by Saxon Andrew
• • •
Joshua turned to Grady and handed him a helmet, “What is this?”
“It’s the new Combat Helmet that will be replacing those currently being used by the pilots in the Colonies and New Britannia.”
Grady hefted the helmet and smiled, “It feels a lot lighter.”
“It is. It’s been made by a mixture of ten different elements.”
“Why so many?”
“Cami has confirmed that she can’t hear the thoughts of anyone with it on.”
“Is that a good thing?” What about the telepaths we’re training?”
“They won’t be able to hear the thoughts of anyone wearing this helmet, but they can hear the thoughts of anyone without one. They’ll still be able to hear the Stealth Aliens’ thoughts.”
“How is that possible, Joshua?”
“This was the hardest development I’ve ever worked on. The helmet blocks the sending of telepathic thoughts and the radiation of normal thoughts, understand?” Grady shook his head. “Look at it this way. Think of the helmet as being polarized. Outgoing thoughts are blocked but incoming thoughts are heard. It also blocks the electronic frequency of the human mind that comes from the brain’s speech center; the aliens will not hear our pilots. Basically, nothing detectible comes out of that helmet.”
“How will the telepaths communicate?”
“The old-fashioned way, they’ll use a communicator,” Joshua said with a chuckle.
“Have you worked on developing something that would allow us to detect their ships?”
“That’s a work in progress. I’ll keep you informed on how it’s progressing.”
“Thanks Joshua. This is a godsend and is going to help our warships avoid being detected.”
Joshua smiled, “Stay in touch.”
“You know I will.”
• • •
Grady took the helmet and flew to the spaceport. Taffy and Cami were waiting on the ship and Grady smiled, “Joshua had a gift for me to take to the meeting.”
“What is it?” Taffy asked.
“It’s a helmet that blocks thoughts. Joshua says our pilots won’t be heard by the aliens if they’re wearing it?”
“Cool!”
“And it works, Mom!”
“How do you know that?”
“Uncle Joshua tried it out on me. It is cool. Very cool.”
Taffy laughed and Grady looked around, “I thought President DeChirico was going with us.”
“He left yesterday to have a meeting with the Prime Minister on New Melbourne. Britt, Linda Kay and Sweets left with RJ and Candy in another ship a few hours after the President,” Taffy responded. “I hope he’s on board with what’s happening.”
“I guess we’ll find out when the meeting starts,” Grady mumbled.
Taffy rolled her eyes, “You just don’t like anyone being able to tell you what to do.”
“Taffy, this is serious!”
“Earth will always welcome us.”
“I’ll never leave New Britannia or the Colonies when they are in danger!”
“You’re leaving it now.”
“But that’s to go to a meeting!!”
“They could have come to us as they did most times in the past. You’re going to have to release your tight control over New Britannia; you won’t live forever.”
“If they don’t listen, none of us will be alive in a year.”
Taffy sighed, “Just keep in mind that it’s been a very long time since we’ve fought a war. The current Prime Minister was only fifteen-years-old when the last one ended. Give them room to digest what’s facing us.”
Grady went to the pilot’s console and lifted the warship. He shook his head and muttered, “I hope their digestive system can handle this.” Cami and Taffy tried not to laugh but didn’t pull it off.
• • •
The meeting was a large one with the military leaders sitting across the long table from each other. They weren’t given time to renew old friendships before the Prime Minister entered the room with President DeChirico, “Everyone take a seat and remain silent. I have some comments and all of you will listen to them in silence,” the Prime Minister of New Melbourne announced. Grady looked at President DeChirico scowling and decided he wasn’t on board with what was happening. He turned back to the Prime Minister and sat back in his chair.
The Prime Minister remained standing and turned to Grady, “New Melbourne and the other Colonies will not be taking part in the war you’ve instigated.”
He sat down and Taffy’s eyes narrowed, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE INSTIGATED A WAR?!”
The Prime Minister turned to her, “I’ve been shown the recordings of your attack on one of the alien’s ships. You fired on it without provocation and said you’d go to their space and deliver a message to them personally with the combined fleets. My fleets will not take part in an obvious provocation against another species.”
Taffy’s mouth tightened, “Their being in our space close to New Britannia isn’t a provocation?”
“The alien told you he was there to make sure his civilization wasn’t attacked. If I were in their place I would have done the same thing!!”
Grady stared at the Prime Minister and knew he was wrong about President DeChirico. He was scowling because he had failed to get through to this idiot.
The Prime Minister glared at Grady and Taffy before saying, “I intend to defuse this situation. I’m sending envoys out to Andromeda to tell them that we will not attack them and that I’m willing to sign a treaty to prove it.” He turned to DeChirico and said, “You are welcome to send envoys from New Britannia along with ours.” Mike stared at the Prime Minister and shook his head as he rolled his eyes. The Prime Minister turned around and said, “President DeChirico doesn’t agree with me; he obviously doesn’t understand what happened here.”
Cami leaned over and whispered to Taffy and she nodded. The Prime Minister’s eyes narrowed, and he said in clipped tones, “If you have something to say, speak up!”
Cami raised her left shoulder, “I asked Mommy if anyone is this stupid and she says yes.” The Prime Minister’s face turned red and Cami said, “This is dumb. Listen to what really happened.” Everyone in the room suddenly saw a damaged warship in their minds. They also heard what the alien was thinking.
• • •
“How did they find me?! My ship isn’t detectable. They tricked me into this situation. How did they find me?!” They heard the alien ask, “How did you find me?” What was said to him wasn’t included but they heard the alien think, “They can’t know about the other five ships we have here.” Another pause and he thought, “They can’t know about our plans to attack.”
A moment later they heard, “No, we’re not here trying to steal your technology,” followed by, “It’s good that we got the better stealth field technology they used to hide their ships and the composition of the metals used to make their hulls.”
“I’m ordering the other ships to flee back to our new galaxy and I’m going to self-destruct my ship.”
They then heard Grady make his threat to take the fleets to Andromeda and he immediately sent out a loud thought, “YOU MUST COME HERE! THEY’RE SENDING THEIR FLEETS IF YOU DON’T!!”
The Prime Minister sat down as he listened and then heard from one of the five ships that arrived, “Do they know about our plans to attack their important planets?”
“No, they only know we’re scouting them.”
“Good. Once that planet this scum came from and the one they call New Melbourne is destroyed, the others will be removed easily.”
They heard another pilot that arrived late think, “It’s a shame if we have to stop now. We’ve got a lot of information on their gravity drive. Maybe we have enough to develop it.”
Another alien pilot thought, “Do you think this will cause the attack to be canceled?”
“Absolutely not! This species is going to be exterminated. It might cause a slight del
ay but that’s all.”
• • •
Cami stopped broadcasting her memories and the room was deathly silent. The Prime Minister finally asked, “How did you do that?”
“Cami is my adopted daughter and she’s telepathic,” Taffy replied. After a moment she added, “And she’s not the only one; we’ve managed to get more than fifteen hundred other telepaths to come out of hiding and join us in the effort to stop the coming attack. They are the only ones that can detect the approach of their ships by hearing their thoughts.”
The Prime Minister was shocked by the revelation and RJ said, “Cami and other telepaths like her are the next step in human evolution. One day in the future, all humans will be telepathic. The ones we’ve found are the first wave of what’s coming.”
“Are you saying there’s telepaths on New Melbourne?”
RJ nodded, “Probably a lot more than are on New Britannia. Your population is much larger than New Britannia’s.”
“But there’s been nothing reported about this.”
“We learned very young that to reveal our talent led to being physically attacked or ostracized by those around us. We learned to keep our telepathy hidden,” Cami replied. “I think the same thing is true here.”
The room was deathly silent as the Prime Minister stared at Cami. After a very long pause the Prime Minister said, “You’re right.” Cami’s head tilted. “I’m incredibly stupid.” His comment was followed by silence and he sighed before saying, “My father died when I was fifteen-years-old fighting the Core Aliens. I vowed that no other children would ever lose their fathers or mothers in war.”
Taffy’s lips tightened and she said in a disrespectful tone, “Your father died to protect you and his family! You stand here and have no respect for his sacrifice and the price he paid. I wonder what he’d say to you if he was here listening to you!”
“I have no doubt he would be ashamed of me. But the truth of the matter is that I’m not equipped to handle a war. I don’t possess the courage to send our young men and women out to lose their lives.”
Cami immediately responded, “If you can’t do it, quit and find someone who can.”
Taffy leaned over and said sternly, “CAMI!”
Cami nodded toward the Prime Minister, “He knows the war can’t be avoided and he’s terrified by it.”
Everyone in the room looked at the Prime Minister and he sighed before nodding. He looked at Cami and said, “Be careful what you ask; you could get it.”
Grady spoke for the first time during the meeting, “What do you mean by that?”
The Prime Minister looked Grady in the eyes, “I want to resign; believe me I do. I could see in those alien’s thoughts that nothing is going to stop them from attacking us. But if I resign, it will take at least six months before a new election could be held and there’s no assurance you will get someone to replace me that’s better than I am.” Grady stared at him and then nodded slightly. The Prime Minister was silent and then he turned and looked at the end of the table where Maranda and Andrew Connor were sitting. “Maranda, I’m appointing you Minister of Defense and you will take whatever steps are necessary to protect New Melbourne from this attack.”
Maranda shook her head, “Mr. Prime Minister, Andrew and I have retired from the military and I will not do this.”
The Prime Minister’s face turned angry, “If I have to draft you back into our military, I won’t hesitate to do it!” The Prime Minister’s expression softened, and he asked in a softer tone, “Why won’t you do this; you are our most experienced commander?”
“I intend no disrespect, but I have no desire to have to deal with you second guessing every decision I make.”
“That won’t happen. I’m granting you full authority to do whatever you think needs to be done; I will not interfere in any way. I’ll handle the domestic decisions, but you have total authority over the military.”
Maranda turned to Andrew and he nodded slightly. Maranda turned and looked at Grady, “I can’t do this without you.”
Grady shrugged, “I’m also retired.” Grady turned to President DeChirico.
“Grady Henricks, you are drafted back into active service and you will be Supreme Commander of all New Britannia’s Military. If you run into any obstacles contact me and I’ll remove them.”
Grady’s expression didn’t change as he turned back to Maranda, “Looks like old times, doesn’t it?”
Maranda turned to the Prime Minister, “I accept the position you’ve offered.”
“Maranda, we’re in the same place we were during the war with the Core Aliens. You and I will be almost overwhelmed getting our forces ready to confront them.” Grady turned to RJ and said, “You are promoted to the rank of War Admiral and you will develop the strategy humanity will use during this conflict.” Grady turned back to Maranda, “Does that meet your approval?”
“Yes!”
RJ stared at Grady in silence and Candy said, “You know you’ve been thinking about this since the moment we found out what’s happening. You need to do this.”
RJ turned to his wife, “Are you sure about this, Candy?”
“You’re the best one for the job! I do find this ironic.”
“Why?”
Candy sighed, “Do you remember the last time when you refused to allow me to go out with my fleet?”
“Candy, you were pregnant.”
Candy shook her head, “That is what’s ironic; I’m pregnant again and another war has popped up. I just need to stop having children if this is what happens.” RJ’s face showed his shock, “I’m sorry, RJ; I was going to tell you later.” Sweets leaned over and hugged her mother.
RJ released a slow breath and turned to Maranda, “I am sending telepaths to New Melbourne and the other Colonies to attempt to find other telepaths to join us.” Maranda nodded. He turned to Grady and said, “We’re operating in the dark. I want a scout ship sent out to Andromeda to learn what the aliens are doing and when they plan to launch their attack. Send a telepath to listen in on them. It should be the telepath with the longest range of hearing them.”
Cami immediately spoke up, “That would be me.”
Grady and Taffy jerked their heads around to her and they heard Sweets from down the table sitting next to Candy, “IF SHE GOES, I GO WITH HER!!”
Candy jerked her head around to Sweets, “LIKE HELL YOU WILL!”
Taffy immediately replied, “Cami is not going to do this!”
Cami looked up at Taffy with a furrowed brow, “But Uncle RJ says it must be the telepath with the longest range. I can hear thoughts from a greater distance than any of them. Ask them! They’ll tell you.”
Grady stared at Cami shaking his head and they heard Candy say firmly, “Sweets will not be going!”
The meeting continued with suggestions on how to prepare the fleets for what was coming but Grady couldn’t get Cami being the strongest telepath out of his mind. Neither could Taffy.
Chapter Nine
Grady arrived at home and hugged Taffy, “Where’s Britt and Cami?”
“Britt’s out with Linda Kay. Cami went to bed early. What did you find out?”
Grady sat down at the island in the kitchen as Taffy brought him a plate. He took a bite and Taffy said, “What did you find out?!”
“Cami is right.” Taffy’s hand went to her neck and she sat down across from Grady. “Do you remember the first telepaths saying that Cami was deafening when she broadcast her thoughts trying to convince them to join us?” Taffy nodded. “She didn’t know the power of those broadcasts. She also wasn’t aware that she could hear thoughts from an extreme range. Funny Man insists that her receiving range is more than double any other telepaths. Cami learned about it from playing a game of who can hear the furthest thoughts with other telepaths.”
Taffy started shaking her head, “I will not allow her to go to the Andromeda Galaxy Grady!”
“I agree with you.”
Taffy looked at Grady a
nd saw his expression, “But?”
Grady sighed, “What happens if I don’t?”
“She doesn’t go,” Taffy said with a wave of her hand. Grady sighed and Taffy said, “What’s wrong?” Grady shook his head. “Grady Henricks, what’s wrong?!”
“Every telepath knows that Cami is the most powerful telepath. What happens if I don’t allow her to go?” Taffy stared at Grady in silence. “They’ll know that I place my family ahead of all of them. I’m willing to take that grief; I don’t want to send her.” Grady lowered his head and slowly shook it.
Taffy moved around the island and sat down next to him. “It would be sending them a message.” Grady nodded. “You’d be telling them they aren’t important in the scheme of things.”
“It’s more than that Taffy. They’ll know I don’t have their safety and best interests at heart. Many of them are here because they trust us. This will destroy their trust.”
Taffy’s eyes moistened, “We’re putting her and us ahead of humanity.” Grady nodded. Taffy went into Grady’s arms and she started gently crying.”
“Taffy you need to be the strong one here. I’m begging you to tell me not to send her.”
Taffy continued to cry and finally managed to say, “If you do that, it will destroy you inside.”
“I’d rather suffer that than send Cami into danger. Please tell me no.”
“I can’t do that.”
Grady pushed her away, “Taffy, you must!”
“Do you think Cami will never learn what we’ve done?” Grady stared into her eyes and shook his head. Taffy continued, “Her heart will be broken at what she’s caused, and it will cause her horrible pain. I can’t bear either of you enduring the suffering that decision would cause. We have no choice.”
“Taffy, we do have the choice!”
“Then make it, Grady!”
Grady lowered his head, “I just can’t. It would be like sending you to do this.”