Lens of Time: Book 06 - Star Rover-Running Out of Time (23 page)

“Katherine, do not tell them we’re planning to do it until the last minute.”

“Why not?”

“They’ll run you over trying to be the first to go.”

Shane tilted his head, “Just how do you go about delivering them on the Servants’ planets without them knowing it was us that delivered them?”

“That has to be done in three phases. We can’t send a probe into their space without them detecting it and knowing it is one of ours. First, we need to locate the planets we intend to drop the Madators on. We’ll send ten thousand survey ships outside their galaxy, where they will collect the light that left there a hundred years ago. They will be outside their detection range and the Survey Ships will be scanning for the frequency of the Bronze Ship that came to the Grillen home world. Since we know they’re used to invaders, our survey ships should be able to find the planets we’ll use to drop the Madators.”

Gibbs said, “How do we get them there?”

Dat thought for a moment and smiled, “We have two allies that were once located in M87. The Horde and Hive have mothballed many of their old warships and we’ll use them to deliver the Madators and knock out the satellites above the planets. Since the satellites’ weapons are all oriented toward the planet they’re circling, it should be easily done. We’ll load four penetrators on them to do the job, if necessary. The Servants have not seen us use a penetrator, so they won’t be able to track them back to us.”

“What about the Madators?”

Dat looked at Shane, “I can promise you that the Scout they used to see the destruction of the production facilities did not come anywhere near close enough to see a Madator. Matter of fact, even if they could see the planet’s surface, the Madators are never visible. If they capture a Madator, they won’t be able to connect it with us.”

Kelli watched Dat and knew she was witnessing the most brilliant military mind in the Union. She looked over at Shane and saw he knew it as well. She knew she had a long way to go before she was at their level of developing tactical plans.

Katherine stood up, “I’ll get the colonies to contact the Hive and Horde and request the use of some of their old ships. I’ll also get the civilizations in M87 started in helping us with the construction of the new facilities in the Red Sector. The rest of you have your tasks. Let’s get moving; time is critical.”

• • •

Dat activated his wrist unit. Blacky appeared on it, “It won’t be long, my friend. You need to prepare yourself.”

Blacky’s smile was instant and Dat smiled as Blacky started bobbing.

• • •

The Supreme Lord waited for his Advisor to arrive. He looked over a report with a status of his Realm and was halfway through it when the Advisor arrived. “I apologize, Lord. I was on the other side of the planet when you called.”

“I know and you have no reason to apologize. I want you to send a scout to check on the Ally.”

“Yes Lord.” The Advisor left and sent the orders to his military contact. The Scout left within ten minutes of the Supreme Lord’s command.

• • •

The Scout arrived in the Grillen Galaxy and tried to think about how to determine if the war was happening between the Spiral Galaxy and the Grillen. He thought about it and decided to jump to one of the former production planets in the huge ball galaxy. He was shocked to see the facilities had been rebuilt and were turning out Grey Ships at an incredible pace. He activated his main scanner for a quick view of the planet and collected as much data as possible in the short time he allowed himself. He immediately backed away and moved out of the system. He never saw the hundred trackers attach themselves to his hull. He arrived back at the main military complex and sent the data he collected to the Supreme Lord’s Advisor.

• • •

“What have you determined?”

“It appears the Ally is holding their own against the Spiral Galaxy. The production planets have been rebuilt and huge numbers of Grey Ships are being manufactured.”

“How many did they rebuild?”

“I’m sorry, Lord. The Scout only visited one planet.”

“Why?”

“We did not want him to be seen by our Ally. It would cause suspicions we want to avoid.”

The Supreme Lord thought about what the data meant and he knew the Ally would not be building Grey Ships unless they were needed against the Spiral Galaxy. They were still at war. He nodded to his Advisor dismissing him and went back to his report. They weren’t ready for invasion…yet.

• • •

“Kristin, how many planets have you found?”

“I’ve logged more than a thousand just in one star cluster. All of them are farming planets with only satellites above them. What about you, Jeff?”

“I’ve found more than eight thousand in my area.”

“How did you manage to do that?”

“I found one of the Servant’s major planets and followed ships that left it. You can lock the planet in and see the direction they’re jumping in. Once you get the bearing you need only drop into green space and look for the telltale technology clues given off by the planets.”

“That is a great idea. Thanks for sharing it.”

“Do you know how many planets Fleet wants us to catalogue?”

“According to my Commander, Fleet wants ten thousand planets the Servants have invaded and they need to be scattered throughout their domain.”

“Why do they want them scattered?”

“I’m not sure but if I had to guess I’d say they want them to be forced to spread out their ships.”

“We should have that many planets by now.”

“We probably have a lot more than that; however, I’ve been ordered to continue to chart their space.”

Jeff thought a moment and smiled, “I suspect they’re using what we find to develop a map of their civilization.”

“You’re probably right…hold on.” Jeff waited and after a few minutes Kristen reappeared on his display, “We’re being ordered out. You should receive the order momentarily.”

Jeff heard his panel buzz, “I’ve just received it. I’ll see you back at Fleet.”

“Be careful.”

• • •

Katherine looked at the Hive Controller and the Horde Master. She shook her head, “You don’t need to provide the crew for the ships. We can get our personnel up to speed to fly them in.”

The Hive Master shook his head from side to side, “You know that’s a waste of time. And if you really think about it Admiral, you don’t want one of our ships hit and the Servants find a human on board. Your whole plan would fall apart. Our species has not been seen by the Servants and they’ll have no idea how to go about finding us. We should make the drops for you.”

Katherine knew they were right. She blew out a breath, “Are you sure you want to do this? Some of your crews could be lost in the effort.”

“We’ll be angry if you don’t let us after all you have done for us. Send us the targets and where we need to pick up the ones we’ll be dropping on the planet.”

“I’m going to need you to take out the satellites above the target planets. My scanning experts tell me they are not protected by a force field and are used to fire on any of the local population on the surface that get out of line. If your ships come in above their targets, they should be able to fire on all four of them simultaneously. If you can take them out quickly, I suspect the major Servant Planets won’t know we’ve invaded until a ship arrives.”

“We’ll set up the fire plan for the satellites. When do you want to do this?”

“I have my survey ships out at this moment looking for potential targets. We should have enough catalogued within six more days. Let’s plan to do this in ten days. How long will it take for you to get those old ships ready?”

“Ten days sounds about right, Admiral. If we run into problems, we’ll let you know.”

Katherine smiled, “Ten days it is.”

• • •

Shane received the stand down order and shook his head. He put in a call to Admiral Arvolo to plead his case, “But Admiral, we should be the ones that drop the Madators.”

“You’ve said that ten times, Shane. You’re not looking at the big picture.”

Shane shook his head, “The chances are small that we will be discovered.”

“Is there a chance, Shane?”

“Well…a small one.”

“Admiral Hull is right about this. If any of the ships sent to drop the Madators is discovered and destroyed, it could lead to an immediate invasion of our galaxy. If the Servants found a human body in the wreckage, they’ll know we know where they live and they’ll respond accordingly. The ships we’re using to make the drops are ancient. They’ll be able to take out the satellites at the target planets but not much else. We suspect that those planets are visited to move crops to the Servants Major Planets and with us invading more than ten thousand, the odds increase that a ship might show up while we’re making the drop. Those ships will stand no chance against a Servant Warship; you know we’re doing the right thing.”

“Yes Sir. I’m just itching to see if our new weapons are effective. The waiting is driving me batty.”

“Shane, we have more than fifteen million Jukeboxes to modify. All of our construction capacity is devoted to modifying the old fleets and they will not carry the four hundred Rovers you’ve been using. We can’t build Rovers and modify the Jukeboxes. You need to help Fleet with planning maneuvers on how to use that many ships, with fewer Rovers in their inventory, in a major battle.”

“Are you telling me you’re going to assign me a major fleet to command?”

Dat sighed and shook his head, “I promised Admiral Gibbs that I would honor his promise to not force you to command a fleet. I’m terribly frustrated by that promise; you are without doubt one of our best tactical commanders. It’s proving difficult to find anyone qualified to command our major units.”

“I’ll take one of them.”

“What?”

“I said I’ll take one of them.”

Dat stared at Shane on his display and after a long moment he said, “Just like that?”

“Admiral, I’ve learned while using the four Jukeboxes to defend the negotiation site that I have a good core of officers around me. It wasn’t as bad as I thought allowing them to handle the defense and I know that in the coming conflict with the Servants that all of our ships will be involved in the fighting; that includes my own ship. I will take command of four fleets if you will promote my team members to command them.”

“Are you talking about Gem, Kelli, Matt, and…who would be the fourth?”

“Me.”

“Are you going to be able to fight a fleet and command the other three?”

“Admiral, the four of us know what to do without orders. We’ve been working so close, that we know each other to a level you would surprise you. If it doesn’t work, we can make a change; however, I really think it will.”

“Why are you agreeing to this?”

“I’m bored and need something to challenge me. I also have an idea about a jump weave that I think needs exploring; I’ll need large numbers of ships to fully explore it.”

“How many ships can you control?”

“I want a million ships for each fleet. I need them to be sent to my team commanders immediately to start training on the weave and we’ll send them in for modification when a space opens up for them.”

Dat shook his head, “You know I’ll be getting your ships ready first.”

“Yes Sir.”

“I also want Admiral Gibbs and me to be with you when you start this training.”

“It’s going to take four fleets to make it work, Sir.”

Dat looked up at the ceiling, “Well, let me see. Gibbs and Lydia are two.” He looked at Shane and said, “Gresha and I make four. I’m sure we can find two others for each of our fleets before we use this tactic you’ve developed.”

“Are you going to allow Gresha into combat after she has her children?”

“Do you seriously think I could stop her?”

Shane chuckled, “You make a good point. When is she due?”

“Five months. Gibbs, Lydia, and I should be up to speed on what you’re developing and we can take our fleets and start getting them ready. Gresha will join us when she’s ready.”

“Do you think we’ll have enough time, Sir?”

“If the Madators don’t take the Servant’s attention away from us, nothing will. I suspect they’ll deal with their problems close to home before they start moving on us.”

Shane nodded, “May I notify my officers of their new rank?”

“You’ve earned that right Admiral. You are promoted to the rank of full Admiral and your officers will be Lt. Admirals.”

“Are you sure Katherine will agree to this?”

“She’s been after me for some time to ignore our promise to you and force you to take a fleet. Oh, she’ll support this. I suspect you’ll have the forms to sign less than two minutes after I tell her.” Shane laughed and Dat said, “I’m serious, Shane. You have a meal bet on it.”

“You’re on, Sir.”

Shane watched his display and heard Arvolo start speaking to Admiral Hull. Arvolo was wrong in his time estimate. It took forty five seconds for the forms to appear on his console. Evidently the Admiral had been planning for this to happen. Shane shook his head, “I owe you a meal, Sir.”

Arvolo nodded and Shane called in his officers.

D
at and Gresha stood on the Madator’s planet and watched thousands of them boarding shuttles to be taken to their ships in orbit overhead. Blacky walked up and smiled, “Thank you, Dat.”

“Blacky, you’re not telling me something. There’s more to this than just going after an Ultimate Prey. What’s the real reason?”

Blacky stared at Dat and his head rolled down to his chest. He stared at Dat for a long moment and then said, “Do you know why we would chase the inhabitants on the planets we conquered in our former galaxy?”

Gresha said, “You told us it was to control the population’s size.”

“That’s a good answer but not the real one.” Dat looked at Gresha and saw she was as confused as he was. Blacky’s head went to the top of his round body and he looked out at the thousands of Madators boarding the shuttles. “We are a unique creation, Dat. Genetically, we can change and match our abilities to any prey that we consume.”

Dat stared at Blacky and after a moment he knew, “You want their speed and strength.”