Star Rover-Chosen to Die (Lens of Time)

by Andrew, Saxon

“At the end of this year we should have ten million.”

  “Would we send a hundred thousand with that many ships?” Katherine shook her head. “We need to ask the Yellow Beings if they need our assistance if they’re attacked.”

  Dat nodded, “It would be better to take them on there than here.”

  “We need to see what we’re up against before we start making those decisions. Hold off discussing that until we hear from the Scouts we sent.”

  Dat nodded and looked at Gresha, “Why don’t you join me out here?”

  Katherine shook her head, “I need her here getting the fleets ready. You can come and join her here until we hear from the Scouts.”

  Dat stared at Katherine and begrudgingly nodded, “You’re right. I’m jumping back as soon as I get Lt. Allen’s data.”

  Katherine said, “Lt. Allen, you will stay where you are and if another location is sent from your trackers, you will go and investigate it.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “What’s wrong with this picture?”

  Mitch stared at his display and shook his head, “This really doesn’t make much sense. The planet below the SR was a beautiful blue green gem and the land masses were almost entirely green. There were no huge cities and the only buildings appeared to be manufacturing facilities. There was also a giant structure on a large continent in the southern hemisphere that appeared to be shaped like a square with each side being fifty miles long. It was rose colored and rose thousands of feet into the atmosphere. There were other smaller structures of a similar color scattered around the planet but that giant was awe inspiring. The funny thing about the structure was that less than a thousand beings were in it. The populations on the planet all appeared to live out in the open. This planet doesn’t appear to be civilized.”

  Leon stared at the display and shook his head, “Mitch, the population moves around like herds. They communicate verbally but they stay in groups like herds of animals.”

  Mitch moved the view in closer to one of the groups and one it grew in size on the monitor. Half of them had their heads down grazing on the grassy plain they stood on. Mitch shook his head, “Leon, they all appear to be herbivores.”

  Leon said, “Computer, do you detect any carnivores on this planet?”

  “There are no carnivores on the planet. I detect no predator behavior within the scope of my scanner.”

  “Do you detect any species other than the intelligent inhabitants that is above normal numbers?”

  A view appeared on the display where hundreds of the local population was moving in a line through a forest. They were holding some kind of weapon and were shooting an eight legged creature that was running from them. The view moved out and they saw four lines moving in toward each other trapping the eight legged creatures between them. Leon said, “What can you tell me about that eight legged creature?”

  “It is an herbivore as well. The numbers on the planet’s surface are extraordinarily high.”

  Mitch watched the lines moving in killing the eight legged creatures. Who would have thought it; herbivores killing herbivores? He took a deep breath and said, “What are they building in those manufacturing facilities?”

  “They appear to be building armaments for a warship. There are large numbers of blasters on shipping pallets out in the open outside them.”

  Mitch nodded, “That explains the large number of commercial space ships around the planet. They’re taking them to be installed elsewhere. The machinery around the factories is modern and appears to be quite good.”

  Leon nodded and said, “Are there any other hunting parties on the continent below us?”

  There was a pause and they heard, “There are more than a thousand and they’re hunting various species that all appear to be herbivores.”

  Mitch looked at Leon, “What are you thinking?”

  “It doesn’t make sense that there are no predators. Either this planet is an anomaly or the predators have been eliminated by the plant eating population. If they’ve been eliminated, then this is an example of what a warlike plant eating species would look like. Notice that the intelligent species walks around on four hands. They can stand erect but their natural posture is a grazing position. I’m also of the belief that the giant structure is a temple of some kind.”

  “WHAT!?!”

  “It meets the standards of a place of worship. Only the clergy lives in it and it is well kept and maintained. Computer, have you been able to hear any transmissions taking place on the planet?”

  “The factories use wireless communication to function and I’m recording their transmissions. There is also an ongoing communication being broadcast around the planet. It appears to be coming from that giant structure.”

  “How long will it take for you to be able to decipher their language?”

  “I should have most of it within another twenty hours.”

  Leon’s head rolled up his body and he looked at Mitch, “Here’s what we need to do. I’m going to drop on this planet and you need to follow one of those commercial carriers to where they’re taking those blasters.”

  “Leon, I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave you here. Even though there aren’t many structures on the planet, it is an advanced civilization. You could be caught.”

  “I’ll be careful. Once I can understand their language, I need to see what’s going on. I’ll stay for a week and you can come back and pick me up in seven days.”

  “I don’t like this.”

  Leon’s head came down his body, “I don’t either…but, we need to gather as much information as possible to plan our next drops. You and I need to get a large view of what’s going on here and others can follow us and fill in the details. Staying here waiting on me is a waste of valuable time.”

  “If you have to flee, send me a recall signal.”

  “I will.”

  Mitch shook his head and said, “Where do you want to go down?”

  “Drop me in the forest close to that giant structure where they’re killing those animals. I can feed on them before I start scouting.”

  Mitch pulled up the view of the hunting parties and saw they were shooting the creatures and leaving them where they fell. Leon smiled, “Their decomposing bodies will be fertilizer for the forests.”

  Mitch nodded and said, “I’m dropping you above the forest tomorrow after the hunting party leaves.”

  Leon nodded and said, “Computer, when you have the language deciphered, download it to my belt.”

  “I’ll notify you when it’s done.”

  • • •

  Angel sat in her office on board the Wellington waiting for Bret to arrive. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders as he entered; this was not going to be something she enjoyed. Bret saw her expression and instead of walking forward and giving her a kiss, he came to attention and saluted, “You called for me, Sir?”

  Angel returned his salute and said, “Admiral Young, you are being given command of a fleet that will be taken from the current three fleets under my command.”

  Bret stared at Angel and his eyes narrowed, “Sir, why are you doing this?”

  “Our fleets are still too large to manage; especially with the new tactics we’re using. We have to decrease the numbers to five thousand in each and it’s far too late to bring in another Admiral to command. You are the best one for the assignment.” Bret stared at Angel and remained silent. She waited for him to speak but she could see the hurt in his eyes and she hoped he didn’t make this harder than it had to be. She waited for him to respond but he continued to remain silent. “Your two Commodores are waiting for you on the newest flagship that just arrived. I’ll have the coordinates sent to your communicator.”

  Bret saluted, did an about face, and walked out of the room. Angel stared at the door after it closed for ten minutes and then put her head in her hands and cried. After an hour her panel beeped and she saw Arve’s frequency. She pulled herself togethe
r and pressed a button, “Arve, is everything alright?”

  “I just heard the Admiral Young has been assigned the new fleet. I need to know if you’re alright. What’s going on?”

  “There isn’t anyone else that can come in at this late moment and command the new fleet effectively.”

  Arve stared at Angel on her display and said, “He could train a new admiral, Angel. This assignment is not a temporary one. That’s a good answer you gave but not the real one. What’s going on?”

  Angel blew out a breath and managed to hold back her tears, “Arve, I’m only a teenager; I’m too young to commit to anyone. He’s the first man I’ve ever been close to; I just don’t think I’m ready.”

  “Did you discuss this with him?”

  “Well…no.”

  “So you just threw him away and didn’t even offer an explanation?” Arve shook his head, “Bret is one of the finest men I’ve ever met. What if he just walked away from you with no explanation; how would you feel afterwards?” Angel stared at Arve and knew he was right. She didn’t think this through. Arve shook his head, “Did you know that our father was the first man our mother got close to?” Angel stared at Arve in silence. “She was your age; how did that work out?”

  “But…”

  “For someone as brilliant as you are, you can be pretty stupid. However, the damage is done. I don’t expect he will ever trust you again. You need to leave him alone and let him deal with his pain.”

  “You’re right, Arve but I do need to tell him why?”

  “It’s too late now; you made the decision without his input. You made it clear it wasn’t important enough to consider. I can’t believe how hard hearted you were, Sis.”

  The display went dark and Angel’s tears started flowing again. She ignored Grest’s and Dizzy’s calls. She just wasn’t up to being beat up again.

  • • •

  Leon activated his belt and the personal field surrounded him. He opened the port on the SR and jumped out into open space. He manipulated the gravity device and he slowly moved out of the SR’s field. Once clear, he increased the pull and shot down toward the planet’s surface at a high speed. He slowed as the field started to heat not needing to leave a heat signature moving through the atmosphere. The ground was still far below and he began neutralizing the pull. His downward speed slowed slightly and he saw the forest ten miles below. He looked around and didn’t see any aircraft moving his way. He thought about changing his shape and flying down but the computer had not seen any large flying creatures in its scans.

  Evidently they were eliminated along with the carnivores. There were small birds, but they stayed close to the ground and he would be seen if he tried to fly. The forest was now three miles below him and the giant temple? It had to be a temple; was getting larger by the moment. He decided to descend quickly and added force to the pull. He dropped at an incredible speed and he added push at the last moment.

  He slowed abruptly and stopped ten feet off the ground. He manipulated the controls and slowly lowered to the ground. He kept the personal field around him and looked around. There were thousands of the eight legged creatures around him and some of them were still smoking from blaster hits. He manipulated his field and removed it from under his legs and slipped into the soil of the forest. He moved underground and began extending his beak into dead creatures on the surface. He only took a small bite out of each one so as not to leave evidence of his presence; it took six hours to eat his fill. He looked at the huge temple rising above the forest and saw he was going to have to cross more than three miles of open land. He settled into the soil and began listening to the transmission being broadcast from the giant structure. He determined in less than a minute that the structure was indeed a temple and it was broadcasting an ongoing sermon. That message was troubling. He would wait for nightfall to start moving toward the giant structure.

  • • •

  Mitch saw Leon jump out of the small storage bay and waited for the commercial spaceship to clear atmosphere. He pressed a button and released more than a thousand small tracker probes that began scattering and moving out into the ranks of the commercial vessels above the planet waiting to pick up their loads of blasters. He was somewhat surprised that none of them had any weapons or force fields; this civilization must not have any enemies to prey on their fleets. The commercial ship moved out of the planet’s atmosphere and began moving away to the jump point. Mitch fell in behind it and hoped Leon was going to be alright. Four hours later he followed the vessel as it jumped and was shocked at what he found.

  • • •

  Bret arrived on the new Jukebox Battleship and was surprised at who he found waiting for him. Commodore Ray Burns was in perfect uniform and Bret immediately decided he was too much spit and polish for his taste. He looked at his second Commodore and saw that Jillian wasn’t happy at being reassigned to him. Bret looked at her and smiled, “I’m surprised to see you here, Commodore.”

  “I guess your being here would be a surprise as well except for my reassignment, Sir.”

  “Were you told why you were sent?”

  “The story is that you’re going to need our best to get your fleet organized.”

  “I suppose you don’t buy in to that?”

  Jillian’s smile was small and she said, “What were you told, Sir?”

  “It’s too late to bring in a new Fleet Commander at this late date.”

  “Do you buy it, Sir?”

  “Who signed your orders, Commodore?”

  “Fleet Admiral Arvolo.”

  Bret nodded, “Well, I have to say I’m glad you’re here. You can make a huge difference in getting us ready. Perhaps you and I will just have to make the best of the circumstances we find ourselves in.”

  Jillian sighed, “Yes Sir.”

  Bret looked at Ray, “Commodore, just between you and me, you won’t have enough time to keep that uniform as tidy as it is now. If you take the time to do it away from getting your task force ready, I’ll bust you back to commanding a ship. Is that clear?”

  Jillian snickered and Ray said, “Yes Sir!”

  Bret sighed, “Why were you promoted?”

  “My ship won the last competition, Sir.”

  “Well, that is something. Let’s get the ground rules straight; when we’re meeting in private, we will address each other by first names. We will relax with each other and I expect you to share anything of interest with me. You need not fear telling me things you might believe I wouldn’t want to know. We have five thousand ships that are going to have to learn to work together and they are only going to be as efficient as we are at working as a unit. Commodore Burns, you will follow Jillian around for the next week and watch how she operates. I expect you to emulate her. Jillian, get your ships organized and I’ll work on the others while Mr. Burns is with you.”

  Jillian smiled and said, “Mr. Burns, if you’ll come with me, we’ll get started.”

  • • •

  Ray followed Jillian and said, “The Admiral doesn’t like me.”

  “He’s holding his opinion for the moment. He’s not comfortable with someone who takes the time to wear a perfect uniform.”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  Jillian stopped walking and said, “How long did it take you to shine those boots?” Ray stared at Jillian and saw her boots were worn. Jillian said, “At least thirty minutes; am I right?”

  Ray shrugged, “More like forty five.”

  “That’s forty five minutes you could have been working with your ship commanders getting their maneuvers perfected. Sailors should be in uniform and neat but this is not the academy; this is real life. You have to show those under your command that the most important things are what they can do with a Jukebox. You have to encourage them and tell them they are better than they think they are. Those ships will need to develop a trust in you and your judgment. We’re past deciding if they can do it; they’ve shown they can. That makes our job easier. We have
to make them a team.”

  Ray was skeptical but after five days of watching Jillian he saw the ships under her command almost worshipped her. He decided it was due to her worship of them. He shucked the polished brass and asked Bret if he could start working with his taskforce two days early. Bret smiled and said, “Welcome aboard, Commodore Burns. You may join me on the Europe.”

  • • •

  Mitch eased the Stealth Rover into normal space in the outer planets of a twelve planet system. His scanner showed all of the space around the inner planets was full of warships. He stared at his display and said, “Do you have an idea of how many ships are here?”

  “About three million.”

  “Do you have any of the trackers reporting other locations?”

  “I have three of them reporting in.”

  “Jump to the closest one.” The SR disappeared and reappeared in another planetary system. The view looked identical to the first. Mitch stared at his display and shook his head.

  “One of the trackers is located in a different galaxy.”

  “What!?!”

  “The commercial vessel went to a different galaxy.”

  “Jump us there.”

  The SR emerged again and this time the number of ships was doubled. Mitch shook his head and the computer said, “I have trackers reporting in from eight different galaxies.”

  “This is not good!”

  “Extrapolating from what we’ve observed, this civilization possesses an incredibly large number of war fleets.”

  Mitch thought a moment, “We need to take a look at the planet producing those ships. We’ll allow the trackers some time to arrive at their destinations and then we’ll have them make a quick scan and send it to us along with their coordinates. We’ll gather the information and go back and pick up Leon.”

  Mitch hit the thrusters and began moving toward the inner planets.

  • • •

  Leon tried to decide how to approach the giant temple and knew his instincts were to depend on his natural talents. That predisposition could get him killed. There were thousands of the inhabitants between him and the structure and he knew they had intimate contact with the ground; they were grazing creatures and were much more aware of the ground around them. Going under the soil might be noticed.