by Saxon Andrew
Dahlia shook her head and said through clenched teeth, “I don’t care if you don’t see them as evil; my people are going to be exterminated by them.”
“And you are justified in doing all you can to prevent that. However, that has nothing to do with good or evil; it has everything to do with survival.”
Ping said, “The balance of Creation is getting skewed.”
“Certainly the ones that only want to live alone and in peace measured against those that choose to attack anyone they encounter are getting out of balance.”
Ping looked up at the glowing Crystal and lowered his head, “Isn’t there some mechanism that would prevent that imbalance?”
“That is why you came here.”
Ping started smiling and raised his head, “I do not request a ship. Thank you for communicating with us and we will leave you in peace and not return.” Dahlia and Sprigly looked at Ping and Dahlia started shaking her head. Ping saw her and said before she could protest, “He’s right; if we take the ship, everyone dies.” Dahlia started thinking furiously but couldn’t see what Ping was talking about.
The Crystal Being smiled, “You are like the one that came to us the first time. He taught us the meaning of wisdom and the value of life.”
Suddenly, the Searcher appeared in normal space above the Planter’s Planet. Dahlia looked at Ping and was too confused to be angry. Ping said, “If we start using an invincible ship, what do you think the Five would do?”
Dahlia thought furiously and after a moment moved back in her chair. She looked at Ping, “Would those ships be invisible?”
“No and I suspect their hulls could not be covered in nemite.”
“The Five would see us building them here and launch an overwhelming attack against us.”
“And we couldn’t build them anywhere else because the facilities to do it are only here. They would also suspect the Realm is behind the ship and accelerate their attempts to develop a portal to invade the Realm. We’re too far along in this war for the ship to make any significant difference. At the end of the war the only ones still living will be the pilots of the few ships we could build. Even if we managed by some miracle to win this war, how do you think our civilization would be seen by all the others, if we possessed a ship that powerful.”
“Every civilization would be afraid of us.”
“And all it would take is for a momentary letting down of our guard for our planet to be destroyed. We would be forced to become like the Five, always searching for those that would threaten us.”
“You make it sound like they are justified in their behavior.”
“I really didn’t understand that until the Reg managed to make me see it. It really doesn’t matter whether they are justified or not; we are one of their targets and we have to try and survive against them. It’s really not a question of good and evil; both of us think the other is evil and we are good. Like the Reg said, it’s really a survival issue; nothing more and nothing less.”
“But we have no chance against them.”
“That’s not what he said.”
Dahlia thought for a moment and Ping saw a small smile on her face, “No it wasn’t, was it?”
Ping nodded and Sprigly was confused. He was lost and remained that way until Pare told him. Even then, he didn’t believe it.
• • •
Dean appeared on their display, “I’ve been worried about you.”
“We’re fine; it just took longer than we planned.”
“The probes in the Five’s territories are starting to detect numerous attempts to open a portal.”
Ping looked at Dahlia and turned back to the display, “They’re attempting to open a portal. They won’t succeed for a while so we need to continue our attacks.”
“How do you know that?”
“A rock told me.”
The display went dark and Dean’s brow was furrowed, “A rock?”
• • •
Ping said, “Pare, move the Searcher back under the nemite barrier.”
“I thought we were going to use it.”
“Not until the nemite coating is applied. It can be detected until that’s done.”
Dahlia looked at him, “You must sense something?”
“I do. I have a very high sense of danger at using this ship in its current state. The danger disappears if I have it coated.”
Dahlia nodded, “Do you think it was detected?”
“I only sensed the danger when we arrived here. Evidently, taking it there was not dangerous.”
“To who?”
Ping tilted his head and after a moment smiled, “That is a very good question.” Ping closed his eyes and started looking at numerous scenarios in his mind. After an hour, he opened his eyes and said, “Get your fishing rod; we have some time to relax.”
“Are you serious!?!”
“What, you didn’t like what I caught for you last time?”
Dahlia sighed heavily, then smiled and teleported out to get her frying pan and blankets. This time, she teleported a tent to the stream’s bank with a pad to sleep on. Tess, Dean, and Victoria arrived a few hours later and Ping explained all that had happened. They were confused about what he was trying to explain but felt Dahlia would do what needed to be done.
• • •
“Your Majesty.”
The Rageon looked at his Fleet Admiral on his display, “Yes, what is it?”
“One of the probes we left outside the star cluster we’re disputing with the Black Civilization has picked up a reading near a star at the edge of the cluster.”
“What sort of reading?”
“It had the same frequency as the ships that invaded here.”
The Rageon Ruler jumped out of his chair, “That has to be where those ships are hiding. I want a fleet organized to investigate. Wait to send them until I contact the others to gather their ships to go there as well.”
“Is that a good idea?”
“We can’t go alone; it would cause the Beasts to launch an attack against us. If they have to be there, we might as well bring the others into it.”
“All of our planets are being defended by our fleets.”
“Then only take ships from a few of them to form a fleet. We can afford their loss if we can kill them where they live.”
“I’ll issue the orders but I won’t move the ships until you order the investigation.”
“That’s wise; issue your orders accordingly.”
• • •
The huge Beast looked at the data the Rageon sent and called in his Fleet Commander, “Didn’t we scan this star system when we invaded?”
“We scanned it from a distance; there is no habitable planet in that system.”
“Are you certain about that?”
“Yes Sire, I am.”
“Well, it appears there’s something there that has some connection to the ships that invaded us from that other place. The Rageon are taking a fleet to investigate and I am not going to allow them to go without us being there.”
“Do you think they’re being honest?”
“Does it matter?” The Admiral could only shrug. “Issue orders to form a fleet to go with them.”
“All of our ships are at our production planets.”
The Master looked at the Rageon’s message and looked back to his Admiral, “They say they are removing all the ships from several of their minor production planets to form a fleet. I suspect they are smart in doing it that way. We’ll follow their example. Issue the orders accordingly.”
The Admiral showed his reluctance but lowered his head, “I will do as you want, Sire.”
• • •
Dean looked at his wrist unit as it beeped. He stepped away from the fire and contacted his Second–in-Command in the control room, “What’s going on?”
“The probes have detected the Five are starting to organize a fleet in each of their territories.”
“Where are they getting the ships t
o do it?”
“It appears they are taking them from their minor production planets. They’re leaving from ten to twenty undefended to gather their ships.”
“Hold off attacking those planets until I get back to you.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Dean went over to the fire, “The Five are each gathering a fleet. They’re removing ships from their smaller production planets.”
Tess looked alarmed, “Do you think they’ve found us?”
Ping closed his eyes and after a moment shook his head, “I don’t sense that.”
“Then what are they doing?”
“I have no idea. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.” Dahlia’s expression showed concern. Ping saw it, “What do you see?”
“This gathering is happening rather quickly on the heels of our visit out to the edge of the cluster.”
Ping stared at her and then started shaking his head, “That has to be it.”
Dahlia nodded, “Your sense of danger there is the key factor in seeing it.”
Tess watched them and said, “What in the blue depths are the two of you talking about?”
Dahlia looked at her, “Ping sensed using the Searcher Vessel without coating it with nemite was dangerous. However, he didn’t sense danger at the edge of the cluster. That has to mean our ship was detected out there.” Dahlia turned to Ping, “Do you think the Reg knew this might happen?”
“Think about it and you tell me.”
Dahlia closed her eyes, “They knew.” Ping nodded.
Dean said, “Knew what?”
“That our ship was detected by the Five. I suspect both the Rageon and the Beasts have probes outside our disputed space to detect if either of them sent ships here. They must have detected the Searcher.”
“What makes you think they knew?”
“They sent our ship directly out of their field to here. They didn’t want the probe to get a line on us as we left.”
“Are they in danger?”
Dahlia looked at Ping, “No, the only ones in danger will be the Five if they show up there and act in their usual manner.”
Sprigly leaned back, “I would have thought they would have just prevented us from coming there to ensure their privacy.”
Ping tilted his head, “There is that. I’m not wise enough to even start making sense of their motivations…but if that’s where those fleets are going, I suspect it is going to be quite a show.”
“Should we send a probe?”
Dahlia shook her head, “No! We should stay away from them, Tess.”
“Hey, I was just asking.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell at you; this is strictly between the Five and the Reg.” She looked at Ping and he smiled. Dahlia reached for the frying pan, “Ok, who gets this plate of fish?”
Victoria jumped up, “That one belongs to me.”
“Coming right up.”
• • •
The Five’s fleets jumped to the outer edge of the disputed star cluster and formed up to meet possible intruders. The Rageon Fleet Admiral looked at his sensor officer, “Which star is the one in question?” A moment later, a large G-Type star appeared on his display. He stared at the image and looked back to the officer, “Scan that star.” The officer pushed several buttons on his panel and then pushed a lever forward. An image appeared on the Admiral’s display showing the star with six huge planets circling it. The planets were huge but were extremely distant from the star. The Admiral looked at his Science Officer as he said, “Sire, no life form we know about could live on those planets. Three of them are gas giants and offer no surface for a civilization to exist. The others are frozen solid.”
“Notify the other fleets we are jumping in closer to take a better look.” The Rageon fleet jumped just outside the planetary system and the other four fleets joined them a moment later. “Sire, I have a huge debris field of destroyed ships around the star.”
“What? Show me.” The Admiral looked and saw thousands of destroyed ships circling the star at the same distance. He looked at his Science Officer, “Are those ships in the habitation zone?”
“Yes, Sire, they are.” The Admiral looked at the ships floating in space and brought one of them in closer on his display. It was clear that something had disintegrated the front half, leaving only the rear behind to circle the star. “Can you tell me how long that ship has been here?”
The Science Officer made a scan and looked up with shock on his face, “The low energy readings indicate it has been here more than ten thousand years.”
The Admiral immediately knew he was in over his head. He pressed his communicator and the Rageon Ruler appeared, “What have you discovered?”
“Your Majesty, I am not at all certain on what we should do. I need your guidance.”
The Ruler looked at his Admiral and said, “I’ll be there momentarily with my personal guard.”
“That would be good, Your Majesty.”
“Notify the Beast Fleet that I’m coming there.”
The Admiral lifted his communicator and saw the Beast Admiral on his panel, “My Sovereign is coming.” The Beast nodded and the display went dark.
Chapter Thirteen
The Beast Master arrived shortly behind the Rageon Ruler and listened as his Fleet Admiral brought him up to date on what had been discovered. He looked at the massive number of ships orbiting the star and couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing. He didn’t want to do it, but he contacted the Rageon Ruler, “What do you make of this?”
“We’ve been examining the derelicts orbiting the star and have determined that the thickness of their orbits indicate a planetary sized object killed them.”
“How did you make that determination?”
“The ships are scattered in a band that is more than twelve thousand miles thick. We think they were killed when they encountered something in this system. The fact they’re all orbiting the same distance from the star seems to give credence to something the size of a planet that killed them.”
“There is no planet here.”
“That we can see.”
The Beast felt a moment of dread at the Rageon’s remark and looked at his display. He shook his head; an invisible planet? He looked at the Rageon, “What do you think we should do?”
“Well, one thing I know for certain.”
“What is that?”
“Whatever it is, it is not associated with the ships that attacked us.”
“How can you know that?”
“Those ships attacked us after we invaded their space. Some of the ships circling this star were killed more than ten thousand years ago. Whatever did this has been here long before we became the powers we are today.”
“That doesn’t mean it is not attacking us.”
“Oh?”
“Invisible ships are being used.”
The Rageon tilted his head back, “Yes, I can see how you arrived at that conclusion.”
“What are we going to do?”
“We have to see if we can find it.”
“How do we go about that?”
“We’ll send scouts out in that orbit and have them make a high speed run around the star. I’ll send my scouts behind our fleets and you send yours from the front. If something is there, they should find it.”
“I’m going to space mine out in the event something happens to the one that uncovers it.”
The Rageon smiled, “I think that would be wise. I’ll operate the same way.”
• • •
Fifty scouts from each of their fleets flew into the orbit of the derelicts and went in opposite directions. The formed groups of ten ships that scattered at different levels as they moved through the band of destroyed ships; the groups separated by two thousand miles and began rapidly accelerating as they move around the star at the center of the dead ship’s orbits.
The Rageon said, “Keep the front groups in your scans.” The ten groups of ten ships covered more th
an a quarter of the distance around the star, when suddenly all ten of the Black Scouts exploded. The Rageon stood and yelled, “Mark that position.”
The forty scouts following the first group stopped and waited. The five fleets moved around the star and stopped above the place where the ten scouts had been destroyed. The Rageon looked at his ship’s commander, “Order our scouts to move forward slowly and determine what the Black Scouts hit.” The scouts moved slowly forward to where the debris of the Black Scouts was scattered and slowly moved past them without being affected. The Rageon Ruler was confused until his Science Officer said, “If they hit a moving planet, the planet has continued in its orbit around the star and is no longer located at the point of impact, Your Majesty.”
“Why didn’t the Scout’s debris continue with the planet?”
“It would seem to be impossible but the evidence says that the planet’s gravity did not have any effect on them.”
“How fast would a planet have to be moving this far from the star to maintain a stable orbit?”
“Thirty thousand, four hundred and eight miles per hour.”
“Move the scouts forward the distance necessary so they would be at the place the planet should be.” The five Rageon Scouts accelerated forward and slowed down. They moved slowly forward until the leading scout suddenly exploded. The Rageon looked at the wall display and said, “Pace that thing, whatever it is, so we stay even with it.”
The five fleets accelerated and matched the speed of the invisible object. The Rageon looked at his Scanning Officer, “I want that space scanned with every scanner you have. Look for anything that is located in that area.”
The Beast Master appeared on the display, “This is disconcerting.” The Rageon nodded as he continued to stare at his panel. “What are we going to do?”
“What would you suggest?”
“They must be the ones attacking our production planets; we should launch an attack.”