by Saxon Andrew
Grady knew this changed everything. Without warships, New Britannia would be forced to ask Melbourne to become one of their controlled planets; it would lose its independence. Or, they would have to leave and start a colony on another planet throwing away all the work in building the colony. “Get here as fast as you can, Joshua!”
“I’m headed that way as we speak, Grady. I’ll arrive later this afternoon.”
Grady nodded, and the call ended. Taffy came walking up with Candy in her arms and saw Grady’s expression, “What’s wrong!”
Grady told her, and Taffy sat down in her chair with a frightened expression. Grady put his hand on hers and said, “Let’s wait until Joshua can tell us what’s going on.” Taffy blew out a breath and saw Candy was about to cry; she saw and felt her mother’s fear. Taffy tickled her and forced a smile. Candy laughed, and Taffy forced herself to hide her emotions. This was not good!
• • •
Maranda’s fleet was rapidly approaching the Perseus Spiral Arm and she suddenly heard the wall communicator announce, “Welcome Home, War Admiral Connor. You are cleared for approach to Melbourne.
She looked at the wall monitor and saw a Squadron Commander, “Thank you, Commander.” The monitor turned dark and she turned to Todd, “Captain, did you detect any ships?”
Todd shook his head, “No, Admiral. Nothing appeared on the passive or optical monitors. I have no idea how many ships approached us and with the Perseus Arm behind them, the optical monitor should have detected light being blocked.”
Andrew turned around, “I’ve heard that the new Garrion’s gravity drive bends light around them. I didn’t really believe it, but it appears to be true.”
“We should have detected their thrusters,” Maranda stated.
Andrew shook his head, “The new Garrions don’t use standard thrusters, Sir. Their new gravity drives are the only ones on them.”
“But can’t the Fagan detect a gravity drive, Admiral Connor?”
Andrew shrugged, “I guess they’ve found a way for them to not cause a gravity anomaly, Sir. I didn’t like changing the name of our small ships to Garrion but the name fits,”
“Why is that?” Maranda asked.
“The Garrion birds were once called the silent death. It appears the name fits the new fighter.”
Maranda’s expression hardened, “We could have used them on our mission.”
“Melbourne is not going to risk the aliens or Fagan learning about them, Sir. They’re being kept secret to only be used to defend Melbourne,” Andrew responded. Maranda knew he was right but was furious that twenty-thousand pilots lost their lives when those ships could have prevented it. She sat back and looked at the forward monitor; the Perseus Spiral Arm was getting larger. She fought to control her anger, but Andrew could still see it in her eyes.
• • •
The High Leader’s message console illuminated, and he saw the Senior Fleet Manager appear, “High Leader, the enemy has launched another fleet to attack us.”
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT!?!”
“I’ve ordered our fleets out to meet it in the void between the closest spiral arm and our territory.”
“How can they afford to send so many warships? They’re being threatened by that civilization called Earth?”
“High Leader, it appears they are sending all of their older warships. Our scouts report that their lines are being filled by more advanced warships and large attack vessels. I have to believe they want to prevent us from building up our forces until they have enough of the new ships to attack us.” The High Leader’s fear was etched on his face and the Fleet manager added, “I’ve ordered our fortresses to participate in the defense.”
“Why would you do that? It leaves the Empire undefended.”
“Our fortresses are faster and more maneuverable than the enemy’s large vessels. They will remove the large vessels allowing our more advanced warships to remove the older model warships they’ve sent.”
“What if some of their large vessels make it through our fleets?”
“Then our fortresses will chase them down and destroy them, High Leader.” The Fleet Manager paused and added, “High Leader, I don’t believe our fortresses will stand up to the new large vessels they’re bringing on line.”
“Then stop building the current fortress and build one that can!”
“I’ve already issued the orders, High Leader. I suspect we will be having ongoing attacks from the enemy until all of their older warships have been destroyed.”
“Can we stand up to them?” the High Leader asked.
“Our warships are capable of handling the numbers being sent if the enemy’s large vessels are removed. We will endure some losses, but our construction facilities can stay ahead of our losses.”
“Get it done, Fleet Manager!”
• • •
Lt. June McAfee saw the giant alien formation move out of their lines at the edge of her scanning range. She accelerated to full speed and got a jump on the alien fleet as it moved into formation. She flew her stealth scout over the Coma Spiral Arm and sent a squeal burst before shutting down her systems and coasting on a course high above the one being taken by the alien fleet. Commander Alexander received her message and shook his head; it was deja vu all over again. He quickly issued orders and the scouts in Fagan space moved out of the spiral arm to follow the Fagan fleets leaving the edge of their spiral arm. They recorded the speed of the Fagan fortresses for the first time and Alexander knew they were a huge threat if Melbourne was ever discovered.
• • •
Abby sat in the conference room and glared at the assembled officers in silence. She glanced at Maranda and saw her glaring right back at her. Her attitude was going to have to be handled now! Rory saw her expression and put his hand on her arm. She jerked her head to him and he whispered into her ear, “Do you remember the advice you gave Maranda before taking her first command?” Abby glared at him and Rory said softly, “You need to follow it!”
Abby continued to glare at him and then sighed. He was right. Persuasion was needed not orders. She saw the assembled officers staring at her and could feel their apprehension. She turned to Maranda and asked in a controlled tone, “War Admiral, please explain why you brought your carriers back to Melbourne without orders.”
Maranda was hot, but she saw that Abby had stopped glaring at her. She took a breath and decided that resigning would wait until after this meeting. “Prime Minister, we discovered the aliens could detect and track our communications. I could not risk contacting Fleet Operations for orders if the aliens could track the line of my communication out of the Sagittarius Spiral Arm to the Perseus Arm. I knew the aliens had scouts moving ahead of their fleets and had no idea how far they could detect our communicators. The only safe thing to do was to move far out from our position and try to land our Super Rabbits. By the time my fleet moved far enough away to land the Rabbits and provision them, the aliens were moving in on the Sagittarius Spiral Arm. At that point, communicating for orders was a moot point.”
“How did you know you moved outside the alien’s ability to detect your communications?” Abby asked.
“I didn’t, Sir. I moved far enough away to get the Rabbits landed and provisioned before they could arrive at my fleet’s position. If they detected my communications, they would see they were happening far above the galaxy and wouldn’t have a clue on where our ships came from. I was hoping if they detected them, they might believe that it was an Earth fleet.”
“But they must know the frequency Earth uses to communicate,” Admiral Mulvaney interjected.
Maranda turned to him, “The aliens must believe that Earth and the Fagan have more than one frequency they use. They wouldn’t know for a certainty that our communications were coming from an unknown civilization. They’d have to suspect Earth.”
Abby asked softly, “Admiral, do you believe the aliens can detect our communications over a very long distance far outsi
de the range of their scanners?”
“Sir, we can receive our communications all the way out to alien territory. They’re broadcast using a frequency embedded in a stardrive wave and communications are detected much further than our scanners. If they can receive the frequency, they’ll hear it from a huge distance.”
Maranda paused and added, “I’m truly thankful that Fleet didn’t attempt to communicate with my fleet. The aliens might have gotten a line on Melbourne.”
Abby realized that Dunhan was right; she hadn’t thought this through. “Admiral Connor, you did the right thing. Thank you for seeing this danger clearly and moving your fleet back to Melbourne.” Abby turned to Fleet Admiral Mulvaney, “What are we going to do about this, Admiral?” Mulvaney looked very uncomfortable and Abby’s eyes narrowed, “Tell me what’s bothering you!”
“Sir, Taffy Henricks patented a new method of communications that could replace our current system.”
“What’s the problem?”
“Sir, before she left for New Britannia, she went to the patent office and rescinded her patent. She also took the records on how it functioned with her,” Mulvaney answered. Abby fell back in her chair and rolled her eyes. Mulvaney quickly added, “I’ve contacted Grady Henricks and requested him to send us the blueprints on the new system.”
Abby snorted, “How did that work for you?”
Mulvaney shrugged, “I’ve not received a reply, Sir.”
Andrew said quietly, “I’ll be surprised if you get one.”
Abby turned to him, “Why do you say that, Admiral?”
Andrew shrugged, “Melbourne has cut New Britannia off from any support, Sir. We won’t allow them to purchase any warships and a quarantine on all electronics has been instituted.”
“Taffy is not an electronic genius. Who developed that new communication system?”
An engineer spoke up, “We suspect Dr. Goldman developed it, Sir.”
“Then get the information from him!” Abby replied.
“Uhhh…Sir…Dr. Goldman is currently on New Britannia and is not responding to our calls.”
“Then order him back! He’s a Melbourne citizen!”
Maranda snorted, “I’d pause before I pushed that button, Sir.”
“WHY?!”
“Sir, if you press him too hard, he’ll renounce his Melbourne citizenship and declare for New Britannia. You know him, Sir. He’s not someone you can push around.”
Abby glanced at Rory and saw him nod. She turned back to the Engineer, “How long will it take you to develop a new means of communicating that the aliens can’t detect?”
The engineer shrugged, “Sir, we’re starting from ground zero on this. It could take a while.”
“That’s not an answer! How long?”
“Hopefully in six months to two years, Sir.”
Abby’s head went back, and Maranda quickly stated, “Until a new system is developed, all communications from Melbourne toward the center of the galaxy must end immediately!”
Rory turned to Abby, “I’ll go and talk with them.”
Abby shook her head, “No, I’m the one that should go.”
“Why?”
“Because Taffy loves me like a sister, Rory. She might listen to me.”
“What do we do in the meantime?” Maranda asked.
Abby turned to her, “Your carriers and Rabbits are out of date and the carriers cannot be modified with the new gravity drives. They will be kept here at Melbourne for defense and your carrier crews will be moved to the new carriers that are coming on line.” Maranda’s eyebrows came together, and Abby sighed, “The new colony planets have built twenty new Mega-class carriers and you will move to a new carrier along with your crew to take command of them.”
“What good will that do if we can’t communicate?” Maranda asked with raised hands.
Abby shook her head, “I don’t know, Admiral. At least we’ll be able to use them to defend Melbourne if nothing else.” Abby felt her console activate and she stared at it for a long moment before looking up, “A scout has just arrived from the Sagittarius Arm and the Britannia Aliens have launched another attack on the Fagan.” The attendees were shocked by the revelation and Abby said, “Perhaps we’ll have some time while the Fagan and aliens are bumping heads.”
“They’ll have to figure out that our Rabbits aren’t from either of them,” Maranda responded.
Abby nodded and tilted her head, “That train has left. We couldn’t take part in the last battle and we’ll not be able to participate in the coming battle. They’ll figure it out eventually, and we have to get ready if they do.” Abby turned to Maranda, “Get your new carriers organized and use a normal short-range frequency to communicate during the process. I’m sorry for the losses your sailors endured maintaining this subterfuge, I know how much that must have hurt. But they gave their lives to buy us time to colonize the new planets and develop new technology.”
“If the aliens had not discovered our communications, would you have recalled us?” Maranda asked with a stern expression.
“No! I wouldn’t have, Admiral.”
“My attack ships stand no chance against the aliens and Fagan advanced warships. All of them could have died!”
Abby stared at Maranda with a soft expression, “Admiral, your attack ships were the only thing preventing the Fagan from sending scouts to the Perseus Arm. The Fagan would have decided that if one threat existed out in the galaxy, another could exist in our spiral arm. We had to keep them distracted from sending scouts to our space. If it required all of them dying in the effort to keep Melbourne hidden, I would have ordered it. The children on Melbourne deserve our best effort to keep them safe. I prefer losing lives out there than above Melbourne. If there was another way, I would have done it.”
Maranda’s expression was angry and Admiral Mulvaney said, “Our scouts destroyed more than eighty Fagan Scouts moving out of their spiral arm toward us. We flew some of your Rabbits in to where they were destroyed, and the Fagan checked off their destruction to the aliens. If the aliens hadn’t attacked when they did, it was only a matter of time until they launched enough scouts to the Perseus arm.”
Maranda’s expression showed her surprise and Andrew nodded, “Captain Martin reported that one of his wings was diverted several times at Fleet’s orders.”
Abby turned to Maranda, “I’m sorry for the loss of your pilots.”
Maranda nodded slightly, “If my ships weren’t there, the Fagan would have known that someone else was destroying their scouts. We had to stay there until the aliens attacked.”
Abby nodded and stood up, “I’ll let you know what Taffy says about the communication system.”
Chapter Three
Abby arrived on New Britannia and a major greeted her at the spaceport, “Welcome to New Britannia, Prime Minister. If you’ll come with me, I’ll take you to the Henricks.” Abby smiled and walked to a shuttle with the major. Abby looked out of the shuttle’s viewport and was surprised at the size of the large city. There were still large areas under construction and she shook her head; this was remarkable. The shuttle moved out to the edge of the city and landed on a beach. The major stood up and smiled, “Please follow me.” Abby exited the shuttle with the major and he led them to three beach chairs next to the water.
The sky was cloudy, but the sun would occasionally break through. The breeze blowing off the ocean was cool, and Abby saw Taffy stand up and run over to her. She wrapped Abby up and embraced her tightly, “I’ve missed you so much!”
Abby returned her hug and they held each other for a few moments before Taffy stepped back, “What brings you to the land of the lost?”
Abby shrugged, “Where’s Grady?”
Taffy pointed out at the waves and Abby smiled. He had Candy in his arms and, as he would bend and cover her legs in the waves, Abby could hear Candy laughing, “She looks so much like you, Taffy.”
“She’s got her father’s chin. I sent them away, so we co
uld talk; I don’t want to upset Candy.”
“Do you know what’s going on, Taffy?”
“Why don’t you tell me, Abby?”
“The aliens are now able to track our communications and our scientists believe they may have broken our encryption as well and can understand our messages.” Taffy didn’t even blink. “You already knew about this, didn’t you?”
Taffy raised her shoulders, “It’s rather obvious, Abby. Melbourne has sent us a message telling us to not send any communications to them.” Taffy paused, “I first thought it was like two family members refusing to talk to each other after a spat, but Joshua says it had to be due to an issue with Melbourne’s communications.”
“I understand that you have an undetectable communicator you’ve developed?” Abby asked. Taffy nodded. “I need it, Taffy.”
“Why should I give it to you? Melbourne has turned its back on us and is no longer a friend.”
“You should give it to me because of what Melbourne has done for you in the past.”
“Such as?!”
“You and Grady were welcomed to Melbourne with open arms when you arrived from Britannia.”
“Get real, Abby. We were welcomed because Melbourne wanted the technological advances on the original Rex Rabbit.”
“There is some truth in that, Taffy. However, Melbourne sent freighters to save the survivors on Britannia at great risk. Tell me how Melbourne was forced to do that?”
Taffy stared at Abby and lowered her eyes slightly, “I guess you do have a point on that.”
“And the survivors were given places to live and work on Melbourne without resentment. The truth of the matter is that the survivors and you abandoned Melbourne!” Abby added.
“Grady made it clear that one day he would return to Britannia, Abby.”
“After Melbourne defeated the aliens that destroyed it!” Abby responded sharply. “Taffy, the Americans we saved chose to remain a part of Melbourne. Only the people from Britannia sought independence.”
“You need to check on that again, Abby. Millions of them have left the Colonies for New Britannia. They feel more at home here.”