by Saxon Andrew
Kamela stared at the monitor and said, “This entire attack was for the sole purpose of destroying the small fighters.”
Essay nodded, “Score one for the attackers. Poul, catch up with those attackers and see if you can’t intercept their thoughts.”
“I can tell you that the Flashers are calling off the pursuit. They don’t know if the attackers have an ambush prepared for them and they’ve lost most of their Fighters.” Essay nodded and then heard over the wall speaker, “We must turn and attack their large warships.”
“Have you looked at your scanners?”
“They don’t have their small ships to defend them!”
“No, but while we’ve been attacking their small ships, they moved enough of their large ships in such that they now outnumber us four to one and those new ships do have small ships.”
“We should have used more ships!”
“And leave our two galaxies undefended against the two enemies? You know they are watching very closely what we do.”
“They should be fighting with us.”
“All in good time. The Langloh are with us now and negotiations are still ongoing with the other two. Patience is called for at this moment. Move back to the perimeter of our territories and prepare to fight off any incursions.”
“This was such a good opportunity to really damage the Sovereigns.”
“There will be others. The Long Plan is about to come to completion and, if it works, they’ll learn to fear us soon enough.” The speaker paused and said, “I’ve just received notification that our perimeter is about to be overrun by a Teelen Attack Fleet. We should arrive in time to force them away; continue at full speed.”
“Why are they attacking us?”
“Because we’re still attacking their ships at every opportunity. Perhaps negotiations will at least put a temporary stop to the hostilities; they hate the Sovereigns as much as we do.”
• • •
“I heard in the angry one’s mind that the Flashers once ruled their galaxy. I think they managed to eventually gain their independence and are now seeking revenge.”
“What about the species called the Langloh, Poul?”
“Erica, they were also ruled by the Flashers.”
“I guess the old saying, ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend,’ still applies.”
“No, I don’t think so; these two have only recently started working together. I suspect that if they ever manage to defeat the Flashers they’ll be right back at each other’s throats again. I wonder what that being meant by the Long Plan?”
“You didn’t hear it in its thoughts?”
“No, I didn’t, there were no side currents about it.”
Kamela said, “Remember that in the recording of the original contact with the Flashers they said they ruled four galaxies and all of them were represented by a different color warship in the Ritual.”
“We know that was a lie.”
“Possibly, Essay. But there may have been a half truth in what that being said and that the Flashers did indeed rule the four galaxies at one time in the past. Perhaps those four colored small ships were once used by one of the four species they ruled. I noticed that the Spearan and Langloh Warships matched two of the colors used by the small warships in the Ritual. I don’t think that was coincidence.”
“Which four?”
Kamela looked at Erica, “I’m sorry, what do you mean.”
“Well, there are five galaxies in this region of space; there’s the ritual galaxy, where none of the species involved in this conflict live. There’s also the Flasher Galaxy, the Spearan Galaxy, the Langloh Galaxy and that leaves one other. The Spearan said that his civilization had to defend themselves against two other enemies; do both of them live in that fourth galaxy? And it also begs the question why none of them have colonized the Ritual Galaxy. We know there are habitable planets there?”
“Erica, those other two civilizations must come from the fourth galaxy.”
“Are they working together or fighting each other, Poul?”
“How would I know?”
“Well you’ve been listening to their thoughts, did any of them think about the two enemies?”
“I’m not as good as Kamela at seeing everything in their brains. I just see the surface thoughts and sometimes I’m able to see something else.”
Erica looked at Essay, “Perhaps we should go and take a look at the fifth galaxy?”
Essay nodded, “Did you take any active scans, Erica?”
“I did.”
“I want everything we’ve recorded put into a data dump, encrypted, and squeal messaged on the Other Space Communicator back to the Admiralty. Once that’s done, we’ll go check out the last galaxy.”
Erica turned to her panel and started putting the data together. Essay looked at Kamela, “What do you think?”
“I can understand why the Flashers are attempting to escape this space. This is a lair of many monsters.”
“Yeah, but the Flashers are the biggest of them.”
Kamela shrugged, “There is that.”
• • •
The Council Meeting was getting louder as the members of the Council tried to place blame for the loss of the tens of thousands of Fighters. The Great Council Grengen sat back and listened to the back and forth between the Councilors and noticed that the newest member of the Council sat back in his chair silently observing the proceedings. The Grengen wondered what the new member was thinking. He leaned forward and the members immediately grew silent. “I’m curious, do you have nothing to add to this discussion?”
The Tech Grengen was startled by the comment and said, “I’ve not been a member long and I feel the others are much wiser than I am, Grengen.”
“That’s a good answer, but not the real one. I want to know what you were thinking.”
The new Grengen looked around the table and then turned to the Great Grengen, “This was no one’s fault. The attackers planned to eliminate our small warships and caught us by surprise. Their tactics won’t work again.”
“Why not?”
“Because next time our main battleships won’t sit and wait for them to arrive. They’ll rush out and meet them and if they’re stupid enough to turn like they did this time, they’ll be destroyed.”
“You don’t seem bothered by the loss of so many Fighters.”
“If I’m not mistaken, we have already replaced them with new Fighters we had in storage along with the Pilots that have been waiting for years for a berth on one of our warships to open up. It was a costly lesson but not one that harmed us in any real way. To remove the ones leading our fleets now would be to remove those Fleet Grengen that have experience in this new tactic and won’t be fooled again.”
“So you’re disagreeing with the other Council Members about punishing the Leaders that failed in this last confrontation?”
“Great Leader, that’s why I was silent. The other members of the Council have much more experience than me and see things I’m missing. You asked what I was thinking and that is what was going through my mind. I’m sure the other Members have very valid reasons for wanting to punish the Fleet Grengens involved in this failure.”
The Military Grengen lowered his eyes and said, “I understand that you are no longer working out of your office here but have moved to your personal ship.”
“That is true.”
“Just how can you be effective doing that?” The Military Leader smiled smugly and knew he had embarrassed the new Councilor.
“My ship’s office is just as good as the one here in the Chamber. By working out of my ship, I can go to the various sites where our new technology is being developed and make sure it’s being done correctly.” The Great Leader had to admit the answer was good. It was the next statement that set him off as the new Councilor said, “That should explain why working out of my ship does not make me less effective but that is not the reason I did it.”
The Military Grengen took the b
ait, “Then what is the reason?”
The Grengen looked around before saying, “I think we all know that the threat in the Spiral Galaxy possess warships we cannot detect. I don’t want to be on this planet if one of them shows up and takes a shot at our most important structure.”
It was like a silence bomb went off and the results lasted four seconds. The Great Grengen came to his feet and looked at the Military Grengen, “HAVE YOU TAKEN STEPS TO PREVENT THAT HAPPENING!?!” The Military Grengen was too shocked by the remark to think clearly. The Great Grengen jerked his head at the new Grengen, “What makes you think this is a threat?”
“Two weeks ago thousands of the Space Creatures appeared above our star system in one place. I had my scientists study the recording of those creatures and he agrees that they appear to be circling something we can’t see on our scanners.”
“Why didn’t you pass this information on!?”
“I did, I sent it to the Military Grengen’s Aide.”
The Great Grengen snapped his head back to the Military Grengen and he quickly said, “This report was considered unimportant. The Space Creatures are always gathering and moving around. I checked with three other Members of the Council and they agreed with my analysis.”
The Great Grengen looked at the new Grengen, “Why did you not report this to me?”
“I was told by the other Council Members that if I had an issue that fell into their area of authority, I should take it to them before bringing it to the rest of the Council. This was clearly in the jurisdiction of the Military.”
The Great Grengen looked at the Military Grengen again and he said, “Great Grengen, he did not mention that it could be one of those warships from the Spiral Galaxy.”
“No, I didn’t think it was necessary. The Space Creatures were circling something not showing up on our scanners. Is it not obvious? Why did you think I left to work on my personal ship?” The new Council Grengen responded.
The Great Grengen was ready to execute the Military Grengen but he was his mate’s nephew. He touched his console, “Order my ship to come and pick me up.” He looked at the Military Grengen, “You and the three members who agreed with your analysis will continue to work in this building. I would highly recommend the others start working out of their personal warships.”
“But Great Grengen…”
“Do you not think that threat in the spiral galaxies won’t attack us here? If you were in their position, would you go after their leadership given the opportunity? The Fleet Leaders will remain in their positions and you will live, or die, by your analysis. This meeting is over!”
The Tech Grengen left the chamber and knew he had made some powerful enemies. So be it. He wasn’t going to die at the hands of their stupidity. The other Members began calling in their personal warships and escorts. The four made to stay were showing their nervousness.
• • •
The Spearan Warrior saw the planet getting larger on his passive scanner’s monitor. The monitor he was using was very small and used a tiny bit of power to operate. His tiny vessel had been launched more than seven months earlier high above the Flasher’s Governing Planet’s star system in interstellar space. It had been boosted out of the battleship’s launch tube at almost three quarters the speed of light. Its course had been very carefully set and the small non-metallic vessel had been coasting since its launch. The Pilot had volunteered for the mission and he had nearly gone insane during the prior seven months with nothing but silence and loneliness as a constant companion. But now that pain was going to be rewarded.
The hull of his specially built ship was coated in a dark black non-reflective coating, which made it nearly impossible to see. The electronic systems were built to only use minute levels of power from the special batteries constructed to power it. Its mission had almost ended before it began when a Flasher Warship sped past it a week into the mission. But the Pilot heard the warning and shut down all power before it came flashing by. The Pilot smiled when the Flasher didn’t slow down, the scientists were right, his small ship was nearly impossible to detect. They said the real danger was a warship hitting it.
But now the crucial phase of the mission was at hand. The planet was now large enough to be seen as a globe instead of a speck of light. The thing now was to get close enough without being detected to complete the mission. Ahhhh…what is this? He smiled, here was what he needed at just the right moment. The War God was showing his approval for his task. He turned the small black vessel slightly and moved directly under a giant transport taking food to the Flasher Planet. Transports didn’t have military grade scanners or force fields. He was able to actually land the small ship in the shadow between two of the rear thrusters on the giant transport and turn off the ship’s power. Now it was just a matter of time until the transport arrived at his target.
• • •
The Ship Greng watched the seemingly never ending line of transports moving into orbit and he once again felt amazed at the number of ships needed to feed the planet. He glanced at his Scanner Greng, “How many transports come here every day?”
The Greng glanced at his panel, “More than five thousand.”
“Those ships are larger than our warships. I can only imagine how much they can carry on board.”
The Scanner Greng moved his ears in agreement, “I’ve heard that one of them could feed the Fleet for a week. They are…”
The Ship Greng suddenly saw the Scanner Greng lean in close and look at his monitors with his neck slits opening erratically, “What?”
“There’s something moving near the thrusters on that transport above the Central City. OH MY…”
The Scanner Greng never finished his statement. Something shot off the rear of the transport at incredible velocity and disappeared into the planet’s atmosphere. A moment later, a small brilliant flash was seen on the surface far below the giant warship. The Scanner Greng looked at his commander, “That explosion was the Council Chamber.”
The Ship Greng’s three eyes widened and he started shaking as alarms went off all over the ship. The Ship Greng knew that explosion looked small from orbit but it was incredibly powerful. He looked around yelled, “SHOW ME THE STATUS VIEW!!” The giant wall monitor changed and he saw that twenty warships were closer to the transport than his vessel. He breathed a sigh of relief and knew that someone was going to die for this. He hoped it wouldn’t be more than twenty.
• • •
The Pilot saw the main city of the Sovereigns below the transport he landed on and he activated his systems. He used the small scanner and scanned the city far below and smiled as he saw the giant globe in the center of the city appear. He pressed a button and the image was locked in on the scanner. He pressed the single yellow button on his control panel and the ship lifted off the transport and ignited its thrusters. There was only enough fuel on board for one run and he saw the planet suddenly appear to leap toward him. He saw the weapon in the nose of the ship was beeping as it indicated that it was now armed and active. It wasn’t a nuclear explosive, the warships would have detected it if it were. But it was more than a thousand pounds of the most powerful explosive his civilization had ever created. He saw the huge building shaped like a globe rush up at him as he closed his eyes and smiled.
• • •
Essay looked at the massive formation of Flasher Warships in the distance and said, “Erica?”
“I’ve sent the data.”
“Poul, let’s head toward the fifth galaxy.”
“ESSAY!! I’M HEARING THOUGHTS FROM THE FLASHER FLEETS THAT THEIR MAIN PLANET HAS BEEN ATTACKED AND THE COUNCIL’S BUILDING HAS BEEN DESTROYED. THEY’RE REPORTING MASSIVE LOSS OF LIFE AROUND THE SITE OF THE EXPLOSION!!” Poul announced at high volume over the wall speaker.
Essay’s eyes widened and he looked at Erica as she said, “They may place the blame for this on us. Poul, are you hearing anything about who they think did it?”
“It appears they’ve been able to e
xamine the debris and have determined that the vessel that crashed into the structure had a Spearan piloting it and the explosive is one that the Spearan have used in the past.” Poul paused and said, “This must be the Long Plan that being was referring to earlier.”
“How could they get a ship past the defenses around that planet? There were more than a hundred thousand warships in orbit.”
“I have no idea. But you can count on the Flashers responding to this attack in a big way.”
Essay looked at Kamela, “Should we delay going to the fifth galaxy and go back to see what the Flashers are going to do about this. This could force them to start their colonization efforts now and take a risk of having to face us.”
Kamela nodded, “I think we don’t have enough information to know what they’ll do and I do think it’s more important that we go and see what the Flashers are going to do about this. That fifth galaxy isn’t the threat to us that the Flashers represent, at least not yet.”
“Poul, take us to the main world of the Flashers and get close enough for you and Kamela to hear their thoughts.” The stardrive spooled up and went to a high frequency sound faster than Essay had ever heard. “Poul, are you able to go to top speed faster than in the past?”
“I’ve been working on that and yes, I can.”
“Well, be ready to run. I suspect the number of Flasher Warships above that planet will be much higher than normal.”
“I’m going in slow when we arrive. I’ll find a place outside the coverage and settle in.”
Essay looked at the main monitor and saw sparks flashing by the Prophet’s Eyes.
• • •
“I WANT TO KNOW HOW YOU ALLOWED THIS TO HAPPEN!!”
“Great Grengen, we’ve been able to examine the small pieces of the vessel that attacked the Council Chamber and it was made from a non-metallic substance and coated with a non-reflective coating. It had no nuclear material on board and what little survived of its power systems indicates it was using batteries to provide power. It was not detectable.”
“HOW DID IT GET THROUGH OUR DEFENSES!?”
“It must have been launched a long way out and it coasted to our planet. The estimates of our scientists are that it was launched between four and five light months from the planet.”