by Saxon Andrew
Essay turned back to the monitors, “This reminds me of the Azura Motherships when they were preparing to leave that galaxy they conquered and come to attack the Builders. It looks like they’re moving major supplies.”
Erica looked at the monitor and nodded, “It does, doesn’t it.”
Kamela opened her eyes, “They are loading their ships for a long voyage. They’re going to leave this galaxy and go to a very distant place in the universe to hide from the Giant Flashing Ship that destroyed their defense globes. The Leader has decided to not destroy the Darkness Civilization but he doesn’t know that his council of Elders have voted to overrule him and eradicate them.”
Essay jumped up, “When is that going to happen!?”
“They’ll be leaving in the morning.”
“Erica, power up the Other Space Communicator and ask my father to send one of the vessels that has completed the new modifications.”
“But…”
“DO IT NOW!!”
Erica stared at him and started pressing buttons on her console. Kamela looked at Essay, “I don’t know if what you’re planning will make a difference.” Essay’s eyes narrowed and he stared at the monitor in silence. He sat down and waited.
• • •
Eighteen hours later, Admiral Tim Hart arrived in the Homosassa Carrier. Kamela looked up, “Admiral Hart has arrived with his carrier.”
“Tell him we’re bringing the Eyes on board. I’ll meet him on the bridge.” Kamela nodded and closed her eyes. The Prophet’s Eyes entered the giant carriers landing bay and Essay looked at Kamela, “Come with me. I’m going to need you.”
“Essay, I don’t believe Admiral Hart is going to do what you want.”
“Just come with me, Kamela!”
Erica shouted as they left their chairs, “I’ll meet you on the bridge once I shut down my panel.”
Essay ran down the corridor and through the exit port. He waited for Kamela to step out of the ship and looked at a Lieutenant, “Take us to the tubes, now!!” The officer nodded and ran toward the far wall of the landing bay. Essay jumped in one of the tube carts and looked at Kamela moving into another cart, “Meet me on the bridge!” The cover came down over the cart and it flew into the tube at high speed. It arrived at the bow of the giant vessel and Essay jumped out and sprinted toward the bridge where he found Admirals Hart and Bell staring at the giant wall monitor. They saw him rush on the bridge and Timmy said, “What’s going on Essay?”
“Admiral, I need to use your ship to stop the Builders from eradicating the Darkness Civilization.”
Timmy’s eyes narrowed and he shook his head, “I’ve not been authorized to use my vessel in combat. I am required to make sure the existence of this vessel is not revealed to any of humanity’s enemies.”
Essay stared into Timmy’s eyes and said, “Admiral, you’re going to have to trust me that if the Admiralty knew about this situation, they would approve your assisting me.”
“Then you need to go back to the Admiralty and return with that authorization.”
“There isn’t time! The Builders will start their attack on the Darkness Planets in a few hours.”
“I will not jeopardize this ship on your say so, Admiral! Besides, the Darkness deserve whatever they get and it will not affect us in anyway.”
Essay’s expression showed his frustration. He looked at Kamela sitting in a chair and saw her shrug. He was about to start yelling at the Admiral, when Erica walked through the entry portal and said, “Admiral, why are you here?”
Tim turned and looked at her, “I really have no idea. Admiral Connor sent us to battle stations and said that he received an emergency message that I was needed here.”
“Do you not think that The Commanding Fleet Admiral of all our forces deemed the request had enough importance to send you here without knowing what was needed? He obviously trusted that whatever the reason was, he would send the support that was requested. Now you arrive and refuse to support us because he didn’t tell you exactly what to do. It seems to me that you aren’t smart enough to understand that the crew of the Prophet’s Eyes have an importance to the survival of humanity that Admiral Connor believes in strongly enough to do what they deem necessary. Otherwise, he would not have sent your newly modified warship here to assist us. Are you going to deny the Prophet’s Granddaughter’s request? If so, we will go back and ask the Admiral to send us a real warrior that is able to think instead one that blindly follows orders.”
Timmy’s face turned red and his anger rose in an instant. Kamela said, “I think your Brother wouldn’t have hesitated.”
Timmy’s face turned to her and his anger got the best of him, “HE’S DEAD BECAUSE OF HIS IMPULSIVENESS!!!”
Kamela nodded, “And Humanity is safer because of his sacrifice.”
Timmy’s rage disappeared. He looked at Alexandra and she said, “If I called you, would you support me?”
Timmy stared at her and said, “That’s different.”
“Why”
“Because I know you.”
Alexandra shrugged, “Do you know Admiral Connor?”
Timmy hesitated, “I do.”
“Then you know his son.”
Timmy looked at Essay, “Are you sure about this?”
“I am.”
“What are you wanting me to do?”
“I want you prepared to destroy a Builder World if I order it.”
Timmy stared at Essay and then saw Alexandra smile, “Hey, we’ve been wondering how we are going to test our new Dark Energy Major Beams. This is a great opportunity to do that.”
Timmy sighed and turned to Essay, “Admiral, I will do this against my better judgment and you will suffer the consequences if this action is censured by the Senior Admirals.”
“I will accept anything that comes from this.”
Timmy nodded and went to his command chair and lifted his hand communicator, “Charge the six majors and be prepared to target them.” He turned to Essay, “The ship is yours to command.”
Essay looked at Erica and smiled. He then turned to Kamela, “Can you broadcast your thoughts so that every being in the center of this galaxy can hear a conversation.”
Kamela looked at the Bosrean assigned to the Carrier and smiled, “May I use your thought recorder and broadcaster?” The Bosrean smiled and took the unit out of a bag he was carrying, powered it on, and handed it to her. “Thank you.” She turned to Essay, “What do you want to broadcast?”
“I want the conversation between the Builder Leader and the Elders broadcast such that everyone on this vessel can hear it. When I ask, start broadcasting my conversation with them at full power.” Kamela nodded and closed her eyes.
Tim looked at Essay, “When is this conversation you want to hear going to happen.”
“Within the next five to seven hours. If you want to have your crew stand down to standby status, they’ll have time to go to battle stations before I need them.” Timmy nodded and issued the orders.
• • •
Essay sat in a temporary chair and looked between the main monitor and the tactical monitor next to it. The main monitor showed the Builder World hanging in high orbit above the Darkness’ main planet and the tactical showed the giant formation of Builder Worlds receiving hundreds of thousands of small vessels. During the last two hours, the vessels stopped leaving the Builder Worlds and the remaining vessels disappeared into the giant World’s force fields. He heard the Scanning Officer say, “Something is happening. The Builder Worlds are powering up their stardrives.”
Timmy nodded and said, “Sound Battle Stations.” The alarms remained silent but the brilliant orange lights began flashing throughout the giant warship.”
The Weapon’s Officer announced a few moments later, “All sections have reported in ready, Sir.”
Timmy nodded and continued to stare at the tactical monitor. Essay stared at it as well and said, “Admiral, you have a well-trained crew.”
T
immy looked at him with a small smile, “What are they doing?”
“I think the worlds are moving out to all the inhabited planets of the Darkness, where they will move into orbit in preparation to bombard them. The Builder Leader doesn’t know about this so I suspect their conversation will start now.”
Suddenly, everyone board the Homosassa heard in their minds, “WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO MOVE OUT OF FORMATION!!”
Essay took a deep breath, “Show Time!”
• • •
The Builder Leader was furious and started to issue orders, when the Senior Elder’s hologram appeared in front of his chair, “The Council of Elders have voted and have authorized the movement.”
“What are you doing?”
Essay looked at Kamela and nodded for her to begin. She immediately started broadcasting the conversation telepathically to every intelligent being in the center of the Andromeda Galaxy.
“We do not agree with your position on leaving this civilization behind and we’ve decided to eradicate this tool. All that’s needed now is for you to issue the attack order.”
Essay closed his eyes and thought as Kamela began broadcasting his thoughts to every being in the center of Andromeda, “I would think long and hard before you issue that order.”
The Builder Leader’s eyes opened wide and he looked at the Elder’s hologram, “Did you hear that?”
“I did.”
The Builder Leader hesitated before asking, “And who are you threatening us?”
“I’ve not actually threatened you, yet. However, I guess the threat is implied so I may as well make it. I will start systematically destroying your vessels the moment any of your forces fires on an inhabited planet. I will start with the destruction of your largest vessels you call Worlds.”
The Elder sneered, “If they could do it, they would have already done it. Order the attack.”
“That’s really unfortunate.”
The Builder Leader’s eyes narrowed, “Why is that?”
“Because it always comes down to having to kill large numbers before a threat will be believed. But I’ll play this game with you. Initially, we were planning to destroy the World that you’re on, Leader. But it appears you are the only voice of sanity in your civilization. So instead, we are going to destroy the world that idiot Elder is on. That way you’ll have two benefits from us doing it.”
“What?”
“Well, the first benefit is that you’ll see that we are fully capable of doing what we say. The second benefit is that this loud-mouthed buffoon will die with the world and you’ll no longer have to listen to his ranting. We’ll be firing on his World momentarily.”
“WAIT!!” The Builder Leader looked at the hologram and saw the Senior Elder’s mouth was moving without making any sound.”
“Yes, Leader.”
“There are a billion of my species on that world.”
“And you’re contemplating killing two trillion members of the civilization that’s been assisting you. Losing a billion to avoid losing the rest of your civilization is a small price to pay for survival.”
The Builder Leader’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the hologram of the Elder, “I am in this position for the sole purpose of defending my civilization. Destroying this civilization serves no purpose other than showing off our might. If the Council of Elders want to do this, remove me now!”
• • •
Levi listened to the conversation in his mind and knew that all of his inhabited worlds had a giant Builder Planet in orbit above it. His fear was overwhelming.
• • •
The Leader suddenly saw the Senior Elder scream and grab his head with both hands just before his hologram collapsed to the floor. Another Elder appeared and said, “We will support your directives. We will no longer take an opposing position.”
The hologram disappeared and the Leader leaned back in his chair. “Why have you come here to defend this civilization?”
“Ordinarily, we only intervene when we are directly affected.”
“Does their destruction affect you in some way?”
Essay sighed, “Not really.”
“Then why are you here?”
“We owe them a debt and this will balance the books.”
“May I ask you a question?” the builder leader asked.
Essay looked at Tim as he said, “I may not answer it.”
“Are you the ones that destroyed the large Black Ships in my former galaxy?”
Essay looked at Tim and raised his eyebrows. Tim shrugged, “You make the call.”
Essay nodded, “Yes, it was us.”
“Just be thankful you didn’t encounter that Flashing Giant Warship. It destroyed more than six hundreds of my Defense Globes.”
“I know. We watched it happen.”
The Leader’s eyes narrowed and his voice grew louder, “And you didn’t attempt to stop them!?”
“I mean no disrespect, Leader, but the death of your civilization does not affect us in any way. Matter of fact, the universe would be better off with one less aggressive civilization in it. We saw no reason to reveal ourselves.” Essay paused and then said, “I know what you’re thinking?”
“What is that?”
“You’re wondering how you match up to us. It’s a natural curiosity.” Essay paused, “But you will never have an answer to that question.”
“Why not?”
“Because if you do something stupid and force us to come out in the open, we will eradicate your civilization to protect our privacy. We’ll only show ourselves to remove a threat. And, without knowing what you’re up against…”
“It would be foolish to attempt to find out.”
“Bravo, Leader. You’ve changed a lot.”
“Changed?”
“You’re not the same brash arrogant being you were twenty years ago.”
The Leader’s thoughts showed his wonder, “You’ve been observing me twenty years.”
“Actually, longer than that. You’ve gained something over that time that many never achieve and you should be grateful.”
“What is that?”
“Wisdom. You need to use it in the future.”
The small Builder smiled, “You know we are leaving here to go to a distant place in our universe to evolve our technology so we can stand up to those flashing warships?”
“I don’t think they will be an issue for you.”
The Leader’s smile disappeared and he quickly said, “We will never return to this sector so we’ll have no way of knowing if that’s true. We have chosen a route far above the other spiral galaxy. Is that course acceptable to you?”
“You have chosen well. I really don’t wish you ill will, Leader. I hope your civilization has prosperity, long life, and peace.”
The Leader sighed, “In a peaceful universe, I suspect our species might have become friends. However, it’s not and I will make sure none of my species or our future descendants ever return to your space. I also wish you the same.” The Leader felt the presence in his mind disappear and he ordered, “All vessels will fall back into formation and prepare to leave this galaxy.”
• • •
The new Senior Elder appeared in front of the Builder’s Chair, “We were led astray by my predecessor. We were foolish to listen to him. We are all shocked they have been observing us for such a long time.”
“They are the civilization that attacked our former tools.”
“WHAT?”
“They have been watching us since that attack.”
“Then they may not be as powerful as we think.”
“Did you really listen to that being’s thoughts?” the Builder Leader asked. The Elder nodded. “It’s easy to deceive when you’re speaking your words but his thoughts showed absolutely no deception. They are most likely much more powerful than we could ever suspect. That being had no ill will toward us but it would have eradicated us if we didn’t back off our plans. It also had no fear of th
at Flashing Warship.”
“That means the Tool deceived us when it said they destroyed that civilization!”
“And I suspect that is the debt they owe them. We will learn from them and we will follow their example in our future home. We will occupy our new territory and never show ourselves to any threat unless it is to destroy it.”
“But others will come to see.”
“And if we destroy enough of them, they will stop coming. It’s impossible to know when you’re strong enough to take a civilization you know nothing about. Our aggressive days are over. We will defend our species and hide.”
Essay listened to the conversation and smiled as he thought, “You need to make sure that whoever takes your place also possesses your wisdom.”
The Leader smiled, “Of that, you can be sure.” The Leader saw the formation was complete and he said, “Lead us away, Defense Globes. We have a long journey to find a new home.” The giant formation activated their stardrives and disappeared in the distance.
Chapter Nineteen
Levi appeared on the Homosassa’s main monitor, “I know we didn’t deserve your intervention but I thank you for saving my civilization.”
“You didn’t tell them about our colonies and for that, we owed you. Now the debt is paid and we’re even.”
“I know we didn’t live up to your expectations in the past but would it be possible for us to be allies again.”
“Unfortunately, we will never accept another ally. You have shown us the folly in ever doing that again.”
“And if the giant warship the Builder Leader mentioned comes here?”
“You will be on your own.” Levi blew out a breath as Essay said, “Were you not listening to the conversation I had with the Builder Leader and what they are doing? You have enough information to do what’s necessary; you just don’t have a lot of time to do it. We will not be communicating with you again. You are responsible for your own destiny now.”
Levi lowered his head and nodded as the display went dark.
• • •
Timmy looked at Essay and slowly nodded, “Commodore, I’m impressed. If you ever need support in the future, I will not hesitate to give it.”