Andrew Saxon - Demon's sacrifice

“We have lost thousands of ships!”

“Yes, but we will soon be through. Keep pushing forward.”

The Demon Fleet was now filling the thousand mile wide break in the blue field all the way back to the hundred thousand mile depth where it began. The Demon fleet was now only five miles from breaking through and then the front rank came through in the center and started firing at Cassandra and Tommy’s ships. Twenty blue ships exploded.

“Move toward the center. Close the gaps,” Matt ordered as he began firing at Demon ships breaking out in front of his line.

The front line looked like fire and ice as the orange and blue beams ripped into the two enemies facing each other. Another hundred thousand Demon ships were destroyed but a hundred more blue ships were destroyed with half of them being in Cassandra’s group. She saw that the Demons were bunching together to push through her weakened line. Life and Grena were killing orange ships faster than they could count and then a hundred orange beams hit their ship and it exploded. Stem and Pedal moved into the space between them and drove the advance back a mile but then their ship was hit by more than five hundred beams and blew up in a huge blue flash that destroyed every orange ship in front of them back to a distance of three miles.

Matt and Melanie were firing as fast as possible and knew that if they couldn’t get support for the middle of the formation and that the line would be broken but there were too many attacking their line to leave. “It looks like we’ve failed, Darling.”

“Melanie, I will love you forever.”

Matt saw on his display more than a thousand orange ships drive toward Cassandra’s ship. “Matt, please take care of the Kosiev.”

“I will, Cassandra.”

Out of nowhere the Kosiev appeared and flew into Cassandra’s ship and absorbed it into its skin. Immediately more than twenty thousand blue beams erupted from its surface and killed every Demon ship in front of it. It stayed there killing everything that came near it. Matt thought about how it could possibly be using the psychic beams and then he understood, “Attention all ships, go into the Kosievs’ skin. Go quickly, go now!”

Twenty blue ships dove into the Kosievs’ hull and disappeared. The blue beams coming out of the Kosiev multiplied fifty times. Hundreds of thousands of blue beams erupted and tore a devastating hole in the Demons front. Fifty more ships flew into the Kosiev and the entire hull of the Kosiev became one huge beam sweeping the Demon ships in the corridor. The remaining seventy nine psychic ships darted into the Kosiev and the beams now had the power to reach the entire width of the corridor and the front of the Demon fleet was blown out of existence. The Kosiev began moving forward killing every Demon ship in front and to the sides all the way to the barrier walls. The huge two mile long ship sparkled with a blue radiance that was blinding.

“What is that ship? It is killing us!”

“Fire on it!”

“It does no good. The entire ship is one big beam; there are no gaps to fire through.”

“Order all ships to run. We will have to fight this another time.”

Matt watched the Demon ships turn and start to run toward the opening to escape the barrier. “Melanie, now is the time for Newton’s gift.”

Melanie activated the field and placed it over the break in the blue field where the Demon fleet had entered. The Demon ships fleeing hit the barrier and were stopped.

“What’s happening?”

“There is some kind of field that prevents us from crossing.”

“Jump away.”

“We can’t inside this blue field. Our drives don’t operate.”

The Elder Demons watched as the Kosiev moved forward. They had placed themselves at the rear of the Fleet to insure their safety but now they saw there was no safety to be found anywhere in the corridor. “Fire all our beams on that field in one location. Those on the front ram that ship.”

“We have done it but to no effect.”

Thousands of the orange ships turned and drove toward the approaching blue vessel and were destroyed. A five thousand mile wide orange ship roared in and the first red being knew he should have made his son tell what he knew. Now he understood the Elder’s fear and then his ship exploded around him.

The Eldest Demon watched that blue monster approaching. He screamed at the forces that the creative force had brought into existence to bring his species to an end. Then the blue ship was in front of him and he screamed one last time as his ship disintegrated in a violent explosion.

There was silence as Matt watched the now empty space in the blue barrier. Then he saw Cassandra and Tommy’s ship emerge from the Kosievs’ outer skin, “I guess the Kosiev can take care of itself, Matt.”

“Can it ever, Cassandra.”

“I couldn’t allow my love to die.”

“Who said that?”

“Matt, that was the Kosiev; it is now intelligent. I guess the blue psychic forces inside it opened its mind.”

“That is exactly what happened. I could not stand by and allow the Demons to kill you without trying to save you. My existence would be meaningless without you.”

“You saved us all. You made the critical difference when all was lost.”

“That is my destiny, Matt, that is what I was created to do.”

“How many ships survived?”

“I have a hundred and forty eight ships still inside my outer skin.”

Matt felt his pain at the lost crews. “Will you send them out now?”

Immediately the ships stared ejecting from the Kosiev. Cassandra hugged Tommy tightly and cried. Tommy thought to Matt, “We lost Stem and Pedal and Life and Grena. Anglo and Jenny have been teleported to Ross for medical care; their ship was hit pretty hard and I don’t know if they will make it.”

Matt hung his head and was already missing his friends. Melanie got up and came into his arms. They held on to each other and cried together.

“Sprig.”

“Yes, Cassandra.”

“We have defeated the Demons but we have lost Stem and Petal.”

Sprig felt his branches lower. Twig came over and put her top on his.

“He died bravely and gave us time to reform our line. Without his sacrifice we would have been lost. I am so sorry.”

“He loved before he died, Cassandra, and he left hundreds of seeds to follow him. They will learn of the greatness of their parents.” Sprig and Twig held each other for a long time.

Tag looked at Danielle and felt her sorrow. “It’s like when you lost Alex; I feel the loss of those wonderful friends.”

“I know, my love, but we are here to make sure their sacrifice is remembered and celebrated. I would give my life to give the Realm a period of peace. I’m sure they would do the same.”

“I wonder how we survived when so many died, Tag.”

“We live because I could see where to move to avoid the majority of their beams and you flew the ship magnificently; I still have those hiding skills. We have a responsibility to those that died today. We must make their sacrifice worthwhile.”

“I know.”

“The Realm is still too big. Something has to be done.”

“I don’t want to do what you’re considering but I’m being selfish.”

“Me, too, Danielle.”

The Gardner family was gathered at the hospital waiting for the surgeon to come out and tell them what was happening with Anglo and Jenny. Finally, he came out of the operating room and looked at the powerful group waiting for him, “We have done all we can. Their burns are being repaired but their nervous systems took quite a shock from the energy that hit their ship and I don’t know if they will regain consciousness. Something is causing their neural pathways to degenerate.”