Author: Saxon Andrew
Date: 2012-06-04T18:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Science Fiction
Description: From the International Number One Best Selling Author Saxon Andrew comes the second book in his third Science Fiction Series, Lens of Time - Planet Predators. Earth has managed to steal technology from both the Alliance and the Moet Empire and build starships that can now stand up to the two strongest civilizations in the Galaxy. However, they are millions of years behind the Blue Giant Ships that are planning another invasion to destroy all space faring civilizations in the Milky Way. What makes the situation dire is that the species that wiped out the Blue Giants and the Jenze in both the Mi
Publisher: Saxon Business Management

Planet Predators

Lens of Time – Book Two

Contents

Introduction

Chapter One • Chapter Two • Chapter Three • Chapter Four • Chapter Five • Chapter Six • Chapter Seven • Chapter Eight • Chapter Nine • Chapter Ten • Chapter Eleven • Chapter Twelve • Chapter Thirteen • Chapter Fourteen • Chapter Fifteen • Chapter Sixteen • Chapter Seventeen • Chapter Eighteen • Chapter Nineteen

Books by Saxon Andrew

About Saxon Andrew

Introduction

RV looked at Izzy and then said, “Zack, I’m going to start jumping a million years and see what happens to your home. If we find it destroyed after one of our jumps we’ll back out and see what happened.” Zack nodded.

Over the next four days, the three of them watched the Jenze Planet attacked more than thirty times by different ships. Every time the planet managed to survive because of its planetary force field. In ten of the attacks, the field was breeched and some nuclear missiles made it through and though there was damage to some of the cities, the planet still survived. When the Ninja arrived at the light from four million years in the past the planet was destroyed and still burning. Zack stood up and stared at the screen. Arvolo gazed at the dead planet and after a long moment of silence said, “Whoever did this was able to defeat your planetary defenses. I would guess that this is where your, and our, ancestors died. Are you sure you want to see this?”

Zack took a deep breath and nodded, “I’m staggered at the number of times we’ve been attacked. Does this happen to every civilization?”

“We’ve not found any exceptions yet. I’m backing up ten years.”

Izzy looked over at Zack and saw the sorrow written on his face. She reached over and squeezed his hand. Zack looked at her and continued to hold her hand as Arvolo jumped the ship.

Chapter One

“Chris, are you ready to leave?”

“I need to recharge the gravity emitters. We’ve been trialing them so much that the charge is down to sixty percent. They should be up to full charge in another forty five minutes. Have you selected our target planet?”

“Yes, I have. The book of Alliance Maps has the location of the Main Moet Capital with a caution to avoid at all costs. I think we should try that one first and go to the oldest Moet Planet second.”

Chris took his gaze away from his display and looked at Jillian, “I’m not sure that order is best.”

“Why not?”

“If our suspicions are accurate, it may be that the planet with the best opportunity to see what has happened to the Moet is one that may have been destroyed to the point where it would no longer be one of their main planets. I suspect that if the Moet were attacked in the past, the planet that would receive the most damage would no longer be their center of operations.”

Jillian looked in the book and turned several pages. She started reading and after a minute looked up, “The Alliance list a planet out near the edge of the galaxy as Moet. There is a symbol next to it and I looked it up in the back of the book. That symbol indicates the planet has been destroyed.”

“That’s our target.”

“I’ll get to work on the best path to take to view that planet. How far back do you want to see?”

Chris looked off into space and said, “We know the Moet were around at the time of the dinosaurs. Let’s see if we can watch it from fifty million years ago until it was destroyed. That should give us an idea of what we’re up against.”

Jillian entered the data; soon after, an alarm went off on her board, “A galaxy passed through the best possible coordinates about twenty million years ago. We’ll miss about four thousand years but I still like that direction better than the others.”

“I agree. Four thousand years is less than a thousandth of one percent of the history we’ll be surveying. We can always move to another route if something significant happens during that blocked view.”

“I’ve locked it in. We should be able to jump to our start location directly from that planet after we get a reading on its atmosphere.”

“I’m glad George and Meisa developed our navigation systems before they left for Dundee.”

Jillian leaned back and smiled, “It’s not every planet that is named after a honey moon location.”

Chris smiled, “I’ve seen their pictures. That little Australian city is beautiful and I want to visit as soon as things settle down. Have we heard anything on their progress?”

“The initial colony ship landed and the construction of living quarters began immediately. The next two ships delivered the colonists and the massive materials to build the manufacturing facilities for our new ships.”

I understand that three more ship loads were delivered last week and things are shaping up well. I do worry that the Blue Giant Scouts might find them.”

Chris shook his head, “That planet has no sign of ever supporting intelligent life. If it was scouted it would not be a planet they would go visit again.”

“Why do you say that?”

“The Blue Giants would know that a civilization wouldn’t have had enough time to develop and pose a threat since their survey of our galaxy. They’ll go back through all the planets that have intelligent life before they look anywhere else. They’ll find us before they find Dundee.”

“You’re probably right. Now that Dundee is self-sufficient, I understand that three more planets are being settled. We can at least feel better about the survival of our species if we can continue the process.”

“Dundee is the one that we need to get behind. The new ships are going to be built there and that will determine our chances of survival.”

Jillian sighed, “George told Dolly that there’s a huge abundance of raw materials and that more trips weren’t necessary. He doesn’t want one of the ships followed by a Scout.”

“That makes sense.” Chris looked at his board, “The charge is full; we can launch now.”

Jillian punched her board, “Sydney control, we are ready for departure.”

“The pattern is cleared. You may launch in two minutes.”

“I hope you two don’t stay away too long.”

Chris smiled, “We’re going a long time but don’t plan to be gone long, Dolly.”

“Oh, such a wordsmith you are. We’re going to start going after the Blue Giant Scouts shortly and I’d feel better if you were here.”

“I’m sure Admiral Garcia will have them whipped into shape.”

“Jeff is good but, none the less, I’d feel better if you were around once the fighting starts.”

“Dolly, I don’t anticipate this taking more than two weeks. We’ve been able to determine the best route to see our target and we won’t take as long to gather information. We’ve come a long way since our first efforts.”

“Good. I’ll let Jeff know.”

“Behave while we’re gone.”

“Now Chris, you know I never misbehave.”

Jillian started laughing and Chris just shook his head. “We’ll see you soon.”

* * *

Arvolo sat in his command chair and gazed through his reading glasses at the bright display panel on his console. He often regretted not having his vision corrected but just didn’t want any modification made to his body. It was the principle. Everyone should know that the Cuban Body could not be improved upon. He looked down at his big stomach and sighed. Well, not much anyway. Let’s see what they could do to him after his last altercation. Ummm…public intoxication. That one was valid. Inciting a riot? That one shouldn’t stick. He only hit two of them. The ten others that piled on weren’t his fault. Resisting arrest; I didn’t see the arresting officer’s uniform. There were too many there trying to pile on him and they had blocked his vision.

He continued to read and finally arrived at the bottom of the judicial review and fell back in his chair; restricted to port for sixty days. He slowly shook his head and sighed; no more fun for a while. He looked over at the other chair on the bridge of the Havana and slowly shook his head. I guess Charlie just couldn’t hang anymore. He lifted the printout and read it again, “Charles Swamer has requested reassignment and will no longer be a member of the UE Ship Havana.”

Charles was the third Weapons Officer he had lost in the last ninety days. The big sissies; they just couldn’t keep up. Charlie didn’t have to get mixed up in the fight last night; I had everything under control. Umm…I think I had it under control. Arvolo sighed and guessed it was going to take some time to find another sucker…I mean Weapons Officer for the Havana. The sixty day restriction was going to pass slowly if they couldn’t find someone to replace Charlie. Not only would he be stuck in port but he wouldn’t be able to go out on guard duty. Arvolo reclined his chair, put the icepack back on his black right eye, and fell asleep.

Kenny Anders used his chip and opened the port on the Havana and walked to the Bridge. He found Arvolo sleeping in his command chair and did a double take. How could someone that much over weight get into the service? He shook his head and put his bag of tools down next to his chair. He lay down on the floor and grabbed an electric driver and removed the bottom panel from the weapons console. He took an electrical bonding iron and began melting the connections on the main circuit board. He pulled out the main wiring harness and changed it for another one that was made of clear fiber optic strands. He tossed the old one into his bag and proceeded to make connections.

* * *

Arvolo was dreaming that someone had burned his dinner. It came out of the kitchen and was still smoking. The waiter placed the dish in front of him and the meat was nothing but ash. He looked up at the waiter and saw him holding a blaster. He jerked out of his dream and stumbled up out of his chair.

“Could you hand me that torque wrench?”

Arvolo looked around and smelled something that reminded him of an electrical fire. He was still half asleep and he heard, “It’s next to the bag.”

Arvolo looked down and saw two legs sticking out from the weapons console. He reached down and picked up the torque wrench and put it under the console. A hand reached out, took it, and he heard the sound of bolts being tightened, “Excuse me, but what are you doing?”

Kenny crawled out from under the console and said, “Nothing, I’m done.”

“And you are?”

“Your new Weapons Officer.”

Arvolo looked at the slim athletic man and immediately didn’t like him. No one should be in that good a shape. I’ll bet he even likes broccoli. “May I see your orders?”

“They’re in the bag.”

“Why don’t you stand up and report in the way you were trained?”

Kenny smiled at Arvolo, “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t think anything was done by the book on this ship.”

Arvolo felt his temperature rise, “Just what makes you say that?”

“I’ve read the Fleet records and reports of the crew’s conduct over the last six months and I couldn’t find any trace of structure or professionalism in those reports. Every protocol was pretty much ignored and seeing you in that Cuban shirt pretty much tells me that you are not currently on duty. I’m not here to change your habits, Sir. I assumed that if everything is going to be informal, I saw no need to follow any formality in reporting. Or am I wrong?”

Arvolo stared at the young man and tried to decide how to respond.

“I could have come in here in a clean, pressed uniform and shouted, ‘Weapons Officer Anders reporting for duty, Sir!’ I suspect interrupting your nap is not acceptable behavior.”

Arvolo winced and felt the pain from the noise shoot through his head still suffering from the hangover from the night before. “No, I think I prefer the informal style more. However, I am your superior officer and I expect you to remember that at all times.”

“I’m reasonably sure you won’t let me forget it….Sir.”

Arvolo tilted his head, “I’ve never kicked my Weapons Officer’s butt on the first day but I’m beginning to think I might change that momentarily.”

Kenny smiled, “Anytime you want to have a go, just let me know however, I did see something in the Fleet reports that you should be aware of.”

“What is that?”

“Admiral Garcia has ordered that the next time there’s another incident out of the Havana that causes the Service embarrassment; the Commander of that ship will be dishonorably discharged from the Fleet.”

Arvolo stared at Kenny and then looked at the printout again detailing Charley’s request for reassignment. “Why are you here? How did you get stuck with me?”

“I actually requested this assignment.”

“Why?”

“I must say that when I first saw you I was amazed that the Fleet would accept someone as….let’s say…big as you are.”

“Are you saying I’m fat!?!”

“I just told you, ‘let’s say big’. Weren’t you listening? Are you unaware of your size?”

“Well, not really. I’m just husky.”

“And Buddha was big boned. However, let’s agree to not play word games. As I was saying, your size surprised me and the fact you’re wearing glasses violates every rule for a ship’s pilot. I determined at that point that I had made a good choice to request this assignment.”

Arvolo just stared at Kenny.

“I went through the Fleet’s tests for all of its Ship’s Commanders and looked for the pilot with the highest flight scores. You are here because of your ability to fly a starship. Anyone else would have been drummed out of the service months ago with the number of times you’ve been put in the brig. I have a wife and daughter and I want to make sure I have a good chance of seeing my daughter grow up. I may not like your style but I know I can’t find a better pilot. I do hope you’ll behave and not force me to go to another ship.”

Arvolo continued to stare at Kenny and after a long moment said, “Rule number one; you can call me whatever you want but you may never say anything bad about Cuba.”

Kenny tilted his head and nodded.

“Rule number two; if my wife ever calls, you haven’t seen me.”

Kenny narrowed his eyes, “Is that a problem?”

“I told her four years ago I was going to the store and I never went back.”

“Has she called?”

“Not yet, but she might miss me one day and call.”

“Captain, I think you’re safe.”

Arvolo looked around and whispered, “You never know.”

Kenny nodded again and when Arvolo turned around he shook his head. Here was a man that had kicked the crap out of six marines, yet he was afraid of a woman. Kenny decided that he had to meet her one day. It was clear Arvolo didn’t share that wish. Well, with only two rules, life should be simple. Kenny would later discover that life was never simple with the large Cuban.

* * *

Jeff pushed his communication panel and saw Bob’s face appear, “Good morning, Sir.”

“Good morning, Admiral Owens. How are the Fleet exercises progressing?”

“They are making great progress, Sir.”

“Bob, drop the Sir. You’re an Admiral just like I am.”

Bob smiled, “No, I have fewer stars.”

Jeff smiled at his old friend, “I want to start combat operations soon and I need you to select a ship to make the initial attack.”

“I think I have just the ship.”

“Which one?”

“The Havana.”

Jeff sighed and Bob interrupted him before he could respond, “I know the history of Captain Arvolo but his ship won the competition.”

“Really?”

“Wasn’t even close; he may have a lot of aggression issues but he is talented.”

Jeff stared at Bob and nodded, “We’ll see how it goes. I think aggression is just what’s called for in this initial confrontation. I’ll let you know when we’re ready.”

Jeff ended the call and smiled. Maybe Anders would make the difference in making the Havana all it was capable of becoming. He was surprised when Kenny had declined an Admiral’s rank in the support section to be a Weapon’s officer. He was forced to approve the assignment to the Havana figuring that the crazy Cuban would get him to reconsider. Why did he select that ship? He made a note to follow up. There must be something about the Cuban he was missing.

* * *

The Moet Prince waited in the reception chamber of the First Master. He had sent the video of the Blue Ships before he arrived and was directed to report for an audience with the Supreme Ruler of the Moet. He thought about the strange ships sharing information about the Blue Ships and declaring that they were not an enemy of his. What a strange thought. He looked up and saw the First Master enter. He stood and lowered his eye stalks.

“Do you believe this information you sent?”

“Yes, I do. I ordered a ship to go and see if the energy trails were still present where they were seen and they are. The trails are massive and number in the millions.”

“I’m ordering an immediate evacuation of our planets. You need to get the planets you’re responsible for organized for the move.” She paused and then said, “I’m concerned about this new civilization that destroyed half your fleet. I’m not comfortable with their sudden development.”

“They said they were not our enemy.”

She tossed two eyestalks back and laughed, “So do they all.”

“Yes, but they could have destroyed my fleet and withheld the video they gave us. That is not normal behavior.”

She shrugged, “Even so, they must be destroyed.”

“I promised to communicate with them before we attacked again.”

“You know that promise is meaningless. Why did you make it?”

“I’m not sure. They just, I don’t know, seemed to be telling the truth.”

“Son, you have so much to learn.”

“You must be patient with me, Mother.”

She looked at him, “What would you do if you had to make a decision about them?”

“I’d just leave them alone.”

“Why?”

“If the Blue Ships are really searching for them, they will be found and destroyed. We don’t need to lose any more ships trying to do it ourselves.”

She thought about the idea and gave her affirmation, “You may not need as much experience as I thought. That is a good idea and we will not go back. Now notify all the Family Masters and get the planets organized for evacuation. Have you determined which of your citizens will be left behind?”

“The standings are always up for public viewing.”

“Good.”

“They’re coming back sooner than they ever have, Mother.”

“You can’t blame them. I’d have been here long ago if I was in their position.”

“Are the evacuation planets still available?”

“Most of the structures have fallen into ruin but they can be rebuilt quickly enough.”

“Why don’t we just stay there instead of coming back here to face these invasions?”

“It’s more dangerous there than here. We’re there for so short a time that we’re not usually discovered by the really dangerous Killers. Let’s hope our luck holds out and we can get in and get back here after the Blue Ships leave.”

“Thank you for your Wisdom, Mother.”

“That’s what I’m here to provide, Son.”

Chapter Two

“Jillian, I’m activating the emitters.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Chris extended the fields and entered the data collected from the scan of the dead planet’s atmosphere. The fields expanded at light speed and after ten minutes an alarm sounded. Chris stopped the expansion and moved the ship towards the location of the strongest signal. He focused in on the signal and a planet appeared on his display. Chris was stunned. There were thousands of Moet ships surrounding the planet. Jillian came in smelling of a shower and Chris leaned back as she kissed him. She looked over his shoulder and said, “Oh my! That planet must be one of their major commerce centers.”

“I think you’re right. According to my computer only about a fifth of those ships are warships. This planet was thriving fifty million years ago.”

“Take us closer to the planet.”

The planet grew quickly on the display and they saw huge cities on the surface. “Chris, there was no evidence of cities on that planet when we scanned it.”

“Something must have happened a long time ago for all the evidence to disappear. You’re the Egyptologist. How long would it take for climate alone to erase the evidence of a city that size?”

“Climate alone couldn’t do it. Those buildings are tall and there would be evidence of them millions of years after they were built. Something radical had to happen for them to completely disappear.”

“Well, I think it’s safe to say that the Moet Civilization was flourishing at this particular moment in time. There’s ships coming and going and there must be other planets trading with this one.” Chris reached forward and adjusted his board. “Alright, I’ve locked this line in and I’m going to start jumping forward until we see something different.”

“How far are you going to jump?”

“I think a million years for each jump. If something happens we’ll jump back out.”

“That sounds like a plan.”

“They jumped three times and saw no real difference in the planet. The numbers of ships changed slightly but everything else looked normal. On the fourth jump they saw many of the cities had been hit with nuclear blasts, “We need to back up and see what happened.”

Chris jumped back five hundred thousand years and the city was back to normal. “I’m going to start jumping at ten thousand year intervals and set the computer to stop us when it detects radiation on the surface.”

“You’re the boss.”

“And don’t you forget it.”

Jillian popped him on the back of his head with her hand and he started the jumps. On the forty third jump they stopped and saw huge areas of devastation on the planet. “Chris, that must have happened recently.”

“Judging from the radiation level it should have happened within the last hundred years. I’m backing out a hundred years and then I’ll start jumping in five year increments.”

Chris kept his hand on the jump board and watched his display. After eight jumps he punched the stop pad. They saw cities burning. “I’m backing out a month and start moving forward at high speed.”

Jillian watched closely as they moved forward in time. Chris had backed the view up and suddenly he slowed down. Hundreds of ships were moving towards the planet. Chris, those ships look familiar.”

“They’re Jenze.”

“You’re right. They’re the same color as the one destroyed on Earth just before the asteroid impact.”

They watched as the Jenze fleet attacked the ships at the planet and destroyed them all. The ships then moved in orbit around the planet and dropped nuclear bombs on most of the population centers. The devastation was horrific. Millions of Moet were killed in the nuclear fires scorching the planet’s surface. Soon the atmosphere was full of dark clouds of smoke that rose from the blasts and fanned out over huge areas. The Jenze ships stayed in orbit for ten more hours and then turned and left the planet.

“Chris, this is terrible. The Moet were right to fear the Jenze.”

“We need to move forward and see if this is an isolated event or part of a much larger destruction.”

“How will you be able to tell?”

“If no ships come to assist the planet then that would indicate that other planets have been attacked along with this one.” The view moved into high speed and no ships appeared.

“How long has it been?”

“More than a week.”

“What do we do now?”

“We’ll continue jumping forward in million year increments and see what happens.”

They jumped a million years and the planet was once more a thriving world with thousands of ships around it. They continued jumping and after eight more jumps the world was destroyed again. They repeated the process and watched another fleet moving in on the planet.

“Those are not Jenze ships.”

“No, they aren’t.”

“Where do you think they came from?”

“I have no idea but we know what’s going to happen. Let’s continue jumping forward.”

They jumped forward and watched the planet destroyed six more times until they arrived at light from two million years from the present. Then they saw that no life remained on the planet and all the huge cities were blasted and burned into rubble. They jumped back and moved forward and found a huge Blue Ship moving in on the planet. “Chris, move the view in closer to the planet.”

The planet grew in the display and Jillian pointed at the largest city, “There’s not enough Moet.”

“What do you mean?”

“The cities have always been crowded with large masses of Moet moving around. There are less than a third of those normally seen.”

“I’m backing out a year to see what caused the rapid loss of population.” They broke back into normal space and saw ten giant ships above the planet receiving thousands of shuttles. “They’re moving their population.”

“Yes they are but not all of them. They’ve left enough behind so that the Blue Ships will think they’ve destroyed them all.”

“They’re not fighting any more. They’re running.”

Jillian nodded, “They’ve left enough population and ships to deceive the Blue Giants. The ones left behind have been given a death sentence. It appears the Blue Giants leave no survivors.”

Chris thought a moment, took a deep breath, and blew it out slowly, “They must have been warned of the coming attack and decided that the only way to survive was to run. I think we now know why this planet is still dead in our time. Let’s go see what happens when the Blue Ship attacks.”

Chris and Jillian watched as the Giant Blue Ship arrived in orbit and began firing hundred of beams at the planet’s surface, blasting everything into huge burning mounds of rubble. The twenty mile wide beam was swept over the huge cities like a broom sweeping a dirty floor. The beam swept across the city and was swept back to ensure everything was destroyed. The tall buildings had exploded and then melted. It made an orbit around the planet and hit everything including forests that had no population. Nothing was left behind for anyone to use for rebuilding. Once the orbit was complete the giant ship must have scanned the surface for anything it missed and began another orbit hitting those areas on the surface. Nothing was left alive on any of the land masses and everything was burning.

“This must be after the Blue Ships completed the conquest of their galaxy.”

“I’m not sure how you arrived at that conclusion, Chris.”

“We know they come from the Andromeda Galaxy and that we are the closest galaxy to them in the Virgo Cluster. It appears they are going to insure their safety by destroying any civilization that could one day come and place them in danger. If they were still attacking civilizations in their own galaxy, they wouldn’t come here until they handled that issue.”

“Are you saying they have killed every other civilization in their galaxy?”

“I’m reasonably certain they didn’t learn to clean all life off a planet here. If I had to bet, I’d put my money on them being the only civilization in Andromeda.”

“Maybe there are population pressures that brought them here.”

“This was two million years ago and they didn’t stay. They came, they sought, and they killed. Now they’re coming back to remove any life form that has evolved intelligence since their last visit. Humans are an example of what they’re coming to destroy. We were barely walking upright two million years ago. I also suspect the Blue Giants came back during the last two million years, but we wouldn’t be able to see that because this planet was burned down to the bedrock and wasn’t resettled by the Moet.”

“You believe that because of the Moet’s current level of development?”

“Exactly. I think I’m also coming around to George’s way of thinking.”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

Chris stood up and walked over to the view port and looked out at the stars glowing brightly in the Milky Way. He took a deep breath and looked at Jillian, “We’ve seen that Moet Planet destroyed eight times over the last forty five million years and every attack was by a different conqueror. Now the current Conqueror de jour is the Blue Giants. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they weren’t the victim of an attack in their past as well. It appears that every civilization is a predator that kills every other civilization it encounters. They do it to prevent a future attack and make sure their safety is guaranteed. I was naive to think the Moet would keep their promise and communicate before they attacked us again. There is no honor with a predator, only a prey.”

“Then why haven’t they come back?”

Chris looked up at the display and rewound the recording. Jillian followed his gaze. She saw the ten huge ships above the Moet planet, “They’re evacuating.”

“Giving them that recording buys us more time. Now we just have to remain hidden from the Blue Giant Scouts.”

“We haven’t been gone long. Do you want to go take a look at one of the Moet’s planets and see if what we suspect is actually happening?”

“That’s a good idea. Pick one that we can view more than a light week away.”

Jillian opened the Alliance Map Book and began turning pages.

* * *

Arvolo and Kenny were in a bar in New York celebrating their success in the Fleet Competitions. Arvolo had his travel restrictions removed and he insisted they get out on the town to have a drink. “RV, you know you can’t get in trouble.”

“Hey, hey, I’m the picture of good behavior. I will not fight this night. Peace is my first name.”

Kenny saw him smile at his rhyme and had begrudgingly agreed to go. They arrived and to Kenny’s relief, everything appeared to be going well. Arvolo was nothing but smiles and had bought the whole bar a drink. He sat at the table and looked at Kenny, “I’ve been meaning to ask you what you were doing to your weapons console the day you arrived.”

“And I’ve been meaning to ask why you haven’t lost any weight.”

Arvolo sighed, “I’m lazy and weak. That’s a terrible combination, especially when it comes to food. Plantains are my undoing.”

Kenny started to respond but saw five Marines walk up behind Arvolo. Arvolo saw his expression and turned to see the five approaching, “Hey guys, I’m not able to play tonight. I’ve been put on notice that I’m no longer allowed to fight.”

A Marine Corporal tilted his head and said to the other four, “Oh, the fatty can’t play. We owe you for what you did to us last time. We hope you do get kicked out of the service.”

Arvolo was ready to go but restrained himself, “I’m not kidding. I’ve been punished for that encounter and Fleet does not approve of what we did.”

Kenny stood up and stepped away from the table and went and stood by the bar. Arvolo saw him move and knew he was on his own. He slowly shook his head and regretted what was about to happen but knew there was no escape as three more Marines joined the five.

Kenny said, “What, five aren’t enough?”

“You stay out of this flyboy. This is between the fat man and us.”

Arvolo said, “Now that hurts. I’m not fat; I’m husky.”

Kenny leaned back against the bar, shrugged, and ordered a beer.

The Corporal assumed a fighting stance and threw a kick at Arvolo. Kenny had wondered how it was possible for someone RV’s size to have fought six marines but he found out quickly that although he was big, he was faster than a cat.

Arvolo came out of his chair, grabbed the Corporal’s leg, and lifted it as he hit the Corporal with a fist between his legs. The Corporal hit the floor and stayed there. The other seven stormed in and bodies started flying. One of the Marines was thrown up against the bar next to Kenny and he handed the marine his glass of beer, “Hold this.”

The Marine took it before he could think and Kenny bent his arm and hit him on the forehead with the back of his hand. He took his drink out of the Marine’s hand as he fell to the floor and didn’t move.”

Another Marine was thrown on the floor next to the bar and Kenny looked around and hit him on top of his head with an elbow as he started to get up. Kenny looked around again and whistled as he moved further down the bar away from the two unconscious Marines. One of the Marines saw what Kenny did and came over and threw a punch at him. Kenny dodged the punch while taking a drink from his glass and threw a quick left handed punch to the Marine’s solar plexus and doubled him over. Kenny looked around and brought his knee up and flipped the puncher onto his back. Kenny saw the bartender staring at him and shrugged, “He slipped.”

That’s when the Fleet Patrol arrived and began stunning the participants in the fight. One of them approached Kenny and he took a card out and showed it to the officer. He spoke to the officer for a moment and the Officer saluted and turned away. Kenny saw the bartender staring at him again and he smiled, “I have a get out of jail free card. I’m a huge monopoly fan.”

Kenny looked around and saw that four of the other Marines didn’t need stunning. Arvolo had done quite well in the skirmish. He watched as the Patrol removed the stunned or unconscious fighters. Kenny turned and said, “How much damage?”

“Looks like two thousand.”

“If I pay you four will you not press charges?”

“Deal.”

“Put it on this card.”

The bartender took the card and looked up at Kenny. He handed the card back and Kenny saw he was frightened, “I insist you take the payment. You have nothing to worry about, I promise.”

The bartender ran the card and watched as the slim officer left. He shook his head slowly and now had a story to tell the regulars they would not believe.

* * *

The night duty Office at the Military holding cell looked up and saw a fully armed and armored Alpha Agent enter. He saw the Agent was a Colonel and he snapped to attention, “Sir, how can I help you, Sir.”

The Agent had his full faceplate down and he said through his armor’s speaker, “You are holding a Fleet Captain with the last name Arvolo. I am taking him with me and you will remove any record of him ever being here. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Take me to him.”

The Marine Captain opened the door to the holding block and preceded the Alpha down the hall. He stopped in front of the cell where Arvolo was sitting on a stool rubbing his head where a bruise had swollen. “Open the door.”

RV looked around and worried that the Alpha had come to court marshal him out of the Navy. He slowly stood and took a deep breath. Then he heard the Alpha say to the Captain, “Leave us.” The Captain turned and went up the hall.

The Alpha went to the cell the eight Marines were being held and looked in at them. Arvolo saw they were frightened. “I have a recording of the fight you morons started tonight and you have placed a top secret mission in jeopardy with your outrageous behavior. This Sailor is involved in an exercise of critical importance and your stupidity at getting him arrested tonight should be enough to drum you out of the service. If you mention him to anyone, you will be in Leavenworth for the rest of your miserable lives. Nod if you understand.”

The Marines began nodding so hard Arvolo thought they were going to get neck injuries. The Alpha turned and took Arvolo by the arm and escorted him up the hall and out of the building.

Arvolo walked quickly trying to keep up with the Alpha and said, “I guess I’m out of the Service.”

The Alpha stopped and raised his armored face plate. Kenny said, “Not this time, this was not your fault.”

Arvolo was shocked, “Are you crazy!? Impersonating an Alpha Agent can get you executed.”

Kenny shook his head, “RV, you know an Agent’s Armor cannot be worn by anyone but the one imprinted on it.”

RV saw the Colonel’s Rank burned in the Armor and looked Kenny in the eyes, “Why are you a Weapons Officer? Who are you?”

“We’ll talk about this later. Let’s get back to the ship.”

* * *

Arvolo sat in his command chair and looked at Kenny. He remained silent and Kenny knew it was time to tell the truth. “I was offered an Admiral’s Position in Fleet development but I turned it down and requested a Weapon’s Officer’s position.”

“Why, for God’s sake, would you ever do that?”

“I’m not the desk type. The ones that are going to make the difference in humanity’s survival are those on the front lines facing off against those ships coming to kill us. I know my place is with them in the fight.”

“Why didn’t you just take command of a ship?”

“That is not where my talents lie. I’m a pretty good pilot but I’m not up to your ability. I’m considered one of the best at the use of weapons.”

“One of the best?”

“I’m ranked number one.”

“How did you manage to get them to allow you to take this position?”

“The Military Regulations allows any officer to take a rank three levels below their current one and Command must comply with their request. Admiral Garcia was not happy about my decision but he couldn’t prevent me from doing it.”

“Admiral Garcia?”

“I pulled him to safety in Tehran. He thinks highly of my ability.”

Arvolo stared at Kenny and said, “And the weapons console?”

“I have a Doctorate from MIT in advanced electronics. My specialty is in the switching of electrical currents. I rewired my console with a harness I’ve been working on for a year. I believe it will make a difference in our fighting capabilities, but I won’t know until we’re able to test it in combat.”

“That makes me nervous.”

Kenny smiled, “I am ranked number one.”

“I guess my original statement about kicking your butt was a bit premature.”

“I’m also ranked rather high in the Alpha’s self-defense standings.”

“I wondered where those other Marines went.”

“So do they.”

“So what’s our role on this ship?”

“You are the Commander and outrank me. I understand that and so should you. You can’t worry about me second guessing you or you’ll lose your edge in combat.”

“I thought Alphas had their rank for life?”

“They do but he made the mistake of promoting me to Admiral. I took the reduction from that rank. Jeff actually laughed at being tricked.”

“Rule number three; no more name dropping; Knowing the Fleet Admiral doesn’t get you anywhere with me.”

Kenny started laughing and nodded, “Sir, let’s go out and make history.”

“Are you sure you don’t have any Cuban in you?”

“I don’t think so. Why do you ask?”

“Anyone who has ever done anything important came from Cuba.”

“What about Christopher Columbus. He was Italian.”

“Yes but he landed on Cuba and was infected.”

“Thomas Jefferson?”

“Infected by a Cuban slave.”

“Abraham Lincoln?”

“Visited the island before he was President.”

“No he didn’t?”

“Prove it.”

“I can see where this is going.”

“You’ve been infected as well. We’ll just have to see how it happened.”

Kenny smiled but was not about to tell Arvolo that he had honey mooned on the island.

Chapter Three

Dolly looked around the table and missed George. She really needed his brilliance to help her make good decisions. She shook her head slightly and also knew that if the new ships were going to be built, he and Meisa were needed more on Dundee. Jeff said, “You miss George.”

She looked at him and wondered how he could see her mind so clearly. Jeff smiled, “It’s an acquired skill.” She laughed and turned back to the table. Chris and Jillian had just returned and shared their findings with the group.

Arnold Gordon said, “It appears George was right about the Predator/Prey relationship being the norm in this universe.”

“Yes it is. Planets have been destroyed multiple times by multiple conquerors. I think that the relationship has been reinforced over millions of years and cannot be easily changed.”

“Chris, I think you’re wrong in that assessment.”

“Why do you say that, Hemon?”

“You can force a change at gun point. You can threaten anyone who would even think about attacking another if you could kill the attacker.”

“That’s not much of a change.”

“No, but given enough time it would take hold.”

Chris shrugged and looked at Dolly, “What’s the plan?”

“We’re going to send a ship out to take on one of their scouts and see what happens.”

“Have you selected the ship?”

“It’s not yours if that’s what you’re leading up to.”

“Then who?”

“We’ve chosen the Havana. It won the recent Fleet Exercises and should be our first choice.”

Chris looked at his computer and said, “What is this about a ‘Crazy Cuban’?”

Jeff smiled, “I put that note in the system. It seems the Captain is Cuban and thinks that anyone who has ever done anything important in our history had to be connected to Cuba in some way.”

Dolly laughed out loud, “He sounds like my kind of people.”

“He’s been in the brig more times than I can count for fighting. It seems he likes to take on six or more Marines at a time.”

“Now I know he’s my kind of people.”

“His Weapons Officer is a personal friend and is a Colonel in the Alphas.”

“How did that happen, Jeff?”

“He tricked me. I promoted him to Admiral and he formally requested the reduction in rank to that position. Regulations forced me to honor his request, Arnold. He is also a wizard at weapon development which is where I wanted him.”

Hemon smiled, “Perhaps combat is where he will learn those things that will help us most. Like I once told the Pharaohs, making a spear is not the same thing as throwing one.”

“It would be a huge loss if he was killed.”

Everyone was silent and Dolly said, “Send the orders.”

Jeff nodded, “Yes, Sir.”

* * *

The Havana was on guard duty at the orbit of Neptune holding position at the edge of the solar system in normal space. Kenny looked up from his panel, “We’ve just been ordered to go into Sierra Space and see if we can find a ship with a specific frequency.”

Arvolo looked over his glasses and raised his eyebrows, “Exactly what type of ship gives off that particular frequency?”

“According to the file attached with the download, it’s a Blue Giant Scout Ship.” Kenny continued to read his panel and said, “It’s about three times our size and heavily armed. I’ve sent a picture to your console.”

Arvolo stared at the image and tilted his head, “That doesn’t sound good. Does the message tell us what to do if we happen to find one of those ships?”

Kenny continued reading and then looked up slowly, “They want us to pick a fight.”

Arvolo leaned back in his chair and put his hands on his large stomach, “They do.”

“Yes.”

“It’s surprising they’re selected us. They know I’m the peaceful sort?”

Kenny was taking a drink from his glass of water and sprayed it out of his nose and mouth.

“Hey, I am.”

Kenny shook his head and snorted, “You’re about as peaceful as a tiger that just had his backside sandpapered. You are constantly looking for a fight. I’ve had to stop you more times than I care to remember.”

Arvolo shrugged, “Just checking to see if you were paying attention. Our selection makes sense, sort of.”

Kenny snorted again, “Dropping into Sierra Space.”

Arvolo thought about Kenny’s assessment and decided he was only partly right. He didn’t look for a fight on Mondays or Fridays. That’s the days he set aside to recover from the fights he had over the weekend and to rest before the next ones.

“I’ve found four of those frequencies and one of them is pretty close.”

Arvolo sat up straight, “How close?”

“Less than four seconds in Sierra Space from our current position. It just entered normal space.”

“That could be outside the galaxy, how close?”

Kenny looked back at his display, “Fifty light years from Earth.”

“We need to pick one further away to draw them away from this area.

“There’s one five hundred light years away.”

Arvolo tilted his head down and looked through his eyebrows.

Kenny started shaking his head and said, “Switching my board to weapons. You have the ship. Force field and weapons are on line. How do you want to handle this?”

“Let’s be subtle; we’ll enter normal space and hit them with a fusion missile.”

“That’s pretty subtle for you. Are you sure we don’t need to kiss them first?”

“I’ll wait while you do the honors. But I want that missile fired before you get their communications number for a future rendezvous.”

“Why only one missile?”

“I’m sure Fleet wants to know what it’s going to take to handle those ships. We need to give them as much information as possible. If the missile doesn’t work, we’ll hit them with a beam. If that doesn’t work, we’ll use both. Make sure a record of this is being sent to Fleet.”

Kenny nodded and activated the channel, “Just what do you think that ship is going to be doing while we’re playing around with a mix of weapons?”

“Why, finishing their kiss with you. We’re jumping in three seconds. Pucker up.”

The Havana jumped into normal space next to the large ship and fired a fusion missile. It hit the three thousand foot long vessel and exploded before reaching the ship. Arvolo applied thrusters and dodged left as ten beams ripped through the space the Havana had just vacated.

Kenny looked at his display and said, “Three of those beams would have killed us at our current field strength.”

Arvolo jerked the Havana hard right and dodged six missiles homing in on them. “I guess you aren’t that great a kisser, Kenny. I think they expected more” The missiles turned abruptly and homed in on the Havana and hit it on the port side.

The force field flashed brilliant white and stopped the missiles. Arvolo went weightless and zoomed in on the blue colored ship and Kenny fired a beam. It was also stopped on the force field as Arvolo turned ninety degrees and accelerated away as ten beams failed to hit them. “No more Mister Nice Guy. You have full weapons release.”

“Just get me in close. See if you can draw another salvo of beams.”

“Oh, now you’re two timing them. You want me to get close and personal.”

“Not my type. You can have them.”

Arvolo flipped the ship and came back at a hundred and eighty degrees faster than physics allowed. He was thankful for the weightlessness of the Havana. He watched his sensors and saw the beam cannons on the surface of the large ship showing they were drawing power. He had mentally counted the time taken on the previous shots fired at them and he turned ninety degrees an instant before the twenty beams ripped by less than a hundred feet from the Havana’s force field. The force field brightened from the close miss and then disappeared as Kenny directed all three reactors into the main beam and fired immediately after he launched a fusion missile from close range. The beam tore through the Scout’s force field and the fusion missile struck and blew the three thousand foot long ship into fragments.

“Hey, that was a nice move. You may not be a good kisser but you can handle weapons. What now?”

“Get us out of here, RV. Multiple ships are jumping in.”

Arvolo turned the ship and accelerated away from the destroyed ship at light speed. “What do you see?”

“We have eight of those ships just appear at the site of the explosion. They are now giving chase.”

“Going into Sierra Space.”

The Havana dropped into Sierra Space but was immediately hit by the screen of a Scout that was waiting for them. They popped back into normal space and saw that the eight ships had split up with four of them jumping ahead of them through Sierra Space. Kenny looked at Arvolo and said, “We can’t escape. They have more than ten ships scattered in Sierra Space to force us back into normal space as soon as we try to escape.”

“Notify Fleet what’s happening and I’ll let them chase us for a while as Fleet decides what we should do.”

Arvolo changed direction and kept the eight ships chasing them at a distance. “Have they made a decision?”

“Not yet. It looks like we’re on our own.”

“Well, weapons master. What are we going to do?”

Kenny took a deep breath and said, “I’ve not used a program that I’ve designed because I’m uncertain about it working. It looks like we should give it a go.”

“That doesn’t sound good to me. What does it do?”

“I noticed that you have been able to estimate how long the beams on those ships fire after charging. Am I right?”

“Yes, I’ve noticed the interval.”

“Well, my software has that delay scanned in and will automatically switch the reactors from force field to beams when it determines that their beams are not firing. I’ve been able to determine the location of their reactors and if we can fly and take on their beams we can fire in the delay and hit the reactors. That should disable the ship. The program will automatically switch power between our force field and beams.”

Arvolo turned hard right and moved away from the second group of Scouts, “What about fusion missiles?”

“We won’t have time to use them. If my switching works like I’ve designed it, our force field will only be down a hundredth of a second as our beam is fired and will be right back up at full strength using both reactors. If we can disable several of their ships close together one fusion missile could blow them all up.”

“Can our force field handle that many hits?”

“Using both our reactors, it will for a short time. I’ll monitor the strength and when it gets to ten percent I’ll let you know so you can retreat for it to regain power.”

“How are you going to time the beams?”

“I won’t; my software will do it. I have the sensors slaved to the program and the weapons will operate with the readings.”

Arvolo looked at his display with the location of the eight pursuing scouts, “So what’s the best way to do this?”

“Lt. Anders, have you trialed this program you’re describing?”

Arvolo and Kenny jumped at the sudden announcement. Kenny looked at Arvolo and said, “Sir, We’re sending the feed of this fight to Fleet. It appears they are listening to our conversation.” He pressed his board and said, “No, sir, I have not.”

“You’re taking a mighty big risk with a five billion dollar starship.”

“The Blue Giant Scouts will eliminate that as a concern shortly if we don’t do something. Unless you have another idea, we have nothing to lose.”

“Is there no way for you to jump away?”

“Sir, this solar system is the size of a beach ball in Sierra Space. All the Scouts have to do is have a ship above and below it and we’ll be bumped right back into normal space before we can even start to escape. We are forced to fight it out here.”

“I’m considering sending ships to support you.”

“Sir, I don’t think that would be wise.”

“Why not?”

“I suspect that is exactly what they’re hoping we’ll do. If they can damage one of our ships and examine it they will be able to find our home world and determine our level of technology. I really believe reinforcements for them are very close by. They certainly out number us by the thousands.”

“Do you think this new software will work?”

“It’s the wiring harness that makes it work. The only way to find out is to turn it on and allow Captain Arvolo to do his magic.”

Jeff looked around the table and no one said anything. Jeff keyed his board and said, “Godspeed Sailors.”

Arvolo sighed and took the Havana vertical as eight missiles passed under them, “Let me ask you again; how do we do this?”

“The best possible solution is for you to get in among several ships and allow them to fire at us. If a break in the action happens, even for a micro second, we’ll fire back. I’ll announce the power remaining in the force field and you run when it’s down to ten percent.”

Arvolo looked at his display and said, “I hope you continue to hold your number one ranking. Fire it up. Let me know when the system is on line.”

Arvolo turned ninety degrees and ten missiles couldn’t make the turn with the Havana and sped by over them.

“The system is now in control of my board. The ship is yours.”

Arvolo smiled, “Hold on to your hat.” He hit reverse thrusters and the Havana came to a sudden stop. The four scouts chasing it came roaring up and fired their beams as they blew past. Arvolo hit rear thrusters and the Havana rushed forward into their formation. Two intense, narrow beams fired from the Havana’s hull and two of the Scouts suffered explosions and stopped dead in space. The other two ships fired again at the Havana and Arvolo heard Kenny in the back of his mind, “70 percent, 50 percent, 25 percent, 15 percent….”

When Kenny reached fifteen percent, the Havana fired at the other two ships and they suffered explosions in their reactors and stopped dead in space. Kenny launched a fusion missile at each of the pair of dead ships and they were blown into fragments which scattered from the center of the explosions. “Four in the box; four to go.”

“I’m not so sure it’s going to be just four, RV. Power is back at eighty percent.”

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.”

Kenny said, “I don’t think so, Sir.”

“Why do you say that, Admiral?”

“I just looked at the recording of the Scout’s destruction and I think I know why the Giant didn’t come.” Kenny commed Aman Forester and played the call over the intership system, “Captain Forester, have you seen any change in the Blue Battleship.”

“Yes Sir, about an hour ago its color changed to a brighter hue and stayed that way for fifteen minutes. It has now returned to its normal level.”

“Thank you, Captain. Carry on.”

“So what happened?”

Kenny chuckled, “It appears our overachiever here killed the Scout before it could transmit its location.”

“Hey, hey, you told me to do it quickly.”

Jillian shook her head, “He’s right.”

Chris sighed, “We’ll try this again and this time you will allow the Scout the time to call for help.”

Arvolo tried to swallow but couldn’t. He had just ticked off the Commander of the Fleet.

Kenny commed, “Hey don’t feel bad, RV. You just made history.”

“What do you mean?”

“You are humanity’s first Space Ace. That’s your eleventh kill. No one else can ever take that title from you.”

Arvolo thought a moment and said, “You’re right!”

“Congratulations, Captain, however, give them a moment next time to appreciate your achievement.”

“I will Admiral.”

Chris looked at his display, “We have another Scout in a system two hundred light years from here. That will be our next target. I’ve sent you the coordinates. I’ll meet you there.”

The Blue Giant Battleship’s Commander wanted to scream. A Scout was being attacked but had only been able to get out half of its coordinates. There was no way to find it. He waited and nothing else was received. He seethed with anger and waited. If the enemy followed their usual pattern another ship would be attacked shortly. He called the entire crew to Action Stations and waited.

* * *

Arvolo looked at the destroyed Scout and watched his scanner. He had given the Scout twenty seconds before he destroyed it five seconds later. He waited for the other two ships and he saw a disruption indicating a ship emerging into normal space. The disruption was huge and he looked at the energy readings and said, “Holy Mother of Jesus!!!”

He hit the override on his panel, fired his main beam powered by both reactors at the disruption, launched a fusion missile and prayed that it was enough. The Giant Blue Ship appeared and the beam struck its force field and caused a huge display of sparks. After a second it opened a small hole and the fusion missile flew through just as the force field closed and a huge white beam erupted from the Giant barely missing the Havana as Arvolo darted away.

The Jukebox and Tampa appeared and the Giant Ship fired a beam that barely missed the two ships. Jillian screamed, “Get us out of here; that ship is at full power, Chris!”

Another beam flashed by as the two ships dodged in different directions and then the Giant exploded in a blast that ripped out and hit the force fields around the two Earth Ships. They were pushed more than a thousand miles away by the shock wave. The Havana was the closest ship to the blast and was shoved at tremendous force. Arvolo was stunned and shook his head to gather his senses. He heard Admiral Connor on his speaker, “What just happened?”

“I’m sorry, Sir. I overrode my system and fired on the ship.”

Arvolo waited and thought, “I’ve done it again. I didn’t wait on the others.”

Then he heard, “Admiral Anders, you will jump with us to Fleet Headquarters in New York and hold Captain Arvolo to await our decision on his actions.”

“Sir, he only….”

“Admiral, you will follow you orders. Is that clear!?!”

“Yes Sir.”

Arvolo moved the Havana into Sierra Space and followed Kenny to the Space Port in New York and surrendered to him. Kenny took out his handcuffs and said, “I’m so sorry.”

Arvolo put his hands behind his back and shook his head, “It’s not your fault, my friend. It’s not your fault.”

Kenny took Arvolo to a cell and removed the handcuffs. “Tell me why you fired before we arrived?”

Arvolo shook his head, “It was almost instinctive; I did it without thinking. The energy readings on that monster were more than twenty times higher than the ship that Admiral Connor destroyed. I knew it was only going to get stronger and I reacted. I’m sorry I didn’t follow orders.”

Kenny shook his head and said, “I’ll do what I can.”

Arvolo lowered his head and said, “I appreciate it.”

* * *

The two Alpha Agents standing guard outside the conference room saw an Alpha Colonel approaching. He was if full dress blues and his medals were on his chest. They moved forward to bar his entry and saw his expression. Then they recognized who he was. They looked at each other, saluted, and stepped aside. Kenny opened the door and entered the room. The people gathered around the table stopped what they were doing and watched him come forward. Jeff stood and said, “Is something wrong, Admiral?”

“Yes Sir, there is. I insist that you immediately release Captain Arvolo from confinement.”

Jeff looked at Dolly and turned back, “And if we don’t?”

Kenny stepped forward and put his stars on the table, “Then I hereby resign from the Navy.”

Dolly said, “Why are you doing this?”

“He saved our lives and I think all of you should know it by now. He doesn’t deserve this after all he’s been through.”

Chris looked at Kenny, “What do you mean?”

“I learned from one of his old neighbors that when he was ten years old he watched his older brother shot and beheaded by the Communists. When we landed to free the Island, the Regime took his wife as one of the hostages and killed her when we charged the building. He’s suffered enough for one lifetime.”

“How do you know this?”

“My family and I went to Cuba recently and I went to his old neighborhood and inquired about his wife. Arvolo insists that he’s afraid she will call him one day. A neighbor that knew them took me to a cemetery and showed me Maria Arvolo’s grave. He told me about what had happened. He said they tried to tell Arvolo she was dead but he refused to listen and insisted she would call him when she needed him. That is where he first acquired the Crazy Cuban tag. He doesn’t deserve this.”

Dolly stared at Kenny and saw the deep feelings he had for his friend, “There are some things you don’t know about Captain Arvolo that you should know before you have us honor your request.”

Kenny stared at Dolly and said, “What things?”

She told him.

* * *

Arvolo waited in his cell and saw an orderly open the cell door and hand him a full dress Naval Uniform. “Please put this on.”

Arvolo sighed, “And so it begins. The court-martial must be today. He dressed and waited. He heard the key in the cell door and looked up and saw Kenny in a full dress Alpha Uniform, “It’s time to go, RV.”

Arvolo stood and smiled, “I’m glad you’re here with me.”

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else.” Arvolo stood and put his hands behind his back. “I will not put you in cuffs.” Arvolo smiled and nodded his thanks.

Arvolo followed Kenny out into the hall of the huge building and walked beside him. He looked over at Kenny’s medals and said, “You were in Saudi Arabia?”

Kenny nodded, “We were only able to save the Royal Family and embassy staff before the nuke hit.”

Arvolo looked closer, “Tehran, Egypt, and Moscow as well.”

“I was busy as a youth.”

Arvolo glanced at Kenny as they continued to walk and knew those medals were the highest award given after those conflicts. Kenny was even more impressive that he thought. He stood straighter and raised his chin. It was time for him to be brave. They approached a huge door and two Alpha Agents opened the door and saluted. Kenny walked through followed by Arvolo, “You didn’t return their salute.”

“It wasn’t for me.”

Arvolo looked around and didn’t see anyone else. They moved into a massive auditorium and thousands of people stood and started clapping. Arvolo smiled and knew Kenny deserved their applause. He was a real hero. He looked ahead and saw all of the Fleet’s Admirals were lined up on the stage. He also saw Admiral Garcia’s blonde-haired wife beside him. There was Admiral Connor and his wife. He wondered why they needed such high ranking officers at a lowly Captain’s court-marshal. The crowd continued to clap and eight Marines fell in behind them. Arvolo immediately recognized them as the ones he had fought in the bar. Oh, no, witnesses. Kenny looked over and whispered, “Shoulders back.”

Arvolo stood straighter and Kenny stopped directly in front of the huge stage and went to attention. Arvolo joined him and then wondered why so many people were present. Then he looked up at the stage and saw President Suh step up to the podium. “What the…”

The huge crowd became silent and President Suh looked down at the two standing in front of the stage. “We don’t do this very often and it’s not because we don’t have those that are deserving of this moment. It’s just that the requirements for it to happen are so hard to achieve. Bravery is not enough; it’s the results of that bravery that makes one qualified.” Suh looked at Arvolo, “Captain Arvolo, it with a profoundly grateful heart that I award you the Solar Star for your actions in combat that have given Humanity more time to fight for survival. You have performed above and beyond the call of duty and a grateful planet thanks you for your actions.”

Arvolo looked over and Kenny and saw him smiling. This couldn’t be happening. He’d never been given a medal for anything except winning a spelling bee in fifth grade and now he was receiving the highest award possible. He watched as Suh walked forward and placed the ribbon around his neck. Suh went back to the podium and looked out at the crowd, “We are going to show you some of Captain Arvolo’s deeds.”

A recording of the first battle with the Blue Giant Scouts started playing and Suh said, “Captain Arvolo destroyed five of their ships and had more than six thousand of their ships attempting to capture him.”

Arvolo picked up the medal on his chest and stared at it. Kenny watched him and said “What?”

Arvolo sighed and said, “I gladly trade this medal for one of those given after the liberation of my home.”

Kenny smiled, reached into his pocket, and handed him a medal with a yellow and green ribbon, “You can have mine.”

Arvolo’s eyes grew wide and he stared at Kenny. Kenny saw the tears start and he quickly looked away so as not to embarrass his friend. Arvolo took a deep breath, held the medal tightly, and blew his breath out slowly. He straightened and saw the end of the recording where the Blue Giant Battleship exploded.

Admiral Connor came to the podium and said, “Captain Arvolo disregarded my direct orders and fired on this ship before we arrived. If he had not done so, all three of our ships would have been destroyed. He determined that the giant ship’s energy was too high to wait and took immediate action. By killing that ship so quickly, it did not have time to reveal the weakness in its power system to its Fleet. He has given us more time to prepare.” Chris looked down at Arvolo, “I thank you for saving our lives with your fast action. On behalf of all our Military Forces, we hope we can all perform as well.”

Chris looked up at the gathering and said, “Captain Arvolo now has twelve confirmed kills of Blue Giant Scouts and one Main Battleship. He is the Military’s first Space Ace and his name will honor our Fleet Headquarters. He will receive a salute from any member of the Services from this day forward regardless of rank. Chris saluted along with every other member of the Military present and Arvolo returned it. Chris smiled, “Thank you, Captain.”

The huge crowd erupted in cheers and Kenny saw RV lift his com to his ear. He said something and put his arm down. Kenny leaned in, “Who was that?”

RV looked at him, smiled, and said, “It was Maria. She said she’ll be waiting for me to come home.”

The eight Marines rushed forward and carried Arvolo away just before Kenny felt his tears. He blew out a breath and saw Dolly standing next to him, “What’s wrong?”

Kenny told her about the call. “He’s finally at peace.”

Dolly looked at Arvolo and decided something had to be done. Jeff walked up and said, “Admiral Anders, you and Captain Arvolo are being reassigned.”

“Where to, Sir?”

“You will take Captain Arvolo and report to George Sierra on Dundee to assist them in the construction of our new battleships. Captain Arvolo will command the first one completed and you will assume the overall command of the Fleet that’s being built there. Do you think the Captain should be promoted?”

Kenny looked at Arvolo smiling as he was being carried and shook his head, “He belongs on the bridge of a warship, Sir. He’s found his place in this universe.”

Jeff smiled, “I think you’re right.”

Dolly stared at the big Cuban and Jeff saw her, “What are you up to?”

“Oh nothing, Dear.”

Jeff shook his head and thought, It never is. He knew she was planning something.

Chapter Five

“We’re missing something Meisa.”

“George, this reactor is ten times stronger than the ones on the Jukebox.”

“Something is missing. It’s right outside my consciousness and I can’t get a grip on it.”

“You don’t think this is strong enough to take on a Blue Ship?”

“Possibly, but I don’t like the term possibly. There’s more to this fuel than we know.”

Meisa hugged George and said, “Let’s work through this and see where it leads us.”

“Ok, you start.”

“Well, the first elements we used came from the Alliance. You figured out how they were supposed to come together.”

“That’s true.”

“The second group in the chain was taken from the Jenze shoulder blaster. They really increased the power.”

George smiled, “That is also true. Where does the third group of elements come from?”

“I’m not sure what you mean?”

George thought about it and then saw it, “The elements in the chain are mixed and matched to give the right power for the device it powers.”

Meisa shook her head, “I still don’t understand where you’re going with this?”

George took her hand and pulled her up out of her chair, “Come with me.”

He ran towards the communications room and Meisa ran with him. George rushed in and took a chair in front of the main computer and started pushing buttons. “What are you doing?”

“Chris and Jillian sent me the recordings of the attacks that were made on the Moet planet. The first attack they viewed was done millions of years ago by the Jenze.” George pulled the recording up and they watched the Jenze Ships burn the Moet Fleet out of existence with bright blue beams.

“Do you see it now?” Meisa shook her head. George split the screen and pulled the recording of the Jenze Ship on ancient Earth that was destroyed by the asteroid. George started the video and they watched the Jenze kill a Moet Scout Ship that had destroyed its sled with a bright red beam. The view changed and they saw the small Jenze ship fire a red beam and destroy two other small Moet craft.

“The beams are different colors.”

“Exactly.”

“What does that mean?”

“You remember me saying that the Jenze were nowhere near advanced enough to have been the dominant power they were described by to be by the Alliance. The beam in the shoulder weapon was strong but nowhere near all conquering.” George pointed to the blue beams being fired by a Jenze Battleship, “Now that beam is a different story. That one is different. It’s using a different chain of elements than the shoulder blaster.”

“George, we added nine elements to the Jenze chain in the shoulder blaster.”

“And the Jenze contribution gave us a hundred times the power of our reactors. Those blue beams have more elements powering them that we are not currently using. What if those elements increased our power a hundred times?”

“Why didn’t that small ship have this power?”

“It was too small to contain the reaction. They had to use a less powerful chain for the science vessel. We’ve got to see one of their main Battleships.”

Meisa looked at the screen, “The Jenze aren’t around today. Perhaps we should try to see the power used by the species that destroyed them.”

“Either option is fine with me but we have to find a working model of either ship.”

“I’m sending this conversation to Dolly and will have her view it before we discuss it with her.”

Meisa raised her eyebrows and tilted her head. George made a copy and sent it to Dolly.

* * *

Chris and Jillian arrived at the building where it all started and went through the security portals. They saw the huge stone tablet in the middle of the giant building and a group of people sitting around a table. As they came closer they saw Dolly, Jeff, Arnold, Hemon, Sasha, and that Crazy Cuban sitting and having a conversation. They walked up to the table and saw a display set up at the end of the table with George and Meisa on it. Dolly stood, “Here they are; we can get started.”

“What’s going on?”

“Jillian, George has come up with an issue that we feel must be explored. I’m going to need you and Chris to make another trip in the Jukebox to find some information in the past that we need.”

Chris looked at the display, “What do you need exactly?”

“We need you to find out what elements are used to power a Jenze Battleship.”

Chris started laughing, “Oh, is that all George. I thought it was going to be something hard. Are you crazy? How are we going to do something like that?”

George smiled, “I have no idea but we need you to do it.”

“Why?”

George took a deep breath and looked at Meisa and she said, “Don’t look at me. I can’t explain it in terms they would understand.”

George reached under his desk drawer and pulled out a blue and orange beach ball that he held in his palm, “I’m going to try and do this in terms that everyone can understand. If I lose you, stop me, ok.”

Dolly smiled, “We’re all ears.”

“As all of you know, we are going to build the Main Battleships we’re going to use to defend our planet from those that mean to do us harm. Now let’s say that this beach ball represents the material we currently use to power the Jukebox Class of warships. In order to build a ship that can take on one of the Blue Giant Battleships we will need to be able to match their power. So if this is the power of a Jukebox, how big would the ball have to be to double the power?”

Chris said, “Twice as big.”

“Very good, and if we wanted to make it a thousand times more powerful?”

“A thousand times as big.”

“Again, an accurate answer. The measurements we took on the beam fired by that Blue Giant that our Captain here destroyed once it reached full power was 500,000 times stronger than the beam on the Jukebox Class. How big will the ball be now?” George waited as they figured it out in their heads and then said, “It will have to have a diameter of a hundred and eighty miles. “How long do you think it would take to build a ship that big, much less a fleet of thousands?”

George waited as the magnitude of the hypothetical ship’s size sunk in. “Our nuclear material is stronger than that used on the Blue Ships but now do you understand the need for their ships to be nine hundred miles in diameter?” George waited and added, “We know our material is stronger because the Jukebox Class ships can kill their Scouts that are three times larger.”

“George, are you saying we aren’t going to be able to build a ship to stand up to them?”

“Hang on just a moment.” George reached over and picked up a jar with sand and a small ship in it. He poured some sand into his palm and picked out one grain. He held it up between his fingers and said, “Now let’s say this grain of sand represents the power of a Jukebox Class Ship.” George saw everyone seeing where he was going, “If we use material that makes this much energy at its current level, the ship would only have to be three miles in diameter. This would allow us to build high numbers of these ships quite quickly.” George smiled, “Dolly, start the recording I sent you and I’m going to explain what’s happening.”

Dolly started the recording and George narrated, “What you see here is a Jenze Battleship attacking a Moet fleet at that planet you recorded Chris. Notice the color of the beam being fired at those ships.” George paused and continued, “Here you see the red beam being fired by the small Jenze Ship that was destroyed by the asteroid.”

Arvolo said, “The blue beam is much stronger.”

“Yes it is; give the Captain a Cuban Cigar. The beam on the small ship couldn’t be as strong because it couldn’t carry enough material due to its size. I measured the intensity of that blue beam used by the Jenze and it matches up to a power source that is equivalent to a grain of sand.”

Everyone looked at each other at the table in silence; then George dropped the bombshell, “However, if we can get a sample of that material and combine the elements in it with what we currently use, it would be a thousand times stronger than that grain of sand.”

The participants were struck silent. Finally Dolly said, “I don’t see how you reached that conclusion, George?”

“Does everyone remember what happened to our nuclear reactors when we used the materials from the Alliance; our power went up more than a hundred times. We then used the materials from the Jenze shoulder weapon and once more our power went up a hundred times. If we can get the elements from one of the reactors on a Jenze Battleship and combine it with what we have...”

Chris said, “Our ships would only have to be twice as large as a Jukebox Class ship.”

“Boy, you’re good. It would actually have to be three times larger due to the much larger reactors. If you wanted to double the power by having four reactors, it would end up being about 1,800 feet long.”

Chris looked at Jillian, “We have to go.” She nodded.

Dolly looked at George, “So what are you going to do in the meantime?”

“We are going to start building ships 1,800 feet long with space for the newer high powered reactors. If we don’t find the power source we’ll just have to attack each of the Blue Ships with a squadron of our new ships. We’ll just have to outnumber them in every confrontation and we know they have at least two million of the giant ships. There is no way we can build ships a hundred and twenty miles long.”

“We’ll leave shortly.”

Dolly said, “You will not be going alone.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You will have the Ninja updated with our new software and weapons. You will also take two Sailors with you to fly it.”

“No one else knows how to fly the Ninja!”

“Jillian, that’s exactly why I can’t allow you or Chris to take it into a dangerous situation. Don’t you realize that if we lost either one of you we would lose the technology that created the two ships that can view time? It would be like sending George out into danger. Would you do it?”

Chris looked at Jillian and slowly shook his head, “If we aren’t going to fly the Ninja, who is?”

Dolly looked at Arvolo, “The best pilot we have in the Navy. He will also have the best Weapons Officer in the Fleet with him.”

Arvolo said, “I thought we no longer needed Weapons Officers.”

“You might have to actually control the weapons manually to avoid damaging the very thing we need to find, Captain. We can’t just turn on automatic weapons and hope we don’t destroy that material.”

“Who is this Officer?”

Dolly picked up a sheet of paper and read, “Isadore Rosillo.”

Arvolo tilted his head, “Is she Cuban?”

“She was born in Cuba.”

Arvolo tilted his head, “Then she would have to be good.”

Dolly turned back to Chris and Jillian, “You will train the two of them on how to operate and fly the Ninja. If it has to be used, they will fly it. You will also start training a team of engineers on your inventions.”

Arnold said, “The President agrees with this and has issued direct orders that the two of you not place yourselves in harm’s way unless you have thoroughly trained someone else that can replace you and build another Ninja. Have either of you trained anyone else?”

“No Sir. We’ll abide by the orders.”

Dolly saw Jeff staring at her and she looked away quickly. Darn him. She said, “George start building your ships and we’ll go looking for a power source.”

* * *

The Messenger knew this would probably be his last trip to the Leader’s Chamber. He had only brought bad news and was amazed they had allowed him to live this long. Bad News Messengers were always eliminated. This was going to be the trip that ended his life. He accepted it and knew his long life had been good and he had few regrets. He entered the Chamber and the First Leader looked at him, “Tell me what you know.”

“The Battleship went to defend a Scout Ship and was destroyed before it could send a message. The Scouts that followed up on the site of the attack found it destroyed exactly like the first ship that was demolished.”

“Tell me Messenger, what do you think I’m going to do now?”

“You will take my life for all the bad news I’ve been bringing.”

“Normally that is exactly what I would do but you have not withheld any information no matter how bad. Your four predecessors did. They feared death more than honesty. If you were in my place, what would you do?”

“I would recall all of our ships from that Galaxy and not go back until I designed a much better ship.”

“That’s surprising. Why would you do that?”

“It has become clear that whoever is in that Galaxy killing our ships can do it at a speed that is astounding. Neither of those ships had an opportunity to tell us what was happening before they were destroyed. They also have a communications system that is more advanced than our own. It is not a huge leap to consider that they have ships we cannot defeat. There is a real possibility that if we sent our fleet we could lose a huge number of ships. If I were going to make a mistake I would make it on the side of caution. If they possibly know we are here, then they will be coming to our home and we must be ready. I would not do anything to weaken the defense of our home.”

“You don’t think we should overwhelm them with numbers now?”

“We’ve made the assumption that whoever it is killing our ships was in that Galaxy when we originally surveyed it. What if they are a new arrival from another Galaxy and have huge numbers of ships at their disposal? I just worry that we are diving into the unknown and it’s clear that we don’t know how deep it is or the price we’ll have to pay to find out.”

The First Leader stared at the Messenger and then looked at the other five Leaders who leaned forward. “You are no longer a Messenger. You will join us here at the table and be one of the Leaders. Your last duty will be to recall the Fleets.”

* * *

Aman Forester began eating his dinner and wondered what the Blue Giants were going to do after the destruction of the huge battleship. He poured a glass of grape juice and heard his alarm go off at full blast. He jumped up from the small table in the storage room and ran to the bridge and looked at his monitors. “On my God!” He saw more than a hundred thousand of the Blue Giant Scouts hanging in space with thousands more appearing every second. “Fleet, we have something major happening out here!”

“What do you see?”

Aman sent the video and waited. “We’ve notified the President and his advisors; please keep us informed on what happens.”

“Will do.” Aman looked at his display and saw more than one and a half million of the large ships had come out of Sierra Space and began organizing into formations. They continued to appear over the next two hours.

Dolly and Jeff watched the feed from the small attack craft and looked up as Chris and Jillian ran into the room, “What’s going on?”

“We don’t know. Take a look at this.”

They looked at Dolly’s display and Jillian said, “They’re leaving our galaxy and giving up the search for us.”

Chris, Jeff, and Dolly looked at her with doubt on their faces. “It’s obvious; where is the bow of those ships oriented?” Everyone looked and saw the ships were pointed towards the distant Andromeda Galaxy. “They’re going home and I’m sure the ships are organizing into fleets so that an orderly withdrawal can be done.”

Dolly hit her board and Gretchen Logan appeared on her display, “Gretch, are the Moet still evacuating?”

“Yes Sir, they are.”

Dolly looked at the three and said, “They’re frightened of us and the Moet are scared silly of them. We may be given more time to prepare than we ever thought possible.”

Jeff pulled his gaze from the display, “What makes you think that?”

“We can see the Blue Giant Scouts because of Chris’ scanner being able to detect their frequency. The Moet can’t and so they won’t know they’re withdrawing from our galaxy. They’ll evacuate and wait for word that their worlds are being attacked. That gives us time with the Moet. The Blue Giants withdrawal is to build a better ship. That could take an extremely long time; especially if they have to build enough to invade a galaxy. We’re lucky.”

They heard over the speaker, “Something’s happening.”

Dolly flipped the display back to the feed of the Blue Giant Scouts and saw the formations closest to the distant Andromeda Galaxy were disappearing. It looked like a giant eraser moved from the front of the gigantic formations to the rear. In less than a minute they were all gone.

Jeff reached forward and pressed the blue button on Dolly’s console, “Lt. Forester, your relief will be sent momentarily. You’ve done a great job and we look forward to debriefing you when you arrive home.”

“Thank you, Sir. I look forward to going home.”

“Chris, take all of the ships we have available and go scan as much of the Galaxy as possible.”

“You think they may be trying to fool us and hope we drop our guard?”

“That’s exactly what I think. If they didn’t leave any ships behind, that tells me that those beings were once invaded and destroyed in their past.”

Everyone looked at Dolly and she said, “They remember it. They’re invading to protect themselves from future invasions and now that they’ve discovered an advanced civilization is here; they won’t risk any further losses that would weaken them in defending their galaxy. If they had never been invaded, they would still be looking. They would have no fear.”

Jeff shook his head, “You are so amazing.”

Dolly leaned over and kissed him on the cheek and said with mock sorrow, “I know. It’s hard to be me.”

Jillian laughed out loud as Jeff pulled Dolly over on his lap, “No it’s not,” and proceeded to give her a huge kiss.

Jeff broke the kiss and Dolly smiled, “Show me again.”

Chris and Jillian left to give the two some privacy and to start organizing the fleet to scan the galaxy for a Blue Giant frequency.

* * *

Two weeks later Chris called in, “Dolly, we’ve done a pretty thorough scan and we’ve not detected one Blue Giant frequency in Sierra Space since their fleet left.”

“Chris, I don’t want to take any chances. I want a ship left on duty in each of the four quadrants of our galaxy on constant scan. We’ll continue our protocols on keeping our solar system hidden.”

“We’ll be coming back to start training on our search for the Jenze. Are you planning anything else in their absence?”

“Yes, I am. We’re going to load the colony ships up with more materials and population to move to Dundee and we’re bringing Admiral Anders back to set up the construction facilities here on Earth to expand the numbers of new ships being built. You’re also going to be given one of the new ships to start your mission. It will have enough room for three Ninja Class ships on board so it should be able to hold a Jenze reactor if you’re able to recover one. We’ve selected two new crews for them and you should start your training on your new ships. You will take the crew that has the best performance in training.”

“What’s the new ship’s name?”

“Any ship you Captain will be named the Jukebox. Your old ship will be renamed the Time Keeper.”

“That’s an appropriate name for the ole girl. What do you know about our new ship?”

“It has six reactors. It is also voice controlled and has thrusters that allow you to flip the ship and turn 180 degrees instantly. We need to get you started on your search so instead of coming back to Earth, just go straight to Dundee.”

Jillian reached over and said over Chris’s shoulder, “I wish we had more planets working on this than just Dundee.”

“Two more have had the initial colonists land and are getting set up to start construction within six months. We worry about having all our eggs in just two baskets as well.”

* * *

Arvolo looked at Dr. Levin and wondered how much longer this class was going to take. The other five students were taking notes at a copious rate and he was fighting falling asleep. He leaned forward and put his head on his hand and fought to stay awake.

“Are we boring you, Captain Arvolo?”

Arvolo didn’t even take his head off his hand, “You’re coming close to talking me unconscious.”

The other five students turned and looked at the big Cuban shaking their heads. Dr. Levin’s eyes narrowed and he said, “So you think you know everything about this control board?”

Arvolo sat up straight and sighed, “The board is self-explanatory; everything has a description under the knob, pad, or switch. I do see that you could have done a better job of organizing it.”

Levin was angry, “Oh, is that so!”

“You have the thruster control on the upper right corner and the engine power in the lower left corner of the board. If you had them together a pilot could vector thrust and control the power delivery with one hand. You’ve made it a two hand operation. A pilot might find that he needs to set the drive for Sierra Space while attempting to avoid being fired on. Your board only allows me control evasive maneuvers because it is a two handed operation.”

Levin looked at the display on the wall showing the control board and saw that Arvolo was right. He looked back and said, “Is there anything else, Captain?”

“As a matter of fact there is. We discovered in our first fight with the Blue Giant Scouts that they would crowd Sierra Space and bump us back into normal space whenever we tried to escape. There ought to be a button that can be enabled on the drive that would automatically apply thrust when a ship enters Sierra Space. There was always a moment before they could bump me into normal space and that’s all we’d have needed to escape if thrust was applied automatically. I’m just saying.”

“Captain, do not look at your board.” Arvolo continued to stare at Levin. “Now put your left hand on the sensor control and your right hand on the weapons select lever.”

Arvolo reached forward and Levin came around and looked. “Your right hand is not on the weapons select lever.”

“No, because before I could select a weapon, I would have to push the weapon slave control that would transfer weapons to my board.”

Levin saw his hand on the slave pad and stared at Arvolo. “Captain, how long did it take you to memorize that board?”

Arvolo shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe three seconds.”

Dr. Levin pushed his com, “Dr. Morrison, I’m sending Captain Arvolo to your location to make some changes on the Ninja’s control board. Try to do it quickly so we can start flight training in four days.” Levin looked at Arvolo, “Captain, do you know where Dr. Morrison is located?”

“Yes Sir, I do.”

“Go tell him what you just suggested.”

“I think we should also have power to the engines controlled by a slide instead of a knob so we can use our palm instead of our fingers.”

“Tell Dr. Morrison.” Arvolo stood and left the classroom.

Isadore looked at her board and knew she didn’t know her board as well as Arvolo knew his. Well that just would not do; he was not going to do a better job than her. She knew there were fifty controls on her board and she stayed after class teaching herself how to find them blindfolded. She decided that she had made a mistake putting the Crazy Cuban into a category of egotistical bombasts that loved to hear himself talk. She was going to check out whether he was truthful about learning that board in three seconds and then she would know for sure.

Chapter Six

“Chris.”

“Yeah.”

“I took another look at that Alliance disc and found a section of data on it that we haven’t seen before.”

“What did you find?”

“Do you remember that Moet planet with the strange symbol behind it that led us to looking at its history?”

“Sure; if I remember the symbol meant destroyed.”

“There was another symbol in the Alliance Map records that didn’t appear on any planet in the list.”

Chris turned from his Command Panel and looked at Jillian, “What did the symbol mean?”

“Basically it translates to avoid at all costs.”

Chris stared at Jillian and finally said, “You’re going somewhere with this.”

“That second section on the disc has a list of planets and every one of them is followed by that symbol. I suspect the Alliance didn’t want their coordinates anywhere near their normal lists. I found six of them with three of those symbols after the planet’s coordinates. It’s got to mean something really dangerous is located there.”

“Do you think they might be Jenze planets?”

“I can’t think of anything more dangerous than the Moet but the Jenze. The planets listed at Moet all have just one of those symbols after their coordinates.”

“Well, we don’t have any clue where to start looking so we might as well pick the best candidate of those six that would allow us the best view of the light that reflected millions of years ago.”

“You’re assuming the Jenze aren’t alive now.”

“You’re right. However, we need to take a look at the light before we go anywhere near those locations.”

Jillian stared at the six locations on her panel and turned to Chris, “We haven’t heard much out of the Alliance since we’ve been preoccupied with the Moet and Blue Giants. I wonder what they’re up to.”

Chris said, “Contact Dolly Garcia.”

Dolly appeared on the main display and smiled, “Hello all, what’s up?”

“Dolly, Jillian just asked me what the Alliance is up to these days. We haven’t run across any of their ships while we’ve been tracking the Blue Giants and I know they were extremely active when we first ventured out of our Solar System. With the bulk of the Moet heavy ships being evacuated, the Moets left behind will be easy prey for them. I guess I’m wondering if we want to do anything about it if they’re attacking the Moets now.”

Dolly took a deep breath and looked off the screen and shook her head. She turned back and said, “What would you want to do if they were?”

“Can you get George in on this conversation?”

“Sure, stand by.”

“What are you thinking, Chris?”

“I’m thinking about a nasty attitude and wondering if that is where I want to go.”

George’s face appeared on the display beside Dolly’s and he smiled, “So you think we should intervene?”

“Why do you say that?”

“If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have made the call to Dolly.”

“I need you to tell me what you meant by Humans having to develop a nasty attitude. Does that mean we watch planets attacked and destroyed while we celebrate the removal of a possible attacker?”

“Yes, it does. You know the Moet are one of our enemies and they will be coming back to attack us.”

“Are the ones left behind to be sacrificed our enemies as well?”

“A Moet is a Moet.”

“Then why don’t you just order the fleet to go and destroy those Moets?”

George stared at Chris and didn’t respond.

“George, did you hear me?”

“Chris, that’s not a fair question.”

“Yes it is, Dolly. We have ships that we know the Moet and the Alliance cannot stand up to in battle. Just have George order all the Attack Craft and Jukebox Class ships to go out and burn every Moet and Alliance Planet. Then we’ll have several trillion enemies eliminated. Isn’t that what a nasty attitude is all about?”

“I see where you’re going with this. If we allow them to be killed when we could prevent it, we have ethically killed them ourselves.”

“Why wait? If allowing it to happen is the same thing as doing it ourselves, just order our fleet to go and do it.”

George continued to stare at Chris and said, “What’s up your pants leg? Something is causing you to push this issue. What is it?”

“I remember that Alliance Ship Commander that went and nuked several innocent cities on a planet to gather stores for his ship. They did it with cold blooded efficiency and had no feelings or concerns for those they killed. If developing a nasty attitude means becoming like them, then we’ll all be Hitler when this is over and revel in the suffering we cause. When we run out of enemies, we’ll turn on each other. I don’t want to live that way.”

“That is the way the universe operates. You’re either prey or predator and I don’t choose to be prey.”

“George, is the rhino prey?”

“Well, only if the predator is stupid.”

“What would happen if a lion attacked a gazelle on the plain where a rhino lived?”

“I suspect that lion would have a close encounter with two thousand pounds of charging rhino.”

“Would the rhino attack a gazelle?”

“Where are you going with this? Of course the Rhino wouldn’t attack a gazelle; they aren’t a threat.”

“And neither is the Alliance or the Moet. We’ve passed that point and with the evacuation of the Moet’s heavy ships, we control the plain. We just won’t allow a predator to attack in the area we control.”

Dolly looked between George and Chris and said, “Chris, this is a policy decision that we can’t make. Our elected leaders will have to weigh in on this one. You and Jillian need to get on with your mission but I promise you we’ll handle this issue.”

Chris stared at Dolly and nodded, “We’ll be leaving tomorrow. Let me know what you decide.”

“I will.”

Jeff saw Dolly turn off her display, “You realize that I will resign my position in this government if we choose to follow the Nasty Disposition Doctrine.”

Dolly looked at him and knew his heart. She also knew they would lose Chris as well. Her screen beeped and she pushed the pad and saw George on the screen, “Sis, what do you think about that discussion?”

“George, I’m troubled.”

“We need to tell the President that we can’t follow a doctrine that causes us to lose our soul. We have no option but to get involved in defending the Moet if they’re attacked. We must also stop any Alliance aggression. I wouldn’t want to live in a world that is so heartless as to allow millions to die that I could have prevented.”

“We’ll make the call together, George. I could turn my back on anyone that endangers the ones I love but this is not that instance.”

Dolly looked over and saw Jeff smile as he heard, “Make the call, Sissy.”

“The two of you don’t need to call anyone.”

Dolly looked at Jeff as George said, “What do you mean?”

“You have been charged to lead our military forces during this threat. You already have a blank check to do whatever you think is necessary. It’s better to ask forgiveness than permission.”

George smiled, “What would you do, Jeff?”

“I’m sending Admiral Anders out with the fleet to monitor the main Alliance Planets for anything that appears to be a major offensive against the Moet. We’ll decide what to do if that happens.”

Dolly reached over and squeezed Jeff’s hand, “George, we’ll take it from here. Get us some ships to help us.”

“I’ll have the first batch completed in four weeks. Let me know if you need any of them sooner.”

“I will, love.” Dolly ended the call and Jeff hugged her and went to talk with Admiral Anders.

* * *

Tenah sat with the other nine leaders of the Alliance and listened to the scout give his report. “The Moet are starting massive evacuations. Their Capital has sent their heavy ships to some other location and most of their main battleships went with them. They are also moving a huge portion of their population.”

Tenah looked over at Gri-sen, “How wide spread is this activity?”

“We have only had scouts in ten systems over the last cycle. They have all reported in that the evacuation is happening on all the planets being watched.”

“Why are they leaving?”

“We have no idea, your Excellency.”

“Is there going to be another invasion?”

Gri-sen hesitated, “They appear to think there is.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Our ancient records report this same behavior just before the last invasion by the Blue Ships.”

“How long after that evacuation did the invasion happen?”

“Five Cycles.”

Tenah leaned back in his chair and said, “Did they leave the planetary defenses behind?”

“They did but they did not leave any heavy ships to support them.”

Tenah looked down the long table at Admiral Jdah, “Is our escape planet still available?”

“It has not been discovered by any of the hostile civilizations.”

Tenah looked at the Sheera on the other end of the table, “How many ships have the new beams installed?”

“Pretty much all of them have been updated; we’ve not used them because of that giant Moet Ship. The Fleet is dispersed and is handling any problems that may arise among the various planets.”

“If an invasion is coming, problems with the populations are the least of our concerns. Most of them will be destroyed if the Blue Ships are returning.” Tenah thought a moment and smiled, “However, before we join the Moet in evacuating our leadership, we can make their return extremely difficult.”

Admiral Jdah frowned, “How can we do that?”

“We use our fleet to bombard their major planets into ash. We’ll use dirty nuclear bombs that will destroy their planets for thousands of years. They will have to find new planets for their populations, which will slow their return down. We might be able to find the planets they are evacuating to and possibly lead one of the more aggressive civilizations in that galaxy to them. That will cause them massive destruction and make them leave earlier than they planned. If they are forced to return with no planets, we can attack their colony ships and destroy most of their population. Now is a defining moment in our history. We can get the upper hand and possibly end them as a menace.”

“Most of our planets will be destroyed by the Blue Ships.”

“True, but we can rebuild from those we take with us. We’ll move five planets of subject populations and use them to provide us with the raw materials we need. As their populations increase we’ll move them to other planets and be back in business in less than fifty cycles after the Blue Ships leave.”

Lgend said, “We could also use the fleet to move more populations to save them from the coming invasion instead of taking the time to attack the Moet Planets.”

Tenah stared at the newest member of the Ten Leaders and showed his disgust, “Those planets are nothing to us. We will attack the Moets. If you don’t have the stomach for this, I suggest you leave and join those that will be left behind.”

Lgend sat back in his chair and shook his head, “No, I remove my suggestion.”

Tenah smiled, “Gather the fleets and prepare for the attack.”

Jdah bowed and left the room.

* * *

Isadore looked over and saw Arvolo as he came into the classroom to pick up his box of cigars he had left in his desk earlier that morning. He saw Isadore still at her board and frowned, “You’re working rather late.”

“I’m working on getting a feel for my board. Do you have a moment?”

Arvolo shrugged, “Just a moment; what do you need.”

“Would you mind taking a look at my board and see if you see anything that might be improved in its lay out?”

Arvolo walked over and looked at her board, “Your reactor and force field controls should be placed together instead of the eight inch separation.”

He turned to go and she said, “Did you see anything else?” Isadore allowed him to take several steps away before she asked her question and waited for him to come back and look at her board.

Arvolo smiled, “You’re responsible for firing the beams as well as launching fusion missiles. The manual control of the beams is located between the missile and beam firing mechanism. It should be below the beam so you can switch to manual without raising your hand. I would want to be able to palm that button to manual and still have my hand on the missile controls.”

“What about the reactor switching?”

“They got that right. They should be at the top of the board for fast access. It’s those other items that I’d want to change. The slave to the pilot’s board is exactly where you’d want it in the center in the event the pilot was taken out of action.”

Isadore was amazed; he had only glanced at her board and he knew it. “Why did you say it took you three seconds to memorize your board?”

Arvolo shrugged, “Saying it only took a second would have sounded like bragging. I’m a very modest individual.”

Isadore started laughing and couldn’t stop. He looked at her and said, “What?” which only made her laugh harder. Arvolo shook his head and left the room to the sound of loud laughter. Isadore managed to get her laughter under control and contacted Dr. Levin and requested an audience to request changes to her board. She thought about the Crazy Cuban and burst out laughing again.

Arvolo walked to his living quarters and came back out to smoke one of the cigars he had purchased during a recent visit to Tampa. Imagine a cigar company that had been in business a hundred and fifteen years. What was amazing was that Edwards still had some ancient Cuban Cigars that had been preserved for eighty years. They cost him most of his month’s pay but were worth the pleasure they brought him. He lit one up and started throwing peanuts to the squirrels that had come running when they saw him. They had become quite friendly and one would even climb up his back and take a nut from his hand. He had named that one Kenny because it had no patience. If he didn’t give it a nut quickly it would chitter at high volume until he did.

He missed Kenny. The back and forth and banter were what used to make his day. Now it was too quiet onboard his ship. He thought about Isadore and wondered if she was going to be a good partner. She was attractive, in a way. He thought it funny that she had tested him to see if he could remember her control board. He wasn’t going to tell her that he had seen the weapons control board when he went to Dr. Morrison’s lab.

He took a puff and leaned back on the bench. Kenny started fussing and Arvolo threw a nut. The grey squirrel ran after it and climbed the tree to store it. He looked up at the sky and saw the evening beginning to grow dark. He sat there and enjoyed his cigar until the stars were shining brightly overhead. He needed to get back out to them. He was feeling the urge to visit Cuba though he had never gone back after he left. There were just too many memories of the executions of the family he loved. He hoped they understood.

* * *

Captain Aman Forester watched as hundreds of ships arrived at the Alliance Capital and entered normal space. He was in Sierra Space hiding next to another star and wondered what was going on. He counted more than four hundred ships arrive and watched as they continued to appear. Suddenly the numbers escalated and more than a thousand came in and entered the Capital’s planetary system.

“Fleet, I have more than eighteen hundred Alliance Ships jumping in to the Capital and more are arriving. That number is now more than twenty five hundred and they’re continuing to arrive.”

“Keep us informed of the numbers, Captain. We’ll notify you of what to do next.”

“Yes Sir. The number is now over four thousand and still growing.”

* * *

“Admiral Connor, are you ready for departure?”

“Yes, we are Fleet.”

“We need you to make a stop before you leave for your mission.”

Chris looked at Jillian and she shook her head, “What do you need us to do?”

“We’re going to send you the coordinates of a place in the outer Alliance Capital’s system. We need you to take a look in normal space at the organization of the Alliance Fleet that is gathering. You will be beyond their scanner range in the outer system.”

“How far out will we be?”

“Approximately 670 million miles.”

“That’s a light hour.”

“You are correct. We are anticipating that they are going to attack some of the Moet Planets and we need to know how many are being targeted.”

Chris looked at Jillian again and shook his head, “Why do you want to know?”

“We need to determine how to apportion our fleet to stop them.”

Chris smiled and said, “We’ll be jumping in five minutes. Give em hell.”

Jeff smiled, “You know we will.”

* * *

Arvolo and Isadore were on the bridge of the Jukebox and heard the communication. Arvolo looked at Isadore and said to Chris, “Don’t you think we need to help them?”

Jillian answered, “Not this time, Captain. You’ll have your opportunity later.”

Everyone saw Arvolo’s disappointment. “Who’s leading the Fleet?”

Chris looked at his board and said, “Admiral Anders.”

“Darn it! He gets to have all the fun.”

“Go to your chairs; we’re jumping in three minutes.”

Isadore smiled, “Now you’re sorry we were selected over the other two crews for this mission aren’t you?”

Arvolo took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, “I’ve got mixed emotions. It’s like seeing your worst enemy drive your new car over a cliff.”

Isadore laughed and buckled in for the jump.

* * *

The Jukebox broke into normal space and Chris extended the sensors. The alarm sounded immediately and he brought the focus closer to the Alliance Capital. Chris fed the scan to the main display so everyone could see and Arvolo whistled, “This is a major Alliance Fleet Action.”

Chris looked at Arvolo, “Can you determine anything from what you see?”

“Yes, they are organizing into three smaller fleets with the same mix of ships in each one. The middle fleet is going to have more ships than the other two.”

“How can you tell?”

“Admiral Connor, the flagship is only one row in from the outer ships. They will bring additional ships to place it more in the center of that formation. That fleet is going to attack the most dangerous target.”

“Jillian, are you sending this to fleet?”

“I am and they agree with Captain Arvolo. They are of the opinion that the center fleet will be attacking the Capital of the Moet Empire.”

Chris stared at the display and looked at Arvolo, “How long do you think it will be before they attack?”

Arvolo stared at the display and pointed, “There; the other ships have arrived.” Chris looked up and saw that more than three hundred more ships had joined the center formation. “Admiral, they are forming up quickly so they have already assigned the targets to the three fleets. They will be jumping within the next two hours.”

Chris said, “Fleet, Captain Arvolo is of the opinion that they will be leaving to attack within the next hour.”

Arvolo shook his head and held up two fingers. Chris nodded and held up his hand.

“Roger that Jukebox.”

“Fleet, we are going to follow the central fleet and assist our ships against it.”

There was a long pause and then Chris heard, “Fleet says you should start your mission.”

Jillian looked at Chris and showed her confusion. “Fleet, I am in overall command of our Military Forces. We will not be leaving until this attack is handled. You can tell Dolly to take it up with the President and get back to us after the battle. Is that understood?”

There was another long pause and the display changed to Jeff and Dolly, “Chris, we are not going to endanger you and Jillian.”

“Well excuse me. I’m going after a Jenze Battleship and you’re not going to endanger me. Dolly, I’m ashamed of you. You’re brighter than this.”

Dolly turned up a corner of her mouth and shook her head. Jeff looked at his board and said, “Tell me what you’re thinking?”

“We’re in one of the new battleships. Divide our fleet up evenly into three squadrons and I’ll go with the group assigned to the largest Alliance Fleet. The Jukebox should be able to make up the difference in numbers.”

“We will do it as you request, Admiral. Please launch the Ninja for flight coverage. Assign it to the defense of your ship.”

Chris looked at Arvolo and saw him getting excited. He nodded and pulled Isadore out of her chair and ran off the bridge with her in tow. “We have so instructed Captain Arvolo. Who is commanding the other two fleets?”

“Admirals Anders and Owens, Sir.”

Chris started shaking his head, “And who has the third?” Jeff looked at Dolly and Chris laughed, “You knew I wouldn’t leave when you sent me here to scan their ships.”

Dolly smiled, “Still ashamed of me?”

Chris cut the com, “Jillian, I’m going into Sierra Space as soon as that central fleet does. We will follow them to their target.”

“There will be a delay.”

“I know. That can’t be helped.”

Chris looked at his board and saw the ship’s frequencies assigned to his squadron, “Attention all ships. We will be forming up in Sierra Space and will follow the Alliance’s largest fleet. Once we emerge, you will attack their ships and the Jukebox will move in next to the planet and prevent any Alliance ship from orbital bombardment. The other two squadrons will follow the other Alliance Fleets to their destinations.”

Jillian looked at her board, “They all acknowledge receipt and are now forming up in Sierra Space.” Stay sharp, Love.”

“Oh, I will.”

Chapter Seven

Isadore was pulled into the Ninja by Arvolo and she rushed to her command chair as Arvolo powered up the Ninja’s reactors. She watched her weapons panel light up and then looked up and said, “What’s the rush?”

“That fleet we’ve been watching is an hour ahead of us. We’ve been viewing light that left the planet an hour earlier. They could be moving into Sierra Space right now. As soon as we enter normal space behind that fleet we are going to launch and take on any Alliance ship near the Jukebox. You should do a system diagnostics and make sure everything is operational. I’ve not had the chance to discuss tactics with you but basically I’ll be avoiding the Alliance Fleet and attempt to move close to any ship attempting to attack our ship so you can use your weapons. I would suggest you not use the fusion missiles unless there is absolutely no choice. Unless the Alliance has had a major change in their ships, which I really doubt, your beams should be enough. I’ll do my best to avoid being hit by more than six ships but with the numbers involved that may not happen.”

“How do you know about their ships?”

“I’ve gotten access to the file where the original Jukebox killed one of their battleships. Their reactors are located on the ninth level below the bridge on their heavier ships. Their drives are in the rear directly behind the engines.”

“Can their beams penetrate our force field?”

“Yes, if ten or more ships are firing full broadsides at us, which will be hard to do given our small size.”

“Will a fusion missile rupture their force fields?”

Arvolo looked up from his board and looked at Isadore, “I honestly don’t know. My main concern is that if we set one off close to the Jukebox it would weaken the force field. I want to avoid that if possible.”

Isadore smiled, “I’ll do what I can.”

Arvolo stood up and walked over to Isadore’s station, “You need to hear this; you and I are expendable. Admiral Connor and Jillian are not. Our species survival depends on their continued existence. If I have to crash into another ship to save them I will.”

Isadore saw Arvolo was serious and wanted her to know he meant it. She stared at him and shrugged, “Why are they so important?”

“They are going to find the power source for our ships and that may mean you and I having to go back in time more than sixty million years. Without them, it won’t happen. We will not leave them to fight any other ship no matter what the circumstances. Do you understand?”

Izzy saluted and said, “Yes Sir.”

Arvolo went back to his chair and started checking the bow and tail thrusters. Izzy watched him out of the corner of her eye and smiled, “Sometimes it was good to be considered crazy,” she thought. She put on her helmet and pulled the faceplate down to make sure she could see all the scanner’s returns from the Jukebox as well as the Ninja. “Here we go.” Izzy felt the ship jump into Sierra Space and saw the two hundred ships following them in her faceplate as they accelerated on the trails left by the Alliance Fleet.

* * *

The Watcher saw the Alliance Fleet appear in its display and sounded the alarm for the ships in orbit. The High Master appeared on the display and the Watcher said, “There are three thousand plus Alliance Warships moving in on the Planet.” The Watcher saw the Master turn dark grey.

“Will our three hundred warships be able to stop them?”

The Watcher looked at the display and moved its eyestalks to the left, “No, the ships appear to be the ones with the new Alliance beams. They will overwhelm our ships and then our satellites.”

“What do you think they will do to the planet?”

“They will burn everything on it. That fleet is here to destroy us.”

The Master stared at the display, “Order our ships to gather around our satellites and try to hold out. I’ve received word that two other planets in the Empire are being attacked as well. They must have seen our evacuations and are exploiting the situation.”

The Watcher turned back to the display, “The Alliance or the Blue Ships, we know we’re here to die. This way it will just happen quicker.”

“I know, but none of us want to die.”

The Watcher pointed at the display, “Those ships don’t care about our desires. We can at least go out fighting.”

* * *

Admiral Jdah watched the Moet Cruisers align with the defense satellites and leaned back in his command chair. He looked at his communications controller, “Order the fleet to come around for a full broadside on the Moet defenses. We will pass their location with six rows of five hundred ships. Once past we will come about and fire another. If the ships come out we will attack the first one with two hundred ships each.”

“Your orders are being sent, Sire.”

* * *

The Moet Fleet Master saw the Alliance Fleet forming to cross the defense satellites and ships with a massive broadside. “Have the ships duck behind the two forts when they open fire. The satellites have a much stronger force field than our ships.”

His Sensor Master raised an eye stalk, “They might survive one broadside but I doubt they can stand up to two.”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“No, Master, I do not.”

“Issue the commands.”

* * *

The huge Alliance Fleet came in sixty miles from the orbiting satellites and started firing the massive beams at the structures. The Moet ships moved behind the satellites and watched the huge flash of the force fields being hit. As the last ship passed the first satellite was hit and the surface erupted into fire. The force field came back on but was flickering and barely able to maintain itself. Jdah smiled and watched as his Fleet came back around for another attack. “Sire, we have someone sending us a communication.”

“What are they saying?”

The Communication Controller pushed a button, “…will turn away from the planet and make no further move to attack. If you refuse to follow these instructions, we will be forced to destroy your fleet.”

Jdah turned to his Sensor Controller and he said, “We have two hundred small ships jumping in fifty miles from our location.”

“Only two hundred?”

“Yes Sire, two hundred and one to be exact.”

“Continue with our present course and if those ships come any closer, open fire with the ships on that side of our formation.”

* * *

“Master, we have some strange ships jumping into our system and have warned the Alliance to break off their attack.”

“Who are they?”

The Watcher put a picture of one of the ships in his board and did an inquiry, ‘It appears they are from the planet that the High Prince recently attacked.”

“Why are they here? Perhaps they can’t allow the Alliance to kill us before they have the pleasure of doing it.”

“According to my records, one of their ships killed eight Dreadnaughts. They also told the Prince that they are not our enemy and warned the Prince of the Blue Ships invasion.”

“Eight Dreadnaughts?”

“Yes, High Master.”

“How many are here?”

“Two hundred; I have a message coming in. Do you wish to communicate with them?”

“Put it to my board and listen in.”

“…trying to communicate with whoever is commanding the defense of the planet. Please respond.”

“I am in Command. Why are you here?”

“We are going to stop the Alliance attack but we need you to allow my ships to come in close to the planet in order for that to happen.”

“What would prevent you from them destroying us?”

“Nothing.”

The High Master waited and after a long moment said, “At least you’re brutally honest about that.”

“Quite frankly, you can refuse and we’ll just leave you to the tender care of the Alliance Fleet.”

“Why are you helping us?”

“Some of us don’t think we should; however, our belief that the killing of the innocent is a wrong thing to do ethically has led us to try and save you. I know you have been left behind for the Blue Giants to destroy but we can’t just sit by and see you burned. You probably know the power of my ships so I won’t bore you with threats about destroying all your ships if you don’t keep your word about not firing on us. I will do exactly that if you do but if you want our help you need to tell me now.”

The Master saw the Alliance Fleet coming around for another broadside and said, “I would appreciate any help you can offer and I will notify our ships to work with you.”

“Just tell them to attack at the appropriate moment.”

“How will they know when that moment is?”

“Oh, I don’t think there will be a problem.”

Chris punched his com, “Spread out with a quarter mile spacing. We will go over the top of their formation and then come about and go under it. You will have free weapons after the second pass to choose targets of opportunity; try to stay between the Alliance Fleet and the planet. We’ll be attacking in one minute.”

* * *

Arvolo held the Ninja directly above the Jukebox and saw two attack craft come roaring up, “What’s up?”

“I’m Captain Aman Forester and the other ship is commanded by Lt. Gretchen Logan. We have been ordered to insure the safety of Admiral Connor’s ship.”

“Who gave the order?”

“President Suh.”

Arvolo tilted his head and said, “Here’s how we’ll do it. I’ve got the top covered. The two of you move to the port and starboard and take a position just under the ship. We’ll divide the zones into three parts. We need to stay behind the Jukebox as we pass their formation and move six miles away afterwards so as not to prevent the Jukebox from firing her beams. We will go in if any ships come close to getting through the Jukebox’s defenses. We will also have a clear field of fire on any ships in our zone. Do you have any questions?”

“Do we add our fire as we pass the fleet?”

“No, we will only fire on ships that endanger the Jukebox. Forget the Alliance Ships and concentrate on anything moving towards the Admiral.”

“Yes Sir, you have command of the operation.”

Arvolo looked at his chronometer, “Ok, here we go.”

Izzy looked at her scanners. He’s not an egotist; he’s putting the mission ahead of any personal glory he could get. This is a good Commander. She set her face plate to watch the area below the Jukebox for any ships that moved out of the Alliance Fleet below them. She put her hands on the beam and reactor controls and stared at her faceplate’s display.

* * *

Admiral Jdah watched his panel and saw the two hundred small ships form a line. “Ready the beams on the left side of the fleet.” He stood up when the line of ships moved on top of his fleet in an instant. They were going over the top of his formations faster than he thought possible. He looked at the main display on the wall and saw indescribable destruction.

* * *

The Earth Ships went weightless and accelerated towards the huge fleet and slowed as they passed over the top. The Alliance Fleet was unable to fire a single beam at the approaching ships before they were moving over their close ranks. The Humans didn’t have that problem.

The two hundred Earth ships were equipped with eight beams. They fired the six located on the sides and bottom as they passed over the massed ranks below them. The beams were on continuous fire and a beam would cut off a tail section of an Alliance ship, sweep into the one next to it and cut it through the middle, and then cut off the bow of a third. The beams would then sweep back and kill more ships. The entire center of the fleet was exploding or burning.

* * *

Arvolo turned and moved on forty ships that were coming out of the Alliance ranks attempting to attack the Jukebox from behind. “Put the beams on auto!” Izzy hit the button and Arvolo went through the middle of the attackers spinning the Ninja like a top. The four beams looked like a giant propeller spinning through the Alliance Battleships like a threshing machine. Aman and Gretchen saw his tactic and copied it on the two survivors on either side of Arvolo’s attack. Arvolo flipped the Ninja around and moved back toward the Jukebox killing more ships rising to attack. He was joined by the other two attack craft as the Jukebox cleared the Alliance Fleet and moved toward the Moet satellites as the other ships reversed course and came back at the fleet from below. Izzy went to full power to the force field as the front of the Alliance fleet fired all their beams at the Jukebox as it moved away.

“Jillian!”

“I’m already on it. All power is going to the force field. It’s holding at eighty percent.”

“I expect a rush towards the planet like a sale of tennis shoes at Wal-Mart; prepare the missiles.”

* * *

Jdah saw more than nine hundred ships burning or exploding and knew that his fleet would not survive more passes. “Order the ships to dive towards the planet and launch their nuclear missiles.”

The Jukebox arrived and turned to face the thousands of ships still in ranks. Suddenly the ranks broke apart as the survivors turned and moved at high speed toward the planet. “Missile alert! All ships, Missile Alert.” The Earth ships passing under the Alliance Fleet turned, dove, and accelerated away at high speed. Jillian hit her board and eight fusion missiles left the Jukebox and spread out across the front of the advancing Fleet. They arrived at the fleet and detonated. The blasts were gigantic and covered the entire front of the Alliance Fleet. When the blast cleared only twelve hundred Alliance Ships remained operational. Jdah saw the Moet Ships moving out towards his formation and the small ships roaring back in to attack. He punched his fleet communication pad and yelled, “Escape, escape! Get out of here!”

Three hundred more ships were destroyed before they could enter Sierra Space. Of the three thousand ships that arrived only eight hundred and ninety six managed to survive. The space at the Moet planet looked like a starship grave yard. The two hundred Earth Ships lined up between the destroyed Alliance Ships and the planet scanning for any ship that could still fight. The Moet Ships moved through the ships looking as well.

* * *

The Moet High Master appeared on his display, “It appears we are at your mercy.”

“I told your Prince that we are not your enemy. Unless you choose to attack us again, we will remain that way.”

“What are you going to do now?”

“I think you can take it from here. I wish you luck and hope you survive.”

Chris punched the withdrawal button and the small white ships disappeared.

* * *

“What do you think about this?”

“I don’t know, Watcher. This is just not how things happen.”

“Would you vote to attack them again?”

“NO! We can’t stand up to their ships.”

“What if we could; would you vote to attack?”

The High Master lowered his stalks and pondered the question. “If they could destroy us now and choose not to, why would they ever choose to destroy us?”

“I think that being said it right; he is not our enemy. It seems to me that we should not be his.”

“Two of our planets were attacked. Have you received any information from them?”

“The Alliance Ships were stopped at the other two as well.”

“Collect the recordings of the attacks and add ours. Send a courier with them to the Highest Master.”

The Watcher turned to its board and contacted the other two planets. Its secondary brain carried out the task while its primary brain struggled with a new concept that was foreign to it, friendship.

* * *

“Jillian, is the Ninja back on board?”

“Yes, they arrived before we jumped.” Jillian checked her feed to the landing bay, “It appears that the good Captain is cleaning up the ship.”

“What?”

“He’s scrubbing off dust that was on it after it went through some debris while landing.”

“What’s Isadore doing?”

“She’s doing a check on the beam collectors to make sure they were not affected by the continuous firing.”

“Do we need to go back to refit the Ninja.”

“No, my analysis of the emitters shows they weren’t affected during combat. What about the missiles; do we need to pick up some more?”

Chris raised his shoulders and pushed his com, “Captain Riose, how many fusion missiles do you have on board?”

Anna looked over at her Weapons Officer and he held up ten fingers. “We have ten, Sir.”

“We’re going to jump back into the outer planets in the Moet System and need you to transfer eight of them to the Jukebox. Captain Arvolo will use the Ninja to make the transfer. You can replace them when you get back to Earth.”

“I’ve just received the coordinates. We’ll be there momentarily.”

* * *

Arvolo and Izzy tied the eight large missiles down and used a gravity gun to return them to normal weight. Arvolo turned to Anna, “Thank you very much for you assistance, Captain.”

“I’m glad to help. Come see me when you get home.”

Arvolo looked at the beautiful Latin woman and smiled, “I’ll do what I can.” He turned back to the Ninja and saw Izzy staring at him. “What?”

“Why don’t you just go back with her and I’ll handle the Ninja.” Izzy turned and went back into the Ninja’s cargo bay.

Arvolo watched her walk away and looked around. What did I do? He went onboard and transferred the missiles into their launch tubes. He actually felt the air in the bay was ten degrees colder until Izzy went to her quarters.

* * *

Jillian was sitting in Chris’s lap when the console announced, “Incoming call from Dolly Garcia.”

Chris smiled, “Connect call.”

“Well, are you happy now?”

“As a matter of fact, I am and I know you must feel good about it as well.”

Dolly tried not to smile but just couldn’t pull it off, “I am. It was the right thing to do.”

“What are you going to do now?”

“Hemon has requested he be allowed to discuss a few items with the Alliance at their Capital.”

“Now that I hate I’m going to miss. Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“I promised him he could handle any negotiations. We’ll send you a record. I assume that since you transferred the missiles you’re departing from your current location.”

Chris looked at Jillian and they both looked at Dolly, “You already know about that?”

“I have an alarm that notifies me anytime fusion missiles are moved. We take them very seriously.”

“Well, to answer your question, we are leaving momentarily.”

“Just be careful and all of our prayers are with you.”

“Thanks, Dolly. Maybe we can all go dancing when we get back.”

“I’ve missed that more than you know. Count on it.”

The display went dark and Jillian stood and went to her station, “Where do you want to start the search?”

“I’ve thought about the best way to find a Jenze planet but I don’t expect that the list will do us much good.”

“Why is that?”

“The Alliance says that the screen around their planets was taken from the Jenze. I suspect those planets that are listed as dangerous would still have defenses to defend them. I don’t want to try that until everything else has failed.”

“So where do we go?”

“We know where a live Jenze is.”

Jillian looked confused and then said, “The scientist that was killed by the T-Rex.”

“I was thinking that we have the exact coordinates to go and look at where he jumped into normal space when he came to Earth. We could send the Ninja into Sierra Space and have it follow its tracks back to where it came from and we go take a look at that locations history.”

“That would mean the Ninja would not remain close to our screen when it jumped away.”

“Yes, but we would keep it active until it returned and then retrieve it.”

“Do you think the Moet will detect the Ninja?”

“Not if we wait for the Jenze to get to Earth. Remember they were hiding behind the moon to avoid detection by the Jenze. They wouldn’t be able to see us. My worry is that the Jenze may be able to detect it.”

Jillian thought a moment and said, “What if we wait to send the Ninja until the Jenze had left his ship to hunt the T-Rex.”

“That might work. As soon as he left, the Moet attack craft started their runs. His ship would probably give warning on those before a ship in the outer solar system. Since the ship was destroyed by the asteroid there would not be a record of our appearance.” Chris paused and replayed the recording of the Moet attack and the death of the Jenze. “We should try this first. Get Arvolo and Izzy up here and fill them in on what they’re going to have to do.”

“What do we do if the Moet see us?”

“That’s something we’ll have to avoid. It might change the entire history of this galaxy.”

Chapter Eight

Kenny looked at his communications panel and saw Dolly Garcia, “How may I serve you, Madam?”

“I want you to gather six hundred of our ships and pay the Alliance Capital a visit.”

Kenny looked over at his map board, “I’ll get fleet to vector the other two fleets to my location. Is there a message you wished delivered?”

“Yes, but Hemon is going to deliver it. I want you there to support whatever action he chooses to take.”

“I’m sending you my coordinates. If you’ll have Mr. Hemon come join me, I would appreciate it.”

Dolly looked over at her panel and said something to someone off the screen, “He’ll be delivered momentarily. Get your fleet organized and ready for possible combat operations.”

“Yes Sir.”

* * *

“Hemon, why do you have to go to the Alliance Capital?”

“Sasha, if I’m still alive, I have to believe that the Sheera that killed my family is still alive as well. I want to find out.”

“So you’re going for vengeance?”

Hemon looked at his wife and slowly nodded, “I think they are accountable for their actions. However, I’m not feeling any blood lust over this.”

“I hope not. You’ll pay a price for making a bad decision. I don’t want to see that happen.”

“We’ll see. Either way, we know the Alliance is a ruthless master that doesn’t place any value on life.”

“I wish I were going with you.”

“I refuse to endanger our child and I would hope you would feel the same.”

“I do. Just don’t rush to judgment.”

Hemon saw the Guantanamo ahead and got up to leave for the landing bay. He leaned down and kissed Sasha and started to say something but stopped and left the bridge. Sasha watched him go and knew the Leaders of the Alliance would need to be very careful if they wanted to live.

* * *

Kenny watched the shuttle approach and called Jeff, “Sir, why is the Egyptian coming to negotiate with the Alliance?”

Jeff looked down and said, “The Alliance killed his family before they left Earth five thousand years ago. He formally requested to be our negotiator.”

Kenny stared at the display and Jeff saw his concern, “Kenny, we aren’t there to have a blood bath. Use your best judgment.”

“Thank you, Sir. I might have to get you to confirm that if events force me to take command.”

“I’ll have Dolly standing by.”

Kenny nodded as Hemon entered the bridge. He came to attention and saluted, “Welcome aboard, Sir.”

Hemon returned the salute and took the chair at the weapons board. “Are you ready to go, Admiral?”

“Yes’ Sir, we were waiting on your arrival.”

“Let’s go visit our former visitors. I’ll be an observer until we arrive.”

Kenny hit his com, “We will be jumping momentarily to the Alliance Capital. Upon emergence, tighten up your formations and follow me in to the system.” Kenny looked at his board and said, “We will jump in ten seconds.”

Six hundred ships counted it down and disappeared from normal space.

* * *

Jdah arrived at the Capital and sent an emergency message to the Council of Ten, “Attack warning; we have been attacked at the Moet’s planets by another species ships and have lost more than two thirds of our fleets. I must conclude they will be coming here.”

Tenah was sitting with the Council waiting for the fleet to return and jumped up from his chair, “You’ve lost what!?!”

“Of my three thousand ships, only nine hundred survived. The other two fleets were also mauled by strange ships that came in and defended the Moet Planets. They were not Moet ships. My sensors indicated their beams were as powerful as those of the Blue Ships.”

“How big were they?”

“They were one third the size of our main battleships. They defy analysis.” Tenah saw hundreds of ships appearing around the planet and looked over at one of the Council, “Get the planetary screen down and move those ships inside. Get the orders out that all other survivors should go back to their place of origin.” Tenah looked back at his display, “How certain are you that they will come here?”

“I would if I were them. They must have followed our fleet from here to the Moet Planet. We can hope they don’t but we should prepare as if they will. Do you want me to report for discipline?”

Tenah looked at the Admiral who was one of the most senior Council Members and slowly shook his head, “No, I don’t think any lessons would be learned from punishing you. If this menace is real, we need every ship we have in our inventory. How many are available for our defense?”

“I’ve sent word out to the members and we can get ten thousand here within a rotation.”

“How many of those ships destroyed your fleet?”

Jdah shook his head, “Only two hundred, Sire.”

Tenah was stunned speechless. Another Council Member asked, “How many did you manage to destroy?”

“None.”

Tenah regained his composure and said, “Get the fleet moving.”

“Yes Sire, I will issue the directives immediately.”

* * *

Hemon leaned back in his chair and watched the Earth Fleet move through Sierra Space. He felt his anger and animosity at the Alliance Leadership growing by the moment. He hoped the Alliance would attack his ships so he could take his vengeance without giving them a chance to talk their way out of destruction. He looked and saw they would arrive momentarily.

* * *

Kenny watched Hemon out of the corner of his eye and his expression said more than words could ever communicate. He had pulled up the records of the Command Team’s initial meetings with Hemon and knew about the Sheera killing his brother, wife, and son. He sighed and guessed the old saying was wrong; time does not heal all wounds. It appeared Hemon’s anger was fresh. Kenny put a feed in to Fleet Headquarters with a request to forward it to Admiral Garcia’s console. This was shaping up to be a blood bath, “Emergence into the Alliance System in ten seconds.”

Hemon looked at Kenny and nodded.

* * *

Tenah and the other nine Leaders of the Alliance heard an alarm, “Six hundred ships emerging into normal space two hundred thousand miles out.”

“Put full power to the Planetary Defense Shield.” Tenah looked over at his console and saw Admiral Jdah shaking his head, “What’s wrong?”

“We have no chance against those ships. If we bring in our reserve, they will be destroyed in less time than you can imagine.”

Tenah looked at the wall display showing the six hundred small ships and said, “Let’s hope the Shield will keep them at bay.”

* * *

Kenny watched his sensors and saw late arrivals jump in from the fight at the Moet’s planets and then quickly jump away. It appeared they had learned they could not stand up to the Earth Fleet. He looked over at Hemon and heard, “Open a channel to the planet.”

Kenny pulled up a frequency that was used by the Alliance Ships during the battle and activated it on Hemon’s console, “It’s on your board, Sir.” Kenny leaned back and waited for Hemon to start his negotiations. This should be interesting.

Hemon pushed the toggle and smiled, “I desire to speak with the Leader of the Alliance on the planet.”

Tenah heard the request over the speakers in the chamber and took a deep breath. He pressed the small pad on his board, “I am the one who leads the Council.”

“How many members are there on your Council?”

Tenah looked around puzzled by the question, “There are ten of us.”

“Before we get to the issues at hand, is there a Sheera on the planet that goes by the name of Yelt?”

Tenah looked at the far end of the table and saw the only Sheera on the Council jerk his attention toward the speaker on the wall, “There is a Sheera on the Council that goes by that name. Why do you ask?”

“It tells me just how cold blooded you are. I figured that if he was in a leadership role that it would confirm my belief of just how worthless you are and how removing you would be the right thing to do. Please put him on this channel.”

Tenah looked at Yelt, “Do you know who this is?”

“No, I have no idea.”

Tenah pushed a switch and said, “Talk to him.”

“This is Yelt.”

“Hello, old friend. This is Hemon. I hate you had to leave in such a rush the last time I saw you.”

Yelt’s shock was visible to everyone in the room. He was speechless.

“What’s wrong, Yelt? You don’t have anything to say to your old worker?”

Yelt leaned back and didn’t respond. Tenah said, “Give us a moment?”

“You have two minutes.”

“What’s going on here?”

“We were building a Pyramid for one of our planetary shields on the planet of that speaker. The Moet destroyed our main battleship and we were forced to rush away in our landers.”

Tenah stared at Yelt, “There’s more to it than that.”

“I followed our protocols and killed the translator and burned his residence to make sure none of our technology was left behind.”

“It appears you didn’t kill him. How long ago was this?”

“More than eight cycles.”

“Well this ship has come home to land in your chair.” Yelt nodded and Tenah activated his communicator, “Yelt tells me he thought he killed you before he left your planet.”

“He tried but was only successful in killing my brother, wife, and young son. He also left my planet to the tender cares of the Moet.”

“If that’s the case, why did you come to their defense?”

“Because it was you who was attacking them; the Moet thought we were part of the Alliance and you never came back to assist us against them.”

“How could we? Our ships stood no chance back then against their weakest ships.”

“I know; I don’t blame you for leaving but I do have an issue about my family which will be resolved shortly.”

Tenah looked at the ships on the main display and felt his fear level rise quickly, “We have a shield around the planet which I doubt you will be able to penetrate; however, if I send Yelt out to you, will you leave us in peace?”

Kenny glanced at his board and saw Jeff and Dolly listening in to the conversation. This was not looking good.

“Probably not.”

“Why?”

“We have learned that those planets that were placed under your shields became little more than slaves to your government. They are nothing more than laborers providing you with all their raw materials and products. That is going to end today.”

“Just how do you expect us to survive the Moet? We needed those materials to build a fleet in the hopes we could one day be free of their attacks. This structure is the only way for us to fight back.”

“Does that explain why you evacuate your planet and leave all the others behind to be destroyed by the Blue Ships? I see the huge transports under your screen and it’s clear you are only going to save yourselves. You’re nothing more than a dictator that cares nothing about those that labor for your benefit.”

“That’s true.”

Hemon, Kenny, along with Dolly and Jeff were stunned by the admission. “You admit it?”

“Absolutely, what else would you have us do? This structure is the only way for us to survive against the many species that come to kill us all. You are just one of many that want us dead. We need a lot more than just those planets in our Alliance to try and survive. We have been so pressured by the Moet that we have been unable to explore and find new worlds to assist us in building our defenses. With that new Moet Ship, we are once again, unable to take them on in combat. We hide behind our planetary shields and try to develop the tools that would allow us to survive. You have no right to question our attempt at survival. We have no way to build enough ships to transport our populations to safety. Moving this planet’s population would at least allow us to try and start over after the Blue Ships leave.”

Hemon stared at his board and said, “Then tell me why you attempted to kill me and why you killed my family?”

Yelt pushed his board, “We could not allow the Moet to get their pods on our gravity technology. Two of our gravity guns were missing and we didn’t have time to escape if we stopped to search for them. We assumed that you had one and the other was at your residence. I did what I must to protect us.”

Hemon was shocked speechless. It was his theft that had caused the death of his family. He lowered his head in his hands and wept. Kenny looked at him and pushed his com, “I’ve taken readings on your planetary shield and you should know that we can penetrate it at will. I’m going to demonstrate that now.”

Kenny launched a fusion missile at the shield surrounding the planet and it accelerated at three quarter light speed and hit the shield with a blast that spread over its surface and blew a hole in it bigger than the continent under it. Tenah saw the destruction of the shield and knew that before the shield came back on line three seconds later that the invading fleet could have launched more than one missile and destroyed the surface of the Capital. Silence ruled the channel. “We are not going to destroy your world.”

Tenah looked at the speaker on the wall and said, “What! What! Did I hear you correctly?”

“Yes but there will be conditions placed on allowing you to live that you will follow or we will destroy your Capital Planet.”

“And they are?”

“You will not be allowed to attack any planet in this galaxy. You will also stop your attacks against the Moet and that begins now.”

“But they have been trying to kill us for thousands of cycles.”

“We are going to notify them that their attacks against you will also stop immediately and that if they do not comply that we will come to defend your planets.”

“That new ship of theirs is invincible. They won’t listen.”

“One of our older ships has already destroyed nine of those ships in an earlier encounter. They will listen or they will die. Your heavy handed tactics with your member planets will also end today. You will no longer need to build a huge fleet for defense. We will assume that responsibility. Your Members live at poverty level and it’s time they started enjoying the fruits of their labor.”

Tenah looked around the room and didn’t know whether or not to believe the speaker. “What about the Blue Ships?”

“We think we have delayed their invasion by killing two of their main battleships. Our efforts are directed at being able to confront them and survive. If they invade, you should evacuate this planet and leave the others to our protection. I can’t guarantee we will be successful against their numbers but we are working on it.”

Tenah looked around the room, “How do I know we can trust you to protect us?”

“You don’t. Frankly, the way things have operated in this galaxy, I would be skeptical as well. However, here is what you can trust; if you don’t agree to these conditions, I will burn your planet to the bed rock and destroy every Alliance Ship in this galaxy.”

There was a moment of silence and Yelt said, “Hemon, can you do what he says you can?”

Hemon looked up and said, “Yes.”

Yelt looked at Tenah, “Hemon does not lie.”

“We still have thousands of warships.”

“You won’t if you’re dumb enough to use them. I would suggest you use them to plan an evacuation of as much of your population as possible when the invasion of the Blue Ships starts. This is not negotiable; if you don’t do as we say, we will destroy you.”

“How will we contact you if the Moet attack?”

“We will leave one of our ships in this system from this day forward until we determine that you are going to do as we ask. At that point we will give you a device that will allow you to contact us directly. What is your answer?”

Tenah saw his power slipping away as he sat down in his chair. “We will comply with your demands. I should be angry but I feel the constant pressure of defending my people easing. I just hope you are worthy of my trust.”

“It’s really not a trust issue.”

“Oh! Why not?”

“If we can’t stand up to the Blue Ships, we’re all dead. We are not your enemy and you shouldn’t be ours. We have a common foe and that should be enough for all of us.”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

“That’s exactly how it works. We have no desire to rule your Alliance. We just want you to stop acting so childish.”

Yelt pushed his button, “I’m sorry, Hemon. I’ll turn myself over to you if you so desire.”

Hemon took a deep breath, “No, not yet.”

Tenah saw the six hundred ships disappear leaving one behind that accelerated to the outer system and assumed a position above the solar system. Jdah said over the speakers, “I’ve ordered the fleet grounded until further notice.”

Tenah smiled, “I think that would be wise. Notify the planets that shipments of materials will be reduced to one tenth beginning tomorrow.”

* * *

Hemon remained silent during the jump back to Earth and Kenny released the fleet to resume their former assignments. As he arrived in the outer Solar System Kenny’s sensor alarm went off. He saw a small attack ship and watched a small shuttle leave it. He opened his landing bay and the shuttle moved in. Kenny waited and suddenly Sasha burst on to the bridge and ran to Hemon and threw her arms around him. Hemon felt the tears come again and Sasha quietly said, “If you had not taken those gravity guns we would all be dead now. It was your destiny to save our species…and me.”

Hemon put his arms around her and held her tight. Kenny went to .95 light speed and rushed Hemon home to heal in Sasha’s arms.

Chapter Nine

“Lt. Rosillo, Commodore Connor has requested our presence on the bridge.”

Izzy looked up from her board and said, “I apologize for my behavior earlier. It was not professional and I hope you’ll overlook it.”

“What was that?”

“I was concerned that you would lose your focus on our mission. We can be a good team if we really focus on what has to be done.”

Arvolo stared at her and turned to go to the bridge without saying anything leaving Izzy to wonder what was going through his mind. She sighed and followed him.

Chris put the recording of the encounter with the Jenze up on the main display and narrated what had happened. After the video completed Chris looked at the two and pointed at the small Jenze ship on the screen, “We are going to attempt to find where that ship came from. I’ve been able to determine where it jumped into normal space and we’re going to launch the Ninja at the location and have you follow its jump trail. You must get into Sierra Space as fast as possible to prevent either the Moet or Jenze from seeing you on their scanners. You will be going more than 64 million years in the past and if you change anything it could have a disastrous effect on our future.”

Izzy looked at the display and said, “I think it’s called the butterfly effect.”

Jillian smiled, “Exactly right, accidently killing a butterfly that far in the past would cause a tidal wave of minute changes that would add up to history being altered.”

“I’m not at all sure that’s right.”

Chris turned to Arvolo, “What do you mean by that?”

“If you go back to that moment in time now and look at it would the Ninja be in it?”

Chris looked at Jillian and saw she was as confused as him, “I guess so.”

““So there are now two reflections moving out into the universe, the one where you did not take the weapon and one you did. I suspect that original universe probably still exists but another was created when you went back.” The three stared at Arvolo and he continued, “There is also the possibility that we have already gone back in time and searched for the Jenze Battleship and we are here now to make that particular history happen. Whatever takes place has already happened and the present will not be affected by whatever we do.”

“I’m not sure I agree with that. If we go back and kidnap Abraham Lincoln, history would be altered in a major way.”

“Only that point in history. The one where you didn’t would continue and a new history would branch off at that point.”

“You’re talking about parallel universes.”

“Yes, I am Admiral. I just believe that if the possibility of time travel exists, then creation would have a way to prevent major damage. The Universe is governed by laws that make things work. This technology has to be part of the big picture.”

Izzy stared at Arvolo like he had three heads. Where did he come up with this understanding? He must be crazy. Then he said something that shocked the three of them, “You can easily find out.”

Jillian said, “What are you talking about?”

“Let’s assume that the universe you went back in time to steal the Jenze Weapon is now a different universe than the one we’re currently in; just go further out and look at the event again and see if the Ninja show up. If it doesn’t, you couldn’t have done anything in that universe to affect this one.”

Chris rubbed his head with the complexity of the concepts, “We would have to appear because we were there.”

“And if you don’t?”

Chris looked at Jillian, “Are you getting this?”

Jillian shook her head, “No, but we should go look.”

“But Jillian, if we were there at that moment in the past, it would have to be in the light that was reflected at that time; at least I think we would.”

“I agree with the Captain; what if we aren’t?”

Arvolo shrugged, “Then we didn’t do it in this universe and nothing you could have done there would have affected us. We would be insulated from those events by the fracturing off of another universe.”

Chris turned to his control panel and said, “Take your seats. I’m jumping back to the coordinates where we originally went back into the past. We’ll see if you’re right.”

“Hey, hey, I’m not saying I’m right. I just thought about how the Universe would operate if a Cuban designed it. It would have to have some form of protection from civilizations that discovered this technology.” Chris, Jillian, and Izzy groaned and shook their heads. “I’m just sayin’.”

“Jump in ten seconds.”

Everyone buckled in and Izzy looked at Arvolo, “Do you believe any of that crap you just spouted?” Arvolo smiled and leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

* * *

The Jukebox arrived in normal space and they saw the huge cloud of debris hanging in empty space. Chris looked at Arvolo and said, “Here is evidence that the Ninja did go into the past in this universe.”

Arvolo opened his eyes and shook his head, “No it doesn’t. You can go back and bring things back with you. We still have the Jenze Weapon so we know we can take things.”

Jillian smiled, “I think he’s right about that. What are you going to do now?”

“Well, we know that this is the place where the light from the asteroid strike arrived. I’ll take us a light day further out and look at the event again.”

“Uh, actually you’ll have to go further than that.”

Chris looked through his eyebrows at Arvolo, “And why is that?”

“This is where the light was when you originally came. How long ago was that?”

Chris started shaking his head, “You’re right. We’ll have to go more than a year to be at that light again. Captain, maybe this Cuban idea is not so off base.”

“Of course it isn’t. Have you ever been to Cuba?”

Chris started laughing and said, “I have.”

Jillian said, “I haven’t.”

“No, but you’ve been infected by him.” Arvolo leaned back in his chair and everyone saw his I told you so expression.

Chris made an adjustment on his board and jumped the ship. “Alright, I’m extending the fields.”

Everyone started staring at the main display on the wall and waited. After twenty minutes the alarm sounded and Chris moved the ship to the location of the signal. He adjusted the focus and the Earth appeared in the center of the display. Jillian looked closely, “The asteroid hasn’t hit; the atmosphere is clear.”

Chris brought the planet in closer and brought the view down to the surface. “I’m moving in; it appears the Yucatan is on the other side of the planet.” Chris moved forward at high acceleration and slowed as the Western Hemisphere moved around into day light. Chris moved the view back in and they saw the Jenze ship on the ground. Arvolo and Izzy were amazed at the dinosaurs on the plain and were watching a couple of T-Rexes attacking a huge herbivore.

Chris watched the Jenze ship closely, “I used the ships chronometer to make that jump. This system George put in is phenomenal.”

“Is today the day?”

“I think it is. Hold on just a moment.” Chris put the former view up on the screen beside the current one and both views had the two T-Rexes killing that herbivore. “Yes, this is the day.”

“Well, it shouldn’t be long now. He went hunting just after dawn.”

For Chris and Jillian it was déjà vu but Arvolo and Izzy watched with fascination. Jillian stood up, “Now is when it happens.”

They watched the Jenze run out of the woods as his sled was destroyed and shoot down two Moet Attack Craft. Then the T-Rex took the Jenze in its jaws and killed it. They waited and the asteroid struck. The Ninja did not appear.”

Chris and Jillian turned to Arvolo and stared at him. He looked at Izzy who was also looking at him, turned back to Chris and Jillian and shrugged.

“Where is the universe we went into to retrieve that weapon?”

Arvolo looked at the display, “I don’t know. However, by keeping that screen open for Jillian to return she was able to come back to our current reality. If you had not kept it open, I suspect she would be in that universe now.”

Jillian sat and thought about the ramifications of what Arvolo said, “So we can’t damage our history by actions done in the past?”

Arvolo shook his head, “How would I know? I just thought about this and considered it a possibility. You’re the ones with brains and degrees here.”

“What made you think this was a possibility?”

“I just couldn’t believe that anything could exist that could remove history. It didn’t feel right. If it couldn’t remove it, then something else had to happen.”

Jillian looked at Chris, “It appears he’s right but I don’t want to take the chance he’s wrong. Do you?”

Chris looked at the display and said, “Jillian, we will do what we have to do. I’m not so worried about what will happen now. We are here and our original visit does not exist anymore. I think we need to do whatever is necessary to get a Jenze reactor.”

“What are you saying?”

“The Ninja has the same system as the Jukebox. It was designed that way so that if this ship was damaged we could still get home. I think you and I should stay in the Ninja and let Arvolo and Izzy take the Jukebox.”

“For God’s sake why?”

“Do you think a reactor from a Jenze Main Battleship will fit in the Ninja’s cargo bay?” Jillian shook her head. “So if they find an opportunity to acquire one, we would still have to go back with a larger ship to take it. I think we need to let them take their best shot on this trip.”

“Then I’m going with them.”

“Jillian, you can’t. We’ve been ordered to stay on the Jukebox.”

“And that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

“You know what they meant?”

“Yes, but Arvolo, do you know how to detach a reactor for transport?”

“No, I don’t.” Jillian looked at Izzy and she shook her head. “One of us needs to go with them and you’re the one that best understands our systems. It falls to me to make the trip.”

“Jillian, you know what we went through the last time. I’m not willing to take this kind of risk again.”

“Chris, another ship will have to go if we’re able to find a reactor. That means we will have to hit the exact point in time on the return trip. This is the best way to make this happen. If you insist on going I will stay behind and work the fields but one of us must go.”

“Jillian, you know you’re more experienced with reactors than I am.”

“I know, but we must do this.”

Arvolo listened to them and interjected, “According to what I’ve been able to ascertain the force field of this new ship will handle the beams of a Jenze Battleship.”

Chris and Jillian stopped arguing in midsentence and looked at him.

“I took some readings of the recordings you took of the Jenze Fleet attacking the Moet Planet and determined from the destruction done on the surface that their beams are not that much different from ours.”

“Then why are we trying to take one of their reactors?”

Arvolo looked at Izzy, “Because if we combine our nuclear fuel with theirs we’ll have a power supply that may be a hundred times stronger.”

“And if they get our power supply theirs will be a hundred times more powerful.”

“There is that. If that happens I imagine the Jenze will still be around in our galaxy in this universe we’re visiting.”

Chris stared at Arvolo and then looked at Jillian. “Find a Jenze solar system and come back. We’ll look at its history and try to find a damaged ship we can go after.”

“If that’s all you want to do, the Ninja should make the first trip.”

“Why do you say that, Captain?”

“Because it’s so much smaller and won’t be easily detected in Sierra Space with its force field on. We’ll use the Jukebox on the second trip.”

Chris turned to Jillian and she reluctantly nodded.

“I think I also know a way to avoid being detected by the Moet and Jenze that are currently on Earth.”

“How would you do that, Arvolo?”

“I’ll go into Sierra Space the moment we go through the time field. If I time it right, we’d only be in normal space less than a second. You would need to get the field right up against the place the Jenze emerged into normal space.”

Chris looked at his display, “I have that locked in on my board.”

“Then, let’s do this. There is also one thing we have this time that we didn’t before; you should be able to communicate with us.”

Chris furrowed his brow and said, “How would I be able to do that?”

“Send one of the new probes through behind us and leave the trailing cable connected. The probe has so little metal in it that it shouldn’t be seen by the Moet or Jenze at the planet. You can use its George Box to talk with us and get a feed on anything we’re doing.”

Izzy looked at her board and then said, “What if the Jenze don’t leave trails through Sierra Space? Their force fields must be as strong as ours and we no longer leave a trail.”

Jillian said, “I’ve recorded the frequency of the Jenze ship that was destroyed on Earth. The Ninja has the same scanners as the Jukebox so you should be able to scan for that frequency. Just look for a system with a large number of Jenze Ships and record the frequency of that solar system.”

Arvolo looked around and smiled, “Well, alrighty then. Let’s get this show on the road.” Arvolo offered Izzy his hand and she left her seat on the bridge and followed him out of the bridge to board the Ninja. Chris watched them go and looked at Jillian, “Captain Arvolo is able to see things no one else can. He might be more important than both of us.”

“I was just thinking the same thing, Love; however, he is a warrior and not a scientist. He would never be happy working with our engineers.”

“Even so, we need to make sure he doesn’t take severe risks until we can sit down and determine what he knows about time travel.” Jillian nodded and started the time fields warming up.

* * *

“Lt. Rosillo, please activate your board and be prepared for possible attack.”

“RV, when we’re going to go fighting, call me Izzy. Don’t go all professional on me.”

Arvolo turned in his chair and shook his head, “Look, I don’t know what’s going on in your head but I need you at your best. Can you do that for me?” Izzy nodded. “Now I suspect we are about to enter a very dangerous time in our galaxy’s history. We know in our time the Jenze are gone, the Moet were knocked back into primitive cultures, and the Alliance suffered a similar fate. There is a force operating in the past that is dangerous and we’re in the dark as to what we’re dealing with. I know Earth thinks we have this great technology but the Jenze were equal to us millions of years ago and it didn’t save them. We need to be able to count on each other.”

“I’ll hold up my end. However, are you sure that if I blast a ship there that it won’t affect our time in the future?”

“Well, not really, so we should avoid doing that if at all possible, but you must act as if that were not a consideration. If you hesitate and think about it we could be dead and you’re much too pretty to end up as debris.”

Izzy was startled by Arvolo’s remark and saw him setting up his board. She didn’t even think he had noticed her. She turned to her board and tried to hide her embarrassment. He was right, if it came down to it, she would act first and worry later.

“Captain Arvolo, the field is in place and you can launch.”

“Thank you, Admiral. The bay doors are open and we’re lining up for departure.” RV lifted the Ninja and exited the Jukebox and flew away from the screen. He turned the ship a hundred miles from the screen and accelerated at high velocity toward the flickering field in front of the Ninja. Just before crossing the field he hit the jump control and the Ninja was covered with the jump field just after it went through the field.

Chris looked at Jillian and shook his head, “I don’t think any of the Ninja appeared in normal space after it passed the field. That Cuban’s timing is just not believable.”

“I’m launching the probe, Chris, to see if the Moet saw it.” The forty foot long probe went through the time field trailing a plastic, light pulse cable. Jillian activated the passive scanners and looked at Earth where the Asteroid had just struck. The two Moet Battleships were still behind the moon and were not moving their way. “It looks like we’re ok. Captain Arvolo, can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, Sir, and it appears the Jenze did leave a small trail. I thought it would in that its force field is nowhere near the strength of a battleship. However, before I go chasing this trail I’m going to scan for the Jenze frequency and see what comes up. I’ll feed the results to your board.” Arvolo hit the scanner and saw millions of returns. Chris and Jillian stared at the display and were shocked. “It appears that if I had followed the trail it would have taken me near a group of a hundred ships. I wonder what they’re doing.”

“I don’t want you to investigate. I would rather look at the light in our time and not risk your ship in the past.”

“I agree, Sir. I do see a huge number at a solar system more than two hundred light years from our current location.”

“Can you get a scan of that system’s frequency?”

“I can but I’m concerned that if I do I may attract a crowd. Let me recommend this just to be on the safe side. You leave the time field where it is but move the Jukebox back a thousand miles from our breakout point and we’ll run to your location when we exit the field.”

“What are you thinking, Captain?”

“If you’re right on top of our emergence and we’re being chased, you could get a Jenze Battleship coming through the screen with us. The scan will take ten seconds which will give them time to investigate if they detect it. I don’t want to fight a battleship to acquire its reactor. I’d also feel better if we don’t remove that large a ship from this time in the past.”

“We’ll discuss that concern when you get back. We are backing out and will await your return.”

“Izzy, I’m sending the drive control to your board. If one of the Jenze comes at us, don’t wait until it’s too late. Get us out of here.”

“I have the drive.”

“I’m powering the emitters and extending the field. The scan will take ten seconds, I’ve locked in that system, and will start the scan in 3, 2, 1, and now.”

Izzy focused on her board and didn’t see anything happening for the first five seconds but then she saw ten huge blips start coming at the Ninja at an incredible velocity. She wished RV had the board because their arrival was going to be incredibly close with the completion of the scan. “RV, tell me when you have it!”

Izzy had her hand on the activate button and watched the incoming ships. “Got it!” Izzy hit the button just as the ships came roaring up and the Ninja emerged into normal space as RV hit the weightless control and accelerated at the Jukebox’s field. Right behind them ten huge ships emerged into normal space and gave chase but were too late. The Ninja screamed through the time field and Chris shut it down just before the ten giant ships arrived.

“Chris, those weren’t Jenze ships!”

“I know. Captain, dock the Ninja and send the frequency of that solar system to my board.”

“You have it now.”

Chris saw the frequency and set the drive to move into Sierra Space. The Ninja settled into the landing bay and Arvolo locked it down to the deck. Chris hit the drive and set his emitters to search for the frequency of the solar system Arvolo had scanned. “I’ve found it. I’m moving the ship around the outer edge of the Galaxy to get a line on that frequency. We are far enough out so we should be able to see what’s happening at that system when we emerge in normal space. Jillian, are you still getting that frequency?”

“Yes I am and it’s growing stronger.”

“See if you can put it in the star map and lock it in on the display.”

“Done; it’s a Class G star in the Omega Centauri Super Cluster. We should be able to focus in on it once we get a return on Earth’s light.” Chris looked up and saw Arvolo and Isadore enter the bridge. He nodded toward their chairs and continued to triangulate the location. He moved a light week further out and emerged into normal space. “Search for the Milky Way’s frequency.”

“Got it.”

“Overlap the star map and move it back to,” Chris looked at his board, “Sixty four million years, eight months, ten days.” The display rotated the star map and then chimed. “I’m extending the emitters and powering the fields.” The fields expanded at the speed of light and after an hour an alarm sounded.

“Chris, I’m orienting the star map to the reflection.”

Arvolo watched in wonder as the huge galaxy on the display moved and the star map on top of it lined up. “Jillian, you can remove the map.” The map disappeared and they were looking at an image of the Milky Way as it was sixty four million years ago on the display. “Mark the target.”

A red dot appeared on the display and Chris began focusing the image. The red dot zoomed closer as millions of stars flashed by. Then the dot became a planetary system and the fourth planet out from the sun came into view and was in the middle of a gigantic space battle. Chris took the view in closer and saw a force field surrounded the planet and thousands of silver ships were firing on it. Thousands of Jenze ships were attacking the invading fleet and were giving as much as they received but they were heavily outnumbered. Ships were burning all the way out to the next planet and the destruction was far from over.

Arvolo watched the destruction and wished he were there fighting a ship. That battle was glorious and he smiled as he watched. Izzy looked at his expression and saw the face of a warrior. She could feel his emotions.

“It looks like the silver ships are going to win.”

“How do you know that, Chris?”

“Those silver ships are the ones that chased the Ninja. If they lost, it would have been the Jenze that emerged. Can you rewind the view and move it out close to the fifth planet?” Chris looked at Arvolo and wondered what he saw. He backed the focus up and moved it to the fifth planet that was aligned with the fourth planet in the system. “Now move it over to the closest moon and rewind it about three minutes.”

The view changed and they watched a Jenze Battleship attack one of the huge silver ships and blow through its force field. Just as it killed the silver ship it was hit with beams from two silver ships and had its bridge destroyed. The ship turned and slowly crashed on the moon as the silver ship it had destroyed hit the surface a mile away. The two silver ships that killed the Jenze Battleship turned and moved back into the fight.

Arvolo said, “The lights are still on in the Jenze ship. Keep an eye on it.” They watched and after an hour the lights started to go out. “They’re turning the reactors off to avoid an explosion.”

Chris looked at Jillian and she smiled, “If the silver ships win this battle that ship will be left behind.”

“As well as that silver ship.”

“You’re right, Izzy.”

“I’m moving forward a week to see what’s happening then.” Chris hit the drive and emerged back into normal space. The battle was still happening at the planet but the Jenze Fleet had been destroyed. The huge silver ships were firing on the force field around the planet and it was starting to grow dimmer. “I’m jumping another week.” This time the view was radically different. The planet was in ruins and the attackers were no longer present. Chris moved the focus to the moon and the two ships were still on the surface.

Arvolo said, “You need to back up and watch the Jenze Battleship.”

“Why?”

“Because it there aren’t more than a billion of those silver ships, the Jenze will be coming here soon to check out the damage and they may destroy that ship to prevent any of its technology being taken by those invaders. The silver ship won’t give us anything useful so we can ignore it.”

Jillian shook her head, “Why do you say that?”

“The Alliance uses that Jenze Force Field to protect their planets. I’ve looked at the feed from the Fleet that went to the Alliance Capital and one of our Jukebox Class ships would be able to penetrate it with a fusion missile. It took thousands of those silver ships to wear it down and it took more than a week. They’re huge but their energy is not that powerful. They won because of numbers at this planet. I suspect the Jenze will survive this invasion if they have more than a hundred worlds. This was probably the main attack force of the Invaders and they weren’t as successful at the other Jenze Planets.”

“Why do you want to go back?”

“I want to see if any lifeboats leave the crashed Jenze Ship taking the survivors away. I don’t want to go into a Jenze Battleship with the crew still present. Someone had to turn the reactors off and that tells me that there were survivors. That could prove fatal.”

“Captain, you are now in charge of this mission. What would you do if you were me?”

“I would first go back and see if the crew leaves.”

Chris nodded and jumped back to the crash of the ship. He accelerated into the light and saw things happening at high speed. They saw the destruction of the Jenze Planet and the silver ships jumping away. After a day passed Chris slowed the Jukebox and they watched ten small white ships come out of the crashed battleship and jump away. He accelerated again and after two days twenty Jenze Battleships arrived and landed on the moon. They went in the silver ship and examined it for three days. Then they lifted and fired their main beams into both ships destroying them.

Arvolo smiled and said, “Good.” Jillian looked at him. “Notice that they didn’t send anyone over to their damaged ship. That means all the survivors left. We have a two day window to get our reactor. The silver ships won this battle but I’m reasonably certain that the Jenze kicked them out of the Milky Way.”

“So you think they invaded from another galaxy?”

“Yes, they did. This was a surprise attack and any force with that many ships in our galaxy would have been confronted by the Jenze long before this attack. The Jenze won or there wouldn’t have been twenty ships available to send here. Notice they explored the silver ship to see if it represented a danger to them and left without taking anything major out of it. The invaders won this battle but lost the war to the Jenze. We are going to possibly change what happened here though.”

“How?”

“The landing bay on that crashed battleship is under it. We’re going to have to cut through the hull to get at the reactors. The Jenze will see that and will not react the same way next time they appear. This universe will have a Jenze that goes to work developing a stronger power source if they suspect an enemy has one of their reactors.”

Chris smiled, “Or they will go and attack this invader at their home to make sure they don’t have time to use it. I suspect they would do that anyway so it might not be so different.”

Arvolo nodded, “That’s something I’d rather not find out. However, I would really like to know what happened to the Jenze. They’re no longer here so either they were destroyed or moved.”

“If they moved they could be a real danger in our present time.”

“We should make the effort to find out, Admiral. But that can be done after we get a reactor and take it home.”

Chris nodded, “That will be a task you’ll handle. You can use the Ninja to find out.”

Arvolo looked at Izzy, “Are you up to the trip?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, but first the reactor.”

Chapter Ten

Chris was onboard the Ninja and had the moon with the two damaged ships on his display. “I’m extending the time field to when the Lifeboats jump away; they should be leaving within ten minutes. Are you ready to go scavenger hunting?”

Jillian said, “We have our armor on and the tools we think we’ll need. We’ll leave our passive scanners on just to make sure nothing shows up but I don’t expect anyone to come.”

“They didn’t before. Just get this done and get out of there.”

“Yes Sir, Admiral.”

“I’m serious, Jillian. Don’t get injured taking it out.”

“I know, Love. We’ll work as safely and quickly as possible.”

“Alright, here they come. There should be ten.” Chris counted as ten ships emerged and jumped away. “I’m extending the time field. It’s now powered and ready for you to pass through.”

Arvolo looked at the shimmering field and took the Jukebox through. He accelerated to the moon’s surface and scanned the crashed Jenze Ship. “The reactors are in the rear behind the cargo bay. I’m landing next to the ship and powering a shuttle to go over to the Jenze. Please board now and I’ll meet you as soon as the ship is landed.”

Jillian looked at Izzy and nodded toward the bridge exit. They exited the bridge, ran to the elevator, and went down to the landing bay and undocked a shuttle. Arvolo arrived just as Jillian completed the shuttle’s systems check. “Make sure your armor is powered and intact. We’re lifting now.”

The small shuttle lifted off the floor and moved smoothly out the open landing bay door. Arvolo took it over to the side of the Jenze ship and landed. He added weight and the shuttle settled in on its landing legs. He reached over in the tool bag and took out a gravity gun, “What are you going to do with that?”

“Commodore, I’m going to attempt to hide our taking a reactor. I want you to take the shuttle and place its nose against the side of the battleship. I’m going to hit the Jenze Ship with a gravity beam and make it almost weightless. Once that’s done I want you to use the shuttle to nudge the ship over so the landing bay is out from under it.”

Jillian watched Arvolo go out to the moon’s surface and fire the gravity gun from one end of the huge ship to the other. “Give it a try.” Jillian put the nose of the shuttle on the side of the giant ship and started applying force to the rear thrusters. The huge ship hesitated for a moment and then rolled over. “Now back the shuttle up and aim the forward beam at the center of the landing bay door. Set it to fire a twenty foot beam at maximum power for a half second.”

“You don’t think it will blow through the ship?”

“I don’t think so but I’m not sure. We’ll make an adjustment if it doesn’t go through.”

“What about fires?”

“If it blows through, the vacuum of space will put them out.” Jillian set the beam manually and announced, “I’m firing in five seconds; stand clear.”

Izzy watched from her chair and saw the beam hit and burn through the hull.”

“Alright, Jillian, the inner insulated wall is still intact. Reduce the power to one hundredth and fire again for a hundredth of a second.” Jillian fired again and watched as the atmosphere that was in the landing bay rushed out in explosive decompression. Arvolo said, “We’re through. Bring the lasers and let’s get to work.”

The three of them entered the huge landing bay and turned on the laminated surface of their armor. The entire surface glowed and lit up the interior of the landing bay. Arvolo turned to the right and moved toward a huge door in the middle of the wall. Jillian watched him and looked at the armored door, “Are we going to have to cut through?”

Arvolo looked at a panel next to the door and used his laser to cut off the front of the panel. Inside there were three buttons colored red, yellow, and blue. He pushed the blue button and the door slid up.

Izzy shook her head, “How did you know it was the blue one?”

“Because fire is red and yellow is also hot.” Arvolo looked around and said, “The reactor room was penetrated. There was no decompression when we opened it. Jillian, you lead the way and tell us what we need to do.”

“I want you to look at the controls with me and see if they make sense to you.”

“Yes Sir.”

The three entered the huge room and saw eight large rounded tanks on the deck. Jillian moved among them and started looking at their displays. Arvolo went the opposite direction checking the ones on his side and listened for her to call him. He saw that three of the four on his side were still active but not sending out power. Jillian hit her com, “All of the reactors on this side are still active. They’ll have to be shut down to move them.”

“I have one over here that has a dark panel. It may be shut down.” Izzy had followed him over and went to look at the dark reactor. Arvolo watched her look at the panel and saw a hand come out from under the reactor and grab Izzy’s leg. She screamed and Arvolo pulled his laser quicker than Izzy could see and reached down and squeezed the arm holding Izzy. The hand released her and Arvolo fell to the floor and looked under the reactor. A Jenze was trapped and looked to be in bad shape. The hand grabbed Arvolo’s arm and then let go. The Jenze’s head that was slightly raised fell to the floor. Arvolo saw that the Jenze was in a space suit that was still intact but that its legs were at a twisted angle.

Jillian came running up and had her laser out. “We have an injured Jenze here, Commodore.”

Jillian looked at Arvolo on the floor and joined him staring at the unconscious body. “Why did they leave him?”

“I suspect they didn’t know he was in here. They knew the reactor room was penetrated and that they could go at any moment. I suspect that this poor soul was injured when the ship was hit and was unconscious until they left.”

Jillian looked at the reactor and smiled, “Well, it appears that he was able to shut this one down before it rolled over on him. Most of the connections have been pulled loose so we should be able to move it if we can cut through the remaining bolts on this side.”

Arvolo took his laser and began working on the bolts. The bolts were made of a hardened material and took four hours to cut through. The Jenze woke three times and watched them but lost consciousness each time. Finally the final bolt was cut and Arvolo hit the huge reactor with the gravity gun. He grabbed the reactor and lifted it off the floor.

“Hold on just a minute. There are three cables and two conduits still attached.” Jillian took her laser knife and cut through them. Arvolo turned and lifted the giant reactor over his head and took it into the landing bay. Jillian and Izzy followed him and Arvolo turned and went back into the reactor room. “Where are you going?”

“I’m not going to leave the Jenze to die.”

“Captain Arvolo, we cannot save him. We don’t know what kind of impact it will have on history?”

“Yes, you do.”

“Pardon me.”

“You saw the Jenze ships that returned did not come to this ship. They explored the silver ship and burned this one. This Jenze will die when they arrive the day after tomorrow. I can’t just leave him to be burned.”

Jillian and Izzy looked at each other and Jillian was extremely apprehensive. “Captain, we just don’t know enough to take this risk.”

Arvolo smiled, “Would you want a time traveler to save you if you were in this predicament? Or would you prefer to die?”

“Captain, do you really think this won’t disrupt the future?”

“I don’t see how it could. He was trapped and it was clear that he was unable to contact the twenty ships when they arrived. He will die unless we take him with us.”

“Why don’t we leave him out on the surface for them to find him?”

“Now that might make a change. He’s seen us and the Jenze will know the ship has been tampered with. If they suspect someone has taken one of their reactors they will react differently than what originally happened. The choice is simple; either we take him or leave him.”

“Let’s get the reactor on the Jukebox and give me some time to think about this.”

Arvolo picked up the reactor and used his suit thrusters to leave the Jenze ship and fly to the Jukebox’s landing bay. He used tie down bars and then used the gravity gun to return the reactor to full weight. As he turned to go back to the Jenze Battleship he saw Jillian and Izzy carrying the injured Jenze on board. Arvolo smiled and said, “Izzy, if you would take the Jenze to the Medical Room and strap him in, Jillian and I are going to hide our theft.”

Jillian looked at Arvolo, “You need to take the shuttle and roll the ship back over on its landing bay door.”

Jillian nodded and flew out of the landing bay. Arvolo followed and watched as the huge ship rolled back over, “Hold it right there.” He used the gravity gun to return the giant ship’s weight and said, “Done! Let’s get out of here.”

Arvolo beat Jillian back to the landing bay and assisted her in tying the shuttle down. Jillian said, “I’m going to go check on the Jenze. You get us back to our universe.”

Arvolo saluted and rushed to the bridge. He lifted the Jukebox and took it through the flickering time field. Chris turned off the time field and flew the Ninja into the landing bay as Arvolo set the field emitters to watch the moon. Chris came out of the Ninja and pushed his com, “Jillian, I’m in and coming to the Bridge.”

“Chris, Izzy and I are in the Medical Room with the injured Jenze.”

“YOU’RE WHAT!?!”

“Come here and I’ll explain.”

Arvolo smiled and decided to stay on the bridge to give the Admiral some time to come to his senses. He turned on the intercom in the Medical Room and listened in.

“Jillian, his legs are broken and look like the bones have punctured the skin. I am going to have to set them or he’ll die.” Chris looked at the two of them and was stunned.

“Are you able to do that Izzy?”

“I had a Medical Degree before I joined the Fleet. I’ve done this before and I know we have what I need to do it. My main concern is that we’re going to have to remove his space suit and I don’t know what kind of atmosphere he’ll need.”

Arvolo punched com, “The Jenze breath oxygen and nitrogen just like we do.”

Jillian looked at the speaker, “How do you know that?”

“I took a reading of the Jenze Planet being attacked by the silver ships. There were some different trace elements but it was basically like our own.”

Chris got control of his shock and said, “This Jenze is not as short and heavy as the one we saw on Earth.”

Jillian nodded, “Well, we have no choice. He’ll die if we don’t. Chris, help us take off his suit.”

Izzy went to the medical closet and said, “Before you do that, I want to give him a sedative to keep him unconscious. Just open a small area and I’ll administer it. Jillian, can you assist me?”

“Izzy, it appears doctors love the service. I also have a medical degree. I’ll be your second. Chris, why don’t you go to the bridge and see what Arvolo is up to?”

“Hey, hey, I’m just sitting here behaving myself.”

Izzy muttered, “Yeah, right.”

“I heard that.”

Chris left the Medical Room and went to the Bridge, “What possessed you to save that Jenze?”

“It was the right thing to do. The Jenze are not our enemy…yet.”

Chris saw the display showing the two ships on the moon, “What are you doing?”

“I want to see if we covered our tracks. The twenty Jenze Battleships will be here tomorrow and we should make sure they don’t uncover any evidence of us taking a reactor.”

Chris sat down in the command chair and looked at Arvolo, “You’re right. While we’re waiting, let’s talk about time travel.”

Arvolo leaned back and said, “We could affect our time if we’re not careful. However, I think the things we’d do are already built into the future.”

Chris looked at the ceiling and said, “Tell me why you think that, Captain?”

“Chris, you need to get down here now!”

Chris looked at Arvolo and said, “What’s wrong?”

“Just get down here!”

Chris jumped up and ran off the bridge. Arvolo smiled and watched the display.

* * *

Chris ran into the Medical Room and saw Jillian standing at the foot of the operating table holding a foot as Izzy set the bones. Chris did a double take because the foot had five toes and looked exactly like a human’s. He stepped closer and saw the Jenze with a mask over their human face. Chris stopped dead in his tracks and Jillian said, “His blood is O-positive.”

Chris was speechless. He saw the Jenze’s hand and it had four fingers and an opposable thumb. He looked at Jillian and she said through her surgical mask, “His DNA is identical to ours, Chris.”

Chris looked back at the unconscious Jenze and saw that he was human. “How do we explain this?”

“I have no idea but that trip to look at their past now becomes extremely important; either he is human or we are Jenze. We need to find out which.”

Chris stared at the Jenze and Jillian read his thoughts. She said, “There is no possibility of two species having identical DNA. The chances of that are so astronomical as to be impossible. Even his brain waves match up with ours. This Jenze is Human.”

“How much longer before you finish the operation?”

Izzy didn’t look up and said, “About another thirty minutes. I’m going to keep him sedated for twenty four hours to allow the cast to mold securely to his legs and for the antibiotics to work.”

Chris looked Jillian in the eyes and lowered his gaze, “I’m going back to the bridge and will watch the display with Captain Arvolo. Join me when you can.”

Izzy looked at Chris and said, “I’m going to stay with the patient. Call me if you need me.”

Chris said, “We’ll handle the weapons, Lieutenant. You stay here.” Izzy nodded and Jillian grabbed the second leg for Izzy to set.

* * *

Chris arrived on the bridge and Arvolo moved from the command chair to the weapons chair. Arvolo raised his eyebrows and Chris shook his head. Chris thought for a moment and said, “Contact Dolly Garcia.”

The left display illuminated and Dolly was staring at them, “Please tell me you were able to retrieve a reactor.”

“We were successful, Dolly but another issue has developed.”

“What is that?”

“The crewmembers that retrieved the reactor found an injured Jenze on the ship and brought him back to the Jukebox. Izzy and Jillian are currently setting his broken legs as we speak.”

“Chris, was that wise? It could disrupt the future.”

“I’m not completely certain it would; however, if we didn’t save him he would have died when the Jenze destroyed the crashed ship. I’m certain that taking him will not change any future events.”

“Then what’s the issue?”

“Dolly, the Jenze is Human.” Dolly and Arvolo stared at Chris saying nothing. “Jillian ran a DNA scan and he is identical to us.”

Dolly leaned back in her chair and Chris saw her furrowed brow which let him know she was thinking intently about what she had just heard, “Are you sure about the DNA?”

“Yes and his blood type is O-positive.”

“Chris, modern Humans are only two hundred thousand years old. How far back did you go to get that reactor?”

“More than sixty million years.”

“Then Humans are Jenze; there can’t be any other possibility.”

“Are you certain about that?”

“Yes I am.”

“There is another possibility.”

Dolly slowly shook her head, “I don’t see how. The remains of modern man first appeared two hundred thousand years ago.”

“You know we are able to go into the past, Dolly. What if one of our ships was trapped in the distant past? That would cause them to come into existence.”

Arvolo said, “That is not a possibility.”

Chris looked away from the display to Arvolo, “Why not?”

“If that happened, the universe would have become a parallel universe and would not affect us. Just like the universe where you took the Jenze Weapon, we would not have contact with it. If we do something to radically change the future in a universe, it will branch off and form a new one.”

“How did we radically change the universe when we took the Jenze Weapon? Everything was destroyed by the asteroid and wouldn’t have affected the future.”

Dolly looked at Arvolo and wondered how the Crazy Cuban came up with that concept.

“It wasn’t taking the weapon that made the impact; it was allowing the gas and debris to blow through the time screen when Jillian escaped that made the radical change.”

Chris started slowly shaking his head but Dolly spoke before he could challenge Arvolo, “You think that by a section of the explosion being weakened that it had an impact on those that survived the asteroid?”

Chris looked up at Dolly and Arvolo said, “Yes I do. What if that shock wave was shortened by only a couple of miles as part of it blew through the time field and as a result two animals that were originally killed by the blast survived? In ten years those animals could number twenty; a hundred years later a couple of thousand; and a thousand years later, there could be millions. Millions of years later the hunting patterns of ancient humans could have been radically changed by a food source that existed now but didn’t after the original blast when we didn’t take the weapon.”

Chris saw it, “So that universe branched off from ours at that event and became a new parallel universe?”

“That’s how I see it and that’s why we don’t see you in the light from that time. However, this time it’s different.”

“How so, Captain?”

“Madam Director, if the Jenze Ships show up and don’t do anything different from the first event, then taking this Jenze with us will have no affect on the future and we will see us taking the reactor in reflected light. That will tell us that we are still viewing our original universe. You should also consider that the Jenze we brought back may be more important than the reactor.” Chris and Dolly sat up straighter as Arvolo said, “That Jenze was sent to take the reactors off line after the ship was damaged and before it crashed on the moon. He must be the officer that was trained on them and knows how they operate.”

“Chris, do you think he’s right?”

“It makes sense. We watched the Jenze blast their crashed battleship without going onboard to check for survivors. The Jenze died in the original event. There was no way for him to have any impact on the future. I didn’t know they found him in the reactor room.” Chris rubbed his forehead and said, “It does seem logical, Dolly.”

Dolly stared at Arvolo and after a long pause asked, “Who suggested taking the Jenze?”

“I did.”

“Did you make that decision because you thought he could help us?”

Arvolo took a deep breath and slowly shook his head, “No, it was the right thing to do. Walking away and allowing him to die is the same thing as murder in my opinion.”

“So what do we do with this Jenze?”

“You leave him on my ship until he’s well enough to get around on his own. Izzy and I will take care of him.”

Dolly looked at Chris on her monitor and saw him nod. “Alright, that’s what we’ll do. We’ll take the reactor and see if we learn what we need and we’ll consult with the Jenze if we need him. Chris, I’m ordering one of the new ships set up for time travel to be delivered to Captain Arvolo at Dundee. When you come back, take the reactor to George and Meisa.”

“Madam Director, I would appreciate staying with the Ninja if that meets your approval.”

“Why is that?”

“It has the fields needed to view the past and we need to take a look at Jenze history and see where our planet is connected to them. We need to know what happened to them.”

“Is the Ninja big enough for the three of you?”

“Yes it is. There are two living quarters on board but one of us will always be on duty so it should work out.”

“Chris, do you agree with the Captain?”

“Yes, I do.”

Dolly looked off the screen and turned back, “Captain, you are promoted to the Rank of Rear Admiral.” She saw Arvolo start shaking his head and quickly added, “You will continue in your capacity as commander of a United Earth Warship. I’m not so dumb as to not use the talents you’ve demonstrated in combat but you are going to be given some leeway in issuing orders to ships in combat. You’ll need that rank.”

“What about Izzy?”

“She will be promoted to Commodore and will be your second-in-command. This is not optional and the reduction in rank clause will not hold for you because Captain is only two ranks lower than Rear Admiral, not three. Do you understand?”

Arvolo snickered, “I guess you learned your lesson with Kenny.”

Dolly smiled, “Yes we did. Notify me when you get home.”

Arvolo sat in his chair with a frown on his face. Jillian entered the Bridge and asked, “What’s bothering you?”

“They made me an Admiral.”

“I understand your feelings. I’ve been lucky in avoiding it.”

“Easy for you to say; now I have to start following regulations.”

“Not really.”

Arvolo quickly looked at Chris, “You heard her say you were going to still be piloting a ship. The only thing that changes is that when you’re involved in a fleet action you can direct the actions of the other ships. Nothing has really changed.”

“Then can we keep this just between us?”

“Sure, if that’s your wish.”

“Thank you so much. I would also appreciate it if you didn’t tell Izzy.”

Jillian giggled, “Mums the word.”

Arvolo looked up at the central display, “The Jenze Ships are arriving.”

Chris stared at the display and said, “I’ve had the Jukebox moving into the focused light to shorten our waiting time. Let’s see if our theft is discovered.”

They watched as history repeated itself and nothing changed from the original event. Chris pulled up the Milky Way’s frequency and set the jump coordinates for Earth. Arvolo saw the coordinates on his board and looked up at Chris, “I thought we were going to Dundee?”

“We are as soon as we drop the Jenze off at a Fleet Hospital. We need to get his bones repaired, which will take about ten days. We’ll leave you and Izzy there, along with the Ninja, and you can start your mission after the Jenze is able to travel.”

Arvolo nodded, stood up, and went down to the Medical Room to relieve Izzy.

Chapter Eleven

Izzy and Arvolo sat in the Jenze’s room and waited for the shuttle to come and move him to the Mt. Sinai Hospital. They had been listening to the fleet network as ships reported in on their watches. Izzy had removed the IV from the Jenze’s arm an hour earlier and they saw him start to stir. Izzy came around the bed and stood looking down on the Jenze, “I don’t want him to wake up and think he’s alone.”

Arvolo shrugged and waited. He noticed that the Jenze had black hair and a handsome face. He had a strong jaw and deep set eyes. He had a hospital robe on and appeared to be in great shape. Arvolo sighed and knew he had another flat-belly to deal with. Why is it that all military personnel were thin? He saw the Jenze open his eyes and focus on Izzy standing beside his bed. Izzy smiled, “I’ve set the bones in your legs and we’re moving you to a hospital.”

“Izzy, he won’t be able to understand you.”

The Jenze jerked his head in Arvolo’s direction when he spoke and then started looking around. Arvolo followed his eyes and saw he wanted something. He got up and went to the closet and took out the Jenze’s spacesuit. The Jenze saw it and looked hopeful but then slowly shook his head. Arvolo reached back in the closet and took out the Jenze’s helmet. The Jenze’s eyes went wide and he motioned Arvolo over. Arvolo examined the Helmet and didn’t see any weapons. He handed it to the Jenze and he immediately reached inside and began unsnapping something. He pulled out a headband with a circular piece of metal about the size of a silver dollar on it. He put it on his head and closed his eyes.

“What do you think he’s doing?”

“I have no idea.”

“I’m learning your language.”

Izzy and Arvolo jerked at the Jenze’s statement and Izzy stepped back away from the bed. Arvolo looked at the Jenze and said, “That device you took out of your helmet must be a translator.”

The Jenze opened his eyes and smiled, “It is. I’m glad it’s been active and listening to your communication device for the last few….uh….hours. It was active during our battle with the invaders in hopes that we could learn their language and listen to their plans. It’s collected enough of your language for me to understand some of what you say.”

“Do you know what happened to you?”

“I had one of the reactors pin my legs. I was fortunate it didn’t break the seal on my suit or I would have died. What happened to the rest of my crew?”

“The ones that were still alive jumped away in lifeboats.”

The Jenze was silent for a moment and stared at them. “It appears your crewmembers thought you were dead. When the reactor room lost pressure, I’m sure they thought you were killed.”

“I put my suit on after I went in.” The Jenze stared at them again, “Who are you? I don’t recognize your uniforms. Were you part of the fleet sent to break the bombardment?”

Arvolo looked at Izzy and she shrugged. He looked back at the Jenze and said, “I’m struggling with what to tell you. I’m afraid if I tell you the truth, you’ll think both of us are insane but I don’t think it’s good to start a relationship with deception.”

“You’re not members of my people?”

“No, we aren’t.”

“Are you the ones that attacked my planet?”

“No, we are not your enemy.”

“Then who are you?”

“Before I answer, I want to show you something; is that alright with you?”

The Jenze nodded and Arvolo picked up his tablet and connected it to the wall display with a wireless connection. Izzy raised the head of the bed so the Jenze could see the display and wondered what Arvolo was going to show him. Arvolo pushed a button and the Jenze saw the two silver ships fire on his battleship. The nose blew off and the huge ship turned toward the moon’s surface.

“That’s my ship. I left the landing bay and went to the reactors to shut them down after we were hit.”

The Jenze continued to watch and saw the ship crash on the moon’s surface. “I didn’t know we were going to hit the moon. The crash is what caused the reactor to pin my legs.” The Jenze then saw the silver ship crash not far away.

“What I’m going to do now is fast forward this recording so you can see what happened after your crash.”

The Jenze watched and saw his planet destroyed and the silver ships jump away. He was obviously in distress over the destruction of his home and continued to watch as the lifeboats jumped away. After a long pause he watched the twenty Jenze Battleships arrive. His eyes widened and watched as they sent shuttles down to the silver ship and start searching the wreckage. When the shuttles lifted Arvolo put the recording at normal speed. The Jenze watched as the Jenze battleships fired and burned both of the derelict ships on the moon. The Jenze turned his gaze to Arvolo, “They didn’t come to my ship?”

“No, they didn’t.”

“If they didn’t come to my ship, how am I still alive?”

“We came to your ship in the time between the silver ships jumping away and your battleship’s arrival.”

“But I didn’t see you on the recording.”

Arvolo stared at the Jenze and said, “We didn’t come the first time your ship was destroyed; we came the second.”

“I don’t understand. Who are you?”

“I don’t know how but we are your descendents. We come from more than sixty million years in your future and we were looking for a reactor from one of your battleships to make our ships more powerful. We saw the opportunity to take one from your ship and went back in time during the two days after the silver ships left and before yours arrived. While taking the reactor, we found you and decided we couldn’t leave you there to die.”

The Jenze stared at Arvolo and then looked at Izzy, “You say you’re my descendents; where are my people?”

“They no longer exist. They disappeared sometime in the distant past and no one knows why. I am going to find out soon and wonder if you want to go see with me.”

“You were right the first time; I think you’re insane. This whole idea is ridiculous.”

“I thought you would. However, I can rest easy because I know I was truthful with you.”

“Am I a prisoner?”

“Yes. Until we decide what to do with you but for the next ten days we’re going to put you in a regeneration tank and heal your broken legs. Once you’re healthy, we’ll meet again and have another talk. The first order of business is to take care of your injuries. Will you agree to wait until we have that conversation before you do anything rash?”

“In other words, you don’t want me to attempt to escape.”

“I know that sounds like too much to ask but we saved your life. If we wished you harm we would have just left you in your ship.”

“You could have put me out in the open where I could be found.”

“If we did, then the future would have been changed. I hope you’ll think about that and see if there was any way other than taking you with us that would have not changed the future.”

The Medical Team came into the room with a gravity sled and the Jenze didn’t say anything. They put him on the sled and strapped him in. The Jenze was carried out and Arvolo saw he had his eyes closed. Izzy sighed, “We have a team of Alphas guarding him.”

“I know. I just hate we have to do it. That young man is more alone than anyone in this universe. His whole existence has been swept away.”

“He’s not alone, RV.” Arvolo looked at her and she said, “He has us.”

Arvolo tilted his head and nodded, “Let’s go with him to the hospital.”

* * *

Dolly was looking at George on her display, “Did the reactor give you what you needed?”

“As a matter of fact it did. We are changing the fuel in our ships as we speak and our current reactors can be modified to handle the additional power.”

“You look like something’s bothering you.”

“One thing the Jenze reactor has that we don’t is a control panel that switched the power delivery faster than we can. The circuit board that controlled that was damaged when the reactor tipped over and we can’t determine how it worked. We could really use that bit of information but the additional power will make a huge difference.”

“Did you know that Captain Arvolo is of the opinion that the Jenze is the Officer responsible for the reactors on the battleship?”

George leaned back, “Have you been able to question the Jenze?”

“Not yet. He appears to be somewhat hostile to us and refuses to believe we took him from the past.”

“That’s a shame. Maybe we can change his mind.” George paused and leaned forward, “What do you think about the Jenze being identical to us?”

Dolly sighed, “George, that revelation has me scratching my head. If we are Jenze descendents, then something had to happen about a quarter of a million years ago to get them on Earth. There is no evidence of Homo sapiens further back than that. The Alliance operates on the belief that they disappeared long before that time.”

“Could they have arrived earlier but left no evidence of their presence?”

“I guess anything’s possible but that means they deliberately removed any clues they were here. That just doesn’t sound right.”

“And that Jenze wouldn’t know because we took him from a time long before that could have happened.” Dolly nodded and George said, “Keep me informed about what you find out. We’re going to full production now and I’ll be too busy to keep track.”

“I’ll send you anything we learn.” George nodded and the display went dark. Dolly leaned over and put her chin on her hand. “There is one other possibility but if it’s true, should we pursue it?. The ramifications were too serious to consider if that was what happened. Should I stop any further looks into the past?” Dolly sat up and took a deep breath. “No not yet. Something wiped out the Jenze. We need to know what did it.”

* * *

Gretchen Logan moved her ship in towards the Moet Planet and one of their battle cruisers came out to meet her. Gretchen activated her communication panel and said, “I need to speak with your leader.”

She stopped outside the orbit of the third moon and waited. After fifteen minutes her panel lit up and she heard, “I understand that you wish to speak with me.”

“I do. I’ve been ordered to pass along some information.”

“What is that?”

“We will no longer allow the Alliance to attack your planets or your ships. We have visited their Capital and the Leaders of the Alliance have agreed to no longer wage war against you.”

“Now that is interesting. Thank you.”

“There’s more.”

“Oh.”

“You will also no longer attack the Alliance Planets or their ships.” The Moet Master was silent. Gretchen waited and after an extremely long pause said, “I know you don’t like being told what to do by anyone else and you will probably ignore this when your colonists return. My leaders thought it was important that you understand our position on this before we destroy all of your ships.”

“Do you think you can carry out that threat?”

“It’s not really a threat.”

“Then just what would you call it?”

“A factual statement. Your species have your priorities all out of order. Do you think you strengthen yourself by warring with the Alliance?”

The Master’s thoughts were derailed by the question and after thinking about it replied, “The Alliance represents no threat to us.”

“How many of your ships have been destroyed by the Alliance within the last cycle?”

The Master knew that more than four hundred had been destroyed before the Masters began using Dreadnaughts but he wasn’t going to reveal that piece of information.

Gretchen again waited and finally said, “If it was only one, you’re one ship weaker. We know that our galaxy is threatened by forces from another galaxy. We only make it easier for them to destroy us by fighting among ourselves. I’m not bragging when I tell you that this small ship can kill any ship you choose to send against it. We will defend you against all outside invasions but we will also defend the Alliance. We really don’t care if you choose to ignore our warning but we feel you should know.”

The Moet watched the small ship turn and accelerate towards the outer system. He pulled a disc out of his board and turned to the Watcher, “Send this with the material collected from the attacks.”

The Watcher nodded and added a copy of the conversation to the file. It hoped his planet would never get the attention of those small white ships. Knowing the Ruling Masters, that hope didn’t stand much of a chance of surviving.

* * *

Arvolo and Izzy waited in the Jenze’s hospital room for him to regain consciousness. The doctors said that he was due to awake and they wanted to be present. “Are they through with the Ninja?”

Arvolo nodded, “The reactors have been updated and the drive systems completed to handle the increased pressures.”

“What about the weapons?”

“They were completed first. They had to increase the ship’s size and they added another sleeping quarters. According to Dr. Levin it is now stronger than the former Jukebox Class ships. It seems like our technology is exploding.”

“Yes, but it’s not from science we’ve discovered. Most of the advancements are from things taken from the Alliance and Jenze.”

Arvolo tilted his head to the left and nodded, “You’re right but the important thing to remember is that we stole the idea and improved on it. Our new reactor is tremendously stronger than anything the Jenze had. We almost believe that we can take on a Blue Giant Battleship with our newest battleship. I’ve volunteered us to go trial it in their galaxy but was refused.”

Izzy started giggling and then laughed out loud, “There you go picking a fight.”

Arvolo swelled up but then smiled, “Yeah, I guess I am.” They heard a moan and both of them stood up and went to the Jenze. He was starting to move and several doctors came rushing in the room. Arvolo and Izzy stepped back and the doctors looked at the display on the tank where the Jenze was suspended. One nodded and they pressed a button that released the fluid out of the tank. They then spun it horizontal and slid the board the Jenze was now laying on out of the container and started drying him with towels. They dressed him in a fleet coverall and the Jenze opened his eyes and winced.

“Is he ok, Doctor?”

“Yes, our readouts say his legs are mended and the muscles have not lost any strength during the regeneration.”

The Jenze heard Arvolo’s question and looked around the doctor and saw them standing off to the side. He looked back at the doctor as two orderlies assisted him in sitting up. “Lift him off the table.” The orderlies grabbed the Jenze’s upper arms and slid him off the table to his feet. The Jenze winced again and stood on his legs. He looked at the Doctor and said, “I expected to have more pain than this.”

“You shouldn’t have any and your legs should be stronger than before with all the eltrostimulation you’re been given.”

The Jenze bent his knees, squatted, and immediately stood up. He smiled and said, “Good work.”

The Doctor looked at Arvolo and said, “He’s all yours.” The Jenze looked at Arvolo and his expression immediately turned serious.

“Thank you, Doctor.” Arvolo turned to the Jenze and said, “My name is Arvolo but you can call me RV. This is Isadore Rosillo and we call her Izzy. What do we call you?”

There was a long pause and the Jenze said, “My name is Zack.”

“Well Zack, I would like to take you out to get something to eat. I’m sure you have some questions and I’ll try to answer them.”

“Lead the way.”

Arvolo turned and started out the door. The Jenze and Izzy fell in behind and left the room. The Jenze looked around and said, “I’m surprised you don’t have any guards?”

“I thought about having some here to make sure you didn’t do anything stupid but decided that if you want to escape you should be allowed to go. Holding you against your will is not something I would do.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“There’s a restaurant about two blocks away and I thought the walk would do all of us some good. By-the-way, how are your legs?”

The Jenze went up on his toes as he was walking and raised his shoulders, “It appears they are better than before my accident. I had a bad left knee and it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“Yeah, I saw that and the Doctor said he could repair it.”

The three exited the building and the Jenze looked up at the tall buildings. The thing that caught his attention was the lanes of traffic flowing overhead, “Those vehicles don’t look like they’re gravity driven.”

“They’re not. We only discovered using gravity as a propulsion system a year or so ago and we’re only using it in our military right now. I’m sure in several years it will make its way into our civilian craft.”

The Jenze looked around and saw the massive crowds on the street and Arvolo knew he could see that if he chose to run there was no way he could be caught. Arvolo continued to walk ahead at a brisk pace and waited for the Jenze to decide his future. The Jenze stopped and Arvolo took Izzy’s hand and said under his breath, “Don’t look back.” He continued to walk and after a few moments the Jenze ran and caught up. Arvolo smiled and Izzy wondered how he knew the Jenze wouldn’t try to escape.

They arrived at the restaurant and the owner saw them enter. He motioned a waiter over and she took them to a table. “Do you eat meat or are you a vegetarian?”

“What is meat?”

Arvolo smiled, “We domesticate some animals on this planet and use them for food.”

“That’s crazy. Most of the animals on our planets have been killed in attacks on the planet.”

“Well, let’s see how you like it.” Arvolo ordered cheeseburgers and fries. The Jenze watched the crowds passing the restaurant in silence until the food arrived and then took a bite of the burger. He stopped as soon as he took the first bite and then chewed it slowly, “This is the best thing I have ever tasted.”

“Enjoy your meal.”

The Jenze finished the burger quickly and Arvolo asked, “Want another?”

“Absolutely.”

Arvolo reordered and Izzy said, “I notice you’re using our language much better.”

“While I was asleep the translator continued to work on your language. It transfers the information instantly and there were a lot of discussions in my room. It appears that those responsible for my care were amazed at my existence.”

“You have had an impact on our beliefs about our origins.”

“How so?”

“Our DNA is identical.”

“You must be Jenze.”

“Actually, we traced our origin from the evolution of primates on this planet. The current belief is that we evolved over a three million year period into what we are today.”

The Jenze thought about that and said, “If that were the case, we could not share DNA.”

“We know. The first modern man appeared about a quarter of a million years ago. We’ve assumed it was the next evolutionary step.”

“Well, if you can go back in the past like you claim, go and see what happened.”

“We’re leaving tomorrow to see what happened to your civilization; the Jenze no longer exist today.” Zack sat back in his chair and stared at them. “The problem we’re having is that according to an ancient civilization we’ve contacted recently; the Jenze disappeared millions of years ago. If that’s true, there was no way the Jenze could have come to our planet just three hundred thousand years ago to start our species.”

“You’re serious?”

“I am.”

“I can take you to one of our planets now and you can see for yourself that our demise is greatly exaggerated.”

Arvolo looked at Izzy and then said to Zack, “I want you to go with us to find out the truth. If your planet is still there, we will return you to your people if you will just make sure we’re not attacked while doing it.”

Zack smiled and said, “You have a deal.” He then grabbed his burger and took another bite. “This is fabulous.”

Izzy looked at Arvolo with a concerned expression and RV shook his head. Izzy knew Zack didn’t believe their statements about time travel. She hoped he wouldn’t be hurt by what happened next.

* * *

The next morning Zack met RV and Izzy outside his assigned quarters and boarded a shuttle. They flew to the space port and exited next to the Ninja. Zack looked at the small ship and turned to RV, “Is this the shuttle to your ship?”

RV smiled, “No, this is the ship we’re going to use to go exploring.”

Zack looked at the ship again and shook his head, “I hope it doesn’t explode if one of us sneezes.”

Izzy laughed and RV smiled, “No, I think it will hold up. We’ve had an extra chair installed on the bridge with a display for you to use. Are you ready?”

“Lead on.”

* * *

The three buckled in to their chairs and RV lifted the Ninja, retracted the landing gear, and accelerated into the early morning light. They arrived in orbit in ten minutes and RV went to light speed and accelerated toward the outer planets. Zack watched his display and furrowed his brow, “Why aren’t you just jumping into Green Space?”

“We can’t inside the solar system. We’ve set off a nuclear blast and the Green Space around the system is disrupted.”

Zack looked at his display again, “You are moving extremely fast; how fast are you traveling?”

“We’re at 96% of light speed.”

Zack stared at RV and looked at the display again. He knew that no ship could travel that fast. Something wasn’t right. The Ninja passed Neptune and RV dropped into Sierra Space. “Do you know the coordinates of the planet you want to travel?”

“Yes, I do.”

“There is a button next to your display that is green. If you press it and enter them with your keyboard, I’ll jump us to that planet.”

Zack stared at RV and was reluctant to give the coordinates of his home but knew that this ship couldn’t stand up to a Jenze Warship. He pressed the button and entered the coordinates. RV looked at his board and pressed the enable pad. The Ninja suddenly appeared outside a large planetary system and Zack looked at it on his display, “As soon as we enter natural space, let me do all the talking.” RV nodded and pressed the drive pad. The Ninja emerged into normal space looking down on a planet that was a wasteland.

Zack saw the planet and stood up. He said, “We’re in the wrong system. Show me the other planets.” RV began showing the fifteen planets one by one on the wall display and Zack stared at each one and slowly sat down. He looked at the planet on his display and saw the oceans were gone. There was no trace of the cities that once covered the continents. There was nothing but desolation.

RV looked at Zack and said, “Would you like to try another location?”

Zack sat up straight and entered another coordinate. The Ninja arrived and this time they found a planet that had been broken into pieces. Izzy watched the Jenze and saw the horror on his face. RV stared at the display and said, “Do you want to know how this happened?”

Zack turned and stared at him and slowly nodded.

“Izzy, did you get a frequency reading on the first planet?”

“Yes and I also got a frequency on the planetary system as well.”

“Give me a reading on the best line of sight for viewing.”

“How far back do you want to go?”

“We’ll start at sixty million years and work our way forward.”

Izzy entered the data into her board and waited. The board chimed and Izzy sent the coordinates to Arvolo. He hit the stardrive and Ninja disappeared into the green space and reappeared in the vast open space between galaxies. Zack looked at his display and saw they were no longer in the Milky Way. “Where are we?”

“We’re about sixty four million light years from our galaxy.”

“Why are we here?”

“We’re going to collect the light that was reflected off the first planet you took us to sixty four million years ago and see if we can determine what was happening. Give me a few minutes to set up the emitters. This could take a while.” RV oriented the ship while Izzy powered the emitters. “Alright, Izzy, expand the field.”

Izzy watched the readout and said, “The system reported a ninety five percent probability of unobstructed lines.” Zack watched them and began to fear that they were not insane. They waited for an hour and then an alarm sounded, “I’ve got it. I’ve sent the location to your board.”

RV moved the ship at high speed and began adjusting the view controls. Zack watched the main wall display and saw the view on his display move at extreme speed into the galaxy and toward a cluster of stars. It then moved toward a single star and stopped. He looked at the planets in the solar system they were viewing and said, “This is the right place.”

The view moved in rapidly to the fourth planet and he saw his home as he remembered it. It was lush and green with brightly shining oceans. RV looked at him, “Is there any where you want to see?”

“Yes, do you see that large city on the Northern Shore of the ocean on the large continent?”

“The one that has a large bay?”

“Yes, move the view to the southern shore line and follow the road as it moves north.” RV moved the view closer and stopped it a hundred miles above the planet’s surface. “Do you see those large buildings next to the space port?”

“Yes?”

“Just north of them is a yellow and white building about three stories tall.”

RV moved the view in, centered the building, and moved the view in closer. They watched as four people came out of the building and Zack took a quick breath. Izzy said, “What?”

“The young girl you see in the red uniform is my sister. She died two years ago in a head on collision with a hauler. The little boy you see walking beside her is me.” Zack looked at RV and said, “You’ve been telling me the truth, haven’t you?” Zack saw the sadness in Arvolo’s eyes that proved to him that he wasn’t lying. “I need to see what happened.”

“How far in the future was the attack by the Silver Ships?”

“Ten years.”

“Do you know if this planet was attacked?”

“Yes it was.”

“Let’s start there and move forward.” Arvolo adjusted the jump controls and jumped ahead. They emerged into normal space and moved the view out so they were looking at the Milky Way.

Izzy watched and said, “What are you doing?”

“Those silver ships had to come from somewhere. This is the year they attack and I want to see if they came from another galaxy. Arvolo moved the view to the edge of the galaxy and moved forward.

Izzy stared at her display and said, “There, in the edge near the blue star.”

Arvolo brought the view in close and saw thousands of silver ships in formation just outside the Milky Way. “Well, it looks like they came from another galaxy. Let’s move the view to the planet and see what happened.” He moved the view in to the planet and accelerated into the light being focused. Things started moving at high speed until they saw the silver ships arrive.

Zack knew that the Eight Fleet Command was located on his planet and knew that there would be thousands of ships in the system. The silver ships came out of green space and the Jenze Fleet fell on them like a pack of wolves on a Grizzly. The battle was ferocious but the silver ships did not have superior numbers and that spelled their doom. After the last ship was destroyed, two thirds of the Jenze Fleet jumped away to support other planets being attacked.

“What happened to the planet where I was injured?”

“It was destroyed.”

Zack slowly shook his head, “I think we won this war.”

“If you didn’t they would have never sent those ships to destroy your crashed ship. I think it’s a safe bet that the Jenze survived this attack.” Arvolo looked over at Izzy, “Show him the Jenze Ship that landed on Earth.” Zack looked at Arvolo with narrowed eyes. “As this attack was taking place, a Jenze Scientist, I think he was a scientist, landed on my planet and did some research. I want you to take a look at the recording and tell me if you can see what he was doing.”

Izzy started the recording on Zack’s display and as soon as he saw the small ship he said, “That’s Gren.”

“You know him?”

“We went to Military School together.”

“Well, our planet is about to be hit by a comet and most life is going to be wiped out.”

“I remember that mission. He was a member of our surveyors that found planets for us to use for expansion. They would catalogue them for future colonization. According to my ship’s commander, he was going to see if the planet was too damaged by the comet to use. What happened to him?”

Zack continued to watch the recording and saw the attack by the Moets and the T-Rex that killed his friend. Zack took a deep breath, “So much death.”

RV looked at Izzy and then said, “Zack, I’m going to start jumping a million years and see what happens to your home. If we find it destroyed after one of our jumps we’ll back out and see what happened.” Zack nodded.

Over the next four days the three of them watched the Jenze Planet attacked more than thirty times by different ships. Every time the planet managed to survive because of its planetary force field. In ten of the attacks, the field was breeched and some nuclear missiles made it through and though there was damage to some cities, the planet survived. When the Ninja jumped to four million years in the past the planet was destroyed and still burning. Zack stood up and looked in shock at the screen.

Arvolo stared at the dead planet and after a long moment of silence said, “Whoever did this was able to defeat your planetary defenses. I would guess that this is where your, and our, ancestors died. Are you sure you want to see this?”

Zack took a deep breath and nodded, “I’m staggered at the number of times we’ve been attacked. Does this happen to every civilization?”

“We’ve not found any exceptions yet. I’m backing up ten years.”

Izzy looked over at Zack and saw the sorrow written on his face. She reached over and squeezed his hand. Zack looked at her and continued to hold her hand as Arvolo jumped the ship.

Chapter Twelve

Chris and Jillian looked at Dolly as she contacted George and Meisa. Dolly waited and said, “I don’t why you two are in such a hurry to leave; you just got back a few weeks ago.”

Jillian looked at Chris and looked at him through her eyebrows, “I agree with you. We’ve only gone dancing six times.”

“Oh, and you didn’t invite me?”

“It was a spur of the moment thing.”

“And you didn’t invite me?”

Chris smiled, “It was for professional dancers only. Amateurs were not allowed.”

Dolly looked away from her display and tilted her head, “You two old fuddy duttys can’t keep up with Jeff and I; you’re too stiff. You just didn’t want any competition.” Dolly stared at them and smiled, “You were afraid I wouldn’t dress appropriately, weren’t you?” She saw their guilty expressions and Dolly laughed, “I can’t go around like I used to; I’m a married woman now and I have an image to uphold.”

“You were married the last time you went with us and that didn’t seem to bother you.”

“Yeah, but Jeff put his foot down and said I have to uphold the integrity of my position. He refused to go again if I didn’t turn over a new leaf.”

“Leaves were about all you wore last time, Dolly.”

“Oh Jillian, they were big leaves and it was during the fall. However, I won’t forgive you if you don’t include me in the future.”

The display illuminated and they saw George and Meisa, “We’re sorry; we were ironing out a problem with the Jukebox’s reactors.”

Chris straightened up, “What kind of problem?”

“Relax, it’s nothing serious. We had to modify the frequency of the scanners so that they could see through the force field. It was too strong to allow anything to get through.”

Dolly smiled, “Hi, George and Meisa, it’s good to see you. How strong is it?”

“It’s too strong. We have to set it at fifty percent and have the reserve set to reinforce it if needed. We’ve installed two of the new reactors and one is used for weapons and the other for the force field. The synchronization of the beams was not easy but we solved that problem a week ago.”

“How would they ship match up to one of the Blue Giant Battleships?”

“If our readings are correct, they no longer pose a threat.”

“There are two million of them, George. They could gang up on us.”

“I really don’t think they could, Chris. The new ship is faster and can escape any attempt to overwhelm it. The ship that chased the original Jukebox would be left far behind in any pursuit. We probably need to go pick a fight and see how we do but I’m certain we could survive now.”

Jillian looked up from her display where she was viewing the new ship’s weapons platform and asked, “How may crew members does it require?”

“It’s designed to work with a hundred and twenty. Twenty of those are pilots of the Needles.”

Chris looked up sharply at the display, “What are Needles?”

“They are new attack craft that have been designed to launch from the ship’s hull. They are stronger than the previous ship and each of them are powered by a smaller version of the new reactors. They carry three fusion missiles and their beams are strong enough to penetrate a Blue Giant just long enough to launch a missile through the opening. The pilots are currently undergoing their training as we speak.”

Dolly asked, “What are the other hundred doing?”

“A third of them are responsible for making sure the reactors are at optimum efficiency. Forty of them have a beam platform, which are placed around the ship, to target selected bogies; however, the ship can be placed on automatic to fire at any ship in the vicinity. The beam operators can override the system if they determine a bogey should be hit immediately. This is designed to target incoming missiles that might not be given a priority by the master system.”

Chris nodded, “That’s a good idea.”

“The remainder of the crew is cross trained on both systems so that the ship can be run in shifts during normal operations. The cross trained crew will also be responsible for getting the Needles ready to launch or recover during General Quarters.” George saw Chris’ expression and said, “What’s wrong?”

“I was hoping I could take the ship out for a couple of trips.”

“I don’t see any reason why you can’t. The crew has been training for more than four months on the new ship design. The crew for the Jukebox is ready to go on its trial run. Do you anticipate any combat on these trips?”

“Yes, I do George.”

Dolly looked at Chris, “You didn’t say anything about combat!”

“Dolly, how can you go anywhere in this universe and not expect to encounter a rabid predator?”

“We’ve got our galaxy under control at the moment.”

“Who said my trips were going to be in this galaxy?”

Dolly leaned back in her chair but before she could respond George said, “You’re going to M87?”

Chris looked shocked, “How did you figure that out?”

“I’ve been receiving the feed from Captain Arvolo’s ship and it appears the Jenze were attacked numerous times by ships from that Galaxy. I suspect he will confirm shortly that the Jenze were ultimately destroyed by ships from that Galaxy. We need to see what the current state of affairs is in that monster. Where else are you going?”

“I felt that if this ship can stand up to the Blue Giants that we should let them know that they aren’t welcome to come here again. That was going to be my first visit.”

Dolly remained silent as she listened to the conversation. Then George said something that convinced her to approve the mission. “You should wait for the Crazy Cuban to arrive before you leave.”

“Why?”

“He can train those new pilots faster than anyone we have. They need to temper their aggressiveness with tactics and he has a natural ability to know what works. Those Needles are going to make a huge difference in the survival of your ship.”

Chris looked at Jillian and she nodded. “He hasn’t been trained on the Needles.”

George laughed, “He’ll fly one better with no training than anyone trained on them. Let him take one out and that’s all he’ll need.”

Meisa said, “We’d be glad to go with you on the initial flight.”

Dolly said, “Absolutely not!”

George looked at Dolly and started to resist but then smiled, “You’re right, of course. Our duty is here getting the rest of the fleet prepared.” He looked at Meisa and smiled, “You know she’s right.”

Meisa sighed, “I miss the good ole days.”

George laughed out loud, “Love, it was only one day.”

“I still miss it.”

Dolly said, “I want Admiral Ander’s ship ready as soon as possible. We may need to assist Admiral Connor and I want the ability to do it if needed.”

“He is out with his ship training the crew. He should be ready soon.” George looked at Chris and said, “I’ll send the Jukebox to Earth and you can start going through battle drills until the Ninja makes it back. Make good use of the time.”

Jillian looked at Dolly, “Then we have your support?”

“If you and George think this is needed, that’s all I need to know. You have your approval and I’ll notify President Suh.”

Chris looked at Jillian, “Will you take over the training; I need to visit some scientists.”

“Get back as quickly as possible.”

“You know I will.”

* * *

Arvolo entered normal space and sent out the field. After four minutes the board chimed and the Jenze planet was centered on the display. Zack looked at the display and said, “Everything looks normal.”

RV nodded and jumped ahead five years. The display once again showed the planet with numerous ships around it both coming and leaving the system. RV jumped three years and once the display illuminated they saw a huge fleet of starships moving in toward the planet from the outer system. Jenze ships started appearing in normal space to confront the incoming fleet and the numbers of defenders was growing by the second. Izzy looked at her board and said, “The incoming fleet has about two hundred thousand warships. The Jenze just matched their numbers with the last group that jumped in. The Jenze are continuing to arrive.”

Zack watched the massive Jenze fleet organize and start moving to meet the invading fleet. Jenze ships continued to arrive and join the rear ranks of the defenders. He knew that it didn’t matter how many ships arrived, they were going to lose this battle. He had already seen the burning planet and the blasted hulks floating in the system. Who were those invaders?

RV focused in on the invaders and saw them form four lines of fifty thousand ships in each line with a thousand feet between each one. Then he saw the force field activate. He stood up and pointed at the display, “That fleet is using one force field to protect it. It appears that each ship is contributing to the overall field.”

Zack looked and saw RV was right. The light green glow surrounded the invading fleet, which had stopped and organized itself into the line formations. Once the formation and force field was in place the huge fleet started moving forward. The Front ranks of the Jenze Fleet arrived and fired hundreds of thousands of missiles at the approaching ships. The missiles streaked out and started impacting the force field. The blasts were gigantic but did not penetrate the ranks of the approaching ships. The Jenze Fleet split and moved over the top and bottom of the invaders as they fired their main beams at the individual ships in the ranks of the attackers. Nothing made it through the force field. The incoming fleet did not fire back and waited until the massive defensive fleet had gathered around its formation.

RV said, “They’re making a huge mistake. They shouldn’t have all their ships at the battle. They should have left half of them at the planet.”

Zack continued to watch the display, “Why is that?”

“The invaders are waiting for them. They must think they can kill those ships.”

One of the Jenze main battleships fired twenty heavy missiles at the force field and followed them in with its force field at its maximum strength. The missiles and ship struck the force field and blew a hole in it that allowed two other Jenze ships to get through the force field before it closed. The two ships attacked the invaders and destroyed eight ships before they were hit with a white ball of something. The invading fleet then fired millions of the white streaks of energy that went out and homed in on the Jenze Fleet. The strange energy pulses hit and blew through the Jenze force fields as if they weren’t there. The Jenze Fleet began exploding around the invaders and the explosions moved away and began destroying those ships in the outer ranks. If a white pulse hit a ship, it died in a huge explosion. The thousands of Jenze ships further from the invaders turned to run but the pulses were faster and caught them. Hundreds began jumping into green space but of the three hundred thousand ships that left the planet, more than two hundred and fifty thousand were destroyed. The survivors jumped back in to normal space at the planet but they were now outnumbered by more than four to one.

RV looked at Izzy, “Did you get a reading on the strength of that force field?”

“Yes, I did. That energy ball, pulse, or whatever you want to call it, is twice as strong as the beams being used by the Jenze.”

RV watched the large violet colored ships accelerate towards the planet and arrive a thousand miles above the planetary force field. The fifty thousand survivors rushed at the fleet to suicide against the force field but were destroyed by the strange white pulses before they could get close. Zack said, “They’ve taken station above the continent with the force field structure.”

RV focused in on the continent below the fleet and saw a huge pyramid surrounded by a modern city emitting a broad beam. The invading ships all launched a white pulse at the huge structure on the surface and two hundred thousand of them struck the force field directly above the pyramid. The force field held momentarily but failed when a hundred and fifty thousand pulses hit it. Fifty thousand of the pulses screamed down to the planet’s surface and disintegrated the huge pyramid along with the city surrounding it. The force field around the rest of the planet disappeared and the huge fleet began raining hundreds of thousands of the pulses into the now defenseless world. The fleet moved around the planet continuing to rain down destruction and soon a tsunami of wind borne fire began sweeping across the surface at more than three hundred miles per hour. Everything was burned out of existence including the oceans.

Izzy and Zack watched the planet’s destruction but RV separated his display and focused in on the ranks of the invaders. He studied the ships closely and saw that one of them in the center of the formation was slightly larger than the others. He brought the view in closer and saw a section on its hull slide back and large cone shaped device emerge and orient itself away from the planet and above the solar system’s plane. He set his board and had his sensors look in the direction the cone was pointed. He brought the view out and saw the beam was aimed outside the galaxy. He followed the direction and saw a distant galaxy. He recorded his findings and then turned his board back to the planet. “This fleet has just called for a general invasion of this galaxy.”

Izzy and Zack turned and looked at him.

“One of their ships has just sent a message to another galaxy and I’m reasonably certain that the major invasion will now start since the species in those ships have determined that they can be successful against the Jenze.”

Zack was in a state of shock and Izzy was holding his hand, “What makes you think that, RV?”

“Those ships invaded this galaxy ten million years ago and had their butts kicked by the Jenze. I’m sure they’ve mapped every Jenze planet and have been working to develop a weapon to defeat the planetary force field. They aren’t coming to kill every one; only the Jenze.”

RV pulled up a ship that had attacked the Jenze millions of years earlier and they saw that it was similar to the current ship being used by the invading fleet. “This is where your people were exterminated, Zack.”

Izzy watched the continued bombardment and asked, “Then how did they arrive at Earth more than three million years from now?”

“I have no idea. That’s an issue we’ll have to attempt to answer later. We need to go home and deliver what we’ve discovered.” Izzy continued to hold Zack’s hand. RV jumped the Ninja and watched as they stood and left the bridge….together. RV put on his glasses that he had refused to wear since Izzy came on board and sighed. He took his time arriving home to give them time together. Once again, I lose to a flat-belly.

* * *

Chris looked at the huge display in the planetarium as Paul Howard pulled up a close up view of M87. Paul said as the huge galaxy grew in size, “We were given this view when you went out originally to capture the Jenze Weapon. It was off to the side of your line of sight to Earth but we were able to enhance it and see details we’ve never seen before.”

“What can you tell me about it, Doctor?”

“That galaxy is in a class by itself. It’s located at the center of the Virgo Super Cluster of which the Milky Way is a part. We are of the opinion that all the other five thousand galaxies actually revolve around this monster. Our best approximation is that it has 200 times the mass of our galaxy.”

“What makes it so special?”

“It has a black hole in the center that staggers the imagination. Most black holes in the center of Galaxies are about seven or eight hundred times the mass of our sun. The black hole in the center of M87 is more than six billion times the mass of our sun. It is possibly the largest black hole in the universe and it is extremely active.”

Chris stared at the image and said, “That huge jet coming out of the center must be dangerous?”

“It is and it erupts periodically with a pulse of gamma and x-rays that extend more than six thousand light years from the center. It erases all the dust in its path preventing the formation of any new stars. It will also kill any life on planets that happen to be close by.”

“Are you saying that life will be rare in M87?”

“Oh no! M87 was once thought to be the same width as our galaxy but we now know that it is about 500,000 light years wide. It has more than ten times the number of stars in it as well. Our galaxy has between 120 to 150 star clusters inside it. M87 has more than 12,000 orbiting the black hole at the center. Some of those clusters located close to the center only have half a light year separating the individual stars. The average for the Milky Way is seven light years. There are more than two trillion stars in that giant galaxy and half of them are older than the Milky Way.”

Chris stared at the image and asked, “If I were looking for intelligent life in that galaxy, where would I start my search?”

Start on the outer edges that are on the same plane as the black hole. Anything above and below it would be in the path of the black hole’s eruptions. Start in from the edges.”

“Do you see any areas that appear to be good candidates?”

Doctor Howard smiled, “There are too many Class G-Stars to count but I’ve made a map of the galaxy and highlighted the ones that are in their prime. I’d start with those.”

Chris took the insert, “Thanks, I appreciate your help.”

“Dr. Connor, I suspect there are more civilized planets in M87 than a thousand other galaxies. I would also suspect that a huge number of those civilizations are ancient.”

Chris nodded, “We already know that to be true. We just need to find the bullies of the bunch.”

Dr. Howard slowly shook his head, “I suspect they will find you.”

Chris smiled, “I suspect you’re right.”

* * *

“Jillian, Captain Arvolo is back.”

“Thank you, Lt.” Jillian went to her command chair and said, “Contact the Ninja.” Captain Arvolo’s face appeared on her display and she saw him smile, “Captain, did you find what you were looking for?”

“Yes, we did. Who should I send the documentation to?”

“Send a copy to George, Dolly, and Chris’s address. I also want you to drop off the Jenze with Dolly.”

“What’s going to happen to him?”

“George wants to talk with him about the reactors and then he’ll be pretty much free to do as he pleases.”

RV sighed and said, “I would recommend you sent Commodore Rosillo with him until we are finished with him. He’s pretty much helpless without someone to guide him in our society.”

Jillian stared at Arvolo and saw this was not something she should question, “I’ll clear it through Dolly. As soon as you drop them off I need you to get to the Jukebox ASAP.”

“Why is that?”

“You have been given command of our Needles. Admiral Anders ship has been kicking out backside in maneuvers and I would hate to give up our mission to his ship. I need you to get our pilots in shape.”

Arvolo squinted, “What is a Needle?”

“It’s a new ship designed to be a small attack craft for the new class of battleship. We need you, Captain. Get here quickly.”

Arvolo smiled, “Who is in command of the pilots now?”

“Captain West Maddit.”

Arvolo rolled his eyes, “That explains a lot. What are you going to do with him?”

Jillian tilted her head. Admiral Anders had recommended him to command the Needles. “What would you like to do with him?”

“Don’t do anything until I arrive. I’ll handle his disposition.”

* * *

Jeff met the Ninja at the Melbourne Spaceport and Zack and Izzy left with him. Just before Zack stepped off the ship he turned to RV, “I know you have been honest and have treated me with respect. I count you as one of my friends.”

RV smiled and the handsome Jenze stepped out of the landing bay. Izzy smiled and started to say something but then shook her head and followed Zack out.

Dolly sat in her chair and watched the two disembark from the Ninja and saw the Jenze take Izzy’s hand as they walked away with Jeff. What went wrong? She was perfect for the Cuban. This was her first failure and she intended to find out where she had made a mistake. She had to stay at the top of her game in manipulating the important relationships. What went wrong? She shook her head and went to greet the two arrivals.

* * *

RV lifted the Ninja and accelerated into the upper atmosphere. He located the Jukebox and turned on the speed. He had a job to do and cleaning up after Auto Maddit wasn’t going to be easy. He flew the Ninja into the landing bay and Lt. Wheatly announced, “Crew, Attennnshun!” Wheatly saluted RV as he stepped out of the port and RV returned it. “Where are the pilots?”

“They’re in the simulator going over yesterday’s mission results.”

“Take me there, Lt.”

RV followed Wheatly to the simulator room and as he quietly entered the darkened room he saw Captain Maddit standing in front of the class dressing down one of the pilots. The Captain was pointing to a recording where a ship had left the one in front to go and attack four other ships. “What possessed you to leave your wingman!?! You know the rules of engagement. It led to your wingman being knocked out of the maneuver. I will not tolerate incompetence.”

The pilot stood at attention and said, “Those ships were moving in to attack the Jukebox.”

“I don’t care if they were moving in to attack your mother; you will not leave your wingman.”

RV said from the back of the room, “I would think you would be congratulating him on his quick thinking.”

The room grew silent and Maddit turned and looked at the back of the room and saw Arvolo striding toward the front of the room. Maddit smirked, “Well if it isn’t the great Cuban. I see you still ignore the uniform regulations.”

RV looked down at the island shirt he was wearing and said, “I’m off duty for the moment. I just wanted to come see how the training was going.”

Maddit knew he had seniority on Arvolo and said, “I haven’t approved you to be in this class. You may leave now.”

Arvolo stood there slowly shaking his head, “You haven’t changed at all.”

“If you don’t want to end up in the brig, you’ll leave immediately.”

Lt. Wheatly stepped in and came up to Arvolo with a clipboard and saluted, “Admiral, you need to sign these orders.” Maddit heard the Lt. and his face showed his shock. Arvolo signed and Wheatly said, “Thank you, Admiral.”

Arvolo looked at Maddit and barked, “You will come to attention, Captain.” Maddit snapped to attention along with the other twenty pilots. Arvolo walked up and looked him in the eyes from two inches away, “You sanctimonious piece of lizard crap. Using a wingman went out with jets. You don’t know anything about space tactics and you are ruining these pilots’ chances of survival. You will report directly to the naval base in Guantanamo where you assume command of the janitorial services. The base Commander will be inspecting your work to determine whether or not you have a place in this modern Navy.” Arvolo keyed his com, “Major Lundgren, please report to the simulator immediately.”

Arvolo continued to stare in Maddit’s eyes until the Marine Major arrived. “Yes Sir, Admiral.”

“Take this lousy excuse of an officer to Colonel Gomez in Cuba. Confine him to quarters until he receives his orders.”

“Yes Sir. Come with me Captain.” Maddit turned and left the room.

RV looked at the nervous pilots and said, “Take a chair and let’s look at the exercises.” The pilots sat down and RV rewound the recording. “Before we begin, you need to know just one rule. Your only mission is to protect the mother ship. Say it!”

“The only rule is to protect the mother ship.”

“Louder!”

“THE ONLY RULE IS TO PROTECT THE MOTHER SHIP!!!”

“Now let’s look at the recording. We’ll start with the one Maddit was discussing and I want you to keep in mind that one rule while we look at it.” The recording showed the two Needles chasing a Red Team Needle. “How many Needles does the other force have?”

The pilots yelled, “Twenty, Sir.”

“And how many do we have?”

“Twenty, Sir.”

Arvolo ran through the recording and showed the ten teams of two Needles each chasing a single ship away from the Jukebox. “How many ships does the opposing force now have to attack the mother ship?”

The pilots were silent and Arvolo yelled, “How many!?!”

“Ten, Sir.”

Arvolo turned to the pilot that was chasing the single ship when their wingman left, “That ship you were chasing was flying at high speed away from the mother ship. You saw your wingman turn to attack the four ships moving in on the Jukebox. Why did you continue that chase and I want you to keep the only rule in mind before you answer?”

“To make the kill, Sir.”

“In other words, you put personal glory over the lives of your ship mates.” Arvolo stared at the pilots and said, “You should have broken off your attack to defend your brothers and sisters on your base ship.”

Arvolo put an insert into the computer and said, “I’m going to show you how three ships defended the Jukebox during actual combat at the Moet’s planet.” The pilots sat up straight in their chairs and RV saw their excitement. He replayed the recording of the fleet’s battle against the Alliance fleet and they watched how the three ships coordinated their actions to protect the huge ship as it moved by the Alliance fleet. “I want you to notice the attack craft that were attacking the battleships in the Alliance formations. Most of them became Aces that day.”

Arvolo turned on the lights and stared at the twenty pilots, “If you want to be an Ace, tell me now.”

A female pilot in the second row raised her hand, “Do you want to be an Ace?”

“Before I answer, I want to know what you’ll do if I say yes.”

RV stared at the pilot and tried to maintain his stern expression but couldn’t. He laughed and said, “Now that is a question that needs answering. If you want to be an Ace, I will transfer you off this ship so fast you’ll not even know you left.”

She held her hand up again and RV nodded, “Sir, the three of you actually killed more ships than the ones attacking the fleet.”

RV stared at the young woman and asked, “What is your name, Pilot?”

“Lt. Cyanna Hardy, Sir.”

“You were able to make that determination by what you just saw?”

“Yes Sir, it’s obvious.”

“No it isn’t, Lt. You are the first one to have been able to make that determination just from viewing the recording. You are now the second in Command of this Wing and are promoted to the rank of Captain.” RV looked at the others, “The cold hard truth of space combat is that if you know the enemy has to come to you to attack, you have the advantage. When you move away from the mother ship you expand the area to be controlled, you lose the support of your fellow pilots, and the covering fire of the mother ship. That’s why you’ve been getting your asses handed to you in these maneuvers.” RV paused and said, “I’m going to replay the maneuvers and I want you to examine your actions keeping rule number one in mind and tell me at the end if you would have done something different.”

RV replayed the recording and watched as the pilots squirmed in their chairs and winced at their tactics. After the recording ended the pilots sat in their chairs silent. “Do I need to go over what happened?” All of them shook their head. “Good, I prefer to spend this time developing a strategy to defend the mother ship against attackers. I am going to divide you into six three ship teams with one ship at the front of the Jukebox and one at the rear. The one at the front will be flying above the ship and the one at the rear will be flying below the ship. You will form six triangles around the Jukebox and you will support the ships immediately in front and behind you. Let me show you how it’s done.”

Three hours later the pilots knew their assignments and Cyanna asked, “Where is my assignment?”

“You will be the ship in front and will evaluate the incoming Needle’s formation to activate the rotation of the triangles. I don’t expect you to be perfect the first time but what will get you latrine detail is if I see any of you attacking an opposing ship alone. Do you understand?”

“Yes Sir.”

“Now go out there and make your shipmates proud.”

Jillian had the monitor in the Simulator Room feeding to her display and smiled. She waited until Arvolo arrived on the Bridge and said, “Do you have any tactics you’d like the mother ship to use?”

Arvolo smiled, “You’ve been watching.” Jillian nodded, “I would like to fly the ship if it meets with your approval.”

Jillian smiled, “By all means.”

“I’d also like you to do something for me once the maneuver starts.”

“What is that?”

Arvolo told her and she laughed out loud.

* * *

Kenny Anders looked at Jillian on his display and smiled, “Are you ready for today’s engagement, Sir?”

“Yes, I am.”

“We will commence in ten seconds.”

“I’m counting it down. By the way, my new Wing Commander wants to say hello.”

Kenny’s display changed and he saw Arvolo smiling at him, “Hello, I hope you’ve rewired your communication panel.”

Jillian and Arvolo saw Kenny’s shock and then Jillian pushed the communication console and the speakers blasted Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine at high volume: “Come on Baby can’t you hear the Conga, I know you can’t control yourself any longer…” Kenny’s orders to his Needles couldn’t be heard over the din. Arvolo’s Needles had the music filtered out.

* * *

“Well, that didn’t take long.”

Jillian was smiling so hard her face hurt, “No, and with the winning time we are now back in first place.” She looked over at her display, “That’s Admiral Anders.”

“Let me take it, please.” Jillian nodded and Arvolo smiled, “Good afternoon, Sir.”

“Arvolo, you broke the rules of engagement.”

“Which one are you referring to, Sir?”

Kenny stared at the large Cuban wearing his reading glasses and burst out laughing. “That was a great idea. We’ll have to write that in to the new rules that communication disruption is a no-no.”

“We’ll do it tomorrow without it.”

“No, that would be a waste of time. I reviewed the tactics of your Needles and I can see that we would have lost either way. I’ll give up the effort to take the mission if you will come and instruct my pilots on that new formation they used. Every one of my Needles was knocked out of the simulation within thirty minutes. You are the difference.”

“I was initially but my second in command is the one that directed the Needles, not me. She seems to understand the tactics as easily as I do.”

“Would you consider transferring her to my ship?”

Jillian came on the channel and said, “We’ll talk about it after the mission but I suspect once your pilots are trained they will be proficient if they practice.”

“Why are you taking just one ship, Sir?”

Jillian paused and looked at Arvolo who shrugged and she said, “I don’t know. Let me discuss it with Chris and I’ll get back to you.”

Kenny nodded and smiled, “It’s good to see you again, RV.”

Arvolo smiled, “Where’s an Alpha when you need one.”

“Closer than you think, my friend.”

Arvolo saw the display go dark and thought for a moment, “Sir, could you do me a favor.”

Jillian looked at Arvolo, “What do you want?”

“I want you to send the recording of the pilots training session before the war games along with the recording of the action just completed to Captain Maddit and order him to write a report on it for your personal attention.”

Jillian stared at RV and asked, “Why would you want that?”

“He’s not a bad person. He’s just inexperienced. I think the exposure to Cuba and the recordings might help him.”

“Oh, so now he’s infected with Cuba.”

Arvolo smiled, “Something like that.”

“Consider it done, Admiral.”

“You can call me Captain, Sir. I like that rank better.”

Jillian laughed and nodded. She had a lot to discuss with Chris.

Chapter Thirteen

Arvolo went to the communications room and sat down in front of a George Communicator. He released the frequency control and set the system to search for a frequency that was being transmitted in Sierra Space. He waited for twenty minutes and then the frequency locked on a signal. He listened to it and saw thousands of messages being transmitted on the display. He reached into his pocket and took out a round metallic disc and placed it on his forehead with the attached headband. He focused the communicator on one of the communications and leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He remained in the chair for more than three hours and started moving the selector to other communications.

* * *

Chris arrived at the Jukebox in a Fleet Shuttle and immediately went to the bridge. Jillian waited for his arrival and greeted him with a big kiss, “You’re violating protocols.”

Jillian laughed, “So send me to the brig. How did your meeting go?”

Chris sat down in the command chair and sighed heavily, “I’ll let you know in a moment. Have you made the changes to the bridge we discussed?”

“The new Chair is being installed in the morning. The connections have already been run.”

“Good, I suspect your idea is a good one.”

“We have also received a request from Commodore Roselli.”

“What is that?”

“She and the Jenze want to be assigned to the Jukebox.”

“How do you think that will affect the Cuban?”

“I think it’s a good idea. She’ll be assigned to the weapons operators and the Jenze will just be an observer.”

“Train him to be a Needle Pilot. It will give him something to do and keep him from thinking too much about the destruction of his civilization.”

“Now that is a good idea. I’ll notify George to send them here as soon as he finishes with them. Admiral Anders also inquired about why we’re only taking one ship?”

“I thought the Jukebox would be the only one ready to go. I’d take ten if we had them ready.”

“You look worried.”

Chris ran his hand through his hair and stood up from the command chair, “I am, Jillian. We’re going to be going into some very dangerous places. I’ve done some examination of M87 and I now believe that most of the attacks on the civilizations in our galaxy have originated there. The ships that wiped out the Jenze are now four million years further along in development and I firmly believe they are coming back. Maybe not in our lifetime, though it could be tomorrow, and they will be even more powerful. I was going there first but I’ve changed my mind and think we should go visit the Blue Giants first.”

Jillian sat down and asked, “What changed your mind?”

“We can’t start trouble in M87 as long as we’re faced with the Blue Giants invading again. We must see what they’re doing and how long before they return.” Chris looked at his panel and said, “Admiral Arvolo, report to the bridge.”

“What are you thinking?”

Chris took a deep breath, “I’m not experienced enough to fight this ship. Arvolo is going to have to command in combat operations. Before I go jumping away into trouble, I want to know what he thinks we need to take with us.” Jillian nodded.

* * *

RV moved rapidly down the corridors of the Jukebox and came to attention as he entered the Bridge. He saluted and said, “Admiral Arvolo reporting as ordered, Sir.”

Chris returned his salute and said, “Pull up a chair and let’s have a discussion, RV.”

Arvolo smiled at Chris’s use of his name and pulled a chair over from the map table.

“RV, you are now the Commander of the Jukebox and will fight the ship in any combat operations.” Chris saw RV frown and said, “Unless you can recommend a better Pilot for this ship.”

RV thought about it and said, “I can’t, Sir. I just hate to leave the Needle Pilots. They’re making great progress.”

“I expect you to continue your work with them as your duties allow but I am not qualified to handle the ship in combat. You should know that.”

“No, you’re not.”

Chris stared at Arvolo and said, “Speak freely, Admiral and tell me why you say that.”

“You moved the Jukebox over the top of the Alliance formation to the Moet Planet. You should have jumped there instead. You also only had the Ninja for defense. It was President Suh that ordered the other two ships to join me. Those ships were needed and the Jukebox would have been in danger if they weren’t there. You risked the most important leaders of the Fleet in making that move and it was not good tactics.”

Chris slowly shook his head, “You’re right. In hindsight, it was not a good move. That’s why you’re needed to command.” Chris said, “Pull up a view of the Andromeda Galaxy.” The main display changed and showed a beautiful spiral galaxy that looked very similar to the Milky Way. “That is where the Blue Giants live. I’m planning to go there and determine their capabilities and see if we can uncover their plans for a future invasion. I need you to tell me what we need to do to be prepared when we arrive?”

RV looked at the display and then said, “First, I need the two of you to go to the communications room and spend some time learning the Blue Giant’s language.”

Jillian said, “How are we going to do that?”

RV took out the Jenze translator and said, “Zack loaned me this Jenze translator and I’ve been listening to the Blue Giant’s communications. I can now speak and understand their language. It will take about three hours for the bulk of it to be done but after eight hours you should be fluent.”

Chris looked at Jillian then said to RV, “Can we duplicate that device?”

“I don’t know but before we attempt it I want the two of you to use it. It may be damaged in the duplication.”

“We will start that process immediately. What else do we need?”

“We need two more ships to go with us.”

“We only have two ready, Admiral.”

RV shook his head, “Admiral Anders has continued the war games with a third ship that arrived five days ago. It should be up to speed within a week.”

“Why three ships?”

“Three ships can provide a layered defense that is impossible to do with just two. We’ll train the three main ships in the tactics after the third ship is ready.”

“What else, Admiral?”

“I’ve examined the Needles and the launch tubes are long enough to hold two Needles in each. It would only take a small modification to the tubes to carry two Needles and it can be done in less than three weeks. I also want the Needles to carry an additional two fusion missiles under their wings.”

“Why is that?”

“They will be the real ship killers.”

Chris looked confused, “How will they be able to kill a ship that the Jukebox Class can’t destroy?”

RV smiled, “It’s not the jab that knocks you out; it’s the uppercut that follows right behind it. I’ll give you a demonstration after I have Dr. Levin do some surgery on the Needle’s control panels.” Chris nodded and RV asked, “I request that you allow me to make a quick trip to Earth. I’ll be back before the other two ships are ready and before you finish learning the Blue Giant language.”

“Where are you going?”

RV smiled, “To Cuba.”

Chris and Jillian were both startled by RV’s request, “I thought you have not gone back to Cuba since the liberation.”

“I haven’t, but I have a liberation that I need to do. I’m actually going to American soil.”

Chris shrugged and said, “Permission granted, Admiral.”

RV saluted and left the bridge. He boarded a Needle, launched, and jumped to Earth.

* * *

Arvolo entered the latrine and saw the cleaning detail at the far end scrubbing the floors. Captain Maddit was supervising their efforts and Arvolo saw he was filthy from joining the team in finishing their task on time before the Base Commander arrived to inspect the facility. Arvolo smiled and then adopted a stern expression. One of the sailors saw Arvolo approaching and jumped to attention and yelled, “Officer on Deck!”

Maddit turned, saw Arvolo approaching, and came to Attention. He saluted and Arvolo said, “As you were; continue your work. Captain Maddit, please come with me.” Arvolo turned and walked out of the Latrine with Maddit following behind. Maddit knew he was going to have more suffering to endure.

RV stopped outside the latrine and said, “Captain Maddit, I’ve read a report that you submitted to Commodore Connor. Tell me what you meant by not utilizing the Needles to their full capability.”

Maddit remained at attention and said, “If the Needles are for ship defense, they could be made into a more powerful weapon platform, Sir.”

“At ease, Captain. You may speak freely and I won’t use what you say against you. Tell me what you really think.”

Maddit looked at RV and said, “I believe I hate you more than anyone I’ve ever known, Sir.” RV nodded and remained silent. After a moment Maddit continued, “However, you were right. The tactics I was teaching would have caused the destruction of our ships. I reviewed the recording of the session after I was dismissed from my post and it became clear that it’s a whole new ball game fighting a fleet in space.”

“And what did you think about my formation?”

“I would have had three ships flying in front of the ship.”

“What about the stern?”

“I would hope that the ship would be flying fast enough so that any attack from the rear would be difficult. The single ship would have more time to see any ships coming from that direction and call for any needed support.”

RV nodded and said, “I’m going to start carrying two Needles in each launch tube. The first will be used in ship defense and the second for attack.”

Maddit thought a moment, “How are you planning to arm the attack ships?”

“They will carry two missiles under the wings that will have their warheads made from our spent nuclear material.”

Maddit thought a moment and said, “Those warheads will be extremely hardened. Are you planning to launch them at light speed?”

RV laughed out loud, “Yes, I am.”

Maddit frowned, “I don’t believe our current force fields could withstand that kind of strike if the missile is at full mass when it hits.”

RV nodded, “Captain, you are promoted to the rank of Commodore and will leave immediately to take command of the Needle Pilots on the Melbourne. You will report to Admiral Bob Owens and I expect you to run a tight team.”

Maddit stared at Arvolo and slowly shook his head, “Why did you send me here?”

“To learn what you didn’t know.”

“I still hate you.”

“I can live with that, Wes; losing lives due to your lack of knowledge is something that I couldn’t.”

Maddit looked at RV and stuck out his hand, “I will make the service proud, Sir.”

RV shook his hand and said, “I expect in time that I will be reporting to you, Wes.”

“I hope not, Sir; I would miss the combat.”

RV nodded and put his arm around Maddit’s shoulder as he talked about how to use the new attack craft. They left an hour later to take Maddit back to the fleet. Commodore Maddit became one of RV’s best friends and a warrior that would be remembered in Earth’s new history.

Chapter Fourteen

Dolly saw Izzy enter her office and she stood to greet her, “Welcome, Commodore Roselli, it’s good to see you.”

“Thank you, Madam.”

“I’ve considered your request to join the ships under Admiral Connor’s command and we have decided to grant it.”

Izzy smiled and said, “Thank you.”

Dolly went back to her desk and said, “I notice that you and our Jenze friend have become quite attached.”

Izzy’s face turned red and she nodded, “I didn’t plan for that to happen but yes we are an item.”

Dolly tried hard not to show too much interest but asked, “I would have thought you and Captain Arvolo would have had more in common.”

Dolly continued to look at her display feigning disinterest and heard Izzy say, “He’s too intimidating.”

Dolly looked up, “Intimidating?”

“Madam Director, he is naturally brilliant and his ability to see things that everyone else misses is staggering. I always felt reluctant to offer any suggestions because I knew he would see something I missed.”

Dolly smiled, “I can understand that. Well, good luck with your new assignment. Your Jenze friend will be trained on the Needles and will be a fill in pilot. Please tell him we really are thankful for helping us used the Jenze switching device.”

“He’ll appreciate that opportunity and he’s happy to have helped us.. Thank you, again.” Izzy turned and left Dolly’s office.

Dolly sighed, well; it looks like there was no one cut out to match up with the Crazy Cuban. She would just have to keep her eyes open. She shook her head and thought, “Well, I missed that one.” She saw Jeff come in and said, “Have you come here to gloat?”

“No, it was a great try. The good news is that Zack is starting to feel a part of our world. It was good she was there.”

Dolly thought a moment and smiled brightly, “You’re right.”

Jeff laughed and went back to the hanger after giving Dolly a hug.

Dolly thought a moment and said, “Contact George Sierra.”

George appeared on her display, “What’s up, Sissy.”

“Was the Jenze able to help you with any information?”

“As a matter of fact he did. We’ve modified our switching of the reactors and there was another element that the Jenze didn’t use in their reactors because it made the energy too powerful for their reactor to contain.”

“What does that mean as far as our new ships?”

“Our reactors suspend the fuel in the reactor so they are able to handle the additional stress. We’ve trialed it and our energy levels were raised considerably.”

“Can we use it on the Jukebox Class ships?”

“Yes, but only on the force fields. The current beam technology we’re using can’t handle the heat. We are going to have to find another material to focus the power.”

“So what does that mean for the three ships Chris is taking?”

“We’ve already sent our engineers to inject the new element into the reactors of the three main ships and into the force field generators on the Needles. I was genuinely surprised at the Needles new force fields. It’s now as powerful as the Jukebox’s screen was a week or so ago.”

“Are you close to finding a way to use that power in our weapons?”

“No, we’re not even close. After two seconds the lens melts. I suspect it’s going to be a piece of technology we’ll have to steal from another ship.” George paused and said, “Dolly, you are aware that all of these systems we’ve developed to use on our ships are from technology we’ve acquired from other civilizations? It would have taken us thousands of years to develop them in isolation.”

“Yes, I am and the use of the gravity gun was the first tool we discovered. The important thing to remember is that we took existing technology and improved it to a much higher level. I’m surprised we aren’t able to develop a better means of focusing our beams. You would think that as strong as they are now we wouldn’t have to focus them.” Dolly saw George’s expression immediately change. “What?”

“Sissy, you are a genius.”

“What did I do?”

“Delay the ships for five more days. I think I know how to use the additional power in our beams.” George looked over his shoulder and yelled, “Meisa, get in here, now!” George turned back to Dolly and said, “Just buy me a few more days. Meisa, get in here!!”

The display went dark and Dolly sat there wondering what she had said. She replayed the conversation and still didn’t see what had got George so excited.

* * *

Eight days later all three ships were in space dock with constructions crews working diligently on their hulls. George was in a meeting with the three ships Officers and explained the new guns being installed, “How many of you know anything about the battleships that were used in the World Wars that were fought in the last century?” Every one held up their hand. “What was their primary weapon?”

Arvolo said, “The fourteen inch naval guns.”

“Exactly right, Admiral and how many shots could those guns deliver?”

No one responded so Arvolo said, “Only one at a time and then they would have to be reloaded.”

“Exactly right again; however, each of those shots destroyed anything they hit. The new guns being put on your ships are what we call Main Guns. They will fire three short pulses in succession and then the lens will have to cool for two seconds. The lenses have a cooling system build in to prevent the lens from melting.”

Chris asked, “Why three pulses instead of one long pulse?”

“The lens will melt if the shot is longer than a second each. We’ve designed the pulses to penetrate extremely strong force fields. If the first pulse doesn’t penetrate, the second will and the third will blow through to the ship inside the force field. These guns are good out to a thousand miles and we have not encountered a ship yet that can stand up to just one pulse.”

Kenny raised his hand and asked, “What happens if three don’t penetrate?”

George smiled, “Then I would recommend you run.”

Arvolo said, “Not necessarily.” George turned to Arvolo and he continued, “We are training our Needles to follow a beam in to the ship it’s fired at. The Needle will accelerate to 40% light speed just ahead of the beam and follow it in to the ship. It will arrive right behind the beam strike and launch a hardened striker missile at light speed. The weight of the missile will be returned just before it hits.”

George got out his calculator and his fingers flew across it. He looked up and everyone saw the shock on his face, “Admiral, that two ton missile will have more kinetic energy than the asteroid that struck Earth and killed the dinosaurs.”

“That’s what we’ve calculated.”

Kenny again said, “And if that only knocks a hole in the field?”

“Then the Needle will have a fusion missile flying in right behind the striker.”

Chris said, “This is what you meant by the Needles being ship killers?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Why would you need the beam?”

“The Needles will leave ahead of the beam and move in behind it as it passes them. Any ships the enemy might have to intercept them will be destroyed by the beam. The beam will be the blocker and the Needle will carry the ball.”

Everyone stared at Arvolo and he said, “Hey, this was Commodore Maddit’s idea and he should be given the credit for it.”

Wes stood up and said, “I thought of the striker but it was Admiral Arvolo who thought of using the beam as a blocker.”

Chris said, “The two of you are congratulated for your development.” Chris turned to George, “Just how powerful will these two new weapons be compared to our current beams?”

“Chris, they are not even in the same ball park. The energy hitting a force field with the new pulses and the striker are more than a hundred thousand times the energy of the old beams alone. The striker will hit with more force than eighteen fusion missiles.”

The room was silent. Jillian said, “How can you possibly coordinate the launch of a Needle with the firing of a beam?”

Wes stood and said, “When they fired those fourteen inch guns more than a hundred years ago, someone made the decision to use them. Once the ship commander decides to use the Main Beam weapon system, the Attack Needles will have their boards synchronized with one of the beams. Once the fire button is pushed the Needle will launch and one thousandth of a second later the beam will fire. The ship will be up to speed and will see the beam pulses pass overhead and fall in behind them. Weapons will be released automatically on the Needle and the Pilot will only have to worry about turning away from the target and returning to their mother ship. The strikers are programmed to hit any area on the force field hit by one of our beams. In the absence of a beam strike it will just hit the force field.”

Chris looked at Jillian and turned back to George, “I was extremely reluctant to delay our mission but now I’m really thankful we did. George you should also be congratulated for your new development.”

“Thanks, but just make sure you come back from this mission.”

Chris smiled, “I have all the confidence that we now have a better chance of survival. Thank you, George.”

Jillian came over to Chris, “Did you notice that RV now takes the protection of the Jukebox as a personal challenge.”

“Yes, and we are going to make it even more personal.”

“How are we going to do that?”

“I’ve had the ships name changed in the Ship’s Registry.”

“Oh?”

“It’s now named the Havana.”

“Does he know?”

“Not yet. The name will be put on the hull after all the guns are in place.”

“Now I remember why I married you.” Chris tilted his head. “You always think of others before yourself. I love that about you.”

Chris saw her expression and knew he would remember this moment for the rest of his life. The love on her face was what gave him life. “Why don’t we go down and have dinner with Arnold. I know he misses you.”

Jillian wrapped her arms around Chris and put her head on his chest.

* * *

Arvolo was sitting in his personal quarters when the door chimed. He looked up and said, “Enter.” He saw Cyanna Hardy standing at the entrance, “Please come in, Commodore.”

Cyanna came in and came to attention and saluted, “Permission to have a few words with you, Sir.”

Arvolo saw that the Captain had her blond hair down to her shoulders and her blue eyes were bright. She looked very different out of her flight suit, “Only if you relax and sit down. I get enough of the spit and polish during the day. What’s on your mind?”

“I’ve been thinking about the new tactics for our attack craft.”

“And?”

“I don’t like it, Sir.”

Arvolo stared at the young woman who was obviously troubled, “Tell me why?”

“I will but first I want to ask you a question.” Arvolo shrugged and she asked, “Admiral, would you allow the weapons on a ship you were flying to be totally controlled by the computer?”

Arvolo said, “Sit down, Captain.” Cyanna went to the chair at the small desk and took a seat. “No, I would not like having my weapons controlled completely by software. However, at the speed my pilots will be flying, being able to fire at the right moment will be almost impossible.”

“So set the armament system to activate when chosen; don’t make it automatic. I also think it’s not good tactics to attack the way it’s planned now.”

“Go on.”

“The way I see it, the whole reason for having the Needles flying at such a high rate of speed is to deliver a striker or fusion missile right behind a beam strike.”

“That’s correct.”

“Well if the Needle is going to see the beam pass by overhead, why not just move up behind it and fire the striker or missile behind the beam? The Needle can then slow down and evaluate the results. It would then be able to fire the second striker, a beam, or a fusion missile. By having the Needles moving in so fast, there is nothing they can do but turn away from the ship that they’re attacking. You also keep the Needles away from the enemy’s close in weapons by having them slow down.”

Arvolo tilted his head and stared at her. He said, “I’ve never seen successful attacks when the ships are flying in at top speed. Write your proposal up with all the exceptions and bring it back to me tonight. I’ll see what I can do.”

Cyanna smiled, stood up, saluted Arvolo, and left the room. Arvolo was thankful she had finally shown up. He was thinking he was going to have to give her a hint to get her moving but she saw it on her own. He knew the high speed attack was not good tactics but he didn’t want to be the one to suggest the change to Wes. It had to come from someone else. Now he just had to nudge Wes in the right direction and things would be as they should. Arvolo put on his glasses and lifted a book. Cyanna was proving to be quite talented in tactics. He was going to keep a close eye on her wing. She was also very nice to look at.

Cyanna left the room and was excited at the Admiral accepting her proposal. He was a big man but he intrigued her. He was the first man she had ever met that was able to see things she missed. She knew that he was already seeing the changes that needed to be done. She wondered why he wanted her to suggest them. She smiled, it’s just another thing he saw that she didn’t.

* * *

Three weeks passed and Chris sat in the Admiral’s Chair on board his Flagship. The three ships were completed and Admiral Arvolo was in the Command Chair looking at the ready lights on his board. Chris said, “Contact Space Dock.” Colonel Cowart appeared on the main display and Chris asked, “Are you ready for our launch?”

“We just have to remove the cover on the bow and then you’ll be released.”

Arvolo looked up at Chris wondering what was going on and Chris said, “If you will do the honors, Colonel.”

Colonel Coward pulled a rope and the new name plate was revealed. “Sir, the Havana is now ready for launch.”

Arvolo stared at the picture on the display that read, “United Earth Ship Havana.” He turned around and Chris said, “This is your ship, Admiral; let’s go make history.”

Arvolo turned around and wiped his eyes and nudged the thrusters.

Colonel Coward announced, “Tampa and Melbourne, you are clear for launch.”

Dolly, Jeff, Arnold, and Hemon watched the three eighteen hundred foot long ships move smoothly out of the giant space dock. Arnold looked at Dolly and asked, “Why are we sending three Admirals to command those ships?”

“Sir, those three will come back from this mission and command the fleets we are now building. They’ll be getting green, inexperienced crews and the crewmen on those ships will be distributed throughout their fleets in command positions to train the new fleets. This will prepare them for that responsibility.”

“What if we lose one or more of them?”

“That’s called growing pains. You should always send your best on the hardest tasks.”

Arnold looked at the display and slowly nodded, “Those are three very dangerous ships.”

Jeff smiled, “It’s the sailors on board that really makes them what they are, Sir.”

Hemon stared at the display and smiled, “I never envisioned this. I thought we would have to run to survive.”

Dolly kept her eyes on the three ships as they picked up speed, “We still might have to run…but…those ships will give us the time to escape.”

“So you’re going to continue to colonize other planets?”

“Yes we are Hemon. We have three thriving at the moment but we are sending four more colonies out within the next six months. The Earth’s population will be reduced by thirty percent but it gives us a better chance of ensuring our survival.”

“How many ships are ready for launch?”

“None at the moment; however, two hundred will all be completed at one time in three months. I expect that within the next year we will have close to a thousand in service.”

“Will they all be stationed here?”

“No, Dad; they will be distributed among the colonies. They are only a jump away from here. With our communications we can get them all to a single location within ten minutes. We’ll also need them in the event the Moet and Alliance don’t behave.”

The group watched and suddenly the three ships went to high speed and disappeared. Dolly whispered, “God Speed.”

* * *

The Three ships arrived at the orbit of Neptune and Arvolo sent the coordinates for the jump to the other two ships. Kenny and Bob acknowledged receipt and the three ships disappeared from normal space and reappeared at the edge of the galaxy. Chris and Jillian looked at the main display and saw the small coin sized light out in the vast distance of interstellar space. It looked like a miniature twin of the Milky Way. Chris turned to Arvolo and asked, “Did Admirals Anders and Owens complete the language sessions?”

“Yes they did, Sir.”

“Patch our communications in to their boards. They should be listening in to what we discuss.”

Arvolo looked over at Anita Leigh and she nodded. “Done, Sir.”

Jillian looked at her board and asked Chris, “Were you able to find a frequency that their leadership uses?”

Chris shook his head and Arvolo spoke up, “I was able to find the frequency their military uses to issue commands.”

Jillian and Chris both turned and looked at RV, “How were you able to do that?”

“In my off time, I synchronized the messages being sent with the recording of the last battleship that we destroyed. I locked in the ones being broadcast just before it powered up to jump into our galaxy. I assumed it must have received a distress signal from the Scout. There were about eighty messages being delivered at that moment and I looked for a duplicate frequency when the battleship disappeared. I felt certain that it would have notified the Scout that it was on the way. There was only one frequency in that time frame that was repeated. That must be a military frequency. What are you planning to do?”

Chris shrugged, “I’m going to beam a message in their language on that frequency and request a dialogue with their leaders. If I don’t get an answer, I’m jumping to the outer edge of the Andromeda Galaxy and will then issue my request again.”

RV lowered his head and looked through his eyebrows at Chris, “I suspect they will open the conversation with several thousand Blue Giant Battleships.”

“We might as well see if our ships are able to stand up to them. We’ll run if we have to but only if we are in danger of being overwhelmed.”

“I might recommend that you limit the first party to the ships sent out initially. Then jump away and attempt to make contact again.”

“Why would you do it that way?”

“I don’t think you want them to think we’re there to invade? If you stay and hold that ground against anything they throw at you, then you become the aggressor. If you jump away after being attacked, they assume the aggressor’s role. It just depends on what you want to accomplish. I just thought that you aren’t going there to start a war.”

“You’re right. I want to attempt to stop one. We’ll do it like you suggest.”

“How long are you going to wait for an answer before you jump in closer?”

“Why do you ask?”

“If we assume they have had starships for more than a million years, how long would a message sent into the edge of their galaxy take to work its way through channels to be delivered to the leaders?”

Chris nodded, “That’s a good point. We’ll give them a week to respond and I’ll rebroadcast the message each day.”

“I’d recommend broadcasting it every fifteen minutes.”

“Fifteen minutes it is. Lt. Leigh, record the following message and set it to be broadcast every fifteen minutes.”

“Yes Sir.”

Chris looked at Jillian and punched the transmit pad on his console, “I am attempting to contact the Leaders of the Blue Ships that recently came to invade my galaxy. I request that you respond on this frequency. There are issues that we should resolve and I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss them with you.”

* * *

The new Messenger move smoothly into the huge room and saw the Leaders gathered around the large table that displayed all the events taking place in the Gathering. It stood at the edge of the room and waited to be noticed. The former Messenger saw him and left the table, “Why are you here?”

“We have been receiving a message on our Ship Circuit from the other galaxy.”

“What kind of message?”

“It is being broadcast in our language and is requesting a meeting with our Leaders.”

The First Leader heard the Messenger and moved quickly up to them, “Did I hear you correctly that it is being broadcast in our language?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Show me?”

The Messenger played the message in its mind and the Leaders listened. “This is highly unusual.”

The former Messenger remained silent and waited for the First to decide what to do. “Ignore it.”

The Messenger bowed forward, turned, and left the room.”

The Second looked up from the table, “Why did you choose to ignore the message?”

“I don’t need to hear their threats. We’ll handle them soon enough. How many of the new ships are ready?”

“We’ve completed two hundred.”

The First went back to his observations and forgot about the message.

* * *

Arvolo sat in the Command Chair on the Bridge of the Havana during the third shift and felt at peace. The ship had that feeling of being at top efficiency and the Needle Pilots had been perfecting their coordination with the Main Guns. The Attack Needles were unable to get a shot off at the Havana because of the coordination of the Defense Needles. Cyanna had really perfected the defense weave around the ship. She had even taught the Attack Needles how to coordinate with the intricate pattern. The crew was jelling and he was glad Admiral Conner had agreed to his delay of moving any closer. The ship and crew were now ready for combat. He looked up and saw Cyanna enter the bridge. He raised his eyebrows and said, “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

Cyanna smiled, “I couldn’t sleep. I thought I would check and see if you needed a break.”

Arvolo stood and said, “Take over the Chair, Captain.”

Cyanna sat down and leaned back. She looked at the close up of the Andromeda Galaxy and said, “We’ll be fighting there shortly, won’t we?”

Arvolo sat down in Chris’s chair and sighed, “Yes.”

“This delay was for the purpose of getting us ready?”

“Yes, it is?”

Cyanna looked at Arvolo, “Do you ever miss anything?”

Arvolo looked at her and slowly nodded his head, “I miss my family.”

Cyanna knew his history. She had looked it up in the ship’s computer and knew about their deaths during Cuba’s liberation. She nodded and turned back to the display. They remained silent and Arvolo was surprised that she understood that silence was the best response. They sat there for two hours and said nothing but both of them felt at peace and at home on the bridge of the Havana.

Chapter Fifteen

Chris and Jillian walked on the Bridge and the Crew came to attention, “As you were. Admiral, we have given them a week. I’m about out of patience.”

“Yes Sir and I think it’s time we nudge them.”

“How would you go about doing that?”

“We jump in just outside the edge of Andromeda and send a new message giving them our coordinates.”

Chris stared at Arvolo for a long moment and said, “Do you think that’s wise?”

“Yes Sir. I think they will attack first and that will give them a nudge to talk with us if things don’t go their way.”

“Just how do you intend to make sure things don’t go their way?”

“We know we’re faster than they are in normal space. We will jump our ships and maintain a thousand mile separation between our squadron and the bulk of their ships. We’ll use the main guns to inflict maximum damage and use the attack craft and our beams to hold off any that come close. If things get dicey we jump back to this location and continue our attempt at initiating a dialogue. However, if we manage to destroy a large number of their ships we will break off and do the same thing.”

Chris looked at Jillian and saw her shrug, “Admiral, the ship is yours. Take us in and notify the other two ships.”

Arvolo activated his com and saw Kenny and Bob on the display, “We’re going in. Make sure your Jump Officers lock their boards on the Havana’s drive coordinates and transmit the new locations to any of their Needles that are engaged in combat operations.”

“They will get them as soon as we do but there may be a half second delay in getting them back to their main ships.”

“Kenny, just make sure they don’t get left behind.”

“We’ve practiced this enough times that they have learned jump discipline. Even if they are attempting a kill they will break off and jump. They know their duty.”

“Now we find out just how good they are.” RV looked at his board and entered the jump coordinates, “We’ll be jumping in three seconds from now.”

The three Jump Officers stared at their displays and when the countdown hit zero, they all pushed their drive pads. The three ships disappeared together.”

Chris stared at the huge Andromeda Galaxy on the central display and took a deep breath. He pushed the communication button and began speaking.

* * *

The Messenger entered the room and continued closer to the large table than it had ever dared approach. It stopped and leaned back asking forgiveness for the trespass. The First Leader saw how close it had come and knew something important demanded their attention. He went forward and said, “Why are you here?”

“Three small ships have appeared just outside the edge of our home and are broadcasting another message.”

The First grew angry and said, “Show me now!”

The First saw the three ships and heard, “I have been attempting to talk with your leadership and it occurred to me that you may not know where we are. I’ve come to a location outside your galaxy at the following coordinates. I request that you come and talk with us. We are not here to fight but to have a peaceful conversation. Please answer us.”

The First replayed the message to the other Leaders and they grew angry. At least all of them did but the newest Leader, “Why are you not angry?”

“I’m more curious about this than angry. I’m wondering what possessed those ships to come here; this has never happened in our history. I also wonder how they know our language. We have learned that they are capable of killing our ships so why do they want to communicate? I don’t see any possible reason for their actions. Do you?”

The First focused on the newest member and thought about what he said. “No, I don’t. They might be here to threaten us.”

“If that were the case they would have just come inside our home and started attacking. They appear to have only come closer because they thought we were not hearing them. They have also said their purpose was peaceful and have openly given us their location. I think they are here for something other than issuing threats. What that could possibly be; I have no idea.”

“Communicating with another species is a waste of time. We’ve learned that long ago and they have violated our space. They will be removed.”

“No one has ever attempted to communicate in our language in the past. In that they are unique.”

The First was also curious about how the strange ships were able to do that but his only responsibility was defending the Home. He thought a moment and said, “Even so, I’m issuing orders to attack their ships.” It turned to the Messenger, “How many ships do the Military think we need to send?”

“They suggest five hundred.”

“Send a thousand.”

The messenger leaned forward and smoothly backed out of the room. The First turned to the Leaders around the table and said, “I want the attack on the table. Clear a space and have it where we can all see what happens.”

The Third Leader thought, “Should we have sent our newest ships?”

“No, I don’t think we’ll need them. If we do, we’re in more danger than I’ve anticipated. There is no ship that can stand up to that many of our Battleships. Even our newest ships wouldn’t be able to withstand that assault.”

The Leaders cleared an area in the center of the table and saw the three ships hanging in space. The newest Leader wondered if this was a good idea but kept his thoughts to himself.

* * *

Chris looked at Arvolo and said, “It’s been two days.”

“Which indicates to me that it takes time to get to their leaders, Sir?”

“Do we continue to remain at General Quarters?”

“Yes Sir. The crew is taking meals and sleep close to their posts. Our first action, if they arrive, will be to jump away from the major point of their ships entry into normal space. That will give us time to go to get all systems up to speed and launch our Needles.”

Chris nodded and leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to catch up on sleep. Three hours later the alarms began sounding and the speakers blared, “All hands to Battle Stations.”

The three ships jumped and moved three thousand miles away from the massive fleet of Blue Giant Battleships that appeared in close to their former location. RV silenced the alarm and said, “Launch all Needles. Make us proud.”

The three Earth ships turned broadside to the Blue Ships and waited for them to make a move. The Needles waited surrounding their main ship and waited for orders. The first ten Blue Giant Battleships to emerge accelerated towards the Earth ships and fired their main beams. RV yelled over the military frequency, “Weapons Free. Initiate Combat protocols.”

The three Earth Battleships fired three of their Main Beams at the incoming ships and watched as the three pulses blew away the force fields surrounding the Giant Blue Ships allowing the two remaining pulses to hit the Blue Giants. All nine ships were blown through and started blowing up as their reactors started exploding. An Attack Needle accelerated and fired a Striker Missile at the tenth and watched as it punched through the force field and hit the sole remaining ship in the middle. The entire center of the ship was blown away and left a twenty mile hole blasted completely through the incoming Giant. The ship hung in space for three seconds and then exploded into a huge blast that sent debris hurtling out from the center of the explosion.

RV said, “Stay in formation,” as he accelerated away from the huge mass of Blue Giant ships that were racing toward them. The Earth ships continued to deliver a devastating barrage of Main Beams into the oncoming ships and hundreds of blasted, dead ships were left behind by the ships chasing them.

* * *

The Leaders watched the carnage on the table’s display and the First looked at the fifth, “How much energy is in those beams?”

“They are off the scale and our newest ships would not survive a hit.”

The First turned back to the table and continued to observe the battle.

* * *

RV saw that there were only five hundred and twenty three ships still chasing and he said, “Release the Attack Needles. Have them reform after their strikes.”

“What are you planning to do?”

“I intend to jump away after the Needles complete their runs.”

Chris looked at the display and said, “We can probably destroy all of those ships.”

“Yes, but then we take the role of an aggressor. Right now we are only defending ourselves. What role do you prefer if we can open communications?”

“Won’t killing more ships with the Needles do the same thing?”

“No, not really. They need to see that they stand no chance against us and killing them with the Needles is something they need to witness.”

Chris shrugged and said, “Carry on, Admiral.”

* * *

Cyanna and sixty more Attack Needles accelerated towards the incoming Blue Giants and selected their two targets. They flew inside five hundred miles and released their Strikers. They immediately turned and accelerated back to their mother ships and took up stations in the defensive pattern. The entire front of the incoming Giants exploded.

RV punched the com and said, “Jump in four seconds.” All of the Needles and three main ships saw the coordinates on their boards and they disappeared from normal space together. The four hundred surviving Blue Giant Battleships did not chase the ships. They knew that to do so was sure death. The Military Leader in charge of the attack felt fear for his Home.

* * *

The Leaders stood around the table and were silent. The Seventh Leader said, “I have opened the frequency that those ships have been using to contact us. Do you want to hear what they are saying?”

The other Leaders looked at the Seventh and the First said, “Yes.”

* * *

Chris waited for five minutes to see if they had been followed by the Blue Giant Survivors and looked at RV. RV shrugged and said, “Now would be a good time, Sir.”

Chris activated his board and said, “I apologize for the destruction of your fleet. It was not our intention to come here and kill any of your ships. I simply want to have a peaceful conversation.”

The First Leader looked around the table and said, “Seventh, you will speak with them and we will listen.” The Seventh leaned back in shock and the First said, “You wanted us to communicate and we chose not to follow your advice. You are best suited for this conversation.”

The Seventh leaned forward and activated the frequency, “If you did not desire to kill our ships, you could have jumped away and avoided the attack.”

Chris jumped up in his chair and saw the entire Bridge Crew was startled at the response. He said, “If we had done that, would you have then communicated with me?”

The Seventh leaned back and said, “Probably not. I suppose this battle was necessary to get our attention.”

“It’s a shame that it always ends up with ships being destroyed before any progress can be made.”

“I’m not sure what you mean by that. Killing the ships of other species is how progress is measured. If they have ships, they must be destroyed.”

“I suppose you do that to defend yourself?”

“That is exactly the reason. If a species has star ships, they will ultimately end up attacking others.”

“Have you ever encountered another species that didn’t end up attacking?”

The Seventh looked at the other Leaders and saw their confusion, “That would be impossible to answer. None of the ones we encountered were given the opportunity to demonstrate that behavior.”

“So you kill them all and don’t have to worry about it?”

“Exactly, just as you would.”

“No, we wouldn’t do that.”

The Seventh was silent and looked at the others. What kind of remark was this being making?

Chris waited and said, “We do not attack another species unless it represents a clear and present danger to us.”

“If they have space travel, they are a clear danger.”

“Is that why you were invading our galaxy? You planned to destroy any civilization that had space travel?”

“We were actually going to destroy any industrialized civilization. They didn’t need to have space flight.”

“If that’s the way you operate, then our attempt to communicate must have really caused you some confusion.”

“Yes, it did. We assumed you were here to threaten us before you attacked. We are too busy to listen to threats.”

“Actually, I’m here to try and persuade you not to invade my galaxy.”

“Now that we’ve seen your ships, how could we possibly ignore the threat you represent?”

“Well, using your view, we would just come here and destroy you.”

“We’re confused about why you haven’t come to do just that.”

“Allow me to ask you a question.”

“Go ahead.”

“It may necessitate you to look at things differently from your normal view.”

“Go ahead.”

“If a species was going to attack my galaxy and then attack yours, what would be the most favorable action the two of us could take?”

The Leaders looked at each other and the Seventh finally said, “I guess we would wait for you to be destroyed and then meet the invader in your galaxy.”

Chris smiled, “I want you to really think about this. If that invader could destroy our ships, what chance would you have against them?”

“Probably none.”

“Now consider this, what if both of us joined together and fought the invader together?”

The Leaders looked at each other and didn’t know how to answer.

Chris waited and said, “Would our chances of survival be greater if we did that?”

The Seventh said, “Logic says they would.”

Chris said, “We have gathered evidence that our galaxy has been invaded more than thirty times over the last fifty million years by species from the large ball shaped galaxy in our quadrant of space. You have also invaded us twice during that time. I also suspect that four million years ago your galaxy was invaded and destroyed.”

The First spoke out, “How do you know that? Those ships came from your galaxy.”

“No they did not. They destroyed the most powerful civilization in our galaxy then left to conquer your galaxy after their conquest. The invaders did not come from our galaxy. Our history shows that the ships that came here were violet colored and used a common force field around their fleets.”

The First looked at the others and a view on the table appeared showing the ships that had come and caused massive destruction. They were all violet in color.

Chris said, “We are not your enemy. The Species that attacked us is your real enemy and I believe it will return and do it again starting with my galaxy. However, it is also possible they could start with you since they probably see you as the larger threat now.”

“How could they possibly think that? Your ships are much more powerful than ours.”

“That’s true, but we have only used them three times. You have sent massive fleets against my galaxy and I’m sure they saw that happen.”

“Why haven’t they returned?”

“It is my belief that the huge galaxy, we call it M87, is a very dangerous place to exist. I suspect there is constant warfare and the species can only come during lulls in the wars. They are now four million years more advanced and who know how powerful they have become. The reason they only destroyed the most powerful civilization is they couldn’t afford to have their ships away too long; which means there are other civilizations there that are just as powerful.”

The Leaders looked at each other and the Seventh said, “We need some time to consider this. We will contact you in three days.”

Chris said, “I’ll be waiting for your contact.”

* * *

The Fleet Controller looked at his board and saw the massive destruction done by the attack. He had lost more than ten thousand ships but the Kelleg had lost three times that number. He stared at the display and sent the results to the Central Hive. It would be many cycles before they could return. He knew they would not remove ships from their sphere of influence to continue the attack. It would take a while before they could build new ships to replace those he had destroyed. Perhaps now would be a good time to do some universe cleaning. The Fleet Controller turned his violet colored ship and jumped back to the Hive. It was good to be located out on the edge of the galaxy. The Kelleg were the only ones in the interior that could threaten the hive and any invader would have to go through them first. The only other danger was from other galaxies beyond the edge of the Hive. Those threats could now be dealt with.

Chapter Sixteen

The Leaders connected mentally and thought about the conversation. They kept going back to their old patterns and the Seventh finally interrupted their pattern, “This is not something that fits the old patterns.”

The others paused and the First said, “What are you saying?”

“I’ve often wondered where the violet colored ships were when we invaded the closest galaxy. We could never find them and we know they were more powerful than any species we found there. Am I wrong in that view?”

The consensus said, “No, you are right.”

“So if they didn’t come from that galaxy we have to ask, where did they come from? If that being is right about them being attacked first, we have been wasting our efforts invading there. We’ve never discovered a civilization that could come close to standing up to our ships.”

“Until now?”

“Yes, until now. We need to find out where they were during our invasions. However, if this being is telling the truth, they are not our main concern. We are charged with defending the Home and if we weaken our ships attacking them, we fail in our duty.”

“How can we not attack them now?”

“Because there is another species that is more dangerous than they are; there is no way we can take them both on and survive. Do you not see that?”

“Stronger civilizations always attack the weaker. That’s how the universe works.”

“If that is an absolute, why are they talking instead of attacking us?”

“Perhaps we need to ask them.”

The other Leaders turned to the Fifth and he said, “I think we need to look at this as an exception to what we’ve learned and try to make decisions based on the facts we uncover. Are we able to do that?”

The First thought and said, “I don’t know. This is outside of our experience.”

“We need to allow the Seventh to continue our communications.”

The others all leaned forward and the First said, “Are you ready to continue?”

The Seventh stood straight showing his indecision and said, “All of you are much more experienced than me.”

The Second said, “That is why you are the right choice. You are not locked up in a fixed pattern of thought. We cannot say the same about us.”

The Seventh leaned slightly forward indicating his reluctant acceptance and pressed the table.

“Are you ready to continue our conversation?”

* * *

Only one day had passed and Arvolo pressed the board and said, “Stand by for just a moment.” He hit the intercom and yelled, “Admiral Connor, the Blue Giant Leaders are on the com.”

Chris arrived three minutes later just behind Jillian who had outrun him again. Arvolo pointed at the communication panel on the left display and Chris saw the blue light illuminated. He sat down in his command chair, took a deep breath, looked around the bridge, and pressed the send button, “I apologize for the delay. I thought you were not going to communicate until later.”

“We have some questions.”

“What are they?”

“Why have we not discovered you in our invasions? You are obviously the most advanced civilization in your galaxy. How did we miss you?”

“We were still living in caves when you last invaded. We had not even discovered electricity.”

The Leaders all looked at each other and the Seventh saw their doubt. “I don’t think that is possible.”

“Consider this. If you lived in a civilization that had developed space travel around your solar system and a ship was discovered that had a star drive and weapons. Would you be able to duplicate it?”

“Probably but not easily.”

“My planet was invaded by an advanced civilization more than five thousand years ago and we were able to take some of their advanced technology. We have developed our ships from that theft and actually improved on it. We have also been able to acquire other technological advances from other civilizations that have been destroyed by the numerous attacks on our galaxy. Less than eight years ago, we did not possess a stardrive.”

The Leaders all looked at each other and wondered if what they heard could possibly be true. They turned to the Seventh and he asked, “Are you asking us to believe that you have developed your ships in less than eight years?”

“I’m not going to be untruthful with you. That’s exactly what happened.”

“Why are you reluctant to be deceptive?”

“Because I hope we can make some agreements you can trust we’ll keep.”

“So making agreements is why you came here to communicate?”

“Exactly so.”

“I don’t feel an agreement is possible.”

“Why not?”

“Because stronger civilizations always destroy weaker ones.”

“We are not here to destroy you.”

“That has us confused. You don’t seem to follow the accepted pattern.”

“Maybe it’s because we don’t accept that pattern. We are not your enemy and actually hope your civilization survives and thrives forever. We want to work with you against a common enemy but even if you do not agree, will not attack you unless you attempt another invasion.”

“That invasion could happen a million years from now.”

“Then we won’t attack you for a million years. We do not view you as a threat. I want you to consider how much more powerful we will be a million years from now. If we’ve come this far in a very short time, what does that say about our future?”

“That is what has us concerned. If we don’t attempt to eliminate you now, we may not be able to ever do it.”

“You’re still locked up in the Predator/Prey pattern. It’s a shame you are so constricted.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because you can never be trusted to keep an agreement; you are forced to be deceptive to ultimately attack anyone else. Your agreements would be worthless.”

“Are you not also bound by the same pattern?”

“We have never been attacked and destroyed by another species. Our civilization is too young so we are not suspicious of every other species. I guess you can say that we hope that not every species is a predator. However, I can make an agreement and keep it.”

“I’m not sure that’s true.”

“Well there is something we are going to do whatever you decide.”

“What is that?”

“You now have this frequency to contact us. If you are ever attacked again and you call us, we will come to help you against the attacker.”

The Leaders were struck silent and after a long silence the Seventh said, “Even though we are working to be able to destroy you.”

“Yes, even though.”

“Why?”

“Because you did choose to communicate with us and that gives us hope that you will someday see that we are being honest with you. We are not a threat to your galaxy, we are not your enemy, and I dare use the term that perhaps one day we will be your friends.”

The Leaders were totally confused. The Seventh finally asked, “How can we ever trust what you’re saying?”

“Not by words but by deeds. I am going to share something with you about your ships that you need to know. Your battleships will lose more than forty percent of the power in their force fields and beams if they are made to make a long jump or chase an enemy for longer than an hour. I would recommend that you trial my observation with one of your ships and you will discover that I’m being honest. If you are going to build better ships you will have to remove that weakness.”

“Why are you telling us this?”

“We are going to have to face another invasion from that giant galaxy in our future and if we can’t defeat them, we hope you will be able to do it. They are the real danger to us all and I hope you can understand that, if nothing else.” Chris looked at Jillian and she nodded. “Thank you for communicating with us and we do wish you success and survival. We are going back to our galaxy and if you need to talk with us in the future you have the frequency to contact us.” Chris terminated the call.

* * *

The Leaders stood and thought about what they had just heard. The Seventh said, “See if what he told us is true.”

The First contacted the Military and ordered the trial. One ship jumped out of the galaxy and waited while the second went to high speed and flew through green space for an hour. It emerged and fired at the waiting ship.

The Leaders waited and opened the channel when the first ship reported in. “What did you discover?”

“The beams are reduced to fifty percent power for ten seconds after entry into normal space.”

The Leaders all looked at each other and the Seventh said, “Those ships didn’t have to run from our fleet. They could have destroyed more than sixty percent of them when they emerged. The other ships would have been easily destroyed afterwards.”

“Why do you think they shared this information with us?”

“I now believe that they were being honest. If they are willing to help a known enemy, then the threat they believe is coming is real to them. If they were being honest in all that they said, we should consider what that would mean to our future defense of the Home.”

The First looked at the others and said, “Seventh, please lead the link.”

The Leaders connected mentally and began looking at all the permutations of the information they had just been given.

* * *

Arvolo looked at Chris and said, “Where to now, Sir?”

Chris sighed and slowly shook his head, “I was hoping they would agree to never invade us again. However, I think we can count on them not coming until they think they have a ship that matches up with our new battleships. That could take a while.” He looked at the display and said, “Put up M87.” The display changed and the people on the bridge saw the giant galaxy in the center of the display. Chris pushed a control and a star on the outer edge was illuminated, “That is where the Moet went to escape the Blue Giants. We are going to have a conversation with them.”

RV looked at the display and smiled. Now this should be an interesting trip. His smile disappeared when Chris said, “Then we are going to find the Violet Ships and see what they’re currently up to.”

RV looked at Chris and saw he was serious. He turned back and said, “New destination. Please recall the Needles and rearm them. Place strikers on the wings of the Defense Needles as well as the Attack Craft. We will jump as soon as all ships are rearmed and ready.”

Chris listened to RV and knew that if the Defense Needles were also being armed with strikers, RV anticipated close in combat with major ship classes.

Jillian stared at Chris and wondered if going to M87 was a good idea. It wasn’t always a good idea to stir up a hornet’s nest. Chris looked at her and saw her concern and he smiled, “We’ll be leading this dance.”

Jillian looked at the galaxy on the display, “Let’s hope they know how to dance. I’m not certain they’ll follow our lead.”

Chris smiled again and said, “Then they are going to get their feet stepped on.”

Jillian smiled and once again admired Chris’s courage. She hoped RV had an escape plan.

* * *

The Fleet Controller arrived at the Central Hive and his communications panel illuminated. He activated it and heard, “An excellent victory for the Hive. You are praised for your tactics.”

“Thank you.”

“We have considered that now would be a good time to clear up some of the issues in the neighboring galaxies.”

“It will take some time to get the Fleet organized and rested from the combat they’ve endured.”

“How long?”

“About a year should allow us time to move the stores to our ships. We have used more than seventy percent in the most recent battle and we will also have to move the food necessary to feed the Fleet on the long voyage from our Hives.”

“Can you make the preparations that fast?”

“I believe so.”

“Then start the preparations.”

The Fleet Controller moved his antennae and ended the contact.

* * *

George and Meisa had listened in on the conversation Chris had with the Blue Giant Leaders and saw that what he had suspected about the predator/prey relationship had been verified by the Giants. He stared at the floor and Meisa asked, “What are you thinking?”

“I don’t know. I wish Chris had not told them about the weakness in their ships.”

“It is no longer an issue for us.”

“I know. I just don’t want to give any kind of edge to an enemy.”

“That’s because you are so logical and smart. Sometimes it’s the gifts that make all the difference. We’ll just have to see what comes of it.”

George patted his lap and Meisa came over and sat down and hugged George’s neck. He sat with her and thought about all that had happened. He rocked in his chair and enjoyed the feeling of Meisa in his lap, “You know, Chris was right about it only being a few years since we were just flying around our solar system. Things have changed dramatically in a very short time.”

“Why does that bother you?”

“If Chris is right and that species with the violet colored ships have been at war for four million years, they have to be incredibly advanced now. I’m not sure we can survive their attention.”

Meisa thought a moment and said, “Well, if they are still at war they can’t stay long. Is there a chance they might send a scout to find their targets?”

George thought a moment and said, “You make a good point. They won’t be able to just show up and start mapping. It would take too long.”

“Is there any way we could see if a scout showed up?”

George looked at her and lifted her up. Meisa sighed and knew he was now on task and could not be interrupted. She eased out of the room as George pulled up the recording the Crazy Cuban had made of the last invasion of the Violet Ships and checked to see if a probe wire had been extended into the past. He rushed through the data and found it on the last eight pages. “Please be here,” he said to himself and read the document carefully. “Ah Ha! Meisa, get in here.”

“What?”

“We’re going to a masquerade.”

“What?”

“Get Dolly on the line and see if you can get the Moet Ruler and the Leader of the Alliance on the line with us as well.”

“What are you up to, George?”

“You’ll see; just get them on the line.”

* * *

The display showed the four participants in four quadrants and Dolly said, “George, what do you want with us?”

“First things first, Dolly.” He looked at Tenah and the Moet Baron and said, “Have either of you ever wondered about what happened to the Jenze?”

The two looked started and Tenah said, “Yes, we’ve always wondered what happened to them.”

The Moet said, “They were wiped out in an invasion.”

“So were your planets.”

“That’s true. We had to struggle our way back to civilization.”

“I have a recording of the species that attacked and destroyed the Jenze. I’m going to play the recording and hold my comments until after it’s completed.”

George started the recording and waited until it ended. The Moet asked, “Where did those ships come from?”

“They came from the giant galaxy in the center of our galactic cluster. This recording comes from about four million years ago.”

The Moet and Tenah looked at each other in the display and George said, “No, I’m not going to tell you how we got it. However, that species is now four million years more advanced and we believe it will eventually be coming back. We want to pull a little subterfuge and see if we can persuade them to leave us alone.”

Tenah said, “How do we do that?”

“It is our belief that they are in a constant state of war in that galaxy and they can only come to attack surrounding galaxies during a lull in their conflicts. They can’t stay for a long time because their ships will be needed to defend their home galaxy. That’s why they just destroyed the Moet and Jenze on their last invasion. They pretty much left everyone else alone.”

Tenah thought about it and said, “You want to make them think there are no advanced civilizations in our Galaxy?”

George clapped his hands, “Very good, Alliance Leader. That’s exactly what I want to do.”

The Moet said, “Just how would you make that happen?”

“I have the frequency of their ships. We are going to keep some of our scout ships out at the edge of our galaxy closest to them. If we detect that frequency, we will send a warning to all our ships and they will jump out to the other edge of the galaxy opposite their location. They will remain there until those scouts leave. We will just operate inside our solar systems as if none of us possess star drives. The Alliance Worlds will have to turn off their planetary defense screens during their presence.” George looked at Tenah and said, “You do realize that those screens would be a dead giveaway of an advanced civilization.”

Tenah nodded and looked at the Moet on his display, “We will do as you ask but I want an assurance that the Moet will not attack us while they’re down.”

The Moet said, “You can leave them down permanently. If we attack you, we will be destroyed. You’re safe as long as that threat hangs over our heads.”

“The same is true for us.”

George said “Those scouts may be here for an extended visit. You will need enough ships loaded with provisions ready to jump at a moment’s notice to the rendezvous point at the outer edge. All the gathered ships will then jump away from our galaxy into deep space and wait for us to call them back. Can you make this happen?”

Tenah said, “We’ll be ready within ten days.”

“We can be ready in ten days as well.”

“Dolly, can we get our fleet in on this exercise?”

“We’ll just have them jump there as soon as they enter the service. That’s a good place for fleet exercises.”

“We’ll need all of your planets to be using ships within their systems that do not have a star drive. This is especially true if you have colonies on any of the moons or planets in your solar systems.”

“We can make that happen.”

“I’m sending you the communication frequency and I will conduct a trial occasionally to see if we are up to speed. I will announce it as a trial before I send the warning so that if I have to send a real warning everyone will know it’s the real thing.”

Tenah looked at George and asked, “What do you think they’ll do if they don’t see an advanced civilization?”

“I expect them to ignore us and go after the Blue Giants.”

Tenah and the Moet looked at each other and George could see they liked that idea.

* * *

Dolly’s board lit up and she saw Chris, Jillian, and Arvolo on the display, “You must have been listening in to George’s conversation?”

Chris said, “Actually, Arvolo was scanning the frequencies and saw the request for the Alliance and Moet Leaders. He called us in to listen.”

Dolly looked at Arvolo and he just shrugged. “It’s hard to get one by you.”

“I fear you underestimate my sneakiness.”

Dolly laughed out loud and turned to Chris, “What do you want?”

“Dolly, I agree that we need to have our ships training maneuvers outside the galaxy away from M87. How is that going to work with the training being done at the Academy on Earth?”

“We’ll just train them in ships without star drives. They’ll learn how to handle the gravity engines and maneuver in normal space. Once they complete that portion of their training, we’ll send them out to the fleet for advanced jump training. It’s going to be inconvenient but it’s probably the safest path to follow. We’ll just keep three Jukebox Class Ships at the edge of our solar system for defense.”

“That’s another thing, Dolly. According to my most recent scans, the energy disruption around Earth is starting to dissipate; we need to allow it to disappear.”

Dolly thought a moment and said, “Earth would stand out on a scan of Sierra Space and that would give away that we must possess a stardrive.”

“Yes, it absolutely would. We can always fire a beam and create a disruption if we are threatened with an attack. Removing it would take a year.”

“We’ll allow it to dissipate. We are able to jump away at the orbit of Mars now so it shouldn’t be much longer.”

“I suspect that some of the more ancient species in M87 may be able to detect the frequency of a stardrive. The less we use them in the Milky Way, the better our chances at fooling any scout that might slip by our scans.”

“Consider it done.”

“Thanks, Dolly.”

“Be careful.”

“Oh, you know we will.”

“Like I said, be careful.”

* * *

Chris broke the connection and looked at Arvolo, “How do you want to go about the next leg of our trip?”

RV sighed and said, “I want you and Commodore Connor to take the Ninja and go take a look at the part of M87 that has the frequency of the purple ships. George sent me the reading we collected in the recording and we should be able to determine that Species location by scanning for it. I would then suggest you start collecting light from a year ago and then move forward. I wouldn’t get any closer than a light month.”

“Why?”

“I’ve got to believe that their sensors are more advanced than any we’ve encountered. They’ve had more than four million years to develop them.”

“What makes you think a light month will be safe?”

“Because it will take a month for their sensors to receive the scans with you in them; they can’t travel faster than light and your stardrive leaves no trace in Sierra Space. Once they jump out to investigate, you should be long gone.”

Chris thought a moment and said, “So you think we should not go and have a discussion with the Moet?”

“They are no longer an issue. They represent no threat and we can educate them about the new situation upon their return. It’s the Violet Ships that we should focus our attention on.”

Jillian looked over and said, “We want you to make the trip with us. Is there anyone that can take your place piloting the Havana?”

“Captain Hardy is just as qualified as I am.”

Chris shook his head, “I find that impossible to believe.”

“Trust me on this one, Admiral. She might even be better. She can see things that even I miss.”

Chris looked at Jillian and said, “Are you sure about that?”

“She improved the Needles Defense Formations over what I had set up. She also saw the needed changes we had to make in coordinating with the Main Beams. She’s quite up to the task.”

Chris said, “Intercom on.” He paused and said, “Captain Hardy, please report to the Bridge.”

Cyanna ran through the corridors and arrived on the Bridge where she came to attention. Chris said, “At ease, Captain.” She relaxed and Chris said, “Admiral Arvolo seems to think that you have some rather unique abilities.” Cyanna quickly glanced at RV and he shrugged and nodded. “We’ve been struggling with our fleet structure but now I think we have found a solution to our issues.” Chris looked at RV and said, “Admiral Arvolo, you are hereby promoted a star and will be the senior Flag Officer over the Earth’s Fleets. You will report to Vice-Admiral Jeff Garcia but you will assume command of all ships in our Navy. Admiral Garcia will still report to me and continue to have responsibility for commanding Naval Operations.”

“Sir, I really prefer to stay at my current rank.”

“That’s too bad; you will take the Rank and do your best to make our fleets the best they can possibly be. Is that clear?”

RV sighed and said, “Me and my big mouth.” He saw Cyanna smile and he said, “Oh don’t think you’re going to miss out on the fun.”

She furrowed her brow and heard Chris say, “He’s right, Captain. You are promoted to the Rank of Rear Admiral and will assume the former duties of Admiral Arvolo. You will also be given a fleet to command when we return to Earth.”

Cyanna started stuttering, “But, but, but, I’m just a Captain. Captains aren’t made Admirals.”

RV said, “I was.”

“Yeah, but you deserved it.”

Chris smiled, “Just as you do, Admiral. You will assume command of the Havana and will continue in that role until we return.”

“Where are you going, Sir?”

“On a sightseeing tour, Admiral and I expect you to have the ships in our fleets ready for combat when we return.”

Cyanna looked at RV as he said, “Welcome to my world.” He stood and smiled, “Congratulations, you really do deserve it.”

Cyanna came forward and gave Arvolo a big hug that totally flabbergasted him. She stepped back and said, “I’ll do my best to make you proud, Sir.”

RV smiled and nodded, “I’m sure you will.”

Chapter Seventeen

Chris looked at Jillian and said, “I’m still not sure why RV wanted us to take Zack with us on this trip.”

“I’m not sure he completely understands the decision himself. But he has not been wrong.”

“Yet.”

“Yes, but I’d go with his hunches most every time. I still wonder if he’s right about Admiral Hardy.”

“I’ve done a little investigating and it appears she is extremely talented. Her IQ is on level with Dolly and maybe as good as George in some areas of intelligence.”

“Really!”

“Yes, really.”

Jillian shrugged and stared at the display. Finally she said, “Where has she been hiding?”

“Her former Commander viewed her as a threat due to her high rankings at the Academy. He wrote her some performance evaluations that kept her out of sight. I’ve asked Jeff to investigate and there are quite a few good sailors whose careers were damaged by that officer.”

“What did Jeff do?”

“He had him court marshaled for behavior that endangers the state and he’s now serving ten years in Leavenworth.”

Jillian shrugged, “Good. What are we going to do?”

“We’re going out to a hundred light years from M87 and move around the outer edge and see if we can find that ship frequency.”

“I’d start at the point of the Galaxy that was directly opposite the Milky Way fifty million years ago.”

Chris thought a moment and tilted his head, “That makes sense. They would attack the closest threat to their domain. Let me run that through our computer and see what it says.”

Arvolo and Zack came in from stowing the Needle and watched as Chris had the computer results transferred to the main display. “It appears that the area in question is now at the far right hand side of the Galaxy. I’m jumping to an area outside that position.”

The Ninja jumped and Chris turned it to face the Giant Galaxy.

RV whistled, “Boy, that galaxy is huge.”

“Yes it is. It has ten times the number of stars we have. I’m extending the fields.” The fields moved ten seconds and an alarm went off. Chris watched the display and said, “That’s the fastest we’ve ever received an alert.” He stared at the display as it expanded even further and saw a huge purple band extend around the edge of the galaxy. “It appears that the species in question inhabits a huge area.” Chris stared at the readout and said, “But it occupies an area that is only located in the outer edge. It extends fifty light years into the interior and stops.”

RV said, “There must be another species that has prevented any further expansion.”

Zack said, “See if you can view the area at the inner edge of their domain and try to isolate a large signal of their ships.”

RV said, “You think we’ll find a battle taking place?”

“That’s where it would happen.”

Chris looked at the display and saw the entire outer edge was colored purple. He sent commands to the system and the vast band resolved itself into four hundred bright circles. Zack stared and asked, “What are those?”

“Those are concentrations of the Violet Ships. Each one has more than a million ships each.”

RV shook his head, “How far back are we looking?”

“A hundred years.”

“Let’s jump to ten years and see if anything has changed.”

Chris made the jump and they immediately saw that the circles were smaller. “The fleet’s numbers are now at half the strength they were.”

RV stared at the display and walked forward and pointed to one slightly in front of the others, “Let’s take a look at this one.”

Chris began adjusting the controls and asked, “Any particular reason you picked that one?”

“Yes, they are outside the boundary established by the other circles. I think that is a conflict taking place.”

The view moved in and suddenly thousands of ships were seen attacking each other. The Violet Ships were in their ranks with a common force field and the attackers were in brightly glowing Yellow ships that would accelerate in and hit the force field and launch missiles through the hole blown in it. For every successful attack, more than twenty of the Yellow Ships would be killed by the bright white pulses that struck before they could get in range. The number of ships being destroyed was staggering. RV watched the battle and said, “The Violet Ships are outnumbered. They are going to lose this battle.”

Chris shook his head and said, “It doesn’t look that way. They appear to be holding those ships off.”

“They are but they have a space behind them because they are in front of their battle lines. That space will be their undoing.”

Chris turned back to the display and moved in closer to the area behind the Violet Ships. He saw something in the distance beyond the battle and moved in on the image. There were more than twenty thousand Yellow Ships accelerating toward the back of the Violet Ship’s formation. He followed them in and saw them rush in on the giant formation. The Violet Ships tried to turn some of their ranks to face the incoming enemy but were too slow. The Yellow Ships hit the formation just as the ships in front of it accelerated in. The force field was breached in thousands of places and hundreds of thousands of missiles were fired into their ranks.

Chris turned to RV and said, “You saw that coming?”

“They made the mistake of moving forward from their lines to kill more ships.”

“It appears from this that the Violet Ships will not be in a position to attack anyone.” RV just stared at Chris. “You don’t agree with me?”

“No, I suppose I don’t. I think the Violet Ships will use this loss as a maneuver to defeat them in the future. I think we should go to a month out from the area of conflict and take a quick look.”

“Why just a quick look?”

“I’m not certain that their scans will be limited to light speed.”

“Why do you think that?”

“With our George Communicators, we can have the data sent to us instantly. I would suggest moving in and then accelerate to get a quick record of what’s happening and then we’ll focus in on what we see after we leave. Just make sure you jump toward a different galaxy than ours and Andromeda.”

“Tell me what makes you think they can do what you suspect?”

“If the thickness of their force field represents what I think it does, their ships are tremendously more powerful than they were in our first view of them. That would also mean their beams are more powerful.”

Zack nodded, “The most advances take place during wars. It appears that this war has been waged for a long time.”

RV said, “You noticed that?”

“It’s hard to miss.”

Jillian asked, “Miss what?”

“The ships they were fighting have their own battle line. You can see it by the formations that moved in to attack.”

Chris looked at Jillian and then made the adjustments to his board, “We’re jumping in two minutes. I’ll accelerate and record two weeks of information and then I’ll jump away towards M83. That Galaxy is directly away from ours and Andromeda.”

RV looked at Zack and said, “We should go man the beams.”

“I’m right behind you.”

The Ninja entered normal space and accelerated. After three minutes it left normal space and jumped away.

Four minutes after it left, six hundred Violet Ships appeared at its former location and scanned for the ship that had appeared on their scanners. The Controller of the squadron looked at his scanner and asked, “Where did it go?”

“There was no trail in the jump space.”

“Scan this space closely.”

After an hour the Controller heard on his communicator, “We have found particles from a propulsion system that stretch over a light week. However, there is nothing at the point where it started and where it ended.”

“Does the propulsion residue match up with any we have in our data?”

“No, it does not.”

“Go into jump space and scan it thoroughly. Something was here and I want answers.”

After another twelve hours the Controller received a message, “We’ve found a swirling of jump space that appears to have moved towards the companion galaxy. It is a very small movement and that is all we’ve be able to uncover.”

“Send the report to Home Hive and return to your assignments.” The six hundred ships jumped away.

* * *

Chris jumped the Ninja back into normal space and accelerated away at light speed. After an hour he came to a stop and waited. RV watched the scanners and said, “They were unable to follow us.”

“Do you think they saw us?”

“I believe so because they don’t have any ships outside the edge of their territory. The only way they would be that careless is if they felt secure that they could respond to any threat coming from outside the galaxy.”

“We’ll wait here a little longer. I’m going to rewind what we recorded and take a look at what’s going on.” Chris rewound and focused in on the area that the two civilizations were facing each other. RV took a look at the deployment of the two combatants and said, “The Violet Ships are setting a trap for the other.”

Chris looked at the skirmish line and said, “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Notice that all along the battle line that fifty of their fleets are moving slightly in front of the others.”

“Just like last time.” RV nodded. “What are they doing?”

“They’re trying to bait the Yellow Ships to send their ships to attack from the rear again.”

“What are they going to do if they attack?”

“Notice that there is a second battle line of ships behind the front one. The Violet Ships are going to allow their enemy to send large numbers to attack and then their front line is going to rush forward and attack the line in front of them which has been weakened by sending large numbers to attack from the rear. When they rush forward the second line is going to rush out and attack the ships coming in from the rear of the front line.”

“Do you think it will work?”

“If those Yellow Ships fall for it, they will be decimated.”

Zack looked over and said, “Surely they won’t take the bait?”

“They don’t have our view. They can’t see two lines of attack; the force field of the front line is obscuring their view of what’s behind them. This could be a difference maker.” RV thought a moment and said, “Chris, can you back out and see what is behind the Yellow Ships?”

“How far behind?”

“Start at ten light years and then move forward.”

The view on the display moved out and then focused on an area behind the Yellow Ships. The view moved closer and five light years behind the battling fleets they saw a huge mass of Yellow Ships in a broad formation. “I was afraid of that.”

Jillian asked, “What?”

“The two fleets that are currently fighting are not the main fleets of their respective civilizations. They are attack fleets that attempt to expand their territories. Their main body of ships is kept at the boundaries of their home space. It the Violet Ships win, they still won’t be able to attack their home but they will have a reprieve from the attack fleet.”

Chris moved the view back to the battle and said, “What would that mean?”

“The Violet Ship’s domain is surrounded by the Yellow Ship’s borders. If the Violet Ships win, then their attack fleet will be freed up to go elsewhere.”

“That is not a good thing.”

“No, it’s not, Admiral.”

Chris fast forwarded the video and they saw the Violet Ships that were out in front of their battle lines fell back and reformed into one line. The number of ships being killed was staggering and Chris said, “It looks like their plan didn’t work.”

“Oh, it worked. They’re just baiting the trap.”

They watched and huge numbers of violet ships surged forward and stopped. RV said, “Now is when it will happen.”

They watched the ships moving in fast motion on the screen and then they saw thousands of Yellow Ships disappear from their front line. They reappeared below the Violet Ships and accelerated up toward the advanced ships. That’s when the second line of Violet Ships rushed and out and demolished them. The second line joined the first and they rushed forward together and brought devastation to the weakened front line of the Yellow Ships. Thousands were destroyed and the survivors turned and fled from the advancing Violet Ships. The advancing Violet Ships moved forward and stopped a light year from the giant mass of Yellow Ships on the border between the two domains. They then turned and returned to their former battle line’s location.

Chris looked at RV, “We don’t have long, do we?”

‘No, we don’t.”

Chris looked at Jillian, “Do you have any ideas?”

“Yes, I do. Zack, do you understand how to fly the Ninja now?”

“Yes, I do.”

“You and Commodore Rosillo will come here every month and take a quick snap shot of what the Violet Ships are doing. You will always jump away towards M83 and then send your reports home. We’ll have George rush ship production until the very last moment before they arrive and then we’ll have to shut down while their scouts are in our galaxy.” She looked at Arvolo, “You will have to get our ships ready in time. There will be huge numbers of inexperienced crews and we’ve got to get them up to speed.”

RV thought about Zack with the Ninja and then understood it had to happen exactly that way. “I’ll do the best I can.”

Chris said, ‘That’s all we can ask, Admiral.” Chris turned to Zack and said, “Why don’t you take us home.”

Zack sat down in the command chair and pulled Earth’s coordinates. He entered them and jumped away.

Chris said to his panel, “Contact George Sierra.”

George appeared on the display and immediately saw Chris’s expression, “What’s wrong?”

“It appears that the Violet Ships may be returning a lot sooner than we thought. It might be a good idea to have everyone notified that they should be ready to jump their starships away on short notice.”

“How long do you think we have?”

Chris looked at RV and he shook his head, “We don’t know. I’m sending the Ninja out to keep track of their movements but a huge Violet Ship battle fleet has been freed up and I don’t think they will just let it sit idle. Where are we in ship production?”

“We have four planets producing them now. Hemon really helped by making the production facilities modular so that they can be set up in less than thirty days. We have two hundred up and running and they have all completed one ship. The Crews have been trained on the systems but the Command structure is basically inexperienced. If we can get a couple of months we should be able to get two hundred more completed.”

RV said, “I suspect we’ll have longer than that before the invasion but I’m just not certain when they’ll send the scouts.”

“Why would that matter?”

“Won’t we have to stop production when they show up? I’m reasonably certain that they can scan for a stardrive.”

“Our production facilities are all under roof. They won’t see what we’re building unless they land and take a look. We just won’t launch the ships or activate their stardrives until the scouts leave. We can store more than ten ships in each facility.”

RV thought a moment and said, “George, how long does it take you to manufacture Needles?”

“Actually, we’ve had to slow their production down. We have more than enough for all the ships we’ll build over the next year.”

“George, get production started again. Launch all the Needles you currently have in stock out to the area we’re sending our ships. We also need a colony ship set up to take over the subject training from the Academy. We can be training our Needle Pilots now with the ships that just returned. Those Needles are ship killers in their own right and it would be great if we could put more strikers on their hulls.”

George thought a moment and said, “We can double the number. We’ll just have them anchored around the middle of the hull instead of under the engine mounts. You’ll also like the new Striker.”

Chris and RV looked at George with puzzled expressions. Chris asked, “What have you changed?”

“The guidance system can be switched from seek to follow.”

“Tell me the difference, George.”

“The Pilot will arm the strikers on their ships by using their scanners to download the frequency of the ships we’ll be attacking. Once the pilot fires the striker at a ship it will follow that ship at light speed where ever it runs. If it jumps away the striker will find another target with that frequency.”

“What about follow?”

“The Striker will scan for the three pulses from our Main Beams and fall in behind them and follow them in to their target. If the beams happen to miss they will automatically go to seek.” George looked at them and asked, “Are our weapons going to work against those ships?”

Chris shook his head, “I really don’t know. They are far ahead of where they were in the first recording we made of them. We won’t know until we line up across from them and trade punches.”

“Were you able to determine the range of their weapons?”

RV spoke up, “It looks like eight hundred miles for the white pulses.”

“Well, we should have a slight advantage. Ours are good out to eleven hundred miles.”

“We are also faster, George.” RV looked at Chris and he nodded for him to continued, “Their typical battles are fought from stationary battle lines and don’t require speed. Their weapons are tremendously stronger but developing a faster ship is not something they’ve worked on.”

George said, “Stand by a moment.” The display went dark and then came back on, “I just looked at the original recording and have timed those white pulses at sixty five percent of light speed. Do you know if they are any faster now?”

Chris said, “Stand by.” He pulled up the recording of the recent battle and used the computer to track the white pulses. He tilted his head and said, “George, the pulses are now twice as big as the first and are able to fly at the same speed. They are not faster.”

“Then the only way they can hit you is if you are moving toward them when they fire. The closing speed moving toward them will be faster than our ships can fly but we should be able to outrun those pulses otherwise.”

Jillian asked, “George, I’m curious about how they can have beams change direction and home in on a target.”

“I have no idea, Jillian. That’s technology that’s millions of years ahead of us. The good news is that their pulses don’t move at light speed like ours. By-the-way, how many ships do you think they’ll be sending?”

Chris looked at RV and he said, “Between three and five hundred thousand.”

George pulled out his calculator and started making entries. He stared at the result and looked at them, “Then we’ll have to kill them in bunches. We won’t have enough munitions to kill them one by one.”

Chris looked at the other three on his bridge and said, “If we can penetrate their force fields, we will do just that.”

“Do you think we can?”

“We won’t know until the Strikers start hitting.”

George shook his head slightly and the display went dark.

* * *

Arvolo sat on the Havana and watched the Needles go through their maneuvers. The twenty four hundred pilots were being cross trained on the defense weave and attack procedures. Some of the old Jukebox class vessels were their targets and were flown by remote control. The attack pilots were unsuccessful in trapping the old ships until they learned how to work together. Arvolo looked at the inventory and saw that only fifteen remained. The most recent class of pilots had been brought out to the Colony Ship and assigned an experienced Pilot to fly with.

RV looked at the most recent recording from M87 and saw that the Battle Fleet was being provisioned and they should complete the process in less than three months. That meant they would be sending their scouts out soon. The two hundred new Battleships had arrived two months ago and many crew members of the three ships that had gone to the Blue Giant Galaxy were promoted and given command of those new ships. Qualified sailors advanced fast in this new Navy.

He looked over at Cyanna screaming at one of the Battleship commanders about losing their place in the fleet weave. He stared at her and wondered at how beautiful she was. The new responsibility seemed to give her an energy that shone through her. She was focused and determined that her fleet was going to be the best. So far she had held up her end. She had beaten both of the other fleets in the last exercise. He had also learned that she had begun an accelerated command course for the officers that demonstrated talent. She had the Battleships Commanders take turns with their executive officers in the maneuvers. She kept the list of the best with her at all times. She had also demoted and replaced eight of the Captains. That made the others quite nervous about not keeping up.

RV had told Kenny what she was doing and he began his own list. Kenny told Bob and the maneuvers became a lot more competitive. They were making progress but Arvolo knew that space battles, like bar room brawls, never went according to plan.

Cyanna saw Arvolo staring at her and turned and said, “What?”

RV smiled and said, “I was just thinking how far you’ve come since that training day.”

Cyanna smiled, “It seems like it was years ago.”

RV nodded.

Cyanna stared at Arvolo and said, “What are you doing next shift?”

“I think I’m going to be sitting here watching the next shifts maneuvers.”

“What about taking a shuttle over to the China Star and getting a bite to eat?”

RV smiled, “Are you asking me out?”

Cyanna smiled, “I believe I am. What about it?”

RV thought about Maria and then said, “Call me when the shuttle’s ready.”

Cyanna nodded and turned back to her display. RV took quick glances at her and wondered what she wanted. Oh well, she’d tell him later.

Cyanna tried to focus on the current maneuvers but felt her heart beating faster and smiled with anticipation of the coming evening.

Chapter Eighteen

The Messenger entered the room and waited at an appropriate distance. The First saw him and stopped what he was doing to see what information was being delivered. The Messenger leaned forward and said, “We have received a recording on the frequency that those strange ships use to contact us.”

“Show me what you have.” The Messenger played the recording and the First absorbed it and felt immediate tension. “Did they have any comments associated with this?”

“They did not.”

“Notify me if anything comes in.”

The Messenger leaned back in respect and moved smoothly out of the room.

The other Leaders waited and felt the First’s apprehension. He moved to the table and played the video for the others.

The Seventh said, “They’re coming back.”

“It appears they are.”

The Second added, “We’re not ready.”

The First looked at the Fifth and ordered, “Launch the Colonies immediately.”

“Do you think that’s needed?”

“Review the video and pay close attention to the power of their force fields.”

After a moment the Third said, “I will start them moving.”

The Seventh said, “One piece of information included with that recording was the frequency of the Violet Ships. We should move our fleet to the outer edge of our Galaxy and scan for any of their scouts that arrive. We need to prevent them from attacking our most important planets.”

The First looked at the Seventh and asked, “Why are they assisting us?”

“I believe they are being honest. They do not view us as their real enemy and any enemy of the Violet Ships is an ally. They would help us under those circumstances even if we don’t accept them as a friend.”

“So you don’t think they would attack us if the Violet Ships were removed as a threat?”

“They said they would not.” The Seventh saw the tension in the First and quickly added, “I recognize that this violates all that we have learned about survival patterns but in a universe this big, there is a possibility that such a species does exist. This is just more evidence to support their claims.”

The other Six thought about the idea and the First said, “Send them a message and thank them for the information.”

“You know the Violet Ships will go to their Galaxy first.”

“If what they said is true, you are probably right. What do you think they are doing?”

“I don’t know but I will ask.”

“Do you think they will tell you?”

“If they do, we need to really think about our plans concerning them.”

“We’ll see.”

* * *

A week later the Seventh said, “They are sending all of their ships with stardrives out of their galaxy to make it appear that there are no advanced civilizations there. They seem to think that if they are successful, the Violet Ships will bypass them and come here.”

The Leaders thought and then the First asked, “Can we do the same thing?”

“Those beings seem to think that it will not work with us.”

“Why?”

“Because we have invaded the other galaxy with massive numbers of ships several times in the past and there is a great possibility that it was seen by the Violet Ships.”

“Do they have any evidence to support that position?”

“They have found a small probe between our two galaxies that operates on the frequency of the Violet Ships. They say it can track trails in Green Space and it has been there since their last invasion. They gave me the coordinates of the probe and our Military has confirmed its existence.”

“Wouldn’t it have tracked their ships when they came here?”

“They say their ships don’t leave trails.”

The First stared at the Seventh until he said, “The Military has also confirmed that they left no trails when they jumped away.”

The Fifth asked, “What if we sent huge numbers of our ships to their galaxy to make the invaders believe there is advanced cultures there?”

The Seventh leaned back showing his disagreement, “Then we lose their help and the probe will see that the ships came from here. It would not help us to do that and would probably bring them here faster.”

“Do you think they will help us if we call them?”

“I honestly don’t know. I know I wouldn’t if I were in their place.”

“Neither would I; we’ll have to handle this on our own. Let’s hope we have enough time to save our populations.”

“The first wave of Colony Ships has left and the second will soon be ready.”

“Good.”

* * *

The First leaned forward and thought to the group, “I am glad we made you one of us, Seventh. If you have any other thoughts, share them quickly. I don’t think we have much time before they attack.”

The Seventh leaned forward showing his agreement.

* * *

RV and Cyanna sat at a small table in the Officers Club on board the China Star. The Colony Ship was huge and contained the entire staff from the Fleet Academy as well as all the sailors being trained for the new ships. Two other Colony Ships were transferring the munitions needed for the newly arriving Battleships and were in view outside the clear view port in the restaurant.

“Those ships are huge.”

“They’re still not as big as a Blue Giant Battleship.”

Cyanna smiled, “That’s true but they are larger than any other ship in our Navy.”

RV looked off in the distance and said, “I wonder what a Blue Giant Colony Ship would look like?”

“Do you think they have any?”

RV shrugged, “I have no idea. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did.”

“Then they probably do; your hunches are usually right.”

RV stared at Cyanna. They had finished their meal and were slowly drinking their wine. RV said, “Cyanna, why did you want me to come here?”

Cyanna turned red and said, “You are also quite blunt in your questions.”

“I’m sorry; I just wondered what’s on your mind. I assumed you had something you wanted me to do for you.”

Cyanna stared at RV and said, “You really have no idea, do you?”

“Well…no, I don’t”

Cyanna thought about it and decided that being vague was not the right way to open their conversation. She smiled and said, “I happen to have a crush on you and I was hoping I could convince you to spend a little time with me.”

Arvolo stared at her and showed his shock.

“Do you have a problem with a subordinate making a pass?”

RV said, “Have you taken a good look at me? I’m over weight, my hair is thinning, and I’m not much to look at. You on the other hand are one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. What in this universe would attract you to someone like me?”

“Come on, RV. You’re selling yourself short.”

“No, I’m not. I know what I look like and I have never been someone that would attract anyone.”

“You attracted a wife.”

RV’s expression changed immediately, “She loved me for other reasons.”

“Just as I am attracted to you.” RV stared to respond but she quickly continued, “When I was in the fifth grade I had a young man tell me he thought I was the most beautiful person he had ever seen. RV, he was truly ugly and was the brunt of many insulting remarks. I thanked him and ran away.”

“What are you saying, Cyanna?”

“Our teacher assigned a group project for my class and no one would volunteer to work with Jimmy. I told her I would do it. I could just see his misery and didn’t want him to have another insult thrown at him. We started working on the project and I discovered that Jimmy was the smartest person I had ever encountered. He came up with ideas that I would have never thought of and fascinated me with what he knew.”

She paused and RV nodded for her to continue.

“The funny thing about that project was that when we started I saw Jimmy as being hard to look at. As we worked together he became more and more pleasing to be around. By the time we finished he was beautiful. I no longer saw his appearance; I saw the wonderful person he was and I chose to spend as much time as I could with him. By the end of the year, I loved him.”

“Where is he now?”

“He died two years later. He had a rare genetic disorder called Acromegaly. It’s extremely rare in children but Jimmy had it. It causes the one that has it to be disfigured and that is what caused Jimmy’s appearance to be so bad. It is a disease of the brain and in Jimmy’s case, the pituitary gland that caused it developed cancer and he died young.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“RV, I’ve never been one that is attracted by one’s appearance. Jimmy taught me to look for the person and I’ve never forgotten that lesson. You absolutely amaze me and I have wanted to get to know you since that day in the training room. I know about the loss of your family and I’m not asking you to have a formal relationship with me. I just want you to take some time for me to get to know you better.”

RV saw she was serious. “You may find that I’m not all that you think I am.”

“And if I do, we’ll part ways and still be friends.”

Cyanna reached across the table and took one of RV’s hands in hers, “Come on; you’ve got nothing to lose.”

RV looked down at her hands and took his other hand and placed it on hers, “This is frightening but I’ll give it a go as long as you’re honest about your feelings if I run you off.”

Cyanna smiled, “I am the one concerned about losing you. I already know how I feel about you.”

Cyanna came around the table and joined RV on his side of the booth. She lifted his arm and put it over her shoulders and they sat there staring out of the port at the three huge Colony Ships. Neither spoke but just sat and enjoyed the other’s presence. After two hours they left holding hands. RV’s world had suddenly changed. The next day held excitement instead of just being another day after another.

* * *

The Command Team was gathered in the Central Data Center in London. Arnold was there representing the Government and was having the meeting sent to the United Earth Center in China. Arnold stood and said, “Who would like to start the discussion?”

Dolly said, “I think Chris should begin. What do you think about the Blue Giant’s response to our message?”

“They still don’t trust us to keep our word. They thanked me for the information but they still view us as an adversary.”

Hemon said, “I can understand why. They have survived by being predators all these millions of years. Now that they know we are more powerful than they are, they must be afraid of us. It’s just like our former fear of the Alliance and Moet.”

George nodded, “Their pattern of survival must be almost instinctive. It would be almost impossible to break it and take a new course.”

Dolly looked at Chris, “Should we allow the Violet Ships to destroy them?”

“No.”

Arnold leaned forward in his chair, “I’m not sure I agree with you. Why shouldn’t we allow their destruction?”

“Because we would be the only one left to face them in the future. I’d rather have an enemy that is proven to be weaker than us to share that attention.”

George shrugged and said, “I agree with Chris. Do we have any information about when they might be coming?”

Dolly looked at her display, “The latest view from Zack and Isadore shows that more than eighty percent of their Main Battleships have been provisioned. We’ve also seen a huge number of small ships being provisioned at another of their main planets. They will be finished within two months at the current rate of transferring provisions.”

George said, “Well, it’s at least a good thing that they have taken so much time preparing. If they give us another month, we should get another three hundred ships launched.”

Jeff looked at his board, “The three fleets are now up to three hundred each. That will raise their ship count to four hundred. What about the Needles?”

“We’ve been slowed by making room for additional Needles in the ships hulls. The three hundred new ships will be able to carry a hundred and eighty each.”

Chris whistled, “That’s three times the number of the first ships.”

“Yes it is. We’ve been able to increase the number of launch tubes to sixty with three Needles in each.”

Dolly looked at Chris and said, “Make sure Zack keeps us current on their activities.”

“I will. I think we need to start moving all of our stardrive ships out of the galaxy. We don’t need to wait until the last minute.”

Arnold nodded and said, “The Government will support your decisions. I agree that we should start moving them now.”

Dolly looked at Hemon, “Will you notify the Alliance and Jeff, will you notify the Moet.”

They nodded and Dolly said, “Let’s go make it happen. I hope we’re able to deceive them.”

The group stood and left the room. Dolly remained behind and worried about what would happen if someone didn’t move all their ships.

* * *

The Fleet Controller looked at the status of his ships and sent for the Scout Controller. He finished his meal as the Controller entered his cell, “My ships will be ready in four segments. Where are you with your provisions?”

“My last hundred ships will be completed in one turn.”

Move those that are ready to the launch location and wait for the final ships to join you there. Have you given them their assignments?”

“Yes, I have.”

“This preparation has taken too long. Make large scans and do it quickly. I’m more worried about that second galaxy and don’t want to be delayed. The Hive Controller senses that the Kelleg are building at a faster pace than before. We cannot waste time.”

The Scout Controller waved his antennae and left the cell.

* * *

Izzy rewound the scan and saw thousands of small Violet Ships forming up into long lines just outside the edge of M87. She activated her George Communicator, “The Scouts are forming up. They’ll be arriving shortly.”

“Take the Ninja and join the Fleet.”

Zack looked at Izzy and said, “I hope this works.”

“We’ll soon know.”

* * *

The word went out and the Alliance, the Moet, and Humans waited for the arrival of the Scouts and hoped against hope that they would be left alone by the coming invaders. Dolly contacted George, “They’re forming up. You need to go into hiding.”

“Already there, Sis.”

“I’ll keep you informed of their searches.”

“I’ll be tracking them as well.”

“Is that wise?”

“Even if they hear our communications, they’ll have no way to determine where they are originating. We should be ok. Just hold the number down to a minimum.”

“I’ll do exactly that. Good luck.”

* * *

Commodore Aman Forester sat in his Needle under an outcrop of iron ore on a moon circling a planet circling a neutron star. The force field was on at maximum to prevent any power from being seen. The harsh radiation for the Neutron Star masked the force field. A ship would have to actually enter the system to have a chance of finding the small ship. That wasn’t likely; the Scouts would be looking for advanced civilizations and ignoring those stars that couldn’t support life. Aman had his George Communicator’s antenna in Sierra Space at passive receive and it would be next to impossible to detect. He would see a Violet Scout approaching long before it could find him. He waited and set up his display to show the movements of the Scouts when they arrived. He settled in and waited. According to Fleet, he wouldn’t have to wait long. He had every planet in the galaxy that had a civilization plotted on his board and it was set to alarm if a scout stopped to do a full survey. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Better get some sleep now. There might not be much later.

* * *

The Scout Controller arrived at the edge of the spiral galaxy and stared at how beautiful it was. He looked at his maps and activated his communicator, “All of you have your assignments. I want a quick scan for stardrives. If you find a civilization that doesn’t have interstellar capability, don’t waste your time. We’re looking for any species that could represent a danger to the Hive and if they don’t have the ability to jump in No-Space, then they are not a danger. You will commence your search…Now!”

The two hundred thousand small violet colored ships had spread out along the Milky Way’s rim such that they were separated by a thousand light years. Their scanners would overlap so there was little chance that a civilization would be missed. The long line disappeared.

* * *

Aman’s alarm went off and he came out of a deep sleep and turned it off after banging his head on the overhead panel. He rubbed his forehead and looked at the display. The scouts were moving on a straight line into the outer edge of the galaxy. He watched his board to see if any of them left Sierra Space to investigate a planet. He watched and waited.

Tenah looked at Yelt, “Did we complete the coverage of the pyramids?”

“Yes, the last one was done yesterday.”

“Show me what they look like now.”

Tenah watched his display and saw picture after picture of the huge pyramids covered in decayed vines and vegetation. He had to admit that they all looked like ancient artifacts. “That’s good work, Yelt. It should fool them, don’t you think?”

“I should think so. Let’s hope this plan works. How long will we be unable to use our ships?”

“I don’t know but even after we receive the all clear, I am not bringing ours back until we know those Violet Ships have left for the other galaxy.”

“I think that is a good plan, Sire.”

* * *

Dolly, Jeff, Hemon, Sasha, and Arnold watched the line of Violet Scouts move into the Galaxy. The feed from Aman was clear and they could see the line moving slowly in from the outer edge. “Have any of them stopped at a planet?”

Jeff shook his head, “Not yet, Mr. Gordon; they have passed more than a hundred and twenty Moet and Alliance planets so far.”

“How long is it before they arrive here?”

“If they continue at their current speed, they will arrive here in two weeks.”

Dolly looked around and asked, “Do any of you want to leave and come back?”

Everyone continued to watch the display and it was clear that this is where they would remain until the danger was over.

* * *

Aman reclined in his chair with his eyes closed. After a week, nothing had happened and boredom had made the hours drag. He was dreaming of fighting his new battleship against some gigantic space creature when the alarm blasted him up from his nightmare. He looked at the display and brought the area in closer focus where a Violet Scout had left Sierra Space. He matched the star up with his maps and saw that the star was not listed in his data. That star was more than eight hundred light years from the closest civilization in his database. He saw that the star was a Class G and that meant there could be intelligent life there. He knew the Command Team was receiving his feed and wondered what they were going to do about it.

* * *

The Lesser Scout entered normal space and found a highly industrialized civilization. He scanned the planet and saw hundreds of starships in orbit above it. He also saw it had four huge defense satellites orbiting the planet. He captured the data and reentered No-space. He expanded the scan and found eight more stars close by that had stardrive signatures. He downloaded their locations and continued his search. Three days later he had caught up with the advancing line and matched their speed. The advancing line was approaching Earth’s location.

Jeff watched the data from the alarm and said as the other members of the team rushed in, “It appears a scout has found a civilization out on the far edge of our Galaxy that possesses stardrive capability. It is not in our records so it must be a civilization we were unaware of its existence.”

Dolly said, “Turn off the George communicator. I want nothing that could cause them to stop and examine us.”

Hemon shrugged, “They probably won’t see it.”

“The word probably is what bothers me. Turn it off now.”

Jeff reached forward and pushed the switch. All Sierra Space communications are now disabled.

Arnold looked at the dark display, “How much longer before they arrive?”

Dolly looked at Jeff and he read his board, “Forty-nine hours until their line is here.”

“We’ll wait four days before we turn the system back on. Go get some rest; all of us need it. You’ll only be wasting time staying here.”

Hemon looked at Sasha and said, “Dolly, if it’s ok, we prefer to wait here.”

Dolly looked at Arnold and he nodded.

“Ok, but tomorrow night we go dancing.”

Hemon and Sasha smiled, “Now that sounds like a plan.”

* * *

The Lesser Scout rushed through No-space and heard a small chime. He pulled up the scan that had caused the chime and saw that a small section of No-space was slightly irregular compared to the space around it. Now that was irregular. He smiled at the pun. Ummm…does this require an investigation?

“Tighten up. You’re falling behind the line again.”

The Scout increased his speed and looked at the data. There was no stardrive detected in the system and that irregularity was small. By the time it decided that it might be worth investigating, the line was fifty light years past it.

“I told you to tighten up!”

Going back would cause him to be unable to catch up and if he found nothing he was probably going to be punished. He erased the irregularity from his system and moved up to the line of fast moving Scouts. The Controller had already chewed him out before the mission and he wasn’t going to give him a reason to remember him.

Earth had been given a reprieve.

* * *

Aman saw the scout slow down slightly at Earth’s location but then speed up to join the line. He took a deep breath and thanked God for answering his prayers. The disrupted area around Earth’s Solar System had faded but there was still a small patch near the Star. The Scout must have seen the area but decided not to investigate. That patch would be gone in another ten days. It would be a good idea not to use it again.

* * *

Chris looked at Jillian and released his breath, “That was close.”

“Yes it was. Chris, I’ve looked at the Alliance Map Book and found a planet listed in it at the location where that Scout stopped to investigate.”

Chris stared at Jillian, “What was it?”

“Jenze.”

“That is not good.”

“No, it’s not. What are we going to do?”

Chris looked at RV, “What do you think?”

RV narrowed his eyes and said, “I don’t know that we can do anything.”

Chris slowly nodded his head, “There’s just not enough time to do anything.”

“Their Main Fleet will be arriving right behind the Scouts and that civilization will be targeted for destruction. I don’t see anything we can do. Unless…”

Chris said, “What?”

“How many Colony Ships do we have available?”

Jillian looked at her board, “Six.”

“We can see if they’ll listen and allow us to move some of their population.”

“What makes you think they won’t listen?”

“Jenze usually shoot first and asked questions later.”

Chris stared at RV and then Jillian said, “Do you think Zack might get them to listen?”

RV tilted his head to the left and said, “He’ll only have a short time to do it.”

Jillian looked at Chris and then said, “As soon as Earth comes back on line, I’m going to ask Dolly and George what we should do.”

Chris shrugged and nodded.

RV thought about the situation and said, “Why do we have to wait for them to complete their scan? It appears they can scan more than a thousand light years. Once the Scouts are more than two thousand light years away we can send a ship and see if they’ll listen.”

“Won’t that be risky?”

“We can always jump our ship out into deep space opposite their location and jump in from there.”

“We’ll wait until they’ve passed the galactic core. I don’t want to take a chance.”

RV shrugged, “I don’t think it will be a huge risk. They already know that the civilization has stardrives so even if they detect it they will just assume it is one of the ships located there.”

Chris thought about it and slowly nodded, “There is that, RV. What ship will you be taking?”

“We’ll go on the Ninja.”

“Let me see what the Command team thinks.”

Cyanna sat in her command chair and worried about RV going into a dangerous civilization. She saw him staring at her out of the corner of her eye and took a deep breath and exhaled. She knew she couldn’t prevent him from going and he wouldn’t be the man she was falling in love with if he didn’t. She just hoped he would think about how to protect himself before he left.

RV saw Cyanna’s nervousness and said, “We should take a couple of our Battleships just in case.”

Chris nodded and said, “Pick the ones you want to go.”

Cyanna smiled.

Chapter Nineteen

The line of Scouts passed the Galactic Core and the huge black hole at the center of the Galaxy. Aman jumped out from the edge of the Galaxy and joined the Fleet. He boarded the Liverpool and assumed command. His XO said, “Sir, we’ve been ordered to go with Admiral Arvolo to contact the unknown civilization.”

Aman stared at the Executive Officer and said, “Arm the Needles and I want General Quarter’s drills every hour until we leave. Is that clear?”

“Yes Sir.”

* * *

The Ninja jumped into the solar system of the civilization and Zack began broadcasting on a frequency that the ships used. RV was thankful for the time they had taken to collect light from the system and use a George Communicator for Zack to learn their language. Zack said the language no longer resembled the ancient language used by the Jenze.

“This is the United Earth Ship Ninja and we wish to communicate with the leaders of this planet. We are here on a peaceful mission and do not intend any harm to you.”

Arvolo watched the planet and saw two hundred starships turn and accelerate toward their position. Zack requested the planet to communicate again but the frequency remained silent. Arvolo said, “Contact the Liverpool.”

Aman received the communication and heard Arvolo say, “Jump in with the Rio and launch your Needles.”

Aman saw that Captain Mally Snow had heard the order and nodded at him on their display. The two eighteen hundred foot long ships disappeared and reappeared on each side of the Ninja.

The incoming ships saw the two huge ships appear and more than three hundred small ships launch from their hulls. The ships slowed and stopped more than six thousand miles away. Zack waited and then heard, “It appears you do intend to attack us.”

Zack quickly said, “I know that my people would often shoot first and ask questions later. We will not come any closer to your planet. We only wish to communicate.”

RV saw four hundred more ships leave the planet to join the ships in front of them. He looked at Zack and said, “Do they need a demonstration?”

“Not yet. We shouldn’t harm any of their ships. They’ll need them.”

“Then if they come any closer we will jump away and leave them to their destiny.”

Zack saw RV was serious so he started talking over the communicator, “We are here to warn you of an impending attack from a species that lives in another Galaxy. Your planet has been scanned by their ships and they will be coming to destroy you. You don’t have much time if you want to save any of your population and it’s imperative that you listen.” Zack waited and only silence greeted his words. He hesitated and said, “The Violet Ships will not leave any survivors; you will all die.”

“Did you say Violet Ships?”

“Yes, I did; they’re coming back and they know your location.”

Zack waited and after two minutes a different voice came on the communicator, “The Violet Ships destroyed our planet.”

“I know; it was four million years ago.”

There was another pause and the voice said, “They killed everyone but a handful of survivors. We have been able to rebuild into what you see now.”

RV said, “Say nothing about how old you are? You’ll destroy your credibility.”

Zack hesitated and then nodded, “Are you Jenze?”

“Yes, we are.”

“So are we and we were also able to rebuild. Now you need to decide about what you are going to do.”

The ships leaving the planet stopped and turned around. The voice said, “Why did you come here?”

“We can’t save your planet from destruction. They will be returning with more than three hundred thousand battleships and will overwhelm you. We can save some of your population by moving them on our Colony Ships but we only have six to make the move. They will hold about a hundred fifty thousand people with only what they can carry on their backs.”

“How do we know you’re telling the truth?”

“I’m going to send you a recording of what we’ve been able to collect about their movements. Are you ready to receive it?”

There was a pause and they heard, “Send what you have.”

RV punched his board and the data went out on the frequency. He nodded at Zack and he said, “Look at it and let us know what you desire us to do.”

Zack sat down and Izzy reached over and held his hand. Zack looked at RV, “Thank you for trying to save my people.”

RV said, “Our people.”

Zack looked startled and then smiled, “Our people is right.”

* * *

An hour passed and the voice came back on, “It appears you might be telling the truth.”

“Are you willing to take the chance we’re not being honest?”

There was a long pause and they heard, “No. We’ve wondered why they haven’t returned before now and we know our ships cannot stand up to them.”

The problem is that one of their scouts actually scanned your planet so it got a ship count.”

“When did they do that?”

“About four weeks ago.”

“Good, we only had three hundred ships here then. We can send our other ships with the colonists.”

“If you have other colonized planets, I believe they also got a location scan on them but not a detailed number of ships. You must leave some ships behind if other planets exist.”

“We have eight more planets and you will take the population from them. We can’t take the risk that they know how many live here. We will have to face them with what we have.”

Zack looked shocked, “Are you sure about that? We can take some of your important scientists and leaders.”

“We’ll send our scientists but that is all. Your ships won’t be able to save the populations on the other planets so there is no good reason to cause panic here.”

“I admire your bravery. How do you want to make this happen?’

RV looked at his board and saw a series of coordinates appear.

“I’ve sent you the location of those planets. I’ve contacted the leaders and requested they select a hundred and twelve thousand people to board those ships to go assist another civilization to rebuild. I’m not telling them about the coming invasion. They have agreed to provide the builders and to have them only bring what they need to stay for a week. I hope you will take care of them after that time.”

“We will. Do you want to send ships to oversee the evacuation?”

“No, if we do that the other planets will know something isn’t right. We will send as many of our ships as possible to go with your ships. The Commanders of those ships will know the truth and will defend our new homes.”

Zack paused and asked, “What made you decide to trust us?”

“One of my ships got a reading on the force fields surrounding your small ships. They are more powerful than any we’ve ever seen. We know that if you wished to attack we would have not been able to stop you. When you held your position, we knew you must be telling the truth. You also know about the Violet Ships. You were right when you asked about whether I was willing to take the risk that you are being deceptive. Anyone that knows about the Violet Ships must be a friend.”

“Please tell the other planets not to waste any time. We don’t have long to do this.”

“We will impart a sense of urgency. Good luck to your species.”

“Sir, we are the same.”

The central display came on and they saw a human sitting at a control board with eight others around him. He looked at them and smiled, “I see you are right. Now I have hope for our survival.” The display went dark and RV got on the communicator. “I’m sending coordinates to each of you. Go to the planets there and begin on loading the population. Get it moving now!”

* * *

Two weeks later the six colony ships jumped directly away from the Milky Way out into deep space. There they waited for the Scouts to finish their scans and jump back to M87. The Colony ships then jumped to the five planets that had been colonized and had the Jenze disembark. They immediately jumped out to the fleet and waited for the invader to arrive.

* * *

Aman was back at the Neutron Star waiting and watching his board. The Violet Scouts had left a week earlier and he knew their data would have to be examined before the main fleet arrived. He wondered how long it would take to examine the scans of an entire galaxy. He glanced at his board and his display alarmed. He looked up and saw the massive fleet that was now holding station just outside the Milky Way. It had arrived at the edge of the galaxy opposite the location of the Jenze Civilization. He stared at the hundreds of thousands of ships and saw them form into nine groups of thirty three thousand ships. Aman shook his head and knew the Jenze Planets had no chance against those nine fleets. He watched and saw them disappear from normal space and jump to the stars of the Jenze. He waited and two days later the huge fleet began arriving back at the galaxy’s edge. He consulted his display and saw that the huge fleet was now reduced by five thousand six hundred ships. He smiled and knew the Jenze had fought ferociously against those fleets. The huge fleet remained at the edge reorganizing into three long lines and then after three days disappeared.

He pushed his communicator and said, “They’ve jumped towards Andromeda.”

Then he heard, “Red and White Fleets, jump to the Jenze Planets and scan the surface for any survivors. Launch all your Needles and search every square inch of those planet’s surfaces.”

Then he heard, “Admiral Blue, if you wish to send your ships to assist us in finding survivors, we would welcome your assistance.”

The Jenze Fleet Commander said, “Thank you, Admiral. I’ll send the ships that were assigned to each of the planets to assist at the planets they know.”

Aman slowly shook his head and wondered what would happen with the Jenze survivors and what impact they would have on Earth’s culture. He powered his reactors and jumped his Needle to the Jenze home world to join the Liverpool. Earth had survived the first round without a fight. He wondered if that situation was going to continue. He arrived and gazed at the burning planets and felt an anger that touched his soul. He entered the Needle tube on the Liverpool and decided that this could not go unpunished. He thought about his leaders and smiled; he was going to make sure the Liverpool was ready.

* * *

Cyanna stared at her display showing the three long lines of Violet Ships before they jumped away. RV saw her staring at her console and pushed a switch to see what she was staring at. Cyanna saw the green light illuminate in the top right corner of her display and said, “You’re looking over my shoulder again.”

“Yes I am.”

“What do you think about their formation?”

“That is the best formation they could choose to use. Notice the center line is slightly ahead of the one above and below. If the center line is attacked, it slows down and the other two move over the attacker and attack from above and below. If the top line is attacked, the lower line moves ahead of the center and both fire up at the attacker.”

Cyanna nodded, “And if the lower line is attacked, the top line moves forward and both lines rain destruction down on the attacker. It looks like they have all the bases covered.”

RV tilted his head to the right and said, “Not all of them.”

“Oh, which one did they miss?”

“They have no defense to their rear. It’s like the ancient Greek Phalanx. If you attack it head on, you would be cut to ribbons. If you managed to attack from the rear the Greeks would be rolled up and killed. The Romans changed that by using smaller units that could change direction quickly. That’s why they ruled the ancient world.”

Cyanna thought about attacking the three lines from behind and RV saw her face light up. She turned and said, “Do you see it?”

“Indeed I do.”

“Do you seriously think it would work?”

“The timing is impossible especially with the numbers that would be required to make it work.”

Cyanna smiled, “I thought impossible was your middle name.”

“Actually, it’s my first name.”

“What is your first name?”

“I just told you. Now get the plan together and we’ll have to do the training on the fly. Can you make the assignments in time?”

“You know I can.”

RV smiled and looked at the three long lines again. He said, “Contact Chris Connor and Dolly Garcia.” He leaned back and stared at the Violet Ships again. His eyes narrowed and he felt his anger build.

Chris appeared on his display and saw his expression, “You know they haven’t invited us.”

“Haven’t you ever crashed a party?”

Chris smiled as Dolly joined him on the display, “Admiral, do you have a plan?”

“Plan is my first name.”

Dolly looked at Chris and looked back at RV, “Then it shouldn’t go to waste. Have a good time.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

Cyanna said, “I thought impossible was your first name.”

“It’s a hyphenated name. You know, like, Plan-The-Impossible.”

Cyanna laughed out loud.

RV looked at his display and replayed the burned Jenze Worlds. It was time for payback.

The end

Books by Saxon Andrew

The Annihilation Series:

Love Conquers All

The Power of a Queen

A Rose Grows in Weeds

Tommy’s Tale

Searcher

Demon’s Sacrifice

Finding Keepers

Ashes of the Realm:

Juliette’s Dream

Greyson’s Revenge

Lens of Time

The Pyramid Builders

Planet Predators

About Saxon Andrew

Saxon Andrew is the author of the number one bestselling Annihilation Series. All seven books of the series have been a number one bestseller on Amazon’s kindle Science Fiction Series. Ashes of the Realm is the second series created by him and continues the history of the Stars Realm after its destruction. A third series, The Lens of Time, will be published in early 2012.

His books are written so that anyone can enjoy them and not worry about their children picking them up. He lives in Tampa, Florida with his wife and looks forward to each day so he can write the stories that his fans enjoy.

Copyright © 2012 by Saxon Andrew. All rights reserved. Screen Writers Guild no. VQEA3E380432.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.

First Electronic Edition: June 2012