No Technology Is Invincible (The Death Prophecies-Book Four 4) (17 page)

Gabby looked back at Ali, “I expected you to be much shorter.”

Ali chuckled, “I get that a lot.”

“Yeah, but you’ll never fit in that child’s armor.”

Gabe turned around and looked at Ali and saw Gabby was right. The armor attached to his chair was too small to fit him.

Ali looked at her and pressed the red button on his chair’s arm. The armor sprung up and enclosed him in less than a second. Even the helmet was in place instantly. He activated the release in his helmet and the armor disappeared. Ali looked at Gabby, whose mouth was wide open, “Being an engineer has it perks. I designed my own armor.”

Gabe stood up and walked over to his chair, “Does Fleet know about this?”

“They have a prototype and are running trials to see if the design should replace the current model being used.”

Gabe stared at the armor, “It must expand when it’s activated.”

“It does, Admiral. It also has twice the power of conventional armor and double the environmental system’s capacity.” Ali turned to Gabby, “Do you have any more questions, Commodore?”

Gabby stared at him and lifted her eyebrows, “Not at the moment.”

Ali sat down in his chair, “Let me know if you do.”

Gabe smiled, “Oh, I’m sure she will.” Gabe went to his chair and looked at them, “Armor up. Poul, take us out to the black hole and put me in contact with Admiral Hart.” Gabe watched the huge hangar disappear as the Prophet’s Eyes left Earth and headed toward the center of the Milky Way. Ten minutes later he heard, “What are your orders, Admiral Eagle?”

“Amy, I want you to hold position until I notify you to bring your fleets through.”

“Is that wise?”

“I’m going to drop one of the new communication probes on the other side of the black hole and I’ll send it through if we run into trouble. If we can remain undetected long enough to find a vessel with the stardrive we need, I’ll send you a message to start your attack. Do you have one of the probes with you?”

“I do.”

“Use it to contact me in the event something happens.”

“What are you expecting?”

Gabe hesitated and smiled, “Nothing really but I just want to make sure our communication lines are open.”

“Good luck, Sir.”

“Thanks, Amy. I’ll let you know if I need you. Poul, take us through.”

The Prophet’s Eyes disappeared into the black hole’s event horizon. Amy stared at her wall monitor and wondered what Gabe meant. Did he know something she didn’t?

• • •

“Admiral, I’m taking a route out of the black hole that will put us above the Carand’s Galaxy. I’m going to change course immediately to take us toward my civilization’s home world.”

Gabe nodded, “Gabby, let me know if the Carand respond to our entry.” Gabby raised her hand and waved as she pressed buttons on her console.

The Eyes entered normal space and turned hard left over the top of the giant galaxy. Gabby said, “More than a thousand Carand Warships are moving toward our entry point.”

“Poul, are you able to detect the fields they’re using to detect us?”

“I can and I’m going to have to change course to avoid going through them.”

“Do what’s necessary. Was the probe released?”

“It was.”

“Gabby, are the Carand Warships moving toward the probe?”

“No, they are not. The probe was dropped before we crossed the field at the black hole.”

“Are you receiving its frequency?”

“I am.”

Gabe nodded and watched the wall monitor as Poul flew an erratic course into the galaxy.

• • •

Twenty hours later, and completely out of danger, they were in orbit above a barren planet. Gabe looked at the scans Gabby was taking and knew this was not where they would find a derelict warship. He shook his head at the damage that the planet endured more than ten thousand years earlier. “I’m sorry, Poul.”

“The Carand are the most brutal species in this galaxy. They burned the entire surface of this planet down to the bedrock.”

Gabe stared at the devastation and said, “Where do we go now?”

“I’m going to start going to the planets that were part of my civilization.” The planet disappeared and Gabe watched planet after planet appear on the front monitor. The Carand colonized all of them and there was no trace of the former civilization. Gabe sighed and wondered if this was hopeless. He went to take a nap and hoped something would turn up.

• • •

Three days later, Poul stopped above another barren world and he said, “This planet is where I was originally built. It was one of our major construction sites.”

Gabby looked up, “I have an urgent message from Admiral Hart!”

• • •

Amy waited and knew that no news was good news. She saw her panel blink and she pressed the button. Scott appeared on her panel’s display, “The Darkness Gravity Towers have arrived and they’re ignoring my request for them to hold off approaching the black hole.”

“WHAT?”

“They say their orders are to close our black hole upon their arrival.”

“Have you notified Admiral Connor?!”

“I have and he says for us to wait for orders.”

Amy watched the giant towers move into the dust clouds around the black hole and start moving them toward the event horizon.

• • •

Steve looked at the Darkness Fleet Officer and said, “You will stop your actions immediately.”

The Darkness Officer shook his head, “I’m sorry, but I can’t. I have direct orders to close this black hole immediately.”

Steve punched his panel and pressed another button. He waited and said, “Come on, come on damn it!” The Supreme Leader of the Darkness appeared and he said, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

“I’m closing your black hole.”

“But I have a ship on the other side and I’m launching my fleets through it.”

“I would highly recommend you don’t do that.”

“Is this how you work with an ally?”

The Supreme Leader leaned back in his chair and blew out a breath, “When you sent your fleets through my black hole, your representative, who I believe is related to you, asked me if I wanted to take command of the mission. I told her at that time that I wasn’t prepared to do it because my vessels were not capable of transiting the black hole. That situation no longer exists and I’m taking command of this campaign. Your black hole represents a clear and present danger to my civilization and I’m closing it.”

“Don’t force me to destroy your towers!”

The Supreme Leader shook his head slowly, “Your ships are no longer invisible to my forces. They can see the three large fleets you have gathered outside the black hole and these towers are a hundred times more powerful than the ones you originally saw. They can crush every ship in your fleets long before they could open fire on them. Even your warships are no match for the ships I sent through another black hole.”

“I trusted you.”

“And I will not attack your civilization as long as you step aside and allow me to take the steps necessary to protect my people.”

Steve felt his rage growing but forced himself to keep his wits, “What is your intention?”

“I am going to close your black hole and leave enough towers to keep it closed. I’m hoping that we can still work together.”

“Do you call this working together?”

Levi sighed, “No, I guess it isn’t. But there’s nothing you can do about it.” He paused, “Would you act differently if I wanted to keep my black hole opened with the threat of the Builders coming through after your species?”

“You know the Black Fleets are delaying and it would take the Builders at least four days to arrive here. We can go through and send out scouts to watch for them while we complete the mission we have there.”

“We don’t know if the Black Fleets have already launched their attack and it’s going to take some time to get the jets powerful enough to stop them. I’m sorry, but I’m not willing to take that risk. My towers will start closing the black holes in the galaxies closest to my civilization.”

The screen went dark and Steve slammed his fist on his chair arm. He sent a recording of the conversation out to Amy and then ordered the fleets away from the black hole.

• • •

Amy received the recording and her anger was instant. She saw the Towers were moving dust close to the event horizon and she lifted her communicator and began speaking very quickly. She kept her eyes on the dust moving toward the event horizon and just before it arrived she pressed a button. She saw a flash disappear into the black hole a moment before a giant flash erupted from the event horizon.

“G
abe, I don’t have much time. The Darkness towers have arrived and are closing the black hole as I’m recording this message. I’ve included a recording of the conversation that Admiral Connor had with Levi and that will clarify what’s going on. We’ve been ordered away from the black hole. You are in my prayers and I’m so sorry.”

Gabe listened to the message and looked at Gabby, “Put Admiral Connor’s conversation on the main monitor.” He leaned back and listened to what was said and after it ended he leaned back in his chair and started tapping his foot.

Gabby looked at him, “We’re trapped here.”

Ali shrugged, “I must say that you military types lead a very exciting life.”

Gabby looked at him, “You’re trapped here as well!”

Ali shrugged and Gabe looked at them, “Admiral Connor had no choice but to back off.”

Gabby was clearly upset, “WHY?!”

Gabe pointed at the plaque over the main monitor, “Death Prophecy number one says that no enemy should be confronted until it is absolutely unavoidable. He had to consider the risk to millions of our warships against the loss of a single ship…ours.”

“YOU COULD AT LEAST PRETEND YOU’RE ANGRY!”

“I’m furious more than you can guess, Gabby, but I would have done the same thing if I were in his place. However, we are going to complete our mission.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s our purpose in being here. We’re just not going to have the support of our fleets to protect us. Poul, we no longer have a time restriction on doing this. The black hole is closed so let’s think about our situation. Are you sure you thought of every possible place where one of your ancient warships might be located?”

“Let me go back into the data that was originally stored in my processors. I moved it to a different location and I’ll need to restore it before I can offer you another place to search.”

Gabe nodded and looked at Gabby and Ali, “I’m powering down our systems including environmental. Use your armor to provide atmosphere and water.”

Gabe began pressing buttons and the lights on the ship started going out. He felt his anger but refused to give into it. He understood why Levi had taken the steps to close the black hole in the Milky Way but understanding it did not make him forgive him for doing it. There was going to be a price for this and he was going to make sure the Darkness paid it.

He sat in his chair and focused on how to make that happen. After an hour, he looked at Ali, “Your armor activated faster than any device I’ve ever seen.”

Ali turned his head toward Gabe, “I developed a switch that operates in milliseconds.”

“Does the switch controlling the firing of our missiles operate as fast?”

“No.”

“I believe that switch is more important for the missiles than for the armor.”

“Why is that?”

“How long does it take for our launchers to fire a missile?”

Ali thought for a moment and Gabby said, “Two tenths of a second.”

Ali looked at her and turned back to Gabe, “She didn’t add in the time it takes to press the firing trigger. Three point six tenths of a second is the actual time.”

Gabe smiled, “What if the missiles were preprogrammed and would automatically launch when the target was detected?”

“The missile would have to have a clear view of the target,” Ali replied.

“What if the cover of the launcher was three times larger?”

Ali thought for a moment and said, “The target would still have to be on the side of the vessel where the programmed missile was located.”

“Ok, so assume it is. How long?” Gabe asked impatiently.

“Two milliseconds.”

Gabby looked at Gabe, “What are you thinking?”

Gabe pointed at the plaque on the front wall, “No Technology Is Invincible.”

Gabby’s brow furrowed and Gabe reclined his chair, “Wake me if Poul comes up with anything.”

Ali stared at Steve and then reclined his chair. Gabby stared at both of them and sighed, how can they sleep? After forty minutes, she reclined her chair and closed her eyes.

• • •

“I think I may have found something,” Poul announced.

Gabe raised his chair and saw Ali and Gabby also sit up, “What did you find?”

“Ten thousand years ago the main planet of the Carand Empire was not the one being used today.”

Gabe looked up and asked, “How does that help us?”

“The military leaders in my civilization sent a special scout to the star system where the former Carand Capital was located. The scout was able to burn a cave into the surface of an asteroid and hide his ship in that cave. The scout would send information out periodically to the main base in that sector of the galaxy. That scout might still be in that cave and, if it is, it has a computer and stardrive on board.”

Gabby looked up, “Poul, surely that scout would have left if he saw that your civilization was under a major attack?”

Gabe shook his head, “I don’t know about that. If his ship was designed to scout, it would have stood no chance against a Carand Warship and I would expect that there would have been massive movements of warships in and out of the Carand’s Governing Planet. It would have been suicide for him to attempt an escape and he probably listened to the Carand reports detailing the destruction of his civilization. Once the war was won by the Carand, where would he go? We’ve seen all of the inhabited planets were attacked and either destroyed or captured.” Gabby tilted her head and then slowly shook it. Gabe looked up, “Poul, take us to that planet.”

The systems powered up and Gabe looked at his display. He saw stars rush by at an incredible speed and two seconds later, the view stabilized and he saw a distant speck of light. He looked at the forward wall monitor as Gabby sent an image of the planet. It was lifeless and little more than a giant piece of rock. “It appears that the Grel were able to successfully attack and destroy this planet.”