Lens of Time (20 page)

“I’m not the one that fired first. I moved here to avoid any misunderstandings.”

The Admiral said, “Did you fire on that ship?”

The Ship Commander said, “I did.”

“Why?”

“It has violated our territory.”

“Was it doing anything aggressive?”

The Commander waited and finally said, “No, but the stations said it had taken a position and was holding it.”

“Did they attempt to communicate with it?”

“They did and were not answered.”

Phil said, “That was my fault.”

The Admiral said, “Why is that?”

“It required some time to learn your language. At the point where my translator began functioning, I heard that a ship was coming to deal with me.”

The Admiral looked at his board and said, “You learned our language that quickly?”

“Enough to basically communicate; the program will improve the more it hears you speak.” Phil waited a moment and said, “It appears that you are the aggressive species.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I’ve scanned the system and your satellites are aimed at the planet. I can only determine that you are holding the population prisoner.”

“That’s true.”

Phil was surprised the being agreed, “Can you see where I might think you’re not peaceful?”

“The Gruek are not allowed to build ships. They conquered this sector of the galaxy and enslaved thousands of civilizations. They were eventually defeated and we refuse to allow them to travel the stars again.”

“I’m surprised you allowed them to survive.”

“It’s wrong to kill needlessly. They are no longer dangerous in this sector.”

“I thank you for answering my questions. I’ll leave your ship and allow it to go in peace.”

Anne stared at him and kept her hands on the missile controls. Phil lifted and exited the ship’s force field. “Before you leave.”

Phil brought the attack craft to a stop, “Yes.”

“Why are you here?”

“My species is looking for a place to colonize.”

“Why?”

“We are under attack from another galaxy and we’re close to being overwhelmed. We’re looking for a place to bring our populations.”

“What have you determined about our galaxy?”

“There are large numbers of habitable planets out on the edge of the galaxy. It makes us wonder why there is no intelligent life on them.”

“Do you plan to use them?”

“I just don’t see that happening.”

“Why is that?”

“Your fleet came in and attacked my ship without making an effort to determine whether it was a threat or not. That says a lot about your civilization.”

“What do you mean?”

“We do not attack other civilizations except in self-defense. We would have attempted to communicate first. Even if we were fired on, we would not have destroyed a visitor.”

“So you think we’re too aggressive for you to settle here?”

“No, I think you would be too frightened to allow a civilization more powerful than your own to come here; and we won’t come without being invited.”

“Are you saying your civilization is more advanced than mine?”

“You’re not even close. Your fleet poses no threat to our ships.”

• • •

Suddenly a hundred black ships emerged into normal space surrounding the thirty grey ships. The Admiral said, “Hold your position. We’re outnumbered.”

Phil said, “What’s going on?”

“We’re still fighting the Gruek on the opposite side of the galaxy. It appears they are here to free our prisoners. They haven’t fired on us because our fortifications can kill those on the planet. I expect more of their ships to arrive shortly.”

Phil heard the Black Ship say, “I’ve been looking forward to this moment. I’ve been waiting to capture you for longer than I can say, Admiral. You will exit your ships and go to the planet.”

“You know if we do that, the population will consume us.”

“If you don’t, I’ll destroy your ships and then your forts.”

Phil said, “I think you might want to reconsider your demands.”

“Just who are you to question me?”

“I’m actually just a visitor; but did I understand you to say that the population on the planet would eat the crews?”

The Admiral said, “They’re carnivores. That’s why there’s no intelligent life on the planets out in the periphery. They were all captured and eaten by the Gruek.”

“And your worlds will eventually be consumed as well. We are getting the upper hand now and you don’t have much longer to live.”

Phil said, “Have you heard enough?”

Chris said, “I have. Use the Needles.”

Phil said on the general frequency, “Target only the black ships; Jericho, Jericho, Jericho.”

Forty Needles roared in from behind the moon and hit two ships each with a penetrator. Phil used the attack crafts missiles and fired at ten of the remaining twenty. The other ten were hit before they could escape.

Three hundred more Needles arrived and demolished the two hundred black ships that appeared in normal space a minute later. The fight was over in less than six minutes.

• • •

Phil pressed his board, “Good luck with your war.”

“Wait a moment, please. Where did these small ships come from?”

“One of our main battleships is watching what’s going on here and decided that it was appropriate to intervene. We don’t like those that consume others.”

“You have our permission to settle as many planets as you need in the periphery. I’ll confirm this with my leaders but I believe you’ve demonstrated the principles we believe in. We will not enter your territory without your permission.”

Phil smiled, “I think we can give you some assistance with the Gruek. We’ll discuss that once we settle in.”

“Negative on that, Captain Phillips.”

The Admiral and Phil were surprised by the message that interrupted their conversation. “What are you saying, Jukebox?”

Chris said, “If we understood that creature, the Grey Ships are close to being overrun. I sent your coordinates to Home Fleet and they are dispatching ten ships to assist them. I need you back here now.”

The Admiral heard the voice and then ten large white ships appeared outside his fleet. Phil said, “Who’s in command?”

“I am, Sir; Captain West on the Tucson.”

Phil said, “Admiral, if you will take these ships to your front lines, we should be able to resolve your problems with the Gruek. Captain West, you may report back when you determine you are no longer needed.”

The Admiral watched the small white ship jump away along with the other small ships. “I’m going to miss those small ships.”

Captain West said, “Don’t worry. My ten ships have more than seven thousand on board.”

The Admiral had a lengthy conversation on his communicator with the Committee about the new visitors until he arrived at the battle being fought with the Gruek. He didn’t have to wait long before he continued it.

Chapter Sixteen

P
hil entered the Jukebox’s bridge and Chris said, “Before we make a final decision on moving to this galaxy, I need you to take the Ninja and look at the history of these planets we’ve chosen.”

“Are you going with me?”

“No, you can handle this on your own. You know the systems as well as we do.”

Phil thought a moment and said, “The weapons officer that went with me to that planet has been trained on the fields at the academy. I want to take her along and familiarize her with a live search.”

“Notify her wing leader and get moving. We need this right away.”

“I’m on it. I’ll let you know as soon as we read the sensors.”

Chris looked at Jillian and said, “Get RV on the line.”

Jillian made the call and RV said, “What’s going on?”

“We’ve found ten planets that are perfect for colonization. We stepped into a galactic conflict and we’ve been told that we are welcome to settle on the periphery of this galaxy. It does appear there is no intelligent life this far out from the center.”

RV leaned back, “Was that a good idea to get involved in their war?”

“It was take action or watch a fleet of carnivores consume another fleet.”

“Send me the details. How many planets do you think we have to colonize?”

“Our initial scan revealed more than a thousand near our current location. The being we communicated with said that most of the planets out here were consumed by that race of carnivores long ago. We’ve sent the Ninja out to confirm that information is accurate and should have verification within forty hours.”

RV stared at Jillian in the display and finally said, “Let me know as soon as you have an answer. I’m going to start moving toward another plan, assuming we will be able to use those planets.”

“I’ll let you know, RV.”

• • •

RV thought a moment and then contacted George. They spoke for thirty minutes and then RV opened the fleet frequency, “We are going to start harassing the Majors on an ongoing basis. I am going to assign a section of the Major’s sector to your fleet and I want you to plan numerous attacks by groups of ships that outnumber those selected to hit. I want you to go in, hit fast and jump away. If you have to jump a thousand times to escape, do it. I want them focused on stopping our intrusions. Contact me as soon as you’ve developed a plan.”

RV disconnected from the Admirals and made a call to Boden, “I need to discuss an issue with you. Do you have some time?”

Boden stared at RV and then said, “I’ll take your call in five of your minutes.”

RV left the Bridge and went to his office. He waited until the time expired and activated his panel, “Are you available?”

“I am.”

“I have some questions and I want you to be honest with me.”

Boden smiled, “Do you suspect I’m being dishonest?”

“Not directly, but I do believe you aren’t telling me everything. I’m going to tell you what I think is going on and you can wait until I finish before you respond.” Boden nodded. “The Union has put all of your planets in jeopardy and your primary goal at this moment is making sure your Federation is not destroyed when the civilizations in M-87 come searching for us. Most of your building efforts are aimed at protecting your citizens and you’ve even talked about stopping your support of our fleets.” RV stared at Boden and waited.

“You’re right.”

“I don’t blame you. I’d do the same thing.”

Boden showed his surprise, “I didn’t expect you to see it our way.”

“I want to see if I can persuade you to help make it so that you don’t have to do that.”

“Go on.”

“What’s the real danger to your people?”

“The M-87 civilizations finding you here in our galaxy.”

“What if we aren’t here; what do you think they would do?”

Boden was surprised by the question, “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“What if they come here and don’t find any humans in this galaxy. What do you think they would do?”

“I agree with your earlier summation that they can’t take time to attack if they intend to find your species. If you weren’t here, they would continue their search elsewhere. However, you are here and one of those Majors knows this location.”

“It thinks it knows. What if they arrive and there are none of us here. Do you not think they would believe we’ve deceived them?”

Boden thought a moment and then said, “Maybe.”

“What’s the bigger danger; us being here or not being here and them then questioning the information they have?”

“Obviously, you being here is the larger danger.”

“We want to move every one of our species to another galaxy as quickly as possible. In order for that to happen, we’ll need the help of all of your planets.”

Boden’s face turned from surprise to thoughtfulness. “They may be coming here before you could move.”

“We’ve begun massive attacks on their ships in their territories. We are going to continue that plan to keep them pinned down until we can make the move. The faster we can get moving, the better the chance of it working. I need your help to do it.”

“You have seven planets with millions of your species on each. Just how do you see this possibly happening?”

“We have more than three hundred colony and weapons ships. More than a hundred thousand of our citizens can board each of those. If we get the Hive and Horde ships involved in picking up our citizens, that’s another six million ships. Our largest population is eighty million on Sierra-Garcia. It would take seven jumps to move all of them. If you allow us to use your large commercial vessels, we can make this happen.”

“But you can’t just jump to another planet and expect to survive. How are you going to feed and shelter your colonists?”

“That’s where you and the two hundred thousand planets come in. You know most of our buildings are modular. They were constructed to go up quickly and they can also be taken down quickly. Once we move a planet’s population, send all of your engineers and builders to remove them and take them to the planet where the population moved. If the planets we leave are bare, it will reinforce that the Majors were deceived about our location.”

“They will still be able to see you were there.”

“How?”

“You’ve buried your dead on those planets. That DNA will still be detectible.”

RV paused and said, “Not if the graveyards are scorched by an ultrabeam.”

Boden looked uncertain but then RV said, “We’re moving to a galaxy more than a billion light years away. We have the planets waiting on us. We just need to move and do it now.”

“What if those civilizations decide to attack anyway?”

“We’re going to continue our war against them. I suspect they’ll be unable to take a major action until we are resolved along with the Hive and Horde. We have a window of opportunity. That will also allow you to continue your plan to protect your planets.”

“There’s something you’re not saying.”

“You’re right. You need to move the ship building facilities from your worlds to ours and remove any trace of them from your planets.”

Boden said, “I’ll get back to you.”

“Boden, please don’t take a long time.”

“I won’t.”

• • •

The Communication Board called for order. It took another hour before the enraged leaders could be silenced. It was finally done by turning off all communication channels and then coming on and saying, “If anyone says a word this meeting will be terminated for a week until you can come to order.”