by Saxon Andrew
Grant nodded and said, “What did the A E stand for?”
“Albert Einstein.”
“What did they name Grant?”
“Leo.”
“Just Leo?”
Mariah looked at Grant, “It was short for Leonidas.” She looked at them, “I think they knew it was going to be you against massive forces arrayed against you.”
Grant chuckled. Cinny looked at him, “What’s funny?”
“I don’t have Albert’s hair.”
Mariah’s eyes narrowed, “Both of you have a remarkable knowledge about our history.”
Cinny nodded, “It’s all we had after we discovered we were human. We spent our spare time reading Avalon’s and Earth’s history.”
Grant looked at Mariah and said, “Let’s get back to a clue on the location of the Orion. There has to be a clue somewhere?”
“I agree it would not make sense to hide it where it would never be found.”
Grant looked at her, “But…”
“The woman that took the Orion was not allowed to communicate with anyone. She did not have the opportunity to leave a message.”
Cinny said, “She spoke with one person.”
Mariah’s head jerked around, “WHO!?!”
“Her partner who was tasked with bringing us to the Choten-Zan.”
Mariah shook her head, “That’s a dead end. She was killed trying to lead the Raiders away from the Monastery.”
“She put her personality and knowledge into a computer program.”
“Please tell me you have that program.”
“We use it to operate our ship. However, she has tried to find anything in what she was told that would be a clue and she’s come up empty.”
“Are you sure?”
“She says that at the time she was loyal to Earth. She insists her partner would never tell her anything that would jeopardize the Orion.”
“Why did she change her mind about Earth?”
“We showed her the evidence that proved Earth set up Avalon to be destroyed. She became our biggest asset in slowing down Earth’s attacks on other civilizations. She’s proven her loyalty and it really hurts her to know her partner didn’t trust her.”
“Then the clue has to exist elsewhere.”
“Would the Leaders of Avalon know where she was taking it?”
Mariah thought for a moment and then shook her head, “I don’t know.”
“Mariah.”
“Yes, Your Holiness.”
“How were you called to this meeting?”
Grant looked at Cinny and rolled his eyes. “I heard someone tell me to report to your quarters.”
“Did you actually hear it?”
Mariah looked at the others around her and shook her head, “I think so.”
Alonso Gibbons said, “I also heard it.”
“How, you’re deaf.”
“I heard it!”
The High Priest looked at Grant, “Is one of your developments telepathy?”
Grant stared at him and Cinny shook her head. She pulled her front pocket open and Sneaky crawled out and moved to her hand, “We are telepathic with each other. My friend here is the one that called you to come to the meeting.”
The High Priest stared at the small spider and said, “If I’m not mistaken, that creature is incredibly dangerous.”
Grant nodded, “So are you, Your Holiness.”
“That may be true but we’re in my home here, not that creature’s.”
“I have not listened to your thoughts, Holiness.”
“Why not?”
“That would be very impolite.”
The High Priest stared at the Spider and after a moment smiled, “I’ve wanted to meet one of your species. Your kin did a real number on the Raider planets.”
“Thank you.”
Mariah looked at the Spider and shook her head, “I thought those genetically developed animals were killed?”
Grant shook his head, “No, the Admiral that brought us here dropped them off at an uninhabited planet. She couldn’t bring herself to kill them.”
Mariah shook her head, “Do you have any idea how dangerous they are?”
Cinny said, “Not dangerous enough. This new Invader is more dangerous than any life form we’ve encountered.”
Grant looked at Mariah, “Those animals are my family. I trust them more than anyone in this room.”
“But they are not as dangerous as they’ll become once they start hatching females.”
Sneaky said, “Thank you.” Mariah’s mouth fell open and Sneaky said, “My mother will appreciate knowing that.”
“It’s already happening.”
“It is.”
Alonzo smiled, “These creatures border on being as powerful as the Orion. If they’re breeding male and females, the original weapon that could remove them will no longer harm them.”
Sneaky looked at Alonzo, “Are you saying we were developed to be removed after we performed our tasks?”
“That was something Earth’s leadership demanded.”
“And you agreed with them?”
“Of course not. However, we had no choice but to develop the beam that would kill you.”
Sneaky was angry and Cinny could feel it. She looked at Alonzo so he could read her lips, “What happened to those beams?”
Alonzo smiled, “We hid them on the Orion.”
Mariah looked at him, “Why did you do that?”
“Because I couldn’t stand by and allow that outrage to happen.”
Sneak listened to his thoughts and her anger vanished, “You are welcome in our family. You are what makes our efforts to save humans worth the price.”
The High Priest leaned back on his cushions and said, “Are you telling me you don’t trust me.” Grant looked at him and nodded. Why?”
“You sent us away without knowing anything about who we are. You knew we were the two pilots developed to operate the Orion but you kept that information from us.”
“Earth threatened to attack my planets if I told you.”
“Did they represent a real danger to you?”
“The Avalon Scientists were still building their weapons when you left.”
“Why didn’t you allow us to speak with them after the weapons were complete?”
“You haven’t been back since they were done.”
Cinny shook her head, “There’s more to it than that.”
Grant looked at her, “What do you see?”
“He didn’t and still doesn’t want us to find the Orion.”
Grant looked at the High Priest and he actually smiled, “Very good, Diana.”
“My name is Cinnamon.”
Grant stared at the High Priest and lowered his eyebrows, “Your Priests who trained us told us many times that no one should ever become indestructible. You don’t believe anyone should possess an indestructible Warship.”
“Ultimate power leads to an ultimate dictator.”
Grant slowly nodded and said, “That’s why you wouldn’t allow the Avalon Scientists to build warships.”
“It is.”
Mariah looked at the High Priest, “Kent and Arlin are not like us.”
“Are you telling me you wouldn’t dictate to Earth the type of behaviors you would find unacceptable if you had the means of doing it?” Mariah stared at the High Priest in silence. “No one should dictate their beliefs on another.”
Alonzo looked at Mariah and when she didn’t speak, he said, “If someone was forcing their will on me and I had a weapon to stop them, would that be justified.”
The High Priest turned to him and nodded, “It would. However, what you did with that weapon afterwards is what would make it unacceptable. Once you use it, you will use it again.”
“You don’t know that.”
“History says it’s true.”
Grant stared at the High Priest, “This is one gun that I will find and use.”
The High Priest smiled, “Y
ou have a whole universe to search. I suspect this particular gun won’t be found.”
“Your pride and arrogance at knowing what’s best for everyone is what makes you obsolete. You’ll see that before this war is done.” The High Priest’s eyes narrowed and Grant said, “You assume nothing can happen that hasn’t already occurred. You need to take another look at the Invader’s galaxy and tell me anything similar to it in the past.”
The High Priest was silent and Cinny said, “Anything can happen in a universe that’s infinite. It’s a shame you limit yourself.” Grant and Cinny turned and left his quarters.
Chapter Nineteen
Slippy looked at the planet and the thousands of warships scattered in orbit above it. He thought, “Are you ready to go?”
“We are.”
“Make sure you send a team to the largest munitions facilities on the planet and stand by for instructions.”
“We’ll do our job and get out of here.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Slippy watched the ships monitor and saw the six scooters lift and move out of the landing bay. The Scooter was enclosed in a web that rendered them invisible to electronic scans. He watched them disappear as they moved down toward the night side of the planet and bobbed once. This was the last planet in his area of responsibility to have a raiding team dropped.
• • •
He thought back to the gathering where they were making decisions on how to respond to the danger of the new Invaders and everyone agreed that they should be warned that their planets would be attacked if they moved the Starkiller Warships. He smiled when Gaylee said, “I do hope you get our units on the ground before you make that announcement.”
Slick looked at her, “What?”
“If we’re going to tell them we are going to attack, I suspect getting our units in might be easier before we make the announcement than when they’re looking for them.”
Iggy looked at Slick, “She’s making a good point.”
Slick looked at Gaylee, “How would you go about doing this?”
“We send every ship to one of their planets and drop a Raider Unit. On the most dangerous planets, we drop multiple units. Once they’re down, we gather our ships and make the announcement.”
“What are you going to do with the fleet?”
“We’re going to attack that large fleet at their weapon planet while the teams on the surface remove their storage facilities.”
“And then?”
“We pay a visit to their capital and introduce ourselves to their citizens.”
Slick looked at Iggy, “I’ll do like Grant suggested and assign half the fleet to Tricky and the other half to Slippy.”
““What if they agree to stop their plans to invade?”
Slick bobbed once, “Our teams remain on standby until we can be certain they mean it. However, we need to get this done quickly before they can power up those ships.”
Slippy looked at Cara and nodded. The small female sent a thought and nodded. Tricky should be wrapping up his planets shortly and then the message would be sent. He looked at Cara, “What’s happening with those Invader Ships?”
Cara looked up toward the ceiling and said, “They are drawing power from the black hole. I’m certain they’ll be ready to attack in a short time if they aren’t already.” Slippy nodded and waited for Gaylee to make the announcement. He didn’t have to wait long.
• • •
The Watcher sat on his chair and stared at Kyaamga on his monitor, when suddenly he heard in his mind. “I’m going to share a video with you of the attack your civilization made on one of our planets. Please pay attention to what happened after you attacked.” The Watcher looked at his bridge crew and saw all of them heard the voice. Then he saw his ships attacking Hegoth as his drop troops moved in on the planet. The next thing he saw was the giant creatures attacking his ground forces. He shook his head but then saw a recording of the ship that came and asked him to call off the war. He heard the Great Leader tell his ships to destroy that messenger. Then another recording followed of thousands of his warships being exploded above Kyaagma.
“Watcher, what’s going on?” The Watcher held up his hand and then heard…”]
“We asked you once to leave us in peace and we would promise to never harm you. We’re asking you again to call off this war. We know you’re planning to use the giant ships that kills stars against us and implore you to call it off.” There was a pause and then he heard, “However, if you choose to go through with this attack, we will make you pay a price you’ll regret. We will attack your planets and burn everyone. You can prevent this. I hope you make the right choice.”
The Watcher knew how the enemy had learned about the ambush he set up during the first invasion. They saw it in his mind. The species he attacked was telepathic. He pulled up the recording of the beasts that attacked his troops and hoped the Leaders would listen this time. He shook his head; somehow, he didn’t think they would.
• • •
Lenga looked at the other nine Leaders. Septo shook his head and Lenga said, “What are you thinking?”
“You’ve seen what they’re capable of doing.”
“I have and that makes eliminating them even more critical.”
“But we’d be wasting our time if we can’t find the civilization building those Red Warships.”
“I agree. We won’t attack with the Starkillers until we’ve found it.”
“That could take a very long time.”
“It’s the only way to win this thing. If that civilization can be removed, they’ll run out of Ships to attack us.”
Glery, one of the leaders chosen to replace one of those that was killed when the Capital was attacked, said, “Why don’t we just leave them alone.”
Lenga sneered, “Perhaps you are too weak to lead. It is precisely this civilization that we try to prevent when we go out and invade intelligent planets. If we ignore them, they’ll only grow stronger and will eventually attack and destroy us.”
“They say they won’t.”
“They will lie to save themselves and then at the first opportunity, they’ll attack us.”
“Couldn’t they do that now?”
Lenga smiled, “They know we have the Starkillers. We will defeat them and rebuild after they’re gone.”
“We are in danger.”
Lenga stared at Glery and, after a moment, smiled, “Why didn’t you bring that up first? Self-survival I understand. We will move to one of the Starkillers and rule the Empire from there.” Lenga looked at Septo, “You will remain here to handle things that demand our presence.”
“Why me?!”
“We’re leaving an armored ship on the roof to get you out of here if things start coming apart. I’m leaving you because you’re the only one I trust to stay.” Septo stared at Lenga and then bowed.
• • •
Cara looked at Slippy, “Their Leaders are moving to one of those giant ships.”
“Where are they?”
“You might want to think this through before you attack and kill them.”
“Why?”
“They have decided to delay any use of those giant ships until after they locate Earth. The next Leaders may not decide to wait. It could take years for them to find Earth.”
Slippy looked up and clicked his jaws, “I guess you’re right. You have no idea how much I want to beam them out of existence.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I do.”
Slippy moved his head side to side; she could see his thoughts. Of course she knew.
• • •
“Grant, how do we know if we’re near the Orion?”
“I assume it will detect us and send a message.”
“Why don’t you say you have no idea?”
Grant looked at her and lowered his head, “I have no idea.”
“We need to go about this with a plan. What do we know?”
Grant shrugged, “We know she l
eft Avalon with the Orion in tow.”
“Ana, what’s the range of the old Transport that Lydia used to tow the Orion away from Avalon?”
“It could have jumped to any place in the universe.”
“Do you know where her transport was destroyed?”
“Yes, it was in a galaxy not far from Lovely.”
Grant pulled up a star map and said, “Ok, then we can draw a line from Avalon to Lovely and extend that line past Avalon and look in that direction.”
Ana said over the speakers, “Why do you say that?”
“If you were attempting to hide a ship, where would you go after you hid it?”
Cinny said, “I’d jump in the opposite direction.”
Ana said, “Lydia wouldn’t do the obvious. Besides, she was killed more than two months after she jumped away from Avalon. How many jumps could she have made during that time?” Suddenly, Ana said, “Sneaky, what are you doing with my processors?”
Grant and Cinny looked at the small Spider on the central console and saw it bob once, “Did you feel that?”
“Yes, I did. What are you doing?”
“I’ve been sensing the electrical currents that run through your processors when you’re communicating. I really thing I might be able to hear you mentally if I can just get the rhythms right.”
“Why would you want to do that, Sneaky?”
“Grant, if Ana could see my thoughts it would give her a huge advantage in avoiding enemy ships that might attack us. It would also help her move on a ship in subspace without verbal instructions.”
“Telah flew the ship last time we needed it done.”
“I saw that in Telah’s mind and it was time consuming to move in on the Invader’s Scouts. If Ana could hear my thoughts, she could do it much faster.”
“She’s making sense. Sneaky, keep trying. I was just wondering what was going on.”
“Thank you, Ana.”
There was a momentary pause and Ana said, “It would also allow you to see if there’s anything in my memories that I’ve missed that would help us locate the Orion.”
Grant looked at Cinny and shook his head. That was the real reason Sneaky was trying to get into Ana’s processors. He knew that Ana knew it as well.