Saxon Andrew - Escape to Earth-The Legacy of a Conqueror

“How long before he’s ready?”

“About another five minutes.”

Chris nodded and pressed his panel, “Eve, are your warriors in place?”

“Their Barrier Pods have dropped them off and they’re standing by in the barrier. The pods have skipped out and are standing by to pick us up if everything goes to hell in a hand basket.”

Piper is starting his attack in less than five minutes.”

“Thanks for the heads up; I’ll pass it on to my unit Commanders.”

“Eve, what the group said to me about not participating in combat operations also applies to you.”

Eve sighed, “There’s a big difference between what we do, Chris.”

“Oh? How is that?”

“I’m going to be right in the middle of Legend Land and the quickest way to get killed is to just stand around watching things happen. I have no choice but to do what everyone else is doing, stick and move.”

“Your warriors will lose their spirit if you’re killed.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. It will piss them off so much they’ll really take it out on the Legends. Don’t worry, all my units have trained to work individually and together. They’ll do the job whether I’m leading them or not. I’ve also made the chain-of-command clear to everyone.”

“Will you just be careful!?”

“Hey, careful is my first name.”

“No it isn’t.”

“It is now.”

Chris looked at his panel, “Piper has started his attack. That’s your cue to go on stage.”

“If you say break a leg, I’m going to slap you the next time I see you.”

The display went dark and Chris shook his head. It was obvious that she was her parents’ daughter. Chris turned his attention to the gigantic space battle with the Progen Fleets and saw it was too early to make any changes. He then turned his monitor to the Legends Planet and shook his head.

The Legend Leader was screaming, “Get the outer fleet ready to go to the Audon Central Planet and I want it blasted to rubble!!”

“Greatest, we’ve sent three hundred ships!”

“SEND A HUNDRED THOUSAND. I WANT THAT INSOLENT BUG KILLED!!”

“GREATEST, THE PROGEN FLEETS ARE BEING ATTACKED!”

The Legend Leader looked across the galaxy and saw a space battle that rivaled anything he had ever witnessed. In all the former encounters, the enemy would attack and flee. They were not fleeing this time and the Progen were being blasted. “CANCEL SENDING THE SHIPS TO THE AUDONS. ORDER THEM TO GO AND ASSIST THE ORANGE TOOL!”

His Second looked at him and the Leader lashed him with a violent electrical current that shot out of his outer aura, “DO IT NOW!!”

The older model of Black Ships above the Legends’ Planet began moving out of formation to skip away and just as they activated their stardrives, the Silver Ships blew into their ranks and opened fire. They began going up a giant string of firecrackers and the Second yelled, “DO NOT LEAVE!!! RESIST THIS ATTACK!!”

The Leader looked at the giant battle taking place over the planet and ordered the inner layer of new ships to meet the attackers. A few moments later, the first two thousand ground disruptors went up in massive explosions. “HOW DID THOSE FORCES LAND?!”

“I DON’T KNOW! THEY JUST SUDDENLY APPEARED!”

“FREE THE DISRUPTORS TO HIT THEM ON THE GROUND! DO IT NOW!!”

“IF WE DO, THEY WON’T BE ABLE TO FIRE ON THE SHIPS ATTACKING OUR FLEETS!”

“THEY WON’T ANYWAY! THOSE ATTACKERS ARE MOVING TOO FAST TO TARGET. FREE THE DISRUPTORS!!”

The Heavy Armored Assault Warriors took out their initial targets unopposed. Eve sprinted to the giant tower next to her first target and blew a hole through its force field and fired her heavy DE Blaster at the reactors located in the base. She gripped her thumb with the four fingers on her right hand and disappeared into the barrier as a massive blast blew out from the giant structure. She used the heavy blaster to cut the first tower at an angle and it slid down the cut and crashed to the ground. She saw the second disruptor was spinning its turret around and the giant barrel was moving toward the ground. It was too late to cut it. She waited in the barrier until the massive blast blew by and was thankful for Nudge again.

There was a huge disagreement on where to place the button that would activate the barrier. She was in favor or having it on the back of one armored glove and her Senior Unit Commanders all wanted to put it somewhere else. They insisted it would interfere with activating their missile systems. After three days of argument, she saw an outsider would have to make the decision. She called Nudge in to the meeting and he politely listened to every proposal. At the end he slowly shook his head, “All of you are wrong.”

Everyone looked at him and Gen. Gene Armstrong looked at him and said with dripping sarcasm, “So you’re going to tell us how to fight our armor? How many drops have you made, Scientist?”

Nudge looked at him and ignored his comment with a cool detachment, “How fast will one of those towers go up if you hit the reactors?” Gene stared at him and Nudge said, “Pretty much instantly, won’t it?” Gene nodded. “So all of you are proposing to place a button on your armor that will have to be pressed by one of your fingers, right?”

Eve said, “That’s how we see it being done.”

“And if you’re having to fire your hand blaster to hold off enemy forces attacking you, you put the blaster away and then press the button? How long will that take?” Everyone stared at him in silence. Nudge pulled out a stop chronometer and said, “Each one of you show me how you would press the button with the hand extended that you would use to press it.”

All of the officers showed him and he timed them. When the last one demonstrated his move, Nudge looked at the chronometer and said, “The fastest time is three tenths of a second.” He looked at Eve, “You did agree that the reactors would go up almost immediately?” Eve nodded. “You’ll be dead if you do it any of these ways you’ve shown me. I also assume you’re going to have to use your heavy blasters to take them out.” He looked at Gene who reluctantly nodded. “Am I mistaken, or does it take two arms to hold and fire it?”

Eve sighed, “You’ve made your point. What would you suggest?”

He handed Eve the chronometer, “Time me.” She held up the chronometer and he immediately gripped his thumb with four fingers.

“Wait, I wasn’t ready.” Nudge held up his arms like he was holding a heavy blaster. He looked at her and she nodded. Nudge dropped his thumb into his four fingers, without releasing the trigger finger. Eve shook her head. “It’s faster than I can press the timer.”

Everyone looked at each other and Nudge said, “This barrier button is the one thing that will save your lives and you have to do it without thinking. It must almost be trained into a reflex.” Nudge held out his hand and gripped his thumb. “All of you give it a try.” All of the warriors in the room did it and Gene said, “I apologize. But can this motion be made to activate the barrier?”

“We use similar motions to launch your missiles. This one can also be programmed into your software.”

It was at that precise moment that Eve fell in love. She was very attracted to Nudge before but she saw his brilliance in that moment and knew there wouldn’t be anyone else for her. She looked at her Officers as they continued to grip their thumbs. She looked at him and smiled, “How long will it take to change the software?”

“I’ll write the program and transmit it over your general frequency to all of your command. You need to tell everyone about the change before I send it so they’ll know to be careful.” Eve nodded. “I’ll have it ready for transmission within an hour. Just let me know when to send it.”