“Are the broadcasters in place to prevent them jumping into the system?”
“Yes Fleet Leader. We’ve located them 550 gelds inside the band.”
“Form up the Fleet. Those ships that have not eaten will rotate in to the planet 100 at a time. Bring one of the harvesters out to 20 gelds to expedite the process.” He then turned back to his display and sent a message to the elders that the Strangers had attacked again.
Tag’s five ships jumped into the system being attacked by the Plants, spaced themselves sixty miles apart, and ran full speed at the huge harvesters. The Plant fleet was caught by surprise and hundreds of ships tried to get between the harvesters but then the five ships turned on those new needles as they swept thru the Algean ship formations. The tiny beams lanced out and struck the Plant ships and every time a needle hit a ship died. The Plants launched more than 50,000 missiles at the stranger’s ships but they were exploded before they could reach them.
Ron-Dar ordered the squadron to load their missile ports with the old two stage penetrators which had hornets and watched as his ships approached the huge harvesters; they then fired 90 penetrators at each of the twenty mile long ships. They started blowing up like a string of giant firecrackers and in less than 15 seconds all twenty had been totally destroyed.
The new hornets were keeping the plant missiles off his ships as they passed thru the Plant squadrons but Tag looked at his captain and said, “Time to leave.” The formation was slaved to Tags ship so whichever direction Ron-Dar directed his ship the others moved automatically with it. The strike force was moving at full speed and just as a huge swarm of missiles approached them, Ron-Dar jumped his formation away. “It looks like your new device worked well,” Tag said.
Lt. Rena said, “We give up a lot of our advantage not being able to jump inside the jump limit. Has anyone come up with a way to counter that frequency they’re broadcasting?”
Ron-Dar looked at his jump officer and said, “Not yet. The gravity of the star coupled with the frequency work together just enough to dampen the resonance of our drives. We tried to find a frequency that would eliminate the one they are using but they are broadcasting at such a high power that nothing has worked so far.”
Tag looked at his display and said, “Then there isn’t much we can do to save the inhabitants. All we can really do is to try to make things miserable for the Plant fleet but it would be suicide to move in toward the planet.”
“What about the other world?” Can we do anything there?” Ron-Dar asked.
“Admiral Kelly went to see if we could support them against the Algeans but that species is totally antisocial. They attacked his ships and even though he didn’t fight back, they refused to acknowledge our communications and continued their attack. It appears they are just as violent as the Plants but lack their technology. We have left a passive Coronado sensor in their system to give us a feed when the Algean invasion starts.” Tag thought a moment and then said, “We’re probably wasting our time here except for making the Plants keep their new ships here to defend the harvesting of the planet. It looks like they will be here for the next five years before they move on to the next planet. If the other planet takes as long then the Dremel should be moved and safe before they could move against them. Captain, why don’t you target another group of their ships and let’s keep letting them know we aren’t going away.”
Ron-Dar looked at his display coming from the remote sensor for a good target and Tag leaned back in his chair and ordered a bag of popcorn. Mikado should have his fleet updated with the new beams and penetrators shortly and then we can start to reduce the size of this fleet.
Ron-Dar looked up and said, “All ships prepare for group jump in twenty sems. We will fire two volleys of penetrators and immediately jump away. On my mark, 3,2,1, jump.”
The five ships entered normal space in the middle of the bulge the plants were forming at the jump limit for the harvesters to jump from and fired two volleys of penetrators. The Plant ships could not fire back at them for fear of hitting their own ships across from them. Before they could target the SR ships with piloted missiles, they had jumped away. The Plant Half fleet Leader pounded his chair again and asked his sensor leader, “How long were they in normal space?”
“Only four interals, Fleet Leader.”
The Fleet Leader stared at his display a few moments and then turned on his communicator, “Attention all ships, launch two layers of power missiles and form the bulge with one layer facing in and one layer facing out. As soon as a star drive is detected the closest missiles will attack immediately. Form the layers now.”
Ron-Dar watched the feed from the stealth probe and leaned back in his chair. He turned and said, “It will be too risky now to make any further attack, Sir. There are more than a million anti-matter missiles in that bulge.”
Tag was also watching his display and shook his head. “No one can say these weeds are dumb. If we jump into that bulge to go after their harvesters, then those missiles are close enough to hit us just as we emerge from null space. Well, it’s going to take some time for them to fill up some new ships. I don’t think they will come outside the jump limit to challenge us, so I guess our work is done.”
“Maybe not sir,” Ron-Dar said.
Tag arched his eyebrows and said, “What else do you have in mind, Captain?”
“Those missiles are rather close to each other and I think we can jump far enough away to launch a full volley of hornets at them before they could reach our launch site. The hornets would have no effect on the ships they were using to form the bulge because of their screens but those missiles don’t have a screen. I suspect that we might cause a chain reaction and probably destroy them all and any harvesters close to them. If we brought more ships in we could possibly launch enough hornets to destroy all of those missiles.”
Tag looked at Ron-Dar and smiled. He had a feeling similar to the one he used to have when Kosiev would come up with a new idea. For a moment he missed his friend but then he knew that he had a new commander that could step right in and work closely with him. “That is an excellent idea; however, I don’t want to waste it on just those missiles. I’d like to get the next group of harvesters. We’ll have the probe to send us a feed and we’ll plan our attack with their exit from the planet. Let’s go home, Captain. The other four ships can also go home until we notify them to join us.”
Ron-Dar turned to his com and began issuing orders. Tag leaned back in his chair and thought, “It will be good to see Danielle and Rose. I miss them very much.”
Tag then jumped straight in his chair when he heard Rose say in his mind, “I have also missed you, too, Daddy.”
He didn’t even know she was listening to him, so he thought back at her, “Honey, I thought I told you not to go in someone else’s mind without permission.”
“I didn’t, Daddy. I heard you say you missed me. I just answered you.”
‘OK, Darling,” Tag thought back at her. “I love you and I’ll see you later today.”
“I love you, too. I’ll tell Mommy you’re coming home. I’m so happy.”
Tag could feel her excitement and he planned to talk with Danielle about Rose hearing his thoughts even when she wasn’t in his mind. Their daughter was showing more and more psychic ability every time he saw her. She would soon be six and she was so far ahead of where he had been at her age. Unlike him, she seemed to fully understand her skills and how to use them. He thought for a moment and remembered that he didn’t even know he was psychic until he was seven years old after a game of hide and seek. Rose had the benefit of two parents that knew they possessed psychic ability and Tgon-Gee, who made it clear to anyone that would listen that she had an aura stronger than anyone that had ever been seen by the Glod. Tag left the bridge and went to his room and thought about what to do about the Plant’s attack. As long as they controlled everything inside the jump limit, their numbers would overwhelm his ships. Perhaps Dorg and Mikado had come up with an idea. He hit his com and said, “Captain Ron-Dar, please schedule a meeting with Admirals Dorg and Mikado for tomorrow morning.”
“Yes Sir.”
Tag went to his room and lied down on his bed. He closed his eyes and thought about his wife and looked forward to seeing her. He fell to sleep immediately.
Rose smiled and went back to her toys. She had helped her father relax with soothing psychic pulses and stayed with him until he went to sleep. “Now where did I leave my tea pot?” she thought. She looked at one of her stuffed bunnies and it got up and left the room to look for it. She giggled and checked on her mother briefly to see if anything interesting was happening. Her life was full and she enjoyed every minute of it.
