by Saxon Andrew
• • •
“We’ve got to get some of our populations away to save our species from extinction.”
“We should flee with all our ships now.”
The leaders were all talking at once and nothing was being done. Finally RV had heard enough and he said, “I thought I should fear your fleets, but now I see you are nothing more than cowards. You should have stuck around and let us kick your backsides back into your sectors.”
RV had increased the amplitude of the broadcast and everyone on the frequency heard his statement. Silence slammed down on the channel. RV smiled, “I thought you were big bad fighters but you sound like little children.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m the leader of the fleet you were attacking when you so rudely ran away.”
The Dark Creature looked at the Ramst King on his display and the King nodded. “What are you doing breaking in on our conference?”
“Actually, I was wondering when we could continue our little get together.”
“You are no longer an issue that concerns us.”
“You forgot to say for the moment.”
“We are of the opinion that there won’t be any more moments to worry about you.”
RV looked at Cyanna and shook his head. “So, you’re just going to lie down and let them kill you.” The hundreds of leaders all looked at the others on their displays and didn’t know what to say. “I would think that with all of the ships you have, you could at least cut the numbers down coming to attack your civilizations but what do I know. You’re pretty good at attacking others but you’re dumb when it comes to defending yourselves. That’s a pretty stupid combination.”
The Dark Creature thought a moment and said, “You’re right.”
RV was surprised at the remark. “I’m shocked you admit it.”
“The truth is the truth. Which leads me to ask why you’re talking with us; I would think you would be celebrating our coming demise.”
“Actually we were.”
“Why do you say were?”
“We’ve been told that it’s our fault the Red Sector is going to attack.”
The Ramst King said, “Where do you come up with that concept?”
“Wellllll…Do you remember the little episode where we used a few stars to remove some of your ships?”
The Dark Creature shouted, “He’s right. That has to be what caused it.” The Ramst King looked at the Dark Creature and he continued, “There is no way for that many stars to all go nova at the same time. They had to know it was artificially done. That’s what has them coming.”
RV said, “I guess I’m sorry won’t cut it…will it?”
The King said, “My only regret will be not being able to destroy you for this.”
RV said, “Get real! You don’t need that as an excuse. You kill anyone that you encounter and force all the Minors to attack other galaxies and kill each other. You deserve what you’re getting.” RV paused and said, “But they don’t.”
“Are you saying you are going to help us against them?”
“Not really. We are struggling with what to do but you’ve got to admit that coming to your defense borders on insanity. I mean the Red Sector is only going to do what you all want to do to each other. Your behavior is psychotic.”
The Rhys Leader shouted, “You have no grounds for that statement!”
RV shook his head, “Oh no. You have those sensors out at the edge of the galaxy to warn you if they’re coming, right?”
“Well, yes.”
“So all of you have a common enemy that can kill you; but every one of you does everything they can to kill the other civilizations in your sectors whenever they can instead of working together to build a force strong enough to stand up to them. What’s wrong with this picture?”
The Dark Creature said, “Put that way it does sound illogical.”
“Illogical…it’s asinine! How many civilizations have you bunch of geniuses destroyed since the last time the Red Sector invaded. Two…three?”
The King said, “More than a million.”
“Do you think you could possibly use their help at this moment? You’re like one celled creatures flying around in warships. You’ve got to be insane.” RV waited while they absorbed the thought; then he dropped the bomb. “I want you to think about this one thing you morons overlooked. The Minors outnumber you more than a hundred to one. What if you had enlisted them to work with you to build a force that could take on that sector? Where would you be now? But nooooo. All of you had to be the last one standing so that when the Red Sector did return, you could tell them how great you are just before they killed you. Are you that incredibly dumb!?!”
• • •
George looked over at Dolly and said, “I think RV is ticked off at them.”
“That’s an understatement, George. You don’t deal well with stupidity either.” George shrugged and listened in on the conversation.
• • •
RV paused and then said, “I can’t believe you’re that stupid. That means you’re psychotic. You can’t work with someone that’s crazy. I’m sure you’ve found the sensor buoy I’m using to communicate with you. We’ve pretty much been listening to your plans all along. I’m sorry for interrupting. Go on with your weeping and moaning. Run like the cowards you are.”
The Dark Creature saw the contact disappear from his board. He heard a voice on his board, “We’ve located the device that was broadcasting. Do you want us to destroy it?”
The Dark Creature looked at the King and saw he had also received the message. The King shook his head and the Dark Creature said, “Leave it alone.”
• • •
The thousands of civilizations on the frequency were silent. After a long pause the Dark Creature said, “I don’t want to admit it but everything that being said is true. I know for my part that I have been manipulating things so that I could insure the safety of my eggs and remove any threat to them. I did not look beyond those that were surrounding my civilization. Now, all I’ve done has proven to be wasted effort. All the civilizations my people have destroyed over the cycles could have helped us now.” The Dark Creature paused and then said, “I even find myself feeling bad about what all of you are facing as well. I guess there’s nothing like a common enemy to draw foes together.”
The silence continued until one of the weaker civilizations said, “Is it possible for us to really work together on anything? We’ve always looked at each other as enemies.”
The King said, “You need look no further than our combining to attack that being that just spoke with us. We worked together on that even though some of us had to be coerced. I’ve just been thinking about what he said and I’m bothered.”
The Dark Creature said, “Why is that?”
“I’ve tried to come up with a reason why I would want all of you dead. It’s not like we’re facing overpopulation on our worlds; there are millions of planets that we haven’t settled. It’s not like any of you have grievously wronged us; all of us act the same toward each other. Some of you have even acted honorably during our conflicts. Does anyone know why we persist in these attacks on each other?”
The Nexu Leader said, “Because once the attacks start, everyone looks like a potential attacker. You feel compelled to go out and remove enemies. It becomes a self-sustaining process.”
The Brenga Representative said, “So what you’re saying is; if you knew no one else was going to attack you, you would not attack them.”
The Dark Creature said, “That’s not necessarily true; I’ve wanted to be the ruler of my sector my whole life. I guess I’m attracted to ruling a large empire.”
“Why? You would ultimately lose it to the Red Sector.”
“There is that, and frankly, I really don’t want to see all of you destroyed. I may fight you but you are at least one of ours. The Red Sector is an outsider.”
The King said, “But don’t you see that it’s much more than just
the Red Sector.”
“What do you mean?”
“We could always be attacked by another force from outside our galaxy. That’s why we’ve been sending the Minors out to kill civilizations in other galaxies. If we had worked on making alliances with those civilizations, we would outnumber anything the Red Sector could throw at us now.”
“Yes, but if we didn’t destroy those civilizations in other galaxies, they could grow large enough to attack us.”
The Dark Creature laughed, “Do you think any one civilization could grow large enough to take on our combined fleets? If we made strong, peaceful alliances based on trade and mutual growth, no one would be able to take us on. We just don’t think that way. We’re pretty much predators.”
The King said, “There’s nothing like death staring you in the face that allows you to see yourself clearly. All of us in both sectors have been looking for an opportunity to attack each other for as long as we record history. My thoughts are that now I’m glad you’re here to help me fight to defend my worlds. Do you feel the same?”
The Leaders began speaking one by one and soon they had come to an understanding. The King said, “Then this is what we will do if any of us survive the Red Sector attack. We will never attack each other again. We will embrace other civilizations and try to meld them into our members. If they refuse membership, we attempt to get a mutual defense agreement. We also agree to choose who will lead us forward against the coming threat. If you agree with this, please send in your vote.”
The King waited and after thirty minutes, “It’s unanimous. Now before we start electing a leader, I want to ask what you meant earlier when you told that being he was right?”
The Dark Creature was startled by the question and said, “It was obvious; we were very short sighted in how we’ve been fighting among ourselves.”
“What would you do if you had to move us forward?”
The Dark Creature hesitated and then said, “I would send representatives to the Minors and ask for their assistance in fighting the Red Sector. I would promise them equal membership in our ranks and a voice in what decisions we make. Those who agree to join us; I would send engineers from our advanced civilizations to start improving their ships.”
“You would give them our weapons?”
“You are either going to trust them and prove it by giving them our technology or continue to live in fear of everyone. It’s the only way to prove our intentions.”
“What else would you do?”
“I’d contact that being that scolded us and ask them to help us develop a strategy against the Red Sector.”
“You wouldn’t ask them to fight with us?”
“We destroyed their home world and as I understand it, that was the only one they had before our attacks. We made the Hive invade and kill civilizations in their galaxy. Would you help someone who did that?”
“Then why would you ask them to give us strategy assistance?”
“Because they are incredible in fighting with less and getting more out of it; they did say they didn’t think the Minor’s deserved to die for their actions. Maybe they’ll do it for the Minors.”
“What else would you do?”
“I would dissolve every government on every planet and form one government with every civilization having a representative on it. How we’d work that out would take time but that government will be what our civilizations are sworn to defend. We will never be allowed to attack each other again. The hundred years we agreed to earlier are gone. We will never attack each other again.”
The King paused and said, “Then I hereby put you name in nomination for the position to lead us during this crisis.”
“Wait a minute. You are better for this. Your sector has the most ships and should be led by one of you.”
“That’s thinking in old terms. There are no longer any sectors. We are united against the coming storm.”
The Dark Creature continued to say he was not worthy but the votes came in and he saw he was the choice of the former sectors. He sat there silently staring at the hundreds of green lights on his board. The Ramst King said, “You did say you wanted to rule a large empire. Here is your opportunity. Now if you’ll just vote for yourself, we can move forward.”
The Dark Creature didn’t want the job but he sighed and pressed his button. He looked up and said, “I know you’ve continued to listen in on our conference. Will you help us to see what to do next?”
• • •
RV looked at the Command team and shrugged. George raised his eyebrows and said, “Use your best judgment. Let’s see where this leads us. I’m not convinced that we should get involved in this but I’m not against offering advice until we can determine our long range strategy. I don’t want to be a target of this new sector.”
• • •
RV said, “There are some revelations that we need to make so that we all start on the same page.”
“What are those?
“Are you ready to come out now and assist the others?”
The First of the White Civilization said, “We are.”
The Ramst King said to the First, “Is there something here I’m missing.”
“Yes, there is. We are allies of the white ships and we’ve been building a fleet of them to defend our worlds.”
RV said, “We have given the First all of our technological advances. We determined long ago that our survival depended on their assistance.”
There was some murmuring among the attendees until the Dark Creature asked, “How many of those white ships have you built?”
“More than six million.”
“Does that include those small ships?”
“No, we have more than five hundred million of them.”
Silence slammed down on the channel. “That is the best news I’ve heard so far. This is outstanding.”
The King said, “They were going to use those ships against us. I suppose that plague was also a fabrication?”
“It was.”
The Dark Creature said, “Well, I have more than a hundred thousand advanced ships I’ve been hiding as well. I’m sure all of us have been trying to hide any advances to have an edge over all the others. Don’t you get it, you’re thinking in old forms. We now have those ships to help defend us. They will be a huge asset; how can you be upset about this? We’ve got to start looking at each other as allies. This is great news.”
The First said, “We will fight for all of us in the coming confrontation.”
The New Emperor said, “So what would you have us do now?”
RV paused and said, “You have to find out how powerful those Red Sector ships are. You need to go and get their attention and provoke an attack.”
“It might speed them arriving here.”
“Did our attacking you in your territories speed you up going after us?”
“Uhhhh, no it didn’t. It actually slowed us down. Who would you send?”
RV waited and finally the First said, “We’ll make the trip.”
RV smiled, “That would be good.”
The Dark Creature said, “What else do we need to do?”
“I would recommend you made a determination of how many ships they might be sending against you.”
“How would I do that?”
RV looked at Chris and Jillian on his display and saw them nod. “Actually, I’ll send some of my ships to scout them. I’ll get back to you after it’s done. I might also suggest the White Civilization drop off a few sensor buoys when they go to pick a fight. Do any of you have any recordings of their last invasion to compare to what you’re up against now?”
RV paused as they discussed what they knew and then he said, “I think you should understand that we don’t really trust your word on what you’ve agreed to do. It’s easy to agree to anything when you’ve got a laser pointed at your head. Your aggressive behaviors have been instilled in you for far too long to just walk away from them.”
The Dark Cre
ature said, “Then you will be the poorer for your lack of belief. Live forever; we have a new life to move into.” RV had to admit he was impressed by the response.
• • •
RV looked at the Command Team on his display and said, “Do you believe them?”
George shrugged, “It doesn’t matter if I do. They can handle their own problems now. We can go home and build against the day we’ll have to take them on.”
Dolly said, “So wash your hands and if they fail and all the Minors are killed, you can feel good because you offered some suggestions.”
“Darn it, Dolly. This is not our fight and the Minors that are our allies are now safe because of our efforts. This is not our problem.”
“That might be true, except for the fact that the Red Ships are coming because of our actions. Have you forgotten that?”
“No, I haven’t. We blew up those suns because of the Majors attacking us. It was done because of their behavior, not ours. The responsibility lays with them not us. We did it attempting to survive. But for their aggression, it wouldn’t have happened. They are getting what they deserve.”
Dolly wanted to scream at him but knew he was right. She sat back in her chair and tried to think of another argument. Nothing came to mind.
George saw her struggling and said, “Does anyone else have anything to add?”
“Yes.”
“What is it, RV?”
“I’ve had the fifty blasts we set off to destroy the Major’s Fleets that were chasing us examined and I’ve been given some interesting information.”
Everyone stared at RV on their displays and George said, “And?”
“More than sixty civilizations are going to die as a result of those blasts.”
“I thought we examined the blast radius of those stars?”
“We did, but we didn’t consider the effect it would have on other unstable stars. The solar flares and shock waves from the initial explosions are going to incinerate those civilizations and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. Are those civilizations also the Major’s responsibility?” George stared at RV. “Or is it our fault because we didn’t take the time to really see what the end result was going to be.” RV paused, “If they are our responsibility, we can’t leave the blame of the coming Red Ships totally at the feet of the Majors. We did it because of them but we took no responsibility of seeing what would happen as a result of our decision. We didn’t even ask our allies if the explosions might have an adverse effect; then we would have found out about the Red Sector and we might not have taken that path. We are not totally innocent in this.”