The Fight for Creation: Book 02 - Scout Warrior (20 page)

Twelve million Bristone Realm Warships teleported into the Merothe system. The first things hit were the ship yards at the fifth planet and they began exploding like a giant string of firecrackers with all the ships inside them. More than eight million penetrators were fired at the forts, blaster platforms, and missile stations scattered around the planet as the ships teleported in and began firing on Grogat ships and teleporting to their next target. The giant Grogat Fleet was trapped in the system and unable to use their jump drives. Ships that could only move using their thrusters stood no chance against ships that could jump in fire and disappear before they could be targeted. The destruction was on a scale that had never happened in the Realm’s long history.

Sam watched his display and waited. He heard Captain Haines say in the background, “Merothe had been destroyed.” He continued to watch the display and then it happened. The giant fleet around Greshun jumped away. He continued to watch his display. The millions of slaves on the planet were being herded into their holding pens. Haines said, “The suppression field is down.”

Sam yelled, “Go, go, go.”

• • •

Pride and Jixie disappeared from Merothe and used a null drive to arrive above the orbit of Greshun. Jixie pulled her bow and the suppression units exploded. Fifty thousand transports arrived above the planet and more than ten million Realm Warriors teleported down to the planet. Jixie looked at the surface and found Sam’s unit at the main storage facility in the largest city. Pride saw them as well and shed the cloaking device and teleported to the surface.

Greshun was the main weapons storage planet of the Grogat Empire. It was operated by the use of slave labor and millions of laborers were held captive on its surface. When the Grogat fleet notified the planetary forces it was leaving the plane for Merothe, all of the slaves on the planet were rounded up and forced into their holding pens until the fleet returned. The Ten million Realm Warriors teleported to the thousand holding pens and removed the guards. They then dug in to hold off any Grogat coming to take them back.

Sam’s unit was designated to land at the main weapons storage facility and hold off the Grogat inside from killing the five million slaves in the holding pen six hundred yards from the giant structure. The building occupied more than twenty city blocks and was defended by two Grogat regiments. The six companies arrived between the holding pen and the storage building. The ten thousand guards around the holding pen were burned in less than ten seconds. Four thousand slaves died from blasters fired by the Grogat.

The giant teleportation pad brought in and was being unrolled inside the pen to teleport the slaves to a safe location on another planet; but getting it set up was going to take time. The portable field had to be rolled along the ground and getting the slaves to step over the huge roll was not going well. Some of them were too weak to climb over and had to be assisted. A small portable force field was set up between the pen and the building but Sam knew whatever emerged from the giant structure was going to be the heaviest weapons the Grogat had in their arsenal. Suddenly, the entire front wall of the giant structure rolled up and more than a thousand heavy armored vehicles emerged. The six companies began launching hornets at the line of armor. They couldn’t use the mini-penetrators without collapsing the building and possibly have it collapse on the holding pen. Suddenly a giant Cat appeared and ran the length of the line of armor firing three giant beams into the Grogat Ranks. The Cat swatted two of them and sent them flying back into the ranks of Grogat Warriors following their armor out of the building. Sam yelled, “Get moving. Don’t give them a clear shot.”

Jixie appeared beside Sam and fired one of her arrows into the building and a giant explosion blew out from the interior. “Are we having fun yet?”

Sam smiled, “It’s just starting.”

Jixie looked up at the upper floors of the fifty story building and saw blaster ports start opening, “They are if nothing else, consistent. I’ve seen this before.”

Three of Sam’s companies had to go up the walls to remove the threat of the blasters firing on the pen. He knew the remaining three companies were not going to be able to hold off the Grogat emerging from the building. “Branch, you need to get that force field operational!”

“I’m doing this as fast as possible.”

Sam teleported into the fight and knew that this was taking too long. They should have already had the slaves moved. He fired his auto cannon and moved to the right to avoid a heavy force field piercing slug. He looked and saw a massive number of armored vehicles and Grogat Warriors rushing toward his warriors. Suddenly, thousands of Cats were rushing into the entrance and armored vehicles were exploding and flying through the air. The Grogat were stunned at the size of the giant armored animals hitting them at a speed that was impossible. Sam heard something behind him and he turned around and saw something emerging from the giant field next to the slave pen. Jixie teleported to his side and watched as a giant square structure began coming out of the ground. It was protected by a bright force field and the blaster barrel that was emerging was more than six hundred yards in diameter. It was already starting to glow and Sam knew there was no way to save the millions of slaves in the pen.

“PRIDE, GET OUT HERE NOW!!!” Pride teleported out and Jixie said, “Sam get out of here.”

“Not without you.”

Jixie stared at Sam and said, “Get in the pen and be prepared to turn on your force field. Pride go with him and turn yours on as well.”

Pride and Sam teleported to the side of the pen facing the rising building. Jixie stood between them and said, “Turn on your fields on my mark.” Jixie pulled her bow and Pride and Sam watched her fire something out of her armor at a rate that was impossible. Whatever she was firing at the structure hit the same spot every time resulting in huge explosions. Sam remembered her splitting the arrows at Castle Gardner. The spot began to glow and turn white. Suddenly one of the arrows blew a hole in the force field and Jixie yelled, “ALL WARRIORS, TELEPORT AWAY NOW!!!” Jixie fired two more shots at the force field and the second one went through and it hit the center of the blaster barrel. “NOW, SAM, NOW.”

The three of them raised their force fields and Jixie knew she had to use her own personal force field but couldn’t make herself violate the sacred rules of her people. She knew the three force fields were not going to be enough. She turned, closed her eyes, and went into Sam’s arms as the giant building exploded causing a shock wave moving at an unbelievable speed to rush out at them. After a moment, Jixie opened her eyes and saw a bluish white force field over the pen. She looked at it and knew that it wasn’t hers. Jixie heard in her mind, “One of the benefits of being the Leader of our people, Jixie is that I can violate our rules occasionally. After all, I wrote them.”

Jixie smiled, “Thank you, Senior.”

“We still need you Jixie. I can’t let you die just yet. I’m more proud of you than you know that you didn’t violate our rules to save yourself and your friends. That tells me your mother did an excellent job in preparing you for adulthood.”

“She’s the best.”

“Thank you, Jixie.”

Sam looked at the blast as it passed the holding pen and blew the giant city behind them flat. Everything was flattened and on fire. Sam looked at Branch, “Will you please get us out of here!”

Branch’s team finished rolling the large mat and he pressed a button on his wrist unit. The millions of slaves disappeared as the warriors teleported back to their transports.

Captain Haines waited in orbit and saw the final pen disappear. The major weapons facility was gone but there was still hundreds of thousands of minor storage buildings. He looked at his display and saw a Grogat Fleet of a hundred thousand ships arrive at the jump limit and start moving in system. He pushed the weapon lever and six main beams hit the planet. The billions of missiles and blasters on the surface added to the massive explosion that blew the planet apart. The Fourth Sword teleported away as the incoming Grogat fleet watched the destruction of all their spare parts and weapons.

The Fleet Controller realized they had made the mistake of putting all their eggs in one heavily defended basket. The surviving planets were now going to have to rebuild the factories to support their fleets. He knew they would not be given time to do it. Seventy percent of their warships had perished with Merothe. The Fleet Controller heard the alarms go off and he jerked his head around toward the display, showing the huge Realm Fleet that had teleported in come roaring in on his fleet. The number of surviving ships was reduced another five percent. None of the hundred thousand ships escaped.

• • •

Jixie’s mother turned and saw everyone in Jixie’s hatching in front of her dwelling. She looked at them and said, “Is there something you want?”

Trex stepped forward, “We understand that the Senior and High Caste are watching Jixie.”

“They are.”

Trex looked at the others in the hatching and said, “We were wondering if you would share with us what she’s doing that has garnered their attention. This has never happened.”

Jixie’s mother smiled, “You must find it hard to understand.”

Jiln said, “It’s just impossible for us to fathom. How can a hatchling possibly generate that kind of interest? We’ve been told that the Senior is only viewing what she’s doing.”

“That is also true.” The huge number of small beings started looking at each other. “It was you that made it happen.”

Trex said, “Us?”

“Yes, you decided not to play anymore and she was forced to find others. If you had not refused, this wouldn’t have happened.” She thought a moment and said, “Well, it might not have happened. She would have probably asked you to go with her to the place of the winged creature.”

Trex slowly shook his head, “We missed a great opportunity to learn, didn’t we?”

“You did.” Jixie’s mother sent them what Jixie was doing and they left to study the information.

A short time later Trex returned and said, “I just wanted to say that I know you’re proud of your daughter. She’s everything I imagined she’d be.” Trex left and she sighed, “You should have waited, Trex.” She knew he knew it as well.

T
he Grogat tried to recover from the devastating loss of Merothe and may have been able to pull it off if but the loss of Greshun proved fatal. Their surviving fleets ran out of munitions and ships that were damaged could not be repaired. The Grogat Fleets were found by the Cats and the Realm pursued them without mercy.

The thousands of planets enslaved by the Empire were attacked by the Realm fleets from space and warriors on the ground. The tide had turned and that is what found Sam’s unit preparing to teleport to the surface of another planet to liberate. His unit arrived at the Capital and began spreading out around the main government building. Dort said, “All the Grogat Warriors are laying down their arms and surrendering.”

“All the other cities are reporting the same thing.”

Jixie and Sam moved up the steps of the building and a Grogat Official came out of the front entrance and bowed to them, “I have been asked what your terms of surrender are.”

Sam looked at Jixie and said, “I really don’t think we’ve even considered that you’d surrender. What do you want?”

“Only to be allowed to return to our surviving home worlds.”

“Who do you represent?”

“All of the remaining members of my people on every planet.”

Jixie said, “You will never be allowed to leave your planets to wage war on others.”

“We will accept your condition. We really have no choice. We will need you to transport us. We no longer have the means to leave.”

Sam said, “Why should we do this? You’ve proven who you are and allowing you to survive will only lead to future conflict.”

“We only have ten planets left of the vast numbers before this war. You can enforce your conditions easily enough. There’s been enough death for everyone. I would hope that you will not allow our planets to be destroyed by others.”

Sam pushed his wrist unit, “Your Majesty, I have been asked by a Grogat official to accept his surrender.”

“What planet, Sam?”

“All of them.”

“What!”

“He says he speaks for all the surviving members of his species. He’s been told that he will never be allowed to war again.”

“And what did he say?”

“He said he accepts the condition. His only request is that we transport the Grogat back to one of their ten surviving home worlds and defend them against being attacked.”

Jon had pressed a button and Admiral Gardner had rushed to the throne room. “Admiral, how many planets do the Grogat still control?”

Thom pressed his wrist unit and Jason sent the information instantly. Boy was that lad organized, “About ten thousand, Your Majesty.”

Jon looked back at Sam on the main display and said, “Tell him that if any of the inhabitants of the conquered planets are harmed, we will kill them to the last one. Get with Admiral Gardner and work out the details on how to make the transfer of their forces. They will not take any weapons with them and if we detect them building weapons in the future, his species will be a footnote in history.”

The Grogat Official heard the communication and said, “We will comply.”

“Gather your forces here and be prepared to move by tomorrow. You will remain with those you need to coordinate the remainder of the transfer with our officers. Once that’s done, you will be taken where you desire to go. We will agree to prevent any attacks on your planets.”

“I will notify all of our planetary leaders. And thank you. We know we are at your mercy.”

Pride teleported in and looked at Sam, “Is this true?”

“It appears it is.”

Sam pushed his communicator, “Jason, can you get a company of warriors on all the planets controlled by the Empire quickly.”

“I can.”

“We need to make that happen to make sure the local populations don’t attack the Grogat on their planets. They need to be made aware that it would void the agreement and put them in danger.”