The Wages of War

by Saxon Andrew

  “Yes Sir. I’ll start moving my ships into the launchers and be ready to leave the ship in twelve hours.”

  “That would be good Admiral. Good luck and good hunting.”

  “Thank you, Sir.”

  • • •

  Ten hours out from Andromeda the defense forces launched and moved into position surrounding the carrier. Two hours later, Graylin’s Task Force launched from the starboard side as Charlotte’s units launched from the portside of the Griffin. In less than an hour, all the scouts scattered and moved toward the area in Andromeda they were assigned to scout. Justin’s Red Rock was the last ship to launch and it followed the six-thousand scouts toward Andromeda. The long wait was over, and the tension level was rising among the telepaths.

  • • •

  Sylvia turned to Terry after the ships launched, “Move the ship directly above the sectors being scouted. Make sure it remains ten light-years above Andromeda.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  Sylvia sat back and hoped a new threat wasn’t found. But holy crap this galaxy was huge. She shook her head and went to her quarters. Now the long wait would commence. Time would tell if there was anything there.

  • • •

  The Red Rock moved high above Andromeda where the war was being fought between the Stealth Civilization and Triangulum. Once it was clear of the warzone, it moved in and stopped less than a light-hour from the plane of Andromeda. Justin turned to Cami, “Let me know if anything comes in.”

  “Yes Sir. They’re still more than five hours from the areas they’ve been assigned.”

  Justin turned to Frank, “If you’re going to take a break, now would be the time to do it.”

  Frank looked at Janie and Cami said, “I’ll operate the weapons console and Robert can take your place, Captain.” Frank nodded and he followed Janie off the bridge. Justin looked at Cami and she smiled, “I won’t need a break. I can sleep in my chair and I’ll wake up if I hear anything.” Justin turned to Robert and he was already asleep. Justin sighed, set his alarm for five hours, and joined them.

  • • •

  His alarm went off and he shut it down. He looked around and saw Frank and Janie were back at their consoles and Cami was sitting next to him. He sighed and said, “Any messages?”

  Cami shook her head and Justin ordered, “Put a map of the areas being scouted on the main monitor.” The map of Andromeda appeared, and he stared at it. He was most interested in the areas just outside the warzone. Thirty minutes later, Charlotte appeared on his display, “Some of my scouts have found some destroyed planets that were attacked by the Stealth Civilization. There are also some planets that apparently were at war with the Stealth Civilization before the forces from Triangulum arrived.”

  “Send me what you have Commodore.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  Cami received the data and fed it directly into the computer. There was no way a human could sort and analyze the huge volume coming in. A few minutes later, Graylin began sending the data he collected, and Cami had her hands full getting it processed. After an hour, Cami looked up at Justin, “Would you like to see some of the images collected by our scouts.”

  “Put it on the tactical monitor.”

  An image appeared of a planet that was still covered in dark clouds from the nuclear explosions that hit the surface. Justin shook his head and Cami announced, “The planet isn’t rendered uninhabitable. It appears only the large cities and larger communities were hit from space. They must have sent in small ships to hit any survivors with small blaster beams.”

  Justin saw two hundred planets that all appeared similar before a planet appeared with small areas on it blasted. There were warships in orbit above the planet and this civilization had survived the Stealth attack. “What can you tell me about those warships?”

  Cami looked at her display and said, “According to the scout that took this image, they match up well with the Stealth Warships.” She looked up at Justin, “They are not more advanced.”

  Justin nodded, sat back, and continued to watch the images. He finally said, “It appears the surviving planets were stopped being attacked.”

  Robert turned around, “I suspect that happened when Triangulum arrived.”

  Cami nodded, “The residual radiation on those planets indicates the attack on them took place three years ago.” Justin nodded; that was when the Triangulum fleets arrived in Andromeda.

  Justin turned to Cami, “Send all we’ve collected to the Griffin. I don’t want any of it lost if something happens to our ship.”

  Cami nodded and made a connection with the Griffin via a telepathic communication beam. She started the data transfer and was amazed at how fast the new computer made it happen.

  • • •

  Kelli looked at the wall monitor and shook her head, “That fleet is huge!”

  Sandra nodded, “It appears several different civilizations have combined their forces and have stationed that fleet between them and the Stealth Civilization.” Kelli listened to the thoughts on board the huge gathering of warships and Sandra said, “The most powerful civilization among them is the least aggressive. They’re herbivores and built warships to defend themselves.”

  “They’re no match for our Garrion,” Kelli said softly.

  “I can see that. What I find amazing is how many intelligent civilizations are present. There are nowhere near this many intelligent civilizations in the Milky Way.”

  Kelli shrugged, “How would we know?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Sandra, we’ve not been in more than seventy percent of our galaxy. We’ve been tied up in the core and a small section of the outer spiral arms. I suspect the Core Aliens destroyed all the civilizations around the core and the Fagan did the same in their area on the spiral arm they were located, but that represents a small piece of the Milky Way.”

  “Maybe we should be there instead of here.”

  “Nothing has shown up in the Milky Way…so far,” Kelli mused. “Let us hope nothing does.” Sandra sighed as Kelli moved the ship further into the area she was assigned to scout.

  • • •

  Sweets looked at Charlie and sighed, “I miss Cami.”

  “So do I.”

  “It looks like Triangulum has sent the vast majority of their warships to Andromeda.” Charlie nodded and Sweets added, “What’s bothering you?”

  “I want to move further into and try to locate the colony ships they’ve built to send to the Milky Way.”

  Sweets’ eyes narrowed, “We’ve not seen any yet. What are you thinking?”

  “Something you said the last time we were here. You said that you believed Triangulum scouted Andromeda before they chose to invade the Milky Way.”

  “So?”

  “What if they found a really advanced civilization there?”

  “Then they would have their scanners on the Andromeda side of the galaxy operating and they didn’t.”

  “That was then; this is now. Their planets closest to Andromeda now have their scanners operating after our attack on their fleet.”

  “But that doesn’t mean there’s an advanced civilization in Andromeda,” Sweets replied.

  “Even so, I want to find those colony ships.” Charlie looked up, “Computer, do you have the communication lines we recorded on our first mission here.”

  “I do.”

  “Were any of them directed toward the center of the galaxy?”

  “Ten communication lines were directed toward the galaxy’s core.”

  “Put the closest one on the tactical monitor.” A green line appeared on the tactical monitor and Charlie turned the ship. He accelerated and wondered what was at the other end of that communication line.

  • • •

  Sweets looked up from her console, “I’m detecting something ahead of us.” Charlie slowed the ship and moved in slowly toward the blip on the tactical monitor. After an hour, he stopped the ship. The image cleared on the monitor
and Sweets said, “Oh my God!” Charlie stared at a giant formation of Colony Ships filling the monitor; there had to me more than several million of them hanging in space.

  Charlie nodded toward them, “They were planning to invade the two civilizations assisting the Stealth Civilization. They don’t need nearly this many colony ships to do that. Computer, give me a course to another location of those communication lines.” The course appeared and Charlie went to full speed. An hour later, they found another giant formation of colony ships hanging in space.

  Charlie sighed and Sweets said quietly, “They don’t intend to just invade those two civilizations.”

  Charlie nodded, “They intend to move all of their populations to the Milky Way. We must get this back to Fleet Operations!” Charlie whipped the ship around and moved above the Triangulum Galaxy. He went to full speed and he said, “They found something in Andromeda that really frightened them. That’s the only reason they would be planning this.”

  “But they didn’t have their scanners operating!”

  “Sweets, it could be they don’t believe that danger in Andromeda will be coming their way for a long time or they know their scanners are useless against it. Either way, they’re leaving here!”

  “Charlie, it may be the Stealth Civilization they’re worried about.”

  “Think Sweets! How long would it take them to build that many colony ships?” Sweets stared at him and her eyes widened, “You see it now. They had to start building them hundreds of years ago long before the Stealth Civilization left the Milky Way. They saw something in Andromeda, and they decided to leave their homes. They sent scouts out who found the Stealth Civilization and they learned they could handle them. They attacked them to prevent them from moving into Triangulum possibly destroying their fleet of Colony Ships. We need to get this information out to the scouts in Andromeda!”

  Sweets nodded and wondered if they were too late. The scouts had been in Andromeda for more than three months.

  Chapter Five

  Justin sat in his command chair and listened to the reports coming in. Andromeda was filled with intelligent species and the numbers were unimaginable. He had moved the Red Rock to its new position and knew searching these two sectors was going to take longer; they were much larger than the first two sectors they scouted. Robert was sitting next to Frank talking about the galaxy below them and he suddenly stopped talking. Frank saw his expression and asked, “What’s wrong?”

  Robert turned to Justin, “I’m hearing something moving directly toward us.”

  Justin turned to Cami and she said, “I don’t hear anything.”

  Justin turned to Robert and he responded, “There is a large concentration of thoughts moving our way.”

  “Are you sure?” Justin asked.

  Robert’s brow furrowed and he nodded, “I sense twelve areas of thoughts. That means twelve ships are moving in our direction.”

  “Janie, is anything showing up on the scanners?”

  “No Sir. Everything is clear.”

  Cami strained but just didn’t hear anything. After a few minutes, she began to hear…something. She turned to Justin, “I’m starting to hear it as well.”

  “How are they detecting us?” Justin demanded.

  Frank scowled, “It must be the communication beams that are being directed to our ship. We’re constantly lit up like a Christmas tree.”

  “Move the ship Frank!”

  “It won’t do us any good unless you shut down our communications; they can follow us if you don’t.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because they were moving our way before Boy Wonder here heard them.”

  Cami could now hear the roar of distant thoughts and Robert looked up, “It’s like Frank says. I just found the commander of those ships and they’re detecting our communications.”

  Cami looked at Robert and shook her head. Finding a single thought in the distant roar was impossible. Frank looked at Justin, “If they can hear us, they can hear Charlotte and Graylin!”

  Justin turned to Janie, “Are they inside our telepathic scanners?”

  “Not yet,” Janie answered.

  Justin struggled until Frank said sternly, “SHUT IT DOWN SIR!!”

  Justin thought over the communicator, “All ships, shut down communications and return to the Griffin immediately! This is a direct order.” Justin turned to Cami, “Notify the Griffin the scouts are returning and then shut down our communications panel.”

  Cami sent the message and looked at Frank, “Communications are shut down!”

  Janie looked up, “I’m detecting twelve objects just inside our scanning range moving at high-speed toward our location.”

  “Cami, get a line on those ship’s course!”

  “Sir, they’re changing course too much to get a distinguishable line!”

  Robert immediately responded, “Cami, look at the middle ship in the back of the formation; it’s holding a straight course. That’s where the Commander of those ships is located, and I believe the others are changing course around his ship to defend it. They’re probably his escorts.”

  Cami focused on her console and said, “Robert’s right. I’ve got its course locked in.”

  “Get us out of here, Frank!” Justin ordered.

  Frank pushed the gravity thruster handle down into his console and the Red Rock literally dropped like a rock. Cami looked at Janie, “Use the optical scanner to get an image of those ships!”

  “I’m trying but it’s not working!”

  Robert stood up, leaned over her console, and started pressing buttons and moving slides. After a few moments, the images cleared up and appeared on the tactical monitor. “Record those images!” Justin ordered. The Red Rock continued to drop away from the incoming ships and Frank activated the air thrusters and stardrive together. “What are you doing?”

  “Sir, I’m not taking a chance they can detect our gravity drives; I’m using the air thrusters to move us out of here,” Frank answered over his shoulder.

  Everyone stared at the tactical monitor as the twelve warships arrived at their previous location. They were close enough to hear the leader’s conversation:

  “Is this where that strange radiation was detected?”

  “Yes Legion. It disappeared before we arrived.”

  “What was it?”

  “I have no idea. There’s nothing like it in my data banks.”

  “Could it have been a natural phenomenon?”

  “I have no way of knowing. Our scanners did not detect anything else in the vicinity of the radiation nor do I detect anything now.”

  The Commander was frustrated but ordered, “Return home. We’re wasting time just sitting here with nothing to see.”

  “Yes Legion.”

  • • •

  “Stop the ship.” Frank brought the Red Rock to a stop and Justin watched the twelve huge warships slowly move out of his scanner’s range. Once they were gone from the monitor, Frank turned to Robert, “How were you able to hear those ships from such a long distance?”

  Robert shrugged, “My range is rather long.”

  “Long my ass!” Cami retorted. “I’ve got the longest range of any telepath in the service and you heard those aliens from twice my range!”

  Robert smiled, “Like I said, my range is rather long.”

  “And how were you able to separate the thoughts out of that roar?!” Cami continued. “You were doing that before I could hear them!”

  Everyone looked at Robert and he looked around the bridge at the crew. He raised his hands and replied, “I do have a rather well-developed telepathic talent.”

  “How did you do it!!” Cami demanded.

  “How do you do what you do, Cami?”

  Cami stared at him and said, “You’re more powerful than I am.”

  “I don’t know about that.”

  “You just demonstrated it Robert!”

  Robert turned to Justin, “What do we do no
w Sir.”

  “I have to discuss this with Admiral Tyers and then decide.” Justin turned to Janie, “What can you tell me about those ships?”

  Robert spoke first, “Eleven of the ships had fifty crewmen on board; the Command Ship had seventy-five.”

  Janie added, “Considering the size of those vessels, it appears most of the systems are computer controlled. It has more than a hundred large blasters on their hull; however, I didn’t see any missile ports in the optical image. It’s faster than our old warships.”

  “How does it compare to our Garrions?”

  “I don’t know if they were moving at their fastest speed to get here.”

  “Assume they were,” Robert interjected.

  “Why would we assume that?” Justin responded.

  “Sir, if we were going out to investigate a strange anomaly, how fast would we go to get there?”

  Justin hesitated and nodded, “Top speed but not their maximum speed.”

  Robert nodded, “They would have to shut down some of their systems to go to maximum speed. I think they came at their best speed with all systems operational.”

  “If that’s the case, our Garrions are considerably faster than their ships Sir,” Janie added to the conversation.

  Justin shook his head and mused, “I wonder if they’re more advanced than us?”

  “Their detection system certainly is. And judging by the size of those ships, they would be a hard nut to crack,” Frank said firmly.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Sir, the mass indicators say those ships weigh more than four times the mass of our old warships. The hull on that ship must be extremely dense and it was flying at a faster speed than they’re capable. I suspect the power they use on that vessel is phenomenal and their blasters must be quite powerful as well.”

  Justin nodded and said to Cami, “Put all the crew’s remarks into a file and record it on a data cube. Send the data to Admiral Tyers as well. Frank, take us back to the Griffin.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  • • •

  The Red Rock arrived in the middle of landing operations and was given a priority landing course ahead of the Garrions moving in toward the giant carrier. Justin and his crew exited the ship and found Terry Adams waiting outside the port, “Admiral Tyers wants to see you and your crew in her office.”