Audrey looked at Stoney, “I hope this force field is as good as it’s been advertised.” Stoney didn’t have time to respond before the force field went dark from the violent blast just outside it. It started to brighten but then another blast darkened it to pitch black.
Katy watched the blast as the shockwave rolled out at her ships. “SKIP OUT!” The massive fleet of Attackships disappeared and Katy watched the event on her visor as the probes recorded the shockwave rolling toward them until they melted and their feeds ended. Katy switched her visor to a probe above the planet and saw the shockwave was going to be blocked by the curvature of the force field. The atomic fire above Earth was too brilliant to look at directly and the probe’s filters had to darken to allow the explosions to be seen. Katy looked at the shockwave moving away from Earth and said, “What have we here? Omny, do you see that?”
“I’m on it, Sir.”
The Telepath saw the hundred satellites under his ships and knew he had been led into an ambush. He hit his panel instantly and the huge ship blasted out of formation at full power. It began accelerating at a prodigious pace and was fifty miles away when the first explosion went up. It was now fleeing just ahead of the shockwave and picking up speed. In a matter of moments, it was leaving the destructive wave behind as it accelerated at its highest speed.
Omny skipped out to the Asteroid Belt with five ships and waited for the Monster to arrive where he could scan it with his light scanner. He watched it on his visor and saw a code appear in the top right corner. He sent the code and said, “Captain Anderson, will you do the honors?”
“Yes Sir.” Ken looked at the code and locked it into his Light Drive. The Light Scanners used by the Attackships focused on the disruptor towers and locked in the frequency of only one tower. Ken pressed the blue button and the drive waited until the targeted disruptor stopped firing to recharge. In an instant, the attack ship was just above the top of the disruptor and ten feet inside it. Ken dropped the ship as the disruptor swiveled and fired where it had been a moment before. Ken pressed the orange button and pulled the escape trigger.
The Telepath saw the silver colored ship on his monitor and started to order it fired on but saw it was a waste of time as the small silver colored ship disappeared. It felt the giant warship shudder as the heavy round blew through the hull and it shook its head. It knew his species had finally encountered a civilization that represented a real danger. It closed its eyes as the world around it went up in flames.
Katy saw the Monster explode and shook her head, “Well that wasn’t very much fun. All these years of training for this?”
“Admiral Greenwall. Be careful what you ask for; take your fleet and report to Talel in M-87. He needs your help now!”
“Yes Sir.”
Michael watched the huge fleet of Attackships hanging in space a moment and then it was gone. Jan walked across the bridge and sat on his lap, “Please don’t tell me you expected it to be this easy.”
“I didn’t. I expected it to be much worse.”
“But this was easy. Our losses were nowhere near as bad as I thought they would be.”
“It wasn’t easy because of our technology, Jan.”
“Sure it was.”
Michael shook his head, “Think about it. What if our ships didn’t discover they could move between the layers of the Mini-monsters? What would have happened? And what if Stoney hadn’t forced Audrey to wait until all the satellites were in place?” Jan stared at him and Michael shook his head, “It was people who did this. The technologies weren’t that different. Jinks and Stoney made the difference along with that pattern one of our pilots discovered.”
Michael looked at Earth and saw the atomic fire above the planet was still burning the debris field. He sighed and tilted his head, “My father had a team around him who were incredible people. They’ve proven it again today. I suspect Jinks is proving it again in M87 as we speak.”
“You’re the one that put the plan together and chose the ones to lead it.”
“I know and this time I’ll be given all the praise and admiration. But make no doubt about it, it was those two old timers that won this. How many times did I have to intervene?” Jan stared at him and blinked. “It always comes down to the right person in the right place at the right time. That’s what won the day.”
“Are we going to M-87?”
“In a few minutes. I want Talel to do this without me.”
“Why?”
“You know why. Ready to go?”
Jan kissed him, stood up and went to her chair, “Lead the way. You know I’ll always be there with you.” Michael smiled and said, “Jay, are you ready to go?”
“That was some show! Lead the way, Commander.” Michael pressed the blue button.
Chapter Twenty-One
Michael arrived beside Talel’s ship, “Have I missed much?”
“I can use your help!”
“What’s going on?”
“We didn’t have the option of disrupting space around most of the important Audon Planets and the Legends have access to the void.”
“Why not?”
“Most of the ships here weren’t converted to Light Drives. If we disrupted space, I’d lose being able to use those ships in other places where they’re needed.”
“That’s something we’ll have to rectify later on.”
“I agree. Your Admiral Jekins divided his fleets up and sent them to the worse places and they are making a huge difference with the Mini’s.”
“Don’t beat yourself up, Talel. You had four times the number of warships come here. How are the Silver Ships doing against them?”
“I’ve not used them.”
“What are you waiting for!?”
Talel sighed, “I’m waiting for them to get us right where we want them.”
Michael looked at his visor and started paging through the tactical screens at each of the ten planets that were under attack. It didn’t look good.
Katy had Fifth and Eight Fleets in the fight around an Audon Planet and they were barely holding on. The thousands of Monsters were fighting their way in closer to the planet and she was directing her squadrons on specific fronts. Suddenly, a giant Monster emerged out of the void and opened fire from five miles away. Katy’s Attackship withstood the fire of a hundred disruptors but a hundred more fired an instant later and her Attackship blew up.
“WE’VE LOST ADMIRAL GREENWALL!”
Michael toggled his helmet’s communicator, “Admiral Jacobs, you are now in command of Fifth and Eighth Fleets.”
Scott Skipped in and took in what was happening. Admiral Greenwall’s death energized Fifth Fleet like nothing else possible. The pilots disregarded their own safety and tore into the Giant Legend Warships. They began exploding in massive numbers and the attack on the planet fell apart as the Monsters fled to another planet with Fifth and Eighth Fleets in hot pursuit. None of the Monsters made it out of the void to their next target. All of them left massive void disruptions where they died and the survivors of Fifth and Eighth Fleets joined First and Tenth Fleets at the Audon’s major ship building planet. Katy’s death passed through the fleets of Attack Ships and the killing took on a frenzy that was uncontrollable. Orders were issued but were ignored by the Attackships as they tore into the Monsters. Talel and Michael watched the battle and soon all the Monsters in M-87 came roaring in to join in the attack. Every Attackship arrived right behind them as the Monsters fought to get to the planet.