by Saxon Andrew
Ping pulled up the section of scouts that were rapidly approaching her sector and said, “There are two G-Class stars to the left and right of your planet. The Black Scouts are moving toward them and away from your world. It appears at this moment that they are trying to get the Rageon to follow them and not go to your planet.”
She looked at the position of the three stars and suddenly saw it. “Do you really think they’re that smart?”
“We’re going to find out shortly. Pare, I want you to start trying to listen in on their communications. See if you can get enough data to start breaking their encryption.”
“I did that while the two of you were on the planet. Which ones do you want to listen in on?”
Dahlia was shocked and Ping smiled, “I want to hear the transmissions being directed at the four scouts moving slightly away from Dahlia’s planet toward the two planets to the side of their location.”
“Nothing is being said at the moment. It will probably happen three days from now when they’ll have to commit to a path.”
Ping looked at Dahlia, “Do you want to sleep first?”
“No, you go ahead. I had plenty of rest last night. By the way, where did you sleep last night?”
“I stayed in the command chair and had a discussion with Pare.”
“You take the first sleep period.” Ping nodded and left the bridge. Dahlia stared at the long line of ships, “Pare, can you pick up the transmissions from the two flagships?”
“I can. I’ll feed them to the wall speaker.”
“That would be good; however, send them to my combat helmet instead; I don’t want to disturb Ping with the speaker’s volume.” Dahlia picked up her helmet and began hearing the orders being sent out to the advancing line of scouts.
Chapter Three
They took turns watching the approach of the long line of ships toward the Planter’s World. They were only able to see the advancing ships on their tactical display. Space was so vast that they would have to be within ten miles of the scouts to actually see them. Dahlia looked out of the viewport and saw stars that appeared thick enough to walk on. They were all colors and were beautiful. The closest star was just a bright dot off to the left of their small ship but the view was filled with millions of lights that filled the view in all directions.
Ping saw her looking out and said, “It’s odd that the universe is so beautiful, yet it contains so much death and danger in it.”
“Perhaps it’s not supposed to be there.”
Ping slowly shook his head, “But it is.”
Dahlia looked at him, “I think that’s why we’re here; to do something about it.”
Ping stared at her and finally gave a short nod, “I can only hope.”
On the third day, they both remained on the bridge and watched the line of scouts moving quickly within scanning range of Dahlia’s planet. They heard the Rageon Admiral say, “Why are you avoiding that planet in front of you?” Suddenly the two Black Scouts turned and headed directly toward Dahlia’s planet. The Rageon Admiral saw the sudden turn and contacted his two scouts paired with the black scouts, “Do not follow them to that planet. Continue to the two planets to the sides. They’re trying to make you miss scanning them.”
• • •
They watched the two black scouts fly directly over the Planter’s World as the two Rageon Scouts continued to the two G-Type stars off to each side. The Black Scouts moved away and joined the two Rageon Scouts as they passed the two stars on each side of Dahlia’s star and continued moving forward. Ping shook his head, “I guess they’re smarter than I thought.” The line moved away and grew smaller with distance.
Twelve hours later, Dahlia lifted her communicator, “Tess, the line has passed. You can sound the all clear.”
“DO NOT DO THAT!!!” Dahlia and Ping jumped in their chairs.
“What? Why not?”
“Stop them from coming to the surface!”
Dahlia pushed her communicator button, “Tess, cancel the all clear.”
“What?”
“Just do it!” Dahlia stood up, “What’s going on, Pare!?!”
“Please focus on what just happened.”
Ping looked at Dahlia and saw her expression tighten as she thought about what would cause Pare to stop sending the all clear messages. Ping watched her and after a few minutes he saw her face turn white. He tilted his head toward her as he saw the Rageon Scout jump in above the Planter’s Planet and start scanning. Dahlia shook her head and looked at Ping, “I missed it.”
“Missed what?”
“The Rageon are just as smart as the Black Civilization. They figured out that they were duped into not going to my planet. They sent a ship back to see what they missed.”
Pare said, “It only made sense they would do it.”
The Rageon Scout stayed for only two minutes and then jumped away. Ping said, “I want to hear what that scout says.”
“…was attacked with massive loss of life. I suspect they didn’t want us to see how brutal they were to that planet.”
“Did you see anything else of interest?”
“No Sire, it was blasted from space. Excuse me; the scout I was paired with is demanding to know where I’ve been.”
“Tell him I sent you to take a look. Make sure you ask him why they didn’t want us to see that planet.”
“He’ll just lie about it.”
“Even so, we may learn something.”
• • •
They waited and after ten minutes they heard, “He says he is insulted that we would believe he would deliberately try to conceal anything. He insists that we both go back and take extensive scans of the planet.”
The Rageon Admiral rocked forward in his disgust, “He probably wants to brag about how big and bad his species is. Tell him to shove it and catch up to the line.”
“Do you think they really tried to divert us, Sire?”
“I’ve looked at your scans and don’t see anything interesting. I’m probably overthinking this. Catch up and close up the line.”
• • •
The Black Scout Admiral looked at the scan of the planet with the virus and saw millions of death markers outside the barely populated cities. It appeared the locals weren’t immune to the disease. He thought about blasting the planet apart but, like the doctor said, sending that virus out into the universe on the blasted pieces of the planet could only cause trouble. That planet was going to have to be Quarantined if they ever came back to the cluster. It was troubling that the Rageon figured out his ploy and sent a ship back. However, he didn’t accept the offer to go back and run extensive scans. He probably didn’t see the deaths were caused by a disease and assumed they were the result of the bombardment from space. He pressed a button and all of the scans collected were sent to the Master. He’d be pleased about the last one.
• • •
Dahlia fell into Pings arms and wept. Ping held her, “Shhhh, it didn’t happen.”
“But…but… I missed everything; my people could have become a target. I put them all in danger.” Dahlia shivered and said, “Pa…Pare…I owe you!”
“It was that part of you in me that saw it, Dahlia. You really didn’t miss it.”
Dahlia held on to Ping and wept. Soon she was wailing. She was finally allowing all the fear she had been holding in to come out. She wept for her dead Brother-in-Law and her niece. She cried for her mother and father who had died in the initial bombardment. She wept and held on to Ping like he was a lifeboat in the middle of a stormy sea. Ping held her tight and softly told her everything was going to be alright. He held her and also felt his pain come bubbling up. Soon they held each other as they wept for their losses.
Ping carried Dahlia to her sleeping quarters and put her on the bed. He stood and Dahlia said, “Don’t leave me…not now.” Ping walked back to the bed and lay down beside her. She rolled in to him and held on tight until she fell asleep. Ping held her and stroked her auburn hair and felt guilty. He though
t he was the only one lost in pain and suffering. He discovered while he was connected mentally with Dahlia by the ship’s links that Dahlia was hurting just as much, maybe even more, but had refused to give in to it. She had lost most of her family to the Black Ships.
Sleep didn’t find him until much later. He tried to gently get up without waking Dahlia but she refused to let go of him. He watched the line of Scouts move more than a hundred light years away and he lifted his wrist unit, “Tess, don’t sound the all clear until we notify you.”
“WHAT’S GOING ON?”
“I’ll tell you in the morning. We’re exhausted and Dahlia is sleeping. I don’t want to disturb her right now.”
Tess saw the display go dark and sighed. The Prince was different. Something had happened. She looked at Dean and saw he had noticed it as well. Dean shook his head, “I have no idea, Tess.”
• • •
Ping continued to stroke Dahlia’s hair for another hour before he fell asleep. He didn’t see Dahlia’s smile as she slept peacefully for the first time since she first met Ping. Pare watched the two of them sleep and blocked all calls. He wondered when Dahlia was going to drop her bomb on Ping. It wasn’t going to be pretty. If she waited much longer, it was going to get really ugly.
• • •
The next morning, Dahlia felt her wrist unit vibrate and heard in her mind, “Dahlia, I apologize for waking you but Tess is going to send a penetrator team if you don’t speak with her.”
Dahlia looked at Ping and saw his eyes were closed and that he was breathing regularly. She slipped out of bed and went to the bridge. She activated a channel and heard Tess screaming at her, “WHAT IS GOING ON!! JUST HOW MUCH LONGER ARE WE GOING TO STAY UNDERGROUND!!!”
“Slow down, Tess. You have to stay underground until the scouts arrive at the far edge of the cluster. They could still send a ship back to take a look at you until then.”
Tess was furious, “What was that bit about sounding the initial All Clear?”
Dahlia shook her head, “I made a mistake; I didn’t take the time to think it through.” Dahlia paused, “Ping made me see it and that we had to keep everyone underground.”
Dean entered the conversation, “Our probes showed a Rageon Scout appearing above us right after you canceled the All Clear.”
“That’s what I missed. We were very fortunate that Ping had his wits and stopped us.”
Tess calmed down, “When are you coming down?”
“Ping and I have to discuss whether or not we are going to allow them to leave without being attacked.”
“What?”
“We have to look at the best thing to do. We’ve been attacking their ships on numerous fronts all over their territories; what are they going to think if they aren’t attacked here?”
Tess thought for a moment, “They may believe their attackers avoided them because we want them to think they’re not in this cluster.”
“They could also think we didn’t attack them to make them think we are.”
Tess tilted her head, “That could go either way.”
“That’s why I need Ping to work this out with me. I’ll let you know what we’re going to do.”
Tess shook her head, “I’ve missed you, Dolly.”
“Me, too, Tess.”
• • •
“You know we have to hit them.” Dahlia turned around and saw Ping standing in the entrance to the bridge. “It shouldn’t be a large attack but we are going to have to take a shot at them. They’ve got to know that whoever is killing their ships wouldn’t miss this many scouts. Not attacking is more dangerous than attacking.”
Dahlia stood and walked over to Ping, “Listen, I’m sorry about …”
Ping put his finger on her lips, “There’s nothing to be sorry about.”
Ping removed his finger, “Even so…” Ping put his finger back on her lips and shook his head, “Do you have any thoughts about how we should attack them?”
Dahlia stared at Ping and he kept his finger on her lips. She breathed in and slowly shook her head. She continued to stare at Ping as he moved his finger away slightly and, after a pause she said, “Pare, did you see anything that you found interesting?”
“The two Commanders of those two groups of scouts are paired together and flying next to each other.”
Dahlia nodded slightly, “Now that is a good observation. Maybe we should take the two of them out.”
Ping moved on the bridge and sat down in his command chair; he swiveled it around, “Let’s think this through. What if we just take one of them out?”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s say Pare takes us over the top of one of the Flagships and fires at the other. Do you think that might cause the two sides some consternation?”
Pare said, “I’ve determined that the two Flagships are only in contact with their own scouts. They do not have a channel to the other’s ships. The individual scouts can communicate with the ship they’re paired with and that is the only point of contact between the two forces. Of course the Admirals can communicate with each other.”
Ping smiled, “So let’s say we kill one of them and make it appear the beam was fired from the other’s Flagship.”
Pare said, “Which one will you hit?”
Dahlia said, “The Black Commander.” Ping looked at Dahlia and she saw his puzzlement, “Which of the two species will react emotionally?”
Ping smiled, “You’re right. The Rageon would attempt to find out what happened. The Black Ships will follow their normal practice.”
Dahlia’s brow furrowed, “What practice is that?”
“Fire, ready, aim.”
Dahlia laughed, “Now that’s funny.” Dahlia contacted Tess, “Sis, we’re going to see if we can’t get the Rageon and Beasts to mingle a little more than they’ve been doing. I’ll be back once it’s done.”
“I don’t want you involved in an attack.”
Dahlia smiled, “And I want universal peace; it appears neither of us is going to get what we want.” Dahlia ended the contact and Pare teleported the ship away.
Tess stomped her foot and Dean tried not to laugh. Tess looked at him and he raised his hands in front of him, “Hey, you know she’s a warrior. You’re also forgetting that the Prince is sworn to defend her. He won’t take any chances with her safety.”
Tess stared at Dean and then relaxed. “You’re right. I just don’t want to lose her.”
“Neither do I; there’s been enough loss already. However, I suspect all of us will cross harm’s path before this is over.”
Tess’ eyes narrowed, “Dean, the next time Dahlia and that Prince go to that other universe; I want you to go with them.”
“Why?”
“I need another opinion; I’m not sure Dahlia is being objective.”
“You think she’s ga-ga over him.”
“I’m not sure. You know she’s never had a romantic relationship. She might be in over her head. She’s still so young.”
Dean shook his head, “Uhhhh, Tess; I haven’t had one either.”
“I know, but you’re not ga-ga over anyone at the moment. I can trust your judgment.”
“What reason are you going to use?”
“That I don’t trust Dahlia’s objectivity. Why should I be deceptive about this? It will hopefully get her to wake up and look around.”
Dean leaned back, “If anyone knows what’s going on around them, it would be Dahlia.”
Tess shrugged, “Even so, pack a bag and get ready to go.” Dean shrugged and left the room. Tess felt out of control. Her people were pawns in a huge game and knowing who posed the biggest danger was sheer guesswork.
• • •
Ping and Dahlia watched the long line of scouts jumping through the cluster and, at their current speed; they would be done in another four days. “Where are the Commanders, Pare?”
“They’re in the center of the line moving slightly behind the line.”
Ping narrowed his eyes and looked out at the center of the scout’s line. The gift of distant vision was the one talent he treasured the most; even more than his ability to teleport. Ping stood up and Dahlia said, “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to teleport out to the Rageon’s Flagship and fire an energy pulse at the Black Flagship.”
“You should use our ship to take the shot.”
Ping slowly shook his head, “Dahlia, come on…think this through.”
Dahlia rolled her eyes and said, “Pare, I could use a little support here.”
“You know he’s right. I couldn’t do anything he can’t do in his armor. His armor has a clear nemite coating and light shifting plates. He’ll be just as invisible as we are except he will be even more difficult to see.”
Ping looked at the speaker, “Why do you say that?”
“You could teleport in on top of the Rageon’s ship just outside its force field. Even at my small size, we’d have to use thrusters and would have to have some separation between our vessels. They might detect that gap in their scans. “
“Pare, could they detect our thruster emissions?”
“They haven’t yet; however, they have demonstrated they aren’t dumb. It’s just a matter of time until they stumble on it.”
Ping nodded and suddenly his armor appeared. Dahlia shook her head, “I don’t want you to go alone! We aren’t going to do it this way.”
Ping’s armor disappeared and she saw him shaking his head, “You’re worried that, if I go alone, I might deliberately place myself in a situation where I could be killed.” Dahlia just stared at him in silence. “Dahlia, I felt your sorrow…yet you choose to move forward and make your life count for something. I have to admit, it shamed me. I no longer want to end my life. I want to make it count for something. That’s why you have nothing to be sorry about for what happened last night. I needed to see it.” Ping’s armor reappeared and he disappeared off the bridge. Dahlia was too shocked to say anything to stop him.
Dahlia continued to stare at the place Ping had stood a moment before and then whipped around and looked at the wall speaker, “Pare, is he being honest?”
“I no longer feel a death wish when he links with me. That means it’s no longer in him.”