“That doesn’t make sense.”
Ian said, “Drey, you need look no further than humanity’s history to know why.”
“I’m not sure what you’re saying.”
“How old is humanity?”
Drey shrugged and said, “The estimate ranges from a million to two million years.”
“In the database taken from Earth with the colonist’s ships, scientists determined that in 8,000 BC, the entire human population only numbered five million and that’s after two million years on the planet. By the year one, it had increased to two hundred million. By 1350 the population was estimated to be 370 million. Five hundred years later the population hit one billion in 1804. Two hundred years later it was more than seven billion.”
“How do you know this?”
“I have all kinds of useless information running around in my head.”
Drey stared at Ian and Violet said, “There were eighty billion inhabitants on the planet Gary and Abbey destroyed.”
Ian slowly shook his head, “Why go to an uncivilized planet and chase animal herds all over it or a primitive civilization with less than ten million inhabitants on the entire planet, when you have billions all located in giant cities on advanced planets? It makes the harvesting much easier.”
Dee said, “They are targeting M87 but one of their probes followed the invasion fleet here. They now know about us.”
Drey leaned forward, “Are you saying they have more than one probe in M87.”
“I sense they have
more than a hundred there and they’ve been there centuries.”
Ian sighed, “That poses a problem.” Dee nodded. ‘They may worry that we would intervene if they invaded M87 now that we are in a conflict with them.”
Drey said, “I would remove us first before I took on that monster galaxy. We only have two civilizations to eliminate. M87 has thousands.” Drey thought a moment, “Ian, did we transmit a feed of the last battle to the First?”
“No, he watched several of the planets being attacked but the Admiral took most of the information back to him. Why do you ask?”
“If that probe is collecting information at the Kilper Capital, then it doesn’t know how many ships we have in our fleets.”
Dee closed her eyes a moment and said, “They don’t.”
Drey looked at Dee, “This is absolutely critical; do they have a probe in the Green or Grey Civilizations anywhere near their border?”
Dee closed her eyes and said, “Not at the moment.”
“When was the last time one was there?”
Dee closed her eyes and after ten minutes said, “It looks like ten years.”
Drey said, “Thank God.”
Ian looked confused, “Why?”
“If they had a probe there, they would have seen one of our new force fields in action. They would have also heard our conversations with them. They don’t know we’ve been talking with them.”
Dee said, “They don’t know.”
Ian thought a moment, “Does this change our plans?”
Drey nodded, “It does.”
“In what way.”
“Now we have to lose.”
Ian and Violet were shocked by the statement but Dee smiled and nodded. She looked at Drey and knew they were going to have to make a trip.
• • •
The Sovereign looked at the small green ship and said, “You’ve requested my presence.”
“We need you to deliver a message to the new leader of the invasion.”
“What is that?”
“Please tell him you intercepted one of our transmissions and inform him that we don’t have enough ships to prevent the destruction of our major planets. Tell him that our ships are being held out of the defense and will be sent to attack the civilizations taking part in the invasion.”
The Sovereign thought for a long moment and said, “Is this true?”
“The part about not using our ships to defend those planets is.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Those planets are uninhabited and have been for a number of years. We hope the invasion fleet will rush back and getting enough enthusiasm to return will be difficult.”
The Sovereign said, “I’ve seen the recordings. Those planets had a huge energy signature.”
“We left everything running.”
“This idea just might work.”
“That is our hope.”
“What if he asks to hear the transmission?”
“We’re about to send it so you should turn on your recording devices.”
The Sovereign laughed, “You are very sneaky.”
“You have no idea.”
“Send it.”
Dee picked up the paper and began reading. Each time she paused, Drey read from his sheet. It actually sounded like two ships communicating with each other. At the end Dee said, “Did you get it?”
“Yes and the part about sending the coordinates of the Invasion Leader’s home planet was a stroke of genius.”
“If you’ll do this, we will consider the debt paid and we will be back at ground zero in any future negotiations.”
“Consider it done.”
• • •
Ian sat with the First Councilor and explained what had been discovered. The First looked at the Admiral and saw him perplexed. “Do you have anything indicating the existence of that probe?”
“No.”
The First turned back to Ian, “Are you sure about this?”
“Yes, we are; I’ll share the data that came in from the scanner that picked up the transmission from M87 to another galaxy but in the interim, we know the probe is here.”
“How long has it been here?”
“It came in with the Invasion Fleet and remained behind. It followed the highest level of communications and arrived here.”
The Admiral said, “This planet does have the most communications of any other planet.”
The First pressed a button and said, “Have you been listening to this?”
The Hub said, “I have and I have analyzed all of the communications we’re sent since the invasion and none of them have revealed that the former Main Planets are not inhabited. There is also no way to know which planet we’ve been communicating with, so the probe shouldn’t know about all our other worlds.”
The Admiral said, “What are you planning to do?”
“We’re going to lose.”
“Is that so?”
“For the moment.”
The Admiral closed his eyes and smiled, “That sounds like a plan.”
The First looked at him and said, “You agree with this?”
The Admiral looked at Ian, “Have you delivered the message?”
“It’s being done as we speak.”
“Yes, First Councilor, I agree with this plan.”
Ian smiled, “You are like Dee.” The Admiral nodded. Ian turned and rushed out the door, “Explain it to the First, I have to get the fleets mobilized. I’ll send you your assignments.”
The Admiral nodded and the first said, “By all means, explain this to me.”
The Admiral did and the First’s expression changed from consternation to a smile. The First said, “What are we going to do with that probe?”
“We’re going to feed it what we want it to know.”
“We’re not going to destroy it?”
“Not now, that comes later.”
The First looked at the Admiral and said, “I’m out of my league here. Just tell me what you need me to do.”
“Send all the Councilors home on a fact finding mission to determine how our societies are getting along. Tell them to report with an in depth report in four months. I’ll jump the necessary number of ships away toward the main planets and have the Hub announce on an open frequency that the ships being sent to look for farming worlds should leave. That is when the Councilors will be cleared to lift off.”
The First shook his head, “That will reduce our communications eighty percent.”
The Admiral nodded, “And we can control any that are made during that period.”
“If you need anything else, let me know.”
“I will, First Councilor.”
• • •
Cole sat at his desk holding Harmony. She was asleep and Argel came in the door and saw him staring at his screen, “What are you doing?”
Cole was startled but didn’t wake the baby, “I had an idea and I needed to take a look at it.”
“It couldn’t wait until morning?”
Cole swiveled his chair around, “Did you see the recording of the planet that Ian exploded in M87?” Argel nodded. “Well it got me thinking; why are the Boson Beams so narrow?”
“If they were wider, the nuclear explosion would be much more massive. The shockwave could pose a danger to our ships.”
“What about with the new force field?”
Argel tilted her head and furrowed her brow, “I…really…don’t know.”
“What started me thinking about this was that the ship’s that exploded had almost all of their mass converted to energy; there wasn’t any debris to mention. What would a high energy shock wave do to our ships?”
Argel stared at him in confusion for a moment and then her eyes widened, “It would collect it in the Boson Collectors.”
“And the force field?”
“Could it take that large a blast, Cole?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out.”
Argel rushed in and powered up her terminal, “How difficult would it be to expand the beam?”
“I’ve already looked at that. That’s not going to be a problem. The magnetic fields will just have to be modified inside a larger barrel.” Argel nodded and began keying in instructions. After ten minutes she said while she continued to type, “If it came down to it, a wider Boson Beam would remove the section of the shock wave coming at our ships.”
“I saw that thirty minutes ago. However, if we could collect Bosons from the shockwave, that would be a better outcome.”
Argel continued to type and said, “You have a head start; let’s see if what we find matches.”
“Hey, I’m typing with one hand.”
Argel smiled, “I’ll take her later. Try to keep up.”
T
he Pental Ruler stared at the new Green Sovereign, “You intercepted what?”
“I sent one of my ships to the edge of that spiral galaxy and it was able to intercept one of the alien’s communications. I thought about it and my Council advised me to share it with you.”
“Why?”
“It involves your invasion plans and your Capital.”
“My Capital?”
The Ruler watched his terminal light turn blue indicating that an incoming message had been received. He looked away from his communicator display and played the intercepted message. He immediately felt fear. “When did you get this?”
“Two days ago. Evidently they are able to see the fleet you’re assembling to use against them.”
“Why did you give me this?”
“I would hope you wouldn’t have to ask that question. We may not like each other but we are together in this galaxy and they are outsiders. You should know our first loyalty is to this galaxy.”
It hurt to say it but the Ruler said, “Thank you for your concern.”
“One more thing.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sending you the frequency we used to intercept that message. I would really pay attention to it once you start your invasion.”
The Ruler stared at the Sovereign and was confused at his gift, “Once again, thank you.” His screen went dark. He thought about the ramifications of the message and he called in his Fleet Admiral, “There’s a change of plans.” The Admiral’s expression said it all about changing plans so far into the mission. “We are going to attack all of their planets in the initial phase.”
“I thought you were against that?”
“I’ve discovered that they are not going to use their ships to defend them. We only have to deal with those platforms and if there aren’t any ships involved, we can handle them.”
“How sure are you about the source of this information?”
“If any ships are found at the planets, have the ships jump to their major group and we’ll continue with the first plan. I want you to also notify every ship in the fleet that I may issue an order to jump back to their home planets. The Aliens may attempt to attack us in our galaxy. Have them preset their jump drives to make it happen if we need to do it.”
“Yes, Sire. I need to get on this immediately.” The Ruler nodded and watched the Admiral rush out of his chamber.
• • •
“Ian, it looks like they took the bait.”
“What’s going on?”
“The Invasion Fleet is reorganizing into fifty thousand ship groups.”
“Drey, have any additional platforms been moved to those planets?”
“Yes, why do you ask?”
“We need to make sure only the number that survived the first attack remain. We need to save all the others for any future incursion.”
“I’ll get on it.”
• • •
“Dom.”
“Yes Sir.”
“I need you and Rizzo to move your fleets to the Kilper Planets. Your fleets have been updated and I want ships at all of their new worlds.”
“That will only be two or three ships per planet.”
“I understand that. They will be used to delay an Invader attack until you can jump in more ships. I don’t expect them to start scouting for other planets but I don’t want to take the chance. Coordinate with Moe and Hub and call in as many ships as you need from the unmodified ships. They will be holding station, awaiting any requests the two of you might have.”
“I’ll let Admiral Rizzo know and we’ll start moving now.”
“That would be good.”
• • •
Moe watched the Invasion Fleet and after four weeks he sent a message, “Ian, I am issuing an invasion alert. The enemy fleet is moving and will be outside the edge of that galaxy in less than ten hours.”
“Moe, do you have the message to broadcast?”
“Dee gave it to me a week ago and the frequency to use to send it.”
“Wait until every planet is burning.”
“If we’re not using the fleet, that won’t take very long.”
• • •
“Sire, our anticipated jump time is nine hours.”
“Which fleet are we going with?”
“The largest.”
“That would be good. Keep me informed.”
“Yes Sire.”
The Ruler looked at his Communications Officer and said, “You know what to look for?”
The Officer nodded and focused on his panel.
• • •
The largest fleet of warships ever assembled in M87’s long history began moving out of the galaxy’s edge and it was unbelievable. Two hundred million warships moved as one giant creature. Only a computer could have analyzed the formation and see that there were more than fifty thousand sub-fleets in the formations. Ships of all sizes and colors moved resolutely forward while maintaining their spacing. This fleet was organized and working as a unit. All of them had one thing in common, they were deadly. They all knew the first invasion had ended in catastrophe. They were determined to not let that happen again.