by Saxon Andrew
Nelson shook his head, “Well, there’s no way to get any more from him if all of us are being watched; it would put him in danger.” Nelson thought a moment and said, “I don’t like having the fleet here. I’m issuing orders for you to take the fleet out to the planet you first had a run in with the Aliens.”
“What about our provisions, Sir.”
“I’m ordering the Colonies to provision your vessels. They have the facilities to make repairs and keep your ships operational.”
“You don’t seriously think Thorpe would fire on the fleet?” Meredith asked.
“Arrogance and ambition are a deadly cocktail, Captain. Those that drink from it regularly are the most dangerous adversaries; they have no sense of right and wrong. And once they’ve tasted power, they are totally unpredictable. Get the Fleet out of here.”
“Yes, Sir.” They stood up and left the Admiral’s office. Ten hours later, Rory looked at Meredith and said, “So much for the good old days. Lt. Cambridge, send out orders for the Fleet to move out to the planet we first fought the Aliens.”
• • •
Thorpe listened to them and smiled; now he had them angry and that is when people can best be manipulated. He thought about firing on the fleet before it left but he saw himself becoming an Emperor of the Galaxy instead of the King of a planet. That fleet could make it happen. But he had to choose the perfect moment to put his plan in motion. The Aliens would have to be removed as a menace first; can’t have them showing up at Earth without a fleet.
Chapter Eight
Rory looked at Meredith and nodded. She went to the landing bay and spoke with Colonel Maywell. She walked back to the bridge and later learned that Lt. Howard had been attacked by a street gang behind a restaurant on New Georgia. He didn’t survive the attack. During the stopover for general maintenance on New Georgia, there was a powerful electrical surge through twenty-five panels that were scattered around the ship. The spying devices in all of them were shorted out. The Techs that repaired them reported them to the Admiral and the officers whose panels were bugged swore they knew nothing about them.
Lisa was contacted by a Gunnery Sargent and he later slipped and fell from the eight-level above the engine room. The Ship’s Surgeon assumed his broken neck happened from the fall.
Rory ordered the New York away from the planet and ordered the Flagship to hold position out from the planet. Meredith completed her announced inspection of the ship and arrived back on the bridge. The new Tactical Scanning Officer was sent to the Boston to replace their officer, who was ill. Rory looked at her and she nodded. Rory turned to Lisa, “I want you to record everything and I’ll edit it.”
“Yes, Sir. I’m sorry!”
“Don’t be; you did the right thing and you have no reason to feel bad. The bridge is clear of listening devices and I believe the rest of the ship is as well. You can count on many of the ships in our fleet being bugged but we are going to operate around that. That’s just how it’s going to be for a while. Captain, notify me when the ships have completed maintenance and on loading provisions.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Rory ordered Captain Kuchen to prepare his carrier for inspection. He didn’t like the suggestion but after Meredith completed the inspection she showed him her clipboard. Written on top of it was, “The Babylon has multiple listening devices on board. Admiral Mankin suspects Thorpe put them in place and I’ve listed where they are located. I wouldn’t trust the sailors in charge of the stations where they’re located. Meredith said, “Captain, overall, your Carrier is very well run and organized. I have a few suggestions that you might want to take a look at, but I’m giving your ship a Five-Star Rating.”
“Spaseebo balsoye, Senior Capitan Legion. I and my crew appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome, Captain. You have a fine ship and crew.”
Meredith left for Admiral Donovan’s Flagship and then to Admiral Logan’s Flagship. Rory knew they would handle things efficiently.
• • •
Later during the late shift, Rory looked at Meredith, “I need to tell Kuchen, Donovan, and Logan to go ahead and remove those devices.”
“You don’t think that will cause you problems?”
“We’re not going back to Earth until this issue with the Aliens is settled on way or the other. If we manage to survive, then by the time we go back, Thorpe would have taken whatever actions he’s planning. Those devices don’t have interstellar-range, so I think we’ll be all right, until our return.”
“I hope you’re wrong about him, Admiral.”
“So do I, Meredith. But anyone that would order defenseless aliens murdered and celebrate the event doesn’t have much of a heart.”
“We did that as well!”
“I know. And we didn’t have much of heart left after doing it. I forced myself to put it out of my mind and fought to justify what I was doing. Now, I just don’t know…”
“Live and learn, Admiral. We all have a debt to pay.”
Rory sighed, “I guess the only positive thing out of this is we’ve trained our sailors to be killers. We’re going to need that.”
“Still doesn’t make it right.”
“I know. But we’ll see how it goes. The real killers are in the Carriers. At least the crews of the major ships didn’t participate.”
Meredith could only shrug. It was the commanders of the Major Ships that ordered the attacks.
• • •
Dean sat in his Scout and stared at the monitor. The gap was clear and after three-months, no ship traffic was recorded. He wondered why star traveling civilizations were so rare. Only two had been found so far and one of them just ran whenever a fleet arrived. Those small Red and Gold flashing ships were too fast to pursue and they just left everything behind. The other civilization was not really warlike and was an easy one to remove. Habitable planets were somewhat rare but many had been found and just listed as a possible site for a colony. He wished the peaceful advanced civilization had been left alone. But that was not within his province to decide.
He sat back and heard a burst of static. One of his scouts had spotted something. He looked at his panel and said, “Which Scout sent the warning?”
“Ensign Bennett.”
“Show me her location.” Dean looked at the map of the Perseus Spiral Arm and saw Bennett was located to his west. He activated the drive-field and accelerated at maximum speed toward the distant Scout. He coasted in on Bennett’s location and used the bow thrusters to come to a stop next to her Scout. He touched his starboard wing to her port-wing and said, “What have you detected?”
“There is a large drive-field moving through the gap, Sir.”
Dean turned the gain up on his passive scanner and saw the drive-field moving at a tangent to his current position. “They’re on course for the planet we attacked, Sir.”
“Someone must have not reported in on a scheduled basis.”
“Are you sure about that, Captain?”
“Of course, not. I’m ascribing our behaviors to them. But something must have caused this visit.”
“It’s a single ship.”
“Well, it looks like the proverbial cat is going to get out of the bag.”
“Should we contact Fleet and have them send some warships?”
“For what purpose? Whoever sent this ship will be waiting for a response. When it doesn’t happen, they’ll send the whole farm to see what’s going on. We’ve been ordered to do nothing that would make them think we exist in the Orion Spur. Let’s hope they assume the planet was attacked by a civilization in the Perseus Arm.”
Dean pressed his communicator button and sent out a static blast telling the Scouts to move away from the destroyed planet. “Are we going to see what happens, Sir.”
“No, Ensign. There are several communication probes on the first moon’s surface that will record everything. Once the moon revolves and has the surface between the planet and the probe, it will launch and keep the moon
between it and that vessel.”
“This will at least confirm if their communication range is limited.”
Dean smiled, “Yes, it will.”
• • •
The huge Alien Warship came out of its drive-field and moved in above the planet. It remained in place for three-hours as it moved around the planet in orbit. It moved out from the planet to where the Alien Warships had been holding position when the Fleet arrived and began making scans. An hour later, it activated its drive-field and exited the star system at high-speed.
Dean watched the drive-field reenter the gap between the two-Spiral Arms at high-speed. Dean said, “Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“We’re going to replace the communication probe and put several more on the second and third moons.”
Dean activated his drive-field at low power and moved away. Ensign Bennett followed him at a safe distance.
• • •
They placed the communication probes and moved out to the third-moon. Dean flew his scout into a large crater and ordered Ensign Bennett to land first. She parked her scout in the shadow being cast by the high crater wall and Dean parked next to her. He slid the scout over until their wings were touching and activated the direct communicator. The impulses moved between their two-hulls without sending out an electronic wave. How long are we going to stay here, Sir?”
“I don’t know.”
“You aren’t worried?”
Dean smiled, “Ensign, we can wait in open space to keep track of what’s going to happen and run the risk of being detected or we can shut down our systems and observe them with our optical systems from here. If we do it from space, we won’t be able to communicate. We can’t leave now that we know they’re coming, so this seems to be the best bet. Are you always this touchy?”
“I guess. I just don’t have the courage of the Attack Pilots. I think that’s why I was assigned to be a scout.”
“I was assigned to the Scouts because I couldn’t stomach attacking defenseless aliens.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Just don’t have it in me.”
“I don’t, either.”
“What’s our first name, Ensign?”
“Don’t you have it, Sir?”
“I do but chalk it up to being too lazy to look it up.”
‘Ginger, Sir.”
“Well, my first name is Dean. We’re going to be here for a while so what say we use our first names. You can go back to Siring me when we see the Aliens.”
“I’m just nervous around superior officers.”
“Sounds like you’ve been stung by one.”
“Actually, a lot more than one.”
“Let’s try to prevent that happening again, shall we?”
“If you say so.”
“What did they do?” Ginger reluctantly started telling him and then she started spilling her soul. Dean listened and at the end shook his head, “You know the only way to really stop those behaviors is to be promoted where you’ll be left alone.”
“I don’t know if I can do that.”
“Sure, you can. You just stay close to those that report to you and away from everyone else. If you do a good job, you’ll be left alone. When everyone outranks you, everyone can be a pain.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“Let’s start the process now. You found the Alien’s star-drive so that gets you promoted to Lieutenant. And if we discover something important here, that will get you a junior-Captain’s rank. Let’s see if we can make that happen.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“You found that ship and didn’t allow it to detect you. That’s a huge step in the right direction. However, I would offer a small bit of caution.”
“What is that?”
“Treat those under you like you would want to be treated. Don’t use the position to even a grudge.”
There was a long moment of silence and Ginger said, “I’ll heed your advice.”
Dean finished reading her file and knew he had a smart pilot here with him. She graduated from Georgia Tech with an Electronics Degree and her IQ test scores was one of the highest he’d ever seen. It was even higher than his own. “Just remember that if one day I end up reporting to you, you’ll keep this moment in mind.”
Ginger burst out laughing, “I don’t see that ever being a problem.”
“I’m just saying.”
“You’ve got a deal.” She paused and said, “Why are you doing this?”
“I lost one of my Unit Commanders in the last battle and need to replace him. I have been reading your file and you certainly measure up to what I’m looking for. And you found that Alien Ship first.”
“So, you did know my name.”
“Yep.”
“Why did you lie about it?”
“Because sharing your first name is a good place to start a conversation. You’d still be calling me Sir if I didn’t. And I really don’t like that over a long period of time.”
Ginger chuckled, “So you’ll fib to get your way?”
“Not about the major stuff.”
“That’s fair. I would like to make a suggestion.”
“Go ahead.”
“What happens if a fleet of those Aliens arrive and take over the planet? It would be next to impossible to leave this moon without being seen.”
“Go ahead.”
“This star-system has an asteroid belt similar to the Solar System and it lies inside the range of our optical systems from that planet. We can move out to it, land on one of the bigger rocks, and stay on it until the planet revolves away from us. Once it moves behind the star, we can make an exit.”
Dean was silent a moment and shook his head, “What was it you said about me never reporting to you? Power it up and let’s get moving; your suggestion is a great idea. We should remove the probes from the moons before we find a good rock.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“Now there you go again.” Ginger laughed and lifted her Scout.
• • •
“Sir, Captain Hamlin’s Scouts has detected an Alien Vessel headed toward the planet we attacked.”
“Only one vessel?” Rory asked.
“Yes, Sir. It scanned the planet and the area where the Alien Warships were holding position. If left at its maximum speed.”
“I need a Scout to stay there and report on what’s happening.”
“Captain Hamlin and another Scout have gone into hiding and are waiting to determine what the Alien’s will do.”
“Good. Two makes it more likely one will make it back. Send the rest of his wing to the planet we were attacked.”
Meredith nodded, “Yes, Sir.”
“Lt. Cambridge, notify Earth that an Alien Vessel has found the planet we attacked.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Meredith raised an eye-brow. Rory tilted his head and said, “if Thorpe is planning anything, the detection of the Alien will probably make him pause.” Meredith nodded.
• • •
Dean found a large asteroid and used his disruptor to burn a depression into the surface. They waited for it to cool and then landed both Scouts in the depression. They shut down their systems except for the backup-batteries for the computer and optical system. They raised the polymer periscopes and sighted at the distant planet. Dean saw the image appear on his monitor and it appeared huge. The optical systems were incredible. “How long until they show up?”
“It’s a two or three-day flight to those Brax Planets we found in the Norma Arm. Give them a day to organize, and another two-or three-days to get back.”
“What are you expecting?”
“Ginger, I honestly don’t know. I suspect they’ll show up with more than thirty-warships.”
“We’ve been here a week. So, if your estimate is accurate, it could be today or tomorrow.”
Dean shook his head, “Looks like today.”
Ginger looked at her monitor and said, “G
ood Grief!”
Dean asked, “How many vessels?”
“Four-hundred and fifty-seven Warships,” the computer answered.
Dean nodded and said, “It appears those eight planets sent more than fifty-warships each.”
“Or there’s planets we didn’t see,” Ginger added.
Dean turned up the magnification and wished he hadn’t. The inhabitants of the planet were being stunned and carried on shuttles that moved them to the giant vessels in orbit. Ginger said, “What are they doing?”
“You really don’t want to know.” Ginger was silent and watched one of the giant ships leave orbit and activate its drive-field. “I guess that one was filled up.” It took six-days for two-hundred-fifty-seven warships to fill their bays and leave the planet. At that point, the remaining vessels began hitting the planet with their disruptors. The few locals that weren’t carried away were burned into ashes. A hundred of the Alien ships turned and moved west away from the planet on the Perseus Spiral Arm. The remainder turned east and moved in the opposite direction.
They waited until the ships were out of detection range and Ginger said, “I expected them to send some ships toward the planet we first fought them.”
“They probably don’t know about it.”
“How can they not?! We defeated them there.”
Dean sighed, “No, we didn’t. We had fifty-one warships and they destroyed all but twenty-three of them. And they only lost six-warships. They sent for reinforcements and our survivors fled. They landed and captured the surviving colonists and took them back to their planet. They knew their ships were superior to ours and why would they reveal a possible future source of food to the other Alien Planets?”
“Are we going to leave now?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“They’re an advanced civilization and I wouldn’t put it past them to have their own probes at that planet waiting for something to show up. We’ll wait for it to move around the star and then sneak out.”
“Good.”
“Why do you say that?”
“This has been the most peaceful time I’ve had in a long time.”
Dean nodded. “I’m glad we removed the communication probes from the moons. I expected a larger number but over four-hundred-warships is not what I expected.” Dean looked at Ginger in her scout and said, “Now, we’re going to do something and you will do it, understand?”
