Meisa stared at the ships and said, “I wish we had an idea how big those ships are. It’s impossible to tell without something we can compare it to.”
“My sensors have the capability of measuring them. Hold on; I’ll measure one of the smaller vessels.” Chris read his sensor record and everyone saw his expression go to shock.
Jillian said, “What?”
Chris looked up and said, “The smaller ships are three thousand feet long.”
Everyone looked at the display showing the smaller ships looking like tiny insects buzzing the blue ship. Jillian said, “Oh my God!”
George said, “If that’s accurate, the blue ship is more than nine hundred miles in diameter. It’s also covered with huge beam cannons and missile launchers.” George leaned back in his chair and said, “That must be a main battleship that is replenishing the stores of those smaller ships. The smaller ships must be scouts that are surveying our galaxy for civilized planets.”
Chris said, “I’m moving in faster to see if anything else is happening. “I’m going to stay focused on that area as we move forward.”
They watched the display as the display fast forwarded. There were many small flashes, but suddenly they saw a huge flash happen as they approached seven light weeks from the location. Chris stopped the ship and the four of them stared at the display shocked speechless. Millions of blue ships were hanging in normal space just outside the Milky Way.
George said, “Chris, jump back twenty four light hours and let’s watch this arrival.” Chris made the jump and then expanded the display as the Jukebox viewed the light from seven weeks earlier. Two hours later they watched the giant blue ships start appearing in space by the thousands. Then hundreds of thousands started coming out of Sierra Space and hanging in normal space.
George looked at Chris and asked, “When did this happen”
Chris looked at his meters and said, “Seven weeks, two days ago.”
Meisa saw George’s expression and said, “You suspect something.”
“I know why they stopped.”
Jillian said, “What do you mean, stopped?”
George nodded at the display and said, “Those ships are an invasion fleet and they were going to attack our Galaxy. They stopped because of us.”
Chris tilted his head and said, “Where did you get that conclusion?”
“Exactly seven weeks, two days, and three hours ago we trialed our Sierra Space Communicator; them stopping at that time has to be more than a coincidence.”
Jillian looked at the display, “They heard us.”
George nodded, “Yes they did, and it scared them.” The other three on the bridge thought about what George was saying. He looked away from the display, “They know that it takes a very advanced civilization to be able to use that method of communication, and I’m sure their scouts had not found a civilization that was using it. I’m sure they’ve been preparing for this invasion for an extremely long time. Even if Earth was found by their scouts, it wasn’t developed enough to have that advanced communications system. Their leaders were not going to send their fleet forward with an unknown enemy of indeterminate strength ahead of them. I’m sure they are looking for us as we speak.”
Chris looked at Jillian and she saw his fear. Then George said something that really made them nervous.
“They probably understand our language by now. It’s a good thing we started encrypting our communications three weeks ago. However, there’s no hiding that we are in the Milky Way and not in another galaxy.”
Meisa asked, “Why?”
“Because I know we discussed the Moet, and they know they’re here.”
“How would they know that?”
“Because they have come in the past and wiped out most of the Moet’s civilization. That’s why the Moet are not as advanced as they should be. Those blue ships probably bombed them back into Stone Age cultures.”
“Do you think those ships are still there?”
George shook his head, “I don’t know. If they’ve invaded, then they know where we are. However, I suspect they haven’t discovered us yet.”
Meisa leaned back in her chair, “What makes you so sure about that?”
“Because they will search areas where they did not find a civilization before they go back to look at those they found. We should go closer and see if they are still present.”
Chris looked at Jillian and she shrugged. “I’m going to jump in and take a scan of their ships. We need to know what their capabilities are. We also need a good look at their armament. As soon as I make the scan, I’m jumping away.”
“You better jump away from the Galaxy toward open space. I suspect you might be followed.”
“Didn’t you say we won’t leave a trail if we keep our force field on?”
“Yes, but you don’t need a trail if you can see what you’re following. If one of those ships react fast enough, they will see you leave.”
Chris thought about what to do, then looked at George, “What would you do, George?”
George looked at the display, ran his fingers through his hair, and then said to Meisa. “I wish you hadn’t come. I don’t want to run the risk of seeing you die, especially now, but the reality is that we are going to have to confront one of these ships and see if we can survive it.” He looked at Chris and Jillian and said, “The Jukebox is the strongest ship in our fleet, and if it can’t stand up to them, we’re doomed.”
Meisa got up, came over, and hugged George, “I really wouldn’t want to survive without you. We will live or die together. Either way, you know this will be fun.”
George smiled at her and laughed, “Ahh, you’re a feisty one. I like that.”
Meisa laughed and went back to her board.
Chris looked at Jillian and saw the warrior in her get angry. He knew her choice. He thought about it and said, “Let’s tell Dolly what’s going on and what we’re going to do.”
George shrugged and said, “Just be prepared for direct orders not to do it.”
Chris sighed and said, “Contact Dolly Sierra.”
Dolly was scared more than she had ever been in her life. She saw the recordings from the Jukebox and ordered them not to go near that fleet. Chris and George had both told her she was not thinking clearly. She threaten to send every ship in the fleet if they didn’t follow her orders, but Jeff came over and took her hand, “They have to do it. It’s the only way for us to know what to do about saving as many of our species as possible. To delay invites disaster. We must decide whether to build warships or colony ships. We can’t do both. We will have to find planets in another galaxy if we can’t stand up to those ships and come back after they leave. This changes everything and we don’t know enough to know what to do. If you were out there, what would you do?”
Dolly stared at Jeff, then put her head on his shoulder and cried. George watched her on the display and said, “We are going to keep a channel open, beaming everything that happens. Use this information to guide your next plans.”
Dolly looked at the display and nodded, “I love you, George. I’m so proud to be your sister.”
George smiled, “You are what made me whole again, Dolly. I wouldn’t be here without your love bringing me back. Pray for us.” George looked at Chris and nodded.
Jillian looked at the display, “Weapons status?”
Meisa said, “We’re putting both reactors into the force field. We’re also pulling it in to within four hundred yards. It will quadruple in strength with the smaller area to protect.”
Chris looked at George, “How good are the fusion missiles?”
“If we can get one through their force field, they should have a major impact on them. I don’t care how big they are. We won’t know the strength of their force field until we scan them.”
Chris looked at Jillian and said, “I’m flying the ship. My first plan is escape after we scan their fleet. I will not be able to make decisions while I’m running, so use George and Meisa to help you.”
Jillian came over and kissed Chris. “No matter what happens, I love being here with you.”
George looked at Meisa and smiled, “Would it be inappropriate for me to suggest a wedding when we go home?”
Meisa jumped up, and ran over and jumped into George’s lap, “Absolutely not, and I accept your proposal. Just don’t forget it.”
George looked at her and said, “I could never forget you. Never.”
Meisa kissed him and said, “Well, that settles it. Now we have to get home safe; I have a wedding to attend.” She looked at Jillian, “I’ll control the reactors. You focus on the weapons. I’ll move the energy where we need it. George, you help Chris with the scanners.”
Chris took a deep breath, “All right, things are going to start happening quickly. We will jump in five, four, three, two, one, and now!”
The Jukebox broke into normal space and scanned the huge fleet in front of it. The bright white ship then jumped back into Sierra Space and jumped away, but not before the closest blue ship detected it, fired a huge laser, and followed it into its jump. Three other blue ships detected the strange ship, but didn’t get to the place of the jump in time to join the chase.
Meisa yelled, “That single beam reduced the force field to forty percent. It is now climbing in strength. We should be at full strength in fifteen seconds. If they had hit us with two beams our force field would have collapsed.”
Chris watched his rear sensors and saw the giant ship closing the gap, “I’m going to jump out and hit the thrusters. I want to see if I can open some distance.”
The Jukebox flashed into normal space and flew away at three quarters the speed of light. The Blue ship emerged in time to fire a beam at it just before it disappeared. The alarm went off and George silenced it, “The force field is holding against one of their beams, but it may be quite different if they bring their full inventory to bear. It was reduced to seventy percent by that last shot of their beams.”
The huge ship closed on the Jukebox in Sierra Space and its stardrive field touched the field around the Jukebox and the white ship immediately entered normal space. Chris immediately hit the drive board and reentered Sierra Space just as the blue ship emerged.
George watched his board and shrugged, “That answers one of my unanswered questions.”
Jillian looked over, “What?”
“I tried to figure out how a ship that refused to leave Sierra Space could ever be attacked. You can’t fire an energy weapon without disrupting the green space so there had to be some way to force the ship into normal space. It appears that if two fields touch, they cancel each other and send the ships into normal space.”
Chris jumped back into normal space and hit the thrusters, “I gained a little room on that technique. I don’t think they thought we could get back into Sierra Space that fast.” He looked at his rear scanner and shook his head, “They are closing the gap again.”
Chris was flying the Jukebox like it was a dragonfly, changing directions radically and popping in and out of normal space to Sierra Space. Each time the blue ship was incrementally closer. The chase seemed to go on forever. George watched the display and saw Meisa arm a fusion missile, “What are you doing?”
Meisa yelled, “Chris, four jumps from now I want you to jump into normal space and stop the ship.”
“What?!?”
“Just do it.”
Meisa looked at George and said, “I’m going to turn the force fields off and redirect all of the reactor’s energy into the main beam. Jillian, fire it before that ship appears and keep it firing until that ship emerges. Do you understand?”
“I do. What do you see?”
“There’s no time; just do it.”
The chase had been going on longer than an hour, and Chris was worried about stopping the ship. However, he was going to do what Meisa ordered because he was unable to shake the giant blue ship, knew it was right on top of them, and fatigue was setting in. He was tired and running out of options. “All right, we’re emerging in three, two, one, now!” Chris saw the giant ship was directly behind them in Sierra Space and then the green space disappeared.
Meisa flipped the reactors to weapons and Jillian fired the main beam. Meisa launched the fusion missile and it shot out at incredible speed as the giant blue ship suddenly appeared directly in front of their ship. The main beam hit the giant ship dead center and blew through the force field all the way to the giant ship’s hull. Meisa flipped the reactors back to the force field just as six beams hit the Jukebox. Then an explosion rocked the Jukebox, shoving it violently away. Chris fought the controls and stabilized the ship. The display cleared and they saw a giant rip through the center of the blue ship. It went from one end of the ship to the other and open space could be seen through it before huge fires broke out between the two pieces. George saw that the entire middle was blown away, and there was a gaping hole more than four hundred and fifty miles wide all the way through the giant vessel. They watched as the ship started exploding in ten places, then the two halves fell in on each other and the entire ship blew apart in a giant explosion.
Jillian yelled, “Get us out of here!”
Chris entered Sierra Space and jumped away. He watched the rear sensors for three minutes and didn’t see a blue ship or a trail behind him. He entered normal space and waited.
Jillian looked at Meisa, “What made you decide to try that?”
“I noticed that their force field and beams was weaker whenever they entered normal space and would then grow stronger. Remember that the second time one of their beams hit us it only reduced our force field thirty percent. The six beams that hit us were actually weaker than the one beam that struck us initially. Evidently, they have to use tremendous power to move that large a ship that fast through Sierra Space. Their drive systems had to be drawing power from their force field and weapons.” She looked at her panel and said, “Our force field was reduced to ten percent by those six beams. We will not survive a shoot out with one of those ships if it’s in normal space at full power. Seven beams would have destroyed us.”
“That’s my girl.”
“Yes, I am.”
George started nervously laughing, and Jillian joined in.
George hit the communicator and saw Dolly, “We managed to escape, Sis.”