by Saxon Andrew
The Death Prophecies
The Prophet’s Eyes
Contents
Introduction
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Epilogue
Books by Saxon Andrew
Introduction
Admiral Steven Connor sat on the bridge of his Flag Ship and listened to the klaxons wailing in the background. The crew of the huge warship was scrambling to their stations as the other warships in the Search Squadron moved into positions around his ship. He noticed the alarms go silent and he glanced at the scanner. He lifted his left shoulder slightly; two minutes. That really wasn’t that bad considering eight hundred crewmen had to get to their stations from wherever they were when the scanners detected distant stardrives moving toward them. He looked at the central monitor and saw the distant image start to resolve itself into multiple stardrives.
His squadron was tasked with scouting the Perseus arm of the Milky Way. Another Squadron was scouting the outer arm which was located outside the arm his fleet was in. A third fleet was moving through the Sagittarius Arm looking for any advanced civilizations that might pose a danger to Earth. Fleet Command was following the Death Prophet’s list of prophecies and staying out of Traugh Territory and Andromeda. The first Death Prophecy stated that confrontation must be avoided until absolutely unavoidable. That left the Leaders of Earth in a quandary. They had built hundreds of thousands of warships and had nothing for them to do. Thousands of them were stationed between Earth and the Traugh Empire and thousands more out in open space between the Milky Way and Andromeda.
It was finally decided that the second Death Prophecy should be heeded. “An unknown enemy will kill you.” The Leaders decided that the fleets of Earth would start scouting the arms of the Milky Way close to Earth’s location and move away from Traugh Territory. Earth was located in the Orion Spur that broke away from the Sagittarius Arm and that was scouted first. Once that was completed, Fleet Command began sending fleets out to scout the other arms.
Connor continued to stare at the images on the scanner and saw that there were seventy ships moving slightly to the left of his fleet. He looked over his shoulder, “Let me know when they change course and how far they are from the place where we first detected them.”
“Yes Sir.”
He looked back at the monitor and saw the unknown ships had changed course while he was looking away. They turned and began moving directly toward his fleet. He pressed the general fleet frequency and said, “Hold your fire until I order otherwise.” Connor didn’t like that many ships moving together. Commercial vessels usually didn’t move in groups that large. The search for possible enemies had been going on for fifty years and though some aggressive civilizations had been found, they did not represent a threat technologically. They were pretty much ignored to avoid doing anything that might bring unwanted attention to Earth. Death Prophecy three was, “Do nothing to draw attention.”
“Sir, the ships have force fields.”
Well, that seals the deal. Only warships had the necessary power to use a force field. “Can you scan through it?”
“No Sir.”
Connor looked up at the left monitor showing his fleet’s disposition. The remaining hundred ships came flashing in and taking position in the ranks of ships surrounding the Kindred. He looked at the approaching ships and saw them slow down. They must have seen the arrival of his ships. “All ahead one third.” The three hundred bronze colored warships began moving toward the ships moving toward them. They came to a complete stop and one of them accelerated toward his fleet. He hoped he was wrong but recognized the maneuver as a way to determine a possible enemy’s strength. “Closest ship to that approaching ship’s course.”
“That is the Cabo, Sir.”
“Order them to load a missile. If they’re fired on, they have clearance to launch.”
Connor watched as the silver and black ship flashed in on his fleet and turned as it arrived. Six brilliant beams erupted from the ship’s hull and hit the Cabo. Four of the beams blew the Cabo’s force field away and the other two beams hit the hull, which immediately flashed a brilliant bronze color. A moment later, the Cabo launched a missile and it immediately dove below the retreating silver and black warship. It broke left, then right, dove again, went vertical, and then roared in on the ship it had locked on.
Beams were fired continuously at the missile but they all missed the darting missile. It was like trying to hit a bat with a rifle. It could be done but one would have to be extremely lucky to do it. The missile flashed in on the silver and black ship and hit its force field at full speed. The missile’s stardrive was stripped away by the force field and the Bosrean metal warhead blew through the force field and punctured the hull of the fleeing ship. Connor stared at the right monitor showing the missile and kept glancing at the other ships holding their position in front of his fleet.
Suddenly, the silver and black ship’s rear half went up in a large explosion. The front third was blown away and it tumbled away from the blast. “Sir, Cabo’s force field is back at full power.” Connor nodded and saw the ships that his fleet was moving in on had scattered and fled in different directions.
“Get the Cabo on my board.”
Captain Lewis appeared on his display, “Pick out one of those ships and follow it. Keep it at the edge of your scanner’s range and I believe you’ll not be seen. Use your sonic scanner to warn you if any other ships move in on you.”
“Yes Sir. Leaving now.”
Connor watched the Cabo’s stardrive surround the ship and it disappeared. He looked over his shoulder, “Send a ship to scan the wreckage of that ship. I want a full and complete scan! Send me the results of the scan and notify Fleet that we have been fired on by an advanced civilization.”
“Yes Sir.”
Connor leaned back in his chair. Those beams are as powerful as his own. It was the Bosrean metal hull that saved the Cabo. It absorbed the power and sent it to storage batteries. If more than six beams had been fired, he might have lost the Cabo. He pressed the General Frequency, “All ships have weapons clear if any of those silver and black ships make a run at you.”
He thought about what to do next and decided that he was going to follow the course those ships were on when they were first seen. “Sir, Commodore Mohammed is being sent to join us.”
“Send him our location. Assign his ships a place in the ranks.”
“Yes Sir.”
The extra hundred ships would be a welcome addition. Now he had three units that he could use. His two commodores had been working together for more than three years and were good. He hoped he didn’t run into a major fleet of those ships. The Prophet’s warning appeared to have merit.
Chapter One
“Admiral, we have contact with an Unknown Enemy in the Perseus Arm.”
Pam jerked her head around and looked at the Communications Officer, “How do they know it’s a UE?”
“One of their ships fired on the Cabo.” Pam stared at the Officer and he quickly said, “The Cabo’s force field failed and the hull was close
to being overloaded.”
“Whose fleet?”
“Admiral Connor.”
“Vector in the closest squadron and launch another fleet to join him. I want everything sent to my office and notify the senior staff to report in now!”
“Yes Sir!”
Pam was going back to her office from the cafeteria when the officer notified her about the attack. This was the first contact with an advanced aggressive civilization since the destruction of the Traugh Government Planet. He ran to her office and pulled up the information that was coming in on a constant feed to her computer.
She glanced at the picture on the wall of her great-great Aunt. She often wondered if it were r name that got her into the Fleet Leader’s position. After Pam Osborn died, her sister refused to change her last name to honor of her sister. All of her descendants followed her example. Now she was in command of all of Earth’s Fleets. She felt woefully inadequate. She had never had to lead during an actual battle. For that matter, no one alive had been involved in one. She sighed and started reading Admiral Connor’s report. At least our scanners are better. She began reading and didn’t like what she saw.
• • •
“Sir, Admiral Holmes is vectoring his fleet in from the Sagittarius Arm to join forces. You are Senior and Fleet has notified Holmes that you are in overall command.”
Connor nodded and wasn’t sure he liked having Holmes join him. He had been positioning himself for a chair in Fleet Command for years and he might do something rash to get noticed. “Notify him to fall in behind my Fleet and send him all the information we’ve collected.”
“Yes Sir.”
Connor looked at his tactical display and saw an image of the Milky Way appear. Holmes fleet was more than ten thousand light years out and would take a while to arrive. “SIR, CABO REPORTS HUGE FLEET OF WARSHIPS FOUR HUNDRED LIGHT YEARS AHEAD!”
“Order him to keep his distance. Get Holmes on my channel.” Connor waited and a minute later, Admiral Holmes appeared on his panel’s display, “My scout has just reported a large fleet of the warships that attacked one of my vessels four hundred light years ahead. I’m sending you the location and instead of joining my fleet, I want you to move your fleet to the right flank of their position. Move your fleet toward that location until your sonic scanners start sounding off. Hold there and be ready to support me if I need it.”
“Yes Sir.”
Connor looked at the tactical and reduced the size of the area being analyzed. He began receiving the scans from the Cabo and saw that the fleet it had found was gathered around a planet. He stared at the image and saw that there were landing operations taking place. He shook his head. That fleet must be invading the planet and would react like a lion over a fresh kill is he waltzed in. He queried the computer and got an enemy ship count of eight hundred warships. He looked over at Lt. Halekia, “Are you receiving any of that fleet’s communications?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Feed them through the computer’s language processor and see if we can hear what’s going on.”
“I’ve been doing that, Sir. The computer is at fifty percent.”
Connor lifted the microphone, “All ships stop!” He looked back at his communications officer, “Let me know once it can start translating what it’s received.”
“Yes Sir.”
“Sir, the sonic scanner is receiving a signal from the direction of that fleet.”
“All ships turn ninety degrees and go to full speed.” The three hundred warships turned and flashed away. Connor watched the stardrive and saw they had moved far enough away to avoid detection. “All stop. Lt. Dobson, how many ships are estimated in the sonic signal?”
“Four hundred, Sir.”
Connor nodded. The commander of the fleet attacking that planet had sent half his forces to confront his fleet. He looked at Lt. Halekia, “Progress on the translator?”
“Eighty five percent, Sir.” Connor nodded and waited for the computer to complete learning the alien’s language. Ten minutes later, Lani looked at him, “The computer is ready to send what it intercepted, Sir.”
“Send me an analysis. I’ll listen to the actual translation later.”
He looked at the wall speaker and heard, “The leader of the ships you encountered has reported to the highest ranking leader that you destroyed one of his ships.”
“Did he tell the commander that he attacked first?”
“No, but the leader has demanded the recording and has learned from it that your ship was attacked first.”
“What did he do?”
“Ordered the one who initiated the attack killed by his second-in-command.”
“Why did he send four hundred ships toward our former location?”
“He wants to know what our intentions are.”
“What does he suspect?”
“That we are allies of the planet he is invading.”
“Did you hear anything about that planet?”
“It appears the two civilizations have been at war for a very long time.”
Connor contacted Holmes and sent him the translation program. Holmes said, “What are you going to do?”
“Determine if this civilization is a threat.”
“How do you intend to do that?”
“I’m moving in on that planet and hold position out from the planet they’re invading. I’m going to open a conversation with the Commander and wait for the four hundred ships they sent out to return and place my fleet between them and the ships at the planet.”
“That doesn’t sound wise.”
“If they open hostilities, I will take the ships they sent out and you will move in on the ships above the planet. Admiral Whitehall is moving his fleet this way at maximum speed and should arrive in time to support us. However, you will not attack without being ordered to do so!”
Holmes stared at Connor and said, “Yes Sir.”
Connor ended the contact and said over his shoulder, “Send Holmes a feed from our scanners along with any communications we intercept.”
“Yes Sir.”
“All ships, one third speed on bearing 150.” The three hundred warships flashed toward the fleet gathered above the planet. Connor watched the tactical and said over the general frequency, “All ships stop five thousand miles out. Hold your formations around the Kindred.” The fleet came to a stop and Connor looked at Halekia, “Are they communicating?”
“Off the chart, Sir.”
“Open a channel on their frequency.” Halekia pressed several buttons and nodded to him, “I’ve come here to find out why one of your ships attacked one of my ships?”
There was a long moment of silence and then he heard, “One of my subordinates thought you were coming to aid the planet we’ve invaded.”
“Do you always think the worst when you encounter a new civilization?”
“It’s safer to take precautions.”
“You call attacking first a precaution?”
“Sir, the ships sent away have returned and have taken position a thousand miles behind us.” Connor nodded, “Is that why you sent those ships behind my fleet looking for me?”
“It was to determine your intentions.”
“They’re pretty much the same as yours. I’m here to see if you are a threat to my civilization.”
“You’re not in a position to be demanding anything.”
“Is this planet you’re invading a threat to you?”
“We have been at war with the Saren for more than a thousand years. They invaded my home world centuries ago and we’ve finally gained an advantage against them.”
“Looking at the debris from the space battle fought above this planet, it appears none of your ships were destroyed. It appears you have more than an advantage.” Halekia pointed at the right monitor and Conner looked at it. The beings landing on the planet were moving through the cities and firing indiscriminately at the populations. “I also see you’re killing the inhabitants without allowing
them to surrender.”
“They don’t deserve anything but death.”
“Well, this is not my fight. I will take my ships and leave you to your fun.”
“You will remain where you are.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I will attack your ships. I have to speak with my leaders about what I should do.”
“Take your time.”
• • •
The Commander of the Fleet above the planet was worried. This being didn’t appear to be at all concerned that he was trapped in a crossfire. He pressed a button and began speaking. “Sir, the channel he’s using is encrypted. It’s going to take some time to break the encryption.”
Connor nodded and saw Holmes appear on his display, “You have to allow me to attack!”
“You will do as ordered, Admiral!” Holmes snarled and ended the contact.
“Sir, the ships behind us are powering up their weapons.”
“Order missiles targeted at their ships but do not launch without direct orders.”
“Yes Sir.”
Thirty minutes later the wall speaker said, “You are free to go.”
“That took a while.”
“I’m a warrior and I see a threat everywhere I look. Left up to me, I would have probably attacked. My leaders are wiser than me.”
Connor said, “I’m calling in my ships and we will leave together.” Connor pressed a button, “Admiral Whitehall, have you been listening to the conversation?”
“I have, Sir.”
“Bring your ships in and form up on my right wing.”
“Yes Sir.”
“Admiral Holmes, bring your ships in and form up on my left wing.”
Holmes sighed, “Yes Sir.”
Connor waited as the six hundred warships flew in and formed up on his three hundred warships. He pressed the communicator and said, “I do hope you resolve your issues with the ones that attacked you.”
The channel was silent for a moment and then he heard, “Perhaps our civilizations should open a conversation. I see that you were patient with me.”
“I will send one of my leaders to this planet in seven days. If you will take them to meet with your leaders, perhaps we won’t make a terrible mistake in the future.”