Brez fired his gun on its lowest setting and saw the projectile bounce off the creatures green surface. The next four settings bounced off but the fifth penetrated and Brez saw the creature bounce in five different directions before the projectile exited its body and flew off into space. The creature hung motionless and its fangs no longer moved. “Did you record that?”
“Yes we did, Team Leader.”
“We don’t have long; Al, call in the defender class vessels and have one take these two ships and the dead Eight Legs to the Algeans to study. I want the others to sweep this system and collect any of the weapons we used. They won’t be far from this location and I need it done quickly. These two ships will be missed and I think that if they are not heard from within ten hours, the mother ship will come here. All ships sweeping the system will keep their red screens active and work until they can no longer safely do so. I am going to move Hugon out of this system and remove the red screen here. We are not ready to take them on yet and I know they will examine this system down to the microscopic level. There’s no way for the planet to go unnoticed. Stem, do you agree?”
“Yes, I do; the planet will be moved to the first galaxy the invaders visited in twenty minutes. The population is being informed of the move as we speak. Should we move one of the barren planets here that’s about the same size and blow it up? That would explain why they did not see any life in this system”
“I don’t think so; they would see that the remains of the planet would still be hot from the beam.”
“True, but they won’t know if the heat was generated recently or if the planet is just now cooling to that temperature.”
Matt cocked his head and thought, “Melanie, what do you think about that idea?”
“I would do it. Even if they discover that the blast was recent, how are they going to explain it? Either way, it may keep them here longer and allow other civilizations to live.”
“You’re right; Stem, bring in a barren planet and we’ll hit it with our beam.”
“It will arrive in an hour.”
“I have another suggestion,” Melanie thought. “All of our ships still have their power cells. Why not just line the defenders up and over lap their screens and move through the area of the attack. Anything that hits their screeds would be burned out of existence.”
Matt looked at her on his display and shook his head, “Melanie, please issue the orders.
Fifty defender class vessels arrived and began running through the system burning the marble projectiles and the shattered stone tree missiles. The thousands of marbles were going to be a problem; more than five thousand had been fired that had gone straight through the Eight Legs and were scattered in all directions and there wasn’t much time left to clean up. Hopefully they would all be destroyed.
The Sensor Male watched his display as the new planet grew as they came closer. The Ship’s Male looked at him, “It’s time to launch our transports.”
The Sensor Male didn’t respond. The Ship’s Male looked at him and said, “Did you hear the order?”
The Sensor Male looked at his board and said, “First Fang, the two vessels have been gone thirty dihls. They should have reported by now.”
The Ship’s Male looked at his display and saw the planet they were approaching. The ships sent out to defend it had already been killed and there was nothing between them and the planet. He thought for a moment and then ordered, “Recall all ships. Start moving out immediately.”
The Eight Legs that had left the small attack craft that had already landed turned and moved quickly back to their ships and lifted from the planet. The planet’s inhabitants that were being eaten alive wondered what had happened to save them from this nightmare. They watched as the giant planet sized ship turned and moved away.
The red screened probe relayed the feed to Fleet Command and the Searcher commed Aladdin. “They’re on their way,” Al said.
Matt punched his com, “Alright, wrap it up. All defender class vessels will depart in three hours and the Searcher Class ships will leave as soon as the mother ship arrives at the jump limit. There will be millions of their ships flying high speed through this system and I’ll not risk a possible collision.”
The Ship’s Male pressed his communicator, “Yes.”
“Supreme Male, I sent two attack craft to investigate a system and they are overdue. I am moving to that system to investigate; it may be nothing but I feel I should keep you informed.”
“Do not go into that system with the main ship. Contact me as soon as you arrive and be sure to inform me as to what you find.”
“It will be done as you order.”
The Ship’s Male looked at the Sensor Male, “Inform me immediately if the two arrive before we can leave this system.”
“I have already planned to do so and I am keeping my sensors focused on the jump point.”
The Ship’s Male was worried. This didn’t feel right and he watched his display all the way to the jump point.
Matt and Melanie sat on board Aladdin as Matt watched in his mind as the huge mother ship arrive at the Hugon system. It stayed at the jump limit while all of its ships left and began moving in system. Melanie watched with him as she entered his mind. “Why are you worried?”
Matt sighed and shrugged, “They will know this time that the two ships were destroyed.”
Melanie thought a moment said, “They didn’t find all of the marbles.”
“I don’t know but that’s not what will give us away.” Melanie thought for a moment and then looked up at him with furrowed brows. “Melanie, we had to hit those ships multiple times to break through their hulls. I’m certain that small pieces cracked off before we broke through; our sensors wouldn’t be able to track them and our screens would not destroy them; that is what will tell them that we killed those ships.”
Melanie nodded slowly, “One never knows Matt. If they go find one of those balls I’m sure that it will have residue from the Eight Leg it went through. The tiny remnants of their ships, however, are in a very small area of space. Our chances are not as bad as you might think.”
“I would normally agree with you but I sense the full invasion beginning in three months. We are going to have to kill that mother ship before it begins; once there are millions of them in our universe it will be too dangerous to experiment on one. We have a very small window of opportunity here and we have to move quickly to use it.”
“Well, at least we know the Red Warrior’s guns fired too fast and the ship’s guns fired too slowly. We have at least a point to move forward in our weapon development.”
“Perhaps, let’s teleport to see what the Algeans have learned about those ships we captured. The probe will let us know if they find anything.”
“Fly Girl, will you follow us; I’m going to stay on Aladdin for a while.’
“I’m right behind you.”
The second Reg looked at the first and thought, “They are making amazing progress, brother.”
“It’s still not fast enough. I worry about the numbers coming.”
“Let’s see if they get the help they need.”
“Do you think they will remember?”
“I can only hope they do.”
The Ship’s Male watched as his millions of ships combed the solar system for a clue as to what happened to the two missing ships. Three missing children was one thing but missing ships was an order of magnitude greater. The planet that was being investigated was burning brightly. He looked at the Sensor Male and asked, “Does this match up with your data?”