by Saxon Andrew
“Just to make sure you understand the details so there won’t be any misunderstandings; if any captive is harmed during the transfer, your world dies. If your forces on your captive planets harm the local populations, your worlds die. You have ten rotations of your planet to bring all your occupying forces back. You will have ten more to complete the return the captives. We will remain here to insure your compliance and I’ll have a ship at all of your conquests to insure you keep your agreement. Do you understand?”
“We need more time.”
“That is not something you have. I suggest you get your ships moving to bring your forces back.”
“Sir, their communications have increased to more than a hundred times normal.”
Maddy leaned back in her chair and smiled, “Keep the other compounds locked in. I hope they don’t force us to sort all of them out to get them home.”
“The planet Emperor Valrico forced to do this ultimately had to be destroyed. Do you think that will happen here?”
Maddy looked down at the beautiful planet, “Probably, but the hard work should be done before we’re forced to take that action. Some lessons are just not learned by those that prey on the innocent.” She looked over at her Communications Officer, “What’s happening at the other two planets?”
“They’re arguing with the Leaders about this but I think they’re going to comply. The Head of this group has told them he will attack them himself if they don’t start following his demands.”
Maddy looked back at the planet, “Maybe I’m wrong and they will survive. We’ll see.”
Jingo and Trey sat on board Greyson and listened as Maddy handled the aggressor planet. “You’ve got to be proud!”
Jingo stared at the display and smiled, “I am. She is so much like her mother.”
“And her Father as well.”
“Yeah, I guess she is. I’ve been worried that her fast advancement in rank would be resented.”
“The ships under her command are some of the best in the Empire’s Fleet. They know they have a great Commander. I think we need to give her a fleet.”
“Not yet, Trey; she needs more experience.”
“Jingo, we desperately need good Flag Officers. You know our numbers are growing faster than we can control and she runs a tight organization. She can bring her officers from her ship with her but we need her now.”
“Who will she report to?”
Trey thought a minute and said, “She’ll report to Paul Blake and take command of his Fifth Fleet. The eight hundred ships in that fleet are basically new and they need someone with experience. I’ll have Timmy cut the orders.”
“Why don’t you just move her ships into that Fleet?”
“No, I’m going to promote one of our more promising Captains over them. Those sailors will help him get his legs under him.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“We’re making progress. Stay on top of this.”
Jingo looked at Trey, “How much longer before we take on the Black Ships?”
“The Robbins is due to be launched in two years. We’ll start our attacks a year before it’s completed.”
“Then we need to hurry.”
“Yes, we do.”
Maddy teleported aboard the HMS Retribution and the crew came to attention. Captain Jason Oliver saluted and said. “All present and accounted for, Sir!”
Maddy looked at the Captain and saw he looked nervous. Good! There was a lot to do and not much time. She returned his salute and said, “At ease, Captain.”
The crew assumed an at ease posture and she looked over the two hundred sailors on her Flagship. She stared at them for a long moment and then said, “We will start our training immediately.” She pressed her com and Lt. Jent sounded the alarm, “Battle stations, all hands to battle stations.” The red lights started flashing throughout the ship and Captain Oliver saw Maddy press her stop watch. He rushed out of the landing bay and Maddy slowly made her way to the Bridge. The ship was almost a mile long so this should tell her how good the crew was trained. “Lt. Jing, I want to know how long it takes for all departments to report in.”
“Aye, aye, Sir.”
Maddy walked through the landing bay doors and saw one of the sailors disappear. She noticed that he was wearing the uniform of a weapon’s operator and made a note on her com. She arrived at the Bridge and looked at Lt. Jent, “Two minutes, thirty four seconds, Sir.”
She took her seat in the Command Chair and turned on the general display where all the members of the crew could see her, “One of you teleported to your assignment; you have a minute to report to the bridge.”
She waited while the crew remained at Battle Stations. The sailor that had teleported came running onto the Bridge and came to attention. The crew watched their displays and was thankful they were not under the Admiral’s gaze.
“What’s your name sailor?”
“Trent Moore, sir.”
“How were you able to teleport to your assignment? If you arrived with someone at your point of entry you could have caused damage to the ship.”
The sailor straightened and said, “I synchronized my com to the cameras in the bay sir. I have eight places locked in to my teleportation module and looked for one that was not occupied, Sir.”
Maddy watched the nervous sailor and kept a stern expression. The sailor knew he was in big trouble. Maddy turned on the general frequency and said, “Every sailor on this ship will select the place at your station and lock it into your teleport module. Whenever Battle Stations is sounded you will immediately, and I do mean immediately, teleport to that location and not move an inch until all the members of your unit are present. I don’t care if you’re naked at the time; you will immediately teleport. You will lock in your location now and report back to the landing bay. Now move!”
Maddy teleported to the landing bay and waited for the crew to arrive. After six minutes they were all present in ranks and breathing hard from running through the ship.
“Now let’s try this again. Lt. Jent, if you wil, l please sound the alarm.”
The alarm sounded and the entire crew instantly disappeared. Maddy disappeared with them and appeared in her Command Chair. “Lt. Jing?”
“Four seconds, Sir.”
Maddy looked at the crew in the display again and said, “This is an example of how we can all learn things that will help us survive in a hostile environment. We get better by learning from each other and that’s how we will become the Empire’s best warship. Trent Moore, you will report to Fleet Academy tomorrow and begin your training to command one of our ships. I expect you to make all of us proud. I will request you be assigned to my fleet upon the completion of your training. Congratulations. Stand down from General Quarters.”
The sailors all looked at each other and knew they were in good hands. Soon the entire fleet began to feel their pride in their Admiral; the Fifth Fleet began calling themselves Maddy’s Marauders. She pretended not to know it. Teleporting to Battle Stations become known as Maddy’s Jump. She pretended not to know that as well.
The Empire’s Fleets grew in number and the right leaders were found to build the Empire’s Navy around. Thousands were enlisting from the sixty six planets and the candidates for the Empire’s Warriors numbered in the millions. Greyson watched what was happening and one day asked Trey, “I notice that the ships being built by the Empire are no long controlled by a cybernetic computer.”
“We will not travel down that road again, Greyson.”
“Tell me why? We’re not far from having the technology to build them.”
“How many people would we have to search to find an adequate partner for a cybernetic ship?”
“I don’t know; a million?”
“No, more like a billion. And what happens to those that are left out of the struggle? They sit back and don’t have a part in achieving the fruits of that fight. They lose themselves to a pedestrian existence and ultimately resent the price being pa
id for the quest. That’s why the Realm fell. The citizens were left out of the struggle and were lead by those that played on their longing for peace. This fight to bring balance back to Creation must be shared by everyone. We can build a ship just as powerful at one tenth the size of our current vessels. We will not do that and deprive our citizens of taking part in a quest that grabs their imagination and makes them stronger for the effort.”
“I think I understand. Am I a dead end?”
“Greyson, you are one of the most powerful ships all of Creation. I honestly believe that you no longer need a partner and can take part in this struggle on your own. You’re different now.”
“I sense that and I’m feeling a need to become something more.”
“I don’t know what your destiny will be my old friend. I’ll help you find it if you need my help.”
“No, there’s too much to do right now. I just worry that there are so few of us left.”
“That’s not true.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re forgetting the Stars Realm. They have millions.”
Greyson brightened up, “Yeah, you’re right. I didn’t think of that. Are you going to take part in the trial against the Black Ships?”
“The Emperor has forbidden anyone Flag Rank and above to be involved.”
“Since when has that stopped you?”
Trey chuckled, “You know me too well but this time I’m going to follow his edict.”
“Why?”
“At some point I am going to have to depend on others to carry out my plans. My partner agrees.”
“How is Cassie doing?”
“Greyson, how long have you known about her?”
“Since the day you were three years old and the two of you wouldn’t come close to each other during Carter’s meeting to move the Industrial Planets.”
“Boy, you can keep a secret.”
“She’s quite remarkable. The two of you are perfect for each other.”
“Thank you, Greyson.”
Greyson was startled, “You’re welcome, Cassie.”
“You have always been my favorite ship.”
“Why is that?”
“You brought Trey back from Bristone. You’ll always have a place in my heart.”
“Greyson, we will be at the trials.”
“What?”
“We can’t be on the ships but we can be in the gallery cheering them on.”
“Now that sounds like a plan.”
“We also have a Fleet Vice-Admiral who has requested to go with us?”
“And who would that be?”
“Admiral Dorg.”
“Maddy! Oh this is sounding better all the time.”
“One of her ships has been selected to take part in the initial confrontation and she wants to be there.”
“Does anyone we know command that ship?”
Trey thought a moment, “No, but it’s the first sailor she promoted and sent to the Academy. It appears his ship was rated the best in the Fleet in the last competition.”
“You’re talking about Captain Moore.”
“You know him?”
“Oh yes. He’s quite the ingenious commander.”
“What do you mean?”
“Somehow he figured out how to teleport a force field with nothing inside it and when the opposing ships jumped in and fired on that force field he came in and hit everyone one of them with a low power beam knocking them out of the competition. When the reserve ships jumped him he had left another force field behind and repeated the maneuver. He killed more than fifty ships by the end of the day and brought home the trophy to Maddy’s Fleet.”
“We need to promote him again.”
“It’s my understanding that she tried but he begged her not to do it before he had an opportunity to face one of the Black Ships. She agreed.”
“Do you know anything about his background?”
“His mother is Carter Reese’s older sister.”
“Now this should be interesting.”
“He is talented.”
“What did he name his ship?”
“Madeline’s Pride.”
“That explains a lot.”
“It does; doesn’t it?”
Chapter Fifteen
The year passed quickly and seventeen year old Trey Robbins sat in Greyson’s conference room as the three Commodores waited for their instructions from the Algeans on the plan of battle. The leaders of the Empire were present and the conference room was starting to get crowded. Trey looked around and saw Paul Blake staring at him. He nodded and Paul smiled. TK leaned over and touched Paul’s arm; he looked away and Trey wondered what he knew. His aunt was very pregnant and there was going to be another second generation psychic very soon. Admiral Dorg was sitting with her father and Jingo was having an animated discussion with her. Grang sat next to Trey and was looking around the room saying nothing. Carter was talking with the Algeans and it appeared he was disagreeing with them on something. Oh well, Timmy could sort this out. It was good to just be an observer.
Trey looked at the three Ship Commanders and saw they were relaxed and waiting for their orders. Ron Kune and Jingos Dorg were deferring to Trent. Commanding the best ship in the Empire did give a certain respect to its Captain. Everyone stood and bowed and Trey jumped up to join them.
“Please take your seats.” Emperor Valrico had aged and was relaxed in his role as the Empire’s Ruler. “Who wishes to begin?”
Weed turned to the Emperor, “We were going to lead the conference; however, Carter has pointed out to us that another should lead this discussion. We will defer our comments until after Scotty Robbins gives us his views.”
Trey jerked his head around and was surprised that Weed had used his formal name. Timmy turned to Trey, “Will you please begin?”
Trey heard Cassie say, “Showtime.”
“I know our first trial ended poorly but it’s my belief that we cannot show the Black Ships our full capabilities. We should only use our beams and hold the reflective surface technology for future Black Ships that will be brought in after this initial confrontation. We should also not use a force field.”
“Won’t that place our ships in jeopardy?”
“If it does, we’re out of the game in dealing with the Invaders, Your Majesty. We have two weapon systems on our ships that are independent of each other. Now that we’ve been able to absorb the energy of a star, our beams are on an order of magnitude that dwarfs what we could do in our last encounter. We don’t have to wait for the Invaders to fire if we fire at them first. Even if they manage to get a shot off, I believe the hulls can absorb the hit and store the power for future use. If we can collect a star, I don’t think any of their current beams will damage our hulls. My concern is the next ship that’s sent against us and we know there are other models we will have to confront before we get the creatures behind the Invaders to come in their ships. I’d rather work our way through several models with our beams before we have to confront their strongest ships.”
Timmy stared at Trey and was once again amazed at the maturity of the young man standing before him. He looked so much like his grandfather and had that sense of command that made it so easy to follow him.
Weed said, “I believe Scotty Robbins is right. The reflective hulls are not an offensive weapon as much as a defensive one. If our beams fail, the reflective hull can use the opponent’s beam against them by tripling its power.”
Seed added, “That’s not to say that we can’t charge the hulls and reflect our own beam at them with triple the power. We should not reveal all our systems in the first encounter.”
Trey nodded, “We are also going to record the initial confrontation and determine whether or not our new stealth technology works against their scans.”
Timmy looked sharply at Trey, “I’m not going…”
“We will not take part in the conflict and will teleport away at the first sign of being detected. Howe
ver, we need to make a determination in the first three encounters and I must see if I’m right.”
Timmy leaned back in his seat, “Why is that?”
“Once the three ships take on the first Black Ships they will teleport two hundred light years into deep space. If they aren’t followed we will do the same thing the next two times we attack.”
“What are you trying to accomplish?”
“I want to know if the being behind the Invaders is observing what happens. I’m reasonably certain that it can see much further than that distance and if the ships are followed to that deep space location after the first battle, then we know it’s observing that universe. After the next contact we will teleport the ships to the other side of the galaxy. If our ships are followed there, we’ll know for certain that it’s watching.”
Paul said, “It’s possible that they’re able to read our teleports and that’s how they find us.”
Trey smiled, “Not really. If they could read our teleport coordinates, their ships would be using teleportation. I think the fact that they can’t is what will cause an event to happen that we’ve been hoping for.” The room was silent and Trey said, “That Being will come and have a look for itself at the site of our conflict and we can get a reading on what kind of ship we’re going to have to ultimately face.”
The room was silent. Timmy thought about what Trey said and started nodding, “You’re going to bait it with technology it doesn’t possess?”
“It won’t be able to resist it. Especially when we teleport out of that universe and don’t leave any tracks for it to follow.”
“What do you think it will do first?”
“I believe it will scour all the Universes anywhere near the site of the attacks searching for our location, Your Majesty.”
“Isn’t there a risk it will find us here?”
“This is the last place it will look. This universe was killed more than five hundred thousand years ago and there are more than eight thousand it would have to view before it arrived at this location. It knows that all of its previous conquests are dead universes. It might look at the first fifty or so but, after nothing shows up, it will continue to look at universes that are still alive. That frustration is what will bring it out into the open.”