The Fight for Britannia V-Home Coming
Page 24
“What about Rick?”
“Britt and Linda Kay will keep him while we’re gone.”
“Being on a warship with you was the happiest time of my life. When are we leaving?”
“In a few weeks.”
“Let’s leave now!!”
“Whoa, slow down. We have to get the fleets provisioned and organized.”
“We can do it on the fly!”
“Candy, I will not jeopardize the safety of my sailors by rushing into this.” Candy smiled and RJ lowered his eyes, “You were testing me!”
“I know you want to leave as much as I do to get out there to protect Sweets. You passed.” RJ smiled and began contacting the Fleet Commanders.
Chapter Seventeen
Grady looked at Sweets and shook his head, “No! You may not leave early.”
“But the fleets left more than a week ago and this waiting is driving me crazy.”
“The answer is still no.”
“Sir, I believe there is something we should do before we leave for Triangulum.”
Grady turned to Charlie, “What is that?”
“We should go to the two civilizations on the other side of the core and determine if both of them are being scouted.” Grady glanced at Taffy and saw her nod. “We also need to find one of the scouts being used to spy on the Grang and determine if there are other scouts the Grang are not detecting.”
Grady started nodding and then said, “Do it. I’ll contact you and let you know when the fleets are in position outside Triangulum.”
“Thank you Sir. We’ll send a message once we wrap up at the core.” Grady nodded and turned to Taffy as they left his office, “That was a great suggestion.”
“He is rather insightful.”
“Its great because I’d rather find out here if our new warship is truly undetectable rather than 30 million light-years-away. We do know the Grang’s warships can’t come close to matching the new ships speed and they’ll be safer trialing it at the core.”
“I missed that. I’m still worried sick about Cami going.”
“You have Rick, Britt and Linda Kay to keep you occupied. You and Abby have a wedding to pull off in a couple of days.”
Taffy smiled, “I’m surprised Rory and Abby agreed for them to get married now.”
“After seeing what happened to RJ, I’m sure they prefer them to be as happy as quickly as possible.”
“Do you think they’re too young Grady?”
“They’ll soon be twenty-one and they’ve made it clear since they were toddlers that there would never be anyone else for each other; it’s time.”
Taffy nodded, “How long do you think Cami will be gone?”
“I have no idea. I originally intended to go with the fleet, but this wedding has delayed that. However, once the wedding is over, if they’re still out there, we’ll go and join the fleets in the third prototype.”
“Fair enough; I love you Grady.” Grady smiled and hugged Taffy.
• • •
Charlie looked at Justin on his console’s display, “Ready to leave?”
“Lead the way Sir.” Charlie pushed the thruster handle forward and the two small warships disappeared from orbit above Britannia.
Cami looked at the viewport and smiled, “I like the name you’ve given our ship Charlie.”
Charlie saw Sweets smile as she checked out her console and he chuckled, “I thought Sweet Tooth would be a good one.” Cami giggled and turned back to the viewport.
• • •
The two prototypes arrived on the other side of the black hole in less than an hour and Justin contacted Charlie, “Just how are we going to find one of those scouts?”
“It is just like finding a needle in a stack of hay,” Charlie responded. “I’m not sure how we’re going to make it happen.”
“I have an idea,” Sweets commented. “If what Charlie suspects is true and those large scouts are remote controlled, won’t an electronic signal have to be constantly used to control them?” Everyone was silent considering the idea and Sweets said, “Even if they’re not, they must make contact with someone to collect their data before they’re discovered and attacked by the Grang warships. Let’s look for electronic signals being sent from Grang territory that are different from the ones used by the Grang.”
Charlie looked up, “Computer, are you able to scan for electronic frequencies outside the normal spectrum?”
“My processors are able to scan for any electronic emissions regardless of their frequency.”
“What are you going to do if you find one?” Cami asked.
“Why do you ask that?”
“Charlie, if you follow the frequency in one direction, it will lead you to one of those large scouts. The other direction will take you to what is receiving the frequency.”
“Justin, if we detect a frequency, you and Charlotte will follow it back to the scout sending it. We’ll go look for what’s receiving the frequency.”
“You should really consider doing it the opposite way.”
“Why?”
“We know those large scouts don’t represent a danger to our ships, hell, even the Grang can destroy them. But we have no idea what’s out there receiving the frequency.”
Charlie sighed, “You’re right. We’ll follow it back into Grang space and you will go in the opposite direction.”
“So, how do we find this frequency? It may not exist,” Justin asked.
“We’re going to spread out and fly over Grang territory at high speed scanning for a frequency being beamed out of their space. If we have to make several sweeps, then so be it. Computer, how far apart should our ships be to overlap our scanning fields to begin this search?”
“Two light-years.”
“Justin, we’ll move over Grang Territory to the portside; you take the starboard side.”
“On our way.”
Charlie accelerated ahead and waited for the computer to announce it detected something.
• • •
After three days, nothing had turned up. Charlie had completed the scan of the territory he was covering and sighed, “Alright, we’re going to do this again and I’m going to slow down. Computer, have you detected anything?”
“No Commander. I’ve eliminated all the known Grang frequencies from the scan and nothing has been detected.” Charlie turned the ship and started another run.
Ten hours later, Cami looked up, “STOP THE SHIP!” Charlie brought the ship to a stop and turned to Cami. “I heard something behind us.”
“What do you mean by ‘something’?”
“I can’t describe it. Turn the ship around and move slowly.”
Charlie turned the ship and ordered, “Put on your combat helmets.”
“Why should we do that?” Sweets inquired.
“Whatever Cami heard had to be telepathic. We didn’t hear anything, and the computer didn’t detect anything.” Sweets nodded and put on her helmet.
Cami had her eyes closed and her brow was furrowed. She said, “Slow down.” Charlie slowed the ship and Cami said, “We’re approaching something.” A moment later she said, “Stop the ship.”
Charlie stopped the ship and looked up, “Computer, are you detecting anything?”
“I’m detecting a broad frequency on a very low band just below our current position Admiral.”
“Why didn’t you detect it before?”
“It’s extremely low in the energy spectrum that’s close to the frequency of the microwave background frequency filling the universe. Now that I’ve detected it, I will lock the frequency into my processors and should be able to detect it in the future. Our current position is outside the broad area of the frequency and we passed just over the edge of it.”
Charlie turned to Cami, “How were you able to hear that frequency?”
“It’s not really like a normal scanning frequency…it’s…”
“What?” Sweets asked.
“Telepathic.”
“Is that possible?”
Cami turned to Charlie, “No. At least I’ve never heard anything like this.”
Charlie stared at her and looked up, “Computer, plot a course on the tactical monitor to the source of that beam.” A green line appeared on the tactical monitor and Charlie turned the ship. He pressed his communicator and said, “Justin, you and Charlotte put on your combat helmets and keep them on.”
“Sir, we’ve not detected anything telepathic.”
“Cami has, put them on!”
“Yes Sir!”
“I’m sending you a frequency Cami detected and enter it into your computer. That’s the frequency you need to find.”
Cami closed her eyes for a moment and said, “I’m hearing the thoughts of crews on multiple Grang Warships.”
“How do you know they’re Grang?”
“I recognize them from Justin’s encounter with them when New Britannia was destroyed.”
Charlie accelerated on the course and suddenly a blip appeared on the passive scanner’s monitor. Sweets looked up from her console, “I’m picking up an image of one of the large scouts directly ahead of us.”
Charlie changed course to move above the scout and asked over his shoulder, “Cami?”
“I’m not detecting any thoughts on that ship.”
“Is it inside the range of your telepathy?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Can you detect the Grang moving this way?”
Cami squinted and then said, “Barely.”
“Charlie, that scout is moving away,” Sweets announced.
Charlie saw the large scout ship turning and start moving away from its former location. “It appears that scout can detect them just as far away as you do, Cami. Are you sure you don’t detect any thoughts on that ship?”
“I am.”
“The scout isn’t moving away at a high enough speed to escape the Grang Warships. I can see them now on the passive monitor and there’re ten of them moving at high speed toward it,” Sweets announced.
“Computer, are you detecting any frequency being beamed at that scout?”
“There is a much tighter beam going to it from above it.”
“Put the location of the source of that beam on the tactical.”
A red line appeared on the monitor and Charlie stared at it. “If there’re no life forms on that scout, then it must be operated by remote control. The ship doing it is located above and outside Grang Territory.”
“But how can that scout be using telepathic beams?”
Charlie shook his head, “The only plausible answer is that this new civilization has developed machines to use telepathy for their scanners and communications.”
“That must be why I’m not hearing any thoughts in those beams,” Cami responded.
Sweets said softly, “They’re more advanced than we are.” Charlie shrugged. “Charlie, we can’t build a telepathic machine!!”
“Now that we know the frequency it uses I suspect we can. They aren’t that far ahead of us, if they are at all. I have to admit that it’s a great scanning tool. They don’t pick up the ships but look to detect the thoughts of the crews flying them; it greatly extends their detection range. However, I believe they still have normal scanners to use once the ships move into detection range.”
“Why do you say that?” Cami asked.
“Scanners have been around since star travel started. Hearing the crew’s thoughts doesn’t provide a good picture of where the ship is actually located; I’ve seen that while scouting Andromeda. You need a scanner to do that,” Charlie answered.
Sweets stared at her console and shook her head, “I don’t understand how they collect data if their scout has to be destroyed to get it. It could be instantly vaporized, and they’d get nothing.” Charlie’s eyes narrowed and Sweets saw it, “What are you thinking?”
“Cami, if a machine is producing this telepathic beam, could it look at another machine?”
“I’m not sure what you’re asking.”
“Could it look at a computer on another ship and see what’s inside it?”
“Commander, that isn’t possible,” the computer interjected.
“Why not?”
“Because the frequency of the telepathic beam is nothing like the frequency of an electrical system; they wouldn’t be compatible.”
Charlie thought about it and his eyes widened, “Computer, scan for a different frequency being used by that scout as the Grang Warships move closer.”
“Scanning now.”
Charlie saw the Grang rushing in and the computer announced, “I’m detecting a powerful electronic frequency being sent out by the ship the Grang are attacking.”
“Can you determine if anything is being sent back to that ship on the new beam?”
“Yes, data is being sent on it.”
Charlie gripped the ship’s controls and turned the ship. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to fly through those beams and see if that scout detects our presence. Computer, shutdown all your data modules.”
“Data core is shutdown. Operating system is the only system operational.”
“CHARLIE!”
“We have to know, Sweets. That ship can’t catch us, and I have to know if that second beam can penetrate our hull. Computer, tell me if that scout does anything different!”
“It is holding its present course and the direction of the beams its using have not changed.” Charlie flew out of the beams and moved high above the scout.
“WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?! YOU PUT CAMI IN DANGER!”
“No I didn’t. We know the Grang are capable of destroying those scouts and we’re in a far more powerful ship.”
Sweets calmed down, “Then why did you do it?”
“Your question about how that new civilization could collect any data made sense; there had to be another way for them to do it. The machine they use to transmit telepathy must also emit a beam that can read the electronic frequency of the computers the Grang have on board. It goes into their computers and collects all the information inside it. If I’m right, that scout will slow once it has collected everything and transmitted it to the receiving ship.”
“Why would it do that?”
“They have to keep up the masquerade that their ships aren’t advanced enough to stand up to them. They have to allow those scouts to be destroyed to make that happen.”
“The scout is slowing down!” the computer announced.
Charlie turned the ship and went to high speed on the course of the beam being sent to the scout. “I thought Justin would go and look at the ship sending that beam?”
“Sweets, he’s on the other side of Grang territory and we need to get there before it moves from its current location. I’ll not get close. Cami, tell me when you start to hear any thoughts.” Cami nodded and closed her eyes.
“So, you believe they can see through the Grang’s stealth field with that electronic beam?”
“The evidence says they can.”
Sweets sighed softly, “They can’t see through our stealth system, Charlie.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because the Grang are using the old stealth field to surround their ships and there are two weak areas where the stealth field emitters are located. One of them is located on the front of their warships and that is where that beam gets into their ships. Couple that with the fact that the Grang’s stealth field doesn’t direct any scanner or electronic beam around their fields and it’s clear that won’t work on our warships. Our hulls are completely covered by the stealth coating and don’t allow a path for that beam to penetrate; it would just be moved around the ship with the stealth system we use.”
Charlie closed his eyes and shook h
is head before responding, “You’re right. You should have told me before I flew through those beams.”
“Don’t beat yourself up; I just thought of it.”
“Well, now we’ve confirmed they can’t see us.”
“I’m starting to hear something,” Cami said softly.
Charlie slowed the ship and moved it above the red course on the tactical monitor. A few moments later, Sweets looked up from her console, “I’m detecting a vessel ahead of us; it’s not using stealth technology.”
“And I’m hearing thoughts,” Cami added.
“Tell us what you’re hearing Cami!” Charlie ordered.
“There are three aliens on that ship. The leader of the three just said that all the data had been collected and sorted.” Cami paused and then continued, “One of the other two just said that he was looking forward to the end of this long mission. Only fifty-three more to go before they leave.”
“Fifty-three more what?” Sweets asked.
“They can’t leave until all the scouts they sent here are destroyed. Only fifty-three are still operational,” Cami answered.
Charlie looked up, “Computer, do you detect any of their communication beams being directed at that ship.”
“There are multiple beams directed at it from Grang Territory and from another location outside Grang Space.”
“Plot where they’re coming from.”
“They are coming from the direction of the second civilization on this side of the Black Hole Admiral.”
“Cami, have they thought anything else of interest?”
“No, all they do is complain about having to stay here. They’re looking forward to the completion of their mission.”
“Computer, do you detect any beams leaving that ship?”
“Yes Admiral. A very strong beam is leaving the ship.”
“Is it directed toward the Triangulum Galaxy?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Shouldn’t we destroy that ship?”
“No, Cami. Those aliens will know that the Grang couldn’t do it. That would warn them that another advanced civilization exists here in the Milky Way; we can’t run the risk of them finding out about us.”