by Saxon Andrew
“What is that?”
Dean heard the suspicion in her voice and he said, “You will leave first and deliver all the information we’ve collected to Admiral Mankin.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m ordering you to do it. I am going to report that I was caught out of position and couldn’t move in to make the optical scan without being detected.”
“But…”
“YOU GOT THAT!!!”
“Yes, Sir. But why are you doing this?”
“Because I need officers with your intelligence and insight commanding my units and this is the only way for me to make that happen. I’m not just doing this for you; I have selfish reasons as well. I’ll show up a little later.”
“I’ll do it, Sir.”
“There you go again.”
Ginger laughed and shook her head. Then after a moment she said, “You’re not coming directly back.” Dean remained silent and Ginger said, “You’re planning to follow one of those Alien Formations in the Perseus Arm, aren’t you?”
“You are pretty smart.”
“It won’t work if you’re going to do what I think you are, Sir.”
“And just what do you think I’m going to do?”
“You’re planning to lead those warships headed west far out the Perseus Arm away from our location on the Orion Spur. One small ship won’t make it believable; two could do it.”
“Ginger, this is going to be dangerous.”
“That’s a given when you’re a scout without much in the way of defensive armaments. But you know I’m right. We should do this together. The odds of one of us getting away is a lot better if we both go.”
Dean thought about it and said, “Ok, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to back away from that planet keeping the asteroid between us. Once we get behind the large planet, you will launch a communication probe with all the information we’ve collected and notify the Admiral that we’re going to shadow one of the Brax Formations. Tell them you’re joining me to keep an eye on them.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Dean powered up his systems and used the front thrusters to slide out of the depression and move below the asteroid’s horizon. Ginger joined him a moment later and they flew away from the giant rock and headed toward the star-systems outer planets. They arrived outside the star-system and went to maximum speed.
Chapter Nine
“Admiral, I’ve just received a download from a communication probe. One of Captain Hamlin’s scouts sent information on what happened at the planet we attacked.”
“Put it on the main monitor.”
The entire Bridge Crew stopped what they were doing and turned to the huge monitor. Lisa said, “Oh my bald Aunt’s hair!!” Everyone looked at her and smiled but then turned back to the monitor.
Rory watched the hundreds of Alien Warships move in toward the planet and they heard the Scout that sent the probe say, “There’s a total of four-hundred-fifty-seven warships. That works out to more than fifty-ships for the eight-Alien Planets we detected earlier. It would mean that they have much higher numbers at those planets than the thirty-warships holding position out from the planet or there’s other planets that were undetected. I’m going to allow you to see what they do next. Commentary isn’t needed.”
Rory stared at the huge monitor and felt sick. Meredith sat down in her chair and couldn’t take her eyes off the monitor. “You were right, Meredith.” She turned around and looked at him, “Those inhabitants didn’t have long to enjoy their freedom.” Finally, Rory said, “I’ve seen enough of this. Fast-forward to what happens after they remove all the locals.”
The images flew forward and then stopped, and then reversed slightly. The female Scout said, “It appears they don’t have room remaining for some of the inhabitants. They will remove them and then a hundred of their warships will move west on the Perseus Arm and the other hundred-warships will move east. I am going to launch a communication probe and join Captain Hamlin.”
They watched the Alien Vessels blast the planet’s surface with their disruptors and then do exactly what the Scout described.” The recording stopped and then they heard, “I’ve joined Captain Hamlin and we are going to make a fast run to get ahead of the Alien Ships headed west. He believes that we should have them chase us west to move their attention away from where the Perseus Arm is opposite our territory. He’s hoping the other hundred-warships will turn around and join the one’s pursuing us. We’ll record everything and if things go bad, we’ll both launch a communication probe.”
Meredith shook her head, “That Scout is a pretty cool customer.” Rory nodded. Meredith pulled up Ginger’s file and said, “She’s a Georgian Tech graduate with honors. Her last two commanders gave her a bad rating on her appraisal.”
“Do you think they might have felt threatened by her?”
Meredith turned around, “Probably. I had the same issue early in my career. She managed to get in and make the recordings and not be detected.”
“Promote her to Captain Hamlin’s Second-in-Command. His former Second managed to get himself killed.”
Meredith nodded and began typing on her key-board.
• • •
Dean and Ginger flew high above the Perseus arm and Dean wondered how far the Alien Ships were ahead of them. He heard Ginger say over the ship-to-ship short range communicator, “I’ve had my computer analyze where they are now using their maximum speed and factor in them doing a scan of the stars they’re going to be searching. We should be able to pass them in four-days if we maintain maximum speed.”
“Let’s go five-days to be sure.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Dean sat back and closed his eyes and allowed the computer to fly the Scout. Ginger looked into his cockpit and saw him reclining and decided he was wise to get some sleep while he could. She set her computer and reclined her chair. She didn’t know how she’d be able to sleep but was out in less than thirty-minutes.
• • •
Five days later and feeling well rested, Dean turned toward the Perseus Arm and flew in to the middle of the Spiral Arm. They waited for a day and Dean said, “Do you think they’ve passed us?”
“Sir, even if they were moving at their maximum speed they would not have arrived this far.”
“We’re headed back East. We need to allow them to see us anyway.”
“They could have just given up and returned to their home planets.”
“We’ll soon find out. Stay with me.” Dean picked up speed and flew at high speed toward a very dangerous foe. A day later, he yelled, “BACK OFF AND POWER DOWN!!” Ginger shut down her main-engines and used the bow thrusters to slow. She decreased the power to the drive-field and started coasting. She saw numerous drive-fields in the distance ahead of them. As the two-Scouts coasted forward, they began detecting giant energy blasts.
“We’re going to communication silence. Stay close.” Ginger moved away from Dean’s Scout and stayed beside him fifty-miles away. Dean smiled, detecting a powered down drive-field was difficult but two of them were easier. Ginger was smart enough to move her Scout away to minimize their signatures. Dean heard a static burst and looked at Ginger, who was going vertical. He jerked his Scout’s controls to follow her and twenty-minutes later, a large formation of blue colored ships passed under them. He felt stupid; he didn’t have his rear passive scanner operating. If he had done this alone, those ships would have run over him.
They stayed high above the blue vessels and only used their bow and side thrusters to increase their coasting speed. The Blue Ships arrived at a star-system and flew into it at a high speed. Dean coasted forward and extinguished his drive-field. Ginger followed his lead and they saw a massive space-battle taking place around the fifth-planet.
“Computer, record everything you hear on any frequency around that planet.”
“Recording.”
Dean looked at his passive scanner’s monitor and saw destroyed warships scattered
around the planet. He did a quick analysis and saw that sixty of the giant Brax Warships were destroyed or out of action. There were seventy-six of the Blue Ships that had been destroyed as well. It looked like an even fight. But the formation of Blue Warships that passed them was moving in and the surviving Brax Vessels were activating their drive-fields and fleeing.
The huge formation of Blue Ships arrived at the planet and formed up. He suddenly heard a beep from his rear scanner and saw another large formation of Blue Ships moving in toward the planet from the outer planets. The Brax would have to see them on their scanners if they were doing active scans.
“Computer, do a comparison of the Brax’s maximum speed and the speed those Blue Ships were moving toward the planet.”
“The Brax have a higher maximum speed.”
“How much faster?”
“Less than ten-percent.”
Dean shut down his drive-field and powered down his main systems. He looked to his right and saw Ginger slowly moving toward him. She used her thrusters to come to a stop and gently came into contact with his left wing. “Thanks, Ginger! I didn’t see them coming.”
“I figured you had everything ahead of us so I focused on our rear.”
“Good thing you did.”
“Why aren’t they chasing the Brax survivors?”
“I think they realize they would be moving into an unknown situation. We’re too far out to see if they have anything like our Scout Ships. If they do, they probably launched some of them.”
“What do we do now?”
“We move further out using our bow thrusters and hold our position for a while.”
“What do you think is going to happen, Sir?”
“Well, we’re going to find out just how many warships the Brax have to use and also make a determination of just how powerful this civilization they stumbled on is.”
“It looks pretty even to me.”
“Numbers will determine who wins.” Dean heard another beep and said, “More Blue Ships are arriving.”
“They’re coming from a different direction, Sir.”
“Let’s move further out. They could be coming around the star and we’ll be in their approach course.”
• • •
“Sir, it’s been a three-weeks and we’ve not heard anything from Captain Hamlin. Should we send more scouts out to investigate?”
“No.” Meredith looked at him and Rory said, “He would launch a communication probe if he were at risk of being killed. He’s still out there and he hasn’t contacted us for a reason. I’m deferring to him on this.”
Meredith shrugged, “He’ll have to come back shortly.”
Rory nodded, “He’ll run out of food and air.” Meredith nodded. “Once that timeline has passed, we’ll launch more scouts.”
• • •
Three-days later, Lisa said, “I’ve just received a communication from Captain Hamlin. He’s arriving at the Kuchen in eight-hours.”
“Divert him to the New York.”
“Yes, Sir.”
A few moments later, Captain Kuchen appeared on Rory’s monitor, “Admiral, I understand you have ordered my Scouts to go to your vessel.”
“They’re also my scouts, Captain.”
“Da, Da, may I come and attend your meeting with them?”
Rory smiled, “Da, just notify Admirals Donovan and Logan about it and see if they also wish to attend.”
“Admiral, perhaps it would be better for you to offer their invitation. They have a higher rank than me.”
“Get used to it, Kuchen; I’ve promoted you to Rear-Admiral in command of my Carrier forces.”
Kuchen stared at Rory and shrugged, “Your confidence inspires me.”
“Is that a Jersey accent I hear?”
“Nyet!” The monitor darkened and Rory smiled. He turned to Lisa and said, “Tell Captain Hamlin and his scout to get something to eat and to cleanup before reporting to my bridge.”
“Yes, Sir.”
• • •
Dean sat at the table in the cafeteria and was wolfing down his third-hamburger. Ginger shook her head, “Where do you put it?”
Dean wiped his mouth with his hand and said, “Hollow leg. I cut it too close.”
“Probably, but we made it back.”
“By-the-way, I received a notice on my panel before we left out Scouts that you’ve been promoted to Captain and will be my Second-in-Command.” Ginger stared at him and Dean stopped eating, “Look, you’ve proven to me on this mission that you have everything it takes to do a great job. You saved my life and were on top of everything that was happening. You deserve it and I’d insist on it if it hadn’t already happened.”
“Did they look at my appraisals?”
“I’m sure they did.” Ginger started eating again and Dean thought about when they exited their Scouts and Ginger took off her helmet. He was stunned by how beautiful she was and started to understand why she was harassed. Women this beautiful were in Hollywood, not in space armor. He knew her looks had nothing to do with her promotion, Dean had never seen her. He always dealt directly with her commanders. She expected a reaction from him but he kept his expression neutral when he offered his hand to assist her out of her Scout. Looks could be an asset but they could also be a real liability.
Ginger said, “I’m full. I’m going to clean up and I’ll meet you here.”
Dean shoved the hamburger in his mouth and waved his hand at her. She laughed and walked away. “Off-limit, off-limits,” he kept repeating to himself.
• • •
An hour later, Den met Ginger and they walked to the New York’s bridge. They came to attention and Rory, along with every other male crewmember on the bridge, were stunned by Ginger’s beauty. She was wearing a bulky flight suit but hiding her looks was impossible. Meredith muttered, “Men,” and turned to them. “At ease. We’re going to meet in the Admiral’s conference room and if you will follow me I’ll get your data downloaded and ready to present.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Rory sighed. He pulled himself together and followed them off the bridge. Logan and Donovan arrived with Kuchen a few minutes later.
• • •
After Dean finished his presentation, Rory said, “Do, just to make sure I understand all this; you’ve found an advanced civilization twenty-thousand light years further out on the Perseus Arm.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“And you found six-planets in that civilization that occupy a hundred-light year band across the spiral arm.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“And that civilization is made up of at least five different species that share the planets.” Dean nodded. “And the capper is that their technology is at least as good as the Brax and possibly better.”
“Captain Bennett also made a discovery that wasn’t in our report.”
Rory looked at Ginger, “What is that?”
“When we split up to go and scout some of the new civilization’s planets, I coasted in toward one of the planets and ten Blue Warships accelerated away from the planet in my direction. I didn’t want to give away that we were scouting them so I coasted to a large planet and landed on a large moon. I backed my Scout’s main engines up against a crater wall that was in a shadow and shut down all my systems, and I do mean all of them. I used the manual oxygen-feed to keep my suit pressurized and waited. Those ten-warships flew around the planet and all of its moons for two-days before leaving. It appears their scanners are better than the Brax or ours, Sir.”
“That’s not good.”
“There’s something else, Sir.”
“What is that?”
“When we went vertical to avoid one of their approaching fleets, we were closer to them than I was to that planet. They had to detect our Scouts but they ignored us because of the battle taking place at the planet. They have to know another civilization is scouting them.”
Rory looked at Major Stanly, “Has Intelligence been able to make prog
ress on deciphering either of their languages?”
“The Scouts did an excellent job of bringing back weeks of their transmission and we’re still working on it. We’ve got most of the Brax language figured out but this new civilization has been more difficult. We have a rudimentary understanding but some of the elements are still vague, Admiral.”
Rory looked around the room and said, “Everything you’ve seen or discussed in this room will remain here. I’m classifying it an Orange-Priority and if I hear anything about this getting out, I will find out which one of you leaked it and I’ll execute you myself. Is that clear!?!” Everyone nodded.
Meredith asked, “What are you planning to do.”
“I’m not sending any scouts out there unless they’re our best.” Rory looked at Dean and Ginger, “I commend you on an outstanding job, especially in unknown territory with a new civilization of unknown technology.”
Dean nodded, “Thank you, Sir.”
“You tell me, Captain Hamlin, do we risk going back?”
“I’m concerned about it, Sir…but I think there might be a way to get back in unnoticed.”
“How would you do that?”
“We go back out to the gap between Perseus and the Norma Spiral Arms and wait for the Brax to launch an attack.”
“What if they don’t?”
Dean shrugged, “I’ve never seen a carnivore that backs off a possible prey. We need to know what the Brax have in the way of warships to use against them or at least see if they’re going to go back. If they choose to stay away, then they are still our problem.”
“Why is that, Capitan?” Kuchen asked.
“There’s the matter of the planet we attacked.”
“Won’t they chalk that up to that new civilization?” Meredith asked.
“Our disruptor beams are completely different from those used by the Blue Ships. I know that single Brax Warship that came and investigated did a through scan of the planet and the space around it. There is a good possibility they were able to detect the differences.”