by Saxon Andrew
The Rageon looked up from his panel and stared at the Beast, “I don’t feel at all comfortable doing that.”
“Are we just going to leave without attempting to stop their attacks?”
The Rageon didn’t want to do it but knew the Beast was probably right. He looked at the display with his Fleet Admiral listening in and saw him shrug. He pressed a button muting the Beast and said, “If we do this, you will not go in with our ships; is that clear?” The Fleet Admiral revealed his disappointment but bowed his head. The Rageon unmuted his panel and said, “Your forces will command this attack. Notify the fleets what you want done.”
The Beast Master smiled and began issuing orders. The five fleets spread out and after thirty minutes of reorganizing their ranks, they rushed forward and started launching missiles and firing their beams at the empty space in front of them. It did not remain empty for long.
• • •
The Beast had organized the fleets into five waves of twenty five thousand ships each. The waves were composed of five thousand ships from each of the Five’s fleets. The Beast was proud of the fact that no one could accuse him of not being impartial. He ordered the first wave to attack and sat back to watch the ensuing battle.
• • •
The first wave rushed in and as soon as they started firing the Beast sent in the second wave. The empty place in space that was the target of the first wave’s attack exploded with massive blasts and giant white spots that glowed brightly. The object being attacked was gigantic and the explosions revealed that it was round in shape and as large as a planet. The attacking ships quickly realized they were firing on an invisible planet. The first wave started to move away as the blasts and white spots started to fade but were suddenly hit with a massive barrage of multicolored beams that reached out and hit them. The entire first wave was vaporized as the third wave was launched. The Rageon Ruler jumped out of his chair and watched the destruction of the first wave and saw the second vaporized a minute later. He looked back at his Scanning Officer, “Lock on the site of a beam hit and do not lose sight of it. I also want you to keep the ship that fired the beam on your scanners.”
The fourth wave leaped forward and the Rageon’s Scanner Officer shouted, “The place where that object was hit fired a beam at the ship that fired twenty seconds after the beam hit. The beam hitting that ship was more than ten times more powerful than the beam the ship used!”
The Rageon Ruler grabbed his communicator and yelled, “FOURTH AND FIFTH WAVES, BREAK OFF YOUR ATTACK.”
The fourth wave had almost arrived at their firing points and they suddenly turned and flew away from the invisible object. The Beast appeared on the Rageon’s display, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!
“Trying to prevent the complete destruction of our fleets; I’ve determined that any beam fired on that object is fired back at the ship that fired at it with more than ten times the power.”
“That’s not possible.”
“I had one of my ships fire on that object and immediately jump three thousand miles out; it was destroyed by a beam originating from the point of its beam’s impact. Would you like to prove this? Send one of your ships if you doubt my word.”
The Beast looked at his Admiral and gave him instructions. A huge Black Main Battleship rushed out of formation and fired on the object. It immediately disappeared. The Beast had the ship’s commander on his display and started to smile when suddenly the display went dark. The Rageon was still connected to the Beast and saw his expression. ‘Where did you send that ship after it fired?”
“To my Governing Planet.” The Rageon was stunned. He waited and listened in as the Beast contacted his fleet at the governing planet and learned that the ship had been blasted by a black beam that came out of empty space and vaporized it. The Beast looked at the Rageon and for the first time the Rageon saw real fear in its features.
The Rageon sat back in his chair, “This is not the ones attacking our planets.”
“How do you know?”
“If they can reach out across more than two hundred million light years to destroy one of your warships, why would they need ships to attack us?”
The Beast was speechless and watched the Rageon lift his communicator, “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to see if they will communicate with me.” He turned to his Science Officer, “I want this transmitted on every frequency we know.” The Science Officer reached down to his panel and ran his hand across a long row of red buttons. All of them turned yellow and he nodded to the Rageon Ruler. “I would like to communicate with the invisible object in front of my ships.”
Every ship in the combined fleet heard the request on one of their frequencies. The Rageon stared at the empty space in front of his ship and waited to see if he would receive a response. His Science Officer suddenly stood up and pointed out of the viewport. The Rageon looked and saw a huge square hanging in empty space with brilliant white light streaming out of it. The Rageon fell back in his command chair and stared at the opening.
“Well, are you going?”
The Rageon saw the Beast on his main display and said, “Why don’t you go?”
“I’m not the one that asked. What’s wrong; are you too afraid?”
The Rageon grew angry, “You want me to go so one of your enemies will be removed.”
“Then you shouldn’t have asked.”
The Rageon stared at the huge square and turned to the display with his Fleet Admiral on it, “If I don’t return, notify my son that he will assume the throne in my place.”
“Don’t do this, Your Majesty!”
“You will follow my orders!” The Admiral lowered his head and nodded. The Rageon turned to his ship’s commander and pointed at the square, “Take us there.” The huge Silver ship moved forward slowly and, after fifteen minutes, flew through the square. The square immediately disappeared. The Beast watched the Rageon’s ship disappear and sat down. He didn’t want to admire him but couldn’t help himself. He knew he would have never entered that square.
“What are we going to do?”
The Beast looked at his Admiral, “We’re going to wait and see what happens.” The Beast sat back and didn’t know what to expect.
• • •
The Rageon Ruler watched as his ship passed through the square and saw it disappear behind his ship. He saw his bridge crew staring at the viewports and he turned and looked out; he was stunned by the planet below him. It was bathed in brilliant white light and the giant crystal structures on the surface were astounding. He could only stare at them in wonder and shook his head at the possible danger he had put himself into. Suddenly a tall, triangular shaped, glowing crystal appeared on his bridge. He saw several of his officers reaching for their blasters, “DO NOT PULL A WEAPON!!” The officers pulled their hands away from their holsters and the Rageon heard in his mind, “That was a good decision.”
“What would have happened?”
“This conversation would have ended abruptly.”
The Rageon stared at the crystal being and said, “Why are you killing my ships?”
“We’re not. We would never kill a life form.”
“You’ve destroyed thousands of my ships.”
There was a pause and then the Rageon heard, “You and several companions are traveling together and encounter something that you don’t understand. One of your companions reaches down and picks up a stone and he throws it at the object. A few moments later, a stone ten times larger than the one he threw comes out of the object striking your companion, killing him; what would you have learned from that experience?”
“Not to throw a stone at that object. However, the object did kill my companion.”
“What if your companion didn’t throw the stone?”
The Rageon stared at the Crystal and reluctantly said, “Then he would still be alive.”
“So who killed your companion?”
“It was your technology that killed my ships.”
“Did you miss the point?”
The Rageon sighed, “No, none of them would have died if they had not attacked.”
“I was beginning to think your mind was too feeble to understand simple lessons.”
The Rageon felt his anger but quickly stifled it. He was not in a position to be able to afford the luxury of anger. “So it isn’t you that’s been destroying my production planets?”
“Why would your childish creations interest us?”
“What do you mean by childish?”
“We’re amazed at the huge waste of wealth and energy used to build them. You must lack the ability to see clearly.”
“We need those planets to defend my civilization.” The Crystal remained silent. The Rageon waited and then said, “We have to have them to defend ourselves!”
“Most of the last hundred thousand civilizations you’ve destroyed didn’t even have rudimentary space flight. They would never achieve your level of technology and were no danger to your civilization. Defending yourself is a self-deception and you know it. I don’t communicate with beings that are deceptive.”
“My civilization was almost destroyed.”
“And you removed the ones that attacked you. Beyond that, you continued killing for reasons other than defense. Why do you really do it?”
The Rageon thought about what the Crystal said and really didn’t have a good reason. He thought for a moment and said, “I want to expand my Empire’s territory.”
“Do you need it because of population pressures?”
The Rageon paused and said, “Well, no.”
“Do you need it because you lack basic resources to build your civilization?”
“No.”
“You could never visit all the worlds you’ve conquered in six of your lifetimes. You do it for another reason.” The Rageon struggled with the question and finally the Crystal said, “You do it because you enjoy it.” The Rageon tried hard and finally had to admit the Crystal was right. “Your feeble excuse that you’re doing it to defend yourself is an outright deception.”
“NO IT’S NOT!”
“Who in this universe represents a danger to your civilization?” The Rageon stared at the Crystal and it said, “The four civilizations you came here with to attack us are the only real danger facing you and you work with them. If defense was your reason, you would never do that. They grow stronger from their contact with you.” The Rageon Ruler could not argue with the Crystal’s statement. The Crystal grew slightly brighter and it said, “So you are like a small child that wants to possess every other child’s toys and you come up with lies and deceptions to justify your behavior. I agreed to communicate with you in the hopes that you weren’t as stupid as we’ve observed. I see we were right in our judgments. Your intellect is too feeble to really understand the universe around you.”
The Crystal being disappeared and the Rageon’s ship suddenly appeared with the Five’s fleets around the planet. The Beast appeared on his display, “What happened?”
“They are not the ones attacking us.”
“Are they a danger to us?”
The Rageon looked at the Beast and suddenly saw himself in front of the Crystal. He saw the naked ambition of the Beast and knew he mirrored it. He slowly shook his head. “We are more of a danger to each other than the beings here.” He lifted his communicator and said, “All Rageon ships will exit this system and return to their original assignments.”
The Beast saw the Rageon fleet disappear and wondered why the Rageon Ruler would leave with his ships left behind in the disputed star cluster. That just didn’t make sense. He began to suspect treachery. Maybe those beings were going to attack all of those left behind after a short time passed. He grabbed his communicator and ordered all ships to leave. He decided that possessing this cluster was not as important as before. He didn’t want to be anywhere near that invisible planet.
• • •
The Rageon Ruler arrived back at his throne room and saw the disappointment on his son’s face. He hoped to become the new Ruler. He couldn’t be angry. His son was exactly who he raised him to be. He ordered everyone out of the chamber and stopped all communications. He couldn’t get the Crystal’s words out of his mind. He remained in his throne room for three days and then called his Fleet Admiral. He gave the Admiral instructions and then issued orders to call off the search for the ones that were attacking his production planets.
• • •
The small Rageon Scout appeared and the Fleet Admiral raised his communicator, “I have a request, if you would be kind enough to hear it.” The Admiral waited, expecting to be killed, but nothing happened. He watched the space in front of him and a day later a Crystal appeared on the scout’s bridge. The Admiral looked at the glowing creature and said, “My Ruler has asked me to deliver a message to you.” The Admiral waited and heard nothing. He sighed and said, “My Ruler believes that you know the ones that are attacking our planets. He doesn’t want to know who they are or where they’re located; but he asks that, if it’s possible, you tell them that he will not attack them in the future. He understands why they did what they did and he holds no malice toward them. He asked me to see if you would deliver his apology for the danger he has placed them in because of his stupidity.”
“I will deliver your message.”
The Crystal disappeared and the Scout appeared back at the Rageon Governing Planet.
• • •
Ping and Dahlia rushed to the control room and found Dean issuing orders to the Mites to hold their positions until ordered otherwise. “What’s going on?”
Dean turned to Dahlia, “Something is happening at the Rageon production planets.”
“What?”
“There are thousands of shuttles going down to the surface and ferrying civilians up to the fleet in orbit.”
Dahlia and Ping looked at the feed coming in from one of the probes at a Rageon Production Planet and saw the massive exodus. “What are they doing?”
Dean looked at his panel, “Whatever it is, they’re doing it at every one of their ship building facilities.”
Dean shook his head, “About four days ago the probes began reporting the energy being used on those planets had started to fall off. It is barely detectable now. It appears all production on the planets has stopped.”
Ping looked at Dahlia and she frowned, “They have to be shutting them down. Nothing else makes sense.”
“But why would they do it?” Dahlia shook her head. An hour later, Dean said, “The fleet above one of their planets has jumped away.”
“Do we know where it went?”
Dean stared at his panel, “The probe at their Governing Planet has just reported a fleet appearing.” Dean continued to watch and said, “Hundreds of shuttles are leaving the fleet for the planet’s surface.”
Ping looked at Dahlia and said, “It has to be the Reg’s doing.”
Dahlia smiled, “The Rageon Ruler must have spoken with them. I suspect he was affected by that conversation.”
“Should we go ask him?”
Dahlia looked at Ping and after a moment said, “Where did you get that idea?”
“I really don’t know.” Dahlia shrugged and Ping looked at Dean, “We’ll be right back.”
“Hey, is this a good idea?”
“Just don’t tell Tess where we’ve gone.”
“Dahlia!” But he was speaking to empty space.
• • •
They arrived on Pare and Sprigly appeared right behind them, “Are you two out of your mind?”
Ping smiled, “Dean must have told you.”
“He did and he hoped you would listen to reason.”
Dahlia smiled and said, “You can leave or go with us.”
Sprigly looked back and forth between them and fell back on the floor, “I know I’m going to regret this.”
“Pare, take us to the Rageon Governing Planet. Try to find a place where we won’t be near their warship
s.”
“Is another galaxy close enough?”
Ping laughed out loud and said, “Just do your best.”
Chapter Fourteen
The Mite teleported in and they saw the planet off in the distance, “Is this as close as you can get?”
“I’m too close now! Ten thousand of their warships can be here in less than two seconds.”
Ping shrugged and looked at the distant planet, “Pare, have you been able to detect their command frequency?”
“I have the one used by their Fleet Admiral.”
“Open it.”
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Open it, Pare.”
“It’s open. If any of their ships start moving this way, I’m making tracks.”
• • •
“I would like to communicate with the Rageon Ruler.”
The Fleet Admiral heard the voice on his panel and punched his general frequency, “All ships will stay away from the source of that transmission. If you violate my orders you will be tried and executed!”
A thousand Rageon Warships that were powering up their jump drives stopped and remained in place. The Admiral watched his main panel and after a moment said, “I had to make sure your conversation was not interrupted. I’ll connect you in a moment.”
Sprigly sat up and said, “Well I’ll be a prickly cactus.”
Ping stared at his panel and after a minute a Rageon appeared, “I see you got the message I sent you.”
“What message?”
The Rageon looked confused and said, “I asked them to deliver a message to you.”
“We’ve not received a message from them but we sensed we needed to come and speak with you.”
The Rageon shook his head, “I guess that would be like them; they’d want me to deliver it myself.”
Dahlia said, “You must have spoken with them?”
“I did. I must say they had an impact on my worldview.”
“They have a way of doing that.”
“I asked them to tell you that I will not attack you in the future. Nor will I attempt to find your location.”
“What are you doing with your production planets?”