by Saxon Andrew
“Stein, did you hear that?”
“I did, my intruder systems are now active.”
“Tell me if you see anything.”
“So far, everything is clear.”
“Admiral, you might want to be in your ship as this happens.”
Dat looked at Gresha and they walked into their ship’s port and closed it. “Stein?”
“Nothing.”
“Loree, do you see anything on your scanners?”
“There were four small meteors that entered the atmosphere that burned up but nothing else out of the ordinary.”
“Is that unusual?”
“Not really; a large meteor probably hit the atmosphere and broke up. That happens a lot on every planet.”
After an hour, Dat looked at Gresha and shook his head, “Belwen.” He received no response. “Belwen, how long is this exercise going to take?” Belwen still didn’t respond. Dat stood up and went back to the port, opened it, and saw Belwen standing outside the force field. “Belwen, what’s going on?” Dat was suddenly lifted by two black arms and held off the ground. He was turned around in the air and saw a Madator toss a small object into the open port.
Belwen said, “The exercise is over.”
Gresha was following Dat and caught the object as it came into the port. She turned the small round object over and it had, “Boom! You’re dead,” written on it.
Blacky released Dat and said, “I finally caught you.”
Dat shook his head, “How did you get inside my force field?”
Belwen smiled, “Force fields don’t go more than a few inches into the ground. The Madators jumped from space, glided to this location and went underground waiting for you to open the port.”
“Stein?”
“Dat, we didn’t see anything.”
Belwen said, “Did you use your optical scanners?”
“No, why would we do that?”
“Because your other scanners will not detect anything without energy or metal content.”
“Yes, but they would see heat emitted by anything organic.”
“Have you ever checked the body temperature of a Madator?”
Dat waited for an answer and heard Stein say, “I’m doing that now. Their temperature matches their surroundings.”
“Which means infrared won’t work.”
Dat stared at Belwen for a moment and said, “Those four meteorites were the Madators.”
Belwen tilted his head, “Yes they were. They were ejected from high orbit and they entered the atmosphere at high speed. They were protected by a polymer sheath that held their atmosphere and protected them from burning up. Once they were twenty miles above the surface they ejected from it and glided in to this location.”
Blacky put an arm on Dat’s shoulder, “We have come to the conclusion that my species evolved from a bird of prey. Flying is really fun.”
Gresha’s brow furrowed, “How are you able to fly?”
Blacky looked at Belwen and he nodded. Blacky ran forward and changed his shape into a large flat surface that he flapped several times and lifted off the ground. In moments he was moving higher, before disappearing into the night sky. Belwen shook his head, “I thought they might be able to assume a shape and learn how to glide if the winds were right. They’ve learned how to manipulate their bodies and flap their arms and fly without winds. They’re even better flyers than I thought.”
Dat shook his head and laughed, “Is there anything they can’t do?”
Blacky popped out of the ground a foot in front of Dat and said, “I wasn’t able to catch you on foot.”
Dat was shocked by Blacky’s sudden appearance, “How did you get back here? Stein, did you see him?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“I just glided in from behind you and entered the soil about fifty yards away. He didn’t see me because I thinned my surface to the thickness of one of your hairs and flew in less than two inches above the ground.”
Gresha handed Dat the small ball and he read what was on it; “What is this, Belwen?”
“We developed an explosive for them to carry. That small ball is a large example of a rather nasty device. That one is large enough to write on.”
“Why do you say that?”
Blacky pulled one out of his skin and handed it to Dat, “This ball isn’t much larger than a small ball bearing but it will blow a hundred yard crater into the ground about ten feet deep.” Dat looked at Belwen and he nodded. Blacky continued, “It’s made from materials that have no metal content and cannot be detected by a scanner.”
Dat stared at Blacky and then turned to Belwen, “How do they communicate?”
“They simply speak at a volume they can hear. We’ve placed a cosmic ray transmitter the size of a nitrogen molecule in their brains. They simply say the activation code and start speaking.”
Dat stared at Belwen and said, “No, I’m serious; how will they communicate if they’re on an enemy planet? Their transmissions would be picked up.”
“Dat, they are able to talk in a frequency that is above the hearing threshold of most species I’ve seen. They can hear it but I’m certain most other species won’t. The transmitter will pick up their speech and transmit it to the others. The charge is lower than a cosmic ray and shouldn’t be detected.”
“What if they’re not located in the same city? What’s the range of the transmitter?”
“They’ll be able to communicate on the same continent and all of the construction facilities are located on the same continent according to the scans taken by our probes. I’ve also given them a device to contact us if they need to be picked up but it should only be used in an emergency. It will be detected if it’s used.”
“How could we pick them up if the planet is defended?”
Blacky smiled, “We’ll just steal a ship and wait for a diversion to escape. I suspect several of your ships jumping in to the planet would be enough for us to get off the ground and make our escape.”
Blacky rolled his head down to Dat’s eye level, “Why are you asking all these questions?”
“I’m considering sending some of you in to scout a planet and I don’t want to do it if your chances of survival are too low.”
Blacky shrugged, “You won’t know unless you send us.”
Dat shook his head and turned to Belwen, “How can he cope with an armored Warrior?”
Belwen looked at Blacky and nodded. Blacky took one of his arms and pulled a small black dot out of his skin. He held it out to Dat and it was difficult to see it against Blacky’s black hide. “What is this?”
“This black dot has an adhesive that is extremely powerful. If an armored being walks on me, I’ll attach this dot to the bottom of his boot.”
Dat turned to Belwen and he said, “An armored Warrior’s force field does not penetrate the ground. That dot will remain dormant until Blacky transmits a word in high frequency on his communicator. That will cause all the dots in hearing range to detonate.”
“With what effect?”
“There won’t be much remaining.”
“What’s the effective range if he just screams it without using the transmitter?”
“More than two miles, if Blacky screams at his highest volume.”
Dat shook his head, “I don’t want to do this but we’re at a point where we must have information on a new ship the Grillen are building. Is it possible for them to collect information and broadcast it to us?”
“The device used to call for pickup can use an encrypted squeal to send information. The team leader will have to load the information before it’s activated.”
“Can it be detected while information is being stored?”
“Possibly; he will have to choose wisely where he does it. It can also take pictures without emitting any energy.”
Gresha walked forward and took Dat’s hand, “You have to send them.”
“I know.”
Blacky smiled, “Don’t sound so glum; t
his is exciting and no matter what happens, it will be more fun than you can imagine.”
“What if we can’t come in and pick you up?”
George, Blacky’s second in command said, “Then we’ll just have to systematically eliminate the enemy on the planet until you can.”
“There are thousands of enemy warriors on those planets.”
All four Madators started bobbing. Blacky said, “Now that’s what I’m talking about.”
Dat looked up at the sky and rolled his eyes. He shook his head and looked at Belwen, “Get them armed and ready to go within forty eight hours.”
The four Madators started hooting and whistling and all of the Madators in training flew in and joined them in their celebration of the coming mission. Gresha looked at Dat and quietly whispered, “I’m not so sure the enemy has an advantage.”
“We’ll soon know.” Dat walked over to Blacky, “Do you have to go on this first mission. I don’t want to lose you.”
Blacky smiled, “My team is going to be the leaders of our packs. We have to learn what we can do so we can train our hunters how to be successful.”
“And what happens if all of you are killed?”
“The next four will take our place and the process will continue until we achieve success. That is how we learn to survive.”
Dat smiled, “Please come back from this. I want to run again.”
Blacky bobbed ten times and hooted, “Count on it! I wouldn’t miss it.”
Dat put his hand on Blacky’s shoulder a foot over his head, “Make sure you don’t.”
• • •
The King stared at the Fleet Admiral and after a long moment said, “They know about our new ships?”
“You know it was just a matter of time until they found out.”
“What do you think they’ll do about it?”
“I’m hoping they’ll continue to negotiate before they do anything dramatic. We’ll have enough ships to defend enough planets to go into full production shortly.”
“They could attack all of our facilities and hit them from space.”
“They’ll try to avoid that at all costs. They have an aversion to killing innocent populations.”
“They have demonstrated that weakness but I don’t want to place all our hopes on that not happening.”
The Fleet Admiral thought a moment and then said, “I’ll have our main support fleets ready to jump in to the most important hundred planets on a moment’s notice. Our new ships should be able to delay them long enough for my fleets to arrive.”
“You’ll just give up the others?”
“What other choice is there? The new ship is the only way to ensure our victory. Those hundred planets will be enough to provide what we need to win.”
“Don’t fail me!”
“I won’t, Sire. Just try to keep them negotiating a while longer.”
“I will.”
The Fleet Admiral thought a moment and said, “I’m going to send in the support fleets to those hundred planets now.”
“Won’t that stop them from talking?”
“No, I don’t think so. Besides, a hundred planets is such a small percentage of the whole that we can say they’re being ridiculous.”
The King smiled, “We’ll see.”
The Fleet Admiral sent out his instructions that his support fleets would conduct war games close to the hundred planets. Those planets would be constantly scanned and the Union’s ships would be watched to see if any large fleets left their home galaxy. The humans weren’t the only ones with stealth probes.
Chapter Three
Blacky waited in the landing bay of the small ship as it skipped along the boundary between normal and subspace. He looked at his three partners and saw they were excited about the coming action. “All of you know the purpose of this drop, right?”
All three said together, “Information first, fun later.”
Blacky sighed and leaned against the bulkhead, “Tell me again where you chose your names.”
George’s head rolled down his body, “We heard some sounds on a human recorder that we liked. We asked who made them and was told an ancient singing group had produced them.”
“What was the group called?”
“No one knows; they just know the names of the ones in the group. Since we had to select a name the humans could pronounce, we chose to use theirs.”
Blacky shook his head, “But George, John, and Ringie sounds, I don’t know…weird.”
“And Blacky doesn’t?”
“Well, at least that’s the word for our natural color. And I guess you’re right, it does sound different.”
Ringie looked at Blacky, “Do you still think we need to separate initially?”
“I do. The Grillen have four main ship building centers on the planet and they’re all on the same continent. We should be able to go to each of them and gather information that can be used against them. As long as all of us understand that we must not be discovered or taken prisoner, I suspect separating might be the safest way to collect intelligence.”
“You’re afraid that if we’re found together that all of us may have to die at one time?”
“Yes, I suppose I am. You can’t allow yourselves to give in to the hunt. Stealth is the most important watch word and we must get whatever we discover out to the Union. Once we do that, we can go about having a little fun.”
“How will we know if anyone is captured?”
“George, I expect all of us to detonate our entire explosives inventory before you allow that to happen. I’m sure we’ll hear about it in the other centers if one of us is forced to do it.”
“You’ll probably be able to hear it with your ears.”
Blacky smiled, “I believe you’re right John.” Blacky paused and looked at Ringie, “You don’t have to eat for three months; you will do no needless killing. Am I clear on that?”
Ringie deflated, “Yeessss.”
“You are our best hunter and there might be a time where we need those skills to survive. But now is not that time. Collect the information and meet me.”
“I will, Blacky.”
“Good.”
“Ten minutes to drop.”
The four looked up at the wall speaker and then went to their drop suits. The drop gloves were in the floor like the shape of a half hemisphere and the four large creatures grew small quickly and poured themselves into the hemispheres. Once they were in, the top covered over and the ball moved into the floor and out toward the hull.
“Everyone comfy?”
“Don’t get cute, Blacky; you know how sick this makes me feel.”
“Just stay small and hold your breath, George; you’ll be down before you know it.”
“Providing they aren’t able to see us with their scanners.”
The other three groaned, “You could have gone all day without saying that.”
“You know how it goes; misery loves company.”
“Ten seconds to eject; good luck and don’t forget to call me.”
Blacky smiled, “You just worry about getting your ship back home, Tina. We’ll call at the first opportunity.”
“Ejection in three, two, one…”
The four Madators were ejected out of the ship’s hull and remained in the barrier for less than a micro-second. Once the ships jump field moved away, they emerged into normal space, moving at seventy miles per hour toward the planet’s atmosphere. The ship had accelerated to that speed before activating its drive and the inertia returned to the four small black balls dropping toward the planet. They waited to see if they were going to be fired on by the Grillen ships in orbit but nothing happened and they entered the upper levels of the stratosphere. The planet’s gravity began pulling them and their speed quickly increased to two hundred miles an hour and the outer skin of their exo-coating began glowing with the heat of entry. Blacky had dropped numerous times but the flames that burned just a few centimeters from him always made him nervous. The
four black balls began separating as they fell at high speed into the depths of the atmosphere.
Tina watched her display and saw she had made the drop without being seen. She smiled and knew that, if she were jumping to the location, her field would have been detected as she slowed down in the barrier. Moving at the incredible top speed in the barrier, she wasn’t there long enough to be detected. She was amazed that Belwen’s engineers had developed the ejection process where the Madators could be dropped. No being alive had the reflexes to make that happen and was thankful for the automatic system. She turned and headed back toward ten other planets the Grillen had invaded. She was ordered to make the runs just to make sure if she were detected that her drop might be mistaken for a scouting run.
• • •
“Admiral, we’ve had a human ship make a fly by at eleven of our planets.”
“Did it slow down?”
“No Sir. It flew by faster than we could respond.”
“You saw it coming, why didn’t you fire on it?”
“Sir, it was past us before we could take a shot. Our weapons could have locked on it if it had slowed but it didn’t. You know how fast their ships are able to travel in the barrier.”
“Did the other planets detect it?”
“They did, Sir. However, they were also unable to get a shot off.”
• • •
The stealth probe recorded the conversation and sent it back to Fleet Headquarters. Tina arrived and discovered that she had not gone undetected and that it was only her speed that prevented her death. “Sir, how am I going to retrieve the jumpers?”
Katherine shook her head, “I don’t see any way we can get a ship in. They’ll just have to stay there until the conflict is over.”
Dat heard the pronouncement and worried about his friend. If he had to, he was going to take a fleet in and get him out. He hoped Blacky wouldn’t be killed first. Gresha saw his expression and reached over and took his hand in hers as she whispered, “He’ll love every minute of it.” Dat nodded and knew the coming days were going to be longer than normal.
• • •
Ringie saw the terminator line approaching and decided it was time to eject from the exo-coating. She pulled the first chord with her beak and the outer coating that was on fire fell away. She counted three and pulled the second chord and the inner coating burst apart and she fell out of the coating and began expanding her body. As her body grew larger she began slowing down. She was approaching forty five thousand feet above the surface and the air density was growing by the second. She held her breath and looked for her target far below. She expanded her surface as she crossed the terminator line and moved from daylight into darkness. She assumed her largest shape and decreased her thickness to a quarter of an inch. Her wings caught the thin air and she flew forward at two hundred and fifty miles per hour.