'Only one?'
'Nothing. A minor detail. My ship has been sent off our original course and is now heading for a collision course with your moon and unless we can get our guidance and propulsion systems working again, we expect to be killed.'
Drakov took a few seconds to get a handle on all the new information. 'How long do you have before you hit the moon?'
'Oh, approximately five and a half hours. We just need to regain control of my ship and we'll be ok. Hopefully. I'm just less sure about you and your planet. Nothing can stop those drones reaching Earth except the Romulus. Once they reach your atmosphere the device which makes them invisible to radar is activated and...well...It won't be pretty.'
'Don't you ever have any small problems? Captain. Do you at least have any ideas of their intended targets?'
'Yes. The cities of your planet.'
Drakov said, 'Well, that narrows it down a bit. How many are still headed our way?'
'We think eleven. Your Belle and Matlock have been successful in destroying several drones. But the remaining drones are spreading wider apart making it more difficult to hit them. I'm sure a few will get through but I have no idea where.'
'This gets better and better. Right. We'll advise all our defence centres. We're going to be very busy. Captain Gosdore. If I don't get the chance to meet you in person, I'd like to say how regrettable this all is. Carver was obviously a paranoid psychopath.'
Gosdore said, 'And had I been more open to dialogue instead of war...Yes. Regrettable. We have things to do.'
'Good luck, over.'
Chapter 113
'I see another three there and two way over there,' said Danders.
'Go after those three,' said Burns. 'We'll never catch the other two.'
Patrick said, 'At least eight will reach Earth.'
Prince Patrick said, 'Our ground forces are pretty good, aren't they, Major Burns.'
'If they can see what they're shooting at, sir. Radar doesn't seem to pick them up and by the time our people have a visual sighting, it's too late. Your father was almost killed in his city home. The drones made it a special target.'
Prince Patrick gasped. 'Dad? Is he ok?'
'Yes, thanks to Captain Patrick here.'
'You have a habit of saving me and my family, Captain Patrick. Thank you.'
Patrick said, 'You're welcome. You seemed to enjoy killing Carver. Why was that? I'm thinking it wasn't just him putting us all in danger blowing the hole in the ship.'
'He left me and my crew for dead. Our ship was hit and I was the only survivor, but Carver just assumed we were all dead and left us there.'
Burns said, 'I was there. I didn't see your ship being hit but we were too busy being fired on by the drones. Carver told me your ship was gone. Based on Carvers report of you being hit, I decided to get my people to safety.'
'You did the right thing with what you thought had happened. Carver saw my ship being hit, and that we hadn't blown up. He knew there was a chance some of us could have survived. He was too busy saving his own ass.'
Akrins said, 'If you hadn't killed him, I'd have finished the job. He's the sort of human that made those chicken-legs suspicious of all of us. Good riddance.'
Danders said, 'We're closing in on the drones. Jazz. Dale.'
'Ready,' said Belle. 'Dale. I'll take the one on the left, you take the right. We'll both go for the middle one.'
'Got that.'
Danders said, 'Get the one chasing us first if I were you. Damn. It's shooting at us. Taking evasive action.'
Belle and Matlock returned fire and took out the drone.
'Good shooting,' said Danders. 'I'm not sure we can catch those other three now. Hang on to your teeth.'
Patrick said, 'Another few minutes they'll be in Earth's atmosphere and we'll lose them.'
'Remind me to slap you later. Come on, damn it. Coming into range.'
'This is going to be tight,' said Belle. 'Me left, you right, Dale.'
Lasers lashed out and two drones exploded.
'Seconds left before that drone hits atmosphere,' said Danders. 'Hit the damn thing.'
Two lasers blasted either side of the drone and they almost lost it then it exploded.
'A tiny bit close for comfort,' said Matlock. 'Anything else we can shoot at?'
'No,' said Danders. 'The rest of the drones are in atmosphere.'
'Can you get Commander Drakov for me?' Burns asked.
'Coming through.'
'Commander. Burns. We got a few of the drones but eight got through. Nothing we can do from here, sir.'
'We're already scrambling. You guys all did a great job. Listen. I had a call from Captain Gosdore. The mother-ship is now going to crash into the moon unless they can change course. There's no way to stop it otherwise.'
'How long do they have?' asked Patrick.
'About five hours.'
Akrins said, 'April's on there. Maybe they need another engineer on that ship. Liz. You know what to do.'
Chapter 114
'Another hour should get us to the mother-ship,' said Danders.
Burns said, 'Can you get Captain Gosdore for me?'
'I'll try it,' said Patrick. 'Romulus calling Captain Gosdore. Can you hear me?' Three more attempts got them a patchy transmission. 'Captain. We're coming back to your ship. How are the repairs going?'
'Carver did some significant damage. We are not even sure if the ship can be repaired. We can only try.'
Akrins said, 'Captain. Those drones. Can't you control them at all?'
'Once upon a time, I think you humans would say. Now they are locked into their own attack data. We can't override it.'
Belle and Matlock had come out of the turrets with nothing to shoot at and knowing the aliens wouldn't shoot at them now.
'What's going on?' Belle asked.
'We're trying to find out if they can control those drones in any way at all,' said Patrick. 'Not looking good.'
Matlock said, 'That thing that's making them invisible to our radar. Can't that be turned off?'
Gosdore said, 'We thought about that. Normally we can, but the equipment on this ship has been fried beyond repair. I have a pair of technicians trying to fix something up but it could take hours and we are trying to stop us crashing into your moon also.'
Akrins said, 'Get a camera on the damaged units so we can take a look at it.'
'One moment. There. Can you see?'
'What's left of it I can. I think we have replacement parts that we can cobble together. Transmit me all the plans and data and I'll get them ready.'
'We can do this. I think...There. Is your computer getting all this?'
Danders said, 'Coming through. Ok. Got it. What about the propulsion systems?'
'We have the equipment and parts, but it will take much time,' said Gosdore. 'You managed to kill two of my best engineers in the fight.'
'Sorry about that,' said Patrick.
Danders said, 'We'll be with you in about one hour. We'll come up with something. We'll call you back if we need more info, over.'
Patrick said, 'That unit is a sophisticated piece of kit. Not a five minute job.'
Akrins said, 'I'll get everything together. I just wish I was over there now fitting them.'
Prince Patrick said, 'Why wait? We can build a complete new unit here as we go to them. Then we can just replace the damaged one and stop those drones.'
Belle said, 'Bloody geniuses must be a Davron family trait. That will save us a good hour on the mother-ship.'
'Not only that,' said Danders, 'Those technicians wasting their time repairing the drone controls can be freed up to help on the propulsion systems.
'Worth a shot,' said Patrick. 'I'll tell Gosdore and I'll meet you in the workshop.'
Five minutes later, Patrick joined the others in the engineering workshop leaving Danders in charge of the flight-deck. Already Akrins had identified replacement electronics for the new drone control unit. Ma
ny looked nothing like the alien plans but Akrins assured them he knew what he was doing. A few minutes later they had one hundred and ninety-seven parts spread out over three workbenches. It looked like a technicians bad dream.
'A piece of cake,' declared Akrins.
Chapter 115
All around Earth, battles were raging. The spherical drones were fast moving and highly manoeuvrable but would ordinarily be matched by the piloted fighters if not for the drones ability to become invisible to radar and other means of detection. They could only be seen visually and often by the time this happened the drones were able to take down the fighters. Only by following the trail of death and destruction caused by the drones were the fighters able to find the enemy weapons at all. Within one hour of the drones entering Earth's atmosphere, the carnage had begun. The body-count climbed sharply and once beautiful cities were becoming laser ravaged war-zones.
One drone was carving a path of destruction along the centre of a capital city, blasting indiscriminately, uncaring for the maimed, crippled and dead humans of all ages. Three fighters were homing in by following the devastation, sickened at the thought of innocent people including children and babies, mangled dead and dying, buried in the wreckage.
'I know people down there, you bastards,' said one pilot named Max, tears stinging his eyes. 'If I die today I'm taking you with me.'
He got his chance. He saw the drone and the drone saw him. From above and behind the pilot, two others had the same intention and their flashes of laser fire seared the air and traced lines of death either side of the zigzagging drone.
Max didn't fire his lasers. Instead he aimed his fighter directly at the drone. Busy dodging the other two fighters as it fired on Max, the fighter powered into the drone and the two became one ball of flames showering down on the remains of the city below.
'Max?'
The ejected pilot deployed his parachute and floated down to the ground.
'What? You think I'm stupid or something? Order beer in the bar and I'll be right behind you.'
Chapter 116
'Less then three hours,' said Captain Gosdore. 'Nothing seems to be working. Too much damage.'
Danders said, 'We're coming along side you. We have the new unit to control those drones.'
'Good,' said Gosdore. 'At least we can try to stop the damage being inflicted on your planet.'
Akrins said, 'We're assuming you have another airlock we can use? Other than the smashed one.'
'Of course. Much smaller, but still usable. The other side of the ship to the main airlock.'
'Manoeuvring around to the back,' said Danders. 'Open up the airlock so we know where it is.'
'Opening now,' said Gosdore. 'See it?'
'Yes. Patrick and Toby will be using a shuttle to bring over the new device we're hoping to use. Seal them in as soon as they're in the ship.'
'Understood.'
The small shuttle left the Romulus and Akrins skilfully guided the tiny two-seat craft through the airlock and as it settled on the floor, the airlock sealed them in. Patrick tapped controls of the hood to open it and they climbed out. As they lifted the new unit and their tool-kit, the inner airlock door opened. Gosdore and Krilltok were waiting for them.
Patrick said, 'We need to fit this right away. Take us where we need to be.'
Gosdore and Krilltok helped Patrick and Toby with the equipment and they worked their way along corridors where lights flickered and flared. Humans and aliens were working together for the common good. From a crowded make-shift surgical area, Nurse Golightly saw Toby and went to him.
'Are you ok? I was so worried.'
'So far so good. You?'
'We're doing what we can with what we have. We need to get to a hospital on Earth.'
Patrick said, 'We know. April. We urgently need to fit this unit and stop those damn drones.'
'I'll go back to Doctor Crowe. Good luck.'
She paused long enough to kiss Toby on his cheek.
Toby said, 'I'll see you as soon as we get this working.'
As they made their way to the damaged drone control unit, they were heartened by the degree of cooperation between the two species who just hours before were intent on killing each other. They finally reached the damaged unit.
'Can't be fixed in my lifetime,' said Toby. 'But this new one should work.'
'That looks nothing like the original,' said a concerned Krilltok.
'I don't do same, I do better,' said Toby, working with Patrick to wangle the new unit into place. 'How's the propulsion systems coming along?'
Gosdore said, 'Too much damage, too little time.'
'How long before we hit the moon?' asked Patrick.
'Less than two hours,' said Gosdore. 'That thing will never fit with that.'
'I get told that a lot,' said Toby. 'That's what these parts do. Bridge the gap between the unit and the ship's power supply. Now if I just...Oh. Not quite working.'
'I did say so,' said Gosdore.
Toby ignored her. Just a little twist and turn....done.'
'Looking good,' said Patrick.
'It will work?' said an astonished Krilltok.
'Only one way to find out,' said Toby.
Chapter 117
Sister Christine felt like she had the whole world on her shoulders and the way the ceiling seemed about to collapse any second, she knew that could happen literally. In the basement of the Saint Mary's orphanage, the noise from the children matched the bedlam outside. The attack had been sudden and deadly; the random laser shots from the drone as it destroyed and killed all in its path. A four-year boy had seen it first, pointing up in the sky as he shared the playground climbing frame with his best friend Samantha.
Sister Dorothy had been with the children making sure they didn't fall when the sirens had started wailing. Ready to hurry the children away to safety, she had looked up to where Tommy was pointing, seconds before the laser turned her to ashes. Reacting purely on instinct, Sister Christine and Sister Dawn gathered the now screaming and terrified children and hurried to the sanctuary of the old building with the damp basement below. Sister Dawn had shielded a girl as she was burnt to death.
Sister Christine was the only nun left as she herded the little ones inside, slamming the heavy oak doors behind her. From a small room came Father Horace, his old service revolver in his drunken shaking hand.
'Get...the basement,' was all he managed.
'Yes, Father.'
This was Sister Christine's intention anyway. Above them the sounds of collapsing buildings seemed dangerously close. As the children climbed down the brick steps to the basement, the youngest helped by the older children. The drones laser peppered the roof and a line of holes let in the sunlight. One blast almost hit Father Horace, and his famous temper got the better of him.
'You evil bastards,' he yelled, shaking the gun at the ceiling.
He ran to the door and opened it.
'Father Horace.'
'Go, Sister. I saw action in the wars. You go to the children.'
Sister Christine wasn't about to argue and hurried down the steps. She gathered the children around her, trying to comfort them.
The drones were relentless and they weren't going to stop until all below them had been turned to rubble. Sister Christine gasped as the shadow of a figure appeared at the top of the steps. Father Horace buckled and he fell down the steps, leaving his severed left arm in the playground. There was also a deep groove in his head where the laser had hit him. How he had made it to the basement Sister Christine could only imagine. She went to him, but he looked up at her with cadaver eyes.
The revolver was still in his right hand, unfired. It was Sister Christine's turn to get furious. She worked the revolver loose from the dead priest's hand.
'Stay here, children.'
She ran up the stairs and stopped, crossed herself and ran outside. The drone was moving away from the orphanage, concentrating its fire-power elsewhere. She had never fired a gu
n in her life, but had seen enough films in her time. With the gun in both hands she aimed at the drone and fired. Nothing happened at first, but the drone had stopped shooting. Then it dropped like a stone into the wreckage below it.
With her heart pounding, she stared at the smoking barrel. 'Good heavens.'
She wasn't to know she had missed by a mile as she hurried back to the children.
Chapter 118
'Did it work, Toby?'
'Patrick. I designed it. Of course it worked. I hope.'
'I'll call Earth and find out,' said Gosdore hurrying away to her computer terminal, followed by Krilltok, Patrick and Akrins. They soon made contact with Drakov.
'Did we stop the drones?' Akrins demanded.
'Wait. Yes. I'm getting reports from everywhere. All the drones are dead. I don't know what you did, but it worked. Great job. You've just saved millions of lives.'
Patrick made a high-five with Akrins and then the aliens.
'Now all we have to do is stop this rock crashing into the moon,' Gosdore reminded everyone.
Drakov said, 'You have fifty-three minutes to pull that one off. Go. And good luck, over.'
Danders had been listening in. 'We can cram two hundred on the Romulus. That's all the humans and most of the aliens.'
Belle said, 'That's a good option, but only part of the solution. If that ship hits the moon, we'll have debris raining down on Earth for ages. Nobody will be safe.'
Akrins had heard Belle and said, 'Patrick and I will go look at the progress on the repairs to the propulsion systems. I'll update you in a few minutes.'
They joined the engineers and technicians desperately trying to resurrect the systems damaged by Carvers explosions. It was chaos everywhere.
Akrins summed it up. 'Fifty days, maybe, not a chance in hell in fifty minutes.'
Patrick said, 'We just need to deflect the ship a few degrees from its current path, right?'
'I'll get out and push.'
'You won't but the Romulus will.'
Patrick found the nearest working terminal to call Danders. 'Liz. If you land on the mother-ship can you use the Romulus to push us off course?'
'I love an optimist. Not nearly enough power.'
Gosdore said, 'Would more ships do it?'