Nowhere to Hide

by Saxon Andrew

  The pilot stared at Drey, took a deep breath and blew it out, “Yes Sir, I think they would.”

  The pilot standing next to the one that spoke said, “Please don’t burn us, Sir!”

  Drey raised his arm faster than the eye could follow and a blaster appeared. He shot the pilot who had pleaded for mercy in the arm, watched it fall to the ground, and said, “I don’t like to be interrupted. I wasn’t talking to you.” The pilot fell to the street screaming and Drey waited as two marines ran forward and carried him away. He looked at his blaster and said, “My aim is getting bad; I was aiming at his head.” He raised the blaster, sighted down the barrel, shook his head and put it away. He turned back to the pilot and said, “Where were we? Oh yeah, can you think of another way to get that message out?”

  The pilot looked at the screaming pilot being carried away and turned back to Drey, “I suspect you just delivered it in a fashion that everyone in Fleet will understand, Sir.”

  Drey stared at the pilot with raised eye brows, “You really think so?”

  “I do, Sir.”

  Drey looked out at the thousand pilots shaking his head, “You know; I like to take my wife out for an enjoyable evening and you idiots make that impossible.” He looked at the Colonel, started to say something, and then turned back to the pilots, “You have thirty six hours to clean up the mess you’ve made here. You will report back here at that time and, depending on how good a job you do cleaning up, I will consider allowing you poor excuses of a Union Warrior to live. If you don’t conduct yourselves as an officer and a gentleman in the future, we will not be discussing this issue again.” Drey looked down at the pilot and said, “Do you think your friends here understand what I’m telling them?”

  “I think you’ve been quite clear, Sir.”

  Drey looked at the huge gathering, “You will clean up the mess you’ve made and, at the conclusion of that, all of you will be given an opportunity to resign from the Navy. Should you choose to stay, your future transgressions will be treated quite severely.” Drey stared at them and said quietly, “Now go!”

  The thousands of pilots disappeared faster than a piece of meat in front of a pit bull. Dee took another drink of her beer as the pilots sprinted away and tilted her head, “Did you really have to shoot that pilot?”

  Drey nodded as he watched them sprint away, “We’ve had fifteen pilots a week killed or injured severely enough in fights here to never be able to fly. The lesson had to be one that they would not reject. I think injuring one was enough to get the message across.”

  Dee shrugged, “I see you had a good reason.”

  ***

  Thirty six hours later, Drey toured the establishments and saw most of them had new furniture; the pilots had paid for it. He went to the street and saw the thousand pilots standing at attention waiting for him. He looked at the Colonel and said, “How many resigned?”

  “Fifty six, Sir.”

  Drey looked out at the gathering and yelled, “Where is the one I spoke with?” The pilot walked forward and came to attention. Drey looked at him, “Have you inspected the businesses?”

  “Most of them, Sir.”

  “And?”

  “We’ve left them better than we found them, Sir.”

  Drey nodded, “What’s your name?”

  “Ryan Fox, Sir.”

  Drey looked out at the pilots; they saw his expression was dangerous, “All of you are being assigned to the same squadron. Mr. Fox here is promoted to Captain and he will be your commanding officer. I am going to hold him personally responsible for your future behavior.” Drey turned to Ryan, “I trust you understand what that means, Captain?”

  “Yes Sir, I do.”

  “Your squadron’s name will be Fox’s Freaks. It’ll be easy to get you back together if you’re all in the same outfit to prevent any further exhibitions of unacceptable behavior. Mr. Fox, I expect your wing to be a role model for the rest of my fleets.” Drey stared at the group and after a long moment said, “Is there any question about my expectations?”

  The group roared, “No Sir!!”

  Drey nodded, “Return to your ships, inform your former commanders that you will no longer be allowed to mingle with real pilots, and then tell them why. Make sure they understand my expectations and they will not be given the courtesy of living past their misbehavior. The coordinates you are to report are being sent to your ships now; dismissed.” Drey looked down, “One Moment, Captain.” Ryan turned around and Drey said, “Your computer has all of their names. I expect you to make something special of this group.”

  Fox stared at Drey, “We share a common experience, Sir; that’s what will bind us.” Drey smiled as Ryan said, “We have something to prove now, Sir.” He saluted and Drey returned his salute. This was one smart officer. He knew what Drey had done in killing the pilot.

  Chapter Three

  Dee looked at Ian and the Kilper Admiral and listened as they talked about what action the Union should take if M87 was invaded. Drey, Violet, Cole, and Argel were just listening in and leaving most of the discussion to the two highest ranking military leaders. After thirty minutes she interrupted them, “So both of you are inclined to just let M87 take care of itself while we just sit on the sidelines?”

  Ian looked at Dee and rolled his eyes, “What now?”

  “Both of you think we won’t be attacked until they finish with M87?”

  Ian looked at the Admiral and then turned back to Dee, “Do you see it differently?”

  “How many galaxies are those creatures currently attacking?”

  The Admiral looked at Ian and turned back to Dee, “We know of nine.”

  “And what will those other fleets do when they finish with the galaxy they’re currently invading?”

  The Admiral closed his eyes and, after a moment, shook his head, “I didn’t see that.”

  Ian looked at him, “See what?”

  “They had a probe here so they know our galaxy has intelligent life. They also know M87 invaded here. That alone would tell them there has to be an abundance of civilized plaents; one of those other fleets will come here.”

  Ian looked at Dee and she nodded. “Do you know how long before they arrive?”

  Dee sighed, “I suspect it will be less than two years.”

  Drey looked at Dee, “That gives us time to work on building up our number of ships.”

  Dee snorted, “The Invaders have billions of ships to use. Do you honestly think we can come anywhere close to their numbers if we were given a hundred years to build? We also don’t know their capabilities. What if our ships don’t match up well against them?”

  The Admiral said, “What have you seen?”

  “If there’s going to be a war, and we know there is, then we should not fight it here.” The room grew silent and after a moment Dee continued, “We also need to hide the fact that our ships come from here, if we choose to get involved.”

  Cole looked up from his computer, “And just how are we going to do that?”

  “We send all of our ships to M87 and have them prepared for battle there.”

  “Just how are we going to do that?”

  “I have an idea but I need to discuss it with the Green and Grey Civilizations. Will you delay making a decision until I can do that?”

  Ian looked at Drey and then shrugged. “We need to move on what we’re going to do quickly. You have a week.”

  Dee stood and looked at Drey, “Let’s go.”

  “Now?”

  “Now.”

  Drey stood and they left the room. Violet watched them go and said, “Ian, I wish you followed instructions that well.”

  Ian looked at her and rolled his eyes again, “Admiral, what do you think about this?”

  “Put yourself in the invaders shoes and consider what you’d do if one of your fleets invaded a galaxy and was getting kicked around by the locals. Where would you send the next fleet?”

  Ian thought a moment, “I’d send it to help
the one in trouble but then if the fight is still going against them…”

  “They would send all of their available reinforcements to M87.” Ian shook his head and the Admiral nodded, “That’s right; it would be murderous. However, would you rather that happen here?”

  “What are you saying?”

  “They will come here unless they are stopped there. It only makes good sense that we fire our best shot in M87 and, if we can’t stop them, we at least have time to move as many of our people as possible to other galaxies while the fighting takes place. She’s right; we need to take the long view on this.”

  Ian looked at Violet and Argel said something that made him change his mind, “If we can move enough of our populations to other galaxies, there won’t be enough civilized planets here to support them invading here.”

  Ian looked up, “Moe, can we find enough habitable planets to do this?”

  The Obelisk’s main computer immediately responded, “If we start now, we can move huge numbers before the real fighting starts in M87; even without a successful fight, that galaxy will take a very long time for them to conquer. I would also recommend that we evacuate the large cities on our current planets and spread the populations out into smaller communities. It would triple the time they would need to invade a planet. They might go elsewhere just because of that.”

  “How do you see this happening?”

  “We find a habitable planet and we send an advance team to start building sites on it for colonization. We’ll prepare the new planets with the necessary structures to support our exodus and won’t move our populations unless it looks like we’re going to lose to the invaders in M87. I suspect we’ll be ready in time if we start now.”

  The Admiral took a breath and blew it out, “We need to make sure the sites we choose don’t have another Black Civilization in the chosen galaxy.”

  Violet nodded, “You’ve got that right.”

  “Moe, get the commercial fleets out to start looking for the planet’s we’re going to need. Cole, we need to do this whether or not we decide to assist M87.” Cole looked at Argel and saw her nod. He looked at Ian and nodded as well.

  The Admiral said, “We will start looking for planets as well. We’ve already done this once. The second time should be easier.”

  ***

  The Ship Controller sat in space and stared at his display. The Grey Ship Commander said, “Black Missile to square ninety seven, annihilation.”

  The Ship Controller looked at the board and saw his planet could not be defended, “Drat! You win again! How do you do this?”

  “We’ve been playing the game much longer than you have.”

  “Even so; this is ridiculous. Do you ever lose?”

  “I guess I didn’t tell you that I won the sector Championship eight cycles ago.”

  “Now you tell me; I’m playing a grand master.”

  “We have to do something. This assignment is boring.”

  The Ship controller rocked his shoulders back and forth, “It doesn’t make sense that we are assigned here on the chance that those small ships might return.” Suddenly a small green ship appeared between the two huge ships.

  The Grey Commander smiled, “Maybe not so crazy after all.”

  Dee picked up the communicator, “We need to speak with the Sovereign and Gedna as quickly as possible.”

  The Ship Controller leaned forward, “We will have them here momentarily.”

  Dee looked puzzled, “Were you expecting us?”

  “We were hoping you would come. We’ve been stationed here to wait for your arrival and have been ordered to notify our leaders if you did.”

  Dee looked at Drey and he was just as surprised as she was. Fifteen minutes later, both leaders arrived. Dee knew that quick a response was completely out of the ordinary.

  The Sovereign pushed his communication panel, “We were hoping you would figure out what you need to do.”

  Dee smiled, “It took some time but I think we’ve seen it. What did you determine?”

  “That you would have to come here to fight the invaders.”

  Dee smiled, “You realize that we would do that for our own self-interests and not because of our concern about your safety.”

  “That goes without saying but the end result would be the same.”

  Dee nodded, “You’re right; your survival against them gives us a longer time to prepare before they attack us.”

  The Gedna interrupted, “What do you need?”

  “We need two habitable planets where we can station our warships. We want the Invader to think we are one of the civilizations here.”

  “You want the invader to think you’re from this galaxy?”

  “We do. That will decrease the chance they’ll attack us immediately.”

  “What else do you want?”

  “We need you to start building structures on the planets to house our sailors. Once they’re completed, we’ll move our fleets to them and start organizing to support your fleets in taking them on.”

  The Sovereign stared at them on his display and, after a moment, leaned forward, “We’ll build one planet in each of our civilizations.”

  Drey picked up his communicator, “We will not be sharing our technology.”

  The Gedna smiled, “We understand why you wouldn’t.”

  Dee frowned at Drey and said, “What do you understand?”

  “If by some miracle we’re able to defeat the invader, the threat that binds us now would disappear and old fears and anger would once again start to reappear. I know you feel that giving us your technology would only endanger you in the long run.”

  Drey smiled, “Exactly right.”

  Dee said, “We are going to give you one of our weapons.”

  Drey jerked his head toward her as Dee said, “We have a missile that travels at light speed. You’ll need to start building them quickly.”

  Drey said, “We haven’t been given permission to do that!”

  Dee looked at Drey and frowned; she turned back to the two leaders, “I will make sure you get it. Now, the faster you can get those planets built…”

  “We’ll have them ready in thirty days.”

  Drey looked shocked, “That quickly?”

  “We hope to have it done sooner. We need your help.”

  Dee nodded, “We’ll be back shortly to let you know if our leaders agree.”

  The Gedna said, “We aren’t going to wait to start building.”

  Dee nodded and the small green ship disappeared.

  The Sovereign looked at the Gedna on his display, “I hope this makes a difference.”

  “We’re going to need everything we can get to survive. Let’s start building now.”

  ***

  Drey looked at Dee, “Are you crazy? We can’t give them FTL missiles?”

  “You’re not up to date on our ship modifications.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The FTLs can’t penetrate our new force fields. They don’t represent a danger to us.”

  “But they’ll learn FTL technology.”

  “We’ll still be able to see them coming, Drey. This just gives them another avenue to attack the invaders. They’re going to need it to prolong the fight.”

  Drey shook his head, “Ian will never approve this.”

  Dee smiled, “We’ll see.”

  ***

  “YOU OFFERED THEM WHAT!?!” Dee looked at Ian and rolled her eyes. Ian saw her and screamed, “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!!!” Ian looked at Drey, “We won’t do it!”

  The Kilper Admiral looked at Dee, “Is that all you offered?”

  Ian jerked his head toward the Admiral, “You can’t be seriously considering this!”

  The Admiral looked at Ian, “How many ships does M87 have to use against the invaders?”

  Ian stopped yelling and thought about the question. Moe interrupted and said, “There are more than a billion.”

  The Admiral said, “And what good are thos
e ships if they can’t harm the Invader’s ships?”

  Moe said, “From the recordings we’ve received from the probes, those ships would be destroyed within six weeks of the Invader’s arrival.”

  Dee said, “Moe, how long will we need to get the populations moved?”

  “At least two years.”

  Ian looked at Dee and she smugly nodded, “Those missiles can’t penetrate our new force fields. However, they can weaken the Invader’s force fields enough that their ships can get a shot off if enough of them are fired at it.”

  “But they’ll have FTL technology.”

  “They’re going to need it to get close to the Invader’s fleets.”

  Violet softly said, “We have to do it to prevent them coming here.”

  Ian sharply looked at her and Violet smiled, “You’re taking the short view. If we move our populations, the civilizations in M87 will never find them. Either way, we have to extend the fight by whatever means possible.”

  Ian looked at the Admiral and he nodded, “She’s right.”

  Ian turned to Drey, “When she suggested this I was just as adamant that we shouldn’t do it. However, what good would a blaster do you if it couldn’t penetrate a force field around me? If they can weaken the Invader’s force fields, it will make it easier for our ships to take them out.”

  Ian shook his head, “Do you think the King and First Councilor will agree with this?”

  “You’re going to have to convince them to do it.” Ian looked at Dee and she continued, “And you have to do it right now.”

  “It’s not easy convincing someone to do something you don’t think you should do.”

  Violet said, “Ian, I’m pregnant.” Ian fell back in his chair. Violet stared at him, “We need time to build a safe place for our baby to live.”

  The room was shocked silent. Ian stared at Violet for a long moment and then picked up his communicator. Dee went over and hugged Violet, “Congratulations.” Violet returned her hug as Ian began talking with the King and First Councilor.