by Saxon Andrew
Cam walked down the long hall and found the office he was directed to report and the Guard standing outside opened the door, “The Admirals are expecting you.” Cam nodded and walked into the bright and spacious office. The walls were covered with monitors and he saw Admiral Connor look away from the display on his console and look at him. Cam walked in front of the large desk and came to attention.
“At ease, Commander. Do you have the data cube?” Cam took it out of the pouch he had over his shoulder and handed it to him. Admiral Connor inserted the cube into a slot on his console.
Admiral Amy Hart looked at him, “You’re serving on the Crystal River, aren’t you?”
“I am, Sir.”
“How is the ship’s Captain performing?”
Cam smiled, “He’s doing an outstanding job, Admiral.”
Amy smiled, “If he weren’t, would you tell me?”
“I would.”
Amy stared at Cam, looked at her display and turned back to him, “I suspect you would.”
Admiral Connor turned and looked at Amy, “It looks like the last Black Families will be arriving within six months, although Captain John Hart estimates it will take another six months for them to refuel them.”
Amy looked at Cam, “Do you think it will take that long for them to get those ships ready for combat?”
“I don’t think I can make a better estimate than Captain Hart. He has all the data.”
Amy smiled, “Can you think of a method they can use to speed up the process?”
Cam shrugged, “If I were in their place, I would have the tankers go out and meet them away from the main ship gathering. Those last two families are the largest and trying to refuel them among all those vessels poses real problems.”
“If they did that, Commander, how much time would they gain?”
“About three months.”
Steve looked at Cam, “How did you arrive at that estimate?”
“I’ve watched two of the Families arrive and the ones out on the edge of their formations were completed in half the time of the others. Scheduling that many vessels to be refueled takes first-class organization, especially when those ships are moving around. If they keep them together, they just refuel them and the ones completed will jump to the main gathering.”
A loud Bing sounded and Steve turned to his monitor. He stared at it for a few moments, tilted his head, and turned back to Amy and Cam, “It appears the Black Civilization is listening to your suggestions. I’ve just received a communication from one of Captain Tim Hart’s probes that the tankers are leaving the gathering to meet the incoming Families.”
Cam’s eyes narrowed, “Excuse me for asking, but if you can receive information from our probes, why was I sent here to deliver a data cube?” Amy and Steve looked at him in silence. Cam saw in their expressions that something was going on and it concerned him. “My ship’s computer thinks that I was sent here for a reason.”
The corner of Steve’s mouth went up as he said, “You have a smart computer, Commander.” Cam sat in his chair in silence. Why would the highest-ranking officers in the Fleet call him back to headquarters? He waited for more than three minutes, at which point Amy smiled, “I think we have an answer, Admiral.”
Steve smiled, “The psychologists were right.”
Amy nodded, “It does appear they are.”
Cam turned his head slightly, “What were they right about?”
Amy turned to Cam as she picked up a sheet of paper and started reading, “The Commander will not make a decision until he feels he has enough information to take action. During the interview, he will determine he was recalled for a reason. If the interviewer(s) remain silent after he makes that conclusion, he will also be silent and not break the silence until the interviewer speaks. He will seek to determine the situation before he does anything else.” Amy looked up, “Do you disagree with what I just read?”
Cam thought for a moment and said, “No…I think it’s accurate, up to a point.”
“Please clarify the difference, Commander.”
“There are times where there isn’t enough time to gather information and an immediate decision is called for.”
Steve nodded, “And there are times where you can spend too much time gathering information.”
Cam smiled, “I think that’s called paralysis through analysis.”
Amy quickly asked, “How do you avoid that, Commander?”
Cam turned to Amy, “I look for the worst things that can happen, plan for that and hope for the best to happen.”
Amy and Steve stared at Cam and then turned to each other. Amy nodded and Steve said, “I agree.” He turned to Cam and leaned back in his chair, “Commander, you might not be aware but we’ve computerized our Personnel Department.”
Cam nodded, “I’ve noticed I’ve been receiving answers to inquires a lot faster.”
“What sort of inquires?”
“I’m responsible for the pilots in my squadron and they have problems arise occasionally with benefits and other issues. I try to get them answers as quickly as possible. I’ve noticed over the last year that the time to get their issues resolved has gone down considerably.”
“Well, that was our original intent, to speed up resolving problems. However, a side benefit is that the new computer system is able to take all the records of everyone serving in the Navy and make a determination about their skills and abilities.”
Cam stared at Admiral Connor and after a few moments of silence said, “Did the computer come up with something that involves me?”
Amy held out her hand and Steve put a credit in it. Steve turned back to Cam, “She bet you’d see it instantly. I thought it would take a few minutes. Anyway, yes it did. We gave the computer a list of qualities that we thought would be needed and the computer told us we were wrong. After a long discussion, we determined the computer was right.”
“Right about what, Sir?”
“The traits needed by an officer to command our newest warship.”
“Are you suggesting that I am being chosen to command a Vessel in Earth’s Navy?”
Amy sat forward in her chair, “Commander, let me go over a brief history of mankind since we acquired space travel.”
“Sir, I have a rather comprehensive understanding of human history.”
“Then humor me and pretend you’re listening.”
Cam smiled, “Yes, Sir.”
“As everyone knows, a being from the Kindred Civilization showed up at Earth in a stolen Traugh Warship and told us that we were going to be invaded within two or three hundred years. He agreed to help us if we would stop killing each other. It wasn’t easy, but mankind learned to live in peace and the Prophet gave us the technology to build warships to defend Earth. He also brought Earth and Bosrean together into an alliance to assist each other in their construction efforts. We managed to hide from the Traugh while we sent one warship to attack them. That warship managed to persuade the Traugh that it came from the Andromeda Galaxy.
Eventually, the Traugh sent an invasion fleet to Andromeda and ran into the Halo Civilizations that lived in the outer ring around Andromeda. They lived there because there was an advanced Civilization in the center of Andromeda that the Halo feared, and rightly so. Any violation of their territory resulted in an immediate response that usually led to high casualties by the offender. The Traugh Invasion Fleet was defeated but the Halo was frightened that the Traugh would attack again and possibly violate the Darkness’s territory causing them to be attacked. For the first time in their history, they joined forces and set up an ambush for the Traugh Main Fleet sent to attack Andromeda. They also sent a fleet to attack the Traugh Home Worlds.
When the smoke cleared, The Traugh were extinct. Earth had spent years building up its naval forces and only had to use a single fleet to kill the Supreme Traugh Leader and his ships that were fleeing the Milky Way. Once they were removed, the Prophet went home but left us ten rules to live by if we wanted to
survive.”
Cam nodded, “The Death Prophecies.”
Amy nodded. “The Bosrean discovered an ancient alien warship buried on their planet and they rebuilt it for the Prophet to use. Once he arrived on his planet, he gave the ship to Essay Connor to take back to use in the event humanity was ever threatened by another civilization. We learned several generations later that the alien warship, which was named the Prophet’s Eyes, arrived in our universe by transiting the black hole in the center of the Milky Way. It told us of advanced aggressive civilizations on the other side of the black hole.
Once all the aggressive civilizations in the Milky Way were handled, humanity sent a ship through the black hole and discovered that the entire galaxy on the other side was one giant armed camp of violent advanced civilizations. We started preparing to invade and remove them as a possible threat.”
Steve nodded, “However, we also sent the Prophet’s Eyes into the core of Andromeda and found out that the advanced civilization there had built up massive defenses around their black hole. I had nightmares about what could possibly threaten the most advanced civilization in this part of the universe. It was clear that something had come through their black hole and frightened them enough for them to build their massive defenses. I authorized contacting them to see if they would allow us to go through their black hole to see what was there.”
Cam nodded and said, “And we found the Builders and that Ship Civilization that goes from galaxy to galaxy stripping it of life and natural resources.”
“There’s more than just that discovery, Commander.” Amy paused and said, “The Darkness Civilization in Andromeda turned on us and now Earth is little more than a prisoner in its own galaxy. It tells Earth what to do and we’re forced to comply.”
Steve leaned forward, “It took me more than ten years to leave Earth without causing the Darkness to be suspicious. Humanity’s new homes are now the planets we colonized in distant galaxies outside the Milky Way. We’ve managed to hide from the Darkness and we will ultimately deal with them if the Builders don’t do it first.”
Cam sat in silence and listened but hadn’t heard anything new. He knew the policy that no naval ship could reveal its presence to an alien civilization. The Death Prophecies dictated that the Unknown Enemy will kill you and humanity had resolved to be the Unknown Enemy to the rest of creation.
Amy nodded toward Steve and then turned back to Cam, “So far, all of our warships have been built at the Ghost Colony. They had to be constructed there due to all the people and materials used to colonize the planet had gone through a black hole and under gone the change. The first warships built had been through a black hole, which changed their particles to neutral atoms thus rendering them invisible. We’ve built fifteen hundred of the new class of warships since the colony was first settled.”
Cam shook his head, “Earth once had more than thirty million warships before the Darkness took control.”
Steve smiled, “And all thirty million could not stand up to the Darkness’s Warships, or the Builders, or the Motherships of the Families. The Hawk Fighter you now fly could destroy those old vessels at will and suffer no damage. Those massive fleets of our warships were obsolete”
“We’re still using the missiles those old warships carried.”
Amy smiled, “Yes, we are up until now but they were too slow to catch your fighter. A dumb pilot might be hit and damaged but most of our fighter pilots aren’t dumb.”
“I noticed you said, ‘Up until now’.”
Amy looked at Steve and he sighed. He took another credit out of his pocket and handed it to Amy. Cam laughed as Steve said, “It appears you don’t miss much, Commander. I thought that part of our presentation would slip by you. Anyway, all of our warships have been built here at the Ghost Colony to prevent the Darkness from seeing our building efforts. We determined three years ago that we had enough of the new Essay Class of Warships to defend the other twelve colonies. At that point, they started building the necessary facilities to build warships. We knew the Families’ invasion of the Builder Galaxy was not far away and we commissioned them to build a different type of warship.” Steve saw Cameron’s immediate interest in that statement. “The Crystal River is an Essay Class Warship and it is an offensive weapon, pure and simple. Its design is to go in and destroy its designated target. Even your Hawk Fighters are designed to go ahead of it and clear the path to its target.”
“What is this new class of warship designed to do, Admiral?”
Steve smiled, “Commander, have you ever heard the warship you’re serving on described like an ancient aircraft carrier?” Cameron nodded. “The new class of warship is very much like the old aircraft carriers.”
Cam’s eyes narrowed, “Why do we need a vessel like that?”
“Numbers, Commander.” Cam turned to Amy as she activated the wall monitor. His eyes went wide as Amy said, “It is estimated that the Builders have more than three thousand of the armed worlds they live on and more than a million of the defense globes used to defend them. The Families have more than ten thousand of the Motherships and each of them have forty thousand small warships to use in an attack.”
Cam stared at the list and shook his head, “We’ll be overwhelmed if we don’t have something to distract either of those civilization’s forces while we’re attacking.”
Steve continued, “Our warships will survive in a very hostile environment but they will eventually have to withdraw and evade their attackers.”
Cam looked at the list again and turned back toward Admiral Connor, “Sir, I thought we would just allow the Builders and the Families to go at each other and worry about the survivor. You know, Death Prophecy Two, never do what others can.”
“That is the plan but your Captain discovered that the Builders have managed to get a scout back with a report on the number of vessels the Families have to use against them. We now believe there is an even chance that the Builders will not confront the Families but will flee to the Carand Galaxy and go through the black hole to escape.”
Cam thought about that and said, “If the Builders are pursued by the Families, they will see them going into the black hole and know that passage is possible. They will start experimenting with sending a vessel through the Milky Way’s black hole.”
Admiral Hart nodded, “Commander, what do you think the Builders will do when they come through Earth’s Black Hole?”
Cam shrugged, “They have to know about the gravity towers being used by the Darkness. I suspect they will remove any Darkness forces around Earth’s Black Hole and then head toward Andromeda to remove the civilization that attacked them in their galaxy.”
Amy nodded, “And what do you think the Azura Families will do if they come through the black hole?”
“I suspect they will send their ships through and then back to cause the change. They’ll have to see the first vessel they send on a round trip going through the change. They’ll know that they can exist in our universe if they make round trips with their vessels.”
“And then what will they do?”
Cam thought about it and his eyes widened as he answered, “They’re going to start stripping the Milky Way to feed and refuel their ships.”
“And Earth will eventually be found if that happens.” Cam looked at Admiral Connor and knew he was right. Steve lowered his eyes, “Commander, what would you do in the situation we’ve just described?”
Cam lowered his head slightly and talked while he was thinking, “I’d have our fleets at the black hole watching the Builders come through. If they don’t immediately start moving toward Andromeda, I’d attack and start taking them out as they came through the black hole.”
Amy nodded, “You’re thinking that the worst thing that could happen is that they set up camp in the Milky Way?”
Cam nodded, “I would hope that they would head to Andromeda but I would be prepared for them in the event they don’t.”
“And then what would you do?”
“If the Builders go to Andromeda, I would go through the black hole and start attacking the Azura Black Ships before they could send their ships through.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re incredibly powerful now but if they transit the black hole and go through the change, they might be unstoppable. We have to look at them as an immediate threat to Earth.”
“What if we’re willing to allow Earth to be conquered? We can start moving the remaining population to the colonies.”
Cam turned and stared at Steve before shaking his head and saying, “You don’t want to allow that nightmare into our universe. They’ll only grow in numbers and one day our colonies will have them overhead. Take them out when you can.”
“But doesn’t that go against the Death Prophecies and being an Unknown Enemy?”
“Yes, Sir, it does.”
“If you believe that is the course of action we should follow, why don’t we just go to the Builders and offer our assistance against the Azura Families?”
“Admiral Connor, the end result of that would be trading one master for another. We will no longer be an Unknown Enemy to the Builders and they will eventually come and make sure we’ll never be a threat to them. Once they remove the Darkness, they’ll be coming after us.”
“But if we and the Builders combine to defeat the Black Ships, why would they come to this universe to remove the Darkness?”
Cam smiled, “They would have already come through Earth’s Black Hole except for the present threat of the Azura Families. Defeating them will free them up to go after the Darkness and then us. The Builders have a long standing grudge against the Darkness for attacking their former galaxy.”
Amy looked at Steve and then turned back to Cam, “Have you thought about this possible scenario before?”
