The Fight for Creation: Book 02 - Scout Warrior (10 page)

Dort stared at her and saw her nod. He moved toward the back wall and heard the melody increase in volume. He found his auto-cannon exactly where Jixie said it was. Sam had heard the conversations and stopped.

“Jixie, do you see where my cannon is located?”

“Yes, it’s…”

“Hold on a moment. Enter its location in your wrist unit and send it to Dort.”

Jixie entered the information and pushed a button.

“Now I’m going to find it on my own and Dort, come with me while I search.”

Jixie looked at Sam and said, “You’re wasting time.”

“Even so; I need to see.”

Jixie leaned against a rack and looked at her nails. Sam followed the melody and after five minutes found the auto-cannon that was sending the melody. Sam looked at Dort and said, “Where did she say it was located?”

“She didn’t.” Sam’s eyebrows narrowed and Dort said, “The serial number of the weapon she selected was 00800-673490-3210.”

Sam compared the serial numbers and they matched. He looked at Jixie and she said, “It would take too long to put in all the directions and time is not something we have to waste.”

“How can you do this, Jixie?”

“I don’t know. I just look at the room and saw six cannons glowing brighter than the others. They grew brighter whenever one of you came closer so it was easy to see which one was yours.”

Sam looked at the others and said, “Let’s go to the hand blasters and Jixie, you can tell us where they are and we should be able to confirm it when the melody increases in volume.”

“Lead the way, Sir.”

Twenty minutes later the six had selected all their weapons. Sam looked around and said, “We need to load some mini-penetrators into our armor. The sleds have been set up so they’ll feed quickly. I’ll go first and the rest of you can move around the armory and see if any other weapons call out to you.”

While the others roamed around the floor with the mini-penetrators, Jixie took the elevator to the next floor below them and looked at the heavy penetrators. These were the main weapons used against starships. Jixie looked around and went over to the massive stockpile and expanded her armor to thirty feet. She made sure she was in an electronic envelope that blocked recordings and stared at the huge missiles. They began flying off the racks and disappeared into her armor. She stayed at it for six minutes and then stopped the process. “That should do it.” She turned and walked over to the rack that held Main Beams and pulled six into her armor. She thought a moment and looked around the huge facility and saw there was nothing available to power the giant high powered lasers. The main battleships used three reactors to power one of them. She thought a moment and examined the storage area inside the skin of her armor that was used to power it. She made sure she wasn’t being watched and teleported to a star a hundred light years away. It was a lone star that had no planets and was by itself orbiting the center of the Milky Way. She moved into the outer Corona and absorbed the entire star in less than a second. It had to be done quickly to avoid damaging her armor’s surface. She teleported back to the Armory and went upstairs to load her mini-penetrators. She loaded forty thousand while the others were looking in other rooms in the armory.

Jixie looked at her armor and saw that it was going to be slow compared to her normal speed. She closed her eyes and followed the circuits connecting all the systems and removed the minute impurities from the connections. The speed of the pathways increased to another magnitude of efficiency. The connections were faster than a superconductor. She thought about it and she went into Jennifer’s armor and made the changes. She decided that if Jennifer’s armor was different, the others would be asking questions. She made the changes in the other four and went to look at the Algean Attack Craft’s force field that was housed in another section. It was the strongest of all the Realm’s ships. Umm…can I make the change?

Sam came over and Jixie sent one into Sam’s armor without him noticing and decided to work on it later. Sam said, “We need to go and see if we can find the warriors for our company. Admiral Gardner has assembled two divisions for us to review.”

• • •

The six Life Warriors stood on the reviewing stand on the training planet and saw the half million warriors standing in ranks on the giant field; these warriors were going to be sent to attack the Grogat planet. Sam looked at the others and said, “Link and let’s see what happens. We might find that everyone here hears the trace.”

The four linked and looked out at the huge gathering. Dort said, “Do you see anything happening?”

Sam looked at the assembled warriors and shook his head. He turned on the PA system and said, “Are any of you hearing anything different at this moment?”

No one moved or made a motion in the ranks before them. Sam looked at his mental brothers and wondered what to do. Gon said, “The Three were able to change the ones that joined their ranks. We don’t have that talent.”

Jixie said, “I don’t know about that.”

The four turned around and looked at her. Sam said, “What do you mean?”

Jixie looked startled and said, “I see numerous warriors in the ranks that appear to be glowing with a violet light.”

The four turned around and saw nothing like she was describing. Sam turned around and said, “Jixie, go out and pull those you see glowing and send them up here to the reviewing stand.” Sam turned and said over the PA, “Those of you selected will come to the reviewing stand.”

Jixie climbed down off the reviewing stand and went out into the warriors ranks. She found the first one and said, “Move forward.” She moved quickly among the warriors and after thirty minutes two hundred and thirty Life Warriors were standing at the reviewing stand. Sam noticed that as they moved closer they started looking around as if they were hearing something.

Admiral Gardner watched the selection process and wondered what was happening. Finally, Jixie came back to the reviewing stand and climbed back up to the other five. “That’s all of them, Sir.”

Sam looked at the warriors gathered and saw a dim glow around them. Jixie looked at Sam and said, “Thirty of them are different from the others.”

Sam looked at her, “In what way?”

Jixie shrugged, “They have the same color but it’s different from the others.”

Sam stared at Jixie, “Why would their color be different?”

Jixie looked up at the sky and said, “I’m not sure, but they have the same color as one of the ships in orbit. I don’t know why.”

Sam looked at Jixie and smiled. “Thanks, Jixie.” He turned to the three and said, “We need to break our link and see if these warriors lose the trace.”

Jixie said, “They won’t.”

The Four looked at her again and Jixie said, “I don’t know how I know, but I see that they are glowing with the same level the four of you are. Jennifer is also glowing at that level. I suspect that if you break your link and really try to focus on hearing the trace, you will. I think that these warriors just needed to feel the vibration of the trace and attenuate themselves to it, they won’t need you to continue to hear it.” Jixie paused and said, “Of course, I could be wrong; what do I know?”

Sam said, “You appear to know a lot. How do you account for that?”

“I have no idea. I just know that since the four of you linked I can see things that make no sense to me.”

Sam stared at Jixie and saw nothing but an innocent expression. “Are you willing to assist these warriors in finding their weapons?”

“Sure.”

Sam looked at Robby and Jennifer, “Go with her and help her make it happen?”

“Dort, I think the role of those with a different color in our group is to find and build the ships to transport us. You need to take them and go to the ship Jixie sees; teleport it to the shipyard to make modifications. Let your senses and that group’s sense lead you. I think we’ll need them to command other ships if our unit continues to grow.”

Gon said, “So you think our Father has plans for us?”

Sam smiled, “It appears he does. Robby, you and Gon meet with our new warriors and get them organized. Meet Jixie in the morning at the armory and get their weapons changed. We’ll start training the next day.” Sam thought a moment and said, “I suspect Jennifer will be in your unit, Robby.”

Jixie said, “Her color matches yours, Sam.”

Sam stared at Jixie, “Are you sure?”

“I am.” Jixie was not going to allow Jennifer to be out of her sight.

Sam took a deep breath and said, “Jennifer, you will take command of one of my squads. Jixie, you will command another.”

“I appreciate the vote of confidence but I sense that I would be best used as a private carrying out your orders.”

Sam smiled, “Sure about that?”

“I am.”

Sam stared at her for a long minute and Jixie worried that she had revealed too much. Sam looked at his brothers and then said, “You are going to be the company’s scout. You will report directly to me and will not be part of a squad. Your job will be to find out what we’re going to face and report your findings directly to me.”

Jixie knew that Sam knew something. However, this was the perfect role for her to play effectively with the ones they were going to face. She smiled, “I’ll give it a go, Sir.”

Sam said, “It’s a shame we don’t have a bow and arrows for you.”

Jixie smiled, “You just never know when one might show up.”

Gon, Dort, and Robby wondered what they were talking about. Sam said, “Let’s go find the warriors for our platoons. Jixie, do you have any suggestions?”

“Yep, you should use that Lieutenant that trained us to take command of the group going to the ships. His color matches them. Then I’d just spread out and let your warriors find you.”

Sam looked at the others and said, “You heard the lady. Let’s do it.”

Dort linked with Sam and said, “We need to talk about this.”

“We will…later. Just do this now.”

Dort said, “Yes Sir.” He felt Sam’s annoyance and said, “You are the Commanding Officer of this unit. If you wonder about us following your orders we should just stop this now.”

Sam sighed and said, “You’re right. We need to do this if we want to participate in the drop on the Grogat planet.”

“I’m yours to command.”

Sam walked over to Lieutenant Haines and said, “You are promoted to Captain and will go with Lt. Dort to take command of your ship after we organize our warriors. Twenty nine warriors will be going with you.”

Haines looked up at the ceiling and smiled, “I can hear her calling me, Sir.”

“Well, go and introduce yourself. Make her into what we’ll need to survive.”

Haines smiled and went to gather his crew.

Sam smiled and thought about Jixie.

T
he New Grogat Fleet Controller looked at his display and felt his disgust. The Leader of the Swarm Fleet was repulsive to look at and he wanted to end the conversation. “I’ve been asked to assist you in your latest attack.”

“My ships are unable to remove the fleet defending the planet. We need your help in removing them.”

The Huge Grogat stared at the two foot tall winged creature on his display. It had a triangular shaped face with two large multifaceted eyes that reflected different bands of colors. It had eight legs that also acted as hands when needed. The being’s armor was molded around its shape tightly so nothing about the creature was covered. The Grogat knew that if this creature stung another being, it would die a horrible death. The only reason this species had ever achieved a high technology was because of the tiny hands at the end of each of its legs. “Send me the coordinates. I need to get this handled so I can come back and defend our planet.”

“Are you expecting an attack?”

“We discovered a probe in our system. I have to believe the enemy knows the importance of this location. I don’t have time to waste on this.”

The Swarm Leader said, “Your Supreme Controller doesn’t look at this as a waste of time.”

The Controller knew he had to be careful. This bug had the ear of the Court. “Send me the coordinates.”

“You should have them momentarily.”

The screen went dark and the Grogat decided that he would not be punished for his response. He was still being applauded for the defeat of the enemy fleet and the destruction of the planet with the enemy warriors. However, that good grace would fade quickly. He better learn how to control his mouth. He looked at his board and said, “Do you have the location plotted?” The Navigator nodded. “Send it to the fleet and prepare to jump. How long before we’re ready?”

“A hundred ships are being loaded with both weapons and food stores. They will be done in a quarter rotation.”

The Controller said, “Notify the Swarm of our arrival time.”

He continued to watch his display and heard his communication controller send the message behind him. He wondered if the enemy would attack in his absence. He sighed and decided that it was no longer his problem. The order had come from the Royal Court and he had no option but to obey. If the enemy came, someone else would have to handle it.

• • •

“Sir, twenty thousand of the advanced Grogat Ships are moving away from the planet.”

“How many?”

“Twenty thousand, Sir.”

“Notify the Admiral!”

Thomas Gardner received the message and smiled. Only sixty thousand warships remained in orbit and half of them were not modified to the new beam technology. The attack needed to be moved up a week. He pulled up the training reports on Duke Robbins’ Company and saw the scores from the electronic facility. They were impossible. It appeared the company was superior to any unit in the two divisions. Should he use them against the Grogat Weapons Plant? He leaned back in his chair and struggled with the decision. What finally pushed him was the realization that if any other officer other than the Duke commanded the unit. there would be no hesitation. He had to do the right thing for the other warriors dropping on the planet. He sighed and said to himself, “I’m sorry, Jon.” He sent the orders and knew their chance of survival was low.

• • •