by Saxon Andrew
Chad said over his transmitter, “Sentinel, do not harm any of those that came here.”
“You should want us to simply dispose of them.”
“NO WE DON’T WANT THAT!!”
“Why not?”
“Have you learned nothing from your interference in the Fellowship? You build nothing but a structure of distrust and hatred among them. They’re working together for the first time and it’s because they’re no longer under your control. You’ve failed to realize that being all-powerful means you must learn when to use that power. So far you haven’t. You have no problem using your power on others when you should take the time to persuade others to your point of view instead of forcing them. Your actions aren’t permanent because those you control don’t believe in your vision. I don’t even think you have a vision.”
“These civilizations are here to destroy your people on the planet and in your fleets. Don’t try to tell me you don’t want us to prevent that happening.”
“That is exactly what I’m telling you!”
Silence ruled the moment and Jason thought Chad was crazy. He couldn’t do this. The Silver Ship thought, “Why would you turn down his offer of help?”
Chad took a breath and said over his communicator as he thought, “Because we are the invaders here. We’ve come here uninvited and if we take what belongs to you, we are no different than that civilization that is invading my galaxy. We’d be little more than another aggressive conqueror that will one day face a foe that will destroy us. I cannot live if it means becoming like those that are coming to kill us.” Chad looked up and said, “Sentinel, do not harm any of these ships!”
The booming voice said, “It couldn’t if it wanted.” Suddenly, Chad saw a white colored mist surround the Giant Blue Warship. The ship began firing massive blue energy beams but they did not faze the white mist surrounding it. The Blue Ships pulsating light stared blinking slower and Chad yelled, “DO NOT HARM THAT BEING!!!”
The white mist disappeared and everyone heard, “I’m not going to harm him. Some lessons have to be experienced to be learned. The conceited arrogance of this child is more than one should be forced to handle.”
“But one day his species will grow and develop into an adult civilization that can discuss the mysteries of the universe with you. Patience with the young is required.”
The Blue Ship’s voice was no longer booming, “Why would you defend this being?”
There was a pause and the Sentinel said, “It was one of my species that caused the galaxy to be invaded. The rulers of the invaders detected him and they fear him. They’re coming to find him and kill him.” The Sentinel paused and said, “That Sentinel is hiding at this species planet and if he’s found, their world will be destroyed. This species is defending our brother even though he is causing their destruction. They deserve our protection.”
The Silver Ship said, “Why would you defend this Sentinel?”
“Because he is right to choose us. If we lose, only one planet will be destroyed. If he went elsewhere, hundreds of planets would be exterminated. We understand why he came to us and he’s helped us prepare for the invaders.”
“But not enough!”
“No, not enough. But this planet is our hope to one day balance the scales and retake our home.”
The Silver Ship thought, “You will leave if told you’re not wanted here.”
“We will go elsewhere but it will take time for us to move.”
The Silver Ship thought, “I withdraw my request for assistance.”
A voice from a dark green warship said, “Why would you do that?”
“We are going to allow this species to stay here until they are ready to go home.”
“WHY?”
“They could have used that entity to kill all of us. They tried to prevent it from harming us. If they would do that under these conditions, then it is our belief that they are no danger to us.”
Chad said, “I can promise you one thing.”
The Silver Ship asked, “What is that?”
“If you are ever attacked, we will come to your defense and will not forsake you in your hour of need.”
The Blue Ship said, “This is something that we must discuss among us. We will communicate with you after we finish.”
“We’ll be awaiting your response.”
• • •
Chad reached under his chair and pulled the pin. He leaned back and started rocking back and forth. His bridge crew stared at him and he said, “WHAT!?”
Jackson looked up from the steering panel and said, “You appear to be relaxed. I’m as tight as a twisted yoga dancer.”
Chad shook his head, “There’s thirty different civilizations represented out there. How long does it take for two to make a decision? We could be here a while.”
Chad’s helmet beeped and he activated his personal frequency, “No matter what happens, I love you, Chad. You did the right thing refusing to use the Sentinels.”
“I love you, too, Julie. It’s the right thing to do. If we depend on them to keep us safe, we’ll be little more than what the Fellowship became. Those civilizations have the right to be doing what they choose. This is their home.”
“I know. We’ll just have to try and find another place if they don’t want us here.”
“If they do, I just hope they give us enough time to go.”
• • •
The Silver Ship listened to the exchange and shared it with the other representatives. It was not going well for the humans up to that point but that exchange made the difference. The thirty species voted to allow the humans to stay at that moment. The rest of the time was taken to determine under what conditions.
• • •
Three days later, Audrey called Chad to the bridge, “Sir, it appears they’ve made a decision.”
Chad shook his head and rushed to the bridge. A decision made this quickly usually was not a good sign. He arrived and went to his command chair. Audrey linked in the images coming from the thirty ships. The Silver Ship thought where all could hear, “We have decided to allow you to remain here.” The bridge erupted into cheers. Chad raised his hands and then they heard, “Under certain conditions.”
“What are those conditions?”
“The first and most important is that those you call Sentinels stay out of our affairs. We do not want them interfering with our societies.”
Chad looked up, “Will you agree to that condition?”
The Sentinel Leader thought, “We could help you in many ways.”
The Silver Ship replied, “We do not desire your assistance. We’ve seen it and don’t desire it.”
Chad said, “Will you agree, Sentinel?”
“We will not interfere with them.”
The Silver Ship thought, “Good. We also require that any weapons you develop will be shared with all of us.”
The Sentinel said, “I don’t know if I’d agree to that if I were you.”
Chad said, “You agreed not to interfere.” He looked at the monitor, “We will share what we develop with you and we’ll give you our Dark Matter Weapons now.”
The Blue Ship said, “Dark Matter?”
“Yes, we have a weapon system that uses solid dark matter projectiles.”
The Silver Ship said, “Why didn’t you use it when I attacked your ship?”
“We did not want to harm anyone on your ship.”
The Silver Ship hesitated and then said, “We will also accept your offer to come to our defense in the event we are attacked. If you agree to these conditions, which will be verified by an observer, then you may keep this planet and remain as long as you deem it necessary.”
“We accept the conditions.”
“Then welcome to our galaxy and we wish you success in defending your former home.”
The crews on all the Human ships began celebrating. Jason watched the others on the bridge cheering Chad and he leaned back in his chair. He would have attacked those ships
as soon as they entered normal space. He looked at the wall monitor showing the crews of other ships celebrating the agreement. He shook his head. Chad was more than he thought. Chad turned around and Jason said, “Congratulations, Sir.” Chad nodded and turned around.
Jason thought about what happened for many days before he realized that the most important thing said during the negotiations was said to the Sentinels. When you’re all powerful, it’s important to know when to use it. He knew he liked to fight. He was never more alive than when he was in the middle of a space battle. This showed him another side to winning. He was shocked when Chad called him in to his conference room to give him a new assignment.
“I’m going to what!?”
“You will be the liaison with the Silver Ship that is assigned to stay here and observe us.”
“Why me? I’m not the political sort.”
“It’s something you need to learn. You will take possession of your former Attack Pod and do all you can to make our guest as comfortable as possible.”
“Sir, surely there are others better suited to do that. Audrey would be an excellent choice.”
Chad’s eyes narrowed, “Captain, you have been given our orders. Now get out of here and go check on the Silver Ship.”
Jason jumped to attention, “Yes Sir.” He saluted, did an about face, and left the room. Chad smiled and hoped his subordinate learned from the assignment. He needed another Command Officer and good ones were in short supply. But it was better not to make a promotion than to make a bad one. Chad smiled, he learned that lesson from Lukas.
• • •
Gunny yelled over the Fleet Frequency, “SKIP OUT!! SKIP OUT!! SKIP OUT!!!” He saw normal space disappear and be replaced by the blackness of the void…but not before he watched a massive wave of Orange Ships roll over his fleet. He felt the ship accelerate at high speed away from the site of the attack and he closed his eyes as he said, “How many this time?”
“We lost twenty thousand ships, Sir.”
“What’s our current ship count?”
“We’re down to less than forty thousand.”
Gunny blew out a breath and fell back in his chair. The other fleets were also taking a pounding and he wondered if it was worth it. The giant Invader Fleet had been forced to stop numerous times to confront the attacking ships from Earth but now they forgot about moving at their highest speed toward Earth and focused on destroying their attackers.
Gunny looked at the tactical monitor and saw the Invader fleet re-form and begin moving toward the Milky Way again. They found a way around the DM balls rather quickly. They began sending a small screen of ships ahead of the major fleet and whenever one of the ships in the screen exploded, the main fleet would spread out and prepare for an attack. Their reaction time was incredible. Gunny shook his head. That was probably why they were galactic conquers. Gunny pressed his panel and said, “Windy, how did you do?” He waited for a response and was greeted by silence.
He heard Jinks say, “Gunny, Admiral Davis was killed in the last attack. I’m sending the survivors to you to incorporate into your fleet.”
Gunny closed his eyes and shook his head. First Scott was lost, then Indra, and now Windy. The price was just too high, “How many are you sending?”
“Fifteen thousand ships.”
“Jinks, this can’t go on much longer. We’ve lost more than seventy percent of our strength.”
Jinks sighed, “I know, Gunny. Using the DM balls will have to stop. You’re going to have to skip in, fire on them, and immediately skip out.”
“Jinks, there has to be some way we can use the balls.”
“Give me a moment and let me contact Trevor and Amanda. I’ll get back to you.”
Gunny waited and shook his head. “Sir, the survivors from Admiral Davis’ Fleet have arrived.”
“Organize them around their surviving officers and assign them to my remaining attack groups.”
“Yes Sir.”
Gunny sat in his chair and thought about the six month long running fight. So many good sailors lost. His hatred of the invaders grew with every battle. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the massive Invader Fleet moving through the void toward his home. It didn’t appear to be any smaller than when he first saw it…but he knew it was. He just wasn’t able to see all of it at first.”
“Gunny, Amanda had made a suggestion.”
“What is that, Sir?”
“She said to use the DM cannons to fire them.”
“What?”
“She suggested you load the cannons with hundreds of the balls and use it like a shotgun. The invaders are stopping their forward progress when any of the advance ships in their screen are destroyed, right?”
“Yes.”
“That’s to prevent the main body of the fleet from running into the balls. If the balls are fired at their fleet, even when the first ships are hit, the balls will continue forward into the main body of the Invader fleet. Stopping will not prevent them from being hit.”
Gunny nodded, “We’ll give it a go and see what happens, Sir.”
• • •
Kitch looked at his monitor, “Gunny, are we too far away to hit them?”
“Gerome, the balls will find their way to the Invader Fleet. I’m not sending my sailors into that threshing machine again if I can avoid it.”
“From this far out, we won’t be able to detect it.”
“They won’t be able to see us either. The computers agree that if we fire at the correct moment, the balls will arrive at the Invader Fleet. After all, it’s a really large target.”
Kitch began issuing orders and the two surviving fleets began spreading out with more than eighty miles between each of their ships. He looked at his Weapons Officer sitting behind him and he said, “Admiral, we have three cannons loaded with a hundred balls each.”
“Will the compressed gas launch them?”
“Oh, I know they’ll all be blown out of the barrels. I just don’t know if they’ll leave in any sort of organized pattern or at what speed.”
“The same can be said for a shotgun shell.”
“But you fire a shotgun close to your target. This is far beyond anything I’ve ever considered.”
“THIRTY SECONDS TO FIRING!”
Kitch heard the warning from the computer and said, “Put the feed from the probe on the main monitor.” The main monitor’s view changed from tactical to a view of the blackness of the void. Nothing was visible. He heard the computer start the countdown and at zero he felt his battleship shudder briefly. Kenny said, “If we miss, that’s going to be a real navigation hazard in the future.”
Kitch shook his head, “Not really; we’ve fired them toward the void disruption made by the conduit we exploded. Amanda tells me that the disruption should break up the balls if they don’t hit anything.” Kitch looked at Kenny, “How long before they arrive?”
“Twelve hours, Sir.”
Kitch nodded and said, “Order the ships moved to the next firing point.” The thousands of surviving battleships activated their thrusters and moved ahead of the oncoming Invader Fleet. Everyone on every ship watched their monitors to see if the plan worked.
• • •
Eleven hours later, the first faint images of the Invader Fleet began appearing on the feed coming from the probes. Kitch and Gunny watched the faint image solidify over the next hour and at the twelve-hour mark, the oncoming wave of Orange Ships began blowing by the probes. The two Admirals sat down and in their command chairs and felt their disappointment just as the center of the giant Invader Fleet exploded into a massive disruption as more ships than could be counted in the brief moment blew up and disappeared from the void.
Gunny yelled, “Switch to the probe in normal space!” The view on the monitor immediately changed and Gunny and the rest of the crews on their battleships saw a massive debris field extending in all directions. The devastation was beyond imagination. The view was greeted by silence and then the
crews began cheering. Gunny ordered the feed changed to the probes ahead of the advancing Invaders and saw the entire mass of ships had scattered in all directions. For the first time, he saw a difference in the size of the fleet; it was noticeably smaller. He sent a message to Kitch to move his ships to six hours out from the Invader’s advance.
“Why do we want to do that?”
“We’ll be long gone by the time the rounds hit them. However, I suspect they’re not going to continue to fly in such a tight formation. We need to fire the cannons on different trajectories next time.”
“You’re the boss. Issuing orders now.”
• • •
The Invader Fleet Supal screamed, “WHERE ARE THEY?!”
“They are not within our scanning range.”
The Supal shook in his tub and said, “Order the ships to spread out and avoid gathering in groups. They had to have fired from far ahead of our advance. As soon as the first ship explodes, the entire fleet will leave the void and move into normal space to allow time for their projectiles to pass.”
“I will issue your orders, Supal.”
The Supreme Supal swore at the Great Leaders who had sent him on this murderous voyage. They were four months behind schedule and his losses were monumental. At the rate he was losing ships, less than a third of his fleet would arrive at the target. This was not worth the losses being suffered.
• • •
Kitch shook his head; “We should have been doing this from the beginning.”
Gunny slowly shook his head, “The end result would be the same.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re going to run out of DM rounds after five more attacks. We would still have been forced to go in and attack them head on.”
Kitch leaned back in his chair, “Are we going back to those tactics after we run out of rounds?”
“Lukas has ordered us not to do it. He wants us to skip out into open space above the Milky Way and wait to see if the Invaders can find Earth. We’ll go in and make it a fight if they do.”
“There’s no way we can win?”
“No, but we should be able to hurt them enough to delay an attack on the Fellowship Civilizations.”