by Saxon Andrew
Gabe nodded and looked at the structure again. “This particular launcher has massive thrusters on it and the first one didn’t. I suspect they intend to send it through at some point.” Stella’s eyebrows came together and Gabe said, “Roll it.” He stared at the monitor and said, “Only two of them have the thrusters. I think they intend to use those without thrusters to send ships through and the other two will transit through the black hole and send them back.”
“Why couldn’t they increase the speed of their warships to do it without those structures?”
“I see an energy field around the launchers that must be created by energy being taken out of the black hole. I don’t believe any life form could survive that much radiation.”
Stella shook her head. “You must think you’re pretty smart.”
“No, I don’t think I’m smart; I know I am.”
Stella laughed, “Captain, I think you and I will get along fine.”
“We should look at the rest of the data and see if there’s anything else we might see.” The monitor changed and they saw one of the large warships appear. Gabe said, “Stop!”
The image froze and he stared intently at the monitor. Stella said, “What?”
“That is one weird way to build a weapon system. It would only work if the beam were massive.” The image changed showing the long line of warships firing their linked massive beams. Gabe turned and looked at Stella, “I can see why you’re concerned about them.”
“Concerned! I’m scared out of my wits. If those ships come through, they’ll be firing anti-matter beams in our universe. They will also be invisible.”
Gabe nodded and smiled, “Which means our strategy will have to be built around stopping them from transiting the black hole and destroying them on their home turf.” Stella stared at him and he shrugged, “Their galaxy is where we’ll be invisible and firing anti-matter beams at them.”
Stella pointed at the image, “Do you honestly think our weapons would make it through those beams?”
“They are vulnerable from the sides. If they maintain that formation, they can be hit in the area that those beams revolve around their vessels. It looks small in this image but that is a large ship. There will be a window of at least three hundred yards thick to hit them.”
Stella looked back at the image and then turned to Gabe, “So it’s not hopeless?”
“There is always hope, Admiral.”
Stella winced at the title and said, “Let’s go see my brother.”
Gabe nodded, “I think we have enough to discuss. I’ll follow your lead, Sir.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sir, you are in command and you should be the one that presents this information. If you need support, I’ll be there for you.”
Stella shook her head, “How did Admiral Dobson allow you to leave?”
“She was ordered to by your brother.”
Stella smirked, “He’s good at giving orders.”
“Thank Creation someone is.” Stella’s eyes narrowed as she stood up. Gabriel was right. Someone needed to lead.
She exited the bridge and Gabe followed. “Where did you come by your name?”
“My parents liked to fly.”
“Get out of here.”
“Well, I’m also Native American but they really did like to fly.” Stella smiled. This Captain knew how to keep things loose. She already felt better after listening to his observations.
• • •
Janell arrived at the huge hangar where her former ship was being examined. She saw an engineer approaching and she turned to meet him. “Good day, Sir. Welcome to our humble abode.”
“Admiral Connor sent me to meet with you about what you’ve learned.” Janell glanced over his shoulder and said, “Is that Admiral McCagg’s former ship?”
“It is.”
“Do you mind if I go on board and look for a picture?”
The engineer’s head tilted toward the ship, “Are you referring to the one with the two of you standing outside the ship?”
“I am.”
“We have it in storage. If you like, you can have it.”
Janell reached forward and pulled the engineer into her arms and hugged him tightly, “Thank you so much for keeping it!”
She released him and the engineer said, “Actually, the Academy has requested that it be sent to them to place in the Academy museum where it can be seen by the public and incoming cadets. But I’m sure they’ll allow you to take it since you are in the photo.”
Janell stared at him, “Are you saying that it’s being put in a place of honor?”
“He was the first human to die in another universe, Sir. He deserves it.”
Janell sighed, “Send it to the Academy; I can come and see it there. If something happened to me, it might be lost.”
The engineer smiled, “I understand that it was you that suggested we find his ship. It wouldn’t be here except for your intervention.”
Janell nodded and stared at the ship, “Did you learn anything from it?”
“Actually, we learned a lot. The warheads on the missiles were not affected by the change.” Janell’s eyebrows went up and the Engineer shrugged, “We have no idea why, but it appears that Bosrean superconductive metal is not affected. It did not take a neutral charge.”
“So our missiles are still effective.”
“We believe they are but won’t know for certain until we take them back through the black hole to be sure.”
“What about the blasters?”
“They don’t function. The fuel in the reactors is affected by the change. However, if the fuel is changed out, the blasters still function. Remember, the beams do not touch the blaster’s barrel.”
“What about the wiring that feeds the power to the blasters?”
“It’s made of the same metal as the missile warhead. It will conduct the energy without problem.”
Janell smiled, “Let’s go take a look at the old girl and tell me what else you’ve uncovered.” The engineer smiled and led her across the huge hangar.
• • •
“Amy thank you for coming here with me without the boys. I know how precious the time with them is.”
“I’m hoping you make good use of the time.”
Scott lowered his head and then looked up at her, “Amy, I love you.”
Amy smiled and went into his arms, “Now that is making good use of our time.
Chapter Twenty
Stella sat in her command chair and stared at the giant black hole in the heart of Andromeda. Gabe sat beside her in his chair and only had eyes for the giant gravity towers. He looked at her, “I didn’t envision them being this large.”
Stella shrugged, “I’ve never seen them fired so I can’t tell you what they do.”
“Whatever it is, it has to be massive. The power readings on them are off the scale.”
Stella nodded, “I suspect they’re going to need them.” Gabe nodded. “Well, here we go. Poul, activate the frequency.”
“Done.”
Stella lifted her hand communicator, “Have you made a decision?”
“We have.”
“And?”
“We are forced by the circumstances to combine our forces against what’s coming.”
“I don’t like hearing that you’re being forced.”
“The situation does provide a sense of urgency to making the decision. We would probably be discussing this years from now without it.” Stella was silent and then the Darkness Leader said, “It’s like you said. During this time we’re working together, it will give each of us the opportunity to see if either of us can trust the other.”
“That is something I can live with. How do you want to do this?”
“Actually, we’ve decided that it should be you that develops and implements the strategy we should use. After all, you have the ships that can go through the black hole.”
“I am going to meet with our Leaders and discuss
the best course of action. I’ll be back in three days to present what we’ve developed.”
“We’ll be waiting.”
“Thank you for your willingness to work with us against this common threat. And one thing neither of us should ever forget is that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
“There is wisdom in your words.”
Stella looked at Gabe and saw him looking through the optical scanner, “What are you doing?”
Gabe quickly looked at her, “There is a large concentration of dust around the black hole.”
“Every black hole has dust around it.”
“That’s not true. Many have nothing around them and are quite dormant. Even in the Milky Way the dust surrounding the black hole it too far out to cause it to spiral into it.”
“Why is that important?”
“I don’t know, yet. I’m just looking around.”
Stella shook her head, “We’re going home to start planning what we’re going to do. By the way, Steve notified me that you’ve been promoted to Commodore.”
Gabe stared at her, “I’m too young to be a Commodore. I’ve not been out of the Academy two years.”
“Perhaps. I think you received the promotion because of the majesty of the one you’re working with.” Gabe stared at her with a serious expression and then started smiling. By the time they arrived at Fleet Operations, he was laughing out loud. Stella shook her head, “Hey, it wasn’t that funny,” which made him laugh even harder.
Poul listened to them and knew Stella was back.
• • •
Steve looked around the huge room and watched all the attendees arriving. The vast majority of them were the commanding officers of the thousand fleets that made up the Bosrean and Earth Naval Forces. They were seated in rows on the main floor.
The Senior Admirals and the Bosrean Fleet Leader sat with him on a raised platform. Steve looked down at a table in front of the fleet commanders and knew that it was these officers that were important to the meeting. They were the only ones that had made a transit of the black holes. He looked to the left and saw Stella saying something to Gabriel Eagle. He shook his head; that young officer was one smart human. Admiral Malone leaned over and he leaned toward him to be able to hear. He listened and then nodded. Malone turned and spoke with Admiral Holmes. So far they had not challenged his plan. That was a good thing. He looked at his wrist unit and saw it was time to start. Steve leaned forward and spoke into his microphone, “Everyone come to order.” The room settled down and then grew silent.
“I’ve sent all the intelligence we’ve collected out to everyone in attendance so all of you have an idea of what we’re up against. If that aggressive civilization makes it through Andromeda’s black hole, it will only be a matter of time before that galaxy is conquered and soon after that our Galaxy will be threatened. We have determined that we have to confront them in Andromeda and in all practical sense we must take the war to them on their turf. Admiral Holmes will cover our plan of attack with you. Please hold your questions until after he has completed his presentation.”
Admiral Holmes stood up and used the hand controller to turn on the huge monitor behind the raised platform. “What you see here is one of the launchers that will be used to send warships through the black hole. These will be our first targets.”
Steve knew the presentation and he looked around the room while Admiral Holmes was making his presentation. Most of the Admirals in the room were taking notes and nodding. He glanced at the table and saw that Stella and Gabriel were whispering and it was clear that Stella wasn’t happy. Gabriel was shaking his head and finally, Stella grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him in close. Whatever she said made Gabriel’s face turn red. He looked at the other officers at the table and they were ignoring Admiral Holmes and listening to the conversation between Stella and Gabe. He leaned forward, “Pardon me, Admiral. But it appears that some of my officers don’t deem your presentation important enough to pay attention.”
Stella looked at Steve and then turned to Gabriel. She said something and Gabriel shook his head. Stella said in a loud voice, “For Creation’s sake, tell him!”
Everyone in the room was staring at the front table and Admiral Holmes was one of them. Steve looked at Gabe and said, “Tell me what?”
“Sir, I’m sure the plan you’ve devised will work perfectly fine.”
“But there’s something that Stella thinks we should know. What is it?”
Gabriel looked at Stella and rolled his eyes. He looked at Steve and said, “If the launch structures were able to get a reading of our ships departing their galaxy, I doubt we’ll be able to destroy more than one or two of them. But that’s a big if and I told her so.”
The Admirals in the room expected Admiral Connor to knock some sense into this kid that caused the presentation to be stopped. “Commodore, tell me why you think there’s a possibility that they detected our departure?”
Gabriel looked at Stella and she rolled her eyes. He shook took a breath and looked at the Senior Admirals, “Because they detected our entry into their galaxy.”
Steve nodded, “Yes, but we used a different place to exit.”
“That’s what I’ve been telling Stella.”
“Tell him all of it!” Steve saw Stella was growing more impatient and adamant. Steve and Gabriel looked at Stella and she looked at her brother, “There is a chance we were detected leaving.”
Steve looked at Gabriel, “Tell me why you think there is a chance of that?”
Gabriel looked at Stella with an angry expression and turned to Steve, “Did you listen to the transmissions between that first structure and the warships?” Steve nodded. “I know that thing is a machine but it arrived at a correct conclusion that no one else in that galaxy agreed to. If that structure is that smart, I suspect it contacted the other launchers around the black hole and told them to keep their scanners open for the anomaly that it detected. If those four launchers overlapped their sensors…” Gabriel shrugged.
Steve said, “They could have detected our departure and when we go through this time, there will be a welcoming committee.”
“Yes, Sir. Which means the launchers will be heavily defended and we may only get the chance to attack one, possibly two, of them.” Stella punched him on the arm and Gabe shook his head.
“What’s the problem, Admiral?”
Stella looked at him, “Sir, Commodore Eagle and I have discussed how to invade that galaxy and the plan that’s being presented is missing some important details.” The Fleet Admirals in the room were shocked that this young officer was a Commodore.
“What are they?”
“Sir, its Boy Genius here that saw them. He’s reluctant to say anything out of respect for the wisdom of those that developed the current plan.”
Steve stared at Gabriel and saw his discomfort. The Fleet Commanders didn’t understand why Admiral Connor didn’t just send the kid out of the room. Steve said, “Admiral Dobson.”
Janell jerked to attention, “Sir!”
“If you had a choice of two plans to use; one developed by Fleet Intelligence or another developed by Commodore Eagle, which one would you use?”
Janell, without hesitation, said, “Commodore Eagle’s, Sir.”
“And why is that?”
“Because I’d know that he saw things that Intelligence missed.” Admiral Chambliss’s eyes narrowed. He was offended that this Admiral was insulting his Command.
Steve looked at Janell and said, “What about the rest of you sitting at the table?”
Amy stood up, “I would use Gabriel’s plan as well, Sir.”
Heinrik stood up, “As would I, Sir.”
Admiral Chambliss shook his head, “They are just defending one of their own.”
Steve looked at Gabriel, “Let’s see if that’s true. Commodore, you are ordered to share anything that you think is important to the success of this mission.”
Gabriel lowered his head and the
n looked up, “The Unknown Enemy will kill you. That’s one of the most important Death Prophecies. I know we went in and scouted that galaxy but we didn’t take a look at the agency that is controlling everything. The launcher and the beings on the warships called them the Builders. They’re the ones that built those structures and it’s clear to me that the machine directing those launchers is more advanced than any I’ve ever seen. We know nothing about those Builders or what forces they have to use against us.”
Steve looked at Admiral Holmes. ”Sir, I’d like to hear what he has to say before I continue.”
Steve nodded and said to Gabe, “Go on.”
“Intelligence has suggested that we attack the two structures that will be launching warships into the black hole first instead of the two with thrusters. That would be a mistake.”
Admiral Chambliss said, “And why is that?”
“Because all four of them can launch warships into a black hole. Only two of them can then transit the black hole to send them back. You heard the Builder say that if that structure actually detected a ship, the invasion would be moved up immediately.” Gabriel looked at Admiral Chambliss, “Do you not think that all four of those launchers will be sending warships into the black hole. We have to do everything we can to make sure none of them make it back through.”
Steve said, “Why?”
“Because I suspect any of their ships that make it back through will go through the change our ships are currently experiencing. Those ships would be far more powerful than they are now if that happens. If only two can be taken out, it has to be the two with thrusters.”
Chambliss stared at him and then slowly nodded, “We didn’t consider that. Is there something else we’ve missed, Commodore?”
Gabe looked at Stella and she nodded for him to tell it all. He looked at Steve and tilted his head, “When Stella told me about what we had to face in that galaxy and that it frightened her to her core, I looked at the data that was collected and saw that there were only two strategies that would work. The first is to go to their turf and fight the war there. That would make it Advantage Them. The other strategy was to prevent them from making it through the black hole.”