Annihilation - Tommy's Tale (Annihilation Series (Book Four)) (10 page)

Captain Dodd and the remainder of the bridge crew were the last to leave Dorg-Ross. She boarded the shuttle and headed toward the Alexander Kosiev. She didn’t even look back at her former ship; she only had eyes for the huge white ship in front of their shuttle. The ultimate weapon and she was going to be its Captain. She felt something move inside her and though she didn’t understand how, somehow she could feel the ship. She closed her eyes and saw every energy weapon, penetrator magazine, needle gun, and several things she did not recognize. Before she stepped foot on the ship she knew its layout; every corridor, every room, every engine. The ship was calling out to her in a voice only she could hear. Cassandra Dodd knew what she was feeling; she was going home and her heart sang its joy.

The selected students were all on board the Transport and sitting in their room when a familiar voice was heard over the ships intercom. It was Admiral Mikado, Fleet Commander of the Stars Realm armed services. “Welcome aboard. I know everyone of you has questions about what is taking place and unfortunately, I have not been informed about what is happening. However, I can tell you this; this assignment has been classified as “Safety of the State” secret and all of you are prohibited from discussing anything about it with anyone outside of those selected to take part. That includes me or anyone else. You will be given one call and one call only to your immediate family only to inform them that you are being assigned and that you will not be able to communicate with them for the foreseeable future. That is all you can tell them. We will allow you to make that call from your quarters immediately after I finish discussing this with you because quite simply, you don’t know anything at this point that you could tell them. You will be allowed to leave your quarters after you complete that call and have free access to the ship’s services. You will be stopping for more personnel to join you in eighteen hours and then you will be taken to your final destination that, once again, I have not been informed of its location. I can tell you this; each or you have been selected because of your superior performance and the belief that you will continue it in your new assignment. I wish all of you Godspeed and good luck.”

Linda Kay looked at the com in her room and wanted with all her heart to call Wes but he was not her immediate family. She cried for a few minutes and then called her parents to tell them not to worry.”

Eighteen hours later, the transport broke out of null space in a system that was deserted. It waited for two hours and then six transports jumped in all within ten minutes. Shuttles started leaving the other ships and more than five hundred new crewmen boarded the Alonso Singh. These new arrivals were not students; they were crew and officers that were currently serving in the Stars Realm Navy. They boarded and began questioning the students to see what was going on, only to learn that no one knew. Linda Kay saw Edward Jones walking down the hall and stopped him. “Lieutenant Jones, I don’t know if you remember me but I was in the room with you when you came to thank Tommy and Wes at the school in Central City.”

Edward stopped and furrowed his brow and then recognized her, “Boy, you’ve grown up since then.”

She smiled at him and said, “My name is Linda Kay Johns and I was wondering what you know about this assignment.”

“I remember you Linda Kay. I’ll never forget what happened that day. To answer your question, I really don’t know. I can tell you this; the fleet has been robbed of its highest rated sailors. My captain screamed at losing the core of his command but he was told to shut his mouth or face a court marshal. He complied immediately. It appears that he thought we were going to another ship in the fleet and he resented developing us and then losing us to another commander. Everyone in the fleet is wondering what is going on and I heard before I left that fleet maneuvers have been scheduled at triple the norm. There is talk that there may be another war on the way.”

Linda Kay looked somberly at Edward and what he was saying made sense. “Lt. Jones, if we needed our fleet at the best level of readiness, why have all the best personnel been taken? They have also taken the top fifty students in each class at the academy.”

Edward looked at Linda Kay and said, “Whatever it is; it is going to be something that is very dangerous. I think our conversation has given me a starting point to think about. You don’t take students just two months from graduation unless something is very wrong. Thank you, Linda for discussing this with me. By the way, is that boy friend of yours on board?”

Edward immediately saw Linda Kay’s face cloud up, “No, and I don’t know if I’m going to be allowed to communicate with him.”

Edward smiled at her and said, “Linda, that boyfriend is full of surprises, believe me I know. He’ll find you.”

Linda Kay smiled and said, “I hope so, Lt. Jones. I really do.”

T
he planet circled a white dwarf in a system that was incredibly old. The planet was a gas giant that was a wannabe star but lacked the mass to ignite the fusion reaction at its core. It did, however have a core that was incredibly hot and gigantic electrical storms filled its atmosphere. The planet was surrounded by a construct that was right above the atmosphere. The construct looked like a huge golf ball cover with indentations completely covering its surface. Each one of those indentations had a huge ship in it drawing power from the electrical storms below. The structure also had energy tubes extending down into the planet’s core drawing additional energy for each ship. The lightning did not come close to providing the needed power for the ships but it tasted wonderful. Some of the ships nestled on the construct were more than two hundred million years old and had grown to a size that rivaled some moons. The older members of this race were often more than two thousand miles in diameter. The beings that lived in the ships were no longer made of organic material but were basically electrical energy. They had evolved to the point where physical bodies were useless and they ultimately became a form of energy. The ship that housed them became their body and the energy that fed them was their life blood that animated the ship. This race had forgotten more about the universe’s energy than most races would ever know.

The watcher was stationed outside the construct in an area that was a nexus for energy space. There was a place that was very similar to null space in that it was very small, (the size of an atom) and had contact with all the energy in the universe. The watcher sat on this energy nexus and had his millions of energy legs extended into the space surrounding the spot. It was like a spider on its web feeling the vibrations of anything that contacted it. The first male looked up from his bed on the construct and noticed that the watcher was nervous. There was an occasional vibration of his energy field. He asked, “What bothers you, watcher?”

The watcher did not immediately answer but waited and said, “I’m not sure.”

The first male directed more of his attention to the watcher. It was not like a watcher to be uncertain. He waited until the watcher thought to him, “I sense something but I do not know what or where it is. I don’t know if it is a danger or just an aberration; I will watch and see if it clarifies itself.”

The first male turned his attention back to his meal but left one of his sensors on the watcher. This watcher was young. Perhaps that was the problem. He would make a decision about replacing him with one that possessed more experience if this nervousness continued. He settled down and directed his focus to the delicious lightning below.

The former crew of the Dorg-Ross was at their stations and most of them wondered just how their control boards operated. Captain Dodd turned and looked at Tommy whose chair was above and directly behind to her left. Tommy entered the numbers Rose had given him into his chairs control board and the lights came on. A mechanical voice said, “Place your hand into the key for imprinting.” Tommy placed his left hand into the hand shaped indentation on his chair’s arm. The voice said, “Imprinting complete.” Tommy lifted his hand and then replaced it in the indentation. Everyone on the ship heard a low tone that started rising in pitch. The huge ship vibrated slightly and everyone could feel the ship come to life. Tommy pressed two buttons on his chair and the crew immediately saw most of their control panel’s lights go out.

Tommy pressed his com and announced, “I have turned off most control boards on the ship. We will be making a jump momentarily and shortly after you will begin your training on how to operate Kosievs’ systems. Plan to disembark into shuttles in about one hour.” He looked down at Captain Dodd and said, “I’ve just given you the coordinates of our destination. Please erase them from your system after the jump. By pass the jump officer and enter them yourself into you board, please.”

Cassandra looked at her display and entered the coordinates into her board. She announced, “Jump in 3,2,1, execute.”

The Kosiev disappeared and then reappeared in a system that that looked dead. Only one planet circle the star outside of the inner orbit and it was frozen. The planet appeared to have a small moon circling it. As the Kosiev entered normal space, a voice began over the ships intercom, “You have entered space that is quarantined. Leave immediately or your ship will be destroyed.” The voice suddenly stopped in midsentence and another voice said, “I have temporarily disabled the systems defenses. I’ll be arriving shortly.”

A small shuttle suddenly broke out of null space one mile from the port side of the Kosiev and began moving closer. Tommy said, “Open the hanger bay to receive guests.” The small shuttle came through the force field keeping the atmosphere from escaping the landing bay and settled to the floor. The side door opened and the crew was amazed at who stepped out. Sten, the former State Leader of the Alliance and the developer of all the Stars Realm’s star ships, exited the shuttle followed closely by Admiral Bridget O’Donald. The crew came to immediate attention and Bridget said, “At ease; as you were.” Tommy walked into the landing bay followed by Captain Dodd and the crew again came to attention. Captain Dodd saluted Admiral O’Donald and Bridget returned the salute and said, “If you come to attention one more time I’m going to make all of you stay there at attention for two hours. We’re here to work and we’ll get nothing done if we have to go through this all day.”

Tommy touched his com and said over the ship’s intercom, “Attention all crew members. Effective immediately, all military courtesy of coming to attention is suspended until training is completed. The use of rank and titles is also suspended for the same period.” Tommy walked forward and Sten hugged Tommy saying, “I’ve been looking so forward to meeting you. I admire your father greatly.”

Tommy said, “It is I who am excited about meeting you. When you have a moment will you share with me your memory of the ending of the conflict with the Alliance of Worlds?”

Sten smiled and said, “We should do that tonight. We will be too busy after that.”

“You have a deal,” Tommy said and then walked over to Bridget and they hugged each other. Tommy whispered in her ear, “Thank you for saving my parents.”

Bridget smiled and said, “Thank your sister, I only followed orders, your highness.

Tommy said, “How many have the courage to throw the Queen and her husband into a wall? No, Admiral, you deserve my thanks for your courage.” Bridget smiled and nodded.

Cassandra watched Tommy hug Admiral O’Donald and was bothered by it. “Why does she deserve a hug,” she caught herself thinking. Then she immediately recognized that she was acting jealous. “How absurd is this?” She pushed the thought from her mind.

Sten pushed the button on his com and said, “All crew members will leave on the ships shuttles and report to the school circling the planet. There are instructors waiting for you who will direct you to your quarters where you will find material on your readers. You will have exactly one day to familiarize yourself with the contents and be prepared to be tested. I would highly recommend that you use the time wisely.”

The crew started looking at each other and when Captain Dodd said “Dismissed,” they ran from the bay to gather their bags to try board a shuttle leaving early to get a jump on the assignment. Wes had hidden his bags in the landing bay next to the shuttles late that night so he calmly walked over and picked up his bags and asked Admiral O’Donald, “Which shuttle leaves first?”

Admiral O’Donald smiled and said, “Lt. McAnn. You just got a gold star in your long range planning crown. For your superior planning you may go back with Sten and me on our shuttle.”

Captain Dodd looked at Tommy with an accusing look and Tommy said, “He did this on his own. How did you know this was coming Wes?”

“Wes smiled and said, “Because the Captain had her bags moved to a shuttle last night. I assumed that where my leader goes, I will follow.”

Cassandra smiled and said, “You caught me. Come on, we’ll ride together.”

Wes smiled and said, “Aye, aye, sir.”

Tommy watched his best friend board the shuttle with Sten, Bridget, and Captain Dodd and was bothered. “Why didn’t they invite me to join them? Dodd sure gave Wes a big smile. What am I thinking? They didn’t invite me because I don’t have my bags.” Then he thought to Atlas, “Is the speeder available?”

“Way ahead of you, your bags are inside and it’s just outside the landing bay. Enter the tube and you can greet their shuttle at the learning facility.”