Planet Predators (29 page)

“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

T
he 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.”