by Saxon Andrew
* * *
The Leaders watched the carnage on the table’s display and the First looked at the fifth, “How much energy is in those beams?”
“They are off the scale and our newest ships would not survive a hit.”
The First turned back to the table and continued to observe the battle.
* * *
RV saw that there were only five hundred and twenty three ships still chasing and he said, “Release the Attack Needles. Have them reform after their strikes.”
“What are you planning to do?”
“I intend to jump away after the Needles complete their runs.”
Chris looked at the display and said, “We can probably destroy all of those ships.”
“Yes, but then we take the role of an aggressor. Right now we are only defending ourselves. What role do you prefer if we can open communications?”
“Won’t killing more ships with the Needles do the same thing?”
“No, not really. They need to see that they stand no chance against us and killing them with the Needles is something they need to witness.”
Chris shrugged and said, “Carry on, Admiral.”
* * *
Cyanna and sixty more Attack Needles accelerated towards the incoming Blue Giants and selected their two targets. They flew inside five hundred miles and released their Strikers. They immediately turned and accelerated back to their mother ships and took up stations in the defensive pattern. The entire front of the incoming Giants exploded.
RV punched the com and said, “Jump in four seconds.” All of the Needles and three main ships saw the coordinates on their boards and they disappeared from normal space together. The four hundred surviving Blue Giant Battleships did not chase the ships. They knew that to do so was sure death. The Military Leader in charge of the attack felt fear for his Home.
* * *
The Leaders stood around the table and were silent. The Seventh Leader said, “I have opened the frequency that those ships have been using to contact us. Do you want to hear what they are saying?”
The other Leaders looked at the Seventh and the First said, “Yes.”
* * *
Chris waited for five minutes to see if they had been followed by the Blue Giant Survivors and looked at RV. RV shrugged and said, “Now would be a good time, Sir.”
Chris activated his board and said, “I apologize for the destruction of your fleet. It was not our intention to come here and kill any of your ships. I simply want to have a peaceful conversation.”
The First Leader looked around the table and said, “Seventh, you will speak with them and we will listen.” The Seventh leaned back in shock and the First said, “You wanted us to communicate and we chose not to follow your advice. You are best suited for this conversation.”
The Seventh leaned forward and activated the frequency, “If you did not desire to kill our ships, you could have jumped away and avoided the attack.”
Chris jumped up in his chair and saw the entire Bridge Crew was startled at the response. He said, “If we had done that, would you have then communicated with me?”
The Seventh leaned back and said, “Probably not. I suppose this battle was necessary to get our attention.”
“It’s a shame that it always ends up with ships being destroyed before any progress can be made.”
“I’m not sure what you mean by that. Killing the ships of other species is how progress is measured. If they have ships, they must be destroyed.”
“I suppose you do that to defend yourself?”
“That is exactly the reason. If a species has star ships, they will ultimately end up attacking others.”
“Have you ever encountered another species that didn’t end up attacking?”
The Seventh looked at the other Leaders and saw their confusion, “That would be impossible to answer. None of the ones we encountered were given the opportunity to demonstrate that behavior.”
“So you kill them all and don’t have to worry about it?”
“Exactly, just as you would.”
“No, we wouldn’t do that.”
The Seventh was silent and looked at the others. What kind of remark was this being making?
Chris waited and said, “We do not attack another species unless it represents a clear and present danger to us.”
“If they have space travel, they are a clear danger.”
“Is that why you were invading our galaxy? You planned to destroy any civilization that had space travel?”
“We were actually going to destroy any industrialized civilization. They didn’t need to have space flight.”
“If that’s the way you operate, then our attempt to communicate must have really caused you some confusion.”
“Yes, it did. We assumed you were here to threaten us before you attacked. We are too busy to listen to threats.”
“Actually, I’m here to try and persuade you not to invade my galaxy.”
“Now that we’ve seen your ships, how could we possibly ignore the threat you represent?”
“Well, using your view, we would just come here and destroy you.”
“We’re confused about why you haven’t come to do just that.”
“Allow me to ask you a question.”
“Go ahead.”
“It may necessitate you to look at things differently from your normal view.”
“Go ahead.”
“If a species was going to attack my galaxy and then attack yours, what would be the most favorable action the two of us could take?”
The Leaders looked at each other and the Seventh finally said, “I guess we would wait for you to be destroyed and then meet the invader in your galaxy.”
Chris smiled, “I want you to really think about this. If that invader could destroy our ships, what chance would you have against them?”
“Probably none.”
“Now consider this, what if both of us joined together and fought the invader together?”
The Leaders looked at each other and didn’t know how to answer.
Chris waited and said, “Would our chances of survival be greater if we did that?”
The Seventh said, “Logic says they would.”
Chris said, “We have gathered evidence that our galaxy has been invaded more than thirty times over the last fifty million years by species from the large ball shaped galaxy in our quadrant of space. You have also invaded us twice during that time. I also suspect that four million years ago your galaxy was invaded and destroyed.”
The First spoke out, “How do you know that? Those ships came from your galaxy.”
“No they did not. They destroyed the most powerful civilization in our galaxy then left to conquer your galaxy after their conquest. The invaders did not come from our galaxy. Our history shows that the ships that came here were violet colored and used a common force field around their fleets.”
The First looked at the others and a view on the table appeared showing the ships that had come and caused massive destruction. They were all violet in color.
Chris said, “We are not your enemy. The Species that attacked us is your real enemy and I believe it will return and do it again starting with my galaxy. However, it is also possible they could start with you since they probably see you as the larger threat now.”
“How could they possibly think that? Your ships are much more powerful than ours.”
“That’s true, but we have only used them three times. You have sent massive fleets against my galaxy and I’m sure they saw that happen.”
“Why haven’t they returned?”
“It is my belief that the huge galaxy, we call it M87, is a very dangerous place to exist. I suspect there is constant warfare and the species can only come during lulls in the wars. They are now four million years more advanced and who know how powerful they have become. The reason they only destroyed the most powerful civilization is they couldn’t afford to have their ships away too long; which means th
ere are other civilizations there that are just as powerful.”
The Leaders looked at each other and the Seventh said, “We need some time to consider this. We will contact you in three days.”
Chris said, “I’ll be waiting for your contact.”
* * *
The Fleet Controller looked at his board and saw the massive destruction done by the attack. He had lost more than ten thousand ships but the Kelleg had lost three times that number. He stared at the display and sent the results to the Central Hive. It would be many cycles before they could return. He knew they would not remove ships from their sphere of influence to continue the attack. It would take a while before they could build new ships to replace those he had destroyed. Perhaps now would be a good time to do some universe cleaning. The Fleet Controller turned his violet colored ship and jumped back to the Hive. It was good to be located out on the edge of the galaxy. The Kelleg were the only ones in the interior that could threaten the hive and any invader would have to go through them first. The only other danger was from other galaxies beyond the edge of the Hive. Those threats could now be dealt with.
Chapter Sixteen
The Leaders connected mentally and thought about the conversation. They kept going back to their old patterns and the Seventh finally interrupted their pattern, “This is not something that fits the old patterns.”
The others paused and the First said, “What are you saying?”
“I’ve often wondered where the violet colored ships were when we invaded the closest galaxy. We could never find them and we know they were more powerful than any species we found there. Am I wrong in that view?”
The consensus said, “No, you are right.”
“So if they didn’t come from that galaxy we have to ask, where did they come from? If that being is right about them being attacked first, we have been wasting our efforts invading there. We’ve never discovered a civilization that could come close to standing up to our ships.”
“Until now?”
“Yes, until now. We need to find out where they were during our invasions. However, if this being is telling the truth, they are not our main concern. We are charged with defending the Home and if we weaken our ships attacking them, we fail in our duty.”
“How can we not attack them now?”
“Because there is another species that is more dangerous than they are; there is no way we can take them both on and survive. Do you not see that?”
“Stronger civilizations always attack the weaker. That’s how the universe works.”
“If that is an absolute, why are they talking instead of attacking us?”
“Perhaps we need to ask them.”
The other Leaders turned to the Fifth and he said, “I think we need to look at this as an exception to what we’ve learned and try to make decisions based on the facts we uncover. Are we able to do that?”
The First thought and said, “I don’t know. This is outside of our experience.”
“We need to allow the Seventh to continue our communications.”
The others all leaned forward and the First said, “Are you ready to continue?”
The Seventh stood straight showing his indecision and said, “All of you are much more experienced than me.”
The Second said, “That is why you are the right choice. You are not locked up in a fixed pattern of thought. We cannot say the same about us.”
The Seventh leaned slightly forward indicating his reluctant acceptance and pressed the table.
“Are you ready to continue our conversation?”
* * *
Only one day had passed and Arvolo pressed the board and said, “Stand by for just a moment.” He hit the intercom and yelled, “Admiral Connor, the Blue Giant Leaders are on the com.”
Chris arrived three minutes later just behind Jillian who had outrun him again. Arvolo pointed at the communication panel on the left display and Chris saw the blue light illuminated. He sat down in his command chair, took a deep breath, looked around the bridge, and pressed the send button, “I apologize for the delay. I thought you were not going to communicate until later.”
“We have some questions.”
“What are they?”
“Why have we not discovered you in our invasions? You are obviously the most advanced civilization in your galaxy. How did we miss you?”
“We were still living in caves when you last invaded. We had not even discovered electricity.”
The Leaders all looked at each other and the Seventh saw their doubt. “I don’t think that is possible.”
“Consider this. If you lived in a civilization that had developed space travel around your solar system and a ship was discovered that had a star drive and weapons. Would you be able to duplicate it?”
“Probably but not easily.”
“My planet was invaded by an advanced civilization more than five thousand years ago and we were able to take some of their advanced technology. We have developed our ships from that theft and actually improved on it. We have also been able to acquire other technological advances from other civilizations that have been destroyed by the numerous attacks on our galaxy. Less than eight years ago, we did not possess a stardrive.”
The Leaders all looked at each other and wondered if what they heard could possibly be true. They turned to the Seventh and he asked, “Are you asking us to believe that you have developed your ships in less than eight years?”
“I’m not going to be untruthful with you. That’s exactly what happened.”
“Why are you reluctant to be deceptive?”
“Because I hope we can make some agreements you can trust we’ll keep.”
“So making agreements is why you came here to communicate?”
“Exactly so.”
“I don’t feel an agreement is possible.”
“Why not?”
“Because stronger civilizations always destroy weaker ones.”
“We are not here to destroy you.”
“That has us confused. You don’t seem to follow the accepted pattern.”
“Maybe it’s because we don’t accept that pattern. We are not your enemy and actually hope your civilization survives and thrives forever. We want to work with you against a common enemy but even if you do not agree, will not attack you unless you attempt another invasion.”
“That invasion could happen a million years from now.”
“Then we won’t attack you for a million years. We do not view you as a threat. I want you to consider how much more powerful we will be a million years from now. If we’ve come this far in a very short time, what does that say about our future?”
“That is what has us concerned. If we don’t attempt to eliminate you now, we may not be able to ever do it.”
“You’re still locked up in the Predator/Prey pattern. It’s a shame you are so constricted.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because you can never be trusted to keep an agreement; you are forced to be deceptive to ultimately attack anyone else. Your agreements would be worthless.”
“Are you not also bound by the same pattern?”
“We have never been attacked and destroyed by another species. Our civilization is too young so we are not suspicious of every other species. I guess you can say that we hope that not every species is a predator. However, I can make an agreement and keep it.”
“I’m not sure that’s true.”
“Well there is something we are going to do whatever you decide.”
“What is that?”
“You now have this frequency to contact us. If you are ever attacked again and you call us, we will come to help you against the attacker.”
The Leaders were struck silent and after a long silence the Seventh said, “Even though we are working to be able to destroy you.”
“Yes, even though.”
“Why?”
“Because you did choose to communicate with us and that gives us hope that you wi
ll someday see that we are being honest with you. We are not a threat to your galaxy, we are not your enemy, and I dare use the term that perhaps one day we will be your friends.”
The Leaders were totally confused. The Seventh finally asked, “How can we ever trust what you’re saying?”
“Not by words but by deeds. I am going to share something with you about your ships that you need to know. Your battleships will lose more than forty percent of the power in their force fields and beams if they are made to make a long jump or chase an enemy for longer than an hour. I would recommend that you trial my observation with one of your ships and you will discover that I’m being honest. If you are going to build better ships you will have to remove that weakness.”
“Why are you telling us this?”
“We are going to have to face another invasion from that giant galaxy in our future and if we can’t defeat them, we hope you will be able to do it. They are the real danger to us all and I hope you can understand that, if nothing else.” Chris looked at Jillian and she nodded. “Thank you for communicating with us and we do wish you success and survival. We are going back to our galaxy and if you need to talk with us in the future you have the frequency to contact us.” Chris terminated the call.
* * *
The Leaders stood and thought about what they had just heard. The Seventh said, “See if what he told us is true.”
The First contacted the Military and ordered the trial. One ship jumped out of the galaxy and waited while the second went to high speed and flew through green space for an hour. It emerged and fired at the waiting ship.
The Leaders waited and opened the channel when the first ship reported in. “What did you discover?”
“The beams are reduced to fifty percent power for ten seconds after entry into normal space.”
The Leaders all looked at each other and the Seventh said, “Those ships didn’t have to run from our fleet. They could have destroyed more than sixty percent of them when they emerged. The other ships would have been easily destroyed afterwards.”
“Why do you think they shared this information with us?”
“I now believe that they were being honest. If they are willing to help a known enemy, then the threat they believe is coming is real to them. If they were being honest in all that they said, we should consider what that would mean to our future defense of the Home.”