Lens of Time: Book 05 - Star Rover-The Worst of Time (3 page)

“Stein, I want this done quickly.”

“Speed is my middle name.”

Dat shook his head, “You told me it was stealthy last week.”

“I had it legally changed.”

Dat rolled his eyes, “Are all computers like the two of you?”

“You’ve contaminated us. I suspect all the others are just boring.”

Dat nodded and said, “Set the countdown and get moving.”

The small white ship oriented toward a section of the giant galaxy at the twelve o’clock position looking down at the giant black hole and after a few minutes, disappeared.

• • •

Jillian noted that Dat had assigned her to Captain Anders’ group and though she was somewhat disappointed, she knew it was a good decision; it prevented “issues” from happening. None of the others knew about their history and she wanted to keep it that way. She listened to her scan computer designate the G stars off their route for a microprobe and she checked the main computer for time remaining. “Jack, you may start the walk up the hill when the countdown ends.”

“Actually, we’ll be going down this hill, Jill.”

“Whatever.”

Bucket said, “She’s grouchy.”

“She’s ticked that Dat outranks her; her being the President’s daughter and all.”

“Will you two cut it out?”

“See? Grouchy.” Jill shook her head as the six white ships all disappeared simultaneously.

• • •

Jon Anders watched the galaxy move toward him at unimaginable speed and then his ship was moving through star systems at a rate that was impossible. He knew that only the advanced cybernetic computers could handle the tasks assigned to him and was thankful for them. He was pretty much a passenger.

He thought about Fleet putting Captain Arvolo in command. He wondered if it was because they didn’t trust him or they had a higher level of trust in Arvolo. He had looked up Arvolo’s bio on the way out and saw he had a remarkable record. He had found more than ten new planets that had opened trade with the Galactic Alliance and ended two wars between civilizations. He accomplished all of that and still stayed ahead of his scanning quota. So far his orders were all reasonable and sound. He decided that this was not the place for ego problems. It appeared Arvolo trusted him. That was a good thing. One thing that was remarkable in Arvolo’s records; he had won all four fleet trials during his years at the academy. He graduated with the highest pilot score in the Academy’s history. It appears he was just like his ancient ancestor. In another three hours the scan would be completed. He was really curious about what they were facing in this monster galaxy. Four hours later he learned it was monsters.

D
at looked at his display, “Did you see anything important, Loree?”

“There was too much data; I’m going to have to leave it up to Fleet’s computers to sort it all out. There are millions of civilized planets and getting them sorted out in a reasonable time is impossible. Just getting a good record of them was next to impossible.”

Dat saw the other Rover’s begin arriving and waited for Fleet to organize their recordings. Captain Ander’s ship appeared, “Captain, did you find anything significant?”

“My computer got a recording of a black creature killing an inhabitant on one of the planets we scanned.”

“Send me a copy of that, please.”

“You should have it now.”

Dat looked at the picture and saw a black being that appeared to be made out of numerous thick black ropes. It had lifted the inhabitant off the ground and its beak had penetrated its chest. The inhabitant was fifty percent larger than the black creature so it must have been incredibly strong. Dat stared at the black creature and didn’t see any type of technology on it. It was bare.

“I also recorded some of those black creatures boarding a warship that was identical to the ones that attacked you.”

Dat jerked his attention away from the display, “Lt. Connor, please send me a copy of your recording.”

Dat saw it appear on his display and he placed the two pictures side-by-side. It was the same creatures. Dat said, “Stein, did you record any of their communications?”

“I did. And before you ask, I am working on translating their language.”

“How long before you complete that task?”

“It’s rather complicated. I should be close within twenty hours.”

“Send the results to my translator.”

Tim said, “I have a recording of a huge fleet of medium sized ships that are gathered close to the outer edge of the galaxy.”

“Show me!”

The picture arrived and Dat said, “Stein, analyze those ships and see if you can determine what they are designed to accomplish.”

“I can already tell you those ships are scouts.”

“How do you know?”

“There are more scanners on them than weapons. They also have a rather large communications module on top of them above their bridges. They’re scouts, Dat.”

“Tim, did you get a number on that fleet?”

“Ten million plus.”

Dat smirked at the answer, “Well, now we know what we’re up against. They are going to expand into other galaxies.” Dat stared at the ships and said, “I want all of us to take thirty minutes and examine what you’ve collected. We’ll get back together and share our findings once that’s done. We should also have the initial review in from fleet by then.”

• • •

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about?”

“We have detected multiple waves of energy passing through our galaxy.”

“What kind of energy?”

“We don’t know. The only thing we were able to see was dust and charged particles appeared to be moving off their normal positions. We have been unable to determine why that happened. The plates show changes in course for multiple objects.”

“Severe course changes?”

“No, they were slight but they were consistent along a single track.”

“Were you able to get a reading on how fast the wave moved?”

“We did but we think there’s an error in our scans.”

“Why?”

“The scanners determined that the wave was moving more than fifty thousand times the speed of light.”

“That’s jump speed.”

“We know. Objects in normal space are incapable of moving faster than light. We are recalibrating our scanners and watching to see if it happens again.”

The Master stared at the data and it made absolutely no sense. He didn’t know that an advanced ship had been discovered. Scientists were not in the military communication channel so he had nothing to relate the strange readings to but normal phenomena. “Keep me informed.”

“We will.”

• • •

Fleet Admiral Hull entered President Connor’s office and came to attention. Leigh Ann Conner looked up, “At ease, Admiral. What’s going on?”

“We’ve received the scans from the Rovers at the Apex Galaxy and we found some disturbing information.”

Leigh Ann’s eyes narrowed and she indicated a chair, “What have you found?”

“It appears that one species has conquered all the other civilizations in that giant galaxy. There are millions of civilized planets but they are all at a primitive level of technology. It appears the dominant species does not allow high technology on any of the conquered planets.”

“That would prevent any planet from becoming a threat to them.”

Katherine sighed, “It also gives the dominant species a stable food supply.”

“What!”

“It appears the dominant species doesn’t carry any food stores on their ships. They go to the surface of a conquered planet and feed on the inhabitants when necessary. That causes two things to occur; first, populations are stable and growth is extremely slow and two; ships don’t have to assemble to replenish their stores. They can remain on station throughout the galaxy. It does appear that some sort of equilibrium has been established and the conquered planets are barely eking out an existence.”

“We need to know how that system functions.”

“I’m going to ask the Rovers there to investigate. There’s more, Sir.” Leigh looked at Kat and nodded for her to continue. “We found a fleet of more than ten million ships that are scouts. It appears the dominant species is planning an expansion outside their galaxy.”

“What about their technology?”

“They are more advanced than any of the planets in the Alliance except for us. We haven’t been able to determine where our ships stand against theirs, yet. We are of the opinion that their weapons could take out a Rover Warship.”

“What about numbers?”

“They outnumber us five to one, Madam President. At least they do in the numbers we scanned. We probably missed a good percentage of their ship total.”

Leigh Ann stood and walked over to the huge window looking out at Havana. The city was huge and the giant crystal buildings gleamed in the afternoon sun. Earth had been rebuilt and it was a shining jewel once again. Leigh Ann sighed, “I don’t want to share Dark Matter technology with other members of the Alliance but this may force our hand.”

“They are not happy that we have kept it to ourselves.”

“We are pledged to defend them against attack; not provide technology that could be used against us.”

“So far, none of the members have attacked each other.”

“Only because they know we would step in and none of them want to take us on. What the Military doesn’t know is that many of the members of the Alliance have planned attacks but were forced to back off by our Rovers. If they have that technology, the attacks would happen. We are still small compared to many of the Alliance Members.”

Kat sighed, “It’s time we started major ship building again. We should have never stopped.”

“Tying up our economy with the drain of building warships at a time when we needed to develop the colonies was the best decision we could make at the time.

Kat stared at Leigh and said, “What will happen if we get tied up in a war in that galaxy?”

“Now would not be a good time for that to happen. I believe general warfare is not far from erupting among the members and once that war starts, the members will choose up sides. There is a lot of hatred that has fermented for centuries among the Alliance members.”

“Perhaps we should pick a side.”

“What do you mean?”

Kat walked over to the window and looked out at the city with Leigh Ann, “The Horde and Hive have continued to support us over the long centuries. Perhaps they should be given our technology. Our bond with them was made in blood and I trust them.”

Leigh Ann looked at Admiral Hull and blew out a breath, “Even if we give it to them, it will take time for them to build ships.”

“We should take the long view on this. I believe the builders can help shorten that time.”

Leigh Ann thought about the idea and walked over to her desk, “Jere, contact the Horde Leader and Hive Master and set up a communication conference for this afternoon.”

“Yes Sir.”

Leigh looked at Kat, “Find out all you can about that Apex Galaxy. We really can’t afford to get in a war.”

“Dat Arvolo is there.”

“See that he gets what he needs.”

“Yes Sir.”

• • •

“Dat, you need to find out all you can about that galaxy.”

“Is there an issue I should know about, Admiral?”

“The President is of the opinion that if we get tied down in a war there that general warfare will breakout among the members of the Alliance. She says that only the threat of our ships has prevented it so far. If that war starts, Earth will be attacked.”

“That is not good.”

“No, and we’ll need our ships to defend our planets in the Milky Way if it happens, which will limit what we can do in that galaxy. I’m going to depend on your wing to collect the information we’ll need to make a decision.”

“I may need to use the new technology.”

Katherine stared at Dat on her display and after a long moment said, “Do what you have to do. I know you can be trusted with it.”

“Does anyone else in my wing have it?”

“No, only six Officers in all our fleets have been given those tools.”

“I appreciate your trust, Admiral.”

“It’s more than that; you’ve earned the right. Keep me in the loop and get moving.”

“Yes Sir. I do need a frequency to contact the main operator of the data collection.”

Kat looked down and pressed a button, “It’s on your board.”

Dat looked up, “Stein, connect me with Gabriel Hilton.”

“Good afternoon, Captain. How may I be of service?”

“I need you to look through the data we sent you and look for a planet with a species that is similar in appearance to a human.”

“I’ve already looked and there are four candidates. The first one on the list is remarkably similar in their exterior appearance but is quite different internally.”

“How different?”

“They have a primary and secondary heart. They also only have one lung instead of two. Other than that, they could pass for human. Everything else matches up rather closely.”

“Send me the coordinates of the planet they inhabit.”

“You’ll have it momentarily.”

“Thank you, Gabriel.”

“Be careful, Dat. You still owe me a drink.”

“I’m proud of your new position, Gabe. I’ll pay up if I ever get back to Earth; kiss Karen for me.”

“I’ll do it for both of us.”

Dat looked at his display and then punched the intership frequency, “Link your computers and stand by for a meeting in ten minutes. Stein, send the download from fleet to their computers and assign the microprobes to them. I want you to also send the command circuitry to Captain Anders.”

“That circuit is a Prime Secret Device.”

“I’m authorizing it and the code is 101059, Alpha, Alpha, 20898.”

“Authorization confirmed. The protocols have been sent to Captain Anders’ computer.”

Jon appeared on Dat’s display, “What is this you’ve just downloaded into my computer?”

“It is a Prime Secret Command Circuit that you will use to command the Rovers. You’ll need to go over the protocols with your computer but it should link your ships in a manner that will allow them to operate as a unit. You’ll be amazed at what it will allow you to do with the other Rovers.”