Pray for the Prey (19 page)

• • •

RV looked at the leader of the Harmony Federation and asked, “Was that the last civilization that invaded?”

“It was.”

“I suspect they won’t be coming again.”

“I have to agree and it appears our initial concerns were justified.”

“We put a probe to keep an eye on them. Don’t worry; we’ll make sure they don’t pose a problem.”

“We are impressed that you allowed them to survive. I think that will scare them more than destroying their fleet.”

“We don’t like to kill needlessly. That fleet represented no danger. It would be wrong to kill them if it could be avoided.”

“We agree and we’re thankful for you being here. All of our worlds thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.”

• • •

RV looked at Tom on his display, “I’m impressed with your quick response, Admiral.”

“We’ve trained enough to do it in our sleep, Sir. Do you want us to remain here?”

“No, return to your station. Tell your fleet that we are proud of them. Your unit will receive the first unit citation from our new alliance. Congratulations.”

“Thank you, Sir. I know they’ll be honored.”

• • •

Cyanna looked up from her display and raised her eyebrows. “Order the fleet back to port.” Cyanna nodded and issued the orders. RV looked at the galaxy and wondered if a return visit was necessary. This was another place Chris and Jillian needed to scout. But first, M-87 needed to be completed.

Chapter Thirteen

C
yanna came on the bridge and saw RV sitting in his command chair with his eyes closed. She looked around at the night crew and went over and lightly kissed RV on the cheek. His eyes remained closed but he said, “I heard you coming.”

“I know; what are you doing?”

“I’m listening to Chris and Jillian’s reports on their findings.”

“I didn’t think they had done any recently.”

“They haven’t.”

“Then where did you get them?”

“I’m listening in on their live feed to Command. Everything we say is recorded and sent to the main frame on Sierra-Garcia. That way if a ship is destroyed we have a way of seeing what happened just before its destruction.”

“You mean everything we’ve said is recorded somewhere?”

“Everything said on the bridge.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Have you ever said anything you didn’t want recorded?”

Cyanna just stared at him.

“I know about my lunch reports.”

Cyanna walked quickly over to her chair, sat down, and crossed her arms.

“I understand your reasons for wanting me to eat healthier and I also know the waiters want me to live forever. That’s why I’ve worked hard to watch my consumption.”

“You have an unfair advantage.”

“No I don’t. You could do the same thing if you were interested in seeing what is entering the main frame. If you had looked you would have seen the active input and discovered you can look at anything being input. After the information is in the computer, it is assigned a rating and top secret recordings must be requested and approved before you can review them.”

“Chris and Jillian’s reports are not top secret?”

“Yes, but I can see them as they go into the computer on the active feed. I can’t record them but I get to see and hear them.”

“That means you have to be on the channel at the moment they’re speaking.”

“That’s right.”

“How do you do that?”

“Their departure was delayed six hours for a quick inspection of their pilot’s rankings. We would only allow our best to go with them.”

“Yeah, I remember that.”

“Well, Chris is a creature of habit. He always sets the ships time to his departure time. He also always does his day end reports at nine p.m. ship time where he discusses them with Jillian.” RV looked at the ship’s clock and said, “They should be starting in the next ten minutes.”

Cyanna slowly shook her head, “You are the sneakiest person I have ever met.”

RV shrugged and said, “I fear most underestimate my sneakiness.”

“This is how you manage to know so much more than us mere mortals.”

“That’s partially true. However, I’m not real happy that Chris and Jillian have not sent timely reports on their findings. I don’t think they do it intentionally; they just get busy and forget. I decided on this trip that there was too much at stake to not stay on top of their findings. I delayed their departure so that their discussions would take place during the night watch.”

“Why don’t you just get them from the main frame?”

“Have you ever tried to get information from the team that handles the main frame? I’d rather eat a salad than fight with them.”

Cyanna uncrossed her arms and said, “Do you mind if I listen in?”

“Not at all; I’ll patch the feed to your panel.”

Cyanna closed her eyes and listened to the background noise on the Jukebox’s bridge. Then she heard Chris say…

• • •

“Jillian, I’m somewhat concerned about our last scan.”

“I am as well. I don’t see any way we can get a look at the last hundred years without being seen.”

“Dolly, do you have any ideas about how to pull the last one off without discovery?”

“You have seen that there are more than three hundred different probes outside the galaxy’s edge. It appears all of the strongest civilizations don’t depend on each other to share their information.”

Chris slowly shook his head, “We’ve seen that the range is more than a hundred light years into deep space. I just don’t see how we can make that scan.”

Jillian thought about the problem, “I also believe those probes see in Sierra Space as well as normal space. If we intend to take a look we’ll have to jump from a long way out to the place in the light stream we want to record. If we make a jump closer than ten thousand light years, we’ll probably be seen moving toward them.” She paused and said, “Don’t you think we have enough? Do we have to make that last scan?”

“I think we know enough about the civilizations on the side of the galaxy toward the Violet and Yellow Civilizations. This side has not had any hostilities for more than eight million years. Something is going on there and the vast array of probes indicates that all is not at peace in that section of M-87. There are millions of warships but they are not being used.” Chris paused, “You’ve seen the changes in their ships over the last twenty million years. They are more advanced technologically than the other side of the galaxy. Why haven’t they conquered the other violent civilizations?”

Jillian shook her head, “I don’t know. They may be in a state of equilibrium and unwilling to work together. If one of them tried, the others might attack if they send ships away.”

“The point is; we don’t know. This could be a piece of the puzzle that could get us killed if we don’t know what’s going on. We at the very least need a recent snap shot of their planets.”

“That would mean a jump to within a light year, Chris.”

“I know.” Chris paused and sighed, “I know.”

Dolly said, “You could come in from over the top.”

Chris and Jillian were both shocked by the suggestion. Jillian gathered her wits and said, “Dolly, there is a radiation stream blasting out of that giant black hole in the center of that galaxy that extends more than a hundred and twenty thousand light years. Our force fields may not handle that level of radiation. None of the civilizations in that galaxy go anywhere near that jet.”

Dolly said, “The important thing you just said is ‘anywhere near’. We can possibly come in just outside the jet where the radiation is not so strong and make a scan. We might be hidden by the jet behind us. There is a large area between the edge of that stream and the closest civilization. We might be able to jump in close to the center of that galaxy and make a quick scan and then jump away.”

Chris looked at Jillian and then said, “Why didn’t you suggest this initially?”

“There is a high degree of risk. We’ll be jumping in not knowing just how wide the stream is at that point in time. It may just be that the nowhere close description is not really accurate. That stream could have experienced a massive eruption during the time we’ll be jumping in to.”

Chris said, “Dolly, how long would we survive if we jumped into that stream?”

“If we used every reactor to power our force field, I think we could last about thirty seconds. You would lose every attack craft on the hull. Their systems would be damaged within ten seconds.”

Jillian sat back in her chair, “And if we flew out of the stream toward those civilizations immediately upon arrival?”

“I suspect there would be some damage to the attack craft even then. However, you would be less than a thousand light years from the furthest civilization you want to scan. Most of them would be closer than twenty light years.”

“Is there anything else we should be aware of if we choose to do this?”

“You could not extend the fields until you were further than a light year from the stream.”

“How close would that put us to the closest civilization?”

“Five light years.”

Chris thought a moment and said, “I thought the reactors were structured such that only four could be used for either weapons or defense at any given time?”

“The fifth can be used to reinforce the inner force field that is just outside the hull. It doesn’t cover the attack craft but should offer additional protection to the systems and crew inside the ship for a short period of time.”

“Five light years is not very far; even we could respond to that in less than a minute.”

“That is true.”

“Perhaps the ones that detect us would be reluctant to come that close to the stream?”

“That is an unknown.”

Jillian looked at Chris and he said, “Dolly, what would you do?”

“I wouldn’t take the risk.”

“Why not?”

“Those civilizations have not changed very much over the last six million years. I’m predisposed to protect those of you on board.” Dolly paused and added, “There are two other things that you should factor into this decision.”

“And they are?”

“We will not have our weapons available and you will have to fly the ship in.”

“WHAT!”

“I’ll have to power off my systems to avoid damage from the radiation. We will be defenseless and you will have to pilot us during this exercise.” Dolly paused and then added, “There is also a possibility that during the time we have not seen that there may be a planet closer to the stream than the ones we’ve scanned. We could be jumping in right on top of one of them and not know it until we arrive. If that happens, we’ll be immediately attacked and have no weapons to defend ourselves.”

Jillian chuckled, “So there are three considerations, not just two.”

“Sorry, I’m swimming upstream and looking at thousands of possibilities and that last one just occurred to me.”

“Chris, how long does it take for the fields to expand with the new systems?”

“Less than three seconds. We could take a quick scan and jump out in about five to six seconds.”

“That’s five or six seconds after we jump away from the stream if we land in it?”

“That’s right.”

Jillian thought about it and said, “We need to send everything we’ve gathered to George now and we can decide what to do in the morning after we sleep on it.”

“I would offer one other suggestion.”

“What is that Dolly?”

“Since we won’t be able to use our attack craft and Needles, I would launch them and send them home if you decide to do this. You couldn’t use them anyway.”

“And since the beams are tied to your systems, they would also be unavailable.”

“That is also correct, Jillian.”

Jillian looked at Chris and he shrugged. She said, “We’ll discuss this in the morning.”

“I have a communication coming in from Admiral Arvolo.”

“Put it on the speaker.”

“Hello, I was just thinking about you and thought I’d check in on your progress.”

Chris looked at Jillian and wondered how the Admiral always seemed to call at the most stressful moments. He said, “Good evening, RV. We’re discussing a situation that you might offer some input on what we should do.”

Cyanna looked at RV and slowly shook her head. He was one of a kind.

“What’s going on?”

Chris and Jillian filled him in and he asked questions that made them focus on the risk-reward of the situation. After an hour Chris said, “I’m inclined to make the effort.”

RV paused and said, “Are you sure about that?”

“I am at this moment.”

“May I make a recommendation?”

“Go ahead.”

“Before you decide, you should send the crew out on the hull and change all the ships lights to red.”

Chris furrowed his brow and looked at Jillian who shrugged, “Why should we do that?”

“Well, we know that there are civilizations in that galaxy that have seen one of our attack ships. Now I know that the Jukebox doesn’t look anything like an attack craft, but they are the identical color. The red lights will make the ship look red instead of white. It might make a difference.”

Jillian tilted her head and nodded. Chris said, “We’ll have them make the change. Is there anything else you think we should do?”

“I personally wouldn’t take that risk, but I haven’t seen all the information you’ve collected. I’m not operating with full knowledge and I might feel differently if I knew what the two of you have seen. However, there are huge risks with what you’re considering.”

“We’ll let you know in the morning. We haven’t made a decision yet.”

“Ok, I’ll talk to you then.”

Jillian said, “Thanks for the suggestion on the lights.”

“Glad to offer it. See you in the morning.”

• • •

Cyanna looked at RV and he said, “They’re going to do it?”

“They just told you they haven’t decided.”

“If there was real doubt about it they wouldn’t change the lights until they decided. They’re having them changed tonight. Neither one of them suggested making the change after they decided; both of them are leaning toward doing it and they will push the other to make it happen.”

“Are they making the right decision?”