Star Rover-Chosen to Die (Lens of Time)

by Andrew, Saxon

  “That doesn’t sound right.”

  “I’ve cross checked everything we’ve recorded against that word and it appears it is some kind of weird ceremony or something.”

  “And what’s this about synchronizing their clocks?”

  The Seeker lifted his head, “They must have different times on their ships. You know how wake and sleep time can get skewed on a ship in space.”

  “Maybe we should consider doing that.”

  “It would certainly make it easier to know when to contact others.”

  “Let me know if you see anything unusual.”

  “You should come and watch what they call a dance. You don’t get more unusual than that.”

  “Call me when it starts.” The Seeker leaned back.

  • • •

  Dizzie and six other Rovers moved out of formation and moved their ships away from the fleet. Fleet Control came on their speakers, “Enjoy your time at home, you deserve it.”

  Dizzie smiled, “Thanks Control; I’m really looking forward to seeing my family.”

  The probe recorded their ship-to-ship communications and sent them to the Seeker keeping watch on the Fleet of Rovers. It listened to the translation and watched the six Rovers all move slowly away from the Fleet’s main base of operations. All six jumped away in different directions. The Seeker decided they weren’t worth sending a probe to follow them. This species seemed to want to go and see their relatives. He’s seen it happen time and time again and try as he might, he didn’t understand why they did it. He leaned back and continued to listen to the feeds from twenty probes; nothing of interest was happening and it was mind numbing work to stay attentive. He looked at the other Seekers and saw they were just a bored as he was. Well, things would change shortly.

  • • •

  Dizzy appeared above a planet on the edge of the Milky Way and waited. Two hours later, a green light illuminated on her panel. The probe near her ship had not detected an Alien Probe following her. Dizzy said, “Stumbles, get us out of here.” The Rover skipped out on the barrier and once it was a thousand light years away, the new reactor and skip drive energized and the small vessel leaped across the universe. The new Fleets were coming home in a few days. She was charged with delivering the message. They were ordered to jump to the Union upon the receipt of the order on the new communication frequency. Kelli was ordered to have her ships ready to go. Dizzy smiled and hoped she would be able to use her attack group soon. They had worked hard getting ready.

  Her ship arrived in the Colonies and she said, “Stumbles, get Admiral McCagg on the channel.”

  Kelli appeared on Dizzy’s display, “You’re invited to a dance in two days. We’ll contact you with a new invitation when you’re supposed to arrive.”

  Kelli smiled, “I’ll get my dancing shoes shined.” Dizzy smiled and jumped away. The Union’s communications couldn’t be tracked to a location but they could be heard all over the universe. Kelli called in her staff and sent instructions via code using the ship’s hull lights. At last, the sitting back and doing nothing was about to end. She looked forward to seeing Matt again.

  • • •

  Captain Stone looked at Captain Arvolo and felt uneasy. She saw his expression and said, “You could report me, Captain.”

  “Sir, the crew would draw and quarter me if I did. What does this modification to the blasters actually do?”

  “I’ll show you in a few more moments.” Angela picked up her communicator, “Are the drones ready?”

  “Yes Sir, we launched them an hour ago and they’re holding station a hundred miles out.”

  Angel activated the ship’s general frequency, “Alright, all of the new blasters will be fired continuously. I want the blasters on the side of the ship the drones are attacking to try and paint our ship inside a barrage. Lt. Dugan, does your team understand.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  “We will remain stationary and give the drones the best possible target for their training beams and missiles. Exercise will commence in ten seconds.” Angel counted it down and said, “Launch the first wave.”

  Six drones accelerated at the stationary battleship and the blasters on the port side of the giant ship opened fire. A massive wave of black energy pulses left the ship and moved into the path of the incoming drones. Angela said, “Cease firing!”

  Captain Young stared at the main wall monitor and saw nothing but small pieces of the six drones flying out from where they were hit. He looked at Angela, “Those drones were equipped with the force field of a current model Jukebox.”

  Angel smiled brightly and lifted her communicator, “Launch all remaining drones in ten seconds.” She switched frequency and said, “Turn the ship nose on to them and lay down a covering barrage. Use your sensors to determine which ones you need to fire.”

  Stone watched the thirty remaining drones come in flying evasive routes and it was almost impossible to track their path. The ship looked like it was suddenly inside a black cloud and after a moment the blasters stopped firing. Stone looked up and said, “Computer, how many hits on the ship?”

  “None.”

  “How many missiles did the drones launch?”

  “A hundred.”

  Stone looked at Angel, “You need to get this to fleet.”

  “Not before we trial it in real world combat. This way we’ll be the only ones at risk if it doesn’t work.”

  “If you use it in actual combat; you could be court marshalled.”

  Angel smiled, “And then you would have your own command.”

  Stone stared at Angel and said, “I don’t want to get it that way, Sir. You’re too important to this crew to lose.”

  “We won’t use it except in an emergency. I’m hoping we’ll be fine without it.”

  “Then why do it?”

  Angel tilted her head, “Because you just never know what can happen.”

  “Who controls them?”

  “I have the release buttons for the blasters and force field on my panel. It’s my neck on the block and I should be the one to decide when to use them.”

  Stone nodded and sighed, “Don’t wait too long, Captain.”

  Angel’s head went back, “Why it sounds like you really care?”

  Stone stared at Angel and said, “More than you know.” He turned and left the bridge to check on the blaster teams. Angel was left with a shocked expression on her face.

  • • •

  The Seeker looked at the Leader who was going off duty, “The time synchronization and dance are supposed to happen in a few hours; you should stay and watch it.”

  “Nothing those creatures do will surprise me.”

  The Seeker leaned forward and said, “I don’t know about that.”

  The leader stared at the Seeker, “Do you honestly think this is worth hanging around and watching. You really aren’t serious are you?”

  “You just have to see them making all kinds of random movements to loud random sounds. It’s really crazy behavior.”

  The Leader stared at the Seeker and started leaning back and vertical indicating a nod, “Alright, I’ll go get something to eat and come back. What time did you say?”

  “Be back in two hours.”

  The Leader leaned back and turned and used his two outside legs to assist his main leg in leaving the room quickly. He really didn’t have anything planned; perhaps this might be entertaining.

  • • •

  Katherine looked at Brad, “I want the probe here left alone.”

  “What?”

  “I have something to say to our voyeurs; once I’ve done that, you can remove it.”

  “Katherine, if it’s armed, it could take a shot at you.”

  “Just have one of the second generation probes ready to get in front of it to block any beam it might fire. Have two more probes on either side to do the duty of taking it out.”

  Brad sighed and said, “I am going to be here with you.”

  Katherin
e stared at Brad and thought about ordering him to leave but knew she’d have to have him arrested for refusing to follow direct orders. “Are the probes out of their galaxy?”

  “They were removed four days ago.”

  “Are the old probes replaced with the new model?”

  “That was completed yesterday.”

  “Has the fleet been notified to stay in normal space for the time synchronization?”

  “Even Arvolo is staying in his ship.”

  Kat stared at Brad and said, “Get an order in the system that if something happens to me, Arvolo will assume overall command of the Union’s Military forces here.”

  Brad nodded and turned to go, then stopped and said, “Is what you have to say that important?”

  “It will make a difference in what the Alien’s next act might be. It has to come from either me or Dat and he’s not up to speed to do it.” Kat said as Brad turned to go, “Have the new communication channels been activated.”

  “Yes they have. You can speak to the fleets in private immediately after the Alien’s Probes are attacked.” Katherine nodded and wished Arvolo was with her. She needed his wisdom.

  • • •

  Dat and Gresha sat on board Stein and waited for the time synchronization. Gresha looked at Dat and shook her head, “This really doesn’t make sense. Every ship in the fleet has a clock set to a standard military time kept at Fleet Control.”

  Dat nodded, “Katherine is up to something else.”

  Gresha looked at Dat as she thought about it, “Why would she want all of our warships to remain in normal space at the same moment?” Dat looked at her, then looked up at the ceiling, and then looked back at her. Gresha started shaking her head but then she saw it. She looked at her secondary control panel and saw Dat had entered Earth’s coordinates into the jump drive. She leaned back and nodded as she said, “It might be a good idea to have every ship operating on the same time.”

  Dat smiled and said, “I thought about that as well. It’s a small thing but makes sense if you think about it.”

  “Well, let’s get this done so we can go to your next speaking engagement.”

  Dat smiled, “Hurry up and wait.”

  • • •

  The Seeker heard their conversation and started to call over a leader when he heard the time synchronization was not something they needed to do. He stopped when they said it was. He thought about what possible reason the military would want all their ships in normal space but couldn’t think of a reason. There was something playing at the edge of his consciousness but he couldn’t determine what it was. He listened as the Admiral and his wife counted down the seconds to synchronize their ship’s systems. He had a fleeting thought that they could do the same thing with the probes; they were also all in normal space watching their assigned targets. Suddenly it hit him what they might be doing. He leaped out of his chair and yelled across the room at his Leader, “THEY’RE GOING AFTER OUR PROBES!!!”

  The Leader looked at the Seeker and was confused. The Seeker heard ‘three, two, one…’ and saw his display go dark. Only one seeker in the room still had contact and he turned up the sound on his panel so everyone could hear…

  • • •

  Brad looked at his panel and then nodded to Katherine. She lifted a communicator and said, “We’ve known for years that you’ve been watching us and we didn’t attempt to prevent you from doing it. I decided that if you really took a look at us you’d know that we do not represent a danger to your civilization. However, the recent arrival of more probes tells me that you are no longer just watching us; you’re planning something and I’d like to know what it is. This probe is the last one you have operating here and I’ll be destroying it momentarily. If you’d like to discuss it, send a ship to the edge of my galaxy and I’ll come and meet you.”

  Katherine turned off the communicator and ran her hand across her neck. The Alien Probe above Earth fired a beam at the Space Port below it but it was blocked by an Advanced Probe’s force field. A half second later, the probe was vaporized by the lasers from two other Advanced Probes next to it.

  Katherine watched the wall monitor and saw the Alien Probe fire just before it was blown into fragments and she shook her head, “It looks like they won’t be coming to talk. Get the new fleets here now!”

  • • •

  The Leader of the Seekers heard what the Leader of the other civilization said and looked at the Seeker whose panel was still operational, “Fire on her.” The Seeker lifted a red colored cover from a button and pressed it. The beam fired but was stopped by something a hundred yards in front of it. A moment later, the screen went dark.

  The Leader ran to the wall, lifted the cover from a lever and pulled it. An alarm began howling and the main wall monitor illuminated showing a group of ten yellow beings standing around a large table. The Leader standing at the center of the table yelled, “WHAT’S HAPPENED?”

  The Seeker Leader looked at the screen with fear, “All of our probes in the targeted galaxy have been destroyed.”

  “WHAT!?!”

  “All but one of them ceased operation at the same moment.”

  “What did the one that survived do?”

  “It was used to deliver a message to us from the Leader of their Military. I used the probe to fire on her, as you told me to do if there was a chance we would lose sight of her, and the beam was blocked. That probe ceased operation a moment later.”

  The large yellow creature stared at the Seeker Leader and said, “Firing on that leader was a mistake.”

  The Seeker Leader was terrified, “I did as you instructed, Master.”

  “Could you not see that if we lost all our probes we would be blind to what’s happening there? We don’t want them to know our intentions until we act. Now we don’t know how long they’ve known about our presence there.”

  The Seeker Leader forced himself to say, “The Military Leader said in her statement that she has known we were there for eighteen years.”

  The impact on the Yellow Master was instant. He looked around the table and yelled, “Stop the fleets.” He turned back to the Seeker Leader, “Immediately send everything you have to my panel.” The Seeker saw three warriors enter the room and stand at the door. The Leader pushed several controls on his panel and said, “I’ve sent everything we’ve recorded.”

  The Master said, “Warriors, please remove that idiot from my Probe Facility.” One of the guards pulled a hand weapon and shot the Seeker Leader in the chest as he screamed he was following orders. The scream abruptly ended and nothing remained of the Leader. The Master looked at his panel briefly and looked up, “Which one of you shouted the warning they were going to attack our probes?”

  The Seeker felt his two hearts go into his feet. He stood and said, “I did, Master.”

  “What led you to believe that?”

  “I couldn’t understand why that civilization wanted all their ships in normal space at the same moment. It’s been troubling me for days and I had a thought that we could also synchronize the clocks in our probes since they were all in normal space. Then it dawned on me that might be the reason they wanted all their ships in normal space; they wanted to attack our probes.”

  The Master stared at the Seeker and he knew he was dead. “That was a remarkable deduction on your part. I don’t know if I would have seen that. You will replace your former leader. I want you to get a probe into that galaxy and tell me what’s going on.”

  “I’ll start sending them immediately.” The Display went dark and the Seeker fell into his chair. The other Seekers in the room didn’t envy his promotion; the last eight Leaders had all died by the beams from a warrior’s blaster. The new Leader knew with the escalation of hostilities, his time in new position was going to be short. All it would take to end his life was a mistake. He looked at the dark monitors and knew the Civilization in that galaxy could see his probes…and he couldn’t see theirs. Just getting a probe in was going to be difficult
. However, the effort had to be made. “Get the launch facility on my board and see how many probes we have in other galaxies we can use.” The Seekers in the room activated their panels and went to work. When the midday meal arrived, the new Leader wasn’t hungry.

  • • •

  Dat watched the countdown reach zero and saw a huge explosion twenty miles away. “Stein, are we clear?”

  “We are Admiral.”

  “Take us to Earth.” The Rover went into the barrier and skipped away.

  • • •

  Angel and her crew were at General Quarters and she looked at her helmet visor and saw Admiral McCagg’s Flagship was designated by a yellow icon. She saw it start to flash and she pressed the jump alarm. The klaxon started going off on all decks and after a few minutes, Angel turned it off. Yellow lights continued to flash on all decks and the crew knew when it turned green, the ship was going to jump. They prepared their weapons systems and checked them for any malfunction.

  Angel looked at the proximity icon and a view of the ships around her appeared. The fleet was in formation and all of the millions of ships held station without drifting. Angel saw the Admiral’s icon turn green and she pressed the jump button on her panel. The mile long ship disappeared.

  • • •

  Dat arrived at Earth and heard, “God, I’m glad you’re here. Get down as quickly as possible.”

  “And it’s good to see you as well, Admiral!”

  Kat heard the sarcasm in Dat’s voice and said, “Think about what you would have done differently! Get Stein to transfer what’s happened before you get here.”

  “Transfer ready, Admiral.”

  “Stein, why didn’t you give me this before now?”

  “It would only unlock inside Earth’s gravity well. I only had access to it a moment ago.”

  Dat put on the skull cap, “Send it.”

  “Gresha, you should also have this information.”

  Gresha nodded and put on her skull cap. The transfer only took two minutes but Gresha was amazed at what the Admiral had been able to accomplish right under the noses of the alien probes. She looked at Dat and saw him shake his head. “What are you thinking, darling?”