Chapter 2
Reginald watched, as his two trainees flew through the air beside him. They did a roundabout around the destroyer 15, then, shoot out farther, scanning around. Reginald grinned. He had trained them well. By now, they knew the routine. Reginald took a moment to look at Earth. He always loved the sight of Earth. Reginald basked in the sight. The ocean spread over the entire planet. Ever since the great flood of 2031, the Earth was more water. Reginald could vaguely see the forms that were the floating cities that dotted the earth nowadays.
He turned his attention from Earth, to see his two pupils coming up to the end of their reconnaissance. They flew up beside him.
‘Nothing sus, cap,’ Willis grinned. ‘I can’t see K1-T3 invading anytime soon.’
‘What he said,’ William said. Reginald frowned.
‘Next time, I want William to give his report first,’ he said. ‘he’s just copying Willis’s.’ Willis gave a thumbs up.
‘Now, let’s head back to the—’ Reginald was interrupted by Keren’s urgent voice. ‘Captain, you’d better come see this. Reginald exchanged a glance with his two candidates.
‘What he said,’ he said.
The Wingers shot through the air, dashing toward the entrance of the castle. It opened, and the Wingers flew through that, to land smoothly in the landing pads. Reginald was already moving as the Wingers landed. Jumping out, and dodging the spike easily, he strode forward.
Reginald strode through the old looking hallways, all plated with platinum made to look like stone, and arrived in the command centre in a record time of 1 minute.
‘What’s the matter, Keren?’ he asked. ‘Fuel tank burst again?’
‘No,’ Keren said. He was sitting in front of the computer and had a map of the space around earth, with all the Destroyers marked on it on the giant computer screen that covered most of one wall. ‘See for yourself.’ Reginald looked, and cursed quietly under his breath.
‘What on earth is Tyler thinking?’ Reginald asked. Tyler was the captain of the Destroyer 7, and an old associate of Reginald’s. He was stationed on the opposite side of the earth to the De4str0yer 15. And he was moving.
‘Maybe he caught sight of K1-T3!’ Willis said hopefully. He and William had just arrived.
‘Not likely,’ Reginald said, eyes glued to the screen. ‘He would have set the ala—what in the name of great gouda!?’ The Destroyer 7’s mega cannon was loading. And it was pointed at Destroyer 8.
Reginald bashed the comms button, and called Destroyer 7.
‘Hello!’ Reginald yelled. ‘De4tr0yer 15! What in the name of great gouda are you doing?’
‘We are making a way,’ came a calm voice from the comms radio. It was not Tyler. It wasn’t anyone Reginald knew about. ‘Making a way for a new and better society to inhabit this earth. Finally destroying the little ants, who think that they are soooo good, soooo smart, and yet fall soooo short of our power. Finally, we will have what we deserve. A new humanity.’ And the call cut off.
‘K1-T3,’ Reginald muttered in fear. ‘they’ve invaded, at last.
The De$str0yer 8 did not seem to notice that it was being aimed on. Reginald bashed the comms button again, and called them.
‘Hello,’ said a drawly voice. ‘Captain Harold of the Destroyer 8 speaking. What’s up, Reg?’
‘HAROLD!’ Reginald bellowed into the comms radio. ‘DO YOUR CREW HAVE A BRAIN? LOOK AT THE MAP! GET OUT OF THE WAY! YOU’RE UNDER ATTACK!’
‘Impossible,’ Captain Harold laughed. He was used to Reginald’s warnings of attack, which were delivered quite frequently. ‘If this is like that satellite that Tyler shot down, then I have nothing to worry about.’
‘Please,’ Reginald panted, ‘just look at the map.’ There was a clattering noise, and then a blipping as Harold opened up his map. A slight pause, and then…
‘ALL MEN TO ARMS!’ Harold bellowed. ‘WE’RE UNDER ATTACK! PUT UP THE DEFENCES!’ the call cut off. Reginald watched the map, and saw Destroyer 8’s shield pop on. Then, the huge space station started moving off. But by then, it was too late. Reginald saw the laser blast out of the space station on the map. But he didn’t just see it, he felt it.
When the laser fired, it was gathering the dark matter from around it, and catapulting it forward in one coordinated explosion. This dark matter sent the object it hit who knew where. And when the dark matter was taken, and vanished, more had to take its place. And, in theory, scientists said the universe shrank. So, as the dark matter sped through the air, the entire ship trembled. Reginald stumbled, and would have fallen if he hadn’t grabbed the back of Keren’s chair.
And then, on the map, the Destroyer 8’s little symbol blipped out.
‘HAROLD!’ Reginald cried out. ‘NO!’ He fell to his knees. He hadn’t really known the funny captain, but he had been a friend. A friend now destroyed by K1-T3. Reginald clenched his fists. He would get his revenge on the evil aliens who had just blown up his friends. Then, a chill ran through his body. Destroyer 7 was moving. It was loading its laser. And the laser was pointed at the next Destrroyer in line, Destroyer 9. Reginald cursed under his breath.
Chapter 3
Reginald sat up, then bashed the comms button for the third time. He called everyone, and bellowed into the comms radio, ‘WE’RE UNDER ATTACK! OPEN UP YOUR MAP, AND LOOK AT DESTRROYER 7! DESTRROYER 8 IS ALREADY DOWN! K1-T3 HAS COME TO ATTACK US AGAIN!’
There was a babble of talk from the other end of the radio, but Reginald cut the call short, and then jumped to his feet.
‘We need to come up with a plan of action!’ he shouted. ‘Any ideas?’
‘Blow up Destroyer 7,’ Willis said impulsively. ‘Then we wouldn’t be troubled.’
‘That’s stupid,’ Keren said dismissively. ‘K1-T3 probably have more ships out there, their own ships. You have no idea what they are like. Absolute destroyers, they were. And if we have advanced our technology, K1-T3 has to have advanced two times more.’
‘I could—’ William started.
‘I know!’ Reginald said. ‘If we can find the blasted aliens’ ships, then we can blow them up! If we gather all the remaining Destroyers, find the source, and all shoot our mega cannons at the same time, then that might be enough to destroy the ships!’
‘From what Keren said, they must have a massive fleet,’ Willis argued. ‘Even if we had millions of Destroyers, we wouldn’t be able to stop them.’
‘I think I could—’ William started.
‘Well, we aren’t going to get anywhere if everyone’s being so negative!’ Reginald said angrily. ‘Come on, let’s think!’
‘Oh, so we have to think while you twiddle your thumbs?’ Willis shot back.
‘No, I just meant start making good ideas!’ Reginald retorted, his face growing red as a tomato. Sometimes, Willis thought he looked more like a tomato than a human.
‘Guys, guys, calm down,’ Keren said, raising his hands in a peace gesture. Both Willis and Reginald shot glares at him.
‘Easy for you to say, mister chill,’ Reginald snarled. Keren started forward, his face turning red too, his mouth opening for a cutting reply, when William interrupted.
‘IcouldhackintotheDestroyer7’scomputerandstopit,’ he gabbled out. Everyone stopped, and turned to stare at him.
‘I could hack into the Destroyer 7’s computer and stop it from blowing everything up,’ William said, more calmly, his face turning a bit red. ‘Then, I could see if K1-T3’s ships are anywhere nearby. The information might be stored on the Destroyer 7.’
‘Terrible idea,’ Keren said immediately. But Reginald stroked his moustache thoughtfully.
‘That could work,’ Reginald said slowly. ‘How long would it take?’
‘Maybe…10 minutes or so?’ William said, equally slowly.
‘Well, that settles it,’ Reginald said, clapping William on the back. ‘Go hack. We’ve got a plan!’