ready. Just give us the time to teleport.”
Kosiev entered the bridge and Tommy said, “Admiral, we have to move the attack up and go quickly. Cassandra is being drawn into the energy nerve centers and she can’t hold out much longer. Our ships and penetrators are ready to go and I can’t see any reason to delay any longer. Do you have anything that we’ve missed and need to consider before we launch?”
Kosiev looked at Tommy and then at Cassandra. He could see that Cassandra was pale and was shaking. “I have seen two huge Captor ships on our recordings. Have you targeted them?”
Sprig said, “Unfortunately, those two ships are moving around in the system. They are both surrounded by numerous Captors and we’ve not targeted them because we would have to hit a moving target. We felt like it would be a better us of the penetrators to actually hit one of their ships than waste them trying to guess their coordinates.”
Kosiev shrugged and said, “I guess we can’t have everything. I see no reason to delay. We need to make sure everyone is using identical time for the attack. Sprig, will you contact all of our ships and make sure we’re exact on our systems.”
“We’ve already done it, Admiral.”
Kosiev moved to his chair on the bridge and said, “Admiral Mikado, Make sure your ships are at stations and ready. Also reinforce that they will jump in fire and jump away immediately.”
“Yes Sir, I’ll tell them.”
Kosiev looked at Tommy and nodded. Tommy said, “We will launch exactly thirty minutes from my mark.”
“All ships are on the line, Prince Gardner,” Admiral Mikado said.
“Set your timers from right…now, mark.”
The Stars Realm fleet set their timers and the hundred and fifty thousand ships moved to battle stations and waited for the moment to attack. The time ticked down and finally twenty nine minutes and fifty nine seconds elapsed and the two million penetrators launched. One second later the megaships teleported to the Captor’s system.
The First Male had moved to the inner band of warriors to tidy up the spaces between them when the Old Watcher yelled, “Scatter, scatter, out warriors are targeted.”
The First Male looked out at the two outer bands of warriors and saw both bands exploding. Then he saw thousands of the strange ships appear and fire on the warriors in the inner band. He had no time to do anything. The ships appeared for less than two seconds and then they were gone. What remained was chaos. He saw that more than two million warriors were severely damaged or killed outright. His anger was monumental but there was no trace of where the ships had come from. The weapons that had hit the outer bands were traced back into the no space particle and ended there. He then had a terrifying thought. “First Mother, are you alright?”
“Yes I am. You need to get our warriors moving. It seems they targeted them because they were stationary; they had no time to move. Get them moving.”
The First Male sent out to all his warriors, “Scatter and keep moving around our system. Do not stay in one place and move at one half speed.”
The remaining Captor ships became red blurs as they flew around the gas giant. The First Male felt real fear. There was rage but for the first time in his long millions of years old life he feared for his race. There were less than two million of his species remaining and he did not know if they could defend themselves against the inexorable force they were facing.
The Kosiev broke back into normal space and there was jubilation. The recordings showed that the penetrators had killed millions of Captors. Tommy and Kosiev looked at each other and Tommy said, “Your plan was extraordinary. The odds are getting better.”
Kosiev smiled and then started to say something when suddenly Cassandra collapsed and fell from her command chair. Tommy jumped up and ran and took Cassandra in his arms and thought to her, “Cassandra, wake up. What’s wrong, Darling.”
Sprig thought to him, “The particle in energy space has ignited and exploded. We are monitoring the centers and there has been huge blasts erupting from them but it appears that the major explosion is going into a new universe. I think we are safe but we’ll continue to monitor what’s happening.
The Old Watcher sensed the sudden rise in temperature in the nexus and immediately jumped away just before a giant blast ripped through the space he had just occupied. “It’s a good thing I kept watch on the nexus. That was close.” The Old Watcher looked at all the nexus’ scattered throughout the universe and saw all of them erupting with giant blasts. “What has happened? Are we going to be blind after this? How will we find those strange ships?” The Old Watcher just sat in empty space and watched as the Nexus exploded.
Chapter 19
Cassandra was in a daze and was trying to wake up. She could hear a voice in the distance but couldn’t understand what it was saying. She appeared to be in the middle of a huge blast that was moving rapidly away from her in all directions. The brilliance of the explosion was blinding but she couldn’t close her eyes to shut it out. She seemed to remember pushing the blast away from her and it was expanding faster than the eye could follow. Something in her mind said, “It’s moving at the speed of light.” Then she understood, “I’ve ignited the particle in energy space.” As she looked around her she could see that the universe she was in was only as big as the size of the blast. “Thank the Creator, it didn’t blow into my universe.” With that thought she heard Tommy calling her name and she opened her eyes.
“She’s waking up,” Tommy shouted and he grabbed her and held her close. “Oh Cassie, I’ve been worried sick about you.”
Cassandra moved her head and saw both Algeans, Rose, Tag, and Kosiev gathered around her. “How long have I been out?”
Tommy just held her tight and Kosiev said, “Two days.”
“We’ve been hoping that you would be back but we just didn’t know if your mind was lost in the blast of the particle,” Rose said.
Cassandra struggled and sat up. She looked at Tommy and saw the toll of her being gone had taken on him. “I’m alright, Tommy. I’m alright.” Tommy just held her tight and was thankful that his prayers had been answered. “Was the attack a success?”
Kosiev said, “The Captors are more than two million fewer than they were before. Now we have to decide what we do about those that remain.”
Sprig leaned forward and asked, “Lady Gardner, could you see anything in the centers?”
“Yes, I did. The explosion is expanding at light speed and forming a new universe. I think it wanted to explode into our space but I pushed it away.” Cassandra’s brow furrowed and she said, “How, I have no idea.”
“Well it looks like the particle is no longer in any of the centers,” Twig interjected. “If that was the way the Captors tracked ships, then they will probably not be able to use it again.”
Tag stepped away from Cassandra’s bed and said, “Welcome home, Cassie. It appears you have bought us some time. The Captors are still at their home system and not jumping away. Of course, they are also not stationary any longer and whatever we decide to do next will have to plan on hitting very fast moving targets.”
Rose looked at Tommy and said, “Let’s give Tommy and Cassie a little time alone. We’ll plan to discuss this at Castle Gardner in two days.”
Everyone stood and smiled at the couple and then left the room.
“Cassie, I was nearly crazy when you collapsed. I have been calling you non-stop since you fell from your chair.”
“I know. I could hear you in the distance but just couldn’t understand what you were saying. It was your voice that brought me back. I love you, Dearest.”
Tommy smiled and lightly kissed his wife. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him down on the bed with her. “It’s good to be back,” she whispered in his ear.
Kosiev and Tag sat on the bridge in the command chairs looking at Ross in the main display. The planet was
