by Saxon Andrew
“Looks like we didn’t need to use our cutters,” Angel observed.
RJ nodded, “Do tell. Do you have a recording of a Planet Killer that was hit by just one missile.” Angel pressed her console and an image appeared on the main wall monitor. They watched the giant Planet Killer suddenly go up in a massive explosion and RJ ran the recording again. “It appears hitting them in the thrusters has a devastating effect. We need to find out if that’s also true if we hit them head on.” RJ turned to Joe, “You’re the weapons expert. Did you see anything?”
“I don’t think it matters much where they hit, Sir. However, we don’t have an answer on whether or not they would make it through a defensive blaster barrage being fired around those ships.” RJ nodded. “The heavy missiles could be destroyed seventy miles out if they can’t survive the heat.”
“We’ll have to find out,” RJ answered. “All ships return to the core. Captain McAllister, you are in command until I return. Send the recordings of this fight to Connie to be sent to Fleet.”
“Yes Sir.”
“What are we going to be doing?” Angel asked.
“It’s only a matter of time until the Britannia Aliens send some ships out to find out what happened to the Planet Killers we destroyed. Matt, focus on their communications and see if we can intercept their messages.”
“Yes Sir.”
“Mallory, move us away from the site of the battle but keep us inside passive scanning range.”
“Yes Sir.” The Troke changed course and RJ turned to Angel, “You have the ship. I want to examine the recordings in more detail. Let me know if the alien’s response is detected. Angel nodded, and RJ left the bridge.
Chapter Twelve
Candy continued her mission but had not received a reply from RJ to her message. After ten days, she sighed and realized her mother was right. She had lost RJ when she rejected him. She fought her emotions and focused on completing her mission. It should be over within another week.
• • •
RJ slowed the recordings down and froze the images at the point where the heavy missiles hit the Planet Killers. He started shaking his head; those missiles packed a wicked punch. He heard the computer suddenly ask, “Commander, I’m about to clean my files of deleted data and I want to confirm you want the communication sent directly to you by Admiral Henricks be deleted.”
RJ’s head went back slightly, and he ordered, “Show me the communication.” RJ looked at his display and Candy’s message appeared. He sat frozen in his chair and felt his heart start beating faster. How did she know about that song? Her message was just one sentence; ‘This I promise you, too, RJ.” He sat back in his chair and closed his eyes. After a moment, they snapped open, “Computer, who deleted this message?”
“Senior Captain Coronado, Commander.”
“Did that message come in alone?”
“No, Commander. It came in with Fleet’s orders to not go into the Britannia Alien’s defensive lines.”
RJ stared at the display and pressed the intercom button, “Lt. McAdams you have command of the ship; Captain Coronado report to my office!”
Mallory looked at Angel, “He doesn’t sound happy.”
Angel shrugged, “I have no idea why.” She stood up and walked to RJ’s office. She stepped in and RJ ordered tersely, “Close the door!” Angel had never seen RJ angry, upset yes, but never angry. She saw his expression and saw he was as close to rage as she had ever seen.
“Yes Sir?”
“Take a seat, Captain!” Angel walked to the chair in front of RJ’s desk and sat down. RJ’s eyes were slits as he asked, “Captain, who has given you permission to censor my communications!!”
Angel saw in his eyes that she was in big trouble, but she couldn’t think of what he was talking about. “I do not have permission to do that, Sir!”
“Then why did you delete a message from Candy sent directly to me!” RJ asked in an angry voice.
Angel froze and suddenly remembered deleting the message, “Sir…I was just…trying to prevent her from upsetting you. The message made no sense.”
RJ’s face was a scowl as he said slowly and deliberately, “If you ever censor my communications again, I will bust you back to Lieutenant and assign you to the weapons console for the remainder of this mission. Once the mission ends, I will dismiss you from my ship with a negative evaluation…YOU GOT THAT!!” Angel stared at RJ in silence and he added, “You will not decide what I see or don’t see!”
“Yes Sir,” she replied humbly.
“Get out of my office!!” Angel stood up, went to attention, did an about face and walked out of the office. RJ pulled up Candy’s message again and pressed a button on his console, “Robbie, are you able to get a message to Captain Horton from our current location?”
“Yes, Commander.”
“Send the following message to Admiral Henricks in Fagan territory.”
RJ recited the message and Robbie replied, “Message is sent, Commander.”
Connie saw the message come in and immediately forwarded it to Admiral Henricks frequency.
• • •
Candy looked at Todd and asked, “Have any new freighters appeared in the last week?”
“No Sir. Everyone that’s shown up has been tracked by one of our ships.”
“How many ships still have to find the collar frequencies at the planets they’re assigned?”
“The last one reported in this morning, Sir.”
Candy looked around at the bridge crew and smiled, “Order all ships to return to New Britannia from the current location. Have them meet me above the planet to send me the data they’ve collected.”
“Yes Sir.”
Candy turned to the pilot to order the Defender to leave and saw a message come in on her console. She pressed the flashing button and read, “I don’t know how you found your song; but I’m so looking forward to discussing it with you. Your message was accidentally deleted but I’ve just read it. Sorry for the delayed response.”
Candy’s smile was huge, and she knew how it was deleted; Angel did it. But that didn’t matter. She still had a chance and that’s all she could hope for. She turned to the pilot and ordered, “Take us home.”
“Yes Sir.”
• • •
The Troke remained at the battle site for four days before a huge alien fleet arrived. The War Leader saw his Scanning Leader jerk his head up saying, “Sir, I’m detecting a huge area of small debris and energy readings.”
The War Leader asked, “What can you determine?”
“The debris comes from our vessels, War Leader, and the level of the residual energy is still quite high.”
“Are you suggesting every one of our ships was destroyed?”
The Scanning Leader looked back down at his display and looked up, “Yes, War Leader. The readings are consistent with fifty of our vessels being destroyed.”
The War Leader turned to the lead scientist, “Opinions?”
“It appears the Stealth Warships have developed a new weapon to use against us, War Leader. I suspect our ships were led into an ambush and attacked with no warning.”
The War Leader scowled, “They must have not been using their blasters to protect their ships.”
The scientist shrugged, “It’s never been necessary in the past.”
“Order all ships to start blaster coverage of their vessels immediately.”
• • •
Matt stared at his monitor and shook his head, “I’ve not received any communications dealing with what they think happened here. Ordering the ships to start a blaster barrage is the only thing they’ve broadcast, Sir.”
RJ nodded and watched the huge fleet turn back toward the core. “We’ll allow them to leave and get Captain McAllister to intercept any communications when they get back.” RJ turned to Mallory, “We’ll head back once that fleet moves a light year.”
“Yes Sir.”
RJ sat back in his chair and watched
the large fleet move away at high speed. Angel sat in her chair beside him in silence. She was going to request a transfer upon their return to New Britannia. She had messed up royally and there was no way for her to earn RJ’s trust. She just didn’t think when she deleted that message. It wasn’t just that it was from Candy. If she would delete that one, how could he trust her not to delete any others? She messed up.
Suddenly, everyone on the bridge heard in their minds, “Who are you?”
RJ saw everyone was suddenly startled and knew they had heard the thought as well, “The question is, who are you?” RJ thought.
“I’m commanding one of the ships you recently saved from the Savagers.”
RJ looked at Matt, “Do you detect anything?” He shook his head.
“My ship is too far away for you to detect it.”
RJ focused and thought, “I believed my ship was also undetectable.”
“It is, but I can hear your thoughts and they’re different from the Savagers. We’ve been hearing you for a while and we wondered who you are and why you’re scouting the Savagers’ defenses. After you destroyed the large warships pursuing us, my leaders sent me to find out what your intentions are.”
“Why don’t you just look in my mind and find out?” RJ countered.
“We only hear the thoughts of your verbal communications. You’ve not discussed why you are here in any of your conversations.”
RJ didn’t feel any menace in the alien’s thoughts and he made a decision, “My civilization is at war with the civilization you call the Savagers on the other side of the core. My scientists have determined that your civilization is close to being defeated and if that happens, it will free up hundreds of thousands of their warships to move to our side of the galaxy and open an attack on us. I was sent here to scout them and trial our weapons against them. I was also ordered to assist your civilization wherever possible.”
“Thank you for saving my ships. However, our war with the Savagers will soon end.”
“Are you that close to being defeated?” RJ quickly inquired.
“In a manner of speaking, yes.”
“What does that mean?”
The alien hesitated and then continued, “We’ve been at war with the Savagers for hundreds of cycles. We quickly realized that we did not possess the number of ships to hold them off for an extended period much less defeat them. So, we began building colony ships and started sending our populations out to another galaxy. That process is nearing its conclusion.”
RJ knew the alien’s thoughts weren’t being picked up in the recording being made and he restated, “So you’re moving your populations to another galaxy and you will soon complete that process?”
“Yes.”
“How much longer before you pull all of your forces out of this galaxy?”
“About one tenth of the time it takes light to travel from your current position to the Savager’s lines.”
“That’s about eight months of our time,” RJ replied.
“Why haven’t you and the other two civilizations attacking the Savagers not combined against them?” Angel asked.
The Gron and Treele are just as bad as the Savagers. They attack any civilization they encounter and if the Savagers were defeated, they would then turn their attention on my civilization. We have no choice but to leave here for another place not so dangerous.”
RJ looked at Angel and saw she was transcribing the alien’s thoughts on her console. Thank heavens for that. Now he wouldn’t have to keep repeating what the alien was communicating. “Why do you keep attacking them?” Matt asked.
“We don’t want them to send a large attack against us. Continuing our attacks keeps them occupied and so far, they’ve not launched an attack into our space,” the alien replied. The alien was silent for a moment and then said, “I’m sorry that your civilization is at risk when we leave but unfortunately, we must do what is necessary to defend ourselves.”
“I don’t blame you for our dilemma. We’re doing the same thing by coming here,” RJ replied. “I thank you for telling me what’s happening.”
“And I thank you again for saving our ships.”
The alien’s thoughts disappeared, and RJ turned to Angel, “Did you get all of that?”
“I did, Sir.”
“Outstanding, Angel. Get the report together and send it to Connie.” RJ turned to Matt, “Contact Unit Commanders Reyes and Daniels and order them to move their units to the location of McAllister’s unit.”
“What are you thinking, Sir?” Matt asked.
“If the Stealth Civilization can’t continue their attacks, we’re going to have to do it for them.” Matt tilted his head in surprise before turning to his console to issue the orders. Things had just gotten a lot more dangerous.
RJ turned to Angel and asked, “Is the report ready?” Angel nodded. “Add what I’m about to say to it.”
“Recording, Sir.”
“Part of my mission is to delay the defeat of the Stealth Civilization. With this new information, it’s clear that we have eight months before they leave the Milky Way. I’m planning to use my ships to launch attacks on the Britannia Aliens’ defenses hopefully making them think it’s coming from the stealth warships. I don’t know how long this subterfuge will work but it’s my only option to delay them. I await your orders.” RJ nodded, and Angel sent the recording. RJ looked at her and whispered, “I was hard on you, Angel. I’ve had some time to think about it and I know you were thinking of my welfare when you deleted the message…”
“I was stupid to do it, Sir.” Angel interrupted.
RJ stared at her and smiled, “You’ve done an outstanding job on this mission. I depend on you and I don’t want to lose you.” Angel smiled and lowered her eyes. RJ looked up and asked loudly, “Has anyone found out the meaning of our ship’s name?”
Joe spoke first, “Sir, I’m pretty good but I’ve not come close to finding out what it is.”
“It’s time you find out.” RJ replied. “The name comes from ancient religious texts from Earth. When Joshua Ben Levi was approached by the Angel of Death to take him to Paradise, He convinced the Angel to give him the knife he carried to collect souls because he was afraid the angel might use it on him. Because of Joshua’s status, the Angel of Death agreed. When they arrived at the walls of Paradise, Joshua jumped over the walls and took the knife with him. The Angel of Death was forbidden to enter paradise and demanded his knife back, but Joshua refused. The Lord ordered Joshua to return the Angel of Death’s knife, so he could carry out his duties. Joshua demanded that the Angel of Death tell him his name and he’d return it. Having his name would give Joshua power over the Angel of Death. The Angel told him his chosen name, and Joshua carved the name in his arm with the knife. Once the Angel of Death had his knife back, the name disappeared from Joshua’s arm and he forgot it. The passage says that the chosen name of the Angel of Death was Troke. That is the name of our ship and it is going to earn that name in the coming war to save humanity.”
“Why is that name no where in our data, Sir?” Joe asked.
RJ smiled, “It’s there, but you have to know where to look. I think it’s somehow appropriate that no one knows it. Joshua Goldman knows it and he told me about it when I was eight years old. He used it as an expletive and I got him to tell me what it meant.”
The crew looked at each other and Mallory smiled, “I think it’s a good name, Sir.”
“Let’s make sure the Britannia Aliens come to fear it,” RJ replied.
Amen to that!” Angel interjected.
• • •
Candy arrived at New Britannia and saw thousands of Hare Warships in orbit above the planet with freighters moving ordinance into them. She looked at Todd and he shrugged, “I’ve not heard anything, Sir.”
Candy suddenly saw Grady appear on her console’s display, “Admiral, send Intelligence your data and report to the main conference room in Fleet Headquarters immediately!”
“What’s going on, Dad?”
“You’ll find out there. Now get moving!!”
Candy stood up and Todd said, “I’ll collect the data from our ships and send it down to Intelligence. It will get there before you do.” Candy nodded and ran to the landing bay. She boarded a shuttle and left for the planet’s surface. Something big was going on.
• • •
Candy exited the shuttle in front of the entrance to the tall building and saw her mother obviously waiting on her, “What’s going on, Mom?!”
“Grady asked me to meet you and bring you up to speed before the meeting. It appears the war with the Britannia Aliens is less than a year away.” Candy started shaking her head and Taffy continued, “RJ has spoken with the Stealth Civilization and they are in the process of moving their populations to another galaxy. They will complete that process in eight months. That will free up hundreds of thousands of the Planet Killers currently fighting them.”
“Is RJ back?”
“No, and I don’t expect him back before the war kicks off. Now focus! You’re going to have to get your fleet ready to go to the Fagan Civilization to save the slave planets in eight months. Can you do that?”
“There are more than four-hundred slave planets, Mom. It’s going to take twelve-hundred plus warships to make that happen.”
“Twelve hundred or twelve thousand, you’ll be taking what you need. Now focus and pay attention to what’s going on in the meeting.” Candy nodded and followed Taffy to the elevator.
• • •
Grady was standing at the podium in silence until Taffy and Candy entered the room. Candy saw Taffy nod to Grady and he said to the room, “We have a lot to discuss, so take your seats and settle down.” The officers went to their chairs and Grady waited for them to be silent. “I’m sure all of you have read the report from Admiral Dunhan and this new information puts us in a critical situation. Our original plan was to attack the Britannia Aliens before the Stealth Civilization could be defeated preventing the warships confronting them from joining the alien’s forces on our side of the core. However, we’re changing those plans.”