The Death Filament: Some Places Should Be Avoided

by Saxon Andrew

  “If that’s the case, then there’s something at that star that has the Tronan’s attention.”

  “Just don’t get too close, Sir.”

  “Can the Sir, Roger. That’s only for off ship posturing. Or are you still angry about my stupid question?”

  Roger smiled, “Admitting that it was stupid is a step in the right direction. What do you think is going on?”

  “The possibilities are endless but they might be going to relieve some Tronan Ships that have been on station.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “How many ships do we usually send to relieve ships in fleet?”

  Roger shrugged, “Between ten and twenty if it’s a fleet.”

  “We’ll find out soon enough.” Tommy looked up, “Computer, have you been able to detect a star ahead of us?”

  “No, but there must be one or at least an intersection. I don’t think those Tronan Warships would be moving toward a dead end.”

  Tommy nodded, “I agree. Let me know if the energy in the filament increases.”

  “I’m currently keeping track of that.” Tommy nodded and leaned his chair back to relax.

  • • •

  Six hours later, the Computer announced, “The energy in the filament is increasing and its width has increased a mile. The star is not visible yet but all the data suggests is should be making an appearance shortly.”

  Tommy jerked up as the Computer began speaking and rubbed his eyes. Roger sighed, “How you’re able to sleep at a time like this never ceases to amaze me.”

  “I’ve learned that fatigue is what causes mistakes. I sleep whenever possible.”

  “I’ve detected the star,” The Computer announced. It is a Red-Giant and that’s what made it difficult to detect.”

  Roger looked at his panel and said, “Looks like you were right, Tommy. Ten Tronan Warships are moving toward us on the outward flow.”

  Tommy whipped the scout to the far edge of the inward flow and whipped the bow around. He used the DM thrusters to turn the fins toward the opposite flow and held the scout in position. The ten Tronan Warships flashed by them in less than an hour. Tommy turned the scout and started coasting toward the star on the inward flow.

  “I’ve detected more than a hundred-thousand Tronan Warships surrounding a planet circling the Red Giant!” the Computer announced.

  Tommy stared at the long-range monitor and his eyes narrowed, “Those ships are a long distance from the planet.”

  Roger stared at his console’s monitor and said, “And all of them have their blasters charged ready to fire.”

  “I’m leaving the filament when we get close to that planet. Computer, how far should I stay away from those ships?”

  “Those ships have all of their scanners directed toward that planet. They are not scanning space behind them. You could get extremely close if you choose.”

  Tommy looked at Roger, “Why would they be doing that?”

  Roger tilted his head, “The only reason I can come up with is that something on that planet has them really frightened.”

  Tommy stared at Roger and turned back to his console. If the Tronan were scared, perhaps he should exercise caution in moving in. He decided that he would move over the top of the planet and maintain a distance of two-hundred miles. He left the filament and used just two rear DM thrusters to move into position. He stopped the scout and said, “Computer, run a complete passive scan of that planet and activate the optical Scanner on the wall monitor.”

  “The planet appeared on the monitor and both Tommy and Roger were surprised by the image. “That planet looks like a desolate desert. I see no cities or plant life on the surface,” Roger said softly. “There’s only white sand in all directions.”

  “There’s something there.”

  “Why do you say that, Computer?” Roger asked.

  “The positron emissions coming from it are off the scale.”

  “Show me what you’ve detected on my console monitor,” Tommy ordered. He saw the planet appear with a brilliant orange glow surrounding it. “Where are those emissions coming from, Computer?”

  “They’re not coming from the surface.”

  Tommy’s eyes narrowed and he looked at Roger. Roger shrugged and said, “Don’t ask me; I have no idea how that works. But if they are originating below the planet’s surface, they have to be twice as strong as what we’re seeing.”

  Roger stared at the monitor and looked up at the wall monitor, “Something’s happening.” Tommy jerked his head to the wall monitor and saw a Tronan Warship moving out of formation toward the planet. Roger said, “Computer, lock that ship on the optical scanner and use the secondary to keep a watch on the surface of the planet directly below its approach.” The wall monitor split into two side-by-side images and they watched the warship moving slowly toward the planet.

  They stared at the wall monitor and then, suddenly, the Tronan Warship went to full boosters and flashed into high orbit above the planet. Sixty-missiles erupted from its launchers on the bottom of the warship as it turned away from the planet. Tommy asked loudly, “What kind of missiles are those, Computer?!”

  “Nuclear.”

  Tommy kept his eyes on the planet and saw something come out of the sand and fire a brilliant orange beam at the fleeing warship. The beam blew through the Tronan Ship and it immediately detonated into a massive explosion. Tommy’s eyes narrowed and he saw the planet’s surface under the incoming nuclear warheaded missiles suddenly erupt with long tubes that fired beams at the incoming barrage. When one of the beams hit a missile, it was demolished leaving nothing but a gas cloud. Every missile was destroyed high above the planet’s atmosphere. The long tubes disappeared back into the planet’s surface.

  Roger looked at Tommy and opened his mouth but then closed it. Tommy shook his head and fell back in his chair. “Computer, how far out was that Tronan Warship when it was hit?”

  “Eleven-hundred miles.”

  Tommy nodded and sighed, “It looks like the Tronan have opened Pandora’s Box here. This giant fleet is for the expressed purpose of keeping whatever is on that planet from escaping.”

  “I’ve detected huge clouds of debris beyond the Tronan formation toward the location of the filament. It does appear the Tronan suffered high losses here in the past,” the Computer announced.

  “Can you estimate how many ships were destroyed, Computer?” Roger asked.

  “More than fifty-thousand.”

  Tommy shook his head, “Have you detected any radioactivity on the planet’s surface?”

  “We can only see the northern hemisphere of the planet but there is no place on the planet I can scan from our current location giving off radioactivity. It appears the Tronan can’t get close enough to the planet to launch missiles at it. This planet may be more dangerous than the Tronan,” the Computer replied.

  Tommy nodded, “The Tronan Fleet is the only thing preventing a ship from leaving it. And they have some hundred-thousand warships here to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

  “What are you going to do, Tommy?”

  Tommy looked at Roger and said, “Computer, do you see any Tronan Warships here that are different from those that attacked Heaven?”

  “All of them are different.”

  “In what way?”

  “The blasters on their hulls appear to be on swivel mounts.”

  Tommy tilted his head, “Ok, I give up; what difference would that make?”

  “The Tronan Warships that invaded Heaven had the blasters operated by blaster crews. These appear to be scanner operated. By using swivel mounts, they can use their scanners to target anything moving toward them. By firing a blaster barrage around the ship like the old model, they wouldn’t see our ships approaching. These ships will see them and target them instantly.”

  “Do you think their range is like the old ship?”

  “The new blasters I see have a longer and larg
er barrel.”

  Roger lowered his eyes, “You cannot scan these ships or that planet with an active scan.” Tommy looked at Roger, sighed, and nodded. Roger sat back in his chair, “I know you want to.”

  “I do. But one of the other two scouts will have do it. They’ll detect our scan and know someone is scouting their ships. I’m backing out and getting out of here. Computer, make sure you have this location plotted. Someone much higher than me is going to make the call on what to do about this.” Tommy used the front DM thrusters to back away from the giant Tronan Formation and after two hundred miles, activated the stardrive and flew the scout into the outward flow of the filament.

  • • •

  Randy watched the three Tronan Fleets move into formation and start entering the filament. “Show time!” He dropped the scout into the filament and took a position directly behind the giant formation.

  “Captain, three of those ships with the more powerful scanners are at the rear of the formation.”

  “Which ones are they, Computer?”

  “I’ll designate them on the monitor with a red light.”

  Randy nodded and saw that one of them was in the center of the rear ships. “I’m going to move in to about ten miles and I want you to take a full passive scan of that ship in the center along with a full optical scan. I want as many clear images as you can collect.”

  “How long will you maintain that distance?”

  “Five minutes.”

  “I’ll start the scans when you’re forty miles out. Be prepared to run.”

  “Computer, I thought you said they couldn’t detect us?”

  “Always be prepared for the unexpected is a good policy to follow, Sir.” Randy and Emily smiled. The Computer was right about that.

  • • •

  The scout moved in closer and Emily shook her head slightly, “Those ships are huge!”

  Randy nodded and saw images start to appear on the optical monitor. “This new ship is not any larger than the old model but the blaster arrangement on the hull is very different. They have to be building it on the same frame as the old ships.”

  Emily nodded as she stared at her console, “They are the same basic shape as the old model. You’re probably right about them using the same frame.”

  The scout was twenty-miles behind the Tronan formation and the entire front viewport was filled with them. They weren’t using their boosters but were coasting on the high-speed giant filament. Randy looked at his chronometer and used the rear thrusters to back away. The Tronan Fleet flew away at high speed and Randy resumed chasing them from a hundred-miles behind them.

  “The front of the formation is moving on another filament at the intersection we’re approaching,” the Computer announced. Randy nodded and turned on the filament. Two hours later, the Computer said loudly, “I have incoming warships that are attacking the front of the Tronan Fleet. Some of them are moving around to encircle the fleet and will be attacking momentarily.”

  “Computer, I’m moving in on that formation and I want you to run an active scan of the ship we examined earlier the moment one of those attackers moves around the rear of the formation!”

  “Active scanner is on standby.”

  Randy accelerated toward the rear of the Tronan formation and stopped ten miles out. He held position and they saw a hundred small warships come roaring in. They opened fire on the Tronan Fleet and Randy shouted, “SCAN IT NOW!!”

  After what seemed like an eternity, the Computer said, “Scan complete.” Randy reversed the thrusters and the scout backed away from the space battle.

  “Continue to passively scan and try to get a recording of that new ship in action.”

  “Recording started ten minutes ago, Sir.”

  “Emily, keep an eye on your panel and make sure we’re getting what we need. I want to have a good recording of those new Tronan Warships firing their blasters. I’m about to move to a higher level to see if we can determine what’s happening at the front of the formation.”

  “Yes, Sir. I’ve targeted two of the new warships with our active scanners and have images of them firing on those defenders. However, I think you’re making a mistake.”

  Randy looked at her, “Tell me why?”

  “We’ve collected extremely valuable information about the new Tronan Warship and good judgement dictates we make sure it gets back to fleet. Staying here any longer jeopardizes the mission and moving to a higher level puts us in a much denser scanner environment.”

  Randy stared at her for a moment and then turned the Scout’s nose and crossed to the outward flow of the filament. “You’re right. It’s not critical to know who wins this fight. When we arrive back at the Death Filament, send the recall burst to the other scouts. We’re headed back now.” Emily smiled and pulled up the recall frequency. Randy looked up, “Computer, show me what you recorded on that new Tronan Warship.” The wall monitor activated and both Randy and Emily began feeling fear at what they were seeing.

  • • •

  Gloria and Patricia arrived on the Death Filament and headed further into Tronan Territory. Pat heard a loud tone and looked at her console, “We’ve been ordered back to the Fleet.”

  “Does that mean the Captain has recorded a new Tronan Warship?”

  “I have no idea, Gloria. However, I don’t believe he would order us back if he didn’t have something important.”

  “Reversing course. I hope intelligence can use this armor we’ve collected.”

  “I feel reasonably sure that Gregor will greatly appreciate it. Especially since we’ve collected some of the blasters the Tronan Ground Forces uses.” Gloria nodded and activated the boosters. The Scout accelerated instantly to its maximum speed and Gloria hoped Pat was right. They hadn’t been in Tronan Space more than two days and they were going back. Randy must have found something very important to leave this quickly.

  • • •

  “Tommy, we’ve been ordered back to Fleet.”

  “Awwww…”

  “I know.”

  “Did you receive anything on a new Tronan Warship being found?”

  “No. Only the recall.” Tommy’s eyes narrowed and Roger tilted his head, “Now is not the time to think about not following our orders.”

  “How do you know I’m considering that?”

  “I know that expression. Turn the ship and get moving. I have to believe the Captain found something important or he wouldn’t have ordered us back. The longer we stay here, the more the odds of us being discovered.”

  Tommy blew out a breath and reversed course on the Death Filament. “I just hoped it would be us that found something important.”

  “I suspect that planet the Tronan have surrounded is more important than you realize. They could pose a real problem if they manage to escape.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Their weapon technology is far beyond anything the Tronan possess as well as our most powerful blasters.”

  “Have you done an analysis, Roger?”

  “I have. Those beams were fired through a planet’s atmosphere and hit the Tronan Warship in high orbit. If they were fired in open space, they would be more than ten times more powerful than our Warship’s heavy blasters. They would also have more than five times the range.”

  “But they’re using planetary power systems. Surly a mobile power supply wouldn’t be as powerful.”

  “Are you certain about that, Tommy. I don’t believe our planet based reactors are than much larger than the ones used on our warships.”

  Tommy stared at Roger and sat back in his chair. “You’re right.”

  “You should also remember that the photons emanating from that planet are off the scale. I suspect whatever they use to power those massive beams is beyond our current technology. Our reactors don’t have positron emissions.”

  “Do you think the beams would penetrate the Bellingham coated warships?”


  “There’s no way of knowing without one of them taking a hit by one of those beams. Like you said, this is an issue for the Leadership Team to handle.”

  “Well, settle in. We have some time before we get back to the fleet.” Tommy leaned his chair back and was asleep in less than a minute. Roger sighed and took control of the scout.

  Chapter Six

  “Sir, I’ve just received a message from Captain Hummel that his unit is returning from their scouting mission.”

  Embree glanced at Shelly and said, “Has he sent any information on what he’s found?”

  “No, Sir. He notified us via a squeal-burst.”

  “He must have found something important,” Shelly said. Embree nodded and issued orders for the landing bay to be ready to bring the scouts on board.

  • • •

  The scouts landed on Heaven’s Gate and the Lieutenant in command of the bay greeted Randy as he exited is ship. He saluted and said, “The Admiral and Commodore are expecting you in his conference room.”

  Randy returned his salute and looked at Emily, “Do you have the data-block?”

  “Yes, Sir. And I’ve sent word to Gloria and Tommy to bring their information as well.”

  Randy shook his head, “I was hoping I’d be able to go over their findings before we met with the Admiral. I guess we’ll all learn at the same time what we’ve discovered.”

  Randy waited as first, Gloria landed followed by Tommy’s scout. They exited their scouts and Randy said, “The Admiral is waiting for us in his conference room. Tell me what you’ve found while we’re on the way.”

  Randy listened to the two Scout Commanders and was surprised by what Tommy had encountered. This was something far outside the ordinary and he wished he had the time to view the data he collected. This is what happened when the three scouts arrived from different locations at different times and there was no helping it. In the future, he would set a recall location where he could meet with his crews prior to arriving back at the fleet.

  • • •

  Shelly greeted the three crews, took their data-blocks, and inserted the into the main computer’s interface. Embree smiled as the three crews came to attention and said, “At ease; take a seat.”