Planet Predators

by Saxon Andrew

  Arvolo looked at his display and saw the second group of four ships slow down in their pursuit. “What do you think they’re doing?”

  “They just saw you kill four of their ships. I’m not sure they’ve made the connection between us hitting them between beam volleys but I’m reasonably certain they aren’t going to take us on alone.”

  Arvolo looked back at his monitor and said, “You’re a better kisser than I thought.”

  “Why is that?”

  “It appears a lot of them have shown up for the opportunity. Better refresh your lipstick.”

  Kenny hit a button on his console and said, “Admiral Garcia, I’m sending you all the information on the system I designed. It’s in a download attached to this message.”

  “What’s wrong, Anders.”

  “More than six thousand Blue Giant Scouts have just jumped into the system. I don’t think they appreciated the destruction of their ships.”

  Kenny watched Arvolo do things over the next thirty minutes that were absolutely amazing. They were totally defensive and were being herded into a corner. What could they do?

  “It’s a shame we can’t get into Sierra Space. This is probably all the ships they have in this area.”

  Kenny said, “Yes it is…holy cow!”

  “What?”

  “We don’t have long, head towards the orbit of the last planet in this system. See if you can work your way through those ships between you and that orbit.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “See who’s faster,”

  Arvolo rolled the ship and cork screwed through more than a thousand ships. After ten minutes he said, “We’re four hundred thousand miles from that orbit. Whatever you’re going to do, you need to do it now.”

  Kenny dropped the Havana into Sierra Space and ejected a fusion missile set for two second detonation just before the scout hanging there bumped the Havana back into normal space. “Go to light speed and jump into Sierra Space at that orbit.”

  Arvolo went to full weightless and hit full thrusters. The Havana blew by the ships surrounding it and rushed towards the outer planet’s orbit. The ships chasing it tried to jump into Sierra Space to get ahead of the fleeing ship and found it was blocked by a huge energy blast that had disrupted the area around the solar system. They went to full speed but nothing can go faster than light in normal space and the Havana had a lead. Three seconds after going to light speed the Havana entered Sierra Space and jumped away. By the time the scouts arrived there was no trail to follow.

  * * *

  Kenny was looking at his board and Arvolo took a deep breath, “That was a great plan. You have to be Cuban.” Arvolo watched Kenny punching his board, “What are you doing?”

  “I’m looking for another Scout.”

  “Why?”

  “That attack was five hundred light years from Earth. I don’t want them to bring all their ships to that part of our galaxy to search for us. We need to hit one of their ships directly away from Earth. I’m searching for a suitable candidate.”

  “Work, work, work; that’s all you ever do.”

  “Ah, I’ve found one.”

  “Where?”

  “Fifty thousand light years from here on the other side of Galaxy Center.” Kenny looked at Arvolo, “Are you ready?”

  “Why don’t you let me handle the kissing this time? You only make them angry.”

  Kenny smiled, “The ship is yours.”

  The Havana jumped away and the single scout searching a solar system only had time to send a warning before it was destroyed. The Havana found four more in that quadrant of the Galaxy and destroyed all of them before jumping back to a hero’s welcome on Earth.

  * * *

  The tall yellow Messenger moved smoothly over the floor and entered the Ruler’s Chamber and was immediately noticed by one of the six. “I hope you are bringing good news.”

  The Messenger leaned back and the Lead Ruler knew another problem had arisen, “Show me.”

  The Messenger played the recording of the small white ship destroying four of their Scouts and escaping the chasing fleets. “Am I correct in thinking those ships are faster than our Scouts?”

  “You are, Sire.”

  “Those ships were very inefficient in their pursuit of that vessel.” The Messenger did not respond and the Ruler said, “You have more to report.”

  “We had five more Scouts destroyed shortly after this initial attack.”

  “Show me where these attacks happened.” The Ruler sent the information to the other five Rulers and they stopped their activity to focus on the information. The six began communicating and the Messenger waited patiently for them to issue their orders. After a day the Lead Ruler said, “Most of the attacks happened a large distance from the first one. Have the Fleet Leaders given any explanation for that happening?”

  “They noticed the distance and suggested the beings directing the attacks wanted to trial their ship against one of ours a long distance from their location.”

  “Wouldn’t attacking the other five give away their location?”

  “If our ships were starting to get close, they would be forced to respond.”

  “There are too many variables to know. The first attack could have been the one getting close and the others to throw us off. Or it could be that both attacks were done to throw us off. It is also possible that what you suggest is true. There are twenty seven possibilities and none of them have added information to give it more weight over the others.”

  One of the Rulers suggested, “Should we send our Main Battleships to search?”

  “That may be exactly what they want done. We still don’t know how the most advanced ship we have in our Fleet was killed. I am not willing to risk the Fleet against an unknown enemy until we know where they are located. It is possible our numbers can be reduced such that when we find them we are not able to overwhelm their forces.”

  “So we just allow them to kill the Scouts?”

  “If we are going to lose ships, I prefer to lose Scouts over our main Battleships.”

  “Maybe we should use one Battleship to support an attacked Scout and see what happens.”

  The Lead Ruler thought about the idea and saw the other four liked the suggestion of the Ruler. “Send an updated Battleship to hold station outside that Galaxy and jump to the support of the next attack. I want to know the results immediately.”

  The tall Messenger leaned forward and glided out of the Chamber.

  * * *

  The small attack ship UE Churchill sat on a small asteroid just inside the edge of the Milky Way that was orbiting a planetary system of twelve planets. The asteroid was mainly composed of iron and made detection of the small ship, if not impossible, extremely difficult. It had its scanners set to only receive data and not transmit. Captain Aman Forester studied his display and got up to exercise. His relief should arrive in another week and boredom was starting to set in. He raised the weight inside the ship and began pulling the pulleys to strengthen his arms. Only the Lonely by Roy Orbison was playing on his intercom and he thought, “Ain’t it the truth.” He changed to the leg press and pushed four times when his alarm sounded. He jumped out of the weight machine and rushed to the bridge. He checked his scanner and saw a light that wasn’t there earlier. He focused in on the new light source and saw a Giant Blue Ship appear on his screen. The huge ship wasn’t moving and was just hanging in space.

  He knew the creatures onboard that vessel could hear his communications even if they couldn’t trace or translate the encryption. If he immediately communicated with Fleet, the ship may decide that it had been spotted and change its location. He waited a day and contacted Fleet. He knew he would not be relieved as long as that ship remained in its current location but now there was something to keep him busy. It wouldn’t be so boring now.

  * * *

  Arvolo sat with Kenny onboard the Havana in Seattle’s Spaceport and watched him pack his bags, “I don’
t want you to leave.”

  Kenny smiled, “Come on, RV; you know you don’t need me anymore.”

  “You’re wrong. Who’s going to get me out of jail?”

  Kenny smiled, walked over to Arvolo’s panel, and punched in a number, “Put this in your com as well. If you need me, just call that code and I’ll be there.”

  “Kenny, we’re a great team. It doesn’t make sense to break it up. You’re the only one that’s been able to get along with me. God only knows when I’ll find someone else.”

  “I suspect that will change now. You’re not the same angry, aggressive Cuban I saw when I came here.” Arvolo knew he was right. The fight against the Scouts had rechanneled his aggression towards the Blue Giants. He had a higher regard for his fellow Humans. He had even bought Marines drinks at his last outing. “Besides, I’m really needed elsewhere.”

  Arvolo started to complain but Kenny held up his hand, “The reason you needed a Weapons Officer is because a single pilot couldn’t fly the ship and control the mix of weapons during a space battle. My software has proven itself and you are fully capable of doing this alone. Admiral Garcia has pointed out that our fleet needs this software for our ships and I know he’s right. I can’t turn my back on those sailors that might need it to survive. I hate to leave but you know I’m right.”

  “So you took the promotion?”

  “I did. And I really think it’s the right thing to do.”

  Arvolo stood and walked over and gave Kenny a hug, “I know it is and I know you’ll make a difference.”

  “Hello, can I come in?”

  Arvolo turned and saw a pretty woman come in holding the hand of a young girl. Kenny smiled, “RV, this is my wife Jess and our daughter.”

  Arvolo bowed and said, “Mrs. Anders, I’ve looked forward to meeting you.”

  “Oh me, too. Kenny has told me so much about you. We even visited your hometown on our honeymoon.”

  Arvolo looked sharply at Kenny and said, “You did!”

  Kenny was giving his wife a slashing motion behind Arvolo but she didn’t understand, “Yes, he pulled out the pictures of Havana and your former house was in one of them.”

  “I KNEW IT!!”

  Kenny looked up at the ceiling and shook his head.

  “Knew what?”

  “Oh, your husband knows. Get him to tell you how incredibly fortunate you were to have gone there.”

  Arvolo sat down in his chair with a huge smile and Kenny sighed, “You have my number. You might be interested to know we’re going back to Cuba for another visit as soon as I get the software distributed.”

  “Once you’re infected, you’ll always miss the Island.”

  “Infected with what, honey?”

  “I’ll tell you later.” Kenny turned to Arvolo and saluted the big man, “Permission to depart, Sir.”

  RV smiled at an Admiral saluting a Captain, returned his salute, and said, “Permission granted.”

  Kenny picked his daughter up and left the ship.

  Arvolo smiled. The Crazy Cuban wasn’t so crazy after all.

  Chapter Four

  Chris looked over at Jeff, “Why did they send just one Battleship?”

  Dolly answered before Jeff could respond, “That’s easy.”

  Jeff stared at Dolly and she said, “Ok, honey, you tell him.”

  Jeff shook his head, “No, you go ahead.”

  “They’re going to crash the next attack on a Blue Giant Scout.”

  Chris looked at Jillian and turned back to Dolly, “Why would they want to do that?”

  “Because we destroyed one of their main ships and they don’t know how we did it.”

  “If we fail to destroy it this time they’ll send the larger ships to conduct the search for us and start their destruction of planets while they’re searching.”

  “I didn’t consider them starting the destruction, Hemon, but you’re probably right.”

  Jeff looked at Chris, “You were there when the first ship was destroyed; how should we handle this?”

  “They emerge from Sierra Space after a long, fast jump with their power reduced to their force field and weapons. Their drives use an enormous amount of their energy to travel at high speed in Sierra Space and emerge at a much lower level available for their weapons.”

  Chris nodded, “Jillian is right. If that ship emerges and has just a small amount of time to recover their energy level, I don’t believe we can handle them with all our ships. That first moment of emergence from Sierra Space is critical and when we must hit them.”

  The room was silent. Sasha looked around and said, “We can determine where that ship will emerge.” Dolly looked at Sasha with raised eyebrows as Sasha continued, “If they really don’t know about that chink in their armor they will come in close to the Scout’s location to defend it.”

  Dolly said, “Jeff?”

  “I think she’s probably right. That is exactly what we’d do in that situation.”

  Chris looked at the picture of the Giant Blue Ship on the room’s display and said, “Why don’t we do this. We send in one ship to take out the scout as quickly as possible. As soon as it’s destroyed we jump in two more ships and surround the area where it was destroyed. When the Giant arrives we’ll all start firing at the place of emergence.”

  “And if it appears outside that area?”

  “We’ll just jump away and attempt it again somewhere else until it does arrive where we have set up to hit it. We’ll detect the location of its emergence and can jump away before it can scan and see we had more than one ship present.”

  “How far away would it have to be to abort the attack?”

  “Dolly, if it jumps in closer than two hundred thousand miles, we can be on it in a second at light speed. That’s not enough time for them to regain full power. We’ll program our ship’s weapons to lock in on the Bridge of the Blue Giant and all fire at the same spot on their force field.”

  “That doesn’t leave much time to make a decision about running or attacking.”

  “We’ll set the ship’s computers to do it automatically. If it emerges inside two hundred thousand miles, the ships will automatically go to the emergence. If it’s outside that distance, the ships will go into Sierra Space and scatter.”

  Dolly looked at Jeff, “What do you think about Chris’ plan?”

  Chris asked, “Who will be the participants in this exercise?”

  Jillian said, “The Jukebox, the Havana, and Admiral Ander’s ship.”

  Jeff looked at Jillian, “How did you know Kenny has a ship?”

  “How could he not? And we need him to make the software commands to make this happen. It only makes sense that he would be a participant.”

  Dolly leaned back, “Jeff, I thought you told me you didn’t like that Crazy Cuban?”

  “Dolly, you saw the recording of what he did in that last attack. Crazy or not, he is incredible in his flying skills.”

  “He should be the one to take out the Scout.”

  Jeff tilted his head and smiled, “You’re right, Jillian. Dolly, I think this is a good plan. We need to select a Scout that’s further out on the line away from Earth. We need to continue to nudge their search efforts into another region of the galaxy.”

  “You should select one on the opposite side of the galaxy from where that ship is currently located. That would require a long high speed jump and should drain even more energy from their weapons.”

  “That’s a good idea, Hemon. We’ll set it up after the participants have the proper software installed.”

  * * *

  The Commander of the Blue Giant Battleship watched his communication panel and hoped the call would come in soon. He commanded that all systems be on full charge and half of the crew was kept at their Alert Stations at all times. He looked forward to killing the ships that had murdered the Scouts. If he could get the coordinates programmed quickly, he could arrive and prevent the Scout’s destruction. He ordered the drive operator
to wait for those coordinates before making the jump. He didn’t want the enemy to escape again. He stared at the panel patiently waiting.

  * * *

  Arvolo watched as Kenny attached a set of wires to his control panel and activate a small box he was holding, “I think this is where we started.”

  “You’re right, RV. I need to make sure we are all on the same program during our attack.”

  “You know, I get rid of you and you show up like a bad penny.”

  “It’s a small universe; get used to it.” Kenny pushed a button on the control panel and wrote down the numbers. “That should do it. Are you ready?”

  “I was born ready. Ready is my first name. What do you know about that ship?”

  “I thought Peace was your first name.”

  “I had it legally changed.”

  Kenny brought his computer over and attached the cables and pressed a key, “I’ll download the first battle with one of their ships. It will tell you more than I ever could.”

  Arvolo started the download, “That thing is huge.”

  “Yes it is. That’s why we have to make sure we all do this together. You must follow orders and work with us to make this happen.”

  Arvolo made a face and continued watching the download. Kenny smiled and knew RV would hold up his end. He left to update the Jukebox.

  * * *

  The three ships arrived in Sierra Space at the location of a solar system that a Blue Giant Scout had entered. Chris keyed his com, “Captain Arvolo, get rid of that Scout quickly and notify us when it’s destroyed.”

  “Yes Sir.” Arvolo found the spot the Scout had left Sierra Space and cut the stardrive….and emerged less than a mile from the huge Scout. He glanced at his board and saw the energy cannons charging on the Scouts hull. He hit the override and fired his main beam immediately. The Scout exploded and scattered debris in all directions. Arvolo reactivated the automatic system as the debris hit the force field and burned on its surface. “The Scout has been destroyed.”

  Chris looked at Jillian, “That fast?” The two ships entered normal space and saw the wreck of the scout hanging in space exploding in different places as its missiles were touched off by the fire. The three ships waited and nothing appeared. After an hour Chris hit his com, “It appears we were wrong about that ship’s mission.”