“They are ready to attack, First Pilot.”
“As are mine. Come at them from behind their engines.”
“I will follow your lead.”
Matt watched the two small green ships pick up speed and thought, “They’re coming fast and will be on you in twenty minutes.”
“Matt, those ships are faster than I thought,” Al commented.
“They should be, Al. They have more than two hundred million years of taking all the technology from the civilizations they consume; they should have the best systems.”
“They don’t have power cell technology or the ability to teleport.”
“That’s why we cannot allow these two ships to escape if things go bad here.”
“Let’s hope these guns are all they’re cracked up to be, Matt.”
“I hope we don’t have to use them.”
“Me, too.”
“Your Grace, we have them on visual; we will initiate our plan in three minutes.”
“Carry on.”
“Al, give me a close up on my display when the Eight Legs land on the ships.” Matt immediately saw the ship headed toward the Searcher on his display and he focused on the bottom of the green ship closely to see how they penetrated ships so quickly.
“Prepare for contact,” the First Pilot announced and landed his ship on the small silver ship and then activated the ram. On the bottom of the green ship a large section separated and slammed down on the small ship under it. The eight Eight Leg Warriors were waiting in the tube for contact and as soon as it moved down they ran into the tube and found themselves standing on the surface of the silver ship as their ship bounced away from the surface. Then they saw two beings standing on each side of them raising their arms.
The First Pilot rocked in his chair as his ship bounced at high speed more than six miles from the surface of the ship he had just landed on. He saw his eight children standing on the silver ship’s surface with four beings firing some kind of hand weapon at them. “What’s happening here? How did they repel my ship?” Then he hit the engines and started back toward the small silver ship.
Brez and his three man team teleported to the surface of the ship just before the green ship made contact. The Green ship hit the surface of the Searcher vessel, slammed its bottom section against the surface of the silver ship, and bounced away so fast it was hard to see as it disappeared. Brez, his team, and the Eight Legs were all standing there watching the ship disappear overhead. Then they all looked down and saw each other. Brez raised his gun and shouted “Fire,” over his suit com. The four Red warriors started firing at the Eight Legs as they turned and came at them in pairs. Brez saw that the Eight Leg he had trained his weapon on was shuttering as the marble sized projectiles started hitting it but it was still coming fast. He couldn’t quit shooting at it to fire at the second coming at him until the first one was stopped. He trained the gun on the head of the Eight Leg and it finally fell. The second one was close and he knew that the gun wouldn’t stop it in time. He grabbed the sword strapped to his back and drew it then struck at the Eight Leg just as it arrived four feet from him. Brez didn’t know if the coating of his armor would protect him and these creatures were blazingly quick. He only had time to raise the sword and bring it down with the full power of his armor on the onrushing green creature that had bared its fangs. The sword hit the Eight Leg in the middle of its head and split the creature the full length of the sword. It fell immediately. “Use your swords,” he shouted over his com, “the guns won’t stop them.”
Juck had the same thing happen to him but he had an advantage that Brez didn’t have; four arms. He had taken three swords out as soon as he teleported to the ship’s hull and was holding them as the two green creatures rushed at him. He continued to fire his gun at the first one rushing at him but used his other three arms to swing the swords in an intricate pattern in front of him. The two Eight legs that had attacked him ran into a threshing machine and were cut apart so quickly that pieces flew off into space.
The other two Red Warriors were not so lucky. One of them waited too late to draw his sword and the Eight Leg hit him and sank its fangs into his shoulder. The fangs penetrated through the iron tree coating and even went through the hardened armor underneath. The Eight Leg died but the Red Warrior felt the poison enter his arm and he fell with the dying attacker. The other Red Warrior had the misfortune of drawing his sword and losing it as the Eight Leg hit him at full speed. Both of them flew off the ships surface and the Eight Leg sunk his fangs into the chest of the Red Warrior. The remaining two Eight Legs stood away from Brez and Juck not daring to approach the swords. Brez and Juck moved forward and herded the two creatures toward the front of the ship.
“Al, I think the warriors have had enough of a trial. Can you eliminate the two left?”
Brez and Juck were getting closer to the two Eight Legs but suddenly the two were blown apart by projectiles that slammed in to them. The dead creatures slipped off the surface of the ship and floated away.
Brez commed Juck, “Go check on Zip.” Juck turned and ran to the warrior that was down with the Eight Leg still holding on with its fangs. Brez teleported to the other ship’s hull and moved forward with his sword.
On the surface of the second ship, which landed five seconds after the first, the four Red Warriors heard Brez’s warning and drew their swords while continuing to fire on the Eight Legs as they advanced. The two man teams had one kneel and continue firing while the other stood just behind him and used their sword to hit any that came close. One of the Red Warriors that was kneeling was hit by a rushing eight Leg and was bitten through his armor just as his teammate hit it and killed it. Brez rushed one of the creatures as it was about to bite a warrior and hit it with his sword as hard as he could swing it and watched as it was cut into two pieces.
Both of the pilots of the green ships saw their children being killed as they returned. The shock of that stunned them but they gathered their senses and the First Pilot shouted, “Escape, we must inform the family. The two green ships stopped just before touching the surface of the two silver ships and turned to escape. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the front of the green ship was struck by a series of ten foot long sharpened white projectiles. The first five projectiles bounced off but left cracks in the surface. The next projectile broke through the surface and shattered into thousands of needles inside the craft. The First Pilot’s last thought just before the shards hit him and cut him into small pieces was, “I guess this is the advanced life form we’re suppose to find.”
Al saw the green ship come to a stop and then looked for Fly Girl. The second green ship was hanging motionless and Fly Girl was stopped five hundred yards from it.
“Your Grace, I am teleporting my three injured warriors to Ross,” Brez commed.
“Send them immediately. I’ll meet with you after they are gone.”
“Yes, Your Grace. One of the creatures flew off the ship and is hanging in space. It is continuing to bite the Red Warrior it has attached itself to and I’m afraid that he is beyond hope. It has probably consumed all of his memories; I am going to teleport out and kill it.”
“Before you do, Colonel, does your gun have the capability to change velocities?”
“Yes, it does; we just didn’t have time to experiment before they were on us.”
“I was able to see that your projectiles flew through the creatures. Slow your velocity down to its lowest setting and then raise it until it penetrates the creature’s armor. Don’t get too close; I don’t know if they have maneuvering capability.”
Brez teleported out to five hundred feet from the Eight Leg that had killed his warrior and raised his gun.
The Eight Leg let go of the dead warrior and turned to face the being that had just appeared. It had just consumed the warrior’s brain so it knew everything about this dangerous civilization. It knew that these creatures were a real danger to the family but there was no way for it to escape and give warning. It had lived more than a million years and it saw its end just in front of it. It bared its fangs and tried to move toward the being confronting it.