by Saxon Andrew
Audrey’s eyes narrowed, “Why is there an explosion of pregnancies?”
“Throughout human history, whenever humans have been at war, the birthrate sky rocketed. It’s part of our survival instinct when populations are under the threat of being killed. Lukas is going to announce the new structure shortly.”
“Did he say when?”
“I suspect after he discusses it with the Welken, Myot, and Johan. He wants me to have some time to get up to speed on the most recent events before he gives up with the task of organizing our forces. That’s why we’re here.”
“Oh?”
“Barbie.”
“Yes, Chris. And congratulations.”
“Thank you. Did you see anything that happened during the most recent invasion that I need to know about?”
“There are a number of events that took place which changes the overall picture.”
“Such as?”
“Our probes in M-87 have determined that the Green Civilization is no longer the chosen tool of the Legends. That role has been handed back to the Progen.”
“That is news.”
“You also didn’t know that the Commander of the Green Forces in M-86 decided to leave early with more than two million warships and return to M-87 before the Progen Warships arrived. His fleet arrived right after the attack from M-84 started and his fleets prevented thousands of their planets from being destroyed. The space battles continued until the main invasion fleet returned and ended it.”
“Do you know how many planets they lost?”
“No, but the number was in the tens of thousands. Your allowing the Invasion Fleet to escape saved a huge number of their worlds.”
Chris sighed, “I hope that was a good decision.”
“There’s something else.”
“What is that?” The Pod’s display illuminated and they saw a huge Black Warship appear outside a formation of Green Warships and, after a slight pause, it fired on the largest Green Ship and blasted it into ashes. “What happened there, Barbie?”
“That Green Warship was the flagship of the Commander that left M-86 early. The Legends punished him for leaving without their approval.”
Audrey shook her head, “Oh my God!”
Chris’s expression turned grim, “That Commander had to be one of his civilization’s great heroes after holding back the Invaders from M-84. This can’t sit well with them!”
“It doesn’t. The Legends also called the Commander of the Invasion Force in but declined to kill him when they watched the recording of the attack on his fleets. They realized it was good judgment to flee. They didn’t know you allowed them to go unharmed. I suspect if they did, they would have killed him as well.” Chris sat back in his chair and shook his head. “There’s one more thing.”
“Yes.”
“That Commander is now the Supreme Leader of his civilization. The surviving worlds demanded he be promoted to lead them.”
Chris nodded and wondered what that Commander thought about the Legends now. He stared at the display as it showed the destruction of the Green Warship again. “Where did that black ship come from?”
“It’s one of those defending the planet where the Legends are located. Our probe there has detected about a million of them around the planet.”
“What can you tell me about it?”
“It’s more powerful than any other warship in that galaxy.”
“Can we handle it?”
“I don’t know. The probe didn’t use an active scan on it. If it did, it would have been detected and probably destroyed.”
“That’s a question we are going to need answered eventually.” Chris ended the recording that was playing over and over, “Do you have the location of the six M-84 scouts here in our galaxy?”
“I do.”
Chris pressed his panel and Chad appeared, “Admiral, I am going to remove some hostile warships that are scouting our galaxy. I need you to assign three Pods to five of them and have them skip in and surround them.”
“What about the sixth?”
“I’m going to go and have a conversation with that one.”
“Should I send you two more Pods to go with you?”
“No, just be prepared to fire on those five if I give the order.”
“I’ll issue the order and have them ready in thirty minutes. Let me know when you want to do this.”
“We’ll go five minutes after the Pods are ready.”
“I’ll confirm our status when the Pods are ready.”
“That would be good.”
Audrey looked at Chris, “Is it a good idea to go alone?”
“The Green Warships were able to kill them. I don’t see a scout being a real threat.”
“Then why are you sending three after the other five?”
“I want them surrounded so they can’t escape.” Audrey nodded and waited for Chad to notify them the Pods were ready.
• • •
Chris looked at Audrey and said over his communicator, “We will skip out to our targets on my mark! Three, two, one, MARK!” Barbie ignited her thrusters and the B-Pod blasted through the void at her highest speed. She moved in on a small object in the distance at an incredible closing speed and Chris thought, “If you attempt to flee, I will destroy your vessel!” The small scout fired its thrusters anyway but the B-Pod was on it in an instant and the Scout saw the small Silver Ship rotate its three disruptors and lock them on him. The Scout shut down his engines and hung in the void. “I have your other five ships surrounded and if they attempt to escape, they will be destroyed.” Chris’s comment was greeted with silence. “Why are you here?” Again there was nothing but silence. Chris pressed his panel and said, “Destroy one of the ships.” An A-Pod fired its disruptor and the small ship that was surrounded was blasted into vapor by the Dark Energy beam. Chris said, “I will kill each one of them if you don’t answer my question.”
Again there was silence and Chris pressed his panel, “Destroy…”
“WAIT!”
“Cancel that order. Why are you here?”
“We are going to make you pay for your criminal act against my galaxy!”
“I am going to assume that you blame us for the attack done by the Green Civilization.”
“You led them toward us!”
“My ships were fleeing them. We weren’t going to lead them here. You happened to be on the path we used to escape.”
“It was not an accident. You fled toward my galaxy. You deliberately led them there. You will pay for your crime!”
Chris listened to the Scout’s thoughts and could feel its hostility and malevolence. It wanted to kill every intelligent being in the Milky Way. Chris didn’t like being dishonest and decided that nothing he could say was going to change the mind of this being. “You’re right. We deliberately fled toward your galaxy. If we could go back and do it differently, we would. However, what’s done is done.”
“You will pay!”
“Let me see if I can possibly talk some sense into you.”
“Don’t bother!”
“I feel it necessary that you know what you’re doing. We have not attacked your planets, yet!”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“If you send another ship here to scout my civilization, I will take my forces to your galaxy and find your civilization. I will blast your planets down to bedrock and destroy every warship you possess. If you aren’t willing to let this go and you choose to become a threat to us, I will remove you as a danger.”
“Your threats don’t frighten me.”
“Chad, kill the other ships.” Chris saw the horror in the scouts mind as it watched the signals from the other scouts disappear from its panel. Chris fired a Dark Energy beam a hundred yards away from the small scout and saw its force field drop. “I hope you got a good reading on that beam. I am going to allow you to go and tell your leaders that I will not tolerate your stupidity again! If I suspect you are even thinking ab
out attacking us, I will visit your worlds and introduce them to thousands of those beams. Your warships will only need to know one of them.” The scout looked at his panel and read the energy of the beam that knocked out his force field. He instantly felt his anger disappear and turn into fear. Chris smiled, “Now leave or I’ll destroy you. Go tell your leaders what awaits them if they demonstrate their stupidity again. If you choose not to go, I’ll go tell them myself with my fleets!” The Scoutship ignited his ship’s thrusters and flew away in the void at its fastest speed.
“Was it necessary to kill those other ships?”
“Sometimes you have to get someone’s attention before they’ll listen to reason. They have to fear us and know we will not tolerate their aggression. We are still going to have to deal with that civilization in the future.”
“Why not now?”
“They are helping us keep M-87 in check. We need them to fill that role for a while.”
The wall speaker said, “Audrey, you didn’t hear that being’s thoughts. They do not know how to play nice with others and they are as vicious as any creature I’ve ever encountered. Chris is right, we will have to handle this issue eventually.”
Audrey sighed, “Ok Barbie.” She turned to Chris, “Is this how we’re going to handle things in the future?”
“I suspect things will get harder than this. I may have to kill trillions before this is over.” Audrey stared at him and Chris said, “I will not tolerate our baby being attacked by aliens.” Audrey started nodding and put her arms around his neck, “Do what you have to do. I will support your choices, whatever they are.” Chris hugged her and turned his thoughts to the Fellowship.
Chapter Three
Lukas looked at the three faces on the split screen monitor in his office, “It’s good to see all of you.”
The Welken Royal smiled, “The new communication probes are really remarkable. This saves a lot of time having to come to your planet to talk.”
Lukas smiled, “Thank you. We have a string of them set up between your civilizations and ours. We deem it important that we are all on the same wavelength.”
“Why have you asked for this meeting?”
Lukas stared at them and then said, “I have instituted a new policy on how we will deal with aggressive civilizations that intend to attack us and you need to know about it before we move forward.”
The Johan Ruler’s eyes turned into slits and he said, “I hope it has to do with stopping this waiting for them to come and attack us!”
“As a matter of fact, it does.”
All three Rulers’ were shocked by the statement. The Johan’s head moved side to side, “I was kidding.”
“Well, we’re no longer going to wait for our enemies to come and try to destroy our civilizations.”
The Welken leaned back on his throne, “Do you intend to go out and conquer them?”
“I do.”
“I thought you were steadfastly against doing that?”
“I have been.”
“Why have you changed your position?”
“Because the females in my civilization don’t deserve to live in fear of their children being killed by Invaders. I intend to remove their fear as well as remove those that wish us harm.”
The Myot and Johan looked at the Welken on their monitors and waited for him to speak. The Royal stared at Lukas and leaned forward, “My people fear the danger that your civilization represents to the universe. Your power has grown beyond anything I ever thought possible.”
Lukas nodded, “You fear that absolute power will corrupt absolutely?”
“That’s how it’s always been in the past.”
“You feel this way because your civilizations have not been given all of our technology?”
“Something like that.”
Lukas smiled, “All three of you have attacked my planet in the past. Can you understand why I might also worry about giving it to you?”
The three Ruler’s looked at each other on their monitors and the Royal finally said, “I think we can understand your reluctance.”
“You have proven yourselves during the trial of my Fleet Commander. I have made him the Supreme Commander of all my military forces and have charged him to assume the role of a Conqueror to go out and remove our enemies.”
The Myot nodded, “He would be a good choice. He is not driven by a lust to destroy and kill needlessly.”
Lukas looked at the Myot, “No, he’s not. But I know he won’t hesitate to kill where it’s needed. He just killed five Scout ships that were sent here by the galaxy that attacked the Green Civilization. He sent the sixth one back to that galaxy to tell its leaders that if they send another scout here he will take our fleets to their galaxy and burn all of their planets down to bedrock and destroy every warship they possess. You should know that threat was not made in jest. He is capable of doing it and will if they violate his prohibition.”
The Welken lowered his eyes, “I thought you didn’t believe in destroying planets with civilians on them?”
“Where are their warships being built?”
The Welken stared at Lukas and after a moment shrugged, “You are of course correct. You are sounding much more like one of my warriors instead of a human.”
“Actually, you should know that the human species has it in them to be the most vicious species in this universe, especially when defending their families. I’ve just fought that part of my mind in the past.”
“And you say this to make us feel better.”
“Your three civilizations are now part of our family. We will be giving you all of our technology and ask you to fill a role in the coming campaign to remove the threats to our people.”
The Johan moved side to side again, “I find it difficult to believe you would do that knowing we once attacked you.”
“I will ask you one more time, do you trust us to defend you against all enemies and can I trust you to defend us with all you possess if my people are attacked?” The three looked at each other and they all nodded.
The Welken looked at Lukas, “You mentioned we will fill a role in your plans. What role do you see us doing?”
“If you will look in your scanners, you will each see a large silver colored battleship just arriving above your planets.” The three looked away from the monitor and all of them showed their shock.
The Myot shook his large head and said, “My Fleet Commander says that ship flew through his defense formations faster than they could respond.”
“Those three ships are about as fast as our small attack ships. They are more powerful than anything we possess and our Dark Energy reactors power their weapons and systems. I am giving each of you the ship above your planet along with their blueprints and ask you to start building them. We will take them to have the special coating put on them when they are built and you will use them in the coming conflict. Those new battleships are capable of destroying our small ships.”
The Welken smiled, “So we really have no reason to fear you?”
“You don’t any way, Great One. However, your three species are used to flying large ships and I suspect you wouldn’t adjust well to flying our small ships.”
The Myot nodded, “I think you’re right. How do you see us using these ships?”
“We have developed a special suit of armor that is also powered by our new reactors. You saw two of them when the trial took place. We are building those suits at an incredible speed and we want you to take them and train your warriors on attacking the surface of a planet.”
“We’ve not done that in the past.”
Lukas looked at the Johan, “No, but you’ve dropped your forces on planets to take possession of them when you nuked one of its cities. You are equipped to use them to subdue the forces on a planet’s surface. Those battleships will move into orbit above a targeted planet and drop our warriors to the surface. My species will also have warriors in that armor that will go in first and soften up the defenses.”
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br /> “How will they get to the surface?”
Lukas looked at the Welken, “Their small ships will take them down and give covering fire. Once the major defenses have been neutralized; the heavies, that would be your warriors, will drop in and take control.”
The Welken smiled, “This would prevent having to destroy the planet?”
“It will be one way to take control but we won’t hesitate to bombard a planet if the situation calls for it. Your battleships would be used to do that.”
The Myot said, “You called our warriors the heavies. What do you mean by that?”
“My warriors will have a lighter suit of armor and will be built for speed. Your armor will have a heavy disruptor and a rotary cannon on them. Three of your warriors will be capable of leveling a city.”
The Royal started nodding, “I can see you’ve thought this through. Do you think we will have time to build the necessary forces to do this?”
“We are currently in a stalemate. The Invaders can’t attack us without the other two galaxies attacking them. The civilization that attacked the Green Civilization can’t attack us without M-87 attacking them. M-87 can’t attack them without the galaxy they previously conquered attacking them.”
“So everyone is frozen at the moment?”
“Yes, and all of them will be building up their forces at their fastest speed. At the moment, we have a lead in technology and we’ve not revealed most of our weapons to them…yet. We have an advantage and I believe we will have time to build.”
The three rulers looked at each other and Lukas knew what they were thinking. The Welken looked at him, “And your species will be commanding our forces?”
“Not like you think.”
“How is that?”
“The human you put on trial will command all of our forces, including our own. We will all follow his orders whether we agree with them or not. He will be our Conqueror.”
“So he will rule all of us?”
“Until his task is completed, he will. At that point, the four of us will sit down and determine how we will live and work together.” Lukas smiled, “Do you have anyone that is telepathic and possesses the skills he has demonstrated. I’m open to your suggestions.”