by Saxon Andrew
“The trip to Andromeda has just gotten longer.”
“Why?”
“We’ll be flying at maximum speed and we can easily move inside the alien’s telepathy range before we can slow down. Three days out from Andromeda, I’m going to slow down and make sure that doesn’t happen. Cami needs to tell me the moment she detects the aliens.”
“So you think they’ll have warships stationed out from their galaxy?”
“We do at the Milky Way; I suspect they’ll do the same.” Charlie paused and asked, “Do these aliens know we have telepaths?”
“No, not yet.”
Charlie nodded slowly, “We’re going into Andromeda on a different route.” Sweets’ eyes opened slightly wider. “I’m moving away from the edge of the galaxy closest to the Milky Way and moving over to enter Andromeda from above.”
“But Fleet believes they are located close to the edge of Andromeda.”
“We’ll fly high over the edge and work our way back when Cami tells us it’s clear.”
Sweets shrugged, “How much time will that add to the trip?”
“Two additional days; three at the most. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“Fleet insists they won’t be able to detect our ship.”
“Sweets, I’m not taking their word for it. You haven’t told me anything about their technology; how would Fleet know they can’t detect us?” Sweets could only shrug.
• • •
The time passed slowly and finally Charlie announced, “We’re halfway to the Andromeda Galaxy and we will now start wearing our combat helmets.”
Sweets and Cami put on their helmets and Cami asked, “How are you going to find the leaders of the Stealth Civilization?”
“I thought you were going to handle that issue.”
“If we’re going to avoid getting in range of their ships, it will be difficult for me to find out that piece of information.”
“Why is that?”
Cami shrugged, “It’s difficult to focus on one alien’s thoughts from long range, especially if there is a large group of them assembled together.”
Charlie turned to Sweets, “I’m not getting close if there are warships holding station outside the edge of Andromeda. If they’re there, they’ve set up their formations to detect anything moving toward them from the Milky Way. I’m still going over the top and Cami, if you detect any aliens as we move in toward the galaxy proper, I’ll move in close enough for you to listen to them. Will that work?”
“How do we know they’ve settled close to the edge of Andromeda?” Sweets asked.
Charlie tilted his head, “We don’t. But if we don’t detect anything moving in behind the ships at the edge of the galaxy, we’ll wait for a ship to show up and get a line on its course.”
“And you know a ship will be showing up because…?” Sweets asked.
“They won’t leave their warships in intergalactic space indefinitely. It might take some time, but they’ll be sending warships out to relieve them periodically.” Charlie paused and then added, “Or they’ll be sending out provisions to replace what they’ve used.”
Sweets looked at Cami and saw her nod. “You’re the boss. We’ll follow your lead on how to stay safe.”
Charlie nodded and stood up, “It’s my time to rest. I hope I can do this wearing the helmet.”
Cami shook her head, “You don’t have to wear it if you’re sleeping.”
“Why not?”
“Your mind isn’t connected to your speech center when you sleep. You should be fine.”
“Didn’t you say those aliens can detect the waves from our speech center even if we’re not talking?”
“Yes.”
Sweets interrupted them, “What about this. Go to sleep without the helmet and if Cami detects any waves from your speech center, I’ll come in and make you put it on.” Charlie looked at Cami and she smiled. He nodded and left the bridge.
Cami sat down in the pilot’s chair and Sweets asked, “Are you sure about that?”
“I think so. However, I’ll hear any aliens long before we move inside their telepathic range.”
“What if you’re not on duty?”
“Both of you will be wearing your helmets and I’ve been sleeping in mine for weeks to shutout all the thoughts around me so I can sleep. We’ll be fine.”
“Cami, we’re going to start wearing our helmets even during sleep when we’re close to Andromeda.” Cami shrugged and turned to the forward monitor showing the largest galaxy in the Local Group getting larger. It was now easier to see how fast the ship was moving; it was getting larger quickly.
Chapter Ten
Three days out from the giant galaxy, Charlie changed course and started moving away from the edge of the galaxy toward the top. The next day, Cami came out of the sleeping quarters and said, “Don’t move any closer to the galaxy! I’m detecting numerous aliens below and ahead of us. Keep moving vertical and I’ll let you know when we’re clear of them.”
Charlie pointed at the tactical monitor, “Where are you detecting them?”
Cami went to the wall monitor and waved her hand across the edge of the giant galaxy, “They’re holding position just outside the edge of the galaxy closest to the Milky Way.”
Charlie moved the ship slightly more vertical and after three hours, Cami announced, “Their thoughts are getting weaker. You can turn toward the galaxy now.”
Charlie stood up, “Cami, you fly the ship and keep us outside the detection range of those aliens.”
Cami went to the pilot’s chair and started the ship moving above the edge of the galaxy. Cami turned to Charlie an hour later, “Their thoughts are fading behind us. We should probably move in closer to the galaxy and see if I can hear any of them.”
Cami stood up and Charlie took the chair. He stared at the main monitor and said, “Computer, put a map of the area below us on the monitor. Highlight any class G Stars you detect.” Charlie looked at Sweets, “The history of the alien’s civilization says they prefer planets like those we’ve settled.” Sweets nodded as Charlie moved the ship into the plane of the Andromeda Galaxy. He stared at the monitor at a highlighted close yellow star. “We’ll start looking there.”
Cami suddenly said forcefully, “THERE’S AN ALIEN SHIP MOVING IN FROM THE EDGE OF THE GALAXY IN OUR DIRECTION!” Charlie turned the ship vertical and after ten minutes, Cami said, “This is far enough.”
Charlie shook his head, “My scanners aren’t detecting anything.”
Cami had her eyes closed and after what seemed a long time she said, “Move back into the galaxy. We’re outside their range and we should follow where that ship is headed.”
Charlie shook his head, “Take the chair, Cami.” Sweets looked at him and he sighed, “I can’t follow what I can’t see. This is her show.”
After another twenty minutes, Cami said, “The Commander of those ships outside the galaxy is on the ship we’re following. He’s been called back to attend a meeting of his leaders.”
“Stay on him, Cami.”
“He’s changing course now.” Cami turned the ship and Charlie looked at the monitor, “We’re headed toward another type G Star. Cami, keep us out of trouble; I suspect that planet is heavily defended if their leaders are on it.”
“They won’t be able to detect us with our helmets on. I’ll follow it in close to the planet.”
• • •
The ship they followed moved in orbit above a planet and Cami stopped the ship fifty miles above it. They saw a shuttle leave the alien ship headed toward the planet’s surface. Cami had her eyes closed and Sweets asked, “What’s going on?”
Cami waved her hand, “Don’t interrupt me. It’s hard to focus on the ones in the meeting.”
“Cami, take your chair!” Cami went to her chair and closed her eyes again. Charlie now had the ship twenty miles from the alien warship they followed, and he kept his eyes on it. Its stealth field was shut down. However, it would be ch
anging course toward them if they were detected. Sweets waited with her weapon console on standby and felt a cold shiver run down her spine. She knew there had to be numerous warships around this planet, but nothing appeared on the scanning monitors.
• • •
After two hours, Cami’s eyes flew wide open, “WE’RE BEING SURROUNDED!!” Charlie and Sweets turned to her instantly and she said, “THEY HAVE DEVELOPED A GRAVITY DRIVE AND THEY’RE ABLE TO DETECT OUR DRIVES. I’M SENSING MORE THAN A HUNDRED WARSHIPS MOVING IN TO SURROUND US.”
“SHUT DOWN THE GRAVITY DRIVES!” Sweets yelled at Charlie.
He shut them down and turned to her, “We need to get away from here now!”
“Use the air thrusters!!”
Charlie activated the air thrusters and stardrive. He turned the bow of the ship away from the planet and said, “CAMI! GET OVER HERE AT THE MONITOR AND POINT IN THE DIRECTION I NEED TO MOVE THE SHIP.”
Cami raised two arms and said, “There are two ships moving toward us from those directions.” Charlie turned the ship toward the middle of the two approaching ships. Cami immediately said, “There are three more just beyond them moving in.”
“Cami! Point in the direction I need to fly the ship!” Cami raised an arm and pointed slightly above the bow of the ship. Charlie raised the bow until Cami’s arm was pointing out of the middle of the viewport. She moved her arm lower and Charlie moved the ship on the line she indicated. Once again he was flying directly toward the direction her arm pointed. Sweets said, “We need to go faster!”
“The air thrusters can’t push us any faster. We’re slowly accelerating but it’s not possible to fly faster than this.”
“Hundreds of more warships are moving in toward us. There’s a second wave of them fifty miles out.”
Cami suddenly raised her hand directly over her head, “Go vertical and you might be able to move out between their waves.”
Charlie turned the ship vertical and went to full pressure on the air thrusters. The ship moved faster, and Cami said, “They’re getting closer! Closer! We’re clear of the second wave. Keep moving vertically. Two hundred more warships have come in at high speed but are setting up slightly below our current position. Keep moving! They’re calling in every available warship to this planet.”
Sweets turned to her panel and pressed several buttons. Suddenly, the main monitor was filled with red dots swarming on it. “What did you just do?!” Charlie asked.
“Cami got the alien’s transponder frequency from the scout we intercepted in New Britannia’s star system. I just entered it in our scanners.”
Charlie took the ship between two alien warships rushing in toward the planet and then turned the ship over the top of Andromeda and continued to accelerate toward the edge of the galaxy. The stern scanner was filled with hundreds of red dots moving toward the planet.
Cami opened her eyes, “They’ve figured out they missed us and are contacting the ships at the edge of the galaxy. They’ve been ordered to fan out and find us before we can escape.” Cami paused and her shoulders sagged, “More than a thousand alien warships are now gathered outside the edge of the galaxy.” She turned to Charlie, “Can we escape using the air thrusters?”
Charlie slowly shook his head, “The air thrusters are used for low-speed maneuvers; we’ll run out of pressure in another forty minutes. I’m going to have to use the gravity drives before that happens.” Charlie turned to Sweets, “Is there a way to activate the gravity drives and have them set at maximum speed upon activation?”
“We’re going to have to be buckled in tightly to pull that off.”
“Can it be done?!” Charlie repeated forcefully.
“Press the gravity drive activation button and hold it down. Then press the self-destruct button and the gravity drives will come on at full power and maximum speed.”
“You can’t be serious!”
“The engineers designed it this way so no one would use it unless it was absolutely necessary. You’ll have forty seconds to deactivate the self-destruct circuit once you press the button,” Sweets replied. “What are you thinking?”
The moment we activate the gravity drives, they’re going to see us. I want you to do an active scan of one of their warships; we need to see what we’re up against. They’re going to see us anyway so doing an active scan will not make a difference. I believe that they will take a couple of seconds to turn on their gravity thrusters and that couple of seconds will give us a jump on them.”
“Not much of a jump!” Sweets remarked.
“I’ll take all I can get. Once we start running, it’s going to be a race back to the Milky Way.” Charlie paused, “Keep an eye on the tactical monitor and tell me how much of a lead we have.”
Sweets’ eyes narrowed, “Just before you go to the gravity drives, launch a stealth probe to the side of our ship with its gravity drive operating at full power. They should all immediately move toward it and use what air you have in the thrusters to move through them as they pass.”
Charlie nodded and turned back to his panel, “That’s a great suggestion!”
Sweets turned to Cami, “What did you find out?”
“That will have to wait while I listen to the aliens ahead of us, Sweets. We can discuss it if we manage to get out of this box.”
Sweets nodded and activated her console. The space ahead of them was filled with swarming red dots on the tactical monitor. Charlie said, “I’m launching the probe. I have ten more minutes of air in the tanks; buckle in!!”
Sweets pulled Cami’s harness tight around her and then buckled her harness, “Cami, lean back into your chair and push your back and head hard against the seat.” Cami complied and Sweets followed her own suggestion. Charlie buckled in and pressed the button launching the probe. Sweets was shocked at how Charlie managed to move through the wave of warships blowing past them chasing the probe. Charlie admitted later he was just as shocked as she was.
“The air tanks are empty. Firing up the gravity drives.” Charlie pressed the gravity drive activate button and held it down. He then pressed the self-destruct button and the ship slammed them back in their chairs. Sweets ran an active scan of a warship blowing past them as the ship leapt ahead at an incredible speed leaving the edge of the Andromeda Galaxy behind as the alien warships turned and started their pursuit. The stealth probe had self-destructed when the first alien warships moved in close, and they detected the new gravity drive moving away from the galaxy at high speed.
• • •
The Leader of the Stealth Civilization appeared on the Commander’s monitor, “You will not allow that ship to escape!”
“It has a lead on us, Excellency!”
“You will not allow it to escape. That ship must have been listening in on our meeting and it must not be allowed to return and reveal what it learned. I don’t care if you have to follow it into the underworld; you will not allow it to escape!”
The Commander announced, “All ships will spread out preventing that ship from changing course and moving outside our ranks. Go to maximum speed and chase it down!”
• • •
Cami finally managed to take a breath and said, “The Leader of those ships has ordered them to chase us down and destroy our ship; he said it didn’t matter how far they have to pursue us.”
Charlie nodded, “Computer, are those ships moving closer?”
“Slightly.”
Charlie shook his head as Sweets stared at her console’s monitor, “Charlie, they’ve duplicated the gravity drives we’re using on our warships. Their warships are smaller than ours, so they are having less mass to push. That will make them slightly faster.”
“Computer, at our current speed, how long will it take them to move inside the range of their blasters?”
“Three days, Commander.”
Cami turned to Charlie, “How long will it take us to get back?”
“Eleven days from here.” Charlie paused and added, “We’ll be inside
communication range in four days. You need to get everything you’ve learned organized to send to Fleet.”
Cami nodded and turned to Sweets, “They’re planning an attack on New Britannia and New Melbourne in three months. The two civilizations on the other side of our galaxy will join them.” Sweets’ blew out a breath. “There’s more.” Cami paused and said, “I don’t know what it is, I was interrupted when they started to discuss it, but they believe they have a weapon that will give them the means of winning.”
Charlie shook his head, “You’re full of bad news.”
“There is some good news,” Cami replied.
“Pray tell what that would be?” Charlie asked.
“The aliens have not found the location of the other Colonies. They had scouts out looking for them but failed when we interrupted them by attacking that first scout.”
“It shouldn’t take them long to find them,” Sweets commented.
“They’re worried about it. They have no idea if the Colonies are all located close together or are spread out in the Perseus Spiral Arm where Melbourne was originally located.”
Charlie nodded, “There’s more than eight-million stars in the Outer Spiral Arm alone. If the Colonies shutdown all their major electronic emissions, they won’t be easily found. Four of them are orbiting Red Dwarf Stars and those won’t be searched initially. If the Colonies know they’re being searched for by the aliens, they will make it extremely difficult for them to be found.”
“We need to make sure this information gets back to Fleet!” Sweets said firmly.
Charlie nodded absently and then he turned to Sweets, “How many reactors do those ships have on board?”
Sweets looked at her monitor, “Three.”
“Shutdown your weapons and transfer the reactor used to power them to the gravity drives.” Sweets eyes narrowed and she shook her head. “Sweets, if they move inside the range of their weapons, we’re dead. Like you said earlier, its an issue of mass and power. Our ship is larger and that’s why they’re gaining on us. Shutdown the weapons and transfer the power!” Sweets complied and Charlie asked, “Computer, how long until the aliens catch us?”