by Saxon Andrew
Michael smiled, “Well, the three you see sitting at the end of the table are my personal escorts and bodyguards. The handsome one is Jay Martin and the two lovely ladies with him are Josey Bartolo and Jan Keller.”
Omny looked at Jan, “You’re the one the Monster was chasing?” Jan smiled and nodded.
Michael pointed to the left and said, “The two sitting next to Laney are…”
Shelia said, “The Blaine Twins.” Michael smiled and saw the twins were surprised that she knew them. “All of us owe them so much for the things they’ve developed to defend us. It’s a real pleasure to finally meet you.”
Nudge nudged Budge and he stood up, “Thank you. It’s good to hear we’re appreciated.”
Omny nodded, “Oh you’re much more than appreciated. The Legends are not the only Living Legends.”
Budge turned red and Nudge laughed, “Now that’s creative, Lieutenant.”
Michael sat down and said, “The reason we’re here is to determine what we’re going to do about this new ship the Legends are using. We’ve seen that it is faster than anything they’ve ever built and to say it’s more powerful would be an understatement. We actually only have two options. The first is to go to the galaxy where they are being manufactured and blow the living hell out of the ships as well as their facilities.” Michael paused and looked at Jan, “Why don’t you tell us what we’d run in to if we chose that option?”
“What caused that giant warship to see us and give chase was that my ship had to find the mind of that ship’s navigator and see the coordinates of the galaxy that it was headed toward.”
Omny’s eyes narrowed, “What do you mean, look at the navigator’s mind?”
Michael said, “All of our ships are telepathic. There is a module that the Silver Ships gave my father that would enable it to hear and broadcast telepathically.”
Omny and Shelia shook their heads as Michael looked at Jan and nodded. “The Monster was commanded by a being that was also telepathic and it detected Langley focusing on their crew member. The Monster sent a device into the barrier and it ignited an explosion that disrupted the barrier and my ship was thrown out of it. I immediately went to full speed in the void but that ship was just as fast.”
Omny tilted his head, “What did you find out?”
“Before that happened, about two weeks earlier, Langley, my computer, was able to determine that the Monster was headed toward the Bullet Cluster. We decided to ditch following it and went directly there. You did see that giant galaxy off in the distance, didn’t you?” Omny and Shelia nodded. “We stayed in the barrier out in intergalactic space and Langley was overwhelmed with the massive volume of thoughts he heard emanating from there. All of the thoughts were being made by Legends.”
Omny looked from Jan to Michael and he nodded, “It appears only the Legends in the Pandora Cluster live in isolation with one per galaxy.”
Jan nodded and said, “Before Langley had time to try and focus on the thoughts, we heard a thought that almost mentally deafened us. It was so powerful I heard it through my thought blocker and I’m not telepathic. It demanded to know who we were.”
Omny’s eyes narrowed, “And you were in the barrier?”
“We were. It saw us at an extreme distance from that galaxy. Langley told it that we were scientists that wanted to see what two galaxies looked like that had merged. The being actually allowed us to take a scan of the galaxy and told us to leave and not return.”
Michael looked at Averel, “Tell them what we think that being is.”
The Goran looked at them and smiled, “Let me say that I really like the two of you, especially together.” Omny and Shelia smiled. Michael shook his head. Everyone liked Averel. She was just so unpretentious and direct. She was the nosiest being he ever met but somehow she pulled it off without generating resentment. “My species is telepathic. We will occasionally all link our minds to determine important decisions that affect all of us. When we chose Michael’s father to lead us, all of us were linked to make the decision.” Averel paused and said, “This is difficult to describe to someone that is not telepathic so stop me if I lose you.” She paused and then said, “Imagine your brain and how it works. It’s made from millions of cells that are all interconnected and that structure produces thoughts. Can you see that?” Everyone nodded. “Now each individual brain cell doesn’t produce a thought on its own. You as an individual are a product of all of them working together.”
Averel looked around and said, “Now imagine millions, no, billions of telepaths that are all linked mentally together. They all hear the same thing, see the same thing, and during that linkage, the entire species takes on the aspects of a single intelligent organism. Unlike your brain, each of the telepaths do actually produce their own thoughts. However, that overall entity that is made by the linkage operates independently of all the individuals. It’s like a single living life form.”
Omny nodded, “You’re of the opinion that the one that saw Commodore Keller was that type of entity. It was created by all the Legends’ minds in that galaxy?”
Averel nodded, “Very good Commodore.”
“Uhhh, I’m not a Commodore.”
“Oh, sorry.”
Michael chuckled and said, “So if we choose option one and go after those ships in that galaxy, which rivals M-87 in size, we will be seen long before we arrive and we won’t just be facing the ones building those ships but every ship those billions of Legends possess.”
Omny looked at Shelia and she said, “Option one sounds like suicide.”
Michael looked at her, “Why do you say that?”
“At the current level of technology we’re using, we’re only able to prevail against the Legends’ Main Warships by using the barrier. It appears that is no longer an option. We’d also have to fight our way through God knows how many warships of unknown technology to find where those ships are being built.”
Audrey nodded, “It’s a lot worse than that.”
Omny looked at her, “How could it be worse?”
“Averel and her leaders are of the opinion that the being that saw Jan is capable of attacking ships and killing the crews.”
“How is that possible?”
“You’re aware the Sentinels are capable of doing it, aren’t you?” Both nodded. “This being would have similar capabilities. We’d have to fight our way through it as well.”
Omny stared at Audrey and then clapped his hands, “Well alright. Let’s hear it for option number two!” The depressing silence was immediately broken by laughter. Michael shook his head and smiled, “You catch on pretty quick.”
“Hey, it doesn’t take a genius to see that’s a nut we can’t crack…yet.”
Michael’s head tilted, “What do you mean, ‘yet’?”
“Forty years ago, we were planet bound and didn’t even have a colony outside of Earth. Now look at where we’ve come. I think with scientists like the Blaines and Ambroses, we’ll work on that issue like a giant worry stone and keep rubbing it until we find an answer to it. By-the-way, what’s option two?”
Luke said, “We come up with a way to take on those Monster Ships.”
Omny looked at him and sighed, “That’s why I’m here?”
Luke nodded, “It is.”
Chapter Twelve
Jan leaned back in her chair and watched the back and forth in the meeting and saw Josey staring at Michael. She knew that look. Josey was going after him and Josey never missed anyone she set her sights on. She looked at Omny and was impressed. He had a quick mind and a humorous way of defusing pressure situations. She always saw herself as an observer watching events around her and learning from them. That was part of the reason for her previous appearance. No one noticed her doing it. She saw that she had lost that camouflage. Pretty much everyone in the meeting would look at her often enough that she had to be careful focusing too closely on any one of them. In the past, Josey commanded that attention and she could fly under the radar
. She thought about dyeing her hair again and going back undercover. She saw Omny move toward the giant monitor on the wall with an electronic pointer and she put those thoughts aside and focused on him.
Omny looked at Admiral Jekins and said, “Sir, can you bring the view of that ship in closer where the lines of disruptors can be seen.”
Michael said, “We are dispensing with military honorifics for the remainder of this meeting and feel free to use first names.”
Omny looked at him and smiled, “Sir…Uhhh… that has been almost bludgeoned in us from day one. I’ll try but forgive me if I fail.” He turned to the monitor and saw the hull of the giant black warship was filling the screen. “I noticed something about this ship’s disruptors while making a turn to move back in. I think we can all see that there are two lines of forty disruptors moving along the hull parallel to each other. There’s about three hundred yards between the two lines, which is plenty of room for a Battle Pod to fly in. I want you to also notice that at the end of the two lines, the next two lines of disruptors are slightly staggered so that they begin in the middle of the first two lines.”
“They overlap.”
Omny looked at Katy and smiled, “Yes Sir. Uhhh, yes they do.”
“Come on Omny, call me Katy.”
“Yes…Katy.” Omny turned back to the monitor and said, Admiral, Jekins…”
“Call me Jinks.”
Omny smiled, “Just like your father. Ok, Jinks, orient the view of the ship so we’re looking down a row of disruptors so that the horizon beyond the ship is in the view.” The view changed and the gathering saw the tall disruptor towers running across the hull with empty space beyond them as the ship’s hull disappeared below the horizon.
“Jinks, do you have a recording of the disruptors being fired from this angle that can be played in slow motion.” The image on the monitor changed and they saw the disruptors start firing and everyone shook their heads at the massive beams. “Just a little bit faster so that there’s about half a second between each shot.”
“What are we looking for, Omny?”
“Katy, I saw a pattern to how they were firing. Wait until the first disruptor fires and then watch what happens.” Everyone suddenly saw the first of the forty disruptors in the line fire and was immediately followed by the second, then the third, the fourth and all the way down to half way down the line before it repeated. “Now, look at the second twenty in the line and notice that when the first one is firing, the tenth one in the second twenty disruptors is firing.”
Jinks nodded, “They are programmed to fire in sequence.”
“That’s what I saw. When the twentieth disruptor fires, the first disruptor in the second twenty fires.”
Jay said, “What did you do with this information?”
“I determined that that sequence didn’t change. I had Granny, my ship’s computer.” That comment bought laughter from the group and Omny smiled. “The name sort of goes with Old Man. Anyway, she analyzed the pattern and at no time did a disruptor fire behind the others until its time in the sequence. I decided that I might be able to fly in at high speed while firing all disruptors ahead of me to break through the force field and fly in between the two lines and move down them as the disruptors fired just ahead of me.”
Josh shook his head, “One or more of those disruptors could have targeted your ship as you moved in.”
“I just didn’t see that happening. I believe each of those disruptors was already assigned a target as the sequence started. Remember, this is playing in slow motion. I only had a second to arrive and move down to the hull. When the sequence began again, I probably could have been targeted. But if I could get down between those two lines just as the sequence started, only the disruptors in front of them could target me and I was hoping my ship would be moving so fast that only one or two might hit me.”
Jinks looked at Omny and then looked at Luke, “He saw this pattern in the middle of a space battle and we haven’t seen this yet?” Jinks looked at Omni, “Would you be interested in a job in Intelligence?”
Omny smiled, “Thank you but no. I belong in a ship. Part of my background was being a building engineer. I see patterns naturally.”
Jay said, “Omny, just how did you intend to stop once you arrived? That distance at the speed you must have been traveling looks impossible.”
Omny shrugged, “Granny and I decided that the risk of stopping was less than attacking that ship from a distance. I steered the ship and Granny hit our bow thrusters with ninety percent of our reactor’s energy.”
Jay smiled, “I see it worked.”
“Wellll, not really.”
Everyone stared at him for a moment and Michael said, “What do you mean by that?”
“I did hit the disruptor tower at the end of the two lines with the tip of my left wing. But the silver coating held up and I was able to maintain control enough to stop the ship before the end of the next two lines of disruptors.”
Shelia listened to Omny and felt her heart beat faster. She knew he was brave but now she understood just how brave he was and her pride of being with him grew leaps and bounds.
Laney smiled, “What did you do then?”
“Well, I took about a minute to check and see if I messed up my uniform.” The gathering laughed out loud. “Hey, I’m not kidding!”
That only made everyone laugh harder and Omny waited until Michael managed to say, “I think we can understand.”
“Granny and I decided that we were on an enemy warship with a perfectly good Battle Pod and we decided to do some urban renewal.” There were some more chuckles and Omny continued, “We angled the bottom disruptors thirty, or was it forty…I don’t remember. But anyway, they were angled to cut into the hull of the Monster as we flew above it. We angled all the side and upper disruptors to the sides of the ship and turned off the force field and directed ninety eight percent of the reactor into them. I then started flying between the lines of disruptors cutting them down as we passed. I worked on cutting out a giant square on the hull so that the other Battle Pods could move in and attack without being fired on by so many beams. I really lost sense of how long we continued firing but I heard…Michael’s command to get out. I had to wait until the heavy actually fired before I could make a run. I was too close to the lines of disruptors that were still operational to leave before then.”
Michael stared at Omny and was amazed at the bravery and intelligence he had displayed in the heat of combat. He said, “You probably think it was the heavy that destroyed that ship.”
Omny looked at him, “It was, wasn’t it?”
Michael nodded to Jinks and said, “I want you to watch this closely.” The image on the monitor changed and it showed the heavy moving in at high speed. It fired its heavy round and just as it penetrated the hull, a giant section of the Monster’s hull went up in a massive blast. Michael said, “The round didn’t have time to penetrate into the center of the ship before that blast went off.”
Omny’s eyes narrowed and Jinks said, “You showed us something else, Omny. It appears large numbers of their disruptors share cooling conduits. It appears the beams you were firing into the Monster’s hull were cutting them as you flew above the hull. That blast came from disruptors that were still operational along with many of those you cut down. We’ve examined the blast pattern and we now know where those cooling conduits are located.”
Omny went to his chair and sat down. He was shaking his head and finally managed to say, “That’s how my ship was hit by shrapnel?” Michael and Jinks nodded. “We were lucky!”
Katy clapped, “Indeed you were. But you’ve given us information that we’d never have without your actions.”
Michael nodded and Omny shook his head, “How can this be used? I should have died on the approach. I can see so many things that could have, and probably should have, gone wrong.”
Budge smiled, “You were right earlier.”
Omny looked at him, “About what?”
“Our current level of technology being inadequate.” Omny nodded. “However, in order to use this technique, what would you need?”
Omny laughed, “That’s easy. A ship that could withstand those giant disruptors.”
Nudge said, “How would that help?”
“A pilot wouldn’t have to make an almost suicidal flight to get down to the Monster’s hull.”
Jan saw Michael smiling and she suddenly knew. Her insight was then proven when Michael said, “I want everyone to go with me out to the spaceport. We’re going to Hanger X.” Omny and Shelia stood up but the others knew that hanger was Trevor and Amanda’s personal laboratory. They stood and quickly followed Michael out of the conference room.
• • •
The large Fleet Surface Transport arrived at the hanger and the group walked up to the giant hanger door. There were ten armored warriors standing guard and they would not allow them to pass without proper identification. Jan was shocked by their unwillingness to accept that the man in front of them was Michael Stone. It was clear there were no exceptions to their security protocols. The guards stepped back and the giant hanger door began going up. It moved to head level and Jan saw two ships just inside the entrance that only remotely looked like a Battle Pod. It was larger, obviously larger. Budge said, “I know what you’re thinking and yes, it will still fit in the barrier.”
Katy looked at him, “What is it?”
“It’s not complete, yet. The disruptors aren’t installed or any of the other systems that we use on our ships. However, what you’re looking at is a ship with a six foot thick silver coated hull.”
Audrey looked at Budge with her eyes wide, “The Silver Ships’ hull is only three feet thick.”
Budge smiled, “We have given them the technology we used to build this vessel and they are modifying their vessels as we speak.”
Katy looked puzzled, “What does this extra thickness do?”
Budge looked at her, “We’re not certain about how much it can handle but we’ve simultaneously fired more than a thousand Dark Energy Beams at it without breaking through the hull.”