by Saxon Andrew
The Scout Controller arrived at the edge of the spiral galaxy and stared at how beautiful it was. He looked at his maps and activated his communicator, “All of you have your assignments. I want a quick scan for stardrives. If you find a civilization that doesn’t have interstellar capability, don’t waste your time. We’re looking for any species that could represent a danger to the Hive and if they don’t have the ability to jump in No-Space, then they are not a danger. You will commence your search…Now!”
The two hundred thousand small violet colored ships had spread out along the Milky Way’s rim such that they were separated by a thousand light years. Their scanners would overlap so there was little chance that a civilization would be missed. The long line disappeared.
* * *
Aman’s alarm went off and he came out of a deep sleep and turned it off after banging his head on the overhead panel. He rubbed his forehead and looked at the display. The scouts were moving on a straight line into the outer edge of the galaxy. He watched his board to see if any of them left Sierra Space to investigate a planet. He watched and waited.
Tenah looked at Yelt, “Did we complete the coverage of the pyramids?”
“Yes, the last one was done yesterday.”
“Show me what they look like now.”
Tenah watched his display and saw picture after picture of the huge pyramids covered in decayed vines and vegetation. He had to admit that they all looked like ancient artifacts. “That’s good work, Yelt. It should fool them, don’t you think?”
“I should think so. Let’s hope this plan works. How long will we be unable to use our ships?”
“I don’t know but even after we receive the all clear, I am not bringing ours back until we know those Violet Ships have left for the other galaxy.”
“I think that is a good plan, Sire.”
* * *
Dolly, Jeff, Hemon, Sasha, and Arnold watched the line of Violet Scouts move into the Galaxy. The feed from Aman was clear and they could see the line moving slowly in from the outer edge. “Have any of them stopped at a planet?”
Jeff shook his head, “Not yet, Mr. Gordon; they have passed more than a hundred and twenty Moet and Alliance planets so far.”
“How long is it before they arrive here?”
“If they continue at their current speed, they will arrive here in two weeks.”
Dolly looked around and asked, “Do any of you want to leave and come back?”
Everyone continued to watch the display and it was clear that this is where they would remain until the danger was over.
* * *
Aman reclined in his chair with his eyes closed. After a week, nothing had happened and boredom had made the hours drag. He was dreaming of fighting his new battleship against some gigantic space creature when the alarm blasted him up from his nightmare. He looked at the display and brought the area in closer focus where a Violet Scout had left Sierra Space. He matched the star up with his maps and saw that the star was not listed in his data. That star was more than eight hundred light years from the closest civilization in his database. He saw that the star was a Class G and that meant there could be intelligent life there. He knew the Command Team was receiving his feed and wondered what they were going to do about it.
* * *
The Lesser Scout entered normal space and found a highly industrialized civilization. He scanned the planet and saw hundreds of starships in orbit above it. He also saw it had four huge defense satellites orbiting the planet. He captured the data and reentered No-space. He expanded the scan and found eight more stars close by that had stardrive signatures. He downloaded their locations and continued his search. Three days later he had caught up with the advancing line and matched their speed. The advancing line was approaching Earth’s location.
Jeff watched the data from the alarm and said as the other members of the team rushed in, “It appears a scout has found a civilization out on the far edge of our Galaxy that possesses stardrive capability. It is not in our records so it must be a civilization we were unaware of its existence.”
Dolly said, “Turn off the George communicator. I want nothing that could cause them to stop and examine us.”
Hemon shrugged, “They probably won’t see it.”
“The word probably is what bothers me. Turn it off now.”
Jeff reached forward and pushed the switch. All Sierra Space communications are now disabled.
Arnold looked at the dark display, “How much longer before they arrive?”
Dolly looked at Jeff and he read his board, “Forty-nine hours until their line is here.”
“We’ll wait four days before we turn the system back on. Go get some rest; all of us need it. You’ll only be wasting time staying here.”
Hemon looked at Sasha and said, “Dolly, if it’s ok, we prefer to wait here.”
Dolly looked at Arnold and he nodded.
“Ok, but tomorrow night we go dancing.”
Hemon and Sasha smiled, “Now that sounds like a plan.”
* * *
The Lesser Scout rushed through No-space and heard a small chime. He pulled up the scan that had caused the chime and saw that a small section of No-space was slightly irregular compared to the space around it. Now that was irregular. He smiled at the pun. Ummm…does this require an investigation?
“Tighten up. You’re falling behind the line again.”
The Scout increased his speed and looked at the data. There was no stardrive detected in the system and that irregularity was small. By the time it decided that it might be worth investigating, the line was fifty light years past it.
“I told you to tighten up!”
Going back would cause him to be unable to catch up and if he found nothing he was probably going to be punished. He erased the irregularity from his system and moved up to the line of fast moving Scouts. The Controller had already chewed him out before the mission and he wasn’t going to give him a reason to remember him.
Earth had been given a reprieve.
* * *
Aman saw the scout slow down slightly at Earth’s location but then speed up to join the line. He took a deep breath and thanked God for answering his prayers. The disrupted area around Earth’s Solar System had faded but there was still a small patch near the Star. The Scout must have seen the area but decided not to investigate. That patch would be gone in another ten days. It would be a good idea not to use it again.
* * *
Chris looked at Jillian and released his breath, “That was close.”
“Yes it was. Chris, I’ve looked at the Alliance Map Book and found a planet listed in it at the location where that Scout stopped to investigate.”
Chris stared at Jillian, “What was it?”
“Jenze.”
“That is not good.”
“No, it’s not. What are we going to do?”
Chris looked at RV, “What do you think?”
RV narrowed his eyes and said, “I don’t know that we can do anything.”
Chris slowly nodded his head, “There’s just not enough time to do anything.”
“Their Main Fleet will be arriving right behind the Scouts and that civilization will be targeted for destruction. I don’t see anything we can do. Unless…”
Chris said, “What?”
“How many Colony Ships do we have available?”
Jillian looked at her board, “Six.”
“We can see if they’ll listen and allow us to move some of their population.”
“What makes you think they won’t listen?”
“Jenze usually shoot first and asked questions later.”
Chris stared at RV and then Jillian said, “Do you think Zack might get them to listen?”
RV tilted his head to the left and said, “He’ll only have a short time to do it.”
Jillian looked at Chris and then said, “As soon as Earth comes back on line, I’m going to ask Dolly and George what we should do.”
Chris shrugged and nodded.
RV thought about the situation and said, “Why do we have to wait for them to complete their scan? It appears they can scan more than a thousand light years. Once the Scouts are more than two thousand light years away we can send a ship and see if they’ll listen.”
“Won’t that be risky?”
“We can always jump our ship out into deep space opposite their location and jump in from there.”
“We’ll wait until they’ve passed the galactic core. I don’t want to take a chance.”
RV shrugged, “I don’t think it will be a huge risk. They already know that the civilization has stardrives so even if they detect it they will just assume it is one of the ships located there.”
Chris thought about it and slowly nodded, “There is that, RV. What ship will you be taking?”
“We’ll go on the Ninja.”
“Let me see what the Command team thinks.”
Cyanna sat in her command chair and worried about RV going into a dangerous civilization. She saw him staring at her out of the corner of her eye and took a deep breath and exhaled. She knew she couldn’t prevent him from going and he wouldn’t be the man she was falling in love with if he didn’t. She just hoped he would think about how to protect himself before he left.
RV saw Cyanna’s nervousness and said, “We should take a couple of our Battleships just in case.”
Chris nodded and said, “Pick the ones you want to go.”
Cyanna smiled.
Chapter Nineteen
The line of Scouts passed the Galactic Core and the huge black hole at the center of the Galaxy. Aman jumped out from the edge of the Galaxy and joined the Fleet. He boarded the Liverpool and assumed command. His XO said, “Sir, we’ve been ordered to go with Admiral Arvolo to contact the unknown civilization.”
Aman stared at the Executive Officer and said, “Arm the Needles and I want General Quarter’s drills every hour until we leave. Is that clear?”
“Yes Sir.”
* * *
The Ninja jumped into the solar system of the civilization and Zack began broadcasting on a frequency that the ships used. RV was thankful for the time they had taken to collect light from the system and use a George Communicator for Zack to learn their language. Zack said the language no longer resembled the ancient language used by the Jenze.
“This is the United Earth Ship Ninja and we wish to communicate with the leaders of this planet. We are here on a peaceful mission and do not intend any harm to you.”
Arvolo watched the planet and saw two hundred starships turn and accelerate toward their position. Zack requested the planet to communicate again but the frequency remained silent. Arvolo said, “Contact the Liverpool.”
Aman received the communication and heard Arvolo say, “Jump in with the Rio and launch your Needles.”
Aman saw that Captain Mally Snow had heard the order and nodded at him on their display. The two eighteen hundred foot long ships disappeared and reappeared on each side of the Ninja.
The incoming ships saw the two huge ships appear and more than three hundred small ships launch from their hulls. The ships slowed and stopped more than six thousand miles away. Zack waited and then heard, “It appears you do intend to attack us.”
Zack quickly said, “I know that my people would often shoot first and ask questions later. We will not come any closer to your planet. We only wish to communicate.”
RV saw four hundred more ships leave the planet to join the ships in front of them. He looked at Zack and said, “Do they need a demonstration?”
“Not yet. We shouldn’t harm any of their ships. They’ll need them.”
“Then if they come any closer we will jump away and leave them to their destiny.”
Zack saw RV was serious so he started talking over the communicator, “We are here to warn you of an impending attack from a species that lives in another Galaxy. Your planet has been scanned by their ships and they will be coming to destroy you. You don’t have much time if you want to save any of your population and it’s imperative that you listen.” Zack waited and only silence greeted his words. He hesitated and said, “The Violet Ships will not leave any survivors; you will all die.”
“Did you say Violet Ships?”
“Yes, I did; they’re coming back and they know your location.”
Zack waited and after two minutes a different voice came on the communicator, “The Violet Ships destroyed our planet.”
“I know; it was four million years ago.”
There was another pause and the voice said, “They killed everyone but a handful of survivors. We have been able to rebuild into what you see now.”
RV said, “Say nothing about how old you are? You’ll destroy your credibility.”
Zack hesitated and then nodded, “Are you Jenze?”
“Yes, we are.”
“So are we and we were also able to rebuild. Now you need to decide about what you are going to do.”
The ships leaving the planet stopped and turned around. The voice said, “Why did you come here?”
“We can’t save your planet from destruction. They will be returning with more than three hundred thousand battleships and will overwhelm you. We can save some of your population by moving them on our Colony Ships but we only have six to make the move. They will hold about a hundred fifty thousand people with only what they can carry on their backs.”
“How do we know you’re telling the truth?”
“I’m going to send you a recording of what we’ve been able to collect about their movements. Are you ready to receive it?”
There was a pause and they heard, “Send what you have.”
RV punched his board and the data went out on the frequency. He nodded at Zack and he said, “Look at it and let us know what you desire us to do.”
Zack sat down and Izzy reached over and held his hand. Zack looked at RV, “Thank you for trying to save my people.”
RV said, “Our people.”
Zack looked startled and then smiled, “Our people is right.”
* * *
An hour passed and the voice came back on, “It appears you might be telling the truth.”
“Are you willing to take the chance we’re not being honest?”
There was a long pause and they heard, “No. We’ve wondered why they haven’t returned before now and we know our ships cannot stand up to them.”
The problem is that one of their scouts actually scanned your planet so it got a ship count.”
“When did they do that?”
“About four weeks ago.”
“Good, we only had three hundred ships here then. We can send our other ships with the colonists.”
“If you have other colonized planets, I believe they also got a location scan on them but not a detailed number of ships. You must leave some ships behind if other planets exist.”
“We have eight more planets and you will take the population from them. We can’t take the risk that they know how many live here. We will have to face them with what we have.”
Zack looked shocked, “Are you sure about that? We can take some of your important scientists and leaders.”
“We’ll send our scientists but that is all. Your ships won’t be able to save the populations on the other planets so there is no good reason to cause panic here.”
“I admire your bravery. How do you want to make this happen?’
RV looked at his board and saw a series of coordinates appear.
“I’ve sent you the location of those planets. I’ve contacted the leaders and requested they select a hundred and twelve thousand people to board those ships to go assist another civilization to rebuild. I’m not telling them about the coming invasion. They have agreed to provide the builders and to have them only bring what they need to stay for a week. I hope you will take care of them after that time.”
“We will. Do you want to send ships to oversee the evacuation?”
“N
o, if we do that the other planets will know something isn’t right. We will send as many of our ships as possible to go with your ships. The Commanders of those ships will know the truth and will defend our new homes.”
Zack paused and asked, “What made you decide to trust us?”
“One of my ships got a reading on the force fields surrounding your small ships. They are more powerful than any we’ve ever seen. We know that if you wished to attack we would have not been able to stop you. When you held your position, we knew you must be telling the truth. You also know about the Violet Ships. You were right when you asked about whether I was willing to take the risk that you are being deceptive. Anyone that knows about the Violet Ships must be a friend.”
“Please tell the other planets not to waste any time. We don’t have long to do this.”
“We will impart a sense of urgency. Good luck to your species.”
“Sir, we are the same.”
The central display came on and they saw a human sitting at a control board with eight others around him. He looked at them and smiled, “I see you are right. Now I have hope for our survival.” The display went dark and RV got on the communicator. “I’m sending coordinates to each of you. Go to the planets there and begin on loading the population. Get it moving now!”
* * *
Two weeks later the six colony ships jumped directly away from the Milky Way out into deep space. There they waited for the Scouts to finish their scans and jump back to M87. The Colony ships then jumped to the five planets that had been colonized and had the Jenze disembark. They immediately jumped out to the fleet and waited for the invader to arrive.
* * *
Aman was back at the Neutron Star waiting and watching his board. The Violet Scouts had left a week earlier and he knew their data would have to be examined before the main fleet arrived. He wondered how long it would take to examine the scans of an entire galaxy. He glanced at his board and his display alarmed. He looked up and saw the massive fleet that was now holding station just outside the Milky Way. It had arrived at the edge of the galaxy opposite the location of the Jenze Civilization. He stared at the hundreds of thousands of ships and saw them form into nine groups of thirty three thousand ships. Aman shook his head and knew the Jenze Planets had no chance against those nine fleets. He watched and saw them disappear from normal space and jump to the stars of the Jenze. He waited and two days later the huge fleet began arriving back at the galaxy’s edge. He consulted his display and saw that the huge fleet was now reduced by five thousand six hundred ships. He smiled and knew the Jenze had fought ferociously against those fleets. The huge fleet remained at the edge reorganizing into three long lines and then after three days disappeared.