Wes watched as the Megaship flashed into normal space and moved slowly toward the teleport screen. The engines of the Megaship was enclosed in some form of energy that prevented them operating. Just before the ship hit the field the Captor emerged into normal space and hit it with a beam destroying it. Wes ordered, “Fire.”
Two black negative energy balls hit the Captor and it imploded so fast it didn’t even flash as it disappeared. “Be ready, they’ll be here shortly.”
Captor ships began appearing around the four pulse ships and started firing energy balls at them. Each of the SR ships fired at the Captors as they emerged into normal space and watched as they were imploding by the hundreds. Wes watched two energy balls flashing toward his ship and he pressed the jump button on his console and came out into normal space directly behind the Captors that had fired on him. He hit them with negative matter shots and then jumped again. The jump button was a new development where the sensors automatically tracked incoming missiles or ships and determined the closest point behind them and entered the coordinates into the Captains console. The four pulse ships were killing giant red ships by the hundreds. Finally Wes saw thousands of red ships jump in around him and he ordered, “All ships escape.”
The four pulse ships jumped away in four different directions. Wes watched as the Rossville entered normal space and said, “Ready weapons, fire.”
Forty Captor ships appeared at the jump point and were immediately hit by negative energy balls; all forty imploded. “Jump now,” he ordered. The Rossville disappeared as five thousand ships appeared. This process repeated itself ten more times before the Rossville teleported to safety. The Vgrig pulse ship Vendriqul was hit by ten energy balls as it attacked the incoming Captor ships. The pulse ship was broken in the tail and the Captain knew there was no escape. He hit the detonate button on his console to prevent the Captors from getting one of the SR ships and learning its technology. The skin of the ship blew outward from the ship with all of the negative energy being released. All ten thousand Captor ships in the system were disintegrated along with every planet, moon, and asteroid. The star’s gravity slowly pulled what negative matter remained and when the two combined, the star went supernova and exploded.
The next eight hundred Captor ships jumping into the system burned in the Atomic fire before the watcher could warn the others to stay away. The First Male asked the watcher, “What happened?”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure if we caused the explosion, the strangers caused the explosion, or the star was just ready to explode naturally. We lost many warriors in that system.”
The First Male asked for and got a ship count from his ship leaders and learned that more than thirty five thousand warriors were killed chasing those ships. Then he thought, “Groups orange, blue, red, and black. Jump to the planet where this chase began.”
“Cassandra, the chase is over; now is the time. But Tommy, there are eight hundred ships still moving toward the planet.”
“It’s them or the planet, Cassandra. Do it now!”
Sprig said, “We’ll teleport the ships to Ross. Hide the planet.”
A huge silver field appeared in front of the ships moving toward the planet and moved toward them. As it passed, no ships remained. “Now, Cassandra, now!”
Cassandra closed her eyes and thought, “You cannot see it, you cannot see it, you cannot see it.” The Planet disappeared along with the Kosiev that was orbiting just above the planet’s atmosphere. Cassandra extended a tube from the skin to the surface of the field hiding the planet and used the passive sensors to watch what happened in the outer system.
“Twig, if we have to move the planet, how much room do you need to do it?”
“Actually, we can do it from right here.”
Sprig said, “She has become quite the maestro at manipulating the fields.”
Tommy looked at the sensor display and said, “Be ready to move.”
The bridge crew watched the bridge display watching for what they knew was coming. “Here they come.” Lt. Ortiz said.
More than a million Captor ships appeared in the outer system swarming in all directions. “What is that,” Tommy asked. A Captor ship more than four thousand miles in diameter was sitting still while the other Captor ships swarmed around it.”
Cassandra said, “I think that must be one of the Captor leaders. The only ship I’ve seen larger than that one was the Queen.”
Tommy thought about what was happening. “If that huge ship starts this way, Twig, send the planet. Duchess Gardner, keep us inside the invisibility field and charge our weapons. Stand by.”
The First Male compared the picture of the system when the warrior had jumped in and started the chase to what he saw in the system now. The planet was gone. This just can’t be happening. Pictures don’t lie. The Planet has to be there; but where. He remembered the strange ship that was in the home system that no one could see. Can they hide the planet? He looked at the picture of the planet again and estimated where it would have to be if it were still in the system. His curiosity made him move toward the spot. The warriors took up posts around him making sure of no danger. One of them notified the First Mother and she contacted him immediately. “Stop and go no further.”
The First Male slowed and said, “I need to see what happened to the planet. I suspect that it’s being hidden.”
“And if that ship is there.”
The First Male stopped. “You can’t protect me every time I go out from the home planet.”
“That might be true when we were always able to destroy any race we found. We just lost more than ten thousand warriors. Would you allow me to approach that suspected location. If your answer is no, then it should be no for you as well.”
The First Male struggled but could not argue with her. He turned and began moving back to the outer system.”
Tommy saw the huge ship stop and then turn and start moving away. “Twig, send the planet now.” Twig punched her device and the planet was gone. Tommy looked at his display and looked at Cassandra and said, “Can we get close enough to take a shot at that ship?”
Cassandra thought a moment and said, “We could teleport out to its location and launch. There are so many ships around it that it might not work. We can’t occupy the same space as another object. The other option is to just hit plus light speed and make a run at it. We should get there is less than two seconds and just continue running as we pass.”
Tommy thought and weighed the options. “Sprig, what do you think?”
“It’s too big a risk to teleport close to him. More than half a million ships are swarming around it. I don’t believe that they can fire those energy balls fast enough to hit us. I also suspect that they won’t fire them near that giant ship.”
“Then prepare to go, we will be running is ten seconds. Are you ready, Lady Gardner?”
Cassandra closed her eyes and everyone could feel the Kosiev start vibrating. Tommy said, “Try to hit as clear a path as possible through those ships coming to look for the planet.”
“Get ready, running…now!”
The Kosiev flew out of the invisibility screen so fast that the Captor ships moving in couldn’t react before it was past them. The huge Captor ships were getting larger faster than the display could see.
“Danger, danger, danger, danger,” the Captor ships moving toward the planet screamed at the First Male.
The First Male’s sensors showed the white ship bearing down on him at an incredible speed. He hit his jump circuit but saw those black energy balls coming in on him and knew he was not going to make it.
Five thousand of the ships near the planet jumped in front of the First Male. The ships surrounding the First Male didn’t have time to react. The ships at the planet had two seconds which was barely enough. The First Male watched as four hundred of his warriors were destroyed just before he disappeared from the system. He appeared in the home system and was stunned at the close call with death. He could still see the black balls coming at him and knew he was lucky to survive. He was unable to communicate for several minutes and then he ordered two more squadrons to jump to the place he was just attacked. They would not arrive in time to help.