said “It looks that way but she’s has your beauty. Just look at her smile and that beautiful
