by Saxon Andrew
“Send Solo’s opinion to Sam and Leonidas.”
“Sending!” the computer replied.
Elena listened to the back-and-forth and stated, “The Greng didn’t do it.”
Solo clacked loudly, “Very good! The Greng copied the Filament Makers technology from the derelicts and it made them the most powerful civilization in their galaxy. But their warships aren’t as powerful because of it.”
“Why not?”
“Because they did not have their reactors to duplicate, Elena. I suspect every one of the Filament Maker’s derelicts had the rear of their vessels destroyed, thus forcing the Greng to use their reactors to power the Filament Maker’s technology. That’s part of the reason their gravity compensators aren’t capable of making radical turns.”
“But the Filament Makers stopped communicating with the Cartians when these ships were destroyed!”
Solo turned to Gregor, “There are numerous reasons for that,” Solo replied smugly. “The simplest is that the Filament Maker that originally made contact with the Cartians was on one of the destroyed ships. When the filament communicator on his vessel was destroyed, the Filament Makers were no longer able to communicate with them. And I don’t believe they would travel more than a trillion-light-years back to our space to reestablish communications with a tiny piece of the space they left thousands-of-years earlier.”
Elena was disturbed and quickly pointed out, “Mackle insisted that they destroyed the Filament Maker’s vessels, interrogated them, and killed them. Jek was listening to his thoughts and said he was telling the truth.”
Gregor sat back in his chair, “We’ll see what Jek has to say about that in a few minutes, Elena. Like Solo says, something doesn’t fit.”
• • •
The eight-travelers were connected on the monitors and Jek started the conversation, “Gregor, Mackle did believe that his civilization destroyed the Filament Makers. At least, that was the story passed down from the ones that supposedly did it.”
“Why do you say ‘supposedly’, Jek.”
“Because Solo makes a good argument that the derelict you scanned was not a Filament Maker’s major vessel, Gregor.” Jek paused before continuing, “And…if you consider how our shuttles match up to our main-warships, they weren’t nearly as powerful. Those small Filament Maker vessels were attacked after the mothership left the galaxy.”
“How do you arrive at that conclusion?” Solo asked.
“I agree with you that the different vessels had different tasks to perform. The 440-filament connects with this galaxy, and four other super-filaments that leave the central black hole, connecting other galaxies to it. Their main vessels construct the super-highway of filaments connecting the galaxies and the smaller ships build the interconnecting filaments inside the galaxy. The entire process couldn’t take very long.”
“Jek is right about that.”
“Tell me why, Embree.”
“Gregor, I’ve run a computer simulation on the estimated time the filaments were created in our space and calculated how long it took them to arrive here. The closest answer I can come up with is that it doesn’t take the Filament Makers more than a month to build the filament system in a galaxy. Remember, every galaxy we passed coming here had filaments in them. They must do this at an incredible speed.”
“That’s why most of this galaxy had filaments in place before the ten-Filament-Maker-vessels were attacked,” Elena added.
“Why do you say that?”
“Embree, I just can’t believe that ten-ships can build the filaments for an entire galaxy; there had to be more, and they were gone when the ten were attacked. I think the last ten were completing the process when they were killed. The ones that were killed had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Embree shrugged, “If that’s true, we know what direction the Filament Makers went when they left this galaxy. One of the new major filaments pass through Greng space. The ones that completed their work must have left on it and the last ten would join them when they finished.”
Leonidas looked at Toren, “Is there any area in your galaxy that doesn’t have filaments?”
“No, the only area where there’s none now is Greng Territory. They’ve been removing them for hundreds-of-years.”
“Why do you ask that, Leo?” Gregor inquired.
“I think it’s obvious that someone doesn’t want filaments near their civilization. If this unknown civilization that actually attacked the Filament Maker’s ship is capable of attacking those ten-ships simultaneously, without being detected, they would have done it the moment the Filament Makers entered their space.”
“So, you think this mystery civilization came in on one of the new major filaments and attacked them?” Solo asked.
Leo smiled, “Solo, you’re pretty smart; that’s exactly what I think. One of the new major filaments appeared in their galaxy and they followed it back to the Greng’s galaxy and attacked the final ten-ships.”
“Why didn’t the Filament Makers send those smaller vessels to that unknown civilization’s galaxy to build the filament network?”
Leo shrugged, “Hey, Gregor, I’m just a simple warrior. Perhaps that galaxy is an extreme distance from the Greng and they intend to do it later. I’m guessing because I have no idea.”
“We can surmise some things about that civilization from what we suspect,” the computer interrupted.
“What is that?”
“Well, if they were an extreme distance from the Greng’s galaxy, they arrived before the filament network was completed. If Embree’s simulation is right, and they left the moment the major filament connected with the black hole in their galaxy, then it took them a little less than four-weeks to arrive. We can also say that they sent more than ten-warships to investigate.”
“Oh?”
“Gregor, they killed all ten of the Filament Maker vessels simultaneously, preventing them from calling for help. If they sent ten-warships, it’s reasonable to say they sent more than that. One thing is clear, the Filament Makers did not detect them before they were fired on.”
“What can you tell me about the beam that cut through the ships, Computer?”
“Solo, the hull of the Filament Maker vessels was made of high-strength alloy, but they were not as strong as the Tronan, Insectoid, or Dragon warships. They were nowhere close to the Bellingham coated hulls on the Alliance scout-ships. I’m forced to believe that the Filament Makers depended on their force fields to protect them; not their hulls.”
“Computer, you must have some idea about the power of the beam that sheared off the rear of those ten-ships.”
“Embree, the hull did not have a large melted area around the hit. The beam had to be narrow and highly focused.”
Embree nodded, “Which means they must have been fired from close range.”
“Or the power was beyond anything I’ve ever seen, if they were fired from long distance.” The computer paused, before adding, “This unknown civilization must have stealth technology similar to that on our new vessels.”
“The Filament Maker vessels did not detect their approach. If they were in subspace constructing the final filaments, this new civilization must possess a stardrive that is not detectable,” Solo muttered.
“Why does this concern you?”
“Gregor, the Filament Makers were an ancient species and their scanners had to be far more advanced than ours. Even their probes wouldn’t be visible, and I have to believe they left one or more behind.”
“Where would they leave them? That galaxy is far too large to cover with less than millions of probes.”
“Gregor, they’ll simply drop off some probes at each of the major filaments leaving that galaxy to see if any Filament Maker vessels return there. It appears they care less about the civilizations in that galaxy or the Filament Maker’s technology; they left the derelicts behind without taking them to study,” Sam stated. “It’s what I’d do.”
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br /> “That’s probably why the Filament Makers have not come back to investigate what happened to their ten-ships.” Everyone looked at Elena. “They would have to know that a civilization capable of destroying all ten would represent a clear danger to them, and they aren’t interested in war. I suspect they will avoid the major filaments leaving that galaxy and not include them in their filament projects.”
“You know that your ship had to pass one or more of their probes when you went to the Greng galaxy the first time.” Gregor jerked his head to Solo. “It only makes sense that they would know the Filament Makers arrived on the 440-filament and they would keep an eye on anything else that came in on it.”
“We were careful and kept our stealth-systems active,” Gregor replied.
“Well, not really,” Toren interjected. Everyone turned to him, “You were making a rather large wake when I found you inside the galaxy.”
Gregor’s face turned pale, “You’re right.”
“They may know that a ship came in on the 440, but they don’t know where it came from. The wake disappeared behind your ship rather quickly and once you slowed your speed, they probably lost you.”
“But Toren, we were visible numerous times after we arrived; especially when we used the new force field stardrive.”
“But, Gregor, you didn’t immediately use it when you left. You changed your mind and waited until we were far enough away to trial it in the filament.”
Gregor’s head fell slightly forward, and he exhaled slowly, “I forgot about that, and we weren’t making a wake when we left.”
“If there are probes where the 440 enters the galaxy, you were probably seen entering the galaxy. But I suspect we weren’t detected leaving.”
“I hope you’re right about that.”
“Why?”
“Elena, one of those probes could have been tasked with following us back to our space.”
“Want to find out if any of this is remotely true?”
Everyone turned to look at Solo. “Send the two-new warships in ahead of you at slow speed, so they don’t leave a wake behind you. Once they’re far enough ahead of our ship, enter the galaxy leaving a wake. The only way a probe could follow you undetected is to enter the filament in pursuit behind us. When we pass the other two-ships, they can take it out with a missile.”
“What do you think will happen if we destroy one of those probes, Solo?”
“Gregor, we’ll get the opportunity to see just who put them there; they will send ships to investigate.”
“What are you not saying, Solo?”
Solo clacked a laugh, “Destroy the probe in Greng territory and I suspect we won’t have to worry about them.”
“He makes a good point, Gregor,” Embree added. However, I’d recommend going out to the major filament we believe the Filament Maker’s motherships took leaving this galaxy to start your run. That would keep them from using the 440-filament to search for us.”
“Are all of you prepared to eradicate an entire civilization to do this?” No one spoke, and Gregor shook his head, “If the Greng didn’t actually kill those ten-ships, they may not be as aggressive as we think.”
Toren waited and finally spoke up, “They attacked my community without cause.”
Gregor pursed his lips and nodded, “Let’s go take a look at your community and see what’s happened while we’ve been gone. We’ll go in to your galaxy in full-stealth mode and we’ll look at Solo’s suggestion before we leave.”
“We will need to attack a Greng warship, Gregor, if we choose not to do it.”
“I know, Elena. Let’s take this one step at a time.” Gregor looked at Sam and Leonidas, “You don’t need to keep a long distance between us when we arrive. Stay close.”
Leo and Sam nodded just before the monitor went dark. “This is spooky, Gregor.”
“Tell me about it, computer. You know the drill, go to full stealth six-days out.”
“Why not make it ten-days?”
Gregor smiled, “Ten-days it is.”
Solo looked at Toren, “How do you feel about the Greng?”
“I say kill them all.”
Solo clacked, “You and I are a lot alike.”
Toren smiled, “I see that.”
“And you think I’m not like you, Solo?” Gregor asked.
“Do you see the Greng as a threat to Bellingham and your family?” Gregor stared at him. “If you did, you’d not hesitate.”
Gregor lowered his eyes and knew Solo was right.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The three-warships were two-days out from the Greng’s galaxy. Elena and Toren were sitting in the command chairs, while Gregor slept in the sleeping quarters. “Toren, I hate to admit it, but I think the Greng should also be removed if it can be done.”
“So, does Gregor but he’ll have to live with the decision; we won’t.”
Elena’s eyes narrowed slightly, “Yes, we will.”
“He is the one that will have to make the decision to exterminate an entire civilization and we will follow his orders. You know there are more than just Greng warriors in their society; there must be females and young infants there as well. There’s a price for those types of decisions and those with good hearts will suffer because of them. Ok, let’s say Gregor allows you to make the decision, what will you do?” Elena stared at him and Toren raised his shoulders, “Not so easy now, is it?”
“I didn’t think about all the ramifications of the decision. I guess I’d make sure they aren’t redeemable before I made it.”
“That’s why Gregor isn’t making the decision now. He wants to see if this new civilization is a real threat and that the Greng can’t be made to give up their conquering ways before doing it.”
“You said you’d kill all of them, Toren.”
“They attacked my community; that makes a difference. No one was hurt during their first attacks, but they went and developed new weapons to kill us. The Greng may not be a threat to your civilization but they are to mine.”
“Your people could move to another galaxy and avoid being harmed.”
“Elena, would you be willing to leave Bellingham to avoid harm?”
She sighed and slowly shook her head, “No…I don’t think I would.”
“Before you chose to do that, you’d attempt to eliminate the threat first.”
“I guess.”
“I think I’m seeing something I missed the first time.”
Elena sat up straight, “What, computer?”
“There are several weird readings I’ve detected outside the filament. They’re not visible on the optical scanner but something is causing my electronic passive scanners to flicker.”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY ‘FLICKER’, COMPUTER.”
Elena and Toren looked over their shoulders and saw Gregor emerging from the sleeping quarters. “There is a weird motion in subspace outside the filament where it enters the galaxy. It looks very much like the heat waves that cause a sort of mirage above the ground on a very not day. But they’re limited to a very small area in subspace.”
“Can you program the scanner to look for those waves?”
“I can.”
“Then do it. I have to believe those are the probes Solo suggested are out here. How many do you detect?” Gregor asked, as Toren stood up and Gregor took his chair.
“Four, spaced equidistantly around the filament.”
“Are any of them changing location?”
“No, Gregor, they aren’t.”
“Why do you think you missed them the first time we came here?”
“I suspect we were moving too fast to detect them.”
“How far away were they when you first saw them, Computer?”
“About ten-hours out, when the first one appeared.”
“Computer, would you have noticed them if you weren’t deliberately looking for them?”
“I doubt it.”
“This explains how the Filament Maker ships were ca
ught by surprise.”
Gregor turned to Solo, “Why do you say that?”
“If the Filament Makers were creating new filaments in large numbers, they would probably disregard them as being a byproduct of the filaments starting to connect to the stars.”
Gregor nodded, “You’re probably right, Solo. I brought you with me, so I could teach you some things,” but now I’m finding that you are the teacher.”
Solo stared at Gregor and lowered his eyes, “You’ve shown me that I was very short-sighted in thinking the Gramget was an error. There is more danger to the Kingdom than I’ve ever envisioned; the Kingdom needs your Alliance to keep us safe.”
“That’s all I’ve wanted you to see, my friend.”
“Thank you for saying that, Gregor.”
“You’ve made a huge impact on our safety and I appreciate it. Your species is truly one of the most brilliant I’ve ever encountered.”
Solo nodded, as Elena asked, “Does this change your mind about leading them to the Greng?”
“Let’s wait and see, Elena. We still have over a thousand-Greng warriors to move off Bellingham; I won’t do anything before that happens.”
Elena tilted her head, “I forgot about them.”
Gregor smiled, “I haven’t.”
“Why hasn’t this dangerous civilization not sent ships to investigate your first arrival, Gregor?”
“We really don’t know if they haven’t, Toren. But think about it. They would know from the wake we made that our ship is miniscule compared to the ten-ships they destroyed. They probably think that we came into this galaxy and then left it to catch up with the motherships. They will guess that they would never get a ship here in time to prevent that happening and don’t really see us as a threat.”
‘I would have sent a ship if I were in their place.”
“You and I probably would, Solo, but they don’t really see a ship this small as worth the expense of sending a ship. Now if they detect another ship…”
“They’ll send the fleet!” Solo replied.
Gregor smiled, “Yes, they’ll expect something big is going to happen. Computer, let me know if you detect those waves inside the galaxy.”