“Those four ships were able to defeat the Black Ship’s beams and that new beam they used is a new development. I don’t know which of those two attackers the real threat is.”
“You need to think about this from the Green Ship’s perspective and then ask yourself that question again.”
“I hope the First agrees with your decision.”
“I wouldn’t be here except for their original intervention and neither would any of our planets. Any time beyond that moment is borrowed time.”
“The First wants to see you.”
The Admiral looked at the empty display and said, “I’m on my way.”
• • •
Dee jumped out of her chair and rushed over to Doc. She fell in his lap and held him tightly. “I thought I was going to lose you.”
Doc stroked her hair, “Whatever happens, we will be together, Dee.”
“I’m proud of you, Doc.”
“Why?”
“You thought having feelings for me would slow you from putting me in danger. It didn’t.”
Doc thought a moment and smiled, “You’re right. I was stupid.”
Dee snuggled closer and said, “You’re a lot of things but stupid isn’t one of them.”
Doc said, “I really need some alone time with you.”
Dee kept her eyes closed and smiled, “Not as much as I do.”
Doc smiled and watched as Euclid grew in the display.
D
oc looked at Dee and scowled, “Are they ever going to shut up?”
Dee elbowed him in the ribs, “Shh, some of this is interesting.”
“Not as interesting as you are.”
Dee turned and looked at him and brightly smiled, “I didn’t know you could be romantic.”
Doc looked shocked, “Romantic?” Doc shook his head and slid down in his seat, “I don’t know why they need us here.”
• • •
Ian listened to the Council of Royals discuss what actions should be taken and saw that none of them really had a clear understanding of the magnitude of the dangers facing the Union. They just couldn’t make a good decision.
The King watched Ian and saw his frustration. The King thought, enough of this. He said, “The time for discussion in over.” He turned to Ian and said, “I can see you’re not on the same wavelength as the Council. Tell me what’s bothering you.”
Ian bowed to the King and said, “I intend no disrespect to the Council but they don’t understand the extreme danger facing the Union from these two enemies; either one of them could destroy us and we’re being forced to fight ships that would remove the Slavers as an adversary. This is problematic.”
“Why did we jump in against that Black Ship?”
“The Black Ship Civilization is so far ahead of us technologically, that if they invade, we will all be destroyed. We couldn’t allow that Black Ship to escape and report back to its civilization the existence of intelligent life in our galaxy.”
“You were able to destroy that ship?”
“Yes, but part of our success was due to its force field being weakened by the needles being fired at it by the Slaver’s Warships. Our scanning Computer isn’t sure our beams would have penetrated without those needles.”
The King thought a moment, “Which one of them is the larger danger?”
Ian shook his head, “At the rate the Slavers are building warships, you could flip a coin. We are not building enough ships to take on either one of them.”
The King looked at Cole, “Why are we lagging in ship construction?”
“The Union is building them for profit.”
“What do you mean?”
“The members are building the ships to sell to the Union’s Navy. It isn’t a main priority of the membership.”
“If it were, what would be the difference in production?”
Cole shrugged, “It would be a monumental difference.”
The King said, “I will handle that issue shortly. However, in the meantime, what should we do?”
Ian turned and looked at Doc who was staring at Dee, “Doc, what do you think we should do?”
Ian surprised Doc and he turned and said the first thing to enter his mind, “You either invite the Slavers to join our fight against the Black Ships or allow the Black Ships to destroy them. In the time they’re doing that we struggle to build the forces necessary to take the victor on.”
The King stared at Doc for a long moment and Ian said, “The Admiral gave me a coordinate to go and talk to his Ruler.”
The King continued to stare at Doc and then slowly turned to Ian, “You will take Doc and go open a conversation with the Slavers.”
Ian shook his head, “I don’t have the authority to make any decisions on how to deal with them.”
The King said, “You and Doc do as of this moment. I’m delegating the two of you to determine our future path in dealing with this issue. The two of you must agree on whatever steps we’re going to take. Before we move forward, the two of you need to leave and open a dialogue.”
Ian started to protest but stopped and said, “We’ll leave momentarily.”
The King looked around the Chamber and said, “This meeting is adjourned. I want Doc, Ian, and Cole to remain.”
The room emptied and Doc watched Dee get up, “Hey, where are you going?”
“He didn’t say Ian, Doc, Cole, and Dee. Let me know what happens. I’ll be waiting for you in my quarters.”
Doc smiled at Dee and stood up. This meeting needed to end quickly.
The King waited until the chamber finally emptied and looked at Doc, “Who are you; really?”
Doc stared at the King and thoughts of a sudden departure left his mind quicker than a mouse in front of a cat. “I’m Britain Doc Montgomery.”
“No you’re not.”
Ian said, “He is and he isn’t, Your Majesty.”
The King looked at Ian and Doc said, “I’m Britain Andrey Montgomery.”
The King turned back to Doc and said, “I felt you when you spoke without thinking. I recognized the thought pattern. How did this happen?”
Ian explained and Doc sighed heavily. After the explanation, the King turned to Doc, “Your bravery in destroying the first Black Ship was extraordinary.” Doc started to protest but the King held up his hand silencing him. “I know you’re going to say it wasn’t you that did it; but in actuality it was. I was quite suspicious of you originally but I now trust you have the Union’s best interests at heart. As far as I’m concerned, you never died but have continued fighting for our survival.”
Doc looked at the King, “I am different from the first Drey.”
The King smiled, “Not enough to make a difference. Now go and make sure we made a good decision about these Slavers. Time is critical.”
Ian said, “What are you going to do about warships?”
“I’m declaring a state of war and all Union industry will be directed to building the defenses necessary to defend us. Any planets that don’t choose to follow our directives will be removed from the Union’s protection.”
Cole shook his head, “That should do the trick.”
Suddenly they heard, “Your original issue with the Slavers has changed somewhat.”
Ian looked up, “What do you mean, Moe?”
“More than fifty percent of their populations have been moved off their main planets to their farm worlds. On thousands of those worlds the slaves are being freed and accepted into the new community. They will not have the same forces operating on them that forced them to conquer every species they encounter.”
The King looked at Cole and mouthed, “Moe?”
Cole nodded and said, “The Obelisk is named Moe and is helping us in the fight against the Slavers.”
The King looked up and said, “Moe, are you still under my control?”
“I am, Your Majesty.”
“Then why have you not been informing me of what’s happening?”
“You’ve never spoken to me or asked any questions.”
The King stared at the white block in the chamber and said, “Well, I insist that you keep me informed of anything you deem important.”
“I will, Your Majesty.”
The King turned and said, “You should leave immediately.”
Doc rolled his eyes and looked at Ian as he said, “We will leave as soon as our ships are serviced.”
Doc expression brightened as he said, “How long will that take?”
Cole looked at his console, “You should be ready to go in twenty minutes.”
Doc’s expression changed faster than a run-a-way elevator. He pressed his communicator, “Dee, meet me at the ship.”
“Why?”
“We’re leaving to open talks with the Slavers by order of the King.”
Dee stared at Doc on her display and slowly shook her head…then she smiled, “I guess patience is best learned slowly.”
Doc mumbled, “Speak for yourself.”
Ian said, “What’s she talking about?”
Doc looked at Ian and said, “Take the long route getting there and make sure it’s safe. We’ll be following you.”
“Wouldn’t you be better at doing that?”
Doc looked at Ian and said, “Not this time,” and walked out of the Chamber.
• • •
Dom and Becky stood outside Drey with Dee waiting on Doc to arrive from the King’s Royal Quarters. Dom looked at Dee, “I don’t like this, Sis.”
Dee smiled and turned to Becky, “Are you willing to give me back my brother to be my pilot?”
“Absolutely not!”
Dee turned to Dom, “Now dear brother of mine, as you said so eloquently, who else would have me?”
Dom shook his head, “Dee, you know who he is.”
Dee smiled, “He’s the one that gave his life to kill the Black Ship that killed Andi. I know he’s not the same body but he is the same person. His heart is opening and I really count myself fortunate to be the one that’s causing it.”
“But Dee…”
“I love him, Dom.”
Dom stared at his sister and said, “Are you sure?” Dee nodded and Dom blew out a breath just as Doc arrived. Dom turned to Doc and said, “You will take care of my sister.”
Doc looked at Dom and said, “Frack, you have nothing to concern yourself with on that issue.”
Dom tried not to smile but ended up chuckling, “Just be careful.”
Doc smiled and stuck out his hand, “You know me.”
Dom shook his head and shook Doc’s hand, “I wish you hadn’t said that.”
Dee hugged Dom and turned to Doc as they ran toward Drey, “What’s going on?”
Becky turned to Dom as the two disappeared up the ship’s ramp and said, “She should have happiness during this conflict; life can end so quickly.”
Dom turned to Becky and smiled, “Becky, will you marry me?” Becky was shocked by the question and Dom pulled a box out of his pocket and opened it. Becky put her hands to her mouth and nodded as her tears began. Dom said, “You’re right; we shouldn’t wait.”
Becky came into his arms and Dom held her close. Gary and Abbey walked up and said, “Get ready to go.”
Dom and Becky looked at Gary as Abbey said, “You don’t think we’re letting them go without being close to help them if things get out of hand, do you?”
Becky looked at Dom, “When we get back…” Dom nodded, took her hand, and pulled her toward D as they ran across the huge hanger.
• • •
The First looked at the Admiral standing at attention in the middle of the High Council’s gathering. Silence ruled the moment and the First said, “Admiral, why did you allow those four ships to escape? They have destroyed two of our planets and are an enemy of the Council.”
The Admiral looked at the First and said, “I did it for two reasons, First Councilor.”
“Why don’t you share the first with us?”
“Those ships saved my ship when we encountered the Black Ships in the other galaxy. They also prevented the Black Ships from following me back here and endangering our civilization. They also saved one of our planets by coming and attacking the Black Ship that just attacked one of our planets. I owed them for their interventions and felt it wasn’t the right thing to kill them.”
The Councilors started screaming about the billions killed on Aeredom and Munnik and the Admiral remained at attention staring straight ahead. The First watched the proceedings and saw that the Admiral was not afraid. He slowly shook his head and sounded the gong for silence. When the room was quiet he said, “What was the other reason?”
“Those ships may be our only salvation from the Black Ships.” Unlike his first answer, this one was greeted with complete silence.
The First’s eyes narrowed, “Tell me what you mean, Admiral.”
“Why are those ships attacking us?”
The First thought a moment and said, “I’m not really sure why they are; do you know why?”
“I think I do. They opened a conversation with one of our FTL Destroyers and asked why we attacked every species we encounter. Our response was that they were going to be next and then we fired on them.”
“They were obviously a threat to us.”
“Why?”
The First thought a moment and said, “Because that’s the way things are.”
The Admiral slowly shook his head, “Then why have we attacked civilizations that weren’t a threat to us?” The First stared at the Admiral not knowing how to respond. The Admiral said, “It would be more accurate to say that that’s the way we are.”
“What are you saying, Admiral?”
“We are an obvious threat to the civilization those ships come from and they had it proven during the first contact with us. They are attacking us out of self-defense. Their preventing the Black Ships from coming here during our first encounter or not allowing it to escape from our last battle was also done out of self-defense. They couldn’t allow the Black Ships to learn that intelligent civilizations exist in our galaxy. They determined that it was in their best interests to stop that ship from leaving to report back to the other galaxy.”
The First thought about the Admiral’s remarks and said, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
“That is normally what one would believe but I’m sure that the Green Ships are struggling with which of the two forces is the biggest threat to them. It is entirely possible that they may allow the Black Ships to attack us and stay out of the conflict and just attempt to take on the Black Ships alone. They have a beam that will destroy them. They know we are working hard to start a search for them in order to destroy them.”
“Do you think we can survive the Black Ships?”
“No, we cannot.”
“Why not!”