Annihilation: The Power of a Queen (3 page)

“True and no one else is even close to the technology necessary to do it. Alright here we go.”

One moment Danielle was looking at the building housing her living quarters and then she was alongside the Washington beyond Jupiter’s orbit. “Atlas, you big showoff; you mean you can jump right out of a planet’s atmosphere. Whatever method you use, it’s obviously not affected by gravity; you are truly amazing.”

“Thanks, you’re making my hull swell; the corridor is ready. I’ll be listening in, this should be very interesting. Call me if you need my help,” and Danielle could have sworn that in her mind she heard the ship laugh at her.

Danielle walked thru the corridor and emerged into Tags cabin. She knew it was his because of her picture on the writing table. “Tag,” she thought.

“Yes, Darling,” He replied.

“Is there anywhere where you can communicate privately?”

“Yes, in my quarters, I’ll go there now.”

“That would be good, dear.”

Tag walked about 50 yards and took the lift two levels down and entered his room to find Danielle lying on the bed smiling at him. His mouth fell open and all he could do was stare at her. “You told me to interrupt you,” Danielle said.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m going with you.” Danielle said.

“No you’re not. This is entirely too dangerous for you to be here. Atlas, is this your doing?”

“Thomas Anglo Gardner, sit down and listen. Focus on what I’m saying and try to understand it is important you see why I’m here. The SFT have sent me to be with you because Sung Lea says if I don’t then humanity will be annihilated with six months. Our best possible future is with me at your side during the upcoming battles.”

“I don’t care what she says; we’re not going to do it. I’ll override them.”

“Atlas,” Danielle said, “Open a channel to the SFT.”

“No you don’t..,” Tag started but then the seven members were on the com screen.

‘You were right,” Danielle said. “He’s not being cooperative. Would you kindly explain to him what’s happening and the new chain of command?”

The entire group of psychics looked at Danielle stunned speechless that she was already there in less than an hour from their meeting. Sung Lea visibly composed herself, then stood up and began explaining her visions. He asked questions and Danielle could see after a few minutes that the resistance was going out of him. Finally, he asked, “What is she going to do that’s so important to our survival?”

“We wondered the same thing when we made you our leader but according to Admiral Kosiev you have had a huge impact on our successes so far. We don’t know what she will add, but we all agree it’s going to be critical that she does. So, she has been made co-leader of the SFT with you.”

“What!”

“Tag, the two of you should communicate and agree on what ever course of action you plan to take. Do you think her advice is worthless?” Sung Lea asked.

“No, I always go to her on the hard decisions because of her insight.” Tag sat in his chair and stared across the room at the woman he loved with all his being and knew that he had to follow Sung Lea’s direction even though he feared for his wife’s safety. Finally he smiled and said, “Well, there are benefits to having her here and somehow we will make this work. Have you announced the change in leadership?”

“No we were waiting for Danielle to arrive; we planned to do it in six hours however, we see that we can move that timetable up. We hoped you would see reason and we’ll make the announcement now.” Then Sung Lea looked at Danielle with an expression that showed immense curiosity, “Danielle, you arrived there in less than an hour. I do not know of any possible way that could have happened. It feels eerily similar to what Tag did in the battle for Rossville; maybe you’ll tell us how you managed to do that?” Sung Lea said with raised eyebrows.

Danielle smiled and said, “I can walk very, very fast.”

“Good day,” Sung Lea smiled and the screen went blank.

“Why didn’t you tell me before you came out here?”

“You told me to interrupt you,” she said with a sly smile. “So I’m going to interrupt you. And she walked over and put her arms around his neck.”

Just before he kissed her he thought, “Atlas, how could you allow her to be placed in this kind of danger?”

“What danger?” Atlas said. “She has the same shield you possess. There’s not a weapon in the Alliance arsenal that could harm either of you. She has to be here. I believe Sung Lea knows what she’s talking about and if you look deep inside yourself, you’ll see it too.”

Tag forced himself to relax; he knew she was going to be ok, and then he gave her all of his attention, “Beauty and brains, what a combo!”

“A
dmiral, how is the evacuation proceeding,” Terl asked as he boxed important documents to be shipped to the colonies? Some of these documents were important treaties agreed to by the Cainth Empire and other Alliance races. They would be important for the future, “If there is a future,” he thought.

“We’ve moved most of the Clan Leaders and their families aboard ships and they are just now leaving for the jump limit to go to our colonies. They should arrive there is eight hours. Some of the ships have arrived from our closer colonies and our ship count is now 967 warships. We are getting some disturbing reports that some of our enemies in the Alliance are moving fleets to occupy our colonies in the event the Humans are successful against us so we can’t pull all our ships. Even if we pulled them all, it still wouldn’t be enough against the Humans if they come in force.” Admiral Dorg looked at the types of ships he had for defense of the planet and knew it was not enough. “We can delay the Humans but not for long. There is no hope of moving the general population and our troops have had to stay on the planet to maintain order; most of them will have to remain on the ground controlling the riots. The news got out that we were heavily defeated and that our home world is at risk of destruction. I believe, Clan Leader that the Alliance leadership leaked that news hoping for chaos and possible overthrow of our government.”

“You’re probably right, Admiral. Who would have thought we would be facing extinction. Let’s hope they give us enough time to save as many as we can and don’t go after the colonies.” Terl glanced at his display and saw thousands of Cainth civilians crowding the space port trying to get off the planet. The streets had numerous fires going and thousands of vehicles were constantly lifting and flying to the side of the planet away from open space which was the probable direction the Humans would approach the planet. The sky was choked with millions of ships trying to hold position as the planet revolved under them. Numerous crashes were happening as citizens forced their way into the mass of vehicles hovering above.

Thirty dregs later Terl was issuing orders to the military on how to handle the riots when Admiral Dorg came on his display, “It looks like our time has run out. Sensors have picked up approximately two hundred plus star drives breaking into normal space in the outer system. Clan Leader, I’m sending a shuttle to pick you up.”

Terl decided that history didn’t matter if you had no future so he left the boxes of treaties and crowd control behind and ran to the lift to take him to the top of the building. He was fighting to control his fear and he wondered if this is what the Humans felt when his fleet had arrived to destroy their home planet 290 cycles ago. He boarded a military shuttle and accelerated at maximum speed out of the atmosphere to join the fleet waiting for the Humans to arrive.

Tag and Danielle entered the bridge of the Washington. Kosiev looked up and then back and forth between them, “I’m sorry Mrs. Gardner but I didn’t see your name on the ships manifest. Perhaps my purser is not as efficient as I thought.”

“Call me Danielle, Admiral. I hitched a ride in about an hour ago. Have you received any announcements?”

“Yes I have, Mrs. Gardner, and this is a warship and we must follow the courtesy of titles especially to one in your new position.” Kosiev looked at Tag with raised eyebrows.

“Admiral, I just found out about this and I told you that I value her opinion. It appears I am not alone in that department. Are we ready to jump?”

Kosiev might have thought that Danielle would leave before the jump but now he knew that both leaders of humanity were going to be on his ship. He was going to have a private talk with Captain Mikado about making sure these two were not placed in harm’s way in the upcoming battle. “Yes sir, we are. Our countdown is holding at 5 minutes waiting on any last instructions you might want to offer.”

Tag looked at Danielle and she decided that she might as well earn her pay or show just how dumb she really is. “Admiral, what is your plan on emergence into the Cainth system?”

“We’ll determine their fleet positions and move in to destroy their fleet. After the fleet is done, we’ll move on the planet.”

“Tag, do you agree with this plan?”

Tag looked at her, “You have a problem with it? What are you thinking? I think they deserve it after all of their attacks on us.”

“I think our history is replete with examples of what happens when we are the aggressor. I know, they attacked us but they did it at the Alliance’s request. I’m sure that no one had to twist their arms, all four of them, to make them do it but if their ship numbers are low enough for us to be sure we can defeat their fleet, then I say let them make the first move and see if we can open a dialogue.”

“Admiral, how many ships would they have to have to endanger the fleet?” Tag asked.

Kosiev looked at both of them and was finding it hard to believe what he was hearing. “Have you forgotten the civilians killed at Ross’s planet or the ships and marines we’ve lost in battle? We should attack immediately and not give them the chance to get organized.”

Tag looked at Kosiev and said, “No Admiral, I haven’t forgotten. How many marines did the Cainth lose? Wasn’t it six for every one of ours? We’ve lost two hundred ships and their crews. They have lost 2000 ships with most of them having 4 times the number of crewmen on board. At what point does a lesson finally sink in, Admiral? Is there a possibility that even the Cainth have learned something? If they attack first, then all bets are off and we will destroy them, make no mistake about that, but if they want to open a dialogue, I want to see what they have to say.”

Kosiev felt his ire go up then thought about what he was feeling and felt shame. He could feel the need for vengeance rushing thru him for what happened to the Moscow and the Ross colonists but he knew that if he followed that path then this war would never end. He looked at the Gardners and nodded, “I’m sorry. Both of you are right and once again I’m glad you’re here to prevent me from making an unnecessary mistake. They would have to have more than 1,200 ships to pose a problem.”

“Perhaps that’s why you’re here, Danielle,” Tag said. “I wouldn’t have given a second thought to going in and kicking some Cainth grump. Move the countdown up, Admiral, and let’s see what awaits us. Oh yeah, are the backup ships ready just in case?”

“Yes they are and their star drives are already lit and ready to go. We also have the prisoners from the Ross conflict loaded up on transports ready to jump in on our signal.” Kosiev pushed a button on his console and said on the fleet’s general frequency, “In a moment we will be jumping into the Cainth home system. The fleet will hold its position relative to the Washington and only move in formation as the Washington moves forward. You do not have permission to fire until we give the order. All ships report in on receipt of this order.”

Tag and Danielle looked out the view port and saw the two rows of white warships glowing inside their screens lined up on each side of the Washington with one small ship above and one below the larger empire ships. The fleet was hanging in space with the giant planet Jupiter as a backdrop and they looked beautiful. Tag knew the capabilities of those ships but he still worried about losing more sailors. He was also worried about Danielle’s safety. Danielle sensed his unease and reached out and took his hand. He looked at her and she smiled, “Little steps in big places. We’ll be fine.”

The console showed 199 red lights. Lt. Kelly reported, “All ships acknowledge order, Sir.”

Kosiev said, “In ten seconds initiate jump.”

The jump officer counted it down, “5, 4, 3, 2, 1, execute.”

Tag looked at Danielle and held her hand tighter as the universe turned around them.

Admiral Dorg and Terl were aboard his flag ship War Weapon as they watched the Human fleet move in from the outer system. The bright white Human ships were moving in formation and their screens were glowing brightly white. Both of them were seeing those nightmare battleships approach and knew there were more of those Battleships here than in the last battle. Terl shook his head, “They do build a beautiful ship, these Humans. What is your plan?”

Dorg stared at his display and said, “I’m not going to attack them; I’m going to make them come to me.”

“Then what are you going to do, Admiral?”

Dorg looked up from his display with a look of determination on his face, “I’ll try to kill as many of their ships as I can. When it’s hopeless I’ll order the survivors to jump to the colonies. I am not running this time and leave our people undefended, Clan leader.”