Rumel watched the carriers exit the atmosphere and yelled over his communicator, “ALL SHIPS OPEN FIRE!!”
The Gracken and Spartan Warships released all their huge batteries of blasters and the beams swept through the vast cloud of Weg. The Weg immediately dove for the planet far below but many of them were too high and the massive beams burned them out of the sky. The thousands of beams swept across their ranks as they fled and Rumel’s eyes narrowed as he reveled in their destruction. The numbers killed were beyond counting and the computers were only able to estimate the actual number after analyzing the combined recordings from the fleet’s warships. The smallest estimate was more than one and half billion Weg killed.
Josh sat on his carrier aboard his transport and still saw the nightmare in his mind. He knew he really hadn’t grasped the magnitude of the numbers facing him on an infested planet until that moment and he began to understand why no one believed they could be attacked underground. Rumel found him still sitting on his command chair on his carrier an hour after the last Weg escaped into the soil.
• • •
Rumel docked his main Gracken Battleship with Josh’s transport and rushed aboard. He found Josh still sitting on his carrier and Josh saw something was wrong, “Rumel, what are you doing here?”
Rumel stared at Josh and shook his head, “There’s been a development.”
“Development?”
Rumel brew out a breath and said, “Your High Command and my Leaders decided to see if the Q ships can fire their beams through the planetary defenses around the Weg’s home world.”
“Yes, go on.”
“Your wife was on one of the Q ships involved in the exercise and it appears her ship has been infected by the Energy Eaters. There’s no way for us to get her out of her Q ship before the Eaters break through her force field.”
Josh jumped up from his carrier and said, “Get me there now! How could she have possibly agreed to take part in this?!?!
“None of us anticipated the Eaters would survive the power of a Q ship’s beam.”
Josh ran through the huge transport and arrived at the docking bay. Rumel and Josh saw the Gracken Commander waiting on them at the port, “Do you mind if I go with you?”
Rumel ran through the port and yelled, “COME ON, IF YOU’RE COMING!” The Gracken followed them on board Rumel’s Flagship and it jumped away as soon as the port was sealed.
• • •
The Gracken Sword emerged into normal space and Josh saw three Q ships that looked like they were on fire. His eyes narrowed as Jek came running on the ship from the landing bay and said, “Two ships fired through the defensive covering of the Weg’s home world. The glow you see around the planet in the distance is a biological life form that feeds on energy. We sought to see if the beam was too hot for those life forms to survive…”
Josh looked at Jek, “And?”
“The life forms followed the beams to the ship firing them.”
“How did my wife get involved in this?”
Jek looked at Rumel and then back at Josh, “She asked to be here.”
“For God’s sake why?”
Jek said, “Colonel Adams is the commanding officer of your Species Intelligence Service. She stayed away from the planet but when the Energy Eaters began attacking the two Q ship’s force fields she came in and fired on one of their force fields hoping to kill the energy parasites. Half of the Eaters left the ship she fired on and went to her force field.”
Josh looked out at the three ships and saw that one of them was glowing much brighter than the other two. “What’s happening to those ships!?!”
Rumel shook his head, “Those organisms are eating their way through the force fields. Once they break through, they’ll eat the ship.”
Josh jumped up, “You’ve got to get the crews off those ships!”
Rumel looked at Josh and shook his head, “If the force field is dropped, even for a microsecond, the Eaters will be on the ship instantly. We’ve not found a way to save any ship that is infected with them.”
“How long has this been going on?”
Jek blew out a breath, “Three hours.” He looked at the three ships and said, “The one with the largest infestation will not last much longer.”
“What are you going to do?”
Jek looked at Josh and said, “The Alliance Crew has decided to make a run at the planet and see if they can open fire. We estimate they only have a few more minutes before their force field fails.”
Josh turned back to the view port and saw the stricken Q ship accelerate toward the planet and hit the massive glow around it at its maximum speed. It exploded high in the planet’s atmosphere. Josh looked on with shock and said, “You’ve got to save her!”
Rumel shook his head, “Her force field will last another hour or so but we don’t possess a weapon to kill those creatures.”
Josh felt his heart almost stop. He pressed his communicator and saw Prissy on his communicator, “PRISSY!”
“I’m so sorry, Josh!” She lowered her head, “I didn’t know this would happen.”
Josh looked at Rumel and shook his head. Rumel could only close his eyes and shake his head. The large Gracken Commander looked at Josh, “Have you been on your wife’s ship recently?”
“I go there as often as I can.”
The Gracken Commander looked at Rumel, “Do you have any of the fighters used to deliver the aerosol on the Weg planet we just jumped to?” Rumel looked at the Commander and nodded. The Commander looked at Josh and held out his hand, “May I speak with her?” Josh handed him his communicator and the Gracken said, “Colonel Adams.”
“Yes.”
“Do you know where your husband keeps his armor?”
“Yes. It’s in the storage locker on the landing bay.”
“Go there and contact me when you arrive.”
Rumel looked at the Commander, “What are you thinking?”
The Commander held up his hand as Prissy said, “I’m here.”
“Turn on the armor’s systems. You do that by…”
“I know how to do it. I’ve worn armor many times.” Prissy put her hand inside the armor’s helmet and pressed the system activate button. The lights illuminated inside the helmet and the Commander said, “The gravity compensators are on now. Pull the armor out of the locker so that it’s lying face down on the floor.” Prissy pulled the armor out of the locker and let it fall to the floor. “Now, I want you to look at the panel that runs across the back of the shoulders and tell me if you see anything you haven’t seen before.”
“There’s a round, black, disc stuck on it.”
The Commander looked at Jek, “Is there any way to activate that magnet remotely?” Jek nodded. The Commander looked at Rumel, “Send the coordinates to the dark side of Malegna to those two ships and jump there with them.”
“What are you doing?”
The Commander said sternly, “Just get them the coordinates and take your ship there with them.”
Rumel looked at his Navigator and nodded. The Navigator pressed his keyboard and after a moment said, “They have them.”
The Commander said, “Tell them to jump to the coordinates we just sent them.” The Communication’s Leader began speaking and the Commander looked at Rumel, “Start filling the aerosol tanks on your fighters and launch them as soon as we enter normal space on the backside of Melegna.”
The three ships disappeared and a moment later reappeared above a dark planet. The Commander looked at Rumel who was issuing orders and after six minutes he said, “The fighters have been launched. The Commander walked over to the Communication’s Leader and said, “Open a channel to the fighters and those two ships.” The leader nodded. The Commander picked up the remote communicator off the Leader’s console and said, “Who is in command of the fighters.”
“I am, Commander.”
“I want you to stand off from Colonel Adam’s vessel and fire a stream of aerosol at it. I want her entire vessel covered with it.” Josh looked at the Commander and opened his mouth but the Commander shook his head. The Commander watched the stricken Q ship until it appeared to be inside a huge vapor cloud. “Colonel Adams, move your ship to the center of the dark side of the planet below you and take your ship to a mile above the surface.”
“What’s going on?”
“Colonel, I’m trying to save your life. Please do as I ask.” The Q ship emerged from the white cloud of aerosol and the entire force field was covered with a white film.
“Alright, I’m a mile above the surface.”
The Commander looked at Jek, as he said, “I want you to be prepared to extend your jump field.. Do not allow the two fields to touch.”
Prissy looked up, “Tuffy, can you do it?”
“I’ve got the jump field activated and it’s not set to touch the force field.”
Prissy pressed her communicator, “We’ve established the jump field coordinates.”
The Commander looked at Jek, “Tell her how to activate the magnet.”
Jek took the communicator, “Colonel Adams, grip the black disc and turn it as far as you can clockwise.”
Prissy gripped the disc and twisted it. “It turned a quarter of a turn. An orange light came on in the center or it.”
“Now twist it back to the starting point.”
Prissy turned it a quarter turn counter clockwise and said, “A red light just illuminated and has moved slightly above the surface of the disc.”
The Commander looked at Jek, “Do you know the magnetic charge of that disc?”
Jek pulled out his tablet and started pressing keys. After a moment he said, “I have the one assigned to General Adams.”
The Commander said, “Come with us.”
The Commander pulled Josh toward the door and said, “Where are we going?”
The Commander smiled, “I had one of the carriers used on our drop brought on board while we were above the Weg Planet. We’re going out.”
Rumel’s eyes were narrowed but he remained silent as the three left the bridge. They arrived in the Flagship’s huge landing bay and ran over to the carrier that was sitting in the left front of the huge bay. The Commander ordered the bay doors open and the three left the landing bay on the carrier and arrived ten miles above Prissy’s Q ship. The force field was brightly glowing and they saw it didn’t have much longer before it failed. The commander looked at Jek, “Hit Colonel Adams’ ship with a magnetic field that is the same as the magnet on General Adams’ armor.”
Jek pressed buttons on the control panel at the rear of the carrier and said, “The ship is now surrounded by the field.”
The Commander said, “Colonel Adams, can you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“On the count of three, I want you to depress the red light on that disc and if the white film on your force field blows away, I want you to immediately jump two thousand miles out from the planet.”
Prissy looked up and heard Tuffy say, “The jump drive is ready.”
“We’re ready.”
“Alright. On three; one, two, three…”
• • •
Josh was on board the carrier and saw the white aerosol covering the ship was blown away at an incredible speed. The Q ship immediately disappeared.
The Commander said, “Rumel, scan Colonel Adams ship for any Eaters.”
After a few moments they heard, “None are present.”
The Commander said quickly into his communicator, “Spray the other Q ship quickly.”
Jek looked at the Commander, “There’s no magnet on board it.”
““While the ship is being sprayed, program three of this carriers composite balls to surround it.”
Jek smiled and began pushing buttons on the console. The Q ship came out of the white aerosol cloud and accelerated to a mile above the dark planet. Twelve composite balls left the carrier and surround the Q ship. Jek set the magnetic fields and pressed the activate button. The Q ship disappeared as the white aerosol film exploded off it and hit the twelve balls surrounding it. The commander looked at Jek, “Send the balls down to the planet’s surface and turn off their power.”
The twelve balls moved toward the planet’s surface and they saw bright swaths of Eaters come toward them at high speed.
The carrier flew back into the landing bay and Josh was met by Prissy who had docked on the other side of the battleship. She ran into his arms and both of them were crying at what they almost lost. Rumel arrived in the huge bay and smiled, “That was good thinking.”
The Commander shrugged, “I heard what was going on and I had a carrier brought on board.”
Josh looked at the Commander, “I owe you my life. I couldn’t live without her. Thank you a million times.”
The Commander looked at Josh and smiled, “It is I that owe you.” Josh looked at him and tilted his head. “You have given me back my name.”
“What?”
Rumel nodded, “Anytime a Gracken Officer loses his entire command, his name is struck from the roles of our warriors and he will remain nameless until he atones for the loss.”
The Commander looked at Josh, “I was the highest ranking officer on our drop. I wasn’t in command but my people don’t recognize any other ranks other than our own. To them, I was in command. Killing more than a billion of the Flying Weg has allowed me to atone for the loss of my command. I was given back my name.”
Prissy released Josh and went over and hugged the huge Gracken, “What is your name?”
“Tindel.”
“Well, Tindel, your name is going to be our baby’s middle name.”
Tindel’s smile was huge, “That’s…that’s…wonderful.”
Josh took Prissy back into his arms and said, “I need some time with my wife.”
A
lex looked around the conference table and saw Josh talking to one of the Gracken Division Commanders that had been sent by the Gracken Leadership. He must be the one that saved Pricilla. It appeared the two liked each other. The Alliance Engineers and Scientists occupied one leg of the table and the Military Leaders the other. Alex and his staff were sitting in the center of the U shaped table. He stood up and said, “What have we learned from the first confrontation between our Warriors and the Weg?”
He sat back down and after a few minutes, Rumel said, “Your new carriers and magnetic devices does allow us to go back down to the surface to fight them.”
Alex nodded as Josh said, “I’m not completely certain about that, Commander.”
Rumel looked at Josh, “Why not?”