Andrew Saxon - Demon's sacrifice

Sprig turned to Stem and showed his disappointment at missing the exercise, “You would be a good substitute for us. You will go in our place. Enjoy life while you’re young. I envy you.”

Melanie looked at Sprig, “When are you planning to do this?”

“We are installing the repulsion screen on Life’s and Grena’s ships as we speak. The defender class vessel is ready and Destiny and Edison will check out the universal drive later today. Newton and Einstein are downloading the coordinates of the Nest Mother’s chamber into the Searcher’s computers. In the event we’re successful, we have built a facility to hold the chamber for our tests and we’ve selected a planet with enough food to keep her fed while we work on the chamber. If all goes well, we will jump to their universe tomorrow. We don’t have much time before the Reg implement their block, so time is essential. If we fail to get the Nest Mother, then we are going to fire a load of iron-tree balls into the green command vessel and jump back home.”

“I hope we aren’t forced to do that.” Matt thought a moment then looked at Destiny, “What happens if we are successful and take the Nest Mother? What will those left behind do in her absence?”

“I’m not certain. I suspect the senior Supreme Male will assume command. If we take the command chamber, then he will have no reason to hatch a new Mother. He’ll know that without the chamber the new mother would be useless. Perhaps he will get the scientists focused on building a universal drive that would allow them to come after her. That should fail in that we have never found a generator powerful enough to make it work. Either way, we are going to need her assistance to save the other members of my species. She is going to be the key to our success. If we killed her, we would have to kill every Supreme Male on every ship and I just don’t see that happening. She is our only chance at making this work and anything else would be wasted effort. This is literally all or nothing.”

“How are you going to remove her compulsions?”

Sprig looked at Melanie, “Einstein, Newton, and Freud are working on developing a virus that will attack the instructions that allow them to be implanted. Once that program sees their structure, then another virus will be downloaded into the Nest Mother, hopefully canceling the compulsions. All of this is speculative until we can actually see the device that puts the compulsions in her.”

Matt sighed and looked at the gathered group, “Life, do you think the two of you can pull this off?”

Life and Grena looked at each other and smiled, “I don’t know, Your Majesty, but it will be huge fun trying. I’m sorry you can’t tag along.”

Matt smiled and said, “Good luck with your plan. We’ll keep the light on in the guest quarters. This meeting is adjourned. Notify me of the results.”

Stem looked at the bridge crew of Stars End and thought they were very efficient at their tasks. The ships’ commander was Admiral Sen-gen who was chosen by Admiral Kosiev for this particular mission. The huge Glod female filled her command chair and kept a close eye on the activities of the bridge crew. “Are the Red Warriors on board yet?”

Captain Mendel looked at his board, “Yes Sir, both teams are in the forward ready room checking their weapons.”

“Make sure they are ready before the jump. They may have to repel borders.”

“Yes Sir.”

Sen-Gen looked at Stem and said, “Sir, we are almost ready for the jump. The eight penetrators are locked in place and their systems are active.”

Stem leaned back, “I thought we were only firing three.”

“That is the plan, but I’m not taking any chances on penetration. If the first doesn’t make it through the hull then another will follow it and then we’ll fire two more to breach the other side of the ship. The two Searchers will be notified when to launch.”

“What happens if four don’t penetrate?”

“I am authorized at that point to launch the other four main penetrators and kill everything in that vessel.”

“Keep me notified Admiral.”

Sen-Gen nodded and turned back to her board. The Stars End was active. The crew was manning the 2,400 penetrator launchers and checking the ship’s weapons systems to insure no failures during combat. Sen-Gen knew that once they jumped into the other universe Destiny would become the overall commander of the mission. She was going to make sure the ship was as ready as possible for the coming mission.

Stem went to the teleportation panel and checked the modulator and power readings. These screens must be timed perfectly and only cover the object being moved. It wouldn’t be good if Eight Leg Warriors were brought on Life’s and Grena’s ships. He checked their calibration again.

Destiny was with Edison looking at the jump and teleport boards. “Now you understand that we are jumping in more than half a universe away from the Nest Mother’s ship.”

“I know father, and as soon as our red screen is activated I am teleporting to a distance of fifty diameters from her. We’ll scan the area around her vessel and then teleport away to plan our approach.”

“What happens after the Searchers enter her ship?”

“I will teleport to the opposite side of her ship where the second penetrator has exited and wait for the Searchers to emerge. I’ll teleport them in to the landing bay and then jump back to our universe.”

Destiny looked at his child and knew he was ready. He just worried like any anxious parent. “We may have to fight off attackers, but you keep your eyes on your screen for those Searchers.”

“I will, father.”

“I’m going to the bridge; call me if you need me.”

Destiny arrived on the Bridge and Sen-Gen rose and saluted him, “Your ship is ready to jump when you are, Sir.”

Destiny knew Naval protocols but still felt it unfair that one of the Realm’s highest ranking officers was junior to him. “Admiral, I realize that I have the overall command of this mission; however, I do not know this ship and its capabilities as well as you. You will remain in the command chair and direct the ship. I will give instructions about what we want to see happen and you will use your knowledge of this vessel to carry them out.”

Sen-Gen’s opinion of the spider went up considerably. She recognized a good leader making the best decisions based on available resources and putting self second, “Yes Sir, I will do my best.”

“Then launch when you are ready, Admiral.”

Sen-gen hit her intercom button, “Attention all crew members, report your ready status to the bridge.”

Captain Mendel looked at his board and said, “All sections report ready, Admiral.”

Sen-Gen looked at Captain Mendel, “Go to battle stations, Captain.”

Mendel hit the button and the klaxon began wailing, “Battle stations; all hands to battle stations. Arm your weapons.” The lighting on the bridge went to combat luminosity so the board’s lights would be clearer. Sen-Gen nodded and the klaxon silenced. “All hands report ready, Admiral.”

Sen-Gen looked at Destiny and nodded; he said, “Edison, take us into the other universe.” The huge three hundred mile wide ship disappeared.

“Nest Mother, I have detected a universal drive entering our universe.”

The Nest Mother looked quickly at her communication panel, “Where is it?”

“It’s about halfway across our universe from this location.”

“Is it one of our vessels?”

“I do not see a vessel, Nest Mother. We just sensed a drive but nothing where we scanned it.”

Could this be a hidden vessel? She had to know, “Send a family to investigate. Get them there immediately to scan for jump tracks.”