Nowhere to Run (17 page)

“No, we’ve been unable to capture one of the ships that entered our home.”

“What’s your best guess?”

“There are three galaxies that could be doing it.” The first being was silent and the second said, “We have ships that have not reported back from two of those galaxies.”

“Which two?”

“The giant ball galaxy where we chased those ships that came here and the closest galaxy.”

“How many ships are missing?”

“Three have not returned from the giant galaxy and one is late reporting from the closest.”

“So you’re not certain the one in the closest galaxy has been destroyed?”

“If it doesn’t report within three bists, it will have been destroyed. It has orders to return if it doesn’t find anything in that time limit.”

“What about the ships in the ball galaxy?”

“They have missed their reporting times.”

The first being was silent and said, “Send a group to that galaxy and make sure a ship returns to inform us of what is happening there.”

“I will issue the directives.”

• • •

“We’re back.”

Ian smiled, “I was worried.”

“We were delayed by the new scanner computer algorithms. They finally got them sorted out and we came straight here.”

Suddenly the ships klaxons began blaring and the speakers announced, “Black Ships gathering, Black Ships gathering.”

Ian’s display illuminated and he saw a hundred Black Ships gathering on his display. He punched his board and said, “All ships prepare to jump into Andromeda.”

The fleet moved to battle stations and Doc energized the weapons console. Dee stared at her display and closed her eyes for a moment and punched her communication panel and yelled, “DO NOT JUMP TO ANDROMEDA, I REPEAT, DO NOT JUMP TO ANDROMEDA!”

Ian was angry at the interruption and said, “What do you mean!?!”

“The pattern is wrong, Ian. I just know we shouldn’t jump.”

“What do you mean!?”

“I’m not sure but jumping would be the wrong thing to do right now.”

Doc said, “Listen to her, Ian.” Ian struggled with what to do and he heard Doc say, “Trust her, Ian.”

“Why?”

“Just do it!”

Ian looked at Violet and she was as confused as he was but she said, “Drey was never wrong.”

Ian struggled for a moment and said, “Hold your positions.”

The fleet watched the giant Black Ships gather and then disappear. They waited and nothing appeared on their scanners. After a long minute, E said, “The other space scanners have determined that those ships have jumped toward M87.”

Ian fell back in his command chair and said, “Cancel Battle Stations. Dee how did you know they weren’t coming here?”

“I don’t really know, Ian. I just sensed their location and pattern was wrong if they were coming here.”

Doc said, “She doesn’t know how she does it but her observations are accurate every time.”

Ian felt his nerves and started shaking. After he composed himself he said, “Well I am thankful you appeared in time before we made a huge mistake.”

Doc looked at Dee and knew that she had insisted that they leave as quickly as possible. How could she have known this was going to happen? Dee saw him staring at her and sighed, “I don’t know, Doc.”

Doc smiled, “However you do it; I’m glad you do.”

Dee smiled and said, “Ian, did one of our advanced scanners manage to get inside the jump field on one of those ships?”

Ian looked at Violet and she said, “Hang on and let me check.” Violet looked at her panel and adjusted a dial. She looked up and nodded, “One of them did get inside the jump field.”

Ian looked at his display, “Are we able to see it?”

Violet looked at her display, “The Black Ships have emerged into normal space and it is locked on their jump frequency. It should be able to follow them.”

“Do not have it transmit. Set it to only record and have it jump away after it determines what those ships are doing.”

Violet nodded and sent the commands.

• • •

Cole sat with one of the Kilper scientists and examined the diagrams of their needle beams. Cole was somewhat fascinated with the scientist’s appearance. She was about six feet tall and was basically shaped like a human. Her skin had a light rust color and her hair was black with yellow streaks that ran through it. Cole had determined that the yellow streaks were unique to each Kilper, with all of them differing from individual to individual. Her face was slightly narrower than a human’s face but didn’t seem out of proportion with the rest of her body. Her two eyes were solid blue with no white and the iris was oval. She had eyelids but she never blinked. The iris would close and then open, which was somewhat disconcerting until you became accustomed to it. The computer had transferred the Kilper language to Cole and he found their language somewhat musical. After the initial shock of seeing the Kilper, he decided that she was nice to look at in a different sort of way.

“I’m not sure what you’re asking.”

Cole smiled, “The needle is not actually focused by the lens of this beam or am I missing something.”

“No, the lens is only used to focus it on a target. The intensity is created by the steering fields inside the beam’s barrel.”

Cole stared at the network of electronics surrounding the weapon and said, “Have you tried any other forms of energy through it?”

The Kilper stared at Cole and said, “What other forms of energy are you talking about?”

Cole continued to stare at the diagram and said, “Argel, we have a beam that we’re building on orbiting platforms that fire Boson particles. We can’t use the weapon on our ships because of the necessity of using extremely large structures to insulate and contain it. This blaster you have here looks like it might be able to keep the Boson particles away from the walls of the barrel.”

Argel stared at Cole and said, “You’ve isolated Boson Particles?”

Cole smiled slightly and said, “We have.”

Argel thought a moment and then slowly started shaking her head, “Those particles will cause a nuclear explosion very close to what antimatter/matter do in self-annihilation.”

“Actually, it’s somewhat stronger.”

Argel’s irises rapidly closed three times and Cole decided that the iris gave away when a Kilper was shocked. She said, “Do you have the diagram of the beam and its controls.”

Cole hesitated but decided that the time for distrust was past. He pulled the diagrams up on his desk display and Argel came around and looked over his shoulder. She leaned forward and Cole decided that he liked the way she smelled. She stared at the diagrams as Cole paged through them and said, “I think you’re right. The needle blaster should contain the particles. However, I don’t see an effective way of reducing the collection module or the insulating materials around it.”

Cole’s eyes narrowed, “I’m not seeing what you’re talking about.”

“Go back to the first page.” Cole moved the display back to the first diagram and Argel pointed at the collector, “That collection module is where the particles are sent from the collector, right?” Cole nodded. “I see that it is a curved pathway. If you move the collector off the floor and bolt it to the wall directly behind the blaster, you could just attach the blaster barrel directly to the top of the collector and fire it without the conduit.”

Cole stared at the diagram and said, “You saw that immediately?”

Argel raised her shoulders, “It’s somewhat obvious.”

Cole looked at the idea and said, “I see what you’re saying. The collector would have to be enclosed inside a thick wall with only the barrel coming out of it.”

Argel went back to her chair, “That’s how I see it.”

Cole stared at the diagram and said under his breath, “That would be the only weapon on the ship.”

Argel said, “Not really.” Cole jerked his attention to her and saw that the Kilper had excellent hearing. “You still have your missiles and you can route five barrels out of the collector and divert the particles into one of five barrels you choose to fire; one to each side of the ship, one on the top and bottom, and the last one to the bow. We’ve developed the targeting systems so your computers can aim them.”

Cole stared at the diagrams and slowly nodded, “This would be limited to use in space battles.”

Argel tilted her head, “Unless you want to destroy a planet.” Cole jerked his head toward her. Argel looked him in the eyes and said, “This beam would devastate a planet’s atmosphere and surface. This is truly a planet buster. I’m really thankful that we are now working together.”

Cole smiled and looked back at the computer display, “We need to make the beam tighter.”

Argel nodded, “Reduce the diameter of the barrel.”

Cole stared at Argel and said, “Do you have time to work on this with me?”

Argel said, “I’ll contact my Commander. I’m inclined to believe they’ll remove my assignments and allow me to work with you. I was sent here because I’m just a junior grade scientist.”

Cole smiled, “I’ll start getting the trial set up to test this.” Argel nodded and pressed a button on her hand computer.

• • •

The advanced scanner dropped off the Black Ship that had arrived with it in M87 and remained outside of normal space. Only the small tip of its antenna was in normal space and its passive sensors were at optimum. The squadron of a hundred ships designated nine ships to enter the galaxy while the others waited at the edge. The nine ships oriented toward the center of the massive galaxy and jumped away. The scanner moved into the wave they left in other space and surfed the wave to their new location where it immediately raised its antenna again. One of the Black Ships remained at that location as the other eight jumped away. The scanner followed the eight ships but locked in the coordinates of the ship that remained behind.

This process was repeated three more times and the scanner arrived close to the center of the galaxy with four of the Giant Black Ships. It recorded the conversation between two of them.

“Why have we followed this path?”

“We were unable to determine the first ship’s route when it pursued the ships from our territory. The next two ships we sent followed this path. We should be able to determine what happened to them.”

“And if we don’t?”

“We’ll go back out, collect the other ships, and come in on a new trajectory.”

A third ship said, “I’m detecting energy fields ahead of us.”

“What?”

“There appears to be multiple energy beams that are being relayed from what looks like space buoys that disappear in the distance. My readings indicate they surround this section of the galaxy.”

“What do you think they are?”

“My computer says they resemble some kind of border markings.”

There was a long moment of silence and then, “I’ve been able to detect four different beam frequencies around this section of the galaxy.”

“Are there any on the path we followed here?”

“Yes, we jumped inside one on our last jump.”

“Power all weapon systems, extend your scans, look into the travel medium for any movement coming toward us, and spread out. Align your communications to the ships we’ve left as sentries and make sure all active scans are sent to them in real time.”

“Should we jump inside that field in front of us?”

“Why do you suggest that?”

“If we are inside someone’s border, they have had more time to move in on us than the next section.”

“Jump across the next energy waves.”

The four Black Ships just managed to jump across the energy barrier as the scanner began detecting approaching waves in other space. It pulled its antenna out of normal space, and released all its power into other space as it emerged into normal space, just as six large grey ships appeared where the Black Ships had just been. They emerged into normal space and took position directly opposite the new position of the Black Ships. The scanner had its optical lens recording visible light onto a plate, which required no energy.

“Those ships are not crossing the beams to pursue us.”

“It appears they are unwilling to violate this border even by firing across it. What can you determine about them?”

“Their force fields are stronger than ours.”

“Does that mean they are unwilling to anger whoever controls this space?”

The leader of the Black Ships thought about that question but then his second in command yelled, “Massive waves approaching at incredible speed!”

The Black Ship Leader only had time to say, “Jump…” as two giant green ships emerged into normal space and fired a single beam into each of them. They exploded into massive fireballs. Two of the Black Ships managed to fire a beam at the two Green Ships but they were shrugged off by the force field surrounding the Green Ships. The two Green Ships remained hanging in space confronting the six Grey Ships on the other side of the border. The six Grey Ships remained for a minute and then jumped away. The two Green Ships remained for an hour and then disappeared.

The scanner remained in normal space collecting power from the border energy fields until it had enough to function. It left normal space, jumped back to the last Black Ship Sentry’s position, and extended its antenna. There was a debris field and the scanner immediately jumped away as an Orange Ship appeared. The next two Black Ships were also destroyed and only the first Black Ship left as a sentry appeared to have escaped. The scanner jumped out into the void between the galaxies and dumped its power and emerged into normal space in an area of space junk that floated between galaxies. It turned on its optical system and watched as eight different ships arrived and searched for it. None of them found it and after hours of searching, all of them had jumped away. The computer on the scanner processed the information and looked at all the possibilities of its next course of action. It was programmed to be extremely cautious and it decided that jumping away was too dangerous. It put all of its data into an encrypted microburst and sent it in all directions. It then self-destructed as the eight ships reappeared at its location.

The optical section of the scanner was ejected from it before it self-destructed and recorded the arrival of the eight ships. Two weeks later it sent the data through other space and melted. No ships appeared when it destroyed itself.