Read Escape to Earth-Living Legends for Free Online

of a giant fireworks show that never seemed to end. The brilliant reds, blues, whites, and yellows produced by the various systems used by a warship when it died were incredible to see. The flashes around the giant Legend vessel were too numerous to count.
    Suddenly, the Alliance Battle Pods disappeared an instant before a giant explosion erupted above the planet. The blast was one of the largest he had ever seen, if not the largest. None of those he remembered studying in the Academy matched the gigantic flash. The blast ripped into the Black Ships still around the giant vessel, blew through the planet’s atmosphere, and hit the surface. The Fleet’s attack was successful; the giant black vessel was vaporized by the heavy’s round. He yelled, “Get us out of here!!” He saw some of the Black Ships that had gone out after the Sentinels were fleeing from the shockwave the giant explosion created and were moving in his direction. He was out of the Legends’ galaxy in an instant and headed back to Earth.
    • • •
    “Pat, it appears every defensive structure on that continent where the Legend is located has been obliterated. The Legends’ residence is still intact but the ground disruptors are gone.”
    “The force field around the residence is incredible to withstand that blast, Piper.”
    “I don’t see anything near the planet to stop you from going in.”
    Pat slid out of Piper’s hull and took a quick look at the planet below them. Piper was right. “I’ll be gone for just a few moments; I’ll contact you for pickup shortly.” Pat moved down to the planet’s surface in an instant. He went through the force field and arrived inside the Elder’s main chamber a second later. He saw the Legend Elder at his control boards and smiled, “Hey, take a break!”
    The Elder screamed as Pat extended his field and shocked it. The Elder collapsed to the floor. The Elder’s fear was paralyzing and Pat thought to it, “Will you shut up with the screaming. I’m not going to kill you if you shut the hell up!” The Legends’ screams abruptly ended. It lay on the floor quivering. Pat decided killing him wasn’t worth it. This Elder’s mind was frozen by its fear. He mentally shrugged and thought, “It has been brought to my attention that you have been planning to come to my domain without permission. I came here to let you know that is not something you, or any of those like you, should do. I’ll let you live this time but next time I will kill you. If I see you building another ship to invade, it will be the last thing you do.” The Legend continued to shake on the floor and Pat left the giant chamber and called in Piper. Piper flashed in and Pat moved inside the silver ship’s hull as it flashed back into the barrier and disappeared.
    “Did you kill it?”
    “No, killing it would waste him. I believe his fear will do more benefit than just ending its life.”
    “I hope you’re right.”
    “Why do you say that?”
    “Pat, if you have an enemy by the throat, you should remove it. Especially a species like this one.”
    “If this doesn’t work out, I’ll kill the next one.”
    • • •
    Michael pressed a button on his console, “Averel.”
    “Yes Sir.”
    “I want the recordings of this battle collected and have Fleet Intelligence prepared to deliver a presentation of what happened in my office in the morning. Ask Luke if he’ll lead the presentation.”
    “Yes Sir.”
    “Do we have an estimate of casualties?”
    “We lost a little more than six thousand ships, Sir.”
    Michael shook his head, “That many?”
    “Sir, we were outnumbered twenty to one. Most of the losses happened at the point of each fleet’s attack. Blowing a path through that many ships proved to be much more difficult than we anticipated. Unfortunately, all of our damaged ships that weren’t able to escape into the barrier were destroyed when the target went up.”
    “What about enemy ship losses?”
    “Twenty thousand