by Saxon Andrew
“What was the first thing you did when you went to a galaxy to scout it?”
Hengel’s eyes narrowed and he said, “Well, I’d come out of the barrier because it’s easier to hear thoughts in normal space.”
“And then?”
Hengel’s eyes jerked wide open, “I’d shut down most of my external systems to avoid detection.”
“And your scanners would be inoperable.”
“You’re right. The Legends have the dark cloud technology and a ship could move in and never be seen.”
“The scanners would have detected it but since they were turned off, the two were sitting ducks for the species you’re describing.”
Hengel pressed his panel, “Averel.”
“Yes.”
“Look up in the communications log when the last contacts were made with the two scouts that were killed.”
“Hold on.” Hengel waited and saw how the computer was absolutely right. Gorans used their telepathy first and technology second. His species had a sense of indestructability when dealing with other species. They could hear their thoughts and react before they could be put in danger. With that revelation, he realized that the ship used to kill the scouts had to only have one being on board…that telepath. “Hengel, Keral’s last communication took place a week before the attack on the other scouts. Yebbel’s last communication was two days prior to the attack.”
“Thank you, Love.”
“Hengel, please tell me you are not going to do what I see in your thoughts!”
“Hold on.” Hengel activated his armor and the thought blocker immediately activated. He left it on for a few moments and then turned the armor off, “HENGEL! TALK TO ME! HENGEL…”
“Relax Averel. I just turned on my armor. If you can’t hear me, I’m reasonably certain that telepath couldn’t as well.”
“I’M GOING TO KNOCK YOU INTO NEXT WEEK!!”
“Averel, this being, if what I suspect is true, is a real danger to all of us. What’s to prevent it from coming into our galaxies and start killing? You have to also ask yourself, how did it know all the locations of the other scouts? How did the Legends know where to attack?”
Averel mentally sighed, “It had to get the information from the two scouts.”
“What if this being gets close to Michael?”
“Don’t even think that!”
“Contact Fleet Intelligence. I need to speak with them.”
Averel saw what Hengel was thinking and sighed, “I’ve sent Jinks’ direct com code to your panel.”
“Thanks, Love. I’ll be in after I have a discussion with the High Leader.”
• • •
Hengel arrived and thought, “I’m here. I’ll report in hourly to let you know how it’s going.”
“Please be careful.”
“You know I will.”
“We still don’t know how we lost two scouts. I’m worried.”
“Don’t be. I’ll run at the first sign of trouble.”
• • •
“He’s back!” The small vessel lifted off the planet and aligned with the direction the thought had originated. It notified his fleet to lift and wait for his order to advance. An hour later it heard, “Nothing new. Situation normal.” It hit the thrusters and began moving through the void at a slow pace toward the general direction the thought had originated. It continued to move slowly forward and waited until it heard another thought; it made minor corrections to its course and speed. Soon it was hearing the inner thoughts of its chosen prey. It made the final correction and headed toward the being’s location. It owed this one for foiling its earlier attack.
It waited in the void surrounded by a dark matter cloud and listened for the next report. There was no need to rush, it had all the time it needed. It finally heard, “Nothing new.” In an instant it was directly under the target’s ship in the void and it prepared its assault. It shut down the star drive and emerged in normal space directly in front of the small Battle Pod, where it sent a devastating mental attack at the mind of the being less than a mile in front of it.
• • •
Hengel waited at Eden until the device was delivered by Nudge. He was impressed that it looked remarkably like a Battle Pod, “Now this is more than I expected.”
Nudge smiled on his display, “We used a BP’s hull to contain it. We figured it had to look similar to the real thing to avoid its being seen for what it is.”
“You did install a self-destruct?”
“Certainly, the telepathy module is too important to allow it to fall into the wrong hands, tentacles, pods, or whatever.”
“How do I get it to the location?”
“Tow it in the barrier and release it where you want it. Once it moves out of your drive field, it will enter normal space and start broadcasting.”
“Thanks Nudge and thank Budge for me as well. The hardest part of this entire process was sitting in a room for twenty four hours and having my thoughts recorded without thinking about what I was planning.”
“Do you think it will find you that quickly?”
“If it doesn’t, the recording will loop and continue without the initial two minutes. I suspect whoever that being is, it knows my thought pattern and will home in on it.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“Then we’re wrong about how the scouts died and have to start at ground zero looking for another answer. I’m skipping out as soon as the cable is attached. Hopefully, I can tell you if it worked.”
“I don’t like that word hopefully. Just don’t get too close.”
“I will be at my maximum effective range. It that’s still too close, that is something we need to know.”
“I’ll see you when you come back.”
Hengel smiled, “You got it.” Hengel felt the small tug on his ship and extended the barrier drive. He skipped away pulling the device behind his vessel. He didn’t tell Nudge but he was going to make sure he was found. He was moving into interstellar space just outside the Elder Legends’ planet. If it didn’t find him there…it wasn’t the danger he suspected.
• • •
The Telepath discovered four things instantly; the inner thoughts of the being it was attacking didn’t change, the next moment an invisible beam shot out and sliced off the rear third of his ship, the ship in front of him extended a powerful thought blocker field around his ship, and he heard, “I’ve been expecting you.” The Telepath continued to send his mental assault until it heard, “You’re wasting energy doing that. I suggest you save it to say your final remarks to whatever deity you worship.”
“I WORSHIP NOTHING!!”
“Somehow, I don’t find that surprising.”
It searched around its ship but saw nothing but the ship in front of it. It had carefully emerged well within the lethal range of its mind but it still heard the inner thoughts of the being in the ship in front of it. Suddenly, they stopped. “Let me turn that off so you won’t be distracted.” The Telepath felt its fear go to a level that threatened to overwhelm it. “Hey, hey, I need you to be rational. Take a deep breath or whatever you do to maintain calm!”
The Telepath’s emotions went from fear to rage in an instant, “I WILL EAT YOUR MIND!”
“If you could do it, you would have already done it. So stop the silly posturing and pay attention.”
“How did you do this?”
“I really should let you die wondering but I’m a giving sort of person. The thoughts you heard were mechanically generated and I don’t think your mental assault will affect electric wires. I’m communicating with you now through my Computer and have my thoughts blocked. I didn’t want to kill you before I told you that the two scouts you killed were good beings and they deserve having you killed after you know the reason. This is being done for your actions.”
• • •
“Hengel, it’s activating a probe to launch.”
“Can you hit it before it moves out of the blocker field?” Hengel saw the thrusters of
the probe as it left the damaged vessel and there was a blast less than a mile from the ship’s hull. “Now that wasn’t nice. If I detect you attempting to launch another probe, I will end our conversation.”
“Hengel, it’s activating ten probes.”
Hengel shook his head and pressed the trigger on the forward disruptor. The damaged ship blew up in a massive blast. “Damn. I thought it was enjoying my brilliant conversation.”
“Ships are moving away from the planet.” Hengel hooked up to the decoy, moved into the barrier, and skipped away. “Hengel, I heard that nasty being’s thoughts.”
“I was hoping to give you more time to collect them. Did you see anything of interest?”
“The Legends have promised the Spiral Galaxy of the Humans to that being if it helps them overcome their attackers.”
“That isn’t nice.”
“There’s more. That being has communicated to its leaders that a highly telepathic species is there. It apparently thinks that your species comes from that galaxy instead of the one you inhabit. Its species lives to consume highly telepathic species. It also consumes other species but the number one item on their menu is a telepath.”
“Did you get an idea of how extensive that species is?”
“Only a flicker when it knew it was going to die.”
“And?”
“They’re more extensive than the Legends. They are also using the Legends to expand their domain.”
“Why don’t they go after the Legends; they’re telepathic.”
“It appears that evil detests the taste of evil. One of them killed a Legend early on and according to that being’s thoughts, it took years to get the taste out of their minds.”
“Ummmm, they should have tried it on a cracker. This is not good news, Shanghai.”
“Why do you call me that?”
“You were built on Earth. It’s appropriate for you to have a name from there. Besides, I like the sound of that city. It sounds remarkably like our term for Hope.”
“Thank you, Hengel. Are you coming around to believing a computer can help you?”
“This wouldn’t have been possible without you. Are there any more of them in that cluster?”
“No, but more are coming soon.”
“I suspect the next ones will be somewhat more cautious as a result of this.”
“I have no doubt about that. That being was already nervous that something was amiss when the scout’s ships self-destructed. But it didn’t have anything to base its fears on so it put them aside. It really wanted to punish you for foiling its attack.”
“It knew it was me here?”
“It did.”
“That is not good news either. It must be able to see individual thought patterns.”
“According to the decoy’s computer, the attack it sent was precisely tuned to your pattern.”
“That’s how it got into the scout’s minds. They didn’t detect a foreign presence and continued to operate normally. It must have listened to them for a while before killing them.”
“I didn’t hear anything about that. However, it does make sense. By the way, you’ve been off the air for an hour and twenty minutes.”
“OH MY ACHING BACK! Hengel removed his armor and thought, “I’m on the way home, Averel!” Hengel winced and grabbed his head as Averel screamed at him. “LOVE, LOVE, I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF AN ASSAULT!” Averel grew silent and Hengel said, “I killed it. I’ve also collected some valuable information I need you to get to Michael.”
There was a long moment of silence and Averel sighed, “Send me what you have.”
I’m sorry about keeping you waiting. I’m shocked that you aren’t still angry.”
“I’m mated to a warrior and I need to understand that. My constant insistence that you check in could get you killed. Send me what you have.”
“Shanghai, send it.” Hengel leaned back in his chair and wondered at the brilliant mate he had in his life. He was just so lucky.
“Thank you, Hengel.” Hengel shook his head and remembered the thought blocker was off. This in and out of his armor was going to take some getting used to. But Shanghai was right, he needed the computer’s help and assistance against this new species.
“Thank you, Hengel.” Hengel laughed, “You’re welcome, Shanghai.”
• • •
“Hengel, I’ve just detected something in the barrier near that cluster the Legends are in.”
“Go to full speed and drop the decoy off in Earth orbit.” The Battle Pod came out of the barrier and the cable to the decoy was released, “Nudge, it worked like a charm. I’m leaving it in orbit and I’ll give you the details later. Something has happened in the barrier in the Legends’ Cluster.”
“You’re right. We’ve lost every barrier probe we have there.”
Hengel ended the call, “Turn around and take us back! Averel, Shanghai has detected something happening in the barrier in the Pandora Cluster. I’m turning around to go check it out.”
“Please…let me know what’s going on. I have the information and I’m assuming Shanghai is the name of your computer.”
“It is. I’ll check in shortly.” Hengel took the ship in the barrier and skipped across the universe toward the Pandora Cluster. He arrived far outside the cluster and his Battle Pod was thrown out of the barrier. “What’s going on Shanghai?”
“It appears the Legends have exploded a massive device in the barrier disrupting it inside their cluster.”
Hengel saw the galaxies in the Pandora Cluster were little more than small specks of light. Being able to sneak in undetected had now been taken away. Killing that telepath appeared to have some consequences. The telepath had probably asked the Legends not to disrupt the barrier so it could hunt intruders. Now that it was dead, the Legends decided to remove the barrier. He wondered if going after it was worth the price.
He could have just kept his thoughts blocked and used Shanghai to listen for it. But the scouts deserved their vengeance. He shook his head and turned around. He moved away from Pandora until the barrier was clear and he skipped back to Earth. The advantage had shifted back to the Legends. Now the Alliance had lost the means of traveling at super-light speed in that cluster and the Legends’ new warships were just as fast as the Battle Pods.
Now battles would be fought like the old sailing vessels on Earth. Move close and fire massive broadsides and the Legends had the Monster that could deliver far more than anything the Alliance possessed. Hengel sat straight up in his chair. If they could disrupt the barrier in their cluster…He arrived at Earth and heard the emergency frequency activate, “All ships, all ships, the barrier has been disrupted. I repeat, the barrier has been disrupted. All movement will be done in the void.” Hengel shook his head. The Legends would be coming as soon as they had their new ships.
Chapter Fifteen
The giant conference room was full. The meeting was being held on the Welken Royal Planet because the Royal had the largest facility available in the Alliance. On this one occasion, the Royal had taken his seat with the rest of the Leaders of the Alliance at the head of the giant table and notified Luke that he would lead the meeting. Luke immediately transferred it to Michael. Michael protested but Luke told him, “What am I going to say about what’s happened? This meeting is to determine what our military is going to do to respond to this new threat. That’s your domain.” Michael stared at him and then nodded.
Every officer above the rank of Commodore was seated in rows by planet on the left side of the giant room. The lead scientists and engineers were seated to the right. Along the wall behind the huge front table were specially invited guests. Jay, Josey, and Jan sat against the wall and felt very small. Jay stared at the row after row of flag officers and shook his head, “I didn’t know there was this much brass in the universe.”
Josey snickered, “I didn’t either. I knew we had a massive number of fleets but seeing that many Admirals really brings it home.” Josey looked
at Jan, “You’re being quiet.”
“I wish there were more of them.” Josey and Jay looked at each other and Jay nodded. Trust Jan to see the bigger picture. They still didn’t come close to the numbers they were going to have to face.
Michael walked in followed by Lukas and Salud. The entire room stood and began applauding them. Lukas nodded and Salud smiled at everyone. This was the first time many in the room had seen the former leader of Earth. His reputation was known throughout the four galaxies and the Leaders from the former Fellowship felt better with his being present. Luke was good but he was not his father.
The two had aged but still possessed a youthful exuberance. Michael sat down and Lukas remained standing as the applause continued. He raised his arms and motioned everyone to their seats but they continued to cheer. He shook his head, looked at Salud and waited. Finally, everyone sat down and he said, “Thank you. That is more than I deserve.” Some started clapping again and he quickly said, “Ok, maybe not.” The attendee’s laughed and Lukas said, “I think we all know why we’re here. We need to discuss how we’re going to respond to these new developments. Michael has asked me to handle this part of the meeting and I’m going to turn the floor over to each Leader to tell us what they think about these dangers facing us. We’ll start with the newest member to our Alliance and after the Audon Leader speaks, the Goran will follow.” Lukas sat down and the Audon Leader stood up.
“It took twenty hours to arrive here for this meeting where it only took a few seconds two weeks ago. Our advantage in speed has been removed as well as our ability to hide in the barrier from the Legends’ forces. Now it is going to take fifty days to arrive at the Legends’ Cluster with our fastest Warship; we are going to have to deal with a universe that just got a lot larger.”
Budge pressed the panel in front of him and Lukas said, “I have an attendee who asks to clarify something you said, High Leader.” The Audon looked at Lukas and nodded. Lukas pressed the glowing button on is panel and Budge saw his panel’s light turn green. He stood up and said, “It won’t take us fifty days to arrive. Meaning no disrespect, High Leader, but only the barrier inside our cluster has been disrupted. We can move outside the cluster in less than two days and then use the undisturbed barrier in intergalactic space to skip to the Legends’ cluster. Of course, travel inside the Legends’ cluster will be slowed to our top speed in the void but they will not be able to move any faster than our ships.”