Star Rover-Chosen to Die (Lens of Time)

by Andrew, Saxon

  Kelli said, “I suspect we will be over crowded at the first breakout.” Dat looked at her and she continued, “We’ll have a hundred and twenty million old and new model Jukeboxes. Their pattern appears to flood through an entry point that is about nine hundred miles wide. The Jukeboxes average about half a mile in length so it will only take eighteen hundred of them lined up nose to tail to cover the entire length.”

  Dat pressed a button on his wrist unit and a formation of ships appeared on the monitor. Angel looked at it and was surprised at what she was seeing. Dat said, “This is what I call the Can. All of the ships in this formation will form a three dimensional shape that surrounds the break out point. The distance to the center of the Can is fifty miles. Can anyone tell me why?”

  Angel said, “That is the range of blasters when fired at full power.”

  Dat smiled, “Very good, Angel.” He looked at the monitor and said, “The cylinder will be wide enough so that none of our ships will be damaged by beams fired from other ships across from them in the formation. It will be a hundred miles in diameter.” Dat looked back to the attendees, “Gibbs, Kelli, Matt, and Gresha’s fleets will compose the walls of the cylinder. Admiral Kune’s fleet will fill in the ends and prevent any ships from exiting the Can.”

  “What about the Rovers?”

  Dat looked at Gresha, “They will be standing by to go to any other breakout points; however, until another breakout happens, they will surround the Can and attack any ships that manage to escape.”

  Angel stared at the formation, “What happens if multiple breakout points happen?”

  “We have six major fleets. Each of you will learn to move into this formation and attack a breakout point with just your fleet. We’ll do all we can to stop them but if they open more than six entries into our solar system, Katherine is going to disrupt Green Space. Your fleets will then move out into the outer planets and start killing as many enemy warships as possible. If we’re pushed back to Jupiter’s orbit, you’ll jump out and go to other planets in the Union and fight to prevent them being destroyed.”

  Gibbs looked at Kune and saw what he was thinking. He took a breath and said, “Sir, if we’re pushed back, what good are we going to do at other planets?”

  Dat raised his right hand and scratched his left eyebrow, “Probably no good at all. However, at that point our goal is to do all we can to weaken the Rust Civilization to the point where they will not be invading other galaxies for a long time. If nothing else, we’ll buy the colonies time to rebuild the fleets and start preparing to eventually meet this menace.” Dat stared at the Admirals, “Are there any other questions before we start discussing the coming operation.”

  Angel said, “When do we open fire on the breakout points”

  Dat smiled, “I’m glad you asked that. I don’t want to use the Jukebox’s penetrators during the breakout defense unless I’m absolutely forced to do it. We’ll open fire at the breakout point as soon as we surround it. Every ship will fire their standard blasters and launch barrages continuously until ordered otherwise. I want those fanatics to emerge into normal space in the middle of a hell storm.” Dat looked at Angel, “Does that answer your question.” Angel smiled and nodded.

  Matt said, “You know if you have the Can set up prior to their arrival, they’ll not jump in at that location. Their probes will see it and warn them.”

  Dat nodded, “The Can will be located in deep space and will jump in the moment the oncoming wave is detected in Green Space. We’ll have three seconds to jump in and open fire. The enemy probes will be taken out at the same moment by our Rovers and Advanced Probes. The incoming enemy ships won’t have any warning prior to their emergence in normal space. We’ll be there ahead of them.”

  Gresha shook her head, “Dat, we can’t jump that many ships in that close together without collisions.”

  “Actually, the Can will be three times its normal size when we jump in. We’ll close up our ranks as we open fire. Everyone will have their coordinate locked into their jump boards so we should be fine. The only ships here will be Admirals’ Matthews and the Strike Fleet. They will be holding position above the planet directly below the jump point we’re anticipating they’ll use.” Dat looked around the table, “Let’s read the operational plan and see if we come up with anything we can modify or add to it.”

  General Robinson stuck his head in the door and said, “The enemy’s probes have entered the Servant’s Galaxy. I’ll send you a feed if anything happens.”

  Dat nodded and knew time was getting shorter.

  • • •

  The Exalted looked at the reports that were sent to his panel. His nose jerked up and down as he read the findings. The second display on his panel illuminated and he saw the Chosen appear, “I’ve been told you’ve found the species that was on my planet.” The Exalted’s nose rose in agreement but it still twitched left and right. The Chosen saw his expression, “What’s bothering you?”

  “We have found that species on hundreds of planets and our probes are still discovering more each minute.”

  “This must be their home galaxy!”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Why not?”

  “How did that scout get here?”

  The Chosen’s nose went straight down and then back up, “What do you mean?”

  “So far, none of the planets they’ve located have any ship building facilities on them. The Probes have also uncovered that there was a massive galactic war here. There are derelict, burned out battleships scattered all over this galaxy. Someone came in here and exterminated the builder of those dead ships.”

  “How many ships have you seen?”

  “Close to a billion.”

  “Are there any burned out ships of the ones that exterminated them?”

  The Exalted looked at the Chosen on his display, “No, there is not.” The Exalted looked back at the data stream coming in, “It appears that species you’re so interested in lives in rather primitive societies.”

  The Chosen thought about the statement and said, “If you look at most of our worlds, we also appear, on the surface, to live in primitive societies.”

  “I know that; however, there are advanced manufacturing plants on all of our planets. There’s nothing on these.”

  “Well, you know they have the capability to hide their ships. There could be millions of ships in that galaxy and you’re not able to see them. I suspect they could also hide manufacturing plants if they chose.” The Exalted’s nose slowly moved up and the Chosen smiled, “I scored on that one, didn’t I?”

  The Exalted nodded, “Yes you did; I hadn’t considered that. I’m launching an attack fleet on these planets and will watch to see what happens. If my fleet is attacked by warships we’re not able to see, I’ll open a major campaign here.”

  “That sounds like a good idea.”

  The Exalted’s display went dark and he sent the orders.

  • • •

  Trab’s warship broke into normal space fifty thousand miles from the planet and he moved into formation with his gathering. He had missed the attack in the Yellow Carnivore’s Galaxy; his ship had been destroyed by one of their attacks in the Herd’s Galaxy. He had taken possession of a new one two weeks earlier and was assigned a position in the next leading wave due to his absence from the prior operation. Everyone expected to be killed in the leading waves; they paid the price of having the highest casualties in most attacks made by the Believer Fleets.

  They were little more than fodder used to open a path through enemy forces. At least he had a great view of the planet. He had mixed emotions about missing the last attack. Since his ship was destroyed, he and his crew had been taken off the active duty list until a new ship could be built. That allowed him and Jalil to have their bonding approved by the community Elder. She was now expecting their first born and he wished he would live to see it born. However, the odds did not favor that happening and Jalil had wept when he left. His tens
ion was high and he stared at his scanners looking for an enemy vessel to come in and blow a hole through his ship.

  The Gathering’s Commander warned of possible enemy ships that would not be seen by his scanners. He gripped the steering controls and saw the rest of his crew was also highly nervous. But…the planet was getting larger and no ships around him had been attacked. If they were going to attack, they should have done it by now. The planet was now in scanning range and he could see the locations of the black carnivores appearing on his panel. He knew his crew was worried and he announced, “Nothing has appeared on my detectors. The targets on the planet have scattered and I have selected one located in a cave in the mountain range that bisects the land mass below us. Weapons, lock a missile on the target and launch on my order.”

  “Yes, Ship Believer.”

  Trab saw the blue light illuminate on his panel and knew the data had been fed to the missile. He absently noticed that there were thirty thousand of the Carnivores on the planet’s surface. He sent the data on the one he targeted and he saw the number in the targeted total on his panel increase by one. He ran more scans but nothing appeared on his threat list. Did this planet not have any protection? He had another minute before he arrived at his launch location and he absently noticed that all of the carnivores had been targeted.

  “Believer, a message just came in from the High Believer that no nuclear missiles will be used. It’s been determined that the local population is not carnivores. The Priests want the opportunity to convert them to believers.”

  Trab reached forward and toggled the launcher from a nuclear missile to a high explosive, heat missile. He barely had time to make the change when the computer auto-launched the missile from just above the planet’s upper atmosphere. “Weapons, track it in and confirm the location of the hit.”

  “Yes Believer.”

  Trab watched the missile leave his ship and it left a long light trail following it down. He looked out of the armored viewport and saw thousands of bright lights moving toward the planet. He activated his look down system and focused it on the cave where the carnivore was hiding. It hadn’t moved and he suspected it thought it wouldn’t be seen through the rock surrounding it. It was wrong. The small hole in the side of the mountain disappeared in a massive explosion. Trab kept the site on his display and saw tons of rock sliding down the mountain. The wind blew the dust away and there was a huge gap in the mountain where the cave had been located. He turned on his biological scanner and saw a cloud small particles made from the Carnivore’s body being blown away in the dust. He pressed a button on top of his panel and the Target Destroyed total increased by one. Only nine hundred targets had to be hit a second time. Five required three shots; they were underwater and hard to hit.

  Trab waited for further commands but none came. His Sub Gathering held their position above the planet waiting to see what they would do next. Then he heard, “Hold positions to support the transports when they arrive.”

  Trab and his crew’s joy was immense. They had great fortune being assigned this mission. Their Gathering would now be placed at the bottom of the Active Gathering List and he would be in the back formation during the next attack. The Deity had looked after him and his crew. He couldn’t wait to surprise Jalil when he went home.

  • • •

  The Admirals watched the feeds coming in from the Servant’s Galaxy and their expressions were grim. Angel was shaking her head and heard her father say, “It appears their ability to scan for specific biological readings is phenomenal. I know many of those they found would have been missed by our scanners.”

  “Admiral, transports are arriving at numerous planets.”

  Dat shook his head, “More converts for the faith. That Galaxy will be the next one to build ships for them.”

  Kune looked at Dat, “Admiral, shouldn’t we just destroy the probes when they arrive here?”

  Dat shook his head, “They have more than a billion probes. If they choose to see something, there’s not much that can be done to stop them. Also, if we destroy their probes, they’ll know for certain that the ones they’re searching for came from this galaxy. No, we allow them to come through and hope when they find the Matador’s former planet they leave and look for them elsewhere.” Dat stared at the monitor and said, “Although, I really don’t think they’ll fly away.” The other officers looked at each other and were forced to agree with him.

  Gresha stared at the monitor as well and shook her head, “I hate being right about this.” She saw Dat look at her and she continued shaking her head, “They’re going to look for ship building planets. That’s what will bring them here.” Dat nodded.

  • • •

  The Exalted contacted the Chosen and waited for him to appear on his panel. After ten minutes, the Chosen smiled and said, “Well?”

  “This galaxy was not the Carnivore’s home.” The Chosen’s smile vanished. “However, the inhabitants here have been conquered in the past and are perfect subjects to become a member of the Herd. They are herbivores like us and accept the removal of carnivores from the universe without any issues. This will become another galaxy to join us.”

  The Chosen’s smile returned, “Perhaps the Deity is leading us in our pursuit. What happens now?”

  “We must be getting close to the home world of the Carnivore. The inhabitants tell us that they came with the white ships that killed their captors and stayed behind.”

  “White Ships?”

  “It appears the Carnivores actually work for, or with, the ones that built the warships that killed their captors.”

  “Keep searching. I’m beginning to feel that we are being led by the Deity in this quest.”

  The Exalted lowered his head and ended the call. He sensed that it wasn’t going to take much longer. He knew he had chosen the right path to search.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Brad entered Katherine’s office and she saw by his expression that the waiting was over. “The first of their probes have arrived and are making a fast run through our galaxy.”

  “Keep me informed; notify the fleets of what’s happening and keep them up to date on what develops.”

  “Yes Sir.” Brad turned to go and stopped. He turned around and said, “Kat, you know I love you very much.” Katherine smiled and nodded. “I just felt I needed to tell you again.”

  “Brad, turn your duties over to your XO and we’ll take a few moments for each other.”

  Brad’s smile grew larger, “I’ll meet you on the first floor.”

  “That would be good, Darling.”

  • • •

  Dat looked at the wall monitor in Gresha’s conference room. The Jukebox B hung in open space with the rest of the Union’s fleets and they waited to see if their prayers would be answered. Ten probes had gathered around the Matador’s former planet and they had not moved for more than an hour. Dat looked at Gresha’s blonde hair and marveled at how beautiful she was. She appeared to not have aged at all since the first day he met her on Haven. She was beautiful, brilliant, and breathtaking. He was so lucky to have found her. She looked at Dat and caught him staring. She smiled, “What?”

  “I’m so lucky to have you.” Gresha stood up from her chair and walked over to Dat and sat down in his lap. She put her head on his shoulder and blew out a slow breath. “This is where I love being.”

  Dat put his arms around her and held her close. Gresha closed her eyes and after a moment said, “It looks like they’re discussing what they want to do.” She felt Dat nod. She closed her eyes and found comfort in Dat’s arms.

  • • •

  The Chosen and Exalted stared at the images being sent from the spiral galaxy. The Exalted said, “We found a planet that was recently occupied by a huge number of the Carnivore that came to our planets. It appears they knew we were coming and they fled the planet.”

  “Can you determine where they went?”

  The Exalted’s nose moved to the left, “Probably not.”<
br />
  “I don’t like that they escaped after sending one of them to the Holy Planet.”

  “You know how big the universe is and we have no idea which direction to search for them.”

  The Chosen considered the situation and after a moment said, “Didn’t the inhabitants of the galaxy we just conquered say they were allies with the builders of the white ships?” The Exalted’s nose went up and down. “I notice that one planet here has millions of white ships hanging in space above it.”

  “I saw that as well.”

  “If we attack that planet, do you think they might come to their aid?”

  “That’s reaching.”

  “What else can we do at this point? Besides, the inhabitants of that planet are carnivores and we will have to eliminate them at some point.”

  “Actually, they’re omnivores; they eat plants, too.”

  “That’s also reaching.”

  “I guess. We’ve determined that most of the civilized planets in this galaxy are in an alliance with that planet. Are we prepared to attack all of them? We have two galaxies that are going to require most of our attention for the foreseeable future, melding them into the Herd.”

  “I’m thinking that we were led to this galaxy for a reason. We have nowhere to go from here so I think we should take it and add it to our believers.”

  “Are you sure about that, Chosen?”

  “I am.”

  The Exalted didn’t feel right about the decision but he didn’t have a good reason to turn away. He looked at his Active Gathering List and said, “I’ll launch an attack against the one planet and we’ll take on the others after we take it. You should send the probes out again and see if you get lucky in finding the carnivores.” The Exalted nodded and began sending orders.

  • • •

  Brad’s probes intercepted the transmissions from the Exalted and he sent a transcript of it to the senior Admirals. Dat read it and looked at Gresha, “Showtime, get your fleet ready. Brad and the SR’s have targeted the probes still in our galaxy and are ready to take them out.” Dat pressed his communicator, “Attention all fleets. Earth will be attacked shortly; lock your jump panels to the signal I’m sending and open fire as soon as you emerge into normal space. We’ll be activating the plan as soon as the Rust Warships are detected moving through Green Space.”