by Saxon Andrew
Tim exited the shuttle in the giant carrier’s landing bay and headed toward the tubes. The alarms were going off at full blast and sailors were sprinting to their battle stations. Tim arrived on the bridge and yelled, “Will someone shut off those damn klaxons!!” The alarms went silent and Tim looked at Commodore Luge, “You’re relieved.”
“It’s good to have you back, Sir.”
“What’s going on, George?”
“I took our ship to the armories and had it rearmed while you were gone. The other carriers are being armed at this moment and Admiral Holiday ordered us out ahead of the others.”
Tim went to his command chair and said, “Take us out.” The ten mile long space carrier moved away from the giant space armory and cleared it in two minutes. It activated its stardrive and the Prophet Class Vessel disappeared in a flash. Tim pushed the general frequency button on his console, “First Wing will launch when we emerge in normal space. Second Wing’s crews will remain in your ships until you’re called on to relieve or support First Wing. You know the drill, let’s get moving.”
“Sir, the Essay Fleets are moving into position to transit the black hole.” Tim nodded and watched the two thousand plus giant battleships come rushing in toward the black hole in tight formations. The first to arrive didn’t hesitate and crossed the event horizon. The other two fleets waited until the first fleet had time to clear and then followed each other into the black hole. Tim wondered what Admiral Eagle was going to do to slow the Azura Fleets down.
“Did you miss me, Honey?”
Tim looked at the main monitor and saw Alexandra on it, “I’m certainly glad you’re here.”
“I’m really sorry about John, Sir. If there’s anything I can do…”
Tim interrupted her, “Kick some Builder backside if they don’t head toward Andromeda immediately.”
“It will be my pleasure, Sir. Do you want me to launch a Wing, Sir?”
“I’m surprised you didn’t already do it.”
“The Builders are still eleven days out from the Carand Galaxy and I think the more rested our pilots are the better they’ll perform when we need them. I’ll have a wing ready to launch in three hours to relieve yours and then you can relieve my wing in three hours.”
“That’s good planning, Admiral. I’ll tell my wing standing by to stand down.” Alexandra disappeared from the monitor and Tim was surprised she even thought about her pilots. He looked at Commodore Luge, “George, tell the Second Wing to stand down but to remain near their ships. We anticipate they’ll launch in six hours.”
“Yes, Sir.” Tim looked at the tactical monitor and saw the Alexandria move smoothly to the left of his ship. He leaned back and wondered what the Essays were going to do.
• • •
Gabe came out of the black hole with his seven hundred Essays moving at superlight speed. He ordered the formation to dive to a lower course that would take them far under the approaching Builder Formations. They were traveling so fast that they blew past the Builders in an instant and maintained their course toward the pursuing Azura Fleets. He slowed the formation down to allow Heinrik’s and Amy’s formations to catch up and he ordered them into a long line that picked up speed as it flashed toward the on rushing Black Motherships.
“Attention all ships. We will be coming to a stop in other space in three hours and turn back toward the Carand Galaxy. We will reduce our power and stay outside the Azura’s scanning range until they pass our location at which point, all ships will turn their major beams ninety degrees and point them above the bows. On my command, all ships will go to maximum speed and run vertical toward the massed Motherships and fire their major beams directly into the landing bay doors on the bottom of a Mothership. All ships will break away immediately and go to flank speed back toward the Carand Galaxy and go through the black hole before the Builders start transiting. Are there any questions?”
“Sir, since we are attacking from under the Azura’s line of approach, wouldn’t it be better to go under the Carand Galaxy and go through the black hole from the bottom?”
“You make an excellent point Admiral Heinrik. That’s exactly what we’re going to do. Admiral Hart, your fleet will remain behind the Azura formations and make sure they’re delayed long enough to prevent them from seeing the Builders enter the black hole. You can bring your ships through once the Builders have evacuated all their forces out of the Carand Galaxy.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“It’s going to take a six days to arrive at our attack coordinates and that will only give us seven days to return and exit before the Builders.” Gabe paused, “I hope I don’t have to emphasize that I don’t care if the Motherships your ships are attacking are destroyed. I would actually prefer that they be damaged enough to stop them. Fire and run! We can’t afford to lose ships that will be needed in our universe defending Earth. My Ship’s Computer will send your targets to you once the Azura pass us. Shutdown your major power systems and be prepared to attack once we arrive at our jump off coordinates.”
Gabe shut off the frequency and looked up, “Chester, I want the Azura Motherships in the front line targeted. Maybe those following will have collisions with them.”
“I’ll get the coordinates as they pass, Admiral.”
Gabe leaned forward and began hearing the roar of the sonic scanners. The Azura would be within scanner range in a few more days.
• • •
Kamela sat in her chair and heard the thoughts of trillions of Azura on their giant ships. She had ordered Essay to move the ship far behind the Azura and the thoughts began to fade in the distance. “Don’t we want to keep up with them to see what’s going to happen?” Kamela had her eyes closed and she shook her head. Erica stared at Kamela and then looked at Essay, who shrugged. He didn’t know what was going on either.
Kamela opened her eyes and activated her armor. Essay and Erica saw her and turned theirs on an instant later, “Poul, shutdown all your systems and I do mean all of them. We’ll reenergize when it’s safe.”
There was a hum and then a high frequency that quickly wound down. Erica thought, “What’s going on?”
Kamela thought to them, “Shut your armor down so that only the air handler is operational!” Essay and Erica shutdown the armor’s systems and stared at Kamela, who had closed her eyes again. Essay began to feel nervous. He looked at Erica and saw her expression also showed a high level of nervousness. After ten minutes, Essay began to feel the floor of the bridge start to vibrate. The vibration grew and he looked through the overhead viewport as he saw something out of the corner of his eye.
Erica was looking and the floor feeling the vibration and he waved his arms at her until he caught her attention and he pointed at the overhead viewport. Erica’s hand went to just under her helmet as a ship was passing them about a hundred miles overhead. Essay’s mouth fell open as the ship filled the overhead viewport and took more than fifteen minutes to pass by. It dwarfed the Motherships; they were less than a fifth of the size of the giant vessel that was following them. Kamela opened her eyes and stared out of the front viewport as the giant disappeared in the distance. Essay opened his mouth and Kamela held up her hand and waved him to silence. Erica could only stare at the receding ship with her mouth open. After three hours, Kamela deactivated her armor and pressed the button that turned on Poul’s central processors.
“WHAT WAS THAT?”
Kamela looked at Erica, “That was one of the ships from that Galaxy of Warring Spaceships.”
Erica looked at her panel and then looked at Kamela, “That thing looked nothing like the ship Admiral Eagle scanned.” Kamela nodded. “Could you hear their thoughts?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“They sent that ship through the black hole in that galaxy the Azura had stripped and are following them to determine the outcome of their war with the Builders.”
Essay stared at the viewport and shook his head, “They’re not friends, ar
e they?”
Kamela sighed, “No, it appears they are not.”
“What are you going to do about this?”
“Nothing for the moment.” Essay’s eyes narrowed and Kamela quickly said, “We have more than we can handle with the Builders and Azura. That’s where we need to be focused and they aren’t going to do anything until that situation is resolved.”
Erica looked at Essay, “Think about it. If our leaders start discussing them, I’m reasonably certain they will hear it. We’re going to have to watch what we say if that ship is anywhere near us.”
Kamela nodded, “We will only discuss that vessel when I’m certain it is not intercepting our communications.” She looked up, “Poul, I had the mechanical recorder running while you were out. Please process the film and make a recording of what it saw. I also want you to go back to the Builder’s Galaxy and go through its black hole. We’ll make our return to Earth on that route.”
“Accelerating now.”
The systems powered back on and the Prophet’s Eyes went to full speed as Poul processed the film. When the recording was ready, the four of them watched the video of the giant warship that flew past them and felt fear grip their souls. Essay looked at Kamela, “What are their intentions?”
“Expanding into this corner of the universe.”
Erica could only shake her head as she said, “Do we even represent a threat to that giant warship?”
Kamela was silent then said, “I think I know why I’m here with the two of you.” Essay and Erica looked at her and she sighed, “If I weren’t around, none of our species would know anything about that ship. I originally thought I was called to do something about the giant black Motherships. They are nothing compared to that monster.”
“But what can you do, Kamela?”
“They’re not telepathic. Maybe I can learn something critical by listening in on them.” Kamela stood up and stared at the video of the giant vessel on the main monitor, “I don’t know what I can do but I have to believe I’m here for a reason and that ship appears to be the most pressing danger to all of our species.”
Essay groaned, “And they have enough ships fighting every year in that ritual that will provide them with plenty of pilots to attack us.”
Erica tilted her head back and said, “They lied to us about that.”
Essay and Kamela turned to her as Essay asked, “What do you mean they lied to us?”
“The numbers don’t add up.”
“Erica, what in the expanding universe are you talking about?”
“That being told Admiral Eagle that only a thousand survivors from each civilization are allowed to go and have families. It said that those four thousand survivors produced the billions of pilots taking part in the Ritual, or do I not understand it correctly?”
Essay shook his head, “No, that’s exactly what the being told Admiral Eagle.”
“If their birth rate was that high, they would have never survived long enough to evolve into a technological society. They would have devoured all the food on their planet long before they evolved.” Essay and Kamela stared at Erica and both blinked at the same moment. Erica continued, “I suspect if we went back to that galaxy, there probably wouldn’t be any warships fighting.”
“Then what are they doing there?”
“Exactly what you see, Essay. They’re training their warriors. The pilots that survive that Ritual will be given warships to go out and conquer other civilizations.”
Kamela’s eyes were narrow, “How long have you known this?”
“The moment you told me that giant was one of their vessels; I realized they were not honest from the beginning. They gave us enough technology to defeat the forces around us but not what we’d need to survive their attention. That told me that the so-called ritual was hogwash. They’re conquerors and they see a possible future adversary in us. We were stupid to reveal that a black hole can be transited and I’m sure they went to work on that as soon as Admiral Eagle left their territory. That ship here in the Builder’s Universe confirms it.”
Kamela lowered her gaze and asked her, “What do you think we can do about them?”
“The fourth Death Prophecy; no technology is invincible. They don’t know about our colonies and their presence forces us to change our strategy. Instead of going to the Carand Galaxy to attack the Azura, we’re going to leave them alone. We’re going to do the same with the Builders. If we eliminate them, I’m reasonably certain that species will move to eradicate us. As long as there are three powerful species operating here, they’ll delay moving on us.”
Essay stared at Erica and stood up, “And just how are you going to prevent my father from carrying out his plans to remove the Azura Black Warships?”
Erica shrugged, “I’m not; you are.”
“What?”
“Well, you and Kamela are going to do it. Admiral Connor has to see this video along with Admiral Eagle. No one else.”
“Why, I thought Kamela said this should be kept secret?”
Kamela shrugged, “You assume I know what I’m talking about.”
Essay’s head went back, “Are you telling me you don’t?”
Kamela nodded toward Erica, “She appears to have a better grip on things right now than I do. Let’s run with her and see how far we get.”
Essay sat down and said, “Poul, take us to the Ghost Colony when you pass through the black hole.”
“We’ll be arriving at the black hole shortly.” Essay nodded and wondered how he was going to convince his father to change his mind.
• • •
Gabe sat in his command chair on the Dream Catcher and listened to the sound of the sonic scanners growing louder by the moment. The Essays were powered down in normal space awaiting the arrival of the giant Black Motherships. The subspace antennae were extended and he knew they had to be getting closer. The sonic scanners had to have their volume lowered, the booms were starting to vibrate the walls of the bridge. He kept his eyes focused on the long-range scanner monitor and wondered how much longer before the Azura Fleet appeared.
It had never taken this long for the visual scanners to pick up a sighting after the sonic scanners detected them. He thought about it and decided that never before had a ship as large as the Motherships been detected by the sonic scanner. The power of a stardrive to push one of those giants through subspace had to generate a louder noise than normal. There! The leading edge of their formations appeared on the monitor. Gabe looked at Jock, “Get the reactors ready to kick in.”
“They’re on standby, Sir.” Gabe knew that already but issued the order to occupy his mind. His crew was well trained and he was pretty much an observer after he gave them the plan of attack. “Four hours until they arrive, Sir.”
Gabe nodded and said, “Make sure all the Fighter Pilots are in their ships in the event we have to launch them.”
“They’ll board their Fighters an hour prior to the Azura arrival, Sir.”
Gabe looked away from the monitor and stared at Jock, “Am I always like this?”
Jock smiled, “Yes, Sir, you are most of the time.”
“Do you have everything under control?”
“Yes, Sir, I do.” Gabe shrugged and went back to staring at the monitor. Jock looked at it with him and said, “I don’t know if you’ve been told but ninety-six percent of the transfer requests from the Alexandria have been withdrawn by those that sent them in to personnel.”
Gabe turned his head quickly to Jock, “When did that happen?”
“It started after Admiral Hart died and accelerated over the last week. It appears Admiral Bell has done something to change their minds.”
“Remind me to ask Admiral Holiday about that. I was considering replacing her.”
“It appears that is no longer needed.”
Gabe looked at Jock and said, “Commodore, I know taking you off the Brave Heart to command my flagship might have not been what you wanted but I need you here.”
Gabe nodded as he turned back to the tactical monitor and saw the individual Azura Vessels could now be plotted. He wondered where the Prophet’s Eyes was at this moment. He thought about the sudden appearance of the Female Kindred and couldn’t quite wrap his mind around what could have prompted her to show up at this moment in time. He was missing something critical.
“That’s the largest warship I’ve ever seen, Sir?”
Gabe absently nodded, “I’ve only seen one bigger.”
Jock turned to him, “Where?”
Gabe looked at him, “You’ve seen the report on the Galaxy of Warring Spaceships, haven’t you?”
“No, Sir.”
“Pull it up from the database.”
Jock went to his chair and started pressing keys on his console. After a few minutes, he looked up, “Sir, there’s nothing in the ship’s databanks on that particular topic.”
Gabe’s eyes narrowed, “Yes, there is, I put it there myself.” Jock stared at him and Gabe turned to his console and started pressing keys. After ten minutes, he started shaking his head as he said, “Chester, what happened to the file on the Warring Ships Galaxy?”
“Standby.”
Gabe waited and after five minutes had passed he said, “Chester?”
“Sir, it is no longer in my databanks.”
“How can that be, Chester?”
“I have no idea, but it isn’t there.”
Gabe glanced at the tactical monitor and his eyebrows came together, “How can a file be removed without your being aware of it?”
“I don’t believe that can happen; however, I have no record of it being removed.”
Gabe lowered his head and began thinking about who would have the technological skills to get into the ship’s computer and take a file without being caught doing it. His head came up and he said, “Chester, are the coordinates of the thirteen colonies in your databanks?”
“No, Sir. Admiral Connor ordered them removed from all of our vessels’ databanks and installed them directly on the stardrive using a manual dial.”
Gabe thought Steve was being overly paranoid when he ordered the change but now he wasn’t so certain. Who could erase a file in his ship’s computer and when was it done? “Chester, check your logs and tell me when the file was last present in your processors.”