Planet Predators (22 page)

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