Nemesis 1: Revenge Is Best Served Hot (27 page)

• • •

Captain Mosem had his scout vessel hanging in subspace as the giant fleet emerged into normal space and stared at his panel. He looked at Lt. Patel and smiled, “This won’t take long.”

Patel laughed as he stared at his monitor and then he stopped in mid-laugh. Mosem looked at his expression and then looked down at the monitor. His eyes went wide and he hit his emergency communicator, “I HAVE A MASSIVE SUBSPACE DISTURBANCE APPROACHING US AT HIGH SPEED!!! I REPEAT, I HAVE A MASSIVE SUBSPACE DISTURBANCE APPROACHING AT HIGH SPEED.” Mosem and Patel watched as the disturbance passed them and disappeared from subspace.

Lt. Patel looked at his commanding officer, “Should we enter normal space?”

“And abandon our post? That would get us shot. We warned them, that’s all we can do. Keep your eyes open for any more disturbances approaching this planet!”

“Yes Sir.”

• • •

The loudspeakers on every Human Warship gathered above the two planets as well as the speakers on the Nemesis broadcasting the priority warning that Captain Mosem sent. Grant stood up as Cinny yelled, “WHAT’S GOING ON!”

Grant looked at the Hologram who showed she had no idea. Grant focused for a moment and then chuckled, “I suspect the Raiders are not cooperating with their plans.”

• • •

The Raider Fleet Commander anxiously paced in front of his main monitor waiting for the feed to arrive from the probes located at the last two planets. Suddenly, the images appeared and he pressed the number ten on his panel. The number was instantly transmitted and every Raider Warship disappeared from normal space. The Commander had spent more than fifteen days assigning coordinates to his ships so that they could jump to the planets being attacked and arrive in one of fifteen different configurations and locations. He smiled as his ship entered normal space.

• • •

Two hundred and fifty thousand Raider Warships appeared in a huge ball surrounding the perfectly organized Red Armadas. As soon as the Raiders entered normal space, their missile launchers automatically fired every Planet Killer Missile they had on board.

Over confidence can lead to major mistakes. It never dawned on the jump officers on all the Earth Warships to preprogram an escape jump coordinate. They had numerous jumps programed around the planet they were attacking but these would not move them out of danger. Only a few thousand Jump Drive Officers had programed in an escape coordinate and half of them waited too long to use them.

• • •

Admiral Nelson heard the warning and stood up from his command chair. The huge tactical monitor hanging on the front wall showed his fleet hanging in space above the Raider Planet. Surrounding his fleet was a ball of ships and red lines were shown leaving them and heading toward his formations. There were huge gaps between the enemy’s ships. They didn’t have anywhere near the number of warships to enclose Earth’s Fleet with no escape routes, but they did have an extraordinary number of missiles.

• • •

The Raider Fleet Commander watched the giant wave of Planet Killers accelerating into the ranks of the Red Ships and smiled as thousands of them were hit by huge blaster beams. The Killers had been programed to detonate if hit and their explosions were close to the Red Ships and their shock waves were massive. Red Ships were blown like leaves in a gale and many of them crashed into other ships that were next to them in formation. However, the number of Planet Killers making it to a target far exceeded those that could be hit with a beam.

• • •

Admiral Nelson fell back in his chair as the magnitude of the Raider attack hit him. He had often heard that things slow down the moment before you die and he wondered if it was true. He looked at the live monitor and saw the missile bearing down on his ship. His head moved slowly and he heard the jump officer screaming for his subordinate to activate the star drive. It sounded like it was yelled extremely slow, “GGGGGeeeeettttt uuuussssss ooooouuuuuuttttttt…” He could hear the keys on the jump board being pressed and it sounded like there was a second between each key being pressed. He knew he had been dumb for having his ship near the front edge of the formation where he could lead the attack against the planet like Nelson did at Trafalgar. He looked and the incoming missile had not moved very far from the last time he saw it. He knew his dreams were over. He snarled at the universe for the injustice being perpetrated on him and then everything went to normal speed. The incoming missile blew in and the last thing he saw was a bright light coupled with being incredibly hot.

• • •

Commodore Blake saw the massive Raider launch and immediately hit the subspace button on his command console. His jump officer was struggling to enter an escape coordinate and was failing in the effort. The Cabo dropped out of normal space an instant before a massive shock wave blew over it. Blake had ordered the circuit installed in his squadron and had suggested it to the Admiral, who had immediately accused him of cowardice. He never mentioned it again. However, all three thousand ships in his squadron were safely in subspace while the others in the fleet were being blown into dust. Blake picked up his communicator, “All ships will move outside the enemy formation and initiate attacks.” He watched as his ships moved slightly and come to a stop. “Enter normal space now!”

Blake saw the enemy ships ahead and his ship’s Commander accelerated into them along with the rest of the Squadron. The Raiders outnumbered them by a huge margin but their ships were no match for the Crimson Battleships. Blake watched as hundreds of Raider Warships exploded as his ship flew through their formations.

Blake took his eyes off the live feed and looked at the tactical. He queried the computer, “Did the Admiral manage to escape?”

“No, Commodore. The Victory was destroyed with all hands.”

Blake’s squadron had thousands of battleships that had managed to escape the Planet Killers come jumping in and form up on his wings. More and more were joining him every moment and the destruction of the Raider Warships took on a killing frenzy.

The center of the Raider Formation looked like a new star had been created. The millions of planet killers started a chain reaction as the heat at the center rose higher than the core of a star. It started a fusion reaction that was fed by the hundreds of thousands of derelict warships.

• • •

The Raider Fleet Commander saw the run-away atomic explosion and knew the planet was being bombarded by a gale of radioactive particles. It was doomed and he was losing ships at an incredible rate. He picked up his communicator and said, “We can do no more. Those of you that are still alive and can hear this message will jump away and run. You will find a planet to land on and try to live the rest of your lives in peace. Good luck and thank you for your loyalty and service.” He nodded to his jump officer and the giant Raider Battleship jumped away as Blake’s Squadron was bearing down on his location.

• • •

Blake saw the surviving Raider Warships disappear and he lifted his communicator, “Move your ships twenty thousand miles away from the planet.”

The massive formation disappeared and reappeared thousands of miles from the massive atomic fire above the planet. “Sir, the North Hampton wishes to know if we’re going to attack the planet.”

Blake pulled up a close scan of the planet’s surface and watched as buildings on the surface began glowing and then melting into rivers of lava. He looked at his scanning officer, “Lt. Hayes, tell me about that run-away nuclear blast.”

“Sir, it’s growing in heat and the planet’s gravity is pulling it closer to the planet.”

“Are our force fields capable of withstanding the radioactivity?”

“They are at the moment but at the rate its heat is rising, they won’t be in another two hours.”

Blake lifted his communicator, “This is Commodore Blake. Is there an officer on our surviving ships that has a higher rank?” The channel remained silent and he made a decision, “Set your jump drives for the other Raider Planet. We will jump there and see if our fleet there needs our assistance.” In ten minutes, the surviving warships disappeared. Ten hours later the massive nuclear blast accelerated through the planet’s atmosphere and ignited the surface. The planet burned for three years before the extreme cold of space put it out. It would be radioactive for six hundred years and all life vanished from its surface.

• • •

Grant looked up, “Did you manage to hear the coordinates of those two planets?”

“They were broadcast on the frequency and I recorded them.”

“Send them to the Ants. They can withstand the radioactivity and see what’s happened. Tell them to investigate after some time has passed.”

“Is that safe, Grant?”

“It sounded to me like Earth lost a significant number of warships to the Raider attack. I suspect they don’t have enough ships to carry through with their invasion plans.”

Cinny looked up, “Have you intercepted anything from the other fleet?”

“The survivors of the first fleet have just arrived. I’ll play their conversation for you to hear.”

• • •

“Admiral Hall, this is Commodore Blake from Admiral Nelson’s command reporting.”

“Where is the Admiral?”

“Sir, his ship was close to the front edge of his fleet and his ship was one of the first that was destroyed.”

“That stupid pig. Always searching for glory.” There was a pause, “My Scan Officer tells me that your entire squadron managed to escape. Just how did you manage to pull that off, Commodore?”

“Sir, I had a direct circuit to the jump drive put on all the ships in my squadron. The ship commander could press a button and send his ship into subspace. It was that circuit that allowed us to escape.”

“Why didn’t you share that with the rest of us?”

“Sir, I told Admiral Nelson about it and he accused me of cowardice. I assumed that if I went any further I would be executed.”

There was a long moment of silence and then, “The Ghost of the Great Admiral must have rolled over in his grave when that egomaniac took his name. How that slug ever managed to achieve his rank is beyond my capacity to understand. How many ships did you lose?”

“Sir, my current estimate is forty percent.”

“We lost fifty percent. Our numbers are only slightly above half of what we entered this operation with.”

“Yes Sir. I’ll be standing by for your orders.”

“Are you the senior surviving officer?”

“I am, Sir.”

“You are promoted to Rear Admiral and will take command of Nelson’s fleet. Get it organized and inform me what you have in ten hours.”

“Thank you, Sir. I’ll get on it right away.”

“I want your Drive Officer to send me the schematics of that circuit you installed.”

Blake looked at his Officer ad saw him nod as he started pressing the keys on his panel, “You’ll have them to you in a moment, Sir.”

• • •

Two hours later Grant and Cinny heard, “Commodore Blake.”

“Yes Sir.”

“I have been ordered back to Earth to replace the Fleet Commander. It appears he died in a suspicious accident. I wouldn’t put it past our former Admiral Nelson being behind his death. However, you are promoted to Admiral and will take command of the forces here. I am promoting Commodore Harris to Rear Admiral and he will assume the command of my fleet. You should choose someone to command your ships and send me the recommendation.”

“Yes Sir.”

“I am replacing half of the ships you lost with the ships left behind to defend Earth. They will receive their orders and are being armed with enough munitions for a long campaign. You should expect them to arrive within a month.”

“Yes Sir. What should I do while I’m waiting on their arrival?”

“Find the two genetically advanced Humans and Animals. Kill them and then remove those meddling priests.”

“I’ll begin search operations immediately, Sir.”

“They’re not going to be easily found. However, they have to be removed before we can move forward.”

• • •

Cinny looked at Grant, “This is not good!”

• • •

Grant held up his hand as they heard, “What happens if they avoid us, Sir?”

“Then you will attack the priests and watch for them to show up. If they don’t appear, the additional ships should give you enough to find them afterwards.”

“I’ll let you know about my progress, Sir.”

“Make sure you do.”

• • •

Grant had forgotten that the portable communication device he had left with the animals had been set up to relay their communications. Slick and Iggy heard the Nemesis’ communications and those gathered around the Communicator started moving nervously. Iggy and Slick heard everything Grant and Cinny heard and they were worried. Iggy looked at Slick, “Destroy this device.”

“We might need to communicate with them.”

“We can do that with the leg communicators they gave us. This device can be detected.”

Slick spit a small beam and the portable device vaporized. “What are we going to do?”

Iggy shook his head and Slippy raised one of his front legs, “I have an idea.” Everyone looked at him and he tilted his head, “You’re not going to like it.” He laid out his ideas as the gathered animals listened. After he finished, Slick sighed and said, “You’re right, I don’t like this.”

Iggy raised his head, “Do you know anything else we can do?” Slick moved his head from side to side. Iggy looked around the gathering and said, “Launch the shuttles. I’ll discuss this with Mother and listen to her council; however, I think she’ll agree with this.”

Slick said, “She does.”

Iggy stared at him for a moment and said, “We don’t have much time. Make it happen quickly.”

“W
hat do we do?”

“The Animals have just destroyed the portable communicator.”

Grant hit his forehead with the palm of his hand, “I forgot we were transmitting everything to them.”

Cinny’s eyes narrowed, “Why would they destroy the communicator?”

“Think about it Cinny!”

Cinny thought a moment and started shaking her head, “Our communications could be detected and lead them straight to them…and us.”