Annihilation: A Rose Grows In Weeds by Saxon Andrew Read Free Book Online Page A

with your plans. I’m sure the military staffs can put together a list that will do a good job. We’re still at least three months away from completing construction. Good luck, Admiral. Stay in touch and keep us up to date on any developments,” Tag Said.
     
    “I’ll be glad to do so. I’ll see you in six months if nothing happens.”
     

Chapter 6
    T he Algean sent a message to a ship that had not reported in on schedule. He tried again but received no response. It was troubling. All ships reported on schedule and this particular scout had not answered. He sent another message but only silence answered him. He thought a moment and then decided, “Elder. I have a scout that has missed its scheduled report and it does not respond to my inquiries.”
     
    “Where was it at its last report?”
     
    “It had finished scanning a system out in the third quadrant and had decided to move further out into the quadrant.”
     
    “In what direction was it moving?”
     
    “It did not say, Elder. It was going to report after it entered another system.”
     
    “So now it’s missing and we don’t know what part of the quadrant it went.”
     
    The Fleet Tracker felt nervous, “That appears to be what happened.”
     
    The Elder thought a moment. With more than fifteen million scouts searching for planets to harvest, the chances of accidents happening were miniscule but the odds were still possible. Ships do sometimes blow up or have collisions. “Do we have any other scouts in that quadrant?”
     
    “Yes, Elder; we have more than fifty thousand.”
     
    “Warn them to be careful and to scan for any debris in any system they scan. It was probably an accident but they should be on guard. I can’t see anything that could have destroyed the ship without them reporting unless there was a reactor explosion or nova that destroyed the ship. How old was that scout?”
     
    “Two thousand cycles, Elder.”
     
    “It was an old ship. They are more prone to reactor problems. Keep me informed if anything turns up.”
     
    Yes, Elder.
     
    Admiral Dorg and Kosiev sat on the bridge of the Moscow and looked at the replay of the destruction of the Algean Scout Ship. Kosiev and Dorg had worked for a month getting the fleet organized and the Megaships crews trained which had now grown to a hundred and ninety ships. They now had the time to look at the scout’s destruction. “Slow it down to 500 th speed,” Kosiev asked. The replay started just as the three needles struck the screens of the scout. “There, did you see it?”
     
    Dorg watched closely and said, “I think you’re right. The first needle didn’t penetrate but the other five did. I didn’t notice that before. Their screens are strong but appear to have slow recovery. It makes me wonder if our primaries would have penetrated on the initial salvo.”
     
    Kosiev leaned back in his chair and gazed off into space for a moment then said, “If that small scout stopped one of our Megaship needles, what would their larger classes of ships do against it? It also causes me to question whether our pulse penetrators would get thru their defenses.”
     
    Dorg stared at the display and lifted his two bottom arms straight out which showed his agitation. “We don’t know their capabilities. Our old ships may not be able to match up with their heavier ships; we just don’t know enough.” Dorg leaned back and grabbed a bag of popcorn and replayed the recording again.
     
    “Klas shared his recordings of their fight against the Plants and his ships were only successful when their fleet attacked one of the plant ships with ten or more of theirs and he readily admitted that his fleet was not nearly as strong as ours.” Kosiev paused, “Most of his weapons were nuclear missiles. They didn’t have strong beam weapons.”
     
    “Could the needle have been defective? Perhaps a hornet exploded early.” They slowed the recording even more but it yielded nothing new. “We have to