by Saxon Andrew
“Contact them and tell them it’s a direct order from me. They’ve been observing the humans; they should comply by the difference in the structure.”
“I’ll give it a go. See you later.”
Blacky activated his communicator and tried to contact Dat but was unsuccessful. He wondered what was going on.
• • •
Hardhead pulled his communicator out and stared at it. He was angry beyond words but he saw that the order had been given in human terms. “Mumbles.”
“Yes.”
“We’ve been ordered to stop the attack and back off until we’re contacted.”
Mumbles looked at the Grillen Warrior he was holding off the ground and hooted, “You can’t be serious!”
“It comes from the War Leader.”
Mumbles was disgusted and he looked at the terrified Grillen he was holding and said, “You don’t know how lucky you are.” Mumbles put him on his feet and said, “Get out of here.” The Grillen didn’t have to be told twice. “Hardhead, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know. I just asked the other team at the Space Port and they’re just as confused as we are.”
“Perhaps we should get out of here and fly over to the Space Port. I suspect they’ll hear something before we do.”
“Good idea. I’ll meet you outside.”
Chapter Twelve
“Dat, the Grillen Supreme Commander has requested a meeting with you at the site of the negotiations.”
“Why would he want that, Admiral?”
“I have no idea.”
“The Madators are about to initiate their attacks. Should we delay them?”
Katherine shook her head, “And just how would we do that?”
Dat sighed, “There’s no way we could contact all of them in time. It would endanger those that don’t attack if we called them off.”
“That’s how I see it. Whatever they want, I suspect it’s just another delaying tactic.”
Dat thought a moment, “Should I delay the meeting until after the attacks?”
“No, they might suspect something if you did.”
Dat nodded, “I’ll go and see what he wants. I’ll let you know afterwards.”
Katherine nodded and ended the call, “Brad, what do you make of this?”
“There’s been a huge amount of communication taking place in their fleets. Something has happened on their Governing Planet. We’ve not been able to ascertain what it is.”
“Get back to communications and find out. This isn’t like them.”
Brad saluted and left the room. Katherine pulled up the image of the Bronze Ship and wondered if they were about to be used against the Union. She picked up her communicator, “Admiral, I want all the disruption units in place. Be prepared to disrupt space around our planets if I order it.”
“Yes Sir.”
Katherine tried not to give in to her fear but it was almost impossible not to do so.
• • •
Dat rushed out of Fleet Headquarters and began talking on his communicator. He saw Stein bringing his Rover out of orbit and down to the planet; he called Gresha, “Gresha, I want you to go to the Madator’s planet and get them preparing to land on the main Grillen Governing Planet.”
“What!?!”
“I’ve thought about this at length and the only way to possibly end this without huge losses of life is to take out the Grillen leadership. I know the Madators trust you and you can make this happen quickly.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to meet with the Grillen Supreme Military Commander. He has requested a meeting and I need to see what’s going on. Will you do this for me?”
“I want to be with you, Dat.”
“I’m in no danger, Love. No one can approach the site of negotiations with an armed vessel. Even the Grillen wouldn’t violate that principle.”
“Would that civilization that sent the Bronze Ship violate it?”
Dat was surprised by that question. He thought a moment, “Even if they chose to do it, space around the planet is disrupted. They wouldn’t arrive before I could escape with Stein and Loree.”
“I want them on the planet with you, Dat.”
“They’ll land right outside the facility.”
Gresha grabbed a bag she kept packed in the front closet, “I’m on my way.”
“Thanks, Love.”
• • •
Dat arrived at the planet in M87 where the negotiations were taking place and was refused entrance into orbit with an armed warship. “Is the Grillen Commander here?”
“He is.”
“Please notify him I will not come unless I can land with my ship.”
Dat waited outside disrupted space around the planet and wondered if he should take the risk and go to the surface without his ship. “Admiral, you have been approved to land outside the facility.”
“Thank you.” Dat was shocked that the Grillen had agreed. “Stein, be ready for a fast exit.”
“I didn’t expect him to agree, Dat.”
“Neither did I; that must mean something serious is going on.”
“If I have to do it, I will burn a hole into the building for you to exit.”
“That’s a good idea. Keep me on your scanners. Do you have anything above the planet that’s out of the ordinary?”
“No, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t.”
“Loree, keep an eye out.”
“Count on it.”
• • •
Dat exited the Rover and was escorted to the main hall. He checked his wrist unit and saw the Madator Attacks were kicking off. He was surprised to find only the Grillen Admiral waiting on him. The Admiral was tall for a Grillen at five feet and he looked imposing with his black skin matching the color of his military uniform, “I’ve dismissed all of the others so we can have a private conversation.”
“What’s going on?”
“My King has been killed by one of the creatures who allied themselves against you.” Dat was shocked at the revelation and didn’t know how to respond. The Grillen saw his emotions and said, “We have also uncovered some information about our ally that the new King thought you should know.”
Dat went to chair and sat down, “Why are you telling me this?”
“The new King feels that you need to know and he’s curious about what your response might be.”
“Go ahead.”
The Grillen activated the wall monitor and the image of a large creature wearing a green robe appeared. Dat guessed the creature was a little over six feet tall judging by the size of the Grillen standing next to it. His immediate reaction to it was repulsion. “I can see you share my feelings about these beings.”
Dat looked at the Admiral, “Then why did you ally with them?”
“I’ll get to that momentarily.” The Grillen pressed the control and Dat saw the creature without the robe on. He shook his head, “That looks like some kind of insect.”
“What’s an insect?”
“It’s a bug on my home world that was characterized by having six legs. This one doesn’t have any antenna, but it does share a number of their characteristics.”
“This particular one killed our King who was behind a force field.” Dat stared at the Admiral and saw he was telling the truth. The Admiral nodded at the image, “We discovered that this creature carries about thirty larvae, eggs…something that they inject into an intelligent life form to reproduce.”
Dat looked at the Admiral with revulsion, “How do you know that?”
“I’m giving you the scans we took for you to take with you to run your own examination. The King was killed by this creature when he confronted it on its reproductive needs.” The monitor started moving and Dat watched the confrontation between the Grillen King and the creature. The King’s death was not pretty and Dat started shaking his head, “How could you have allowed your civilization to ally with these vermin?”
The Grillen sat d
own in a chair next to Dat, “Our former ruler would always accept anything offered; he assumed he was in total control and no one could challenge him.”
“And now?”
The Grillen shrugged, “You saw their ship.”
“Where are they located?”
“We have no idea.”
Dat shook his head, “Are you that incredibly stupid!?!”
“We are.”
“Where were you while this was going on; surely you can see the idiotic decisions here?”
“I did but those over me would not tell the King for fear of being executed.”
“Why didn’t you tell him?”
“I did, sort of.” Dat just stared at him. “I allowed his son to overhear a conversation with one of my subordinates about the situation. He told the King, and I suspect the King already had the same suspicions. He caused one of their ships to be destroyed in order to draw them out into the open.”
“He used one of our devices.” The Admiral’s eyes widened. “Yes, we know about it. One of our probes intercepted the Bronze Ship’s communications before it was destroyed. How do you think we were able to attack that ship so quickly after it arrived?”
“I suspected as much. Unfortunately, my former King did not possess the control he thought he had.”
“What about the new King?”
“He’s the one that ordered me here.”
“And just what was he hoping to accomplish?”
The Grillen nodded at the image on the monitor, “That is an enemy to both of our civilizations. We shouldn’t be fighting each other.”
“It’s a little late to say that.”
“Why?”
Dat lifted his wrist unit and shook his head, “At this moment, all of your facilities and forces on the planets you invaded in the Red Sector of M87 are being removed.” The Grillen Admiral stood up. Dat shook his head, “I couldn’t stop them if I tried. The issue now becomes what you’re going to do about it.”
“What do you mean?”
“If you go to your forces’ defense, I am going to launch my fleets to stop you.”
The Grillen Admiral stared at Dat and looked at the floor for a moment. Dat heard him softly say, “Stupidity carries a high price.” He raised his head and lifted his communicator, “Grengal.”
“Yes Admiral.”
“You will order all of our ships out of the ball galaxy and back to our home worlds.”
“Sir, our forces on the invaded planets are being attacked. I’ve dispatched the defense fleets to defend them.”
“You will recall our forces and send them home, is that clear?”
“I will put them on hold; Admiral, but the King must confirm this order.”
“Contact him and tell him I ordered it.”
Dat watched the Grillen and saw his sadness. They waited in silence for twenty minutes when the Admiral’s communicator beeped, “Yes.”
“The fleets have been recalled.”
“Thank you, Grengal. I respect your verifying my order and you did the right thing.”
“I hate doing it, Sire.”
“I hate making you do it, my friend.”
Dat looked at the Admiral, “Why did you do it?”
The Admiral looked at Dat, “I hope the lives of our warriors on those planets are given for a good reason. I see no other way to prevent weakening our forces with what we’re going to have to face. I hope you see that by making this sacrifice, we will not be your enemy in the future.” He stared at Dat and quietly said, “Don’t make their lives meaningless.”
Dat stared at the Admiral and decided. He lifted his communicator, “Gibbs.”
“Yes Sir.”
“Send a ship to every invaded planet and call off the hostilities.”
“SIR?”
“Just do it!”
“Yes Sir.”
The Grillen looked at Dat, “I suspect our former friends have a means of seeing if we have opened hostilities. If you have a way of tracing their jumps, now would be a good time to use it.”
Dat realized the Admiral was right. He activated his communicator, “Gibbs, make sure the ships going to stop the hostilities drop trackers at every invaded planet’s location; especially at the prime construction sites.”
“Yes Sir.”
• • •
Gresha arrived at the Madator’s Planet and started them getting ready to invade the Grillen home world. It was late in the day before she received word from Dat to call off the invasion. She was frustrated and it took six hours to get the Madators to stop their preparations. She was exhausted and one of the Madator females came over and said, “Gresha, you need to rest. I’ll make sure your instructions are followed, but if you don’t lie down you’re going to collapse.”
“Anabel, there’s too much to do.”
“I’ll take care of it until morning. You can check on what’s going on when you wake.”
Gresha sighed and felt her weariness, “Alright, please wake me at day break.”
“I will.” Gresha went to a structure and fell asleep instantly. Two hours later, Anabel came back and rubbed her back.
• • •
Dat looked at the Admiral, “I’m sure you’ve thought about what we need to do.”
“I have.”
“And?”
“We continue the war.”
Dat smiled, “I had the same idea.”
“Before that happens, we need to see if our friends have a guest at the party.”
“I’ll let you know what we find.”
• • •
The dark ship stayed close to the fourth planet and watched the third planet with its passive scanner. It couldn’t get a good image from that distance but the Servant felt it should be able to determine if a battle erupted. It waited for a week and was getting restless. Suddenly, the surface of the planet had a giant flash. He jumped into his command chair and saw the ally’s production facilities were burning. He saw a single ship jump in above the planet but he couldn’t tell what kind of ship it was. He almost decided to leave but knew if he arrived without proof, he could lose his life. He activated his electronic scanner and scanned the planet and saw thousands of explosions taking place in the Ally’s military locations. He recorded the image and shut off the scanner. He backed out of the planet’s shadow and moved rapidly out of the system.
• • •
Ten of the twenty thousand tiny tracker probes had the Servant’s beam pass through them. They immediately jumped to the source of the scan and found the small scout. The first to arrive moved in next to the hull and merged with it under the scout’s rear stabilizer fin. The other nine landed on the hull and waited for another ship to land on. The scout had not energized its force field to avoid being detected. It finally jumped away with the ten trackers still on its hull.
• • •
Katherine contacted Dat, “Admiral Arvolo, why have you called off our attacks on the invaded planets!?!”
“Sir, I had to make a decision and there wasn’t enough time to explain everything to you. The Grillen Fleets are not coming to the defense of those planets and our forces there are no longer in any danger.” Dat glanced at the Admiral issuing orders and said, “Their forces are being ordered to stand down and surrender to our warriors on the planets.”
“What’s going on?”
“The King of the Grillen Empire has been killed by one of the creatures that gave them the advanced technology. I’ll report to you momentarily but I need to see if we can track the creatures to their home worlds.”
“Dat, I’m not at all comfortable with you overriding my orders.”
“Sir, if you think I made a mistake in doing this, I’ll promise to never do it again. I would hope that you would be able to trust me if I did something this serious.”“
Katherine knew that Dat was her most important tool in the conflict. She also knew she couldn’t do it all alone. “Dat, I’m sure you had a good reason. Get back and let’s d
iscuss what’s happening.”
“I would prefer you come here and meet with the new Grillen King.” Dat looked at the Admiral, who had stopped issuing orders. He stared at Dat and, after a moment, he nodded.
“Are you serious?”
“I am.”
“I’ll be coming with an escort.”
“Use Admiral Matthews’ group.”
“I was thinking of something much larger than those ships.”
“More would be less, Sir. This is a precarious moment and we need to do this right.”
“Who replaces me if something happens?”
“Admiral Gibbs; make sure he stays at Fleet Headquarters until you return.”
“I think we need to call Jon and Jill out of retirement.”
“You know they left the service to make up for all the lost time being alone.”
“They’re still two of our best war Admirals. They are also up to speed on the Jukeboxes. It appears those ships are going to be the point of our future attacks.”
“I’d really like to have them available. Contact them and see if they’re interested.”
“I will. They’ve been trying to have a family and have not been successful; they might be open to re-enlisting.”
“Let me know what they say.”
• • •
Dat activated his wrist unit, “Gibbs, get some transports to the Red Sector and transport the Madators to their home world. We need to get them off planet before they give in to their need to hunt.”
“Sir, are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
“Not at the moment. You’re about to be contacted by Fleet Admiral Hull.”
Gibbs looked off the display and said, “That’s her now.”
“Get moving, Gibbs.”
The display went dark and the screen immediately activated and he saw a Rover Pilot on it, “Sir, I’m at the largest Grillen construction planet and ten of my trackers have jumped.”
“Yessssss. Captain, remain where you are and assist in getting our forces off planet. Do not activate the trackers and send the code for them to my wrist unit.”
“Yes Sir; I’m sorry to interrupt you but my orders were to contact you if any of the trackers activated.”
“You made my day, Captain.” Dat ended the call and looked over at the Grillen Admiral, “It looks like we tagged one of their ships.”
