Planet Predators (28 page)

“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.”