Lens of Time: Book 06 - Star Rover-Running Out of Time (18 page)

“I’ll take care of it until morning. You can check on what’s going on when you wake.”

Gresha sighed and felt her weariness, “Alright, please wake me at day break.”

“I will.” Gresha went to a structure and fell asleep instantly. Two hours later, Anabel came back and rubbed her back.

• • •

Dat looked at the Admiral, “I’m sure you’ve thought about what we need to do.”

“I have.”

“And?”

“We continue the war.”

Dat smiled, “I had the same idea.”

“Before that happens, we need to see if our friends have a guest at the party.”

“I’ll let you know what we find.”

• • •

The dark ship stayed close to the fourth planet and watched the third planet with its passive scanner. It couldn’t get a good image from that distance but the Servant felt it should be able to determine if a battle erupted. It waited for a week and was getting restless. Suddenly, the surface of the planet had a giant flash. He jumped into his command chair and saw the ally’s production facilities were burning. He saw a single ship jump in above the planet but he couldn’t tell what kind of ship it was. He almost decided to leave but knew if he arrived without proof, he could lose his life. He activated his electronic scanner and scanned the planet and saw thousands of explosions taking place in the Ally’s military locations. He recorded the image and shut off the scanner. He backed out of the planet’s shadow and moved rapidly out of the system.

• • •

Ten of the twenty thousand tiny tracker probes had the Servant’s beam pass through them. They immediately jumped to the source of the scan and found the small scout. The first to arrive moved in next to the hull and merged with it under the scout’s rear stabilizer fin. The other nine landed on the hull and waited for another ship to land on. The scout had not energized its force field to avoid being detected. It finally jumped away with the ten trackers still on its hull.

• • •

Katherine contacted Dat, “Admiral Arvolo, why have you called off our attacks on the invaded planets!?!”

“Sir, I had to make a decision and there wasn’t enough time to explain everything to you. The Grillen Fleets are not coming to the defense of those planets and our forces there are no longer in any danger.” Dat glanced at the Admiral issuing orders and said, “Their forces are being ordered to stand down and surrender to our warriors on the planets.”

“What’s going on?”

“The King of the Grillen Empire has been killed by one of the creatures that gave them the advanced technology. I’ll report to you momentarily but I need to see if we can track the creatures to their home worlds.”

“Dat, I’m not at all comfortable with you overriding my orders.”

“Sir, if you think I made a mistake in doing this, I’ll promise to never do it again. I would hope that you would be able to trust me if I did something this serious.”“

Katherine knew that Dat was her most important tool in the conflict. She also knew she couldn’t do it all alone. “Dat, I’m sure you had a good reason. Get back and let’s discuss what’s happening.”

“I would prefer you come here and meet with the new Grillen King.” Dat looked at the Admiral, who had stopped issuing orders. He stared at Dat and, after a moment, he nodded.

“Are you serious?”

“I am.”

“I’ll be coming with an escort.”

“Use Admiral Matthews’ group.”

“I was thinking of something much larger than those ships.”

“More would be less, Sir. This is a precarious moment and we need to do this right.”

“Who replaces me if something happens?”

“Admiral Gibbs; make sure he stays at Fleet Headquarters until you return.”

“I think we need to call Jon and Jill out of retirement.”

“You know they left the service to make up for all the lost time being alone.”

“They’re still two of our best war Admirals. They are also up to speed on the Jukeboxes. It appears those ships are going to be the point of our future attacks.”

“I’d really like to have them available. Contact them and see if they’re interested.”

“I will. They’ve been trying to have a family and have not been successful; they might be open to re-enlisting.”

“Let me know what they say.”

• • •

Dat activated his wrist unit, “Gibbs, get some transports to the Red Sector and transport the Madators to their home world. We need to get them off planet before they give in to their need to hunt.”

“Sir, are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

“Not at the moment. You’re about to be contacted by Fleet Admiral Hull.”

Gibbs looked off the display and said, “That’s her now.”

“Get moving, Gibbs.”

The display went dark and the screen immediately activated and he saw a Rover Pilot on it, “Sir, I’m at the largest Grillen construction planet and ten of my trackers have jumped.”

“Yessssss. Captain, remain where you are and assist in getting our forces off planet. Do not activate the trackers and send the code for them to my wrist unit.”

“Yes Sir; I’m sorry to interrupt you but my orders were to contact you if any of the trackers activated.”

“You made my day, Captain.” Dat ended the call and looked over at the Grillen Admiral, “It looks like we tagged one of their ships.”

The Grillen nodded and continued issuing orders to the Grillen Military forces.

T
he Supreme Lord looked down at the Scout and listened to his advisor’s questions, “Are you sure the Ally and the Spiral Galaxy are at war?”

“Lord, you saw the destruction of the Ally’s production facility.”

“Why did only one ship from the Spiral Galaxy appear instead of the Ally’s fleets?”

“I suspect the Ally’s fleets were engaged with the fleets from the Spiral Galaxy. I could have stayed longer to verify it but you ordered me to make certain I was not discovered. If I remained and a large number of ships arrived, the possibility of discovery would have been greatly increased.”

“You may go.”

The Pilot left the huge chamber and the Supreme Lord looked at his advisor, “What do you make of this?”

“I believe he is right.”

“What do you think about revealing one of our major battleships to the Ally?”

“According to our Fleet Controller, the ship was destroyed very quickly after it emerged into normal space. I think the Ally will understand us not sending another ship.”

“What should we do now?”

“I’m going to contact the Ally on one of their communication frequencies and see what they have to say.”

“You should delay that communication.”

“I’ll give them enough time to really be deep into their conflict. We’ll check in on them periodically to see what progress is being made. At the proper time, we will go and take what we want.”

“Keep me informed.”

“I will, Lord.”

A creature was brought into the chamber, struggling against the bonds that were holding it. The Supreme Lord moved off his throne and approached the helpless creature. The Lord stung the creature so quickly it was barely seen. The creature collapsed against its bonds and was carried out. The Supreme Lord hoped the creature’s intelligence was good. He needed offspring that were advanced mentally. He knew the ones with the highest level of intelligence were in the Spiral Galaxy. He looked forward to the offspring that would come from using them.

• • •

Dat stood up and looked at the Grillen Admiral, “Both of us have a lot of work to do and making it happen here is just not possible. We should meet here exactly five days from now.”

“I agree. Are you certain about your decision?”

“I don’t trust you. You were one of our allies and you turned on us.” The Admiral stared at Dat. “Perhaps you’re right and the new King can be trusted; however, he won’t rule forever and those that follow him may not be trustworthy.”

“I cannot fault your logic. All of us want to ensure the survival of our people and I’m certain my former King worried about the power your civilization possessed. Its existence caused him to feel the same way about your leadership changing at some point in the future.”

Dat thought about the statement and really didn’t know how to respond. He shook his head, “We have never broken our promises; that has to count for something.”

“It does with me. However, trust is earned. I hope we can do the things necessary to regain yours.”

“Sacrificing your forces on the invaded planets is a step in the right direction. I know what that decision cost you. Now you need to get your new King here to hammer out what comes next with my Commander.”

“I’ll contact you if any difficulties prevent us from being here.”

“Let us hope that doesn’t happen.”

“I know. Where are you going now?”

“I’m going to try and prevent my warriors on the planets we attacked from consuming your survivors.”

“They are not your species?”

“No, they are not.”

“Then please go and help my warriors.”

Dat trotted out of the room and saw the port open in the Rover, “Stein, get me to Blacky’s planet as quickly as possible.” The Rover lifted and the ensuing sonic boom broke the glass out of all the buildings within six miles of its departure.

• • •

Dat arrived and landed close to the huge military complex that was burning out of control. The Madators had rounded up all of the surviving Grillen and had them kneeling in the sand. Dat knew things were about to get out of hand; the Madators were bobbing at a high rate. The Madators looked up and stopped bobbing when they saw the Rover moving quickly toward the surface. They saw the Command Symbol of a Union Admiral and Blacky knew it had to be Dat. The ship landed and Dat came out of the port running. “Blacky, come with me.”

Blacky looked at his warriors, “You will not harm them!” The Madators stared at their huge leader and became very still. They wondered what was going on and their curiosity overcame their desire to hunt. “What is going on!?!”

“Come with me; I have something to show you.” Dat took Blacky to the Rover’s bridge and downloaded the contents of his wrist unit into the ship’s databanks. He turned to Blacky, “I have discovered the creature that gave the Grillen their advanced technology.”

“So?”

“You need to see it.” The display illuminated and Dat saw Blacky staring at the strange creature standing thirty feet from the Grillen King. “I want you to watch what this creature does.” Dat activated the video and Blacky jerked at the speed that the creature used to attack the King. The King’s death was over faster than Blacky thought possible. And the creature had gone through a force field to kill the King. He looked at Dat, who said, “That creature has a stinger that it uses to inject a larva into the one it attacks. The larva uses the one it is injected into as a meal to grow. The host is also used to develop its intelligence. I’ve not seen any creature that can move as fast as that one; I’m including your species in my judgment, Blacky.”

Blacky turned to Dat, “Why would the Grillen ally themselves with this…this…”

“They didn’t know.”

Blacky stared at the creature for a moment longer and then turned and walked out of the ship. Dat followed him running to try and keep up with the huge Madator. Blacky arrived at the other Madators and they saw something in his expression. He looked at them one by one and then said, “It has finally happened, my warriors.” The Madators were deathly silent and still. “Our friends have found the Ultimate Prey.”

One of the Madators stared at Blacky and said, “Are you sure?”

“I have no doubt.”

The Madators forgot the Grillen kneeling in front of them and began communicating among themselves. Dat arrived and looked up at Blacky, “They aren’t bobbing.”

“They will not bob to show respect to them.”

“To who?”

“The ones that inject their larva. This is a holy moment for my species.” Blacky activated his communicator and sent the word out to all of the Madator Warriors that the Ultimate Prey had been found. On every invaded planet the Madators lost interest in the surviving Grillen and began calling for transportation to return home to prepare to meet their ultimate enemy. Dat thought he understood the Madators but he now knew this was out of his league. He contacted Gresha and asked her to find out what finding an Ultimate Prey meant to the huge black creatures. He had no clue if this was a good or bad thing.

• • •

Gresha listened to Dat’s message and was confused about the Madator’s behavior on the invaded planets. She went over to a group of Madators and saw Anabel, “Do you have a moment?”

“I always have time for you, Gresha.”

Gresha walked away from the group and sat down on the step in front of the quarters she was using. She rubbed her back and winced, “My back always hurts when I sleep on your beds.”

“I’ll change it.”

“No, no; I’m leaving momentarily. Dat asked me a question and I couldn’t answer it. I was wondering if you would help me understand what he’s asking.”

“Sure, what’s bothering him?”

“What is an Ultimate Prey?” Gresha saw Anabel suddenly stiffen and freeze; she was completely still. That was highly irregular with the Madators; they were always moving. “Did I ask something inappropriately?”

“Have they found it?”

“What do you mean, Anabel?”

“We pray every day for creation to send us our Ultimate Prey. We have been searching for it for as long as we’ve been intelligent.”

“Why?”

“We are Madators, Gresha. No species we’ve ever encountered has been able to defeat us one-on-one. We want a foe that challenges us to the maximum of our abilities. None have ever been found to do that.”

“Do you mean you desire a foe that can kill you?”

“Yes.”

“For God’s sake, why?”

“The fight would be glorious. It would give us ultimate joy and satisfaction and allow us to become more than we are.” Anabel hesitated, “Have they found it?”

Gresha didn’t know if she should answer but the Madator female had been open and honest with her. She decided to avoid a direct answer, “Blacky says they have.”

Anabel erupted into a hoot that almost deafened Gresha. The hoot moved rapidly up the scale and disappeared as it went into higher frequencies. Gresha had her hands over her ears and she looked out at the vast plain and saw every Madator in sight suddenly kneeling. The Madators that were flying high overhead fell rapidly to the ground and joined the others; silence ruled the vast flat land in front of her quarters. She activated her wrist unit and began communicating with Dat. Something dramatic had happened and the Union had to find out what it meant.