Pray for the Prey

by Saxon Andrew

  The Hive Controller thought a moment about what the Fleet Controller said, “Maybe we don’t have to do it alone.”

  “Who is going to help us?”

  “Perhaps we can follow the example of that grey ship that visited us.”

  “I’m not sure what you mean?”

  “Remember that the Horde was not allowed to attack while we scouted that galaxy. Maybe we can convince them that those White Ships are just as big a danger to them as they are to us.”

  The Fleet Controller thought about the idea and slowly nodded, “How do we get their agreement to join us?”

  “You will go and ask them. Take a recording of the Home Hive’s destruction by the small ship and a recording of the ships at that planet. We’ll agree to not attack while we deal with this problem and will withdraw our front lines two light years when it’s resolved.”

  “That’s giving up a lot.”

  “Don’t offer it unless you have no choice.”

  “May I send one of my subordinates?”

  “You may not. They know your ship is marked as the Fleet Controller. They will probably respond with someone in a similar position. Now go make the contact.”

  “How do I do that?”

  “Figure it out. That’s your responsibility and if I need to replace you I will.”

  The Fleet Controller lowered his head and ended the communication.

  The Hive Controller ordered his personal ship down to the planet and boarded. He was not going to be on the surface anytime soon. Unlike his predecessor, he wasn’t stupid and arrogant.

  • • •

  RV had George on his display and they were discussing the inactivity of the Violet Civilization. “They should have made some sort of response by now.”

  “George, it’s only been two weeks. I’m sure they’re stuck with how to pull ships off their lines and send them here. That is going to take some time.”

  “We need to know what’s going on.”

  “It would help to know.”

  George looked off the screen and said, “Meisa, send the Ninja to collect the light from M-87 for the last two weeks.”

  RV heard George and took a deep breath. Cyanna was listening in and wondered what RV was thinking. Something was going on with sending the Ninja. What could it have been? RV was bothered but didn’t say anything.

  • • •

  Zack and Isadore made a fast run by M87 recording two weeks of reflected light and jumped away to look at the results of their recording. The crew of the Ninja watched their monitors to make sure they weren’t followed and kept their weapons scanners active. After an hour, Zack ended battle stations and the crew started to relax. However, none of them moved very far from their combat stations and most left their weapons on standby for immediate activation. The twenty crewmembers chosen to serve on the Ninja were the best the Navy had.

  The Ninja had grown in size and was no longer just a two man ship. With the increased power of the new reactors, it had to grow just to move a reactor inside its hull. It was a powerful weapon now but Zack was not willing to risk it in an engagement, he chose to run first. He finally jumped to Izzy’s favorite location to capture Earth’s light while he viewed the data collected.

  Isadore stared at the display showing Earth thousands of years in the past and she was amazed at the beauty of the green and blue planet. Zack began running the recordings and brought the view in closer, “What are they doing?”

  Izzy turned around from watching the scanners and saw two ships moving toward each other, “I don’t know.”

  They watched as a Violet Ship and a Yellow Battleship moved toward each other in the center of the neutral zone between their vast fleets.

  “Izzy, run this back.”

  “Why?”

  “I want to see who initiated this meeting.”

  “You think they’re going to communicate?”

  “I think that’s obvious. We need to know who wanted this meeting to happen.”

  Izzy backed the recording up and they watched as a Violet Battleship moved out of their lines toward the center of the space between the two giant fleets. The Violet Ship did not have a force field raised and it was flashing a bright white light on top of it.

  “I was afraid of that.”

  “What?”

  “I think the Violet Ships are going to ask their enemy for help.” Izzy looked at Zack and he was slowly shaking his head, “This is not good.”

  “Why would the Yellow Ships agree to help them? They’ve been killing each other for thousands of years.” Izzy watched the recording as the two ships moved closer and stopped. She waited for one of them to fire on the other but nothing happened. Two hours later the ships turned and went back to their lines.

  “Get this information out to Dundee, Izzy!” Zack hit the intercom and said, “Jump alert, we’ll be jumping in sixty seconds.”

  Izzy set the drive and looked back at the recording. The Violet Ship that had gone out to meet the Yellow Battleship, jumped away. Just before she jumped the Ninja she moved the view on her display to the Yellow Ship and watched it jump away as well. She shook her head and hoped this wasn’t what she thought it was. She was about to hit the jump button when the Ninja was rocked.

  Zack yelled into his communicator, “We have ten Violet ships that just jumped in on us and fired together. Or force field was breached and the star drive is inoperative. We are running in normal space but cannot reach top speed. They are gaining on us.”

  George said, “Send us your coordinates.”

  “Can’t do it without the drive computer and it’s burned out.”

  Izzy looked up at Earth as it appeared hundreds of thousands of years ago and marveled at its beauty. She smiled.

  Zack was flying the Ninja as fast as it would go, but the Violet ships were gaining and would be in beam range in seconds. He looked over at Izzy and saw her staring at the light being collected from Earth’s ancient past. He looked at her and felt his love. He hit another pad and the time field began to form in front of the fleeing ship, “George, the only thing that works is the collectors and time field. I’m activating the time field, going through it, and then I’ll shut it down.”

  George stood and yelled, “Don’t do it. You can’t come back if you shut it down.”

  “Good-bye, George.”

  The light went out on the communication board and George sat down in his chair. Meisa came over and hugged him. “They send the data they collected. We need to look at it.”

  George took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He nodded and said, “RV, do we have any way of locating them?”

  RV stared at the display and said nothing. George sighed and said, “I didn’t think so. We’ll have a ceremony to honor them after this is over.”

  RV nodded and Cyanna knew that if RV didn’t have an answer, he would have told George he didn’t. He had not responded. How did he know Zack and Izzy were going to be attacked? He had to know. All the evidence pointed to him knowing. He saw her looking at him and he said softly, “Later.” Cyanna nodded and turned back to her board.

  • • •

  Two hours later RV’s board alarmed, “George, what’s wrong?”

  “Look at this.”

  Arvolo watched the two ships meet in the neutral zone. “It looks like we are going to possibly have some uninvited guests.”

  “This doesn’t worry you?”

  RV shrugged and said, “We know we can handle the Violet Ships. The Yellow Ships are not more advanced than them.”

  “But there could be millions of them coming.”

  “If we can’t handle that many, we’ll kill as many as possible and jump away.”

  “What about our planets still in the Milky Way?”

  “I doubt they will waste time here on them. If we jump away they’ll think we’re going after their home worlds. They’ll leave so fast it will spin your head.”

  George thought a moment and started nodding, “That’s exactly
what I would do. Do you think we can take on that many ships?”

  “We’ll lose some vessels when they’re ganged up on but we should give as much or more than we get.” RV paused and said, “You know there are hundreds of aggressive civilizations in that galaxy with millions of ships. We might as well start learning how to fight in a major fleet action. This will tell us where we are in our capabilities.”

  George ran his hand through his hair and said, “I want to come join the fleet.”

  “I know but you also know why you can’t?”

  “I know. It would cause a political vacuum if something happened to me. If we lose this, I need to be here to pick up the pieces.”

  “Exactly right; and three years from now all of our ships will be replaced if we lose them.”

  “The new leaders won’t be as good.”

  “Don’t sell them short; they might surprise you.”

  “Good-luck, RV; make us proud.”

  “You know we will.”

  RV hit a button and Jillian appeared on the wall display, “Jillian, where is the second Ninja?”

  “It and its crew are on board the Jukebox.”

  “Get them moving and plan to have them make a scan of M-87 focusing on the battle lines of the Violet Civilization in three days. I want the time from now to the present collected.”

  “They’ll have to get extremely close to make that happen.”

  “I’ll send twenty ships as an escort. Plan to finish the scan in less than two minutes. Is that possible?”

  “If they make a high speed run from six light days out, they should do in in less than one minute.”

  ““Good, let me know when they’re ready.”

  RV pushed another button, “Admiral Diamond, I need twenty of your best ships to make a quick trip to M-87.”

  “I’ve got just the squadron, Sir. Where do you want them to report?”

  “Contact the Jukebox and send them to its location immediately.”

  “They’ll be there momentarily, Sir.”

  RV leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath. Cyanna looked at him, “Is there anything you need me to do?”

  “Order all ships from general quarters and have them rest. This is not optional. Once this conflict starts there won’t be much time to take a break.”

  “Does that mean you and I are included in that order?”

  RV looked at her and smiled, “Absolutely.”

  Cyanna issued the orders and stood up from her chair, “Captain Gonzalez, the ship is yours.” She looked at RV and smiled, “Come on, Enigma.” RV stood and followed her off the bridge.

  • • •

  The Hive Controller sat in his cell and looked at the center display. It appeared the Horde was going to keep their agreement. He thought about the conversation with the Leader of his ancient enemy.

  “It appears you have jumped into something that will be your undoing.”

  “I won’t argue that point, but you should be asking yourself what will happen if we lose.”

  “Why would we worry about that? This is your issue, not ours.”

  “Do you honestly think they will stop with us? Have you ever seen an invasion that just ends with one victory? No, they will be coming after you if they manage to get through us.”

  “Yes, that is possibly true. However, you could force them to withdraw and then we will have our victory.”

  “I’m going to send you a recording of what happened to us with just one of their small ships. Contact me after you’ve viewed it.”

  An hour later the display illuminated, “It appears their ships are quite fast.”

  “There are fifty thousand battleships with a hundred of those small ships attached to their hulls. Those battleships are more than a hundred times larger than the ship that destroyed our home hive. If they manage to get their ships into our territory, no planet will be safe and that includes yours. We must hit them in their galaxy.”

  “We can agree to another armistice while you go and handle the issue.”

  “We are not sure we can do it alone. I would think that you would also want to make sure this enemy of our galaxy is eliminated. There is also the issue of trust.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Let’s say our roles were reversed. Would you send all your ships away and leave our ships behind just on the promise we would not attack? You know that one day the ones pressing you on your other border may require you take ships out of your line to hold them off. We could help you if that problem arises.”

  “How would you do that?”

  “We will send an equal number of our ships with yours to defend that border. We will repay you for assisting us.” The Hive Controller had heard that the Horde was being pressed, but had no concrete evidence to prove it. If the rumors were true, this offer may make the difference. He remained silent and waited for a response.

  “Just how would you go about doing this?

  The Hive Controller tried not to show his relief, “We will send one of our fleets into the middle of the neutral zone between us and you will send one of your lines to meet them. The two lines will then jump out to the edge of galaxy and form up. We will continue to do that until there is only one line left for each of us.”

  “You’re talking about using more than twenty million ships!”

  “I don’t want to take any chances. Have all your ships locked in their starting coordinates and they will jump back on the conclusion of the battle. We will honor a six rotation armistice while each of us reorganizes our defenses.”

  “Who will command the attack?”

  “I honestly don’t care. This is not an ego issue for us. We will gladly follow your commander’s orders or you can follow ours. If you choose to use yours, make sure he understands that our ships are at their strongest when they are linked by their force fields.”

  “We are all aware of that.” The Horde Leader paused and said, “Organizing your ships so they can be used most effectively is not something we would be able to do. Our ships fight independently and that is easier to direct than large formations. I will agree to use your commander, but insist that we be kept informed of what’s going on.”

  “I will certainly ensure that happens.”

  “When do you want to start this?”

  “To wait will allow time for them to invade. We should begin immediately.”

  “I’ll notify my ships. It will take one rotation to insure their compliance with this agreement. You will move your first line tomorrow at this time.”

  “We will do as you suggest. Might I make an offer while you are doing this?”

  “What is that?”

  “The ships we are leaving behind will go with your line to your other front and take part in the hostilities. Our ships might be able to break through your enemies lines and help you while this is happening.”

  The Horde leader looked at the Hive Controller for a long moment and knew that revealing the struggle taking place was not a good thing but knew the possible difference maker those linked ships could be in the current attacks. “We will accept your offer.” The display went blank.

  • • •

  Captain Phillips looked at his board and saw that all systems were active. He looked over at Commander Taylor, “Check the stealth probe and make sure the launch tube is ready.”

  Liz smiled, “Already done, Captain.”

  “Notify our escort.”

  “Captain Gibbons, we are ready for launch. We will be jumping to the entry coordinate in five minutes. The breakoff code is Dolly.”

  “Launch confirmed Commander. We have our boards synchronized and will be in formation on your arrival. All ships report confirmation on the breakoff code.”

  Liz pushed the blue button on her panel, “All hands to battle stations.” She turned off the klaxon and watched the red lights. They went out in eight seconds. “That was quick.”

  Phil smiled, “It’s a small ship.”

  “Even so, that
was quick.”

  “Did they see you check the probe’s launch tube?” Liz thought about it and smiled. “They knew we were launching.”

  Liz tilted her head and set the light fields to maximum. She restarted the computer to remove all previous tests and said, “Three minutes to launch.”

  Captain Gibbons leaned back in his command chair and waited for the countdown to complete. His executive officer looked over at him and Gibbons asked, “What’s on your mind?”

  “This will be our first real fight together and I was wondering what your first name is? Gibbons is all I’ve ever heard.”

  “And I’ll never tell you. Just call me Gibbs.”

  “Now you do have my curiosity up.”

  “Worry about naming our strikers. Children’s names would be nice. You might have to name some new ones after this is over. Some of them might be ready to leave the nest.”

  “You make a good point.”

  Gibbs hit his panel, “Alright Lads, we’ll be weapons free on break out. We will only launch our small craft if absolutely necessary. Your computers will make that call. Be ready.” Gibbs flipped the communication panel to standby and said, “Faldo, are you ready?”

  The computer responded, “All weapons active. Scanners are at 100%.”

  “I do not want to use small craft in this mission. All ships are aware of this but I am not going to jeopardize the safety of our ships by being foolish. Keep me informed.”

  “I will Captain. One minute.”

  One moment, twenty one ships hung in space ten miles from the Jukebox. The next moment they all vanished and reappeared accelerating at 90% of light speed toward a gigantic galaxy.

  The twenty ships flashed through space and Phil had recorded the first three days. As the fourth days recording started he yelled, “Jettison the probe now!” Liz hit the button. “Dolly, Dolly, Dolly.”

  The twenty one ships vanished as eighty thousand ships roared out on them from the millions of ships gathered just outside the galaxy.

  Gibbs punched in to the Ninja’s com, “What was that about?”

  Phil sent a picture of the giant galaxy to Gibbs just before he sent a copy of the recording back to the Command Center. Gibbs looked at the picture on his main wall display and whistled, “How many ships do you see?”