by Saxon Andrew
The young man said, “My name is Dom and this is my twin sister Dee.”
Doc’s eyebrows went up, “You’re twins?” The woman rolled her eyes and Doc said, “What’s so funny?”
“You’re a high genetic, if you would simply look at our features you would know it without having to be told.”
Doc looked at them and focused on their features and saw that the female was born first. He said, “It seems to me that you have a limited respect for authority.”
“I have a limited respect for anyone that hasn’t done anything to deserve it. What have you done, Sir, that demands my respect?”
Doc stared at her and said, “Nothing… However, if you don’t start acting respectful I’ll have the two of you drummed out of the Navy so fast you’ll wonder if you were ever really here. You got that!”
The woman went to attention and said, “Yes Sir.”
The speaker came on and Ian said, “We’re lifting in fifteen minutes.”
Doc said, “Computer, what’s your name?”
“D.”
“I trust you do recognize who is in command.”
“Yes Sir. I do.”
““I’m turning control of the ship back over to Frick and Frack here for the moment. You will follow their orders unless I tell you differently.”
“Yes Sir.”
Doc turned to the twins and said to the female, “Normally, I would just shoot you with a laser and see if your brother is capable of doing what I want. However, I’ve been told that I shouldn’t waste valuable personnel. Like you said earlier, you’ve not shown me anything to indicate you possess anything of value. I’m here to see if you have what it takes to fly this ship. You need to prove to me that you do.”
Dom sat in the command chair and said, “Sir, we communicate telepathically but while you’re on board we’ll say what we’re thinking.”
Doc stared at Dom and said, “You’re telepathic?”
“Only with each other.”
“Would speaking your thoughts slow you down?”
Dee said, “It would.”
“Then do it in silence. You should perform at your highest ability.”
Dee stared at Doc and then turned and the two began manipulating their consoles. Dom said, “Ship is ready for departure.”
Doc had looked over the protocols before coming on board and knew that it required eight minutes to fully power up a ship and prepare it for liftoff. These two had done it in less than two minutes.
Doc said, “D, were your systems active when I arrived?”
“Only maintenance systems, Sir.”
“Did you just go to active in two minutes?”
“Yes Sir.”
Doc thought a moment and said, “By going over the check list telepathically, you have reduced the time needed to power the ship.”
The twins looked at each other and then Dee said, “You’d be surprised how much time it takes to say a system is ready and then have it confirmed eighty times.”
Doc smiled, “Dom, does she feed the military scans directly to you?”
“She does.”
Doc pressed his communicator, “Ian, I’m going to join you on your ship. These two are quite capable of fighting this ship and I don’t need to see anything else.”
“We’ll delay liftoff until you arrive.”
Doc glanced at the twins who were shocked by his remark and Dee said as he left the bridge, “Now you’ve done something to gain my respect…Sir.”
Doc paused before he exited the bridge, “Trust me, it wasn’t intentional,” and disappeared through the door.
Dom shook his head, “Why are you so confrontational? That man is dangerous.”
“It comes from being the oldest.” Dee looked at her board and said, “He’s delightfully refreshing. He can hold his own.”
“You need to take a look at his brother’s history before you do anything else. If he’s like his brother, he’s extremely dangerous. He wasn’t kidding about shooting you.”
Dee activated the gravity emitters, “We’ll see.”
• • •
Abbey sat in her chair and watched the display, “G, have you picked up anything unusual?”
“If building a thousand warships is unusual, that’s what’s taking place on the planet. They’ve also built a massive structure at the major spaceport.”
“What kind of structure?”
“It looks like the granddaddy of all defense satellites.”
“That’s not good.”
“No it isn’t; and I intercepted a communication from another one of their main planets saying that the rearming of the FTL destroyers is moving ahead of schedule.”
“What do you think they’re doing with those giant ships?”
“Hello, Abbey; relief is here.”
Abby was startled by the speaker and said, “I was wondering when you were coming back.”
“We were held up at Euclid.”
Abbey hit the intercom, “Gary, get up here; Ian is back.” She then hit the communication panel, “We had to kill one of their main planets.” She waited and only heard silence.
After a long moment she heard, “What do you mean when you say kill?”
“We hit their reactors from space and blew up most of their major cities in the resulting nuclear explosions; the radiation killed the rest of the population.”
“How many inhabitants were on the planet?”
Abbey heard Ian’s tone and shook her head. Gary came in and said, “About eighty billion.”
A new voice came on the channel and said, “You must have had a compelling reason to do that.”
“Who are you?”
Ian knew that he had to make a decision about whether to be honest with Abbey and Gary but he also knew that the two new pilots were also listening in on the channel. He looked at Violet and she knew what he was thinking. She said, “Dom and Dee, what you are about to hear is a state top secret. If you reveal it to anyone you will face a death sentence. Are you clear on what I’m saying?”
Dom looked at Dee and pushed the panel, “Yes Sir, we are.”
Ian looked at Doc who shrugged and said, “I’ll go with whatever route you choose to take.”
Ian slowly shook his head, “They need to know the truth. You are going to be given a huge amount of authority and they must understand why.” Ian pressed the board and said, “It’s Drey.”
Abbey was shocked at the response and Gary could only shake his head. Gary said, “That’s not possible!”
Dom looked at Dee and thought to her, “I told you he would shoot you.” Dee shook her head and said, “Shut up and listen.”
Doc said, “I’m not the Drey that died in Andromeda. He inserted his consciousness into me when he first came and visited my mother. I am him but I only have his memories from just after the Nebula election.”
Abbey said, “How could he do that?”
Doc said, “You need look no further than our computers. They are basically the mind of the person imprinted on them. That’s not so shocking, is it?”
Abbey looked at Gary and said, “No, but that’s done electronically.”
“My younger brother did not develop a personality or mind. His brain was basically empty. I’m going to refer to the first Drey as my brother to avoid confusion. Drey inserted his mental pattern along with all his memories into my brother’s mind. The original Drey and I share a common mind with one difference.”
Gary said, “What is that?”
“I never connected with him after he met Andi. I’ve not been weakened by being in love. I’m the Drey that was the Nebula’s Dark Officer. I’m somewhat more hostile than the Drey you knew.”
Abbey shook her head, “If you’re the Dark Officer, hostile doesn’t really describe you.”
“I know; but brutal and bloodthirsty are such cold words. I prefer hostile. That being said, I suspect I would have done the same thing you did to that planet without even giving it a second thought. You
had to do it to protect the Union didn’t you?”
Ian said, “What could possibly make you kill eighty billion?”
Abbey sighed, “The rulers of the Slavers pulled all the warships from that planet to search for the Union. If we did nothing, they were going to send all of their ships to join the search.”
Ian sat down and was shocked at the numbers that were killed. Doc looked at him shaking his head and said, “Before you get all worked up about that planet’s destruction, what do you think the Slaver’s ships would do to a Union Planet?”
Gary said, “That is exactly what we thought before we did this.”
Ian looked at Violet and she was shaking her head slightly. Doc said, “I believe that you have already determined that the Slavers will not negotiate; or am I wrong?”
Ian looked at Doc and took a deep breath, “We have made that assessment.”
“Then you have to decide if you want to win this conflict or give in to your softer emotions. The only way to defend the Union is to destroy all of their main planets. This is just one less to handle later.”
Abbey muted the communications and looked at Gary, “I don’t know if I like this new Drey.”
“Do you think Ian has what it takes to make the tough decisions? You better be thankful he’s here.”
Ian stared at Doc and said, “What happened after you killed the planet?”
Abbey released the mute button and said, “The twenty thousand ships sent to search for the Union were recalled and sent to defend other planets. No more ships have been sent to search…yet.”
Doc leaned back in his chair and said, “I’ve watched the recordings from Andromeda on the way here and you need to take another look at them, Ian.”
“Why?”
“What did the Slaver fleet do when they detected another species in that Star Cluster? Did they try to communicate?” Ian shook his head. “Did they send in a small number of ships to determine if they were facing a hostile civilization?” Ian shook his head again. “If they find the Union, they’re going to attack every planet they encounter. The only way to stop that is to stop them here in their territory before they find us. Are you really upset by this?” Ian stared at Doc for a long moment and Doc said, “You were planning to kill me in that restaurant until Violet uncovered the information about who I was. Would you have lost sleep over that?”
Ian stared at Doc, “Probably not.”
“Because I killed an innocent woman that helped you; you were outraged by that and I was an enemy of the Union. Why aren’t you outraged at what this species is doing to all the worlds they’ve enslaved? You really need to watch that recording again and you’ll see the Union’s future if you’re not willing to do what’s necessary to prevent it.”
Abbey looked at Gary and whispered, “You’re right.”
Ian continued to stare at Doc and then started smiling, “So how do we stop them?”
“The simplest way is to starve them first and force them to use all the ships they’re building to defend their food sources.” Doc had a sinister smile and he said, “Hey, Frick and Frack, would you have a problem killing one of these Slaver’s planets?”
Dee looked at Dom and said, “Why don’t we go and bump one off now.”
Doc actually laughed, “Now you’ve said something that impresses me.”
Dee looked at Dom again and laughed out loud.
Doc looked at Ian and said, “You have been genetically bred to be a ruler. Rulers have great difficulty killing people who have not attacked them directly. Ian, these scum are not your subjects. They are the enemy of those you are sworn to defend. If you kill enough of them, you might be able to save those that remain; however, I doubt that will happen.”
Violet said, “Why do you say that?”
“What do you think all the planets they’ve enslaved will do if they’re defeated? What would you do?”
Ian said, “That’s their problem; not ours. I knew I needed you here and you’ve just confirmed that choice.” Doc lowered his head. Ian said, “Should you be in overall command?”
“Only if you want destruction at an unbelievable level; you also need to balance me. I would have shot Frick if not for your orders.”
Dom looked at Dee and gave her an ‘I told you so’ look. Dee felt fear at what she had done. She vowed to treat Doc like a poisonous snake; a wide berth and respect in all future contacts. She was going to keep her mouth shut in the future.
Ian said, “Abbey, I need G to update D on all that you’ve seen here and give him all the information on how to break their encryptions. We’re going back and load up for making life miserable for our friends here.”
“I’ll send him everything I have, including the maneuvers.”
Abbey said, “We need to take them out and have them go through the maneuvers before we leave them. It’s going to take some time for them to build up their stamina to the high G forces.”
Doc said, “I’ll join them on D and see if I can’t learn what you’re talking about.”
Ian looked at Violet and said, “We’ll stay here until they’re up to speed and then they can replace us when they’re ready.”
Dee looked at Dom and said, “High G forces?” He shrugged and wondered what they were talking about. Two days later they knew.
Chapter Three
Dee struggled out of her chair and said, “That Pilot is a sadist!”
Dom shook his head and said, “I didn’t know that last maneuver was possible with the current laws of gravity.”
Doc sat up and said, “You big babies.”
Dee looked at him and tried to control herself but just couldn’t do it, “All you’re doing is lying on that couch and not doing anything. Step up here and give it a shot.”
Doc laughed, “I wondered if you were ever going to get your courage back. I told you I wouldn’t shoot a valuable crewman.”
Dee stared at Doc and said, “I just can’t figure you out. You were pretty vicious with a blaster during the rebellion and I’m just not going to take a chance with you getting all angry and doing something crazy.”
Doc looked at her and said, “I rather enjoyed your smart mouth. You have become quite boring.”
Dee’s face turned red and she opened her mouth but Dom said, “Making a turn.”
Dee fell back on her gravity couch and gritted her teeth. By the end of the exercise she could barely stand. Doc said, “I don’t usually offer compliments but the two of you really are a good team. You work well together.”
Dee struggled to take a step and said, “I agree but my whipped brother is going to take a new partner when we go back.” Dee glanced at Dom with a scowl on her face and Dom rolled his eyes.
Doc’s eyebrows lowered and he said, “Why would you break up a good team?”
Dee shook her head from side to side and said, “Because old Romeo here is in love and wants his Juliette to fly with him. She’s just graduated and is waiting for him on Euclid.”
“Dee, we’ve discussed this. Now leave it alone.” Dom looked at his panel and Dee stuck her tongue out at him and made a face.
Doc said, “I don’t know if separating the two of you is a good idea. You’ll lose your telepathy advantage. I’m not sure I’ll approve this change.”
Dom looked at Doc, “Actually, by separating we’ll have two ships that can work together. I can hear Dee over large distances and as a result we’ll have two ships that are stronger. It’s always good to have a wingman.”
Doc looked at Dee and said, “Who are you going to fly with Frick?”
“My name is Dee! I’ll be assigned another pilot.”
“Oh, you don’t have your own Romeo?”
Dom said under his breath, “Who would have her?”
Dee looked at Dom and scowled, “Love is highly overrated and gets in the way of doing anything important in life; especially flying a warship.”
Doc looked at Dee and said, “Would you want to fly with me?”
Dee
looked at Doc like he had six heads, “Are you out of your freaking Nebula mind? I couldn’t handle the constant fear of being shot with a laser for telling you the truth and I’m not one that can keep my mouth shut very long.”
Dom said, “Thus me saying; who would have her.”
“He wants me. So there.”
Yeah, but he’s crazy.” Dom looked at Doc, “No offense, Sir.”
“None taken.” Doc thought a moment and said, “You really should consider flying with me.”
“For God’s sake, why?”
“What is your main benefit to a pilot being telepathic?”
“I’m only telepathic with him.”
“I can see your surface thoughts.”
“You can?”
“I can. Now what is your main benefit during combat?”
“I can give the pilot a mental scan of everything happening around our ship. He doesn’t have to take his eyes from his display. He has a picture of everything around our ship in his mind and can react based on the threats.”
“Your being telepathic makes seeing those scans easier for me than someone who’s not telepathic.”
Dee furrowed her brow, “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“You send the most important scans instead of everything you see. You’re accustomed to filtering out the rubbish.” Doc paused, “You must know I won’t shoot you. So what’s your real problem?”
“The real question is why you would want me. You can have anyone. Why me?”
“I’m sure that Ian is going to attempt to pair me up with another high genetic and hope that the two of us make a connection. I know these ships require two people to fly them and I don’t want someone bothering me and being a nuisance.”
“And you don’t think I would bother you, you should listen to my brother.”
“That’s not what I mean. I made the mistake of weakening myself the first time by falling in love with Andi. I am not going to make that mistake again. I think the two of us are quite immune from that ever happening with us.”
“Ooo, now that’s a gross thought. But you’re right; you have absolutely nothing about you that attracts me. I find it hard to stay in the same room.”
Dom said, “I would worry about her safety if she flew with you, Sir.”