by Saxon Andrew
“Take me with you.”
Dat and Gresha looked at Rayz, “Something has changed you. It must be those you’ve come into contact with and I want to see how it happened.”
Gresha started shaking her head but Dat said, “You will have to promise not to interfere with my civilization and will immediately leave if we request it.”
“Dat, this is a mistake.”
“Gresha, every living thing should have the opportunity to grow. He is no different.”
“I really think it’s a waste of time.”
“He deserves to see other civilizations to compare. I think it will allow him to grow. He may become stronger in his beliefs…but he deserves the opportunity.”
“I guess the reason I love you so much is your giving heart. Do what you think is best. How are we going to get him to the ship?”
“I’ll take you and then come back for him.”
Rayz said, “Is that small white ship out at the edge of the planets your ship?”
Dat and Gresha looked at him. Dat said, “It is.”
“I’ll get us there.” Suddenly all three of them were on the bridge and Dat and Gresha’s expressions showed their surprise. Rayz said, “I do like to be helpful when I can.”
Gresha snorted, “Yeah, but not when it counts.”
Einstein said, “Is there something I should know? You just scared the bejesus out of me.”
“Sorry about that. I didn’t have any warning to let you know we were coming.”
Rayz looked at Gresha, “Who said that?”
“I’m the ship’s main computer. Who the heck are you?”
“My name is Rayz.”
“Well don’t surprise me like that again. I almost activated the intruder system.”
Loree said, “Oh calm down, Stein. I think he’s cute.”
Rayz looked at Gresha again and she blew out a breath, “Yeah, that’s the other computer.” Rayz was absolutely amazed.
Chapter Fifteen
The fifty leaders looked around and saw the main speaker enter. “We have not seen any of those ships since we destroyed that last group.”
“Perhaps they now know we can kill them and are not willing to come here.”
“That might be true but they still managed to kill our ships in that attack. I’m more concerned that they are working on a way to counter our new beams.”
“What do you want to do?”
The Main Speaker looked around the room and said, “We need to find where they are coming from.”
The fifty discussed the issue and a consensus couldn’t be reached. Finally the Main Speaker said, “If they do not appear soon, we will start the search for them.”
The fifty discussed the suggestion and the majority agreed.
• • •
The follower probe locked on to a Master Scout Vessel and went with it to a planet. It recorded the crew killing some of the species out in the open and then breaking in doors and carrying some of the inhabitants back to their ship. It went back to the massive fleet of scouts and attached itself to another ship that was powering up and recorded the same thing on another planet. It dropped off the second ship and jumped back to Earth where it downloaded its data. Jon and Jill were ordered to start training on the new tactics suggested by Jill. They were given a week to prepare and then they would skip to the Masters’ galaxy and attack the scout fleet.
• • •
Dat, Gresha, and Rayz stood in front of Admiral Hull’s desk and watched her stare at them. “Am I understanding you correctly that this, this, oh, whatever he is; is a creation of some sort?” Dat nodded. “And he controls the ships on Gresha’s planet?” Dat nodded again. “And he won’t allow us to use them.”
Gresha said, “No he won’t. I wouldn’t waste any time on him. He’s incapable of doing anything that would even hurt someone’s feelings much less anything else.”
Kat looked at Gresha, then Dat, and finally Rayz who just shrugged. “Why did you bring him back?”
Gresha looked at Dat and nodded her head toward the Admiral. Dat rolled his eyes, “Sir, I felt that he should see other civilizations and would possibly grow from the experience.”
“Really?” Dat nodded. “Just what do you expect me to do with him?”
“I thought you might show him around.”
Kat leaned back in her chair and said, “Well, just let me check my calendar. Let me see; there’s a war today, tomorrow, and you must be out of your mind! I don’t have time for this!”
Dat leaned back and said, “Yes Sir, I mean No Sir.”
“He will stay with you while he’s here.”
“What?”
“You wanted him, it, whatever he is, here, so you can nursemaid him.” Kat turned to Gresha, “You will immediately report back to the Academy and start flight training on the Rover Warship. Now get out of here and learn to be a good pilot.” Gresha saluted and ran from the room. Dat turned to follow her and Kat said, “Not so fast, Arvolo.” Dat looked at Rayz and turned back around. “Take whoever or whatever this is with you.”
“Sir, I’m taking command of the Fleet you assigned me. I won’t have time to educate him on our society.”
“You brought him; you own him. Now get out of here. Show him around, indeed.”
Arvolo looked at Rayz and said, “Well, come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“To get ready for a space battle; are you up for it or should I take you back?”
“Oh I can watch it; I just can’t do anything to assist you.”
“That’s a shame.”
“I know. It’s just not in me to kill another life form.” Dat ran out of Fleet Headquarters and Dat saw that Rayz was keeping up with him easily. He ran without effort and looked around taking in everything around them.
“You’re a pretty good runner.”
“When you sent my frequency, I was on the eastern edge of the continent.”
Dat jerked his head toward Rayz and nearly stumbled, “That’s more than three thousand miles from Gresha’s community.”
“Yes…it was a rather long run.”
“You ran the whole way?”
“Well I don’t have a ship to use; what would you expect me to do?”
Dat continued to run out to the space port and said, “Are you a machine or a living being?”
Rayz shrugged, “I don’t really know. If you press me to choose, I would say a little bit of both.”
“I did see Gresha knock you out. That would indicate you’re not a machine.”
Rayz shook his head, “That female hits like a forty pound hammer; she also shot me.”
Dat saw his ship directly ahead and said, “The way you reconstituted would indicate you’re a machine. You probably are a little of both.” They arrived and the port opened for them to enter. Dat ran to the bridge with Rayz right behind him, “Stein, are you cleared for liftoff?”
“I am and we’re lifting now. Get strapped in. We’re meeting the ships assigned to our fleet out in open space between galaxies for you to start their training.”
“Do all of them have a helmet?”
“They do. Fleet had already manufactured enough of those long before now. They just held them in reserve against the time when they’d be needed.”
“Loree.”
“Yes, Dat.”
“Can you link with my friend here?” There was a pause and then, “He just linked with me.”
“I want you to give him a download of all human history and answer any questions he might have. Stein and I will take care of issuing instructions to my fleet while you do it.”
Rayz sat in a chair beside Dat and suddenly saw the download start. He saw the ancient planet with giant carnivorous creatures roaming the surface. He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. “How did you get these images before your species appeared?”
“We went back in time and took them.”
“You did what!?!”
“Oh we don’t
use time travel anymore but we can collect light and view the past. You’ll find out about that later on.”
“I’ll wait until the end to ask any questions.”
“That would be wise. I have the download structured so it will answer any issues that you see.”
“Loree, are you alive?”
“No, I’m a machine.”
“Just curious.” Rayz closed his eyes and saw primitive humans attacking each other. This wasn’t what he expected and the violence grew worse as the download continued. “Who are these beings?”
• • •
Dat saw the three million ships gathered and in formation. They were in tight ranks and were beautiful, gleaming with their hulls lighted by their external lights. He thought about taking them and working them as one large unit but then shook his head, “Stein, are we up to issuing instructions fast enough for this many ships?”
“Maybe; probably not.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because we will be attacking one third of the Masters’ scouts and we’ll have Jill’s and Jon’s Fleets also occupying the same space. I don’t really think we could do it.”
Dat thought a moment and hit his communicator, “Admiral Anders, Admiral Connor, I have activated my Rank per Prime Directive 3615 SLTF. Pull it up and activate it with authorization code 11479.”
Dat waited and heard Jon say, “Congratulations Admiral. What are your orders?”
Jill said, “I want to congratulate you as well, Admiral. I feel a lot better with you taking command of this mission.”
“I’m reluctant to do this; however, I see a real problem if we attack those scouts with three different fleets.”
Jill said, “I thought dividing our fleet into thirds might make it possible.”
“It would if they were all we had to worry about. What’s going to happen once the action kicks off? You know their heavy battleships will be jumping in immediately and it’s going to be next to impossible to target those scouts and avoid the heavy’s new beams.”
Jon said, “How do you want to handle this?”
“I want all of your ships linked in to my command system and I will assign one scout to each Rover to take out. The scouts are not armed like the heavies and we can stand up to several of their beams. If we can skip in at the exact same moment, we can hit those ships and just skip away before the heavies can respond.”
“What happens when twenty million ships all occupy the same space? Those scouts are in close formation.”
“I see that, Jill; however, they are not moving around because of that. We’ll have our ships skip in above and below their ranks. Each Rover will arrive at either the bow or tail of the scout and fire the entire length of the vessel and skip away before it passes beyond the ship it’s attacking.”
Jon shook his head, “Are you able to issue coordinates that precisely placed?”
“We’ll see. My main computer is a newer model that was designed to use the command system.” Dat saw their surprise and said, “It was the reason for my success after graduating from the academy.”
“Are we going to stick around and take on the heavies?”
“No, we’re not, Jill. I like your idea of freeing up our Rovers to use the command system to pick their own targets. I think you’re right in that regard. But I don’t want to reveal that tactic until we absolutely have to take on their heavies. The tight formation of their scouts is actually a perfect setup for the Command System to handle.” Dat paused, “Inform all your ships that they will be receiving an attack coordinate as well as a countdown. Have them set their skip drives to activate with the countdown and fire on the ship they skip in on. Make sure they understand that the skip must be done automatically so that we all arrive at the same moment.”
Jon looked at Jill on his display and then looked at Dat, “Do you really think this will work?”
“What’s bothering you, Jon?”
“The barrier is going to be full of millions of ships coming and going in a very short time frame. Will they be able to avoid each other?”
Dat said, “Stein? Is his concern real?”
“Actually it is; however, I think I have a solution.” Dat watched the secondary panel and tilted his head, “That should do it.” He activated his communicator and said, “I am sending coordinates to our ships such that they will be skipping in to their targets from different directions. Every other ship in each row will be jumped away in Green Space and the remainder will skip away in the barrier. Those jumping away in Green Space will move into the barrier one light year away from the site of the battle to prevent them being followed.”
“How will our ships determine their attack profiles?”
“They’ll come in with their attack coordinate and have your Rovers download the profile in their drives with the coordinate.”
Jon shook his head, “You can do that?”
“I can’t but my computer can do it.”
“How long will it take for it to get the information out?”
“It’s examining the scans of the scout’s current locations being sent by the probes. It should have them done in about forty five minutes.”
Jon shook his head, “We’ll inform our fleets what’s happening.”
“I’m probably going to be pretty busy from this moment forward. Just lock your drives in and we’ll all skip when the countdown ends.”
“Yes Sir. See you at the party.”
Dat smiled, “Be sure to wear a party hat.”
• • •
Jill looked at Jon, “Do you really think he can coordinate nine million ships that quickly?”
Jon tilted his head, “Have you ever read the history of his ancestor?”
“I’ve read the history in the Union’s records.”
“His son wrote a personal history of Arvolo taken from what his father told him about the First Galactic War. His ancestor had abilities in using warships that have never been matched since. It appears Dat has those skills.”
Jill paused and said, “I did read that Admiral Kenny Anders was Arvolo’s best friend.”
“He was, and I suspect that he and I will really grow closer if we have the chance to get together and get to know each other. I know he trusts me. I think we can trust him as well.”
Jill looked away from the display, “Good grief, my coordinate just came in and the countdown is running. I have to contact my ships.”
Jon nodded and saw his coordinate also appear. He knew Dat sent them theirs first to get them moving. He activated his Fleet Frequency and began issuing orders.
• • •
The conference on the display was a large one. The two leaders of the final forces in M87 led the discussion. Hundreds of thousands of civilizations were tuned in but only seven hundred were allowed to speak. The Ruler of the Ramst looked at those on his display and said, “I am allowing my computer to take any comments you offer and sort them by importance. I trust you know that is the only way to keep this orderly.” Many didn’t like that but waited to see if the process would work. The King said, “I know all of you have seen the recording made in a galaxy that the Humans are currently attacking to prevent their expansion. I also know that all of you have seen them promise to lead those monsters in that galaxy to us if we decide to attack them. I must confess that I was outraged at their behavior but after taking some time to look at it from their prospective; I really can’t say I’d do anything different if I were in their place.”
The King paused and said, “That reflection on what would happen if we attacked them also made me think about their Admiral’s last remark. She said we forgot our history and didn’t remember why we originally formed the Alliance. She’s right.” Many of the faces on the display showed surprise at the King’s admission. “We forgot that lesson and as a result, many of us took advantage of others by Economic Tyranny. I have been as guilty as many others here and most of you have suffered because of the practices we used to gain power and wealth. We
became so accustomed to peace we forgot that the universe is a very dangerous place. Now we have to decide what we are going to do about it.” The King stared at the display and saw many angry faces. There was real hatred among the civilizations listening to the conference. He looked over and saw the first question. He took a breath, “The first comment the computer has selected is from the Nilgen Representative. He says, ‘How can I sit here and spout lies. He insists I have no morals or integrity. He further wishes my planet would burn.”
The assembly was shocked at the first statement chosen and began to realize that nothing was going to be hidden by the King. The King looked at the display and said, “The Representative is right. It’s easy to spout words without actions. I have discussed the current situation with the Royalty and they have agreed to my request. As of this moment, any civilization that owes us currency is forgiven its entire debt. No other planet will be indebted to us from this time forward. Further, in any future dealings, the interest on any transactions will be reduced by eighty percent.”
The participants on the screen started yelling. The King waited and looked at the Leader of the other forces and saw him nod. He smiled slightly and waited for the participants to quiet down. It took a week but at the end, the poorest planet in the galaxy was chosen to be the new center of government. Everyone knew that it would become wealthy as a result of the choice. The King said, “We must remember. Too many have died because of our amnesia. We must come together again and work to build the defenses we need to defend our galaxy.”
The King looked to the left and said, “The next question the computer has selected is, “Do I think the Humans and their Allies will help us?” The Kings looked out at the faces and shook his head up and left, “No, we have broken a trust with them and they will never place themselves at risk with us again. We will have to find our own way in the future. That is the consequence of not doing the right thing. I really can’t blame them. Are we agreed on this future course for our Galaxy?”
The votes came in and a new beginning was greeted with no dissenting vote. The Alliance had two months of peace and then the Grillen invaded the Red Sector. A galaxy that was once an ally and a member of the Alliance had become an enemy.
