Intergalactic Union

by D. L. Harrison

  Melody looked at the vampire hopefully.

  Cassie replied, “Wouldn’t miss it.”

  Darrell said, “Your celebration may be premature. We should find a way to remove the Vrok’s stealth probe network that no doubt still lurks between the stars.”

  I frowned, “They can’t get up to too much mischief with unmanned probes, and they’ll all eventually break down. What are you thinking?”

  Darrell replied, “They all have non-paired quantum communications devices, and we have to assume they can update the software remotely. Their sensors may not be up to detecting quantum resonance fields, but with an update their communicators will be able to perform the function of creating a remote resonance beacon, as ours did in the first generation jump devices.

  “They have the communicators, they came up with a jump jammer, we have to assume they’re working on creating a jump drive. A drive that would not be dependent on the FTL line.”

  My mind raced through those possibilities, and it was likely they were working on a jump drive.

  “You’re thinking they’ll send those cloaked probes far and wide, far beyond where our stealth network will eventually reach at a hundred million light years, to look for a likely target. If they start a build program on their planets beneath the surface, they can make a few thousand ships and jump them, then start a larger build program after conquering another species farther away.

  “All without us seeing a damned thing.”

  Diana nodded, “That’s what we’d do if we were them, there’re always options.”

  Darrell replied, “Exactly, but if we take out the stealth probe network then them building a jump drive or ships underground won’t help them. Without the probes to feed them a jump field on the other end they’ll be stuck underground.”

  Melody snorted, “Not likely, if we counter that plan then they’ll keep working at it, and eventually figure out what I did, and they’ll use the predictive natural resonance of the quantum fabric to jump to the void near a galaxy hundreds or even thousands of millions of light years away. It’ll just delay them again, as they send out newly built stealth probes to search the galaxies that far away for an easy target and food source.”

  I sighed, “Maybe? But where do we draw the line at paranoia past reasoning, sounds like we’re working up toward an argument to commit genocide. They’ll always be a danger, and the universe is dangerous and we have to take some risks to keep our souls.”

  Cassie said, “Agreed, we should take out the stealth network as suggested, maybe even knock out their technological infrastructure to make it harder for them, and we’ll continue to keep an eye on them. That level of worry that they’ll regain power and come after us again will lead us nowhere good. We’ll be advancing too, and if they figure something out then we’ll deal with them again, in the future.”

  Melody looked horrified, “That’s not what I meant at all. Just that we need to keep an eye on them.”

  I winked at her.

  “Alright, we never did get their history either, or surrounding enemies. Darrell, can you get a cloaked probe to their surface without them seeing it? I imagine I could find quantum connections to their stealth probe network from one of their government buildings.”

  Darrell said, “Perhaps one the size of an insect, with little more than a quantum connection inside of it. Even a probe of my size would be picked up from their surface sensors as it disturbed the air around it.”

  Diana asked, “You’ll use your magic to order a self-destruct?”

  I tilted my head, “No, something sneakier, I think. I’ll disperse the nanites into one of their data centers, the same way I created a hack into the internet on one of the communications satellites in Earth’s orbit way back in the beginning, when all this started. If I just order a self-destruct it’ll work, but it’ll also betray that we’d penetrated their systems somehow.

  “Instead, I’ll get their stealth ship locations and send ships to destroy them. They’ll be forced to believe our scanning tech is far beyond theirs and we found a way to see through a cloak. Then Darrell will have that tap to keep an eye on what they’re doing, specifically their scientists and future planning.”

  Cassie teased, “You have good ideas on occasion.”

  I waved that away with a grand gesture.

  Darrell said, “I can have it in place by morning.”

  I smirked, “Good, then we can still go on vacation after lunch. My morning will just be a little busier than I expected.”

  Diana smiled.

  “Thanks, Darrell, for pointing out the flaw in my thinking. I was just… mentally done with it. I don’t like killing, even the enemy, and we killed a whole lot of the Vrok the last few days.”

  Darrell said, “Fortunately, we can truly end the war without taking even one more life.”

  “So… movie night? It’s my turn to pick, right?”

  My daughter pouted at me, and I didn’t have a chance…

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The next morning the first thing I did was claim all our new space. Three hundred and eighty billion probes each went to one of Earth’s star systems in the seventy-five galaxies, since we already had that in the seventy sixth. Most of those of course were just empty systems, or ones with dead planets and tons of natural resources that were ours.

  Still, there were five hundred and fourteen thousand living worlds in the one percent of the seventy-six galaxies that belonged to us. Calling this long-range planning was quite an understatement. Of those almost two thirds of them were ready to move in, with a supporting biosphere, the rest would have to be terraformed for our use.

  The only sticky part was there were also just under fifteen thousand living worlds with lifeforms that had advanced to sentience or near sentience. Those worlds would be protected and watched, but what exactly would happen when they made it into space and wanted to expand.

  A problem for another day, and another person, because it wasn’t likely to happen in my lifetime.

  All the probes around living worlds not already occupied started to run scans and even enter the atmosphere to check for inimical life from viruses to animal predators. The former wasn’t that much of a concern, the Threx’s medical knowledge made viruses a non-threat. It’d be easy to be inoculated to live on a new world. We just had to check for it.

  I imagined the database of living worlds would be fully up to date in a week, on all that stuff.

  It wasn’t official yet, but it wouldn’t be long before those worlds were acknowledged as ours, and we had an Intergalactic Union spanning seventy-six galaxies. Though in truth, we only needed that for our claims in the other forty-nine of the original fifty galaxies. Even if the union fell through, the other spaces in the twenty-six galaxies were already ours.

  That was my original task and plan for that morning, before we left on vacation. With it finished, I turned to the unpleasant task.

  “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  My awareness and magic sunk into the tech and raced down the quantum links to the stealth network and then to the quantum linked insect sized probe on the Vrok homeworld. I sent out my magic from that point, to feel the technology around me, and found a workstation just fifty feet away.

  It took me about a half an hour, to slowly and carefully trace the connections to their main datacenter in their government buildings, and I directed the probe that way. When I made it into the room, the probe split up into pieces so small they couldn’t be seen, and each infiltrated sperate hardware systems.

  I used my magic to read the hardware, and then successfully integrated them into the computer systems to act as a silent tap. The nanites themselves couldn’t actively work and search for data without being noticed, but they would enable Darrell to passively monitor every order and conversation sent over the systems.

  Which meant once I’d pulled out and had taken out their stealth ships, the Vrok could never plot something that would take us by surprise.

  M
y magic on the other hand could do more than just monitor, and I started to pull all the data I could reach and load it up on our computer systems in one large database, which included the current spatial coordinates of all their cloaked probes. It was also their history, what they knew of the surrounding empires, their technology and theories, all sorts of interesting stuff.

  Like the galaxy empire they tried to invade was called the Bavoi. The Bavoi weren’t bad sorts as far as I could tell, predators like the rest of us, but there were other races in their galaxy that were left alone.

  The Vrok had a lot more stealth probes than I’d thought, several hundred million of them, outside every system with an FTL capable race. Not only in our fifty galaxies, but inside all the empires around all their former borders. Which, made my idea a little sticky. I’d be invading eight separate empires including our trade ally, the Atans. Not to mention jumping right outside the systems of the xenophobic species in our fifty galaxies, to destroy them.

  That just sounded like a really bad idea, sure to piss off a whole lot of beings.

  I pulled my magic back, and I filled in Cassie and Jessica in on the problem, and what I’d discovered.

  “Any ideas? I don’t think we can jump there, blow them up with a subspace energy beam, and jump away. There’d be too many questions.”

  Cassie said, “You could always just order a self-destruct.”

  I nodded, “That’d give them a reason to run molecular scans to look for system penetration. They’d find the nanites.”

  Cassie shrugged, “Self-destruct those too, then send new ones in a couple of weeks.”

  Jessica said, “You could use the singularity weapon. That would freak the Vrok out even more, when all their probes magically disappear at once without an enemy ship in sight, and they’ll have no way to send a ship to check what happened. It will also prevent those empires and local races from even noticing anything happened, or even that they were being spied upon. No explosion, just no more probes as they’re crushed into a microscopic ball of equal mass and destroyed.

  “Then go back in the Vrok systems and make sure you got all of them, and none of them moved.”

  “Both ideas have merit, but what if one of the races notices a split-second singularity right outside their home world’s star system.”

  Jessica said, “That seems unlikely according to the data you sent me. The probes are outside of the star systems.”

  I nodded, but I checked the incoming data on all the Vrok probes via the tap. Jessica was right, the spied upon systems had no ships close enough, in normal space, to scan anything going on out that far. Well, not actively, obviously passive sensors would work at that distance, but passive sensors wouldn’t pick up a strange gravity event from so far away.

  Cassie said, “I agree, Jessica’s idea is better than mine.”

  I suddenly got really annoyed at the eight in that moment. I could’ve used some advice, but I couldn’t trust them any longer.

  Whatever, I started to set it up. It took several steps to get it ready, but I assigned just one of the scout-destroyers per probe, I had more than enough for a hundred million stealth probes. They were all outside systems as well, which meant I could use predictive resonance as the target to get close enough to create an artificial resonance field right next to the probes.

  I launched the attack, and watched the tap in the Vrok’s systems, as every bit of data streaming in from their stealth probes just stopped. There was no doubt at all I’d gotten them all.

  The war was over, but I supposed the cold war had just started. We’d monitor them, and we’d watch what they were doing. There wasn’t much else we could do.

  At least we didn’t have to worry about their three million feeding worlds. They had no permanent bases or presences on those worlds. They’d just sent ships to collect.

  That part of things felt good, freeing those worlds from that horror, they’d figure it out eventually, and start developing more advanced technologies.

  Jessica said, “That weapon is a little terrifying, isn’t it?”

  I blew out a breath, “You could say that. We could destroy whole systems with it, or at least the suns. It has limits to prevent that of course, but yeah. Fortunately, we’re protected from that, if another race with less ideals and morals makes the same discoveries.”

  Which, unfortunately, was rather likely. I had no idea what I’d been giving away when we freely shared the plans for the quantum communicator with all the races in the fifty galaxies. In the beginning I’d thought it was just the materials needed to create a viable and safe fusion reactor, but it was that communication technology that eventually led Diana to inventing jump drives and the singularity weapon.

  It was just a matter of time, and it was why we had to keep advancing. I was actually kind of surprised none of them had figured it out yet. Especially the Arnis who were quite advanced though still far behind us at the moment.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The sky was a pink tinged blue, and the air crisp and clean with the scents of something like pine. We were at the top of a mountain, with nothing but snowcapped peaks around us. The mountain was over fifteen thousand feet high, and the temperature just below freezing.

  There were no large predator animals on this world, just smaller predators about the size of a fox or smaller, with lots of herbivores. The world also had a larger oxygen content and a slightly thicker atmosphere. It was energizing, but not enough to cause the bends when we went home.

  I and the others had on Arnis winter wear for comfort. I was toasty, but not too hot, and it would automatically adjust if we started to sweat and overheat from activity.

  Diana asked, “I gave up the beach for this snow?”

  I smirked, and Melody said, “But you love skiing, mom.”

  Yep, we all had skis strapped to our feet, and enough nanites around us for a shield and gravity field in case we wiped out hard. The mountain looked pretty steep.

  Diana sighed, “I do, and I’m having fun, but… our beach.”

  Melody said, “Is so boring,” and she dragged out the word boring.

  Cassie snickered, “I love the eighty percent gravity compared to our world, did you see the air I got jumping those moguls our last time down?”

  “Well, the yacht and hot tub are at the bottom of the mountain, and we can cheat and make hot chocolate with mini-marshmallows. How about we spend the last two days at the beach, but one on this world.”

  It was like Earth but better. The lower gravity and higher oxygen content lent a feeling of great health and strength, and I’d swear my brain was getting more endorphins than usual. The mountains were incredibly high, and like earth there was a nice tropical area further south.

  Diana nodded, “Okay, I can go for that. I don’t mean to be a stick in the mud either. I’m having a blast skiing again. I haven’t done so since college.”

  “Speaking of skiing.”

  I pushed forward with the poles, and I went off the side. The slope of the mountain, I’d compare it to a single black diamond slope in the Poconos, but about ten times longer.

  Melody was picking it up pretty quickly, but the belt of nanites around her waist made me feel better about the danger of the situation.

  Cassie of course, as a vampire, had the reflexes and grace of an Olympic skier at the top of their game, and Jessica being a shifter wasn’t all that far behind.

  We’d been on the planet for a day and half so far. This would be our last trip downslope before we got on the landed space yacht and relaxed and warmed up over dinner. It was in one of the twenty-six galaxies, in our space, and it was just about the most perfect planet out of the five hundred thousand and fourteen available. In my opinion.

  Yeah, my two hundred thousand living world estimate for ready to move in worlds had been way off.

  I was flying down the slope, when my sister Jayna got incredibly and dangerously close, and gave me a shove. I gave her a dark glare and a wild laugh as I tumbl
ed into the snow. The shields kept me from harm and the gravity field stopped my wild flight rolling down the mountain.

  It was so on, as I got back on my skis and raced after her.

  That was about when Jessica and Cassie blew right by, my wife in their wake. Brock and Melody were still behind, they were cutting back and forth pretty hard, so they weren’t going so fast.

  I never caught my sister after that though, she was waiting at the bottom in front of the ship with a smirk on her face. I may have used my telekinesis to hit the back of her knees, and a snicker escaped my lips as I got on the ship as she fell back into the snow with an outraged cry.

  I winced guiltily as my daughter yelled, “Dad! No abusing your magic!”

  Right. I maintain that revenge is not an abuse, but no one else seemed to buy it, except maybe Brock my pre-teen nephew. Which told me I was probably wrong.

  It wasn’t too long after that the sun disappeared over the horizon, as we sat warm and toasty in the ship and enjoyed dinner. We’d relax our sore muscles in the hot tub after.

  “I’m almost tempted to claim this world, but without a colony I doubt it would stick. We can’t just claim it for our family, especially when we’ll still be living and working in orbit of Earth.”

  Jayna tilted her head, “You should claim it, and we’ll set up skiing mountain resorts and beach resorts. Bill it as the best skiing and parasailing in the universe, or something. It could be part of Astraeus.”

  Diana nodded, “We could set up quantum jump chambers. People on Earth could book one of the resorts, and fly up to the station in a shuttle, then access one of the resorts right from the station.”

  There’d need to be chambers, simply because we couldn’t quantum jump directly into atmosphere. The target chamber would need to be a pure vacuum before the people and air around them was jumped to it.

  “Jump ships would be just as fast.”

  Diana said, “True, but it would reinforce this world is ours and an extension of the station. More importantly, it would be an easy way for our citizens to take a planet side vacation in this place, without booking or paying for a ship. Just walk into a booth, and then walk out the other side on this world.