Lens of Time: Book 06 - Star Rover-Running Out of Time

by Saxon Andrew

  • • •

  “Kristin, how many planets have you found?”

  “I’ve logged more than a thousand just in one star cluster. All of them are farming planets with only satellites above them. What about you, Jeff?”

  “I’ve found more than eight thousand in my area.”

  “How did you manage to do that?”

  “I found one of the Servant’s major planets and followed ships that left it. You can lock the planet in and see the direction they’re jumping in. Once you get the bearing you need only drop into green space and look for the telltale technology clues given off by the planets.”

  “That is a great idea. Thanks for sharing it.”

  “Do you know how many planets Fleet wants us to catalogue?”

  “According to my Commander, Fleet wants ten thousand planets the Servants have invaded and they need to be scattered throughout their domain.”

  “Why do they want them scattered?”

  “I’m not sure but if I had to guess I’d say they want them to be forced to spread out their ships.”

  “We should have that many planets by now.”

  “We probably have a lot more than that; however, I’ve been ordered to continue to chart their space.”

  Jeff thought a moment and smiled, “I suspect they’re using what we find to develop a map of their civilization.”

  “You’re probably right…hold on.” Jeff waited and after a few minutes Kristen reappeared on his display, “We’re being ordered out. You should receive the order momentarily.”

  Jeff heard his panel buzz, “I’ve just received it. I’ll see you back at Fleet.”

  “Be careful.”

  • • •

  Katherine looked at the Hive Controller and the Horde Master. She shook her head, “You don’t need to provide the crew for the ships. We can get our personnel up to speed to fly them in.”

  The Hive Master shook his head from side to side, “You know that’s a waste of time. And if you really think about it Admiral, you don’t want one of our ships hit and the Servants find a human on board. Your whole plan would fall apart. Our species has not been seen by the Servants and they’ll have no idea how to go about finding us. We should make the drops for you.”

  Katherine knew they were right. She blew out a breath, “Are you sure you want to do this? Some of your crews could be lost in the effort.”

  “We’ll be angry if you don’t let us after all you have done for us. Send us the targets and where we need to pick up the ones we’ll be dropping on the planet.”

  “I’m going to need you to take out the satellites above the target planets. My scanning experts tell me they are not protected by a force field and are used to fire on any of the local population on the surface that get out of line. If your ships come in above their targets, they should be able to fire on all four of them simultaneously. If you can take them out quickly, I suspect the major Servant Planets won’t know we’ve invaded until a ship arrives.”

  “We’ll set up the fire plan for the satellites. When do you want to do this?”

  “I have my survey ships out at this moment looking for potential targets. We should have enough catalogued within six more days. Let’s plan to do this in ten days. How long will it take for you to get those old ships ready?”

  “Ten days sounds about right, Admiral. If we run into problems, we’ll let you know.”

  Katherine smiled, “Ten days it is.”

  • • •

  Shane received the stand down order and shook his head. He put in a call to Admiral Arvolo to plead his case, “But Admiral, we should be the ones that drop the Madators.”

  “You’ve said that ten times, Shane. You’re not looking at the big picture.”

  Shane shook his head, “The chances are small that we will be discovered.”

  “Is there a chance, Shane?”

  “Well…a small one.”

  “Admiral Hull is right about this. If any of the ships sent to drop the Madators is discovered and destroyed, it could lead to an immediate invasion of our galaxy. If the Servants found a human body in the wreckage, they’ll know we know where they live and they’ll respond accordingly. The ships we’re using to make the drops are ancient. They’ll be able to take out the satellites at the target planets but not much else. We suspect that those planets are visited to move crops to the Servants Major Planets and with us invading more than ten thousand, the odds increase that a ship might show up while we’re making the drop. Those ships will stand no chance against a Servant Warship; you know we’re doing the right thing.”

  “Yes Sir. I’m just itching to see if our new weapons are effective. The waiting is driving me batty.”

  “Shane, we have more than fifteen million Jukeboxes to modify. All of our construction capacity is devoted to modifying the old fleets and they will not carry the four hundred Rovers you’ve been using. We can’t build Rovers and modify the Jukeboxes. You need to help Fleet with planning maneuvers on how to use that many ships, with fewer Rovers in their inventory, in a major battle.”

  “Are you telling me you’re going to assign me a major fleet to command?”

  Dat sighed and shook his head, “I promised Admiral Gibbs that I would honor his promise to not force you to command a fleet. I’m terribly frustrated by that promise; you are without doubt one of our best tactical commanders. It’s proving difficult to find anyone qualified to command our major units.”

  “I’ll take one of them.”

  “What?”

  “I said I’ll take one of them.”

  Dat stared at Shane on his display and after a long moment he said, “Just like that?”

  “Admiral, I’ve learned while using the four Jukeboxes to defend the negotiation site that I have a good core of officers around me. It wasn’t as bad as I thought allowing them to handle the defense and I know that in the coming conflict with the Servants that all of our ships will be involved in the fighting; that includes my own ship. I will take command of four fleets if you will promote my team members to command them.”

  “Are you talking about Gem, Kelli, Matt, and…who would be the fourth?”

  “Me.”

  “Are you going to be able to fight a fleet and command the other three?”

  “Admiral, the four of us know what to do without orders. We’ve been working so close, that we know each other to a level you would surprise you. If it doesn’t work, we can make a change; however, I really think it will.”

  “Why are you agreeing to this?”

  “I’m bored and need something to challenge me. I also have an idea about a jump weave that I think needs exploring; I’ll need large numbers of ships to fully explore it.”

  “How many ships can you control?”

  “I want a million ships for each fleet. I need them to be sent to my team commanders immediately to start training on the weave and we’ll send them in for modification when a space opens up for them.”

  Dat shook his head, “You know I’ll be getting your ships ready first.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  “I also want Admiral Gibbs and me to be with you when you start this training.”

  “It’s going to take four fleets to make it work, Sir.”

  Dat looked up at the ceiling, “Well, let me see. Gibbs and Lydia are two.” He looked at Shane and said, “Gresha and I make four. I’m sure we can find two others for each of our fleets before we use this tactic you’ve developed.”

  “Are you going to allow Gresha into combat after she has her children?”

  “Do you seriously think I could stop her?”

  Shane chuckled, “You make a good point. When is she due?”

  “Five months. Gibbs, Lydia, and I should be up to speed on what you’re developing and we can take our fleets and start getting them ready. Gresha will join us when she’s ready.”

  “Do you think we’ll have enough time, Sir?”

  “If the Madators don’t take the Servant
’s attention away from us, nothing will. I suspect they’ll deal with their problems close to home before they start moving on us.”

  Shane nodded, “May I notify my officers of their new rank?”

  “You’ve earned that right Admiral. You are promoted to the rank of full Admiral and your officers will be Lt. Admirals.”

  “Are you sure Katherine will agree to this?”

  “She’s been after me for some time to ignore our promise to you and force you to take a fleet. Oh, she’ll support this. I suspect you’ll have the forms to sign less than two minutes after I tell her.” Shane laughed and Dat said, “I’m serious, Shane. You have a meal bet on it.”

  “You’re on, Sir.”

  Shane watched his display and heard Arvolo start speaking to Admiral Hull. Arvolo was wrong in his time estimate. It took forty five seconds for the forms to appear on his console. Evidently the Admiral had been planning for this to happen. Shane shook his head, “I owe you a meal, Sir.”

  Arvolo nodded and Shane called in his officers.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Dat and Gresha stood on the Madator’s planet and watched thousands of them boarding shuttles to be taken to their ships in orbit overhead. Blacky walked up and smiled, “Thank you, Dat.”

  “Blacky, you’re not telling me something. There’s more to this than just going after an Ultimate Prey. What’s the real reason?”

  Blacky stared at Dat and his head rolled down to his chest. He stared at Dat for a long moment and then said, “Do you know why we would chase the inhabitants on the planets we conquered in our former galaxy?”

  Gresha said, “You told us it was to control the population’s size.”

  “That’s a good answer but not the real one.” Dat looked at Gresha and saw she was as confused as he was. Blacky’s head went to the top of his round body and he looked out at the thousands of Madators boarding the shuttles. “We are a unique creation, Dat. Genetically, we can change and match our abilities to any prey that we consume.”

  Dat stared at Blacky and after a moment he knew, “You want their speed and strength.”

  Blacky smiled, “I’ve always been impressed by your intelligence. You’re right. If we can kill one of them and consume it, we will grow in our abilities. You saw how fast that creature was and I’ve seen the recordings of how strong they are. My species will be greatly improved by preying on them. That is why we respect them so much. They will make us even stronger than we are now.”

  “You are somewhat like the Servants looking for a highly intelligent species.”

  Blacky turned to Gresha, “Yes, I guess we are. However, there is one difference.”

  “What is that?”

  “You and your allies are not on our list of prey.” Blacky turned and left to board his shuttle.

  Gresha looked at Dat, “We are on the Servants’ list.”

  Dat nodded as he watched his friend disappear into a shuttle. “There will be some historians that disagree with me about this decision but that difference is everything that matters. One species’ villain is another species’ savior.”

  “Not really.” Dat looked at Gresha and saw her staring at the enormous field covered with Madators, “There really aren’t any saviors or villains here. The Matadors and Servants aren’t evil; they’re simply being what creation has made them. It’s like a tornado that’s moving toward you. You’ll attempt to get out of its way if you can. Failing that, if you have a way to stop it; you’ll do it. The tornado isn’t good or evil…it’s simply a natural development in nature. The Servants are our tornado and we are in their path. We will use whatever means we have to stop them from hitting us.” Gresha paused, “I am glad of one thing.”

  “What is that?”

  “I’m thankful it’s Servants and not the Madators we have to face.”

  Dat shook his head, “There is that.”

  Gresha moved under his arm and wrapped her arms around Dat. Her midsection was large and she knew the babies would be coming soon. She dreamed about what a difference they would make in the Union. Dat pulled her tighter and wondered what was going to emerge from this encounter between two highly dangerous species. He shook his head and turned to walk back to his ship with Gresha.

  • • •

  Blacky boarded the shuttle and it lifted into space and entered the landing bay of a large violet colored ship. The bay pressurized and the four hundred Madators rolled out of the shuttle and went to their full size. The Hive crewmembers were surprised at how large the black creatures were; especially after rolling out of the shuttle as a small ball. Blacky watched his team members check out the Hive crew and knew they were determining what kind of prey they would be. They were in no danger due to their alliance with the Union but Blacky knew that his species would always look at another species as a prey first and then open communication. It was as natural to them as breathing was to a human. He saw in the first moment that the wasp-like hive creatures were nowhere near as powerful as the Servants and he immediately lost interest in them. He saw that the other Madators were responding the same way.

  One of the Hive crew yelled, “Who is in command?”

  Blacky stood, “I am.”

  “We are going to drop your team as soon as we emerge into normal space. We aren’t taking any risks given that the satellites might have defenses to use against our ship.”

  Blacky immediately liked the creature. They were willing to give their lives to deliver them safely to their destination. “Thank you for your consideration. Your species is now recognized as a friend to us.”

  “We share a common friend, Commander. That is what binds us.”

  Blacky put a long arm on the creatures shoulder and smiled, “You are very wise. How long do we have before you jump to the planet?”

  “All ten thousand ships are jumping simultaneously, so if any warning is sent by our enemy, all of you will be on your way to your planets before a response could be launched. My Captain tells me that it is going to take another three hours before all of you are on board our ships.”

  “We will enter our drop globes thirty minutes before we jump. If you would be so kind as to tell us when that happens, we will greatly appreciate it.”

  “I will notify you personally.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I do request that you have your team place their globes close to the landing bay door prior to jump. As soon as we enter normal space, we’re slamming the door up to allow explosive decompression to send you out toward the planet.”

  “That is an excellent idea; we will gather at the door.”

  Blacky started hooting and the Madators listened to the plan. They began going to their drop globes and started rolling them toward the landing bay doors. It wasn’t going to be much longer and the Madators became silent as they focused on their coming encounter with a very dangerous species. Blacky looked over at Ringie and saw here staring at him. She was going to be his partner. He began thinking about making her his mate…but now wasn’t the time. He put the thoughts out of his mind and thought about the Servants powerful body, stinger, and jaws. These items would dominate his consciousness until they attempted a kill.

  • • •

  “Jump in thirty minutes!”

  Blacky looked at the 400 Madators, “I don’t have to tell you what to do. You’re a product of evolution that has brought you to this moment in time. You are going to have to put your personal desire for glory aside at this moment and focus on achieving our goal. You are paired up with a partner and I expect you to work together. I know our long history has been built around one-on-one kills. But we can learn from what we’ve seen from watching other predators operate. Lions work together in prides; jackals and wolves hunt in packs. You’ve seen how effective they are when they work together. You and your partner are given the holy responsibility of making us more than we are today. Don’t waste it looking for glory. Link to your partner’s globe and we will start making kills seven days from the moment we
leave the ship. Take that time and learn your prey; you’re going to need it to survive.”

  Blacky moved toward his drop globe and saw Ringie was already in hers waiting for him. He reached over and lightly stroked her arm as he closed his globe. The link moved out of Blacky’s drop globe’s outer shell and bonded with Ringie’s globe. The two of them would fall together. Ringie could still feel Blacky’s touch and she smiled. They waited and focused on their coming confrontation. They were surprised when the landing bay door shot into the hull of the violet ship and they were blown out of the landing bay toward the planet below. Ringie thought the time would have moved slower…she was wrong. She saw the planet below and then jumped as the four satellites circling the planet exploded. She looked up for the violet colored ship but it had jumped away. She turned and focused on the planet below and waited for the globes to release them.

  • • •

  The Supreme Lord’s Senior Advisor rushed into the Lord’s chamber and bowed, “Yes, what is it?”

  “Ten thousand of our planets have been attacked and the control satellites above them have been destroyed.”

  “Who did this?”

  “We had a warship at ten of the attacked planets; they pursued and destroyed the ships that attacked. All the others jumped away before we could respond.” The Supreme Lord stared at his advisor saying nothing and the Advisor continued, “The wreckage of the ten ships we killed are being examined; we’ve determined quickly that they are no match for even our smallest warships.”

  “What about the crew on those ships?”

  “They were flown by two different species; we have no record of them in any of our databanks. We have no idea where they came from, Lord.”

  The Lord tilted his huge triangular head, “Did they attack the planets?”

  “No, they did not. The planets report massive debris falling into the atmosphere from the control satellites but there was no trace of weapons or warriors being dropped.”

  “Why would they jump in to only destroy the control satellites?”