Annihilation: Love Conquers All Read online

  On board the Glod ship the commander saw the coordinates of the Earth ship appear on his screen and heard the Cainth commander say, “Jump now. Jump now. We’ve been detected.”

  All of his bridge crew heard the message and grew excited at the upcoming attack. They were ready for action at battle stations and had been so for two rotations. “Enter the location and jump,” the commander ordered.

  “Sir, we have a star drive breaking normal space forty-five miles off our port side,” Mikado said.

  “Change course, take us away from that entry point,” Kosiev ordered, and Ensign Smith turned the ship and moved ninety degrees away from the star drive disturbance. Kosiev looked at his display and saw the distinctive silver-blue flash that a ship makes as it breaks into normal space. Moscow completed its turn and started picking up speed as it moved away from the entry point of the Glod cruiser.

  “What kind of ship is that?” Kosiev asked. “It has to be ten times our size!”

  “Sir, there’s nothing like that in our records,” Mikado answered. “I’ve even compared it to all the ships from all of the Cainth invasions and nothing matches.”

  Kosiev turned to Ensign Kelley, the communications officer, and said, “Get a message out to Earth station and tell them we’re avoiding confrontation. How far are we now from that ship?”

  Mikado looked at his console, “We’re eighty miles away and maintaining that distance at one-third speed, sir.”

  “Maintain that distance and speed. Don’t let them get close enough to hit us with a beam to prevent us from using our star drive. Have you been able to detect anything about that ship’s armaments?”

  “Yes sir. Their screen came on right after they entered normal space, however, our sensors determined that they are heavily armed with both missile and energy weapons before their screen cut off our vision. The power of their screen is quite strong. It’s about the size of a medium Cainth battleship and they are matching our speed; so far they have not attempted to communicate,” Lieutenant Mikado said.

  Ensign Kelley said, “Sir, they’re sending us a message.”

  “Put it on audio.”

  “. . . will drop your screens and prepare to be boarded,” a voice said in standard Alliance. “If you resist, you will be destroyed.”

  Captain Kosiev turned on his com and answered, saying, “This is the Directorate Ship Moscow and we are inside our territory enforcing Alliance rules. You have entered our space without permission and I will not let you board my ship. I have contacted our Alliance ambassador to inquire as to who you are and what you’re doing here.” Captain Kosiev knew that every ship had standing orders to self-destruct before allowing the Alliance any access to Coronado technology. He could not allow his ship to fall into the Alliance’s hands.

  “Then prepare to die,” the voice said, and the ship fired ten heavy high-speed missiles.

  “Sir, do we want to show them the capability of our screens?” Lieutenant Alverez, the weapons officer, asked while watching the huge missiles coming from the strange ship.

  “No, I don’t, although I think they’ll learn if they get into range to discharge their energy weapons at us,” Kosiev answered.

  “Then why don’t we just destroy the missiles and run or just jump away?”

  “Because I have a feeling that if we don’t stand and fight, then someone else is going to be attacked, later and if we destroy those missiles the next attack will have more than just one ship and more than just ten missiles. If we jump out, then we also avoid our duty to defend the twenty-light-year limit.”

  “But that ship is at least ten times our tonnage, and each of those ten missiles is just about half as long as our ship. Do you think that this is an attempt to determine our strength, captain?” Ensign Smith asked while adjusting Moscow’s acceleration.

  “Yes, I do, and I believe that other object we detected is a ship sent there to record whatever happens. It’s aces to deuces that the object we saw first is a ship powered down and doesn’t think we can see them. I also believe that if we call in additional ships that the next attack will be even greater and might be further inside the twenty light year limit.”

  Mikado watched his screens as the missiles came closer and said, “What are your orders, sir?”

  Kosiev knew that the time of peaceful coexistence was about to end. He could avoid risking his ship and jump away from the attack, but then he would leave the invader inside Directorate space, and that was just not acceptable. He decided that if peace were to end now then he would do his best to make sure that whoever planned this attack would not get any information. It ticked him off that he was being attacked without doing anything to provoke it. It was just another example of humans being attacked for no justifiable reason.

  Kosiev stared at the main screen and asked, “How long till missile impact?”

  Mikado looked at his board and replied, “Twenty seconds, sir, at our current speed. We could probably outrun them at three-fourths speed.”

  Kosiev looked at his helmsman and said, “I don’t want to show them our maximum speed. Mr. Smith, go to half speed and head towards that first object we detected; at that speed how long before impact, Mr. Mikdado?”

  “Forty-five seconds, sir.”

  “How long before we reach the first object?”

  “Forty-two seconds, sir.”

  “Good, I don’t have to use full speed.”

  On board the Glod ship, the Earth ship appeared to leap forward at an amazing speed on their sensor displays, then abruptly change course and make a hard left turn. The Glod commander was stunned and looked at his navigator. “Can we match that speed?”

  His navigator looked up and said, “Sir, there’s not a ship in our fleet that can come close to moving that fast, much less change course that quickly. The only way we are going to come close is to cut the corner of his turn and angle toward his new course.”

  “Then he could’ve run away from us at any time. Why didn’t he?”

  “He might be doing that now, but our missiles should be hitting him within forty sems.”

  “Why hasn’t he fired at the missiles?” the Glod commander wondered out loud. “He might have been able to knock down some of them.”

  “As slow as they’re catching up to him, he could have probably got them all,” the navigator replied. “Perhaps the humans don’t want to reveal their armaments.”

  The Glod commander was nervous. He had never seen a small ship that was so much faster than his own. Large ships were always faster because they had more power in their screens to overcome resistance. The small ship also made that left turn in one-third the time it took him to alter course to cut the corner and continue the pursuit. “Maximum power to our screen and go to maximum speed; try to get into beam range. I don’t want them to jump away,” he ordered.

  The commander of the Cainth cruiser saw the human ship turn and accelerate straight toward his position. It was going to be on top of him in seconds, and he could look at the plot on his screen and see that it would be there before the Glod missiles could strike the human ship. Then he realized what the Earth ship was doing. “Holy groad, they’re going to run those missiles into us.” He stood from his chair and yelled, “Power up all systems immediately Get the screen active, prepare all missiles to launch, get us underway, now!”

  “Sir, the object we’re approaching is a Cainth Cruiser. She’s powering up her screens, and her weapons just came online,” Lieutenant Mikado said.

  “Are her screens strong enough to handle the ten missiles chasing us?”

  “No sir, I don’t think so, but I’m not sure,” Mikado said. “They aren’t at full power and it will take a minute before they are, but it may be enough to stop the missiles. It will also take some time for their star drive to spool up.”

  Kosiev said into his com, “Helmsman, I want you to fly right by that cruiser, close enough so that our screens overlap, and weapons, I want you to hit their screen with a low power beam when
we come into range to prevent them from jumping.”

  “Sir?”

  “I think that our screens are stronger, especially since their screen isn’t at full power. We should punch a hole in their screen with ours. The missiles chasing us will then lock on them as we fly directly over the top of them. The beam will prevent their star drive from being able to resonate.” He then said into the com on his chair, “Weapons, extend our screens out to one thousand yards.”

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  Ensign Smith altered course slightly and barreled down on the Cainth cruiser at over two thousand miles per second.

  On board the Cainth cruiser, the captain sat and grabbed the arms of his command chair as he watched the small ship coming straight at him on his display. “How much longer until we can jump?” he yelled. Then he saw the small ship’s screens expand to twice its size. As the ship flew by he felt a jolt throughout the ship.

  “Sir,” his engineering officer yelled, “their screen just overlapped ours and we’ve lost screen integrity. Our star drive is at full power, but they are hitting us with a beam that prevents our screen from resonating.”

  “Launch all missiles now!” the captain yelled.

  Thirty missiles launched at the Earth ship as it passed just before the ten Glod heavy missiles hit the Cainth cruiser amidships and blew it apart.

  On board the Glod cruiser, the commander watched as the Earth ship destroyed the Cainth cruiser. “I guess that’s the ship that was supposed to record everything that happened here,” he thought. “They obviously didn’t do a good job of hiding.” Then he saw that the Earth ship had turned and was coming straight at him with thirty missiles chasing it.

  “Evasive maneuvers,” he yelled into the com, “fire all weapons at the Earth ship. Destroy those missiles with energy weapons, fire missile batteries three and four, and ready batteries seven and eight.” He didn’t care if he was ten times larger, and it appeared that the small ship obviously didn’t care either, which made his nervousness turn into fear.

  The Glod Cruiser turned away from the rapidly approaching small white ship and began firing it’s weapons. Immediately the Earth ship’s screens turned yellow as seventy primary lasers of the Glod cruiser lanced out at them while twenty Glod missiles were homing in. The twenty missiles struck and there was a huge flash that engulfed the Earth ship.

  “How are the screens holding, Mikado?” Kosiev asked. “And how long before those missiles behind us impact?”

  “The screen is holding up fine, sir. Only four of their missiles hit us simultaneously, which was not enough to damage us and actually added power to the screen. The screen is starting to enter red, but at the current rate of beam strikes we should be fine for sixteen more minutes. This should be over before we get into real trouble. Some of their beams are missing and have knocked out five of the missiles chasing us. Most of the missiles are directly behind us and are shielded by our screen. They won’t catch us until we pass that ship ahead of us.”

  “Expand our screen another thousand yards to better shield those missiles behind us, and hit that ship with a low power beam to prevent it jumping away.”

  “Sir, the screens on that ship ahead of us are at full power, and my readings indicate they are much stronger than the Cainth screens we just encountered. The missiles chasing us will probably not get through it,” Mikado said. “With our screens extended as they are it would be risky to have them overlap with that other ship’s screen. It might allow their beams to get through”

  Kosiev thought about what he should do. Then he made up his mind. “I didn’t want to use our weapons in this encounter. My hope was to make it look like these two ships destroyed each other.” Then he spoke into his com. “Lieutenant Alverez.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Would it be possible to fire our port-side energy beam into their screen as we pass so that it would impact only the screen and not the ship’s hull?”

  “I think so, sir. I need a reading on the distance so I can set the length of the discharge.”

  Kosiev looked at his helmsman and said, “Our screen is extended two thousand yards. Can you fly by that ship’s screen at exactly three thousand yards?”

  Ensign Smith looked at his captain for a moment and said, “I’ll set the proximity indicator at that yardage and have it beep if we get more than twenty yards closer. I’ll do the best I can, captain. He’s attempting to evade us, but he’s not fast enough and he can’t maneuver as fast as Moscow.”

  “Weapons, set the range for 3,050 yards, and fire a pattern only large enough to cover three hundred yards of that ship’s hull. Do your readings indicate that we can penetrate the screen?”

  Lieutenant Alverez looked at his sensors and said, “Captain, I think so. I can’t say how long the opening will last after the hit.”

  “How far behind us are the missiles, Mikado?”

  “Ten point four seconds, sir.”

  “Smith, slow our speed so that the missiles will arrive less than one-tenth of a second behind us as we pass that ship. Prepare to fire when our fire control says we’re even with their ship, then go to full speed.” As the Moscow flew closer to the Glod ship, Kosiev said, “Weapons free to fire.”

  The Earth ship was now traveling at a speed of eighteen hundred miles per second and closed on the Glod ship at an incredible rate. The Glod commander saw that his weapons were having no visible effect on the Earth ship except to turn its screen bright red, and he also knew that the small ship was traveling too fast for him to avoid it. “Engage star drive and jump immediately,” he ordered.

  “We are being hit by a low-power beam that prevents our screen from resonating,” the navigator shouted. “It won’t hold a frequency.”

  The Glod commander watched the small human ship glowing bright red as it bore down on his ship and thought, “If one of their small ships can do this, their larger classes must be incredible.” He turned to his communication officer and ordered, “Open a channel to the Cainth admiralty,” but it was too late. The Earth ship was too close. It’s not like any member of the Glod to feel terror, but that’s what touched him now. He watched the Earth ship flash by and fire an energy beam that hit his screen amidships and demolish three hundred yards of it; it then accelerated away faster than anything he had ever seen. Just before the twenty-five remaining Cainth missiles struck his ship, his last thought was, “I hope my people discover just how dangerous this so-called peaceful civilization is before it’s too late.”

  Captain Kosiev looked out at the wreckage of the huge Glod cruiser and knew that no one survived the missiles when they hit. There were giant holes blown the entire length of the ship and explosions were still going off. Kosiev looked at Ensign Kelly and asked, “Did you detect any transmissions from either ship?”

  Kelly watched the explosions on the ships main screen and said, “No, Sir.”

  Kosiev commed Earth Base Seven and reported the destruction of two ships in his sector. The Alliance ambassador stationed there came on the com and asked what had happened.

  “Ambassador Krem, my sensors picked up two explosions inside the patrol route of my ship. I jumped to the site of the blasts and found two ships destroyed inside our twenty-light-year limit.”

  “What kind of ships, captain?”

  “The remains of one looks like a Cainth cruiser. We have no records of what kind of ship the other one was. We will remain at the site until the Alliance sends someone to investigate.”

  “Thank you, captain. We’ll have someone there shortly.”

  Captain Kosiev sent a beamed message to Fleet Headquarters on Earth with videos of the attack detailing what had happened. “I hope they support my actions,” he thought. “One thing is certain; whoever planned this is going to have a hard time figuring this one out. Maybe today we’ve bought more time.” He sat down in his command chair, picked up his bag of popcorn, and continued eating the kernels as he watched the stars outside his ship. “Looks like we won’t make Star Bas
e Seven on schedule,” he thought and continued to watch the distant unblinking stars.

  Chapter 6

  Tag moved swiftly through the small park. He had only gone about one hundred yards when he noticed that all the ground around him was covered in a psychic shadow. Someone must have taken manual control of the cameras and was looking in a different direction. It was at that point that Tag stopped, got down on his knees, and threw up. While he was being attacked he didn’t have the chance to think about what was happening. He just reacted to the moves his attackers were making, and his body responded automatically. Now he thought about what he had done.

  “I’ve never thrown a knife,” he thought, “and I’ve just thrown two that killed two men. I didn’t even aim them and on the second throw I couldn’t see him when I threw it. How could this happen?” He thought for a moment and then looked up at the sky, full of floaters. “It must be part of my gift. I just never thought that it would take control of my body like that,” he decided.