by Saxon Andrew
He looked over at Cyanna screaming at one of the Battleship commanders about losing their place in the fleet weave. He stared at her and wondered at how beautiful she was. The new responsibility seemed to give her an energy that shone through her. She was focused and determined that her fleet was going to be the best. So far she had held up her end. She had beaten both of the other fleets in the last exercise. He had also learned that she had begun an accelerated command course for the officers that demonstrated talent. She had the Battleships Commanders take turns with their executive officers in the maneuvers. She kept the list of the best with her at all times. She had also demoted and replaced eight of the Captains. That made the others quite nervous about not keeping up.
RV had told Kenny what she was doing and he began his own list. Kenny told Bob and the maneuvers became a lot more competitive. They were making progress but Arvolo knew that space battles, like bar room brawls, never went according to plan.
Cyanna saw Arvolo staring at her and turned and said, “What?”
RV smiled and said, “I was just thinking how far you’ve come since that training day.”
Cyanna smiled, “It seems like it was years ago.”
RV nodded.
Cyanna stared at Arvolo and said, “What are you doing next shift?”
“I think I’m going to be sitting here watching the next shifts maneuvers.”
“What about taking a shuttle over to the China Star and getting a bite to eat?”
RV smiled, “Are you asking me out?”
Cyanna smiled, “I believe I am. What about it?”
RV thought about Maria and then said, “Call me when the shuttle’s ready.”
Cyanna nodded and turned back to her display. RV took quick glances at her and wondered what she wanted. Oh well, she’d tell him later.
Cyanna tried to focus on the current maneuvers but felt her heart beating faster and smiled with anticipation of the coming evening.
Chapter Eighteen
The Messenger entered the room and waited at an appropriate distance. The First saw him and stopped what he was doing to see what information was being delivered. The Messenger leaned forward and said, “We have received a recording on the frequency that those strange ships use to contact us.”
“Show me what you have.” The Messenger played the recording and the First absorbed it and felt immediate tension. “Did they have any comments associated with this?”
“They did not.”
“Notify me if anything comes in.”
The Messenger leaned back in respect and moved smoothly out of the room.
The other Leaders waited and felt the First’s apprehension. He moved to the table and played the video for the others.
The Seventh said, “They’re coming back.”
“It appears they are.”
The Second added, “We’re not ready.”
The First looked at the Fifth and ordered, “Launch the Colonies immediately.”
“Do you think that’s needed?”
“Review the video and pay close attention to the power of their force fields.”
After a moment the Third said, “I will start them moving.”
The Seventh said, “One piece of information included with that recording was the frequency of the Violet Ships. We should move our fleet to the outer edge of our Galaxy and scan for any of their scouts that arrive. We need to prevent them from attacking our most important planets.”
The First looked at the Seventh and asked, “Why are they assisting us?”
“I believe they are being honest. They do not view us as their real enemy and any enemy of the Violet Ships is an ally. They would help us under those circumstances even if we don’t accept them as a friend.”
“So you don’t think they would attack us if the Violet Ships were removed as a threat?”
“They said they would not.” The Seventh saw the tension in the First and quickly added, “I recognize that this violates all that we have learned about survival patterns but in a universe this big, there is a possibility that such a species does exist. This is just more evidence to support their claims.”
The other Six thought about the idea and the First said, “Send them a message and thank them for the information.”
“You know the Violet Ships will go to their Galaxy first.”
“If what they said is true, you are probably right. What do you think they are doing?”
“I don’t know but I will ask.”
“Do you think they will tell you?”
“If they do, we need to really think about our plans concerning them.”
“We’ll see.”
* * *
A week later the Seventh said, “They are sending all of their ships with stardrives out of their galaxy to make it appear that there are no advanced civilizations there. They seem to think that if they are successful, the Violet Ships will bypass them and come here.”
The Leaders thought and then the First asked, “Can we do the same thing?”
“Those beings seem to think that it will not work with us.”
“Why?”
“Because we have invaded the other galaxy with massive numbers of ships several times in the past and there is a great possibility that it was seen by the Violet Ships.”
“Do they have any evidence to support that position?”
“They have found a small probe between our two galaxies that operates on the frequency of the Violet Ships. They say it can track trails in Green Space and it has been there since their last invasion. They gave me the coordinates of the probe and our Military has confirmed its existence.”
“Wouldn’t it have tracked their ships when they came here?”
“They say their ships don’t leave trails.”
The First stared at the Seventh until he said, “The Military has also confirmed that they left no trails when they jumped away.”
The Fifth asked, “What if we sent huge numbers of our ships to their galaxy to make the invaders believe there is advanced cultures there?”
The Seventh leaned back showing his disagreement, “Then we lose their help and the probe will see that the ships came from here. It would not help us to do that and would probably bring them here faster.”
“Do you think they will help us if we call them?”
“I honestly don’t know. I know I wouldn’t if I were in their place.”
“Neither would I; we’ll have to handle this on our own. Let’s hope we have enough time to save our populations.”
“The first wave of Colony Ships has left and the second will soon be ready.”
“Good.”
* * *
The First leaned forward and thought to the group, “I am glad we made you one of us, Seventh. If you have any other thoughts, share them quickly. I don’t think we have much time before they attack.”
The Seventh leaned forward showing his agreement.
* * *
RV and Cyanna sat at a small table in the Officers Club on board the China Star. The Colony Ship was huge and contained the entire staff from the Fleet Academy as well as all the sailors being trained for the new ships. Two other Colony Ships were transferring the munitions needed for the newly arriving Battleships and were in view outside the clear view port in the restaurant.
“Those ships are huge.”
“They’re still not as big as a Blue Giant Battleship.”
Cyanna smiled, “That’s true but they are larger than any other ship in our Navy.”
RV looked off in the distance and said, “I wonder what a Blue Giant Colony Ship would look like?”
“Do you think they have any?”
RV shrugged, “I have no idea. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did.”
“Then they probably do; your hunches are usually right.”
RV stared at Cyanna. They had finished their meal and were slowly drinking their wine. RV said, “Cyanna, why did you want me to come here?”
Cyanna tu
rned red and said, “You are also quite blunt in your questions.”
“I’m sorry; I just wondered what’s on your mind. I assumed you had something you wanted me to do for you.”
Cyanna stared at RV and said, “You really have no idea, do you?”
“Well…no, I don’t”
Cyanna thought about it and decided that being vague was not the right way to open their conversation. She smiled and said, “I happen to have a crush on you and I was hoping I could convince you to spend a little time with me.”
Arvolo stared at her and showed his shock.
“Do you have a problem with a subordinate making a pass?”
RV said, “Have you taken a good look at me? I’m over weight, my hair is thinning, and I’m not much to look at. You on the other hand are one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. What in this universe would attract you to someone like me?”
“Come on, RV. You’re selling yourself short.”
“No, I’m not. I know what I look like and I have never been someone that would attract anyone.”
“You attracted a wife.”
RV’s expression changed immediately, “She loved me for other reasons.”
“Just as I am attracted to you.” RV stared to respond but she quickly continued, “When I was in the fifth grade I had a young man tell me he thought I was the most beautiful person he had ever seen. RV, he was truly ugly and was the brunt of many insulting remarks. I thanked him and ran away.”
“What are you saying, Cyanna?”
“Our teacher assigned a group project for my class and no one would volunteer to work with Jimmy. I told her I would do it. I could just see his misery and didn’t want him to have another insult thrown at him. We started working on the project and I discovered that Jimmy was the smartest person I had ever encountered. He came up with ideas that I would have never thought of and fascinated me with what he knew.”
She paused and RV nodded for her to continue.
“The funny thing about that project was that when we started I saw Jimmy as being hard to look at. As we worked together he became more and more pleasing to be around. By the time we finished he was beautiful. I no longer saw his appearance; I saw the wonderful person he was and I chose to spend as much time as I could with him. By the end of the year, I loved him.”
“Where is he now?”
“He died two years later. He had a rare genetic disorder called Acromegaly. It’s extremely rare in children but Jimmy had it. It causes the one that has it to be disfigured and that is what caused Jimmy’s appearance to be so bad. It is a disease of the brain and in Jimmy’s case, the pituitary gland that caused it developed cancer and he died young.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“RV, I’ve never been one that is attracted by one’s appearance. Jimmy taught me to look for the person and I’ve never forgotten that lesson. You absolutely amaze me and I have wanted to get to know you since that day in the training room. I know about the loss of your family and I’m not asking you to have a formal relationship with me. I just want you to take some time for me to get to know you better.”
RV saw she was serious. “You may find that I’m not all that you think I am.”
“And if I do, we’ll part ways and still be friends.”
Cyanna reached across the table and took one of RV’s hands in hers, “Come on; you’ve got nothing to lose.”
RV looked down at her hands and took his other hand and placed it on hers, “This is frightening but I’ll give it a go as long as you’re honest about your feelings if I run you off.”
Cyanna smiled, “I am the one concerned about losing you. I already know how I feel about you.”
Cyanna came around the table and joined RV on his side of the booth. She lifted his arm and put it over her shoulders and they sat there staring out of the port at the three huge Colony Ships. Neither spoke but just sat and enjoyed the other’s presence. After two hours they left holding hands. RV’s world had suddenly changed. The next day held excitement instead of just being another day after another.
* * *
The Command Team was gathered in the Central Data Center in London. Arnold was there representing the Government and was having the meeting sent to the United Earth Center in China. Arnold stood and said, “Who would like to start the discussion?”
Dolly said, “I think Chris should begin. What do you think about the Blue Giant’s response to our message?”
“They still don’t trust us to keep our word. They thanked me for the information but they still view us as an adversary.”
Hemon said, “I can understand why. They have survived by being predators all these millions of years. Now that they know we are more powerful than they are, they must be afraid of us. It’s just like our former fear of the Alliance and Moet.”
George nodded, “Their pattern of survival must be almost instinctive. It would be almost impossible to break it and take a new course.”
Dolly looked at Chris, “Should we allow the Violet Ships to destroy them?”
“No.”
Arnold leaned forward in his chair, “I’m not sure I agree with you. Why shouldn’t we allow their destruction?”
“Because we would be the only one left to face them in the future. I’d rather have an enemy that is proven to be weaker than us to share that attention.”
George shrugged and said, “I agree with Chris. Do we have any information about when they might be coming?”
Dolly looked at her display, “The latest view from Zack and Isadore shows that more than eighty percent of their Main Battleships have been provisioned. We’ve also seen a huge number of small ships being provisioned at another of their main planets. They will be finished within two months at the current rate of transferring provisions.”
George said, “Well, it’s at least a good thing that they have taken so much time preparing. If they give us another month, we should get another three hundred ships launched.”
Jeff looked at his board, “The three fleets are now up to three hundred each. That will raise their ship count to four hundred. What about the Needles?”
“We’ve been slowed by making room for additional Needles in the ships hulls. The three hundred new ships will be able to carry a hundred and eighty each.”
Chris whistled, “That’s three times the number of the first ships.”
“Yes it is. We’ve been able to increase the number of launch tubes to sixty with three Needles in each.”
Dolly looked at Chris and said, “Make sure Zack keeps us current on their activities.”
“I will. I think we need to start moving all of our stardrive ships out of the galaxy. We don’t need to wait until the last minute.”
Arnold nodded and said, “The Government will support your decisions. I agree that we should start moving them now.”
Dolly looked at Hemon, “Will you notify the Alliance and Jeff, will you notify the Moet.”
They nodded and Dolly said, “Let’s go make it happen. I hope we’re able to deceive them.”
The group stood and left the room. Dolly remained behind and worried about what would happen if someone didn’t move all their ships.
* * *
The Fleet Controller looked at the status of his ships and sent for the Scout Controller. He finished his meal as the Controller entered his cell, “My ships will be ready in four segments. Where are you with your provisions?”
“My last hundred ships will be completed in one turn.”
Move those that are ready to the launch location and wait for the final ships to join you there. Have you given them their assignments?”
“Yes, I have.”
“This preparation has taken too long. Make large scans and do it quickly. I’m more worried about that second galaxy and don’t want to be delayed. The Hive Controller senses that the Kelleg are building at a faster pace than before. We cannot waste time.”
The Scout Controller waved his antennae and
left the cell.
* * *
Izzy rewound the scan and saw thousands of small Violet Ships forming up into long lines just outside the edge of M87. She activated her George Communicator, “The Scouts are forming up. They’ll be arriving shortly.”
“Take the Ninja and join the Fleet.”
Zack looked at Izzy and said, “I hope this works.”
“We’ll soon know.”
* * *
The word went out and the Alliance, the Moet, and Humans waited for the arrival of the Scouts and hoped against hope that they would be left alone by the coming invaders. Dolly contacted George, “They’re forming up. You need to go into hiding.”
“Already there, Sis.”
“I’ll keep you informed of their searches.”
“I’ll be tracking them as well.”
“Is that wise?”
“Even if they hear our communications, they’ll have no way to determine where they are originating. We should be ok. Just hold the number down to a minimum.”
“I’ll do exactly that. Good luck.”
* * *
Commodore Aman Forester sat in his Needle under an outcrop of iron ore on a moon circling a planet circling a neutron star. The force field was on at maximum to prevent any power from being seen. The harsh radiation for the Neutron Star masked the force field. A ship would have to actually enter the system to have a chance of finding the small ship. That wasn’t likely; the Scouts would be looking for advanced civilizations and ignoring those stars that couldn’t support life. Aman had his George Communicator’s antenna in Sierra Space at passive receive and it would be next to impossible to detect. He would see a Violet Scout approaching long before it could find him. He waited and set up his display to show the movements of the Scouts when they arrived. He settled in and waited. According to Fleet, he wouldn’t have to wait long. He had every planet in the galaxy that had a civilization plotted on his board and it was set to alarm if a scout stopped to do a full survey. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Better get some sleep now. There might not be much later.
* * *