No Technology Is Invincible (The Death Prophecies-Book Four 4) (32 page)

Janell nodded, “By attacking the Carnivore’s Governing Planet first, they ensured that all of the Carnivore’s fleets would be ordered in to defend it. They weren’t forced to divide their ships between forty-six planets.”

“The Carnivores would have been better served to consolidate all of their forces before attacking but their Leaders screamed for them to attack as they arrived. The Leaders failed to notice that the Black Ships were not moving on their planet but were moving slowly into the star system in order to draw their forces in.”

Janell shrugged, “They panicked.”

“Yes they did.”

• • •

Now they were over one of the forty-six planets watching more than six hundred Black Ships moving into orbit. “What do you think they’re going to do, Gabe?”

“I really think they intend to exterminate the Carnivores. However, I don’t see any troop carriers or transports with their ships that would allow them to go down to the surface and take them out. They surprised me when the Carnivore Leader attempted to communicate with them to surrender and they ignored his plea.”

Janell looked at the monitor and watched the six hundred Black Warships move into formation around the planet and nodded in agreement, “I guess they get one chance to prove themselves and failing that, they’ve signed their death warrant.” Janell’s eyes narrowed, “What are they doing?” She looked up, “Chester, what are they doing?”

“Those six hundred warships have moved so that they are equidistant from each other above the planet. At the moment they’re using their active scanners to cover the entire planet’s surface. If I had to guess, I think they’re searching for any Carnivores on the surface.”

Gabe’s eyes narrowed as he thought out loud, “How are they going to remove them without harming the population that was conquered?”

“Admiral, I honestly don’t know.”

Gabe turned back to the monitor and then the Warships in orbit looked like they all turned on a strobe light. Hundreds of thousands of blaster beams flashed down from orbit hitting the planet’s surface. “Chester?”

“Admiral, they’re firing on the Carnivores and it appears they don’t care if any of the local population is harmed.”

Gabe’s flinched as he watched the cities and vast areas of the plains being set on fire from the superheated blaster beams. Fires raged across the planet and still the blasters burned through the atmosphere. Janell put her hand to her throat as she slowly shook her head, “This is…”

Gabe sighed, “We would have had to do the same thing in the Carand’s Galaxy to remove all of them. Some of the local inhabitants will survive and will one day build another civilization on the ashes of this one. This is the simplest way to eradicate a species and not place any of your forces in danger.”

“But it’s just so…blood thirsty, Gabe!”

“It kind of leads me to believe that whatever species is on the Black Ships, they have some predator in their evolution. It’s clear this is not the first time they’ve done this.”

“Don’t they know they’ve made an enemy of this population that will one day go looking for them?” Gabe was silent and Janell asked, “Am I missing something?”

“Put yourself in the local population’s shoes and tell me what you’d feel after this bombardment?”

Janell looked at the monitor and then sighed, “They would be thankful that the Carnivores were removed from their planet even though millions, no billions of them, had to die to get it done.” Gabe nodded.

• • •

They turned toward the monitor as they heard over the wall speaker, “Stop firing. All ships do another scan and remove any remaining targets in your coverage areas.”

They turned back to the main monitor and saw random beams being fired at the planet’s surface. Thirty minutes later they heard, “All ships will move into formation and prepare to return to your duty locations. Scouts will remain and scan for two weeks to see if any managed to escape our detection.”

Gabe tilted his head and then heard, “Pagron, I no longer detect the vessel that was following me.”

“Are you absolutely sure you detected a ship?”

“I detected a vibration in the space time fabric in one small area close to our ships when we first arrived here.”

“And you no longer detect it?”

“No, Pagron.”

“If it was a vessel, it will one day make its presence known or it wasn’t a ship you detected. Make sure all of that violent species have been killed.”

“I will, Pagron.”

• • •

Gabe stared at the monitor and pressed his communicator, “Captain McTremble.”

Janell put her hand on Gabe’s arm and he shook his head, “I want you to send a verbal countdown to me starting at 100 and ending at zero.”

“Yes, Sir; ninety-nine, ninety-eight, ninety-seven…”

Gabe stared at the wall speaker and Janell looked at it with him. “If that Scout doesn’t report our presence, then he was only able to detect us because Captain McTremble’s ship and ours were right next to each other and the impact on space time was higher than if we were communicating from a longer distance.” They continued to stare at the wall speaker and after the countdown reached zero Gabe said, “Thank you, Captain, you may continue your patrol. Chester, get us out of here.”

The once blue and green planet was now covered in dark clouds of smoke. It disappeared from the main monitor and Gabe pressed his communicator, “Admiral Heinrik.”

“Yes, Admiral.”

“I want you to have Captain Jock McTremble report to you and download all the information he’s collected on an advanced civilization that flies Black Colored Warships. I want enough scouts assigned to keep an eye on that species so that if they sneeze hard, we’ll hear it. You also need to make sure that all the scouts understand that if they’re close to each other this species will detect their communications.”

“How close, Sir?”

“Less than a mile. I’ll meet with you and Admiral Hart when I make it back to discuss what we’re going to do about this species.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Gabe looked at Janell, “I don’t think we’re going to have to worry about this species until some years in the future. Our colony is located on the opposite side of the galaxy from their home worlds.”

“What do you intend to do if they show up?”

Gabe smiled, “Give them a line they will not cross.” Janell smiled and looked at the stars flashing by as they headed back home.

• • •

Ten years later:

“Admiral, you asked us to notify you if the Hadens were moving this way.”

“Is it happening?”

“One of their scouts is moving toward one of our colonies.”

Gabe looked at the Commodore on his wrist unit and took a deep breath. He exhaled slowly and looked over his shoulder shouting, “Dear, the Hadens are coming.” A few moments later, Janell walked up behind him and he looked over his shoulder, “Do you want to go with me?”

“I think you and Chester can handle this. Junior and Annelise are at ball practice and I’m supposed to pick them up in an hour.”

Gabe nodded and turned to the Commodore, “Please send my ship to pick me up.” The Commodore nodded and Gabe ended the contact and went into his bedroom. He took his uniform out of the closet and wondered if would still fit. Ten years had passed since he witnessed the Hayden’s kill the Carnivores. He started getting dressed and Janell stepped into the bedroom, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“I am.”

“What does Amy say about this?”

“She sent the Commodore.”

Janell sat down on the bed beside him and took his hand, “Do you regret retiring?”

Gabe smiled, leaned over, and kissed her on the cheek, “It was time. Admiral Connor arrived and I’m really not needed until the Builder War kicks off. I’ve loved every moment being here with you and the children. I’ll look at possibly going back in the service once the Builders become an issue. ”

“You could send Admiral Connor to meet them?”

“He doesn’t know them like I do. This is something I have to handle, Love.”

“Just be careful.”

“I will.” Gabe heard thrusters and he hugged Janell and walked out of the small house. The giant warship was hovering ten feet off the ground and the ramp was out of the entry port and making contact with the ground. He walked up the ramp and disappeared into the port. Janell sighed. She turned and went back inside. The landing bay crew came to attention and he quickly said, “As you were.” He went to the cart and sat down in it. The clear cover moved over his head and the cart shot through the tunnel and stopped five seconds later. The Captain of the Dream Catcher came to attention and Gabe smiled, “Status, Jock?”

“The scout will arrive forty light years from the colony within the hour.”

“Do you have your Wing ready to go?”

“They’re fueling up now, Sir. They’ll be ready before we need them.”

“Did you check the data from the last contact?”

“Chester has it in his database.”

Gabe nodded and entered the bridge. The bridge crew came to attention and Gabe smiled, “Carry on.” He went to the Upper Command Chair and Jock took his place in the Ship’s Commander Chair. “Take us out, Commodore.”

Jock nodded to the pilot and the vibration of the thrusters increased. The huge warship rose and turned it bow toward the sky. It flashed out of the planet’s atmosphere, activated its stardrive, and disappeared.

• • •

The Scout Ship’s commander sat in his chair and was tired. It was time to leave the military and take it easy. He was bored to exhaustion and the long weeks, months, and years of searching the galaxy for dangerous species had taken their toll. He had lost one mate due to his long absences and the other wasn’t going to stick around much longer if these long voyages continued. He looked out of the side viewport at a distant O-type star and knew it was not long for the galaxy. It was already showing signs of going super-nova. He turned his head back and stared out of the front viewport. This sector had never been explored. He closed his eyes and heard his Communications Beak say, “I’m receiving a communication for you.”

“Who is it?”

“I have no idea. It’s not coming from any of our vessels.”

The Commander sat up on his perch, “How do you know the communication is for me?”

“It was sent to your attention. Whoever sent it used your name.”

“What did it say?”

The Beak nodded toward the wall and an image appeared on the monitor. A video started playing and he felt something inside him tighten up, “Are you relaying this to the Pagrons?”

“I am.” The video showed a split screen with two hundred and fifty six Carnivore Warships moving toward a Hayden Scout Ship. One showed what would happen if they came closer than thirty miles to the scout. The other showed the Carnivores stopping outside the limit and communication would commence. The Beak looked at him, “What is this?”

“It’s a message I sent ten years ago.” The crew on the bridge of the Scout all turned to him and ruffled their feathers.

“Another video is coming in.”

“Put it on the monitor.” Zeree stared at the monitor and he saw another spilt screen with a line four hundred miles in front of him. He smiled. It showed his ship being fired on if he crossed that line and waves moving toward him if he stopped. “Pagron, are you seeing this?”

“I am.”

“What are your orders?”

“It appears they know our procedures. Stop and see what they have to say.”

“Pagron, they’re using a video I sent ten years ago. This must be the ship that I detected following us.”

“Find out what they want?”

Zeree flew within ten miles of the designated line and stopped. He looked at the monitor and waited for another video. The speaker on Communication Beak’s panel came on, “I think we can communicate without videos.”

Zeree was shocked. This being knew his language. He lowered his shoulders and said, “If you can speak our language, why did you send a video?”

“Because that is the way your species makes contact with new species. It’s the way you judge whether they’re hostile or not.”

“That’s true. However, we are not accustomed to having it used against us.”

“We happen to think your method is a good one, Zeree. Now we get to see if you’re a violent species or not.”

“You were there when we confronted the Carnivores.”

“I was and I watched you exterminate them.”

“Why didn’t you communicate with us then?”

“You weren’t near our world. There was no need.”

“And now?” Zeree questioned.

“We’re here.”

“What is it you want?”

“We want you to stay out of a thirty light year globe that starts at this line we’ve sent you.”

Zeree ruffled his feathers, “That’s a rather large section of this galaxy.”

“Your species keeps other civilizations out of a space three times the size.”

“So you’ve been inside our space?”

“No, we’ve been outside that area and listened and watched. We respect your borders and won’t violate them. We request you do the same.”

“I am not seeing your vessel on my scanners.”

“And you won’t.”

“If we aren’t able to see your ships, how do we know you haven’t entered our territory?”

“You’ll just have to accept my word on that issue. However, you have nothing we would be interested in seeing.”

“You could be stealing our technology.”

Zeree heard the voice laugh, “Are you able to build invisible warships?”

“Well…no.”

“Talk to me about stealing technology when you can.”

“You have to know that your ability to prevent us from scanning your ships is something that will cause us great concern.”

“Answer me this. What would have happened ten years ago if the Carnivores had stopped outside that line and opened communications with you; what would you have done?” Zeree was silent and the voice said, “What is your protocol for species that do as you request?”

Zeree muted the channel, “Should I answer this question, Pagron?”

“If you don’t, there will be war between that speaker and our civilization. Answer him.”

Zeree unmuted the channel and heard, “Your Pagron is right. You should answer the question.”