Pray for the Prey (23 page)

RV started chuckling, “It is.” He continued to laugh as she turned back to her board to watch the new ships go through their maneuvers.

• • •

Kate stood in space dock watching the Scotland undergoing repairs. Her executive officer, Commander Jayne Whitlock sighed as she stared at the massive damage done to the bow. Kate shook her head and Jayne said, “We’ve got to stop meeting at this location.”

“I know. I just can’t understand why I’m always in the place where a collision is needed.”

Jayne looked at Kate, “Was one really needed?”

Kate blew out a deep breath, “That ship had been hit with fifty strikers and was still able to extend a jump field. We couldn’t risk that ship escaping with the scans I know it took of our fleets.”

Jayne looked back at the Scotland, “At least we only lost three members of the crew and the Scotland is repairable.”

“President Sierra has awarded the ship a distinguished citation from the New Commonwealth Union. It will be the Union’s first. I’m to receive a medal as well.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“I honestly don’t want it; I’d rather have my three sailors alive.”

“Captain, we all chose to go into harm’s way when we enlisted. You put yourself in the most danger by being closest to the impact. The crew knows you could have flipped the ship and backed into it. They respect you for taking that risk. If I might make a suggestion?” Kate turned to Jayne, “Next time launch a few strikers in front of us to soften our impact.”

Kate smiled, “Do you think that would soften things up?”

“Not really, but it would give you time to turn away if they work.”

Kate turned and stared at the Scotland and noticed something different. She looked closely at the bow, “Is that what I think they are?”

Jayne smiled, “Yes, they are. The engineers are installing eight striker tubes on the bow. They’ve named them Kate’s Diamond. They’ve asked that you use them before your next trip in for repairs.”

“I guess I’m developing a reputation.”

“Your Needle Pilots have named their wings the Hard Hitters.”

“And the Attack Craft?”

Jayne tried to answer but started laughing as Kate waited for a response. Jayne tried to tell her but her laughter took her before she could say it. Kate waited and Jayne finally managed to say, “The Ka-pow Wing.” She then laughed so hard she dropped to the floor.

Kate thought a moment and said, “I like it.” She looked down and thought she was going to have to call for a medic Jayne was laughing so hard.

Four months later. Kate was promoted to Rear Admiral and took command of six thousand ships. Jayne was promoted to Captain of the Scotland, which became the fleet’s flag ship. Every ship in Kate’s fleet was known for the striker tubes on their bows. Soon, all ships were built with Kate’s Diamond.

Chapter Sixteen

“A
re you sure you can’t persuade them to leave?”

“George, they insist on staying. They feel like abandoning their planets would give the Violet Civilization a victory they don’t deserve.”

George stared at Bender on his display, “What do you think about that?”

“I’m staying with them. I happen to share their sentiments.”

“You’re placing a lot of trust in the force fields.”

“I know, but we can also call for help if we’re attacked.”

“What if they can penetrate the force field?”

“That’s a risk we’re willing to take. Our ships can’t penetrate it.”

“Where are we with synchronizing them with the probes?”

“They are fully operational. If a ship enters normal space and doesn’t have a fleet transponder, the force field will automatically deploy before it gets into firing range.”

“Darn it, Bender, we’re going to invite an invasion. You could always come back afterwards.”

“If Earth was still here, would you leave?” George didn’t respond and Bender said, “I thought so; well, we aren’t either. These are our home worlds and we will not abandon them.”

“I can assign some ships at each planet.”

“They are better used to confront the invasion. There are many planets that will not be attacked and those ships would be wasted. Use them to make them pay for their actions.”

George nodded and turned off his display. The Fleet had grown to more than two million ships over the last five years and now it was time for them to be used. He thought about it and then pushed a button. Admiral, are you ready?”

“Are they going to leave?”

“No, they aren’t RV. I can’t say I blame them.”

“They are warriors at heart. We have the assignments made and the initial ships are ready to jump.”

George stared at RV and said nothing. RV finally said, “This is for Dolly, Jeff, Arnold, and Hemon.”

“Start the mission.”

RV looked at Cyanna and she punched the code. Fifty thousand main battleships jumped into Earth’s orbit.

• • •

The Fleet Controller saw an alarm go off on his panel and pushed the button. What he saw shocked him. He immediately pushed a button to contact the Hive Controller. “There are thousands of large White Ships…”

“I know; I see them!”

“What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know; do you have a suggestion?”

“I’ll get back to you.”

The Hive Controller looked at the display in the top right corner of his wall and saw his greatest nightmare coming to life. There were fifty thousand ships that dwarfed the small ship that had destroyed the Home Hive. He brought the view in closer and saw a hundred of those small craft attached to the hull of every one of those ships. He was frozen with fear. There was no possible way to send a large enough fleet to that galaxy. He stayed in his cell staring at the ships until one of them moved out to the probe and the display went dark.

• • •

Kate punched her board, “I’ve destroyed the probe.”

RV smiled and said, “Move to your assigned position.”

“Yes Sir.” Kate looked at Jayne and nodded; she sent the orders. The fifty thousand ships of the Diamond Fleet jumped away to join the other forty fleets.

• • •

The Fleet Controller appeared on the Hive Controller’s display and he said, “Do you have a plan?”

“I’ve tried to think of every possible way we could send an attack fleet to that galaxy and there’s no way we can do that without allowing the Horde to overrun us.”

“Will you please tell me something I don’t know?”

“Send a message to the Majors that the White Ships are back.”

The Hive controller just shook his triangular shaped head in disgust, “You know the conventions. They speak to us; we are not allowed to speak to them. If we put ourselves into a problem, we have to resolve it. They are not a resource we can use.”

“But they insisted we scout that galaxy.”

“And they said they would contact us if they needed anything else. They didn’t say contact them if we uncovered anything new. You don’t want to violate a convention. That would lead to an even worse problem.”

“It can’t be much worse than this. We can’t do this alone.”

The Hive Controller thought a moment about what the Fleet Controller said, “Maybe we don’t have to do it alone.”

“Who is going to help us?”

“Perhaps we can follow the example of that grey ship that visited us.”

“I’m not sure what you mean?”

“Remember that the Horde was not allowed to attack while we scouted that galaxy. Maybe we can convince them that those White Ships are just as big a danger to them as they are to us.”

The Fleet Controller thought about the idea and slowly nodded, “How do we get their agreement to join us?”

“You will go and ask them. Take a recording of the Home Hive’s destruction by the small ship and a recording of the ships at that planet. We’ll agree to not attack while we deal with this problem and will withdraw our front lines two light years when it’s resolved.”

“That’s giving up a lot.”

“Don’t offer it unless you have no choice.”

“May I send one of my subordinates?”

“You may not. They know your ship is marked as the Fleet Controller. They will probably respond with someone in a similar position. Now go make the contact.”

“How do I do that?”

“Figure it out. That’s your responsibility and if I need to replace you I will.”

The Fleet Controller lowered his head and ended the communication.

The Hive Controller ordered his personal ship down to the planet and boarded. He was not going to be on the surface anytime soon. Unlike his predecessor, he wasn’t stupid and arrogant.

• • •

RV had George on his display and they were discussing the inactivity of the Violet Civilization. “They should have made some sort of response by now.”

“George, it’s only been two weeks. I’m sure they’re stuck with how to pull ships off their lines and send them here. That is going to take some time.”

“We need to know what’s going on.”

“It would help to know.”

George looked off the screen and said, “Meisa, send the Ninja to collect the light from M-87 for the last two weeks.”

RV heard George and took a deep breath. Cyanna was listening in and wondered what RV was thinking. Something was going on with sending the Ninja. What could it have been? RV was bothered but didn’t say anything.

• • •

Zack and Isadore made a fast run by M87 recording two weeks of reflected light and jumped away to look at the results of their recording. The crew of the Ninja watched their monitors to make sure they weren’t followed and kept their weapons scanners active. After an hour, Zack ended battle stations and the crew started to relax. However, none of them moved very far from their combat stations and most left their weapons on standby for immediate activation. The twenty crewmembers chosen to serve on the Ninja were the best the Navy had.

The Ninja had grown in size and was no longer just a two man ship. With the increased power of the new reactors, it had to grow just to move a reactor inside its hull. It was a powerful weapon now but Zack was not willing to risk it in an engagement, he chose to run first. He finally jumped to Izzy’s favorite location to capture Earth’s light while he viewed the data collected.

Isadore stared at the display showing Earth thousands of years in the past and she was amazed at the beauty of the green and blue planet. Zack began running the recordings and brought the view in closer, “What are they doing?”

Izzy turned around from watching the scanners and saw two ships moving toward each other, “I don’t know.”

They watched as a Violet Ship and a Yellow Battleship moved toward each other in the center of the neutral zone between their vast fleets.

“Izzy, run this back.”

“Why?”

“I want to see who initiated this meeting.”

“You think they’re going to communicate?”

“I think that’s obvious. We need to know who wanted this meeting to happen.”

Izzy backed the recording up and they watched as a Violet Battleship moved out of their lines toward the center of the space between the two giant fleets. The Violet Ship did not have a force field raised and it was flashing a bright white light on top of it.

“I was afraid of that.”

“What?”

“I think the Violet Ships are going to ask their enemy for help.” Izzy looked at Zack and he was slowly shaking his head, “This is not good.”

“Why would the Yellow Ships agree to help them? They’ve been killing each other for thousands of years.” Izzy watched the recording as the two ships moved closer and stopped. She waited for one of them to fire on the other but nothing happened. Two hours later the ships turned and went back to their lines.

“Get this information out to Dundee, Izzy!” Zack hit the intercom and said, “Jump alert, we’ll be jumping in sixty seconds.”

Izzy set the drive and looked back at the recording. The Violet Ship that had gone out to meet the Yellow Battleship, jumped away. Just before she jumped the Ninja she moved the view on her display to the Yellow Ship and watched it jump away as well. She shook her head and hoped this wasn’t what she thought it was. She was about to hit the jump button when the Ninja was rocked.

Zack yelled into his communicator, “We have ten Violet ships that just jumped in on us and fired together. Or force field was breached and the star drive is inoperative. We are running in normal space but cannot reach top speed. They are gaining on us.”

George said, “Send us your coordinates.”

“Can’t do it without the drive computer and it’s burned out.”

Izzy looked up at Earth as it appeared hundreds of thousands of years ago and marveled at its beauty. She smiled.

Zack was flying the Ninja as fast as it would go, but the Violet ships were gaining and would be in beam range in seconds. He looked over at Izzy and saw her staring at the light being collected from Earth’s ancient past. He looked at her and felt his love. He hit another pad and the time field began to form in front of the fleeing ship, “George, the only thing that works is the collectors and time field. I’m activating the time field, going through it, and then I’ll shut it down.”

George stood and yelled, “Don’t do it. You can’t come back if you shut it down.”

“Good-bye, George.”

The light went out on the communication board and George sat down in his chair. Meisa came over and hugged him. “They send the data they collected. We need to look at it.”

George took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He nodded and said, “RV, do we have any way of locating them?”

RV stared at the display and said nothing. George sighed and said, “I didn’t think so. We’ll have a ceremony to honor them after this is over.”

RV nodded and Cyanna knew that if RV didn’t have an answer, he would have told George he didn’t. He had not responded. How did he know Zack and Izzy were going to be attacked? He had to know. All the evidence pointed to him knowing. He saw her looking at him and he said softly, “Later.” Cyanna nodded and turned back to her board.

• • •

Two hours later RV’s board alarmed, “George, what’s wrong?”

“Look at this.”

Arvolo watched the two ships meet in the neutral zone. “It looks like we are going to possibly have some uninvited guests.”