Planet Predators

by Saxon Andrew

“So what do we do with this Jenze?”

  “You leave him on my ship until he’s well enough to get around on his own. Izzy and I will take care of him.”

  Dolly looked at Chris on her monitor and saw him nod. “Alright, that’s what we’ll do. We’ll take the reactor and see if we learn what we need and we’ll consult with the Jenze if we need him. Chris, I’m ordering one of the new ships set up for time travel to be delivered to Captain Arvolo at Dundee. When you come back, take the reactor to George and Meisa.”

  “Madam Director, I would appreciate staying with the Ninja if that meets your approval.”

  “Why is that?”

  “It has the fields needed to view the past and we need to take a look at Jenze history and see where our planet is connected to them. We need to know what happened to them.”

  “Is the Ninja big enough for the three of you?”

  “Yes it is. There are two living quarters on board but one of us will always be on duty so it should work out.”

  “Chris, do you agree with the Captain?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  Dolly looked off the screen and turned back, “Captain, you are promoted to the Rank of Rear Admiral.” She saw Arvolo start shaking his head and quickly added, “You will continue in your capacity as commander of a United Earth Warship. I’m not so dumb as to not use the talents you’ve demonstrated in combat but you are going to be given some leeway in issuing orders to ships in combat. You’ll need that rank.”

  “What about Izzy?”

  “She will be promoted to Commodore and will be your second-in-command. This is not optional and the reduction in rank clause will not hold for you because Captain is only two ranks lower than Rear Admiral, not three. Do you understand?”

  Arvolo snickered, “I guess you learned your lesson with Kenny.”

  Dolly smiled, “Yes we did. Notify me when you get home.”

  Arvolo sat in his chair with a frown on his face. Jillian entered the Bridge and asked, “What’s bothering you?”

  “They made me an Admiral.”

  “I understand your feelings. I’ve been lucky in avoiding it.”

  “Easy for you to say; now I have to start following regulations.”

  “Not really.”

  Arvolo quickly looked at Chris, “You heard her say you were going to still be piloting a ship. The only thing that changes is that when you’re involved in a fleet action you can direct the actions of the other ships. Nothing has really changed.”

  “Then can we keep this just between us?”

  “Sure, if that’s your wish.”

  “Thank you so much. I would also appreciate it if you didn’t tell Izzy.”

  Jillian giggled, “Mums the word.”

  Arvolo looked up at the central display, “The Jenze Ships are arriving.”

  Chris stared at the display and said, “I’ve had the Jukebox moving into the focused light to shorten our waiting time. Let’s see if our theft is discovered.”

  They watched as history repeated itself and nothing changed from the original event. Chris pulled up the Milky Way’s frequency and set the jump coordinates for Earth. Arvolo saw the coordinates on his board and looked up at Chris, “I thought we were going to Dundee?”

  “We are as soon as we drop the Jenze off at a Fleet Hospital. We need to get his bones repaired, which will take about ten days. We’ll leave you and Izzy there, along with the Ninja, and you can start your mission after the Jenze is able to travel.”

  Arvolo nodded, stood up, and went down to the Medical Room to relieve Izzy.

  Chapter Eleven

  Izzy and Arvolo sat in the Jenze’s room and waited for the shuttle to come and move him to the Mt. Sinai Hospital. They had been listening to the fleet network as ships reported in on their watches. Izzy had removed the IV from the Jenze’s arm an hour earlier and they saw him start to stir. Izzy came around the bed and stood looking down on the Jenze, “I don’t want him to wake up and think he’s alone.”

  Arvolo shrugged and waited. He noticed that the Jenze had black hair and a handsome face. He had a strong jaw and deep set eyes. He had a hospital robe on and appeared to be in great shape. Arvolo sighed and knew he had another flat-belly to deal with. Why is it that all military personnel were thin? He saw the Jenze open his eyes and focus on Izzy standing beside his bed. Izzy smiled, “I’ve set the bones in your legs and we’re moving you to a hospital.”

  “Izzy, he won’t be able to understand you.”

  The Jenze jerked his head in Arvolo’s direction when he spoke and then started looking around. Arvolo followed his eyes and saw he wanted something. He got up and went to the closet and took out the Jenze’s spacesuit. The Jenze saw it and looked hopeful but then slowly shook his head. Arvolo reached back in the closet and took out the Jenze’s helmet. The Jenze’s eyes went wide and he motioned Arvolo over. Arvolo examined the Helmet and didn’t see any weapons. He handed it to the Jenze and he immediately reached inside and began unsnapping something. He pulled out a headband with a circular piece of metal about the size of a silver dollar on it. He put it on his head and closed his eyes.

  “What do you think he’s doing?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “I’m learning your language.”

  Izzy and Arvolo jerked at the Jenze’s statement and Izzy stepped back away from the bed. Arvolo looked at the Jenze and said, “That device you took out of your helmet must be a translator.”

  The Jenze opened his eyes and smiled, “It is. I’m glad it’s been active and listening to your communication device for the last few….uh….hours. It was active during our battle with the invaders in hopes that we could learn their language and listen to their plans. It’s collected enough of your language for me to understand some of what you say.”

  “Do you know what happened to you?”

  “I had one of the reactors pin my legs. I was fortunate it didn’t break the seal on my suit or I would have died. What happened to the rest of my crew?”

  “The ones that were still alive jumped away in lifeboats.”

  The Jenze was silent for a moment and stared at them. “It appears your crewmembers thought you were dead. When the reactor room lost pressure, I’m sure they thought you were killed.”

  “I put my suit on after I went in.” The Jenze stared at them again, “Who are you? I don’t recognize your uniforms. Were you part of the fleet sent to break the bombardment?”

  Arvolo looked at Izzy and she shrugged. He looked back at the Jenze and said, “I’m struggling with what to tell you. I’m afraid if I tell you the truth, you’ll think both of us are insane but I don’t think it’s good to start a relationship with deception.”

  “You’re not members of my people?”

  “No, we aren’t.”

  “Are you the ones that attacked my planet?”

  “No, we are not your enemy.”

  “Then who are you?”

  “Before I answer, I want to show you something; is that alright with you?”

  The Jenze nodded and Arvolo picked up his tablet and connected it to the wall display with a wireless connection. Izzy raised the head of the bed so the Jenze could see the display and wondered what Arvolo was going to show him. Arvolo pushed a button and the Jenze saw the two silver ships fire on his battleship. The nose blew off and the huge ship turned toward the moon’s surface.

  “That’s my ship. I left the landing bay and went to the reactors to shut them down after we were hit.”

  The Jenze continued to watch and saw the ship crash on the moon’s surface. “I didn’t know we were going to hit the moon. The crash is what caused the reactor to pin my legs.” The Jenze then saw the silver ship crash not far away.

  “What I’m going to do now is fast forward this recording so you can see what happened after your crash.”

  The Jenze watched and saw his planet destroyed and the silver ships jump away. He was obviously in distress over the destruction of his home and continued to
watch as the lifeboats jumped away. After a long pause he watched the twenty Jenze Battleships arrive. His eyes widened and watched as they sent shuttles down to the silver ship and start searching the wreckage. When the shuttles lifted Arvolo put the recording at normal speed. The Jenze watched as the Jenze battleships fired and burned both of the derelict ships on the moon. The Jenze turned his gaze to Arvolo, “They didn’t come to my ship?”

  “No, they didn’t.”

  “If they didn’t come to my ship, how am I still alive?”

  “We came to your ship in the time between the silver ships jumping away and your battleship’s arrival.”

  “But I didn’t see you on the recording.”

  Arvolo stared at the Jenze and said, “We didn’t come the first time your ship was destroyed; we came the second.”

  “I don’t understand. Who are you?”

  “I don’t know how but we are your descendents. We come from more than sixty million years in your future and we were looking for a reactor from one of your battleships to make our ships more powerful. We saw the opportunity to take one from your ship and went back in time during the two days after the silver ships left and before yours arrived. While taking the reactor, we found you and decided we couldn’t leave you there to die.”

  The Jenze stared at Arvolo and then looked at Izzy, “You say you’re my descendents; where are my people?”

  “They no longer exist. They disappeared sometime in the distant past and no one knows why. I am going to find out soon and wonder if you want to go see with me.”

  “You were right the first time; I think you’re insane. This whole idea is ridiculous.”

  “I thought you would. However, I can rest easy because I know I was truthful with you.”

  “Am I a prisoner?”

  “Yes. Until we decide what to do with you but for the next ten days we’re going to put you in a regeneration tank and heal your broken legs. Once you’re healthy, we’ll meet again and have another talk. The first order of business is to take care of your injuries. Will you agree to wait until we have that conversation before you do anything rash?”

  “In other words, you don’t want me to attempt to escape.”

  “I know that sounds like too much to ask but we saved your life. If we wished you harm we would have just left you in your ship.”

  “You could have put me out in the open where I could be found.”

  “If we did, then the future would have been changed. I hope you’ll think about that and see if there was any way other than taking you with us that would have not changed the future.”

  The Medical Team came into the room with a gravity sled and the Jenze didn’t say anything. They put him on the sled and strapped him in. The Jenze was carried out and Arvolo saw he had his eyes closed. Izzy sighed, “We have a team of Alphas guarding him.”

  “I know. I just hate we have to do it. That young man is more alone than anyone in this universe. His whole existence has been swept away.”

  “He’s not alone, RV.” Arvolo looked at her and she said, “He has us.”

  Arvolo tilted his head and nodded, “Let’s go with him to the hospital.”

  * * *

  Dolly was looking at George on her display, “Did the reactor give you what you needed?”

  “As a matter of fact it did. We are changing the fuel in our ships as we speak and our current reactors can be modified to handle the additional power.”

  “You look like something’s bothering you.”

  “One thing the Jenze reactor has that we don’t is a control panel that switched the power delivery faster than we can. The circuit board that controlled that was damaged when the reactor tipped over and we can’t determine how it worked. We could really use that bit of information but the additional power will make a huge difference.”

  “Did you know that Captain Arvolo is of the opinion that the Jenze is the Officer responsible for the reactors on the battleship?”

  George leaned back, “Have you been able to question the Jenze?”

  “Not yet. He appears to be somewhat hostile to us and refuses to believe we took him from the past.”

  “That’s a shame. Maybe we can change his mind.” George paused and leaned forward, “What do you think about the Jenze being identical to us?”

  Dolly sighed, “George, that revelation has me scratching my head. If we are Jenze descendents, then something had to happen about a quarter of a million years ago to get them on Earth. There is no evidence of Homo sapiens further back than that. The Alliance operates on the belief that they disappeared long before that time.”

  “Could they have arrived earlier but left no evidence of their presence?”

  “I guess anything’s possible but that means they deliberately removed any clues they were here. That just doesn’t sound right.”

  “And that Jenze wouldn’t know because we took him from a time long before that could have happened.” Dolly nodded and George said, “Keep me informed about what you find out. We’re going to full production now and I’ll be too busy to keep track.”

  “I’ll send you anything we learn.” George nodded and the display went dark. Dolly leaned over and put her chin on her hand. “There is one other possibility but if it’s true, should we pursue it?. The ramifications were too serious to consider if that was what happened. Should I stop any further looks into the past?” Dolly sat up and took a deep breath. “No not yet. Something wiped out the Jenze. We need to know what did it.”

  * * *

  Gretchen Logan moved her ship in towards the Moet Planet and one of their battle cruisers came out to meet her. Gretchen activated her communication panel and said, “I need to speak with your leader.”

  She stopped outside the orbit of the third moon and waited. After fifteen minutes her panel lit up and she heard, “I understand that you wish to speak with me.”

  “I do. I’ve been ordered to pass along some information.”

  “What is that?”

  “We will no longer allow the Alliance to attack your planets or your ships. We have visited their Capital and the Leaders of the Alliance have agreed to no longer wage war against you.”

  “Now that is interesting. Thank you.”

  “There’s more.”

  “Oh.”

  “You will also no longer attack the Alliance Planets or their ships.” The Moet Master was silent. Gretchen waited and after an extremely long pause said, “I know you don’t like being told what to do by anyone else and you will probably ignore this when your colonists return. My leaders thought it was important that you understand our position on this before we destroy all of your ships.”

  “Do you think you can carry out that threat?”

  “It’s not really a threat.”

  “Then just what would you call it?”

  “A factual statement. Your species have your priorities all out of order. Do you think you strengthen yourself by warring with the Alliance?”

  The Master’s thoughts were derailed by the question and after thinking about it replied, “The Alliance represents no threat to us.”

  “How many of your ships have been destroyed by the Alliance within the last cycle?”

  The Master knew that more than four hundred had been destroyed before the Masters began using Dreadnaughts but he wasn’t going to reveal that piece of information.

  Gretchen again waited and finally said, “If it was only one, you’re one ship weaker. We know that our galaxy is threatened by forces from another galaxy. We only make it easier for them to destroy us by fighting among ourselves. I’m not bragging when I tell you that this small ship can kill any ship you choose to send against it. We will defend you against all outside invasions but we will also defend the Alliance. We really don’t care if you choose to ignore our warning but we feel you should know.”

  The Moet watched the small ship turn and accelerate towards the outer system. He pulled a disc out of his board and turned to the Watcher, “Send
this with the material collected from the attacks.”

  The Watcher nodded and added a copy of the conversation to the file. It hoped his planet would never get the attention of those small white ships. Knowing the Ruling Masters, that hope didn’t stand much of a chance of surviving.

  * * *

  Arvolo and Izzy waited in the Jenze’s hospital room for him to regain consciousness. The doctors said that he was due to awake and they wanted to be present. “Are they through with the Ninja?”

  Arvolo nodded, “The reactors have been updated and the drive systems completed to handle the increased pressures.”

  “What about the weapons?”

  “They were completed first. They had to increase the ship’s size and they added another sleeping quarters. According to Dr. Levin it is now stronger than the former Jukebox Class ships. It seems like our technology is exploding.”

  “Yes, but it’s not from science we’ve discovered. Most of the advancements are from things taken from the Alliance and Jenze.”

  Arvolo tilted his head to the left and nodded, “You’re right but the important thing to remember is that we stole the idea and improved on it. Our new reactor is tremendously stronger than anything the Jenze had. We almost believe that we can take on a Blue Giant Battleship with our newest battleship. I’ve volunteered us to go trial it in their galaxy but was refused.”

  Izzy started giggling and then laughed out loud, “There you go picking a fight.”

  Arvolo swelled up but then smiled, “Yeah, I guess I am.” They heard a moan and both of them stood up and went to the Jenze. He was starting to move and several doctors came rushing in the room. Arvolo and Izzy stepped back and the doctors looked at the display on the tank where the Jenze was suspended. One nodded and they pressed a button that released the fluid out of the tank. They then spun it horizontal and slid the board the Jenze was now laying on out of the container and started drying him with towels. They dressed him in a fleet coverall and the Jenze opened his eyes and winced.

  “Is he ok, Doctor?”

  “Yes, our readouts say his legs are mended and the muscles have not lost any strength during the regeneration.”