Pray for the Prey (26 page)

“We have as well.”

“Unfortunately, we won’t be given a choice.”

“We won’t have a choice about attacking but we can choose not to kill.”

“What are you saying?”

“You know we can’t defeat your force fields without hitting them with six shots in the same spot. We could attack you all along your line and if we don’t fire multiple beams at one place, your ships will not be damaged.”

“We can reduce the speed and power of our energy pulses but if ships aren’t damaged the Majors will know it’s a fake.”

“Here’s what we’ll do. We have many ships that are no longer battle worthy. We will broadcast a frequency from those ships and you need to hit them with a full power pulse. They will be flown by remote control by the ship next to them. Can your gunners do that?”

“We can. We also have ships that are not in condition to fight. We’ll place them at the ends of our lines and weaken the force field over them. You should be able to penetrate to them with one ship.”

“Strengthen it so that two ships are needed and make sure they are on the end of the lines. If we fire at a ship on the end of the line and our beams don’t penetrate, we’ll assume it is not one of the targets and move on.”

“What happens after that battle?”

“What we always do. We’ll retreat back across the neutral zone and confront each other for long periods before we attack again.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“It has finally dawned on us that we should not be enemies. The enemy is in that Purple Ship.”

“Will you agree to stop this war with our Hive?”

“I will.”

“Then I am sending you the engineering plans for our energy pulses and force fields. You need them against your other enemy.”

“Why are you doing that?”

“I suspect we will be destroyed if the White Ships attack us. Before you say anything; if we pull our ships out to confront them and you don’t overrun us and take possession of our territory, the Majors will know we have been deceiving them and will come and destroy us all. I see no way out of our dilemma and I don’t want to see you destroyed as well.”

“What are you going to do if they come?”

“We are going to leave our ships here in the line and meet them with the thousand ships on guard duty. Once they destroy our worlds, I’ll order my ships to flee to your territory and surrender to your fleet. I hope you use them wisely.”

The Horde Leader stared at the Hive Controller and said, “After all the millions of years of hatred, it’s such a great shame that we are just now learning that you are not what we thought. So much wasted time and lives.”

“I know; try to make the Majors pay for our death.”

“I will. Are you ready to start the attack?”

“I’ll need all the time to the deadline to get the faulty ships in our lines and issue orders to the fleets. We’ll begin it by moving toward your ships.”

“Let us hope this works.”

Chapter Eighteen

R
V raised his hand and pointed at the communications officer who opened the general frequency, “We will be jumping momentarily and I want to repeat that we are not there to conquer. Defend yourselves but do not break ranks without my approval. Radio silence will be observed until we are forced into fleet action.”

Cyanna said, “Ten minutes to general quarters and fifteen minutes to jump.”

RV sat and stared out the view port at the billions of unblinking stars. Cyanna looked at him and he said, “After I left Cuba, I thought my life was over. To be honest, I joined the navy to see if I could end my life.”

“That’s what all the fights were about?”

“Yes, Cyanna; I was angry at a world that took my life away.”

“And now?”

“You have made the largest impact on bringing me back; you and Kenny. He started the process.” RV looked out the view port again and heard, “Five minutes to general quarters.” He smiled, “I would have never expected to be sitting in this chair at this moment. I often feel like I’m not really qualified to do this.”

“No one is, RV. If anyone sits in that chair and doesn’t worry about what they’re doing, they don’t deserve to be there. It’s a moot point now.”

RV looked back at her, “Why is that?”

“You’ve proven yourself to the sailors in this fleet. They will follow wherever you lead. I’m not so sure they would accept anyone else.”

“They would accept you.”

“Not right away.”

RV shrugged and looked back out of the view port. “One minute to general quarters.”

RV stared at the stars until the klaxons began wailing, the red lights began flashing, and the armor covering slid down and covered the view port as RV said, “I do love the stars.”

He took a deep breath and said, “Change of plans.”

“WHAT?”

“Put me on the general frequency.”

The communications officer nodded and RV said, “There is a change in plans. We will jump in and remain in our ranks with our force fields turned off. I repeat, our force fields will be turned off. You may activate them if any ships approach our formation.”

Kenny looked up at his speaker and said, “What is he up to now?”

Bob came in on Kenny’s display and Kenny said, “I don’t know what he’s doing.” Bob shrugged and disappeared.

Cyanna said, “What are you doing?”

“Seeing if they are intelligent or stupid.”

“Not that again?’

RV smiled, “It worked last time. Let’s try it again. Count it down, Admiral.”

Cyanna said, “Two minutes to jump.” She knew she should be worried but she just knew that whatever reason he was doing this was right. She was glad he sat in that chair.

The two million main battleships disappeared.

• • •

The Hive Controller’s alarms went off at full volume and he heard, “Millions of White Ships have just jumped to our border.”

He looked at his display and saw that they were just hanging in space and not moving. The Fleet Controller came in on his board and said, “Their force fields are not activated.”

“Hold the guard ships.” The thousand ships assigned to guard the outer border stopped just outside the edge of their galaxy. The Leader of the Horde appeared on his display and said, “What’s happening?”

“I don’t know. They’re just holding a position just outside our galaxy.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m not really sure.”

He jerked when another creature appeared on one of his displays. The Creature said, “I believe you know who we are. You destroyed our home world not too long ago.”

The Leader of the Horde listened in on the conversation.

“And you returned the favor. Are you here to finish what we started?”

“I could take this time to frighten you, but I just don’t like doing that. We’re not here to kill you, we’re here to deliver a message that you understand.”

The Hive Controller let out the deep breath he had been holding. “What message is that?”

“We know you have been forced to go out and attack other galaxies by the civilizations that sent that Purple Ship.” The Hive Controller and Leader of the Horde were shocked that this being knew about the Majors.

“We call them the Majors.”

“I know. As I was saying, we were planning to destroy all of the ships you were planning to send to our galaxy but that plan was busted by your Majors. It was their intervention that allowed us to learn that you have been forced to go out and kill. It is that knowledge that prevents us from killing every living thing on every planet you inhabit.” RV paused and then said, “However, we do not like you and do hold you in contempt for all the innocent civilizations that you have destroyed over the millennia. You and that other species you’re fighting are nothing but predators and though we feel justified in removing both of you from existence, we would be no better than you if we did. So we’re going to allow you to live.”

“I’m not sure why you are doing that. In this universe, you attack or you will be killed.”

“That’s not the same universe I live in. In my universe, you live in peace with other civilizations and you only kill those that attack you. We are not predators.”

“Our history has shown things to be different.”

“You live in a tough neighborhood.”

“Is that your message?”

“No, it’s not. You will choose one of your ships and send it between our lines.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because you need to learn something and just telling you won’t convince you. I need to show you.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I am going to send one of my ships to meet yours and they are going to fight it out.”

“Why?”

“I wish there was another way but there’s not. If we don’t do it this way, I’m going to have to kill all of those ships you have at your border to prove my point and I’d prefer to hold the casualty’s down to a minimum.” The Hive Controller hesitated and RV said, “I know you and that other species have got to be curious about how you match up to our ships.”

“You sound pretty confident.”

“I am and your doubt about it is what must be removed. Now decide; one ship or a thousand.”

The Hive Controller said to the Fleet Controller, “Send the ship.”

The Fleet Controller ordered one of their newest models to move out.

RV pushed his board, “Admiral Gibbons, will you do the honors?”

Gibbs was startled by the request and looked at Eric, “You heard the man. The ship is yours to fight.”

Eric said, “Raise the force field; Kelly, I don’t want you firing on that ship until I give the order.”

“Yes Sir.”

“Give the children a bath; they’re going out to play. All Needles and Attack Craft will remain at their stations.” Eric turned to Gibbs, “Their energy pulses will not penetrate our force field.”

“Are you so certain they don’t have weapons you’ve not seen?”

“Pretty much.”

Gibbs shrugged and said, “Carry on.”

“Kelly, take us out.”

RV said, “Both ships are now free to fire.”

The Fleet Controller said, “Destroy that ship.”

The Violet Ship flew forward and fired a solid wall of energy pulses at the Nebraska. Kelly danced out of the way of most of them. “What do you scan, Kelly?”

“They are no danger.”

“Then stop and let’s absorb a few.”

The Violet Ship was trying to stay close to the White Ship but was unable to do it. Suddenly the ship stopped and the Violet Ship fired energy pulses as fast as possible. They hit the White Ship’s force field and briefly flashed. Eventually the Violet Ship ran out of energy pulses and stopped. It began firing missiles at the White Ship that hung there, stopping all of them on its force field.

Eric looked at the ship and didn’t feel good about firing his main weapons at it. “Commander Yen.”

“Yes sir.”

“Launch one Needle and hit that ship with a striker.”

• • •

The Hive Controller, The Fleet Controller, and the Leader of the Horde watched a tiny ship launch from the White Ship and bear down on the giant Violet Battleship and fire one missile. They all jerked when the missile struck the force field with an explosion that pushed through the battleship’s force field and blew into the center of the ship blasting it into two pieces.

RV said, “You should send shuttles to save the warriors that survived.”

The Fleet Controller issued the orders and numerous small craft began approaching the burning ship.

RV said, “Nebraska, launch all your ships.”

The large White Ship looked like it exploded. In less than ten seconds more than eight hundred small ships surrounded it like a giant ball.

The Leader of the Horde said, “That ship holds more than eight hundred ships.”

The Hive Controller nodded, “And the smallest one can kill my best ship.”

RV said, “I do regret having to conduct this demonstration but unfortunately, predators only believe what they see.”

“Do all of your ships have those craft?”

“They do.”

“Then you were right about destroying all of our ships.”

“You and that other species.”

“Why did you do this?”

“Here is the message I’m here to deliver. If you ever send another ship to our galaxy, you will cease to exist. Now, is that simple enough for you to understand?”

“I may not be given a choice.”

RV stared at the creature on his display and said, “Why not?”

“You were right the first time. We have been directed to go to other galaxies and destroy all civilizations with advanced technology. Failure to comply with that directive can lead to our destruction by the Majors.”

“Then you’ll have a very difficult decision to make. Do you choose to be killed by them or us?”

“We will not attack your galaxy again. If it comes down to it, we will die fighting the Majors.”

“I sense you have a reason for that decision?”

“They have been forcing our two civilizations to fight each other for millions of years. We both believe that they are trying to get us to kill each other so they don’t have to take the time to do it. We’re tired of being manipulated by them.”

RV thought about the Hive Controllers words and said, “I hope that doesn’t happen, but we do mean what I’ve told you.”

“I know. I’m sorry for what we’ve done and I promise it will not happen again.”

RV watched the creature and knew that it had no hope. He said, “Get us home, Cyanna.”

The White Ship was surrounded by hundreds of ships and in less than a minute, all of them were back in the ship and the giant fleet disappeared. The Leader of the Horde said, “Maybe our fake battles will buy you time.”

“I can hope, but the end is inevitable.”

“We have this moment. We need to try and develop something that can be used to protect you.”

The Hive Controller looked back at the dark center display and said, “The universe is a dangerous place.”

The Leader of the Horde laughed, “Always has been; it always will be.”

• • •

Admiral Gibbs was hot. “What do they think they’re doing?”

Kate looked at the Angry Admiral and slowly shook her head, “I made a stupid mistake and now I pay for my stupidity. I didn’t even see it coming.”