by Saxon Andrew
“We have.”
“Order a fallback and move your forces to a safe distance.”
“What’s going on, Gregor? That is not the plan.”
“I’m sending you a recording Pletel send me. Look at it but in the meantime, order your forces to fall back.”
Kaylee saw the data appear on her communicator and she played it before issuing any orders. She closed her eyes and ordered her ground forces to fallback immediately. Gregor was right. It was evident that the Leadership Team was wrong and it was clear that attacking the Tronan on the surface of a planet was not going to happen without orbital support.
Chapter Twenty-two
“Admiral, Embree’s Fleet is on our scanners.”
Sam pressed his communicator button, “You made good time.”
Embree and Angel appeared on the wall monitor. Embree said, “The filament we used to move out of Heaven’s System was closer to the short-cut than your fleets.”
Angel looked at Sam, “Are you sure about this, Sam?”
“No, not really. But all of you told me that murdering beings that aren’t resisting is wrong. It seemed like the thing to do, at the moment. We still might have to go through with it, depending on what the Tronan Children decide.”
“Sam, they aren’t really children anymore. They’ve grown up since we left them here.”
“They’ll always be children to me, Angel. Put the filament in place and come to my ship.”
Embree looked at Angel and shrugged. She went to the landing bay and boarded a shuttle. Sam saw his panel’s monitor illuminate and saw the Tronan Fleet Director appear, “What’s going on?”
“I’m moving into the filament that just appeared and you will follow my ships.”
“Where does this filament lead?”
“To a planet. I’ll need you to follow my vessel and leave your other vessels behind.”
“Why can’t they go with me?”
“Because you’re following my instructions. Have them activate their self-destruct circuits with orders to activate them if anything happens to you. You may do the same.”
• • •
The shuttle arrived on Delilah’s Sword and the Fleet Director saw the fleet holding position in front of them move in behind his survivors at a safe distance outside their blaster range. The Science Director looked up from his panel, “Director, the fleet behind us was part of the fleet you sent our fleets to attack.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am. Their electronic signatures are an exact match we received from our probes.” The Fleet Director nodded and knew his fleets were lured into that system and trapped. He blew out a breath at the huge loss of life.
His monitor activated as the Fleet moved through the filament. He looked at the silver ships holding position above his hull and knew there was no escape. Should he order his ships to self-destruct. The strange looking being appeared and he heard, “Your ships will remain here. They will leave the filament and move into normal space. You may keep your communications open to them but they will not be allowed to speak.” The Fleet Director looked at his Communication Director and nodded. He looked at the Pilot and he moved his ship out of formation and saw two hundred silver warships moving into position around his ship. He followed the large warship moving ahead on the filament. An hour later, he heard, “Move into normal space and hold your position.” The Tronan Warship turned off its stardrive and disappeared from the filament.
The Scanning Director turned from his console, “We are not far from a planet.” The Fleet Director nodded and stared at the being on his monitor. A few minutes later, the monitor went dark. What was going on?
• • •
Gregor looked at Jel, “Contact the Tronan Leader on the planet and link me with him. Jel nodded and a moment later Sam heard in his mind, “You’ve come back. I want to thank you for the ship and the force field. It’s made a huge difference in surviving the predators. What brings you back so soon?”
“I need to meet with you along with your command team.”
“Why?”
“I’ll discuss it with you when you arrive. Bring your shuttle to my ship and I’ll have a member of my crew bring you to my conference room.”
“Is something wrong?”
“Not with our relationship. I’ll discuss it with you when you arrive.” Sam saw the young Tronan was worried but he started contacting his leaders. Sam looked at Jel and nodded. The link ended and Jel turned to Sam, “Do you want me in the meeting?”
“How will we communicate without you?”
“The computer will translate anything being said.”
“Why are you reluctant to be there?”
“Sometimes the inner most thoughts of a person should not be revealed.”
Sam smiled, “Then don’t reveal them. Jek has carried on many conversations and only revealed what was being said. I’m sure you can do the same.” Jel shrugged and then nodded.
• • •
The shuttle arrived and the six Tronan were led from the landing bay to the conference room. They walked in and Sam stood up, “I appreciate you coming to talk with us.”
The young Tronan looked around the room and saw Jel, “You are the telepath that sees our thoughts.”
Jel spoke as she thought to him, “I am. But I’ve agreed to only allow those attending to see what you are saying. I will not be allowing your innermost thoughts to be heard.”
“Why?”
Jel shrugged, “Because the subject might cause you…some anger.”
The young Tronan’s eyes narrowed and Sam said, “Sit down and relax. This meeting has nothing to do with changing our relationship.”
The six Tronan sat down across the table from Sam in silence. Sam said, “I have an issue.”
“What is that.”
“My fleet has captured more than three-hundred of your former civilizations warships.” The Tronan’s eyes went wide and Sam said, “They ceased resisting us and it came down to a choice of killing them or…”
The Tronan sneered, “Or bringing them here!”
“Something like that.”
“You should have killed them. They’re not worth saving!”
Sam stared at the young Tronan and felt his indignation and anger. Angel said softly, “Many of us felt the same thing when we captured your ship. Should we have killed you?”
The Tronan stood up and jerked his head toward Angel as a young Tronan female said softly, “Acree, you need to control your emotions and listen to what they have to say.”
Acree looked at the female, sat down, and then turned back to Sam, “Are you intending to put them on the planet with us?”
Sam looked in his eyes and said, “Not unless you agree to accept them.”
“And if I don’t?!”
“Then we will destroy them along with their ships.”
“Take them to another planet!”
“There are no other planets where we can insure they won’t escape. It’s this one or none.”
Acree struggled and finally said, “They deserve nothing but death for what they’ve done. They murdered billions of innocent beings for no good reason.”
Angel said, “If we had not stopped you, what would you have become?”
Acree looked at her and shook his head, “But we didn’t. We weren’t bloodied in battle and yearned for conquest. We were too young and were spared that life. The ones on those ships are adults and have been made into beings that cannot change their ways. They’ll only be a danger to me and my crew.”
Sam exhaled softly and said, “When we disabled your ship, I demanded that we destroy it and remove you from the universe. My crew insisted I was making a terrible mistake. That if we killed children, then we were no better than the ones we were fighting.” Acree stared at Sam in silence. “You’ve shown me that I was wrong. You proved to me that I was allowing my hate for your civilization to overrule my soul beca
use your warships destroyed my home world. Now, I’m the only one trying to convince the others that the Tronan on those ships are worth saving. Murdering adults is not something that is right. Adults can learn new things. I’m an example of that.”
Acree shook his head and the female said, “He’s right.”
Acree looked at her, “Jana, our children will be in danger if we allow them on our planet.”
Jel said where everyone could hear, “I have a question about your society.” Acree turned to her. “I understand that a Tronan called Prime commands all of their forces.”
“He’s the Prime Director.”
“Are his forces are required to follow his orders.”
“They are. In the Tronan Civilization, we’re taught that one’s rank is the most important thing that holds us together.”
“So, you’re not allowed to disobey the Prime Director?”
“Only if you are placed in a life or death situation and are required to do something different to save yourself.”
Jel smiled, “Who is the Prime Director on your planet?”
Acree stared at her and Jana said, “Acree is the Director of us.”
Jel said, “What would happen if the Tronan on those ships were required to recognize you as their Prime Director? Would they not have to follow your orders?”
Acree thought about it and said, “I…really don’t know.”
“What about their Fleet Director?” Angel asked.
Acree looked at her, “The warriors on a warship cannot disobey their director.”
Sam said, “Cannot or will not.”
Acree shook his head, “They have been conditioned. They cannot disobey their Director.”
“Can a Fleet Director disobey his Director?” Jel asked. Acree stared at her and Jel said, “The Fleet Director we captured was going to disobey the Prime Director if his communication line was interrupted.”
“Why?”
“He was told by the Prime that if the line went down he would be executed.”
“That would make it possible to disobey. Outside of a death threat, the Fleet Director would not disobey the Prime Director,” Acree replied. “I’m genuinely surprised the Prime Director threatened him with an execution.”
“I’ve looked at the Fleet Director’s mind and the Prime Director did not anticipate him leaving with his fleets to go to our space. I think he believed the Fleet Leader would remain in their territory.”
“Then the Prime Director made a mistake. I’m surprised he didn’t recall the Fleet Director when he learned of it,” Jana replied. “Why didn’t he?”
Jel shrugged, “The Fleet Director and his fleet were more than eight-months out before he found out. By the time, he could send another Fleet Director, the fleets would have arrived in our space.”
Acree smiled, “I always thought the Prime Director was rather pompous. He made a mistake. Did the Fleet Director disobey his orders?”
“No, he did not. We removed the communication line after he initiated his attack.”
Acree shook his head, “He couldn’t disobey until his life was in jeopardy.”
Sam interrupted, “So if the Fleet Director accepts you as his Prime Director, can he disobey your orders?”
Acree shook his head, “This is new territory for me. There’s never been more than one Prime Director.”
“Are you sure of that?” Angel asked.
Acree looked at the six Tronan with him and they shrugged. Acree turned back to Angel and said, “We were very young when you captured us. We were still being trained and most of our training did not involve learning the history of our civilization. I really don’t have an answer to your question.”
Sam looked at Jel, “Ask him.”
“Ask who?”
“Link with the Fleet Director and ask him if there has ever been two Prime Directors.”
Jel shrugged and closed her eyes.
• • •
The Fleet Director heard a thought, “Fleet Director.”
“Yes, who are you?”
“I’m a telepath on the ship you followed. I’ve been asked to inquire if there has ever been two Prime Directors in your civilization?”
“Why would you want to know that?”
“Just answer the question.”
“Thousands of years ago, the Empire became too large to manage. It was divided and a new Prime Director was given authority over the new Empire.”
“Thank you.” The thought disappeared and the Fleet Director wondered again what was going on.
• • •
Jel opened her eyes, “Thousands of years ago, the Tronan Empire was divided and a new Prime Director was chosen to lead the new Empire.”
Sam looked at Acree, “Will you accept them if they acknowledge you as their Prime Director?”
“They are carnivores!”
“They won’t be very long if they choose to live here.”
Acree stared at Sam and looked at his six leaders. “Give us a few moments to discuss this.”
Sam nodded and stood up, “We will leave you to discuss this privately. Send a thought when you’re ready.” Acree nodded and the Officers left the conference room.
After what seemed like an eternity but was only ninety-minutes, Jel looked at Sam, “They’re ready.”
Sam stood up and headed toward the conference room with Angel holding his hand. They went to their chairs and Sam asked, “What have you decided?”
Acree tilted his head. “I find myself in the same position that you were in when you captured us. I want all of them killed…but my Directors don’t agree. They tell me that to kill them would go against all you did in allowing us to live. I will talk with them and tell them what I think about them and offer to accept them if they are willing to agree that I will be their Prime Director.”
Sam stared at Acree and said, “Sometimes how you say something is more important than what is being said.”
“You’re worried that my anger will make them choose to die?” Sam nodded. Acree shrugged, “I’ll try to control my anger. I admit that I didn’t detect anger when you originally spoke to me.”
Sam shook his head, “I honestly don’t know how you missed it.”
Jel smiled, “Jek filtered it out, Admiral.”
Sam looked at Jel and then said, “Well, I hope you’re better at it than me.”
Sam looked at Lydia and said, “Connect the wall monitor to the Fleet Director.” He looked at Acree, “You should know that all of his ships are monitoring what will be said.”
Acree smiled, “Good!” Sam looked at him and Acree said with a softer voice, “Good.”
The Fleet Director appeared on the huge monitor and after a moment his eyes flew wide open, “Who are you?”
Acree took a breath blew it out slowly and said, “I have been asked to accept you on my planet.” Acree stared at the Fleet Director, who was clearly shocked and said, “But before that happens, there are some things that you’ll need to understand.”
“How have you survived?”
Acree’s eyes narrowed but he forced himself to remain calm, “The same way you will if I accept you. I told my friends here that he should just go ahead and destroy your ships and the universe would be a better place without you.” The Fleet Director leaned back in his chair and his eyes narrowed. “We were captured by the fleets that defeated you and brought to this planet and left to survive. They allowed us to keep our food processors and all the stores we had on board but we ran out of them shortly after we arrived.”
The Fleet Director leaned forward and asked, “How did you survive?”
Acree looked at the Fleet Director, “Hold you questions until I finish!” The Fleet Director leaned back in his chair and heard his crew mumbling about the disrespect he was being shown by this young Tronan. “This planet is inhabited by billions of giant predators and we had to learn how to keep them at bay. We used the meat from
those we killed along with plants we found edible. We initially used the food processors to convert them to a form we were accustomed to consuming but discovered rather quickly that we didn’t need the processors.” Acree saw the Fleet Director start to lean forward and said, “I know; you’ve been told that our species can only survive by consuming intelligent life.” Acree paused and said, “That is the biggest lie ever told in this universe.” Acree paused and stared the Fleet Director down. He leaned back in his chair and Acree continued. We discovered that our civilization is nothing more than a cancerous disease that infects the universe. We go out and kill innocent civilizations that have done nothing more than try to live their lives. We have ended billions of them and for what purpose? We can live on animals and plants but we choose to go out and kill indiscriminately. I and all the members of my crew have come to hate and detest everything we were and everything my former civilization represents. We see that we were lied to about everything. Now the Director of the fleet that defeated you has come and asked me to accept you to avoid killing you. I believe you are nothing but poison and allowing you to come to my planet is beyond foolish.”
Acree stared at the Fleet Director, who said, “Then why are we having this conversation?”
Acree looked at Sam sitting next to him and said, “Because this being didn’t kill us. He hated us because our warships destroyed his home world and he wanted us dead. But he didn’t do it. Now I’m being asked to allow you to enter my empire.”
“EMPIRE?! BY WHAT RIGHT DO YOU DECLARE AN EMPIRE?”
Acree smiled, “By the right of conquest. We’ve taken possession of this planet and by your laws, I now control what happens here. I am this planet’s Prime Director!”
The Tronan Crews on all the warships started screaming and the Fleet Director said loudly, “YOU WILL BE SILENT!” The noise disappeared and he said, “I don’t see how you can declare yourself to be a Prime Director.”
Sam said quickly before Acree could reply, “I have a question, Fleet Director.” The Fleet Director nodded. “Is it possible for your Prime Director to rule this sector from his current location?” The Fleet Director stared at Sam and he continued, “Without a line of communications billions of light years in length, you would have no way to reach him. Would not a new Prime Director have to be named to rule the Empire here?”