Probe Predators (2 page)

Andi nodded, “Gravity would affect physical particles and disrupt them. No message could be sent that would make sense inside a galaxy’s gravity well.” She looked at Trip, “You’ve got to notify Fleet about this!”

“Be my guest; you’re the one with a military father. I’m going to see if they succeeded in their mission.”

“But you’re not authorized to do that.”

Trip looked at Andi, “Those probes were launched during my ancestor’s watch. That’s all the authorization I need. High Genetics have the freedom to investigate anything that generates an interest in them.” A loud noise came from directly above them and they looked up to see Cole descending toward them on a sportster speeder. “Thank God Cole is sober.”

Cole landed and shook his head, “I’m surprised you made it this far; get in.”

Trip staggered to his feet and looked at Andi, “You need to get this information to your father.”

“You know the military is at peacetime levels. I don’t know if they have a ship ready to go.”

Trip shook his head, “That’s how I was able to purchase my Needle; there was a surplus of them lying around. The Union has forgotten what the universe can throw at it. I really hope I’m wrong about this.”

Andi shook her head, “Why now!!”

“Why what?”

“You’ve done nothing but waste your life; why the sudden urge to get involved?”

Trip smiled, “It’s not me; on that you can be sure. It’s that part of my brain that comes from Dee; it’s taken control.” Trip fell into the speeder head first and it lifted and disappeared over the tall building surrounding them as Trip struggled to pull his feet inside the speeder.

Andi watched them disappear and frowned, “I really believe he is out of control. If he goes to M87 and violates their border, he could cause an interstellar war.” She touched her temple and said, “Father, you’re not going to believe this.”

• • •

“Thanks for coming to get me.”

“No problem; you’re still too drunk to fly your speeder. What’s going on? I haven’t seen you move that fast since Barbara saw you with that other woman.”

Trip rolled his eyes, “Barbara did have a rather nasty temper. She shattered the shatter proof glass on my old speeder.” Cole tilted his head in agreement. “I’m taking the needle out to M87.”

Cole snorted, “I do hope you aren’t going to violate their border.”

“I don’t plan on it; I need some computer time to determine where to go and I suspect it will be outside the border agreed on by both sides.”

“And if it isn’t?”

“Oh well.”

“I’m going with you.”

“I figured you would; you’re always a glutton for punishment.”

“No, I’m a glutton for amusement. Watching you is hilarious. Tell me what’s going on.”

“Andi’s study made me see that those probes were designed to accelerate to light speed and communicate with a pulse of physical particles. Particles moving close to the speed of light will expand to the size of the universe the closer to light speed they travel.”

Cole nodded, “Which means anyone with a device programmed to receive the signal will hear it instantly.” Cole paused, “How did you hear her; you were asleep. I heard you snoring.”

Trip sighed, “Part of my brain is always watching what’s going on around me no matter what condition I’m in. It scared the crap out of me when it connected the dots. I don’t know how this was missed by our scientists.”

“Who do you think the signal will be directed toward?”

“Cole, I suspect there are other Families out in the universe.”

“That is not good!”

Trip nodded and stuck his head out the window of the speeder and felt cool air on his face, “I really tied one on last night.”

“I told you to back off but noooooooo; you had to push the limit.”

“She insisted!”

“Do you even remember her name?”

“I don’t even remember what she looked like.” Trip paused, “What did she look like?”

“Pretty much like all the others.”

“Well, that’s good…I think.”

“Trip, you’re out of character.” Cole banked the speeder around a hauler at high speed and then straightened up.

“Hey, please don’t do that. I’d hate to mess up the speeder.”

“What’s going on, Trip?”

“Cole, my existence is nothing but one boring moment after another. Where is the challenge; what is there to make life exciting?”

“And you think this discovery changes all that?”

Trip looked at Cole and his brows came together, “Would a billion Warships coming to eat you get your pulse moving?”

Cole’s lower lip pushed out, “You make a good point; I don’t want to be something’s breakfast.”

“You’d probably just be an appetizer.”

Cole smiled, “They’d probably smoke you like a fine cigar.”

“You know what they say, Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, you drink good booze, your pipes won’t rust. If they lit me, I’d probably explode in their face. I guess they could push a stick through me to keep things together.

“I guess, but parts will start falling off.”

Trip smiled, “The head will be the first to bail out.” Cole snickered. “What’s so funny?”

Cole laughed, “If they ate you they wouldn’t be able to stand up for a week.”

“Trust me; they wouldn’t be alone.”

The speeder moved above the traffic lanes and accelerated over the horizon to the Montgomery Mansion. The structure towered over the surrounding buildings and could be seen from miles away. It was beautiful with its arches and columns holding the vaulted dome in place. It was one of the few structures close to the capital that still had large gardens around it. The sprawling city had grown over the centuries and the Union’s capital was a gem. The Main Obelisk still handled all the planetary defenses and it had grown in power to unimaginable levels. The Montgomery Mansion had its own defense emplacements scattered around it.

Cole flew the small craft into a hangar located in the upper level of the huge structure; he landed next to a vessel that was clearly a warship. It wasn’t large; it was less than fifty yards long and only eighteen yards wide. But anyone could see it had the lines of a killer. The beam and missile tubes were numerous. However, if anyone was asked the first word that came to mind upon seeing it for the first time, most of them would say, “speed”. It was clear the vessel was built for incredible speeds.

“I still don’t know how the Military agreed to let you purchase this.”

“I think the Queen really wanted me to take an interest in all things dangerous. She gave the final authorization.”

“How is your aunt?”

“Feisty as ever.”

“Do they know you armed it?”

“I think they suspect I did; but they really haven’t pushed finding out. No one has been sent to inspect it.”

Cole exited the speeder and moved toward the elevator, “Just how are you going to get authorization to leave the planet?”

Trip touched his temple, “Moe, did you listen in on the class this morning?”

“I did.”

“And?”

“I’ve ordered a full mobilization of all our fleets.”

“Will they be able to respond in time?”

“Of course not! They’ve forgotten what’s out there in unexplored territory.”

“I’m taking my Stringer to investigate, if you don’t mind.”

The Obelisk’s Main Computer thought about it for three seconds and both Trip and Cole knew that was a very long time for the computer to consider it, “I will allow you to go if you promise to not cause an incident with M87.”

“I can’t promise that, Moe. If the probes have to be outside the border to broadcast their message, I won’t violate their border.”

“And if it can broadcast inside the border?”

“Moe, I need that message recorded. You’re going to have to decipher it and determine what’s coming. If that means crossing their border, I’ll do it. You know someone has to do this and I’m the only one available.”

“Trip, why are you doing this?”

Trip was silent for a moment and then said, “Moe, for the first time in my life, the Union is in danger.”

“You feel the calling?”

“Unfortunately, I do and I really hate it. I’ve really tried to divorce myself from all things heroic.”

“I need to know how much of this is you and not your genetics.”

Trip was silent for a moment and looked at Cole before he said, “I’m really ticked off, Moe. Someone is possibly coming to threaten our existence and there are billions of innocent people that could be in harm’s way. I think this is how Drey and Ian would have felt; but I feel it as well. I feel like…I don’t know how to describe it.”

Cole smiled, “You’re alive for the first time.”

Trip looked at him and smiled, “Exactly like that.”

“I will authorize you to take any steps you deem necessary to defend the Union. You will also stand outside the Military’s chain of command.”

“Moe, is that a good idea?”

“Trip, they’ve become weak over the last two thousand years and have no spine. When your ancestors passed the torch, the one’s that took it blew it out.”

“We still have a powerful fleet, Moe.”

“And it’s all put aside in storage. It’s led by those that don’t have the courage to use it properly; I’ll inform the Queen about what I’ve authorized, so don’t be surprised if she steps in and attempts to stop you.”

“Once I’m clear of the planet, she’ll have to personally come and stand in the way. She could send a ship but I don’t think they have one to send.”

“Then you need to get moving. It appears the Admiral is discussing it with her at this very moment.”

“Can you delay them making any decisions?”

“They just asked me about what I think. You have fifteen minutes.”

Trip turned to Cole, “Grab some clothes and get moving.”

“What about you?”

“I keep everything I need on board. Get moving, I’m firing up the beast.”

Five minutes later, Cole ran through the entry portal and the port slammed shut. Trip took the small ship out of the hangar and broke every traffic regulation ever written by Euclid getting into orbit and jumping away.

“Y
our Majesty, we cannot allow him to go out like a vigilante and cause an intergalactic incident.”

“Are you prepared to send a ship out, Admiral?”

“Uhhh, not at the moment but I should have one ready within twenty four hours.”

“If my nephew had not determined what those probes are going to do, would it have taken you twenty four hours to prepare to greet the millions of warships that would arrive to destroy us?”

The Admiral stared at the Queen and didn’t have an answer. Angela looked at the huge flashing Obelisk in the throne room and said, “You spent fifteen minutes telling us nothing we didn’t already know. Did my nephew have time to get away?”

“He did, Your Majesty.”

“I need to know what you think about the current situation, Moe.”

“In my considered opinion, your nephew is the only one thinking with a clear head about the Union’s survival. The Admiral here didn’t even have one ship ready to respond to anything that threatened us. A shuttle could have come and thrown rocks at us and all he could have done was dodge them. And unfortunately, he’s not alone, none of the other military leaders are any better.”

“I take offense at your remarks. We’ve been in a time of peace for two thousand years. We’ve needed no warship to defend us.”

“And what about M87 imposing a border on us and not allowing us to enter their galaxy. Do you know what they’re doing at the moment? Did you not see anything threatening in their actions? Do you seriously think they don’t know that we have no active duty navy on call?”

Angela turned to the Admiral, “Answer him.”

“With all due respect, we have the Obelisks to defend our planets.”

Moe said, “So that removes your responsibility to do anything other than get paid and sit on your backside doing nothing?”

Angela stared at the Admiral, “And what happens if M87 has developed a weapon to hit our planets from outside the Obelisk’s defenses?”

“I highly doubt they’ve done that.”

“Then why did they seal their borders?”

“I don’t know, Your Majesty.”

Angela looked at the brightly flashing Obelisk, “Can you put me through to Trip?”

“You’re connected.”

“Trip, I suspect you’re being somewhat impatient aren’t you?”

“I don’t know and that doubt is what’s pushed me to act.”

“You have the Crown’s authority to take whatever action you deem necessary.”

“I didn’t expect you to do that, Your Majesty.”

“I didn’t expect you to act like you have good sense; so both of us are surprised at the moment.”

“I’ll not take a risk if I can avoid it.”

“I know; now I need to ask you a question.”

“Yes.”

“What would you do if you were responsible for the defense of the Union?”

“I would mobilize every ship in our inventory and find the flight records of every ship commander in the service.”

“Why?”

“I’d look for the ones that ordered their subordinates to use the flight simulators to keep their flying skills sharp. Without a real ship to fly, the military had depended on the simulators to train our pilots. That is nowhere near good enough if they are forced into actual combat.”

The Admiral opened his mouth and the Queen raised her index finger and pointed at him to remain silent. “What would you do with those instructors?”

“I’d relieve every officer above the Rank of Rear Admiral and replace them with the pilots that know they have to be prepared for any eventuality. I’d order them to start training exercises to bring their personnel up to speed and start the Union building new warships.”

“You think the probes will bring an enemy to our galaxy?”

“Even if they don’t, I suspect M87 will be pounding on our door shortly. We didn’t have the guts to tell them to take their border and shove it. That told them we’re weak. I suspect they will capitalize on that discovery.”

The Admiral sneered, “And just how do you know that?”

“They’ve never stopped fighting among themselves, Admiral. Do you think all their ships are locked away in storage? Just how dumb do you have to be to not see what danger surrounds us?”