Lens of Time: Book 06 - Star Rover-Running Out of Time (13 page)

Shane looked at her with a large smile and shook his head, “They have to check out all the systems, Commodore.”

Kelli knew this was one thing she would never know. She did know that Gem had managed to communicate with him. She was nervous about what that might mean.

• • •

Lydia entered Gibbs office and he saw something in her expression, “What?”

“The Space Dock Computer recorded the Triton flashing its hull lights as the Saturn left for flight trials.” Gibbs waited and raised his shoulders and eyebrows. “Gem sent a message to Shane using morse code.”

“Does anyone still know that?”

“It appears they do. It took the computer three days to finally work out what it was.”

“And?”

“She told him she loved him.”

Gibbs’ smile was instant, “Now that’s what I’m talking about. They can work together.”

“We’ll see, Love. Give it some time.”

Gibbs laughed out loud, “We will get him to command other ships! Hers will be the first.” Gibbs leaned back and said, “I thought he wasn’t going to take the bait and see her.”

Lydia smiled, “Love will find a way.”

“Indeed it will.”

T
he Grillen King looked at the tall creature that called itself a Servant and sneered, “You’ve given us ships that are little more than brittle pieces of metal.”

“They are much more than that.”

“I could damage one with a hard wooden staff.”

“If you could get close enough to it that might be true. The problem you have is that you are not detecting the objects being fired at you. All you need do is to add a standard scanner that detects solid objects and simply jump out of the path of the incoming projectiles.”

“The projectiles are fired before out ships enter normal space and are on them before they can respond.”

“Then enter normal space further away from the target. I shouldn’t have to tell you these simple things.”

“You should have informed me about the brittle hulls on the ships.”

“I would think you would have seen that during their construction.”

“You know you designed the construction process and at no point would the hulls be hit by an outside object.”

The creature slowly shook its massive head, “You have a ship that can destroy any ship it faces. Are you telling me you don’t have a use for it?”

“But it can also be destroyed.”

“So can your standard ships and they aren’t guaranteed to win if they get a shot off first. No technology is absolutely perfect. Everything created has a weakness and this is an issue you should be able to work around to defeat your enemy.”

The King stared at the Creature and said, “One of my Scouts was destroyed by your ship.”

“I humbly apologize for the indiscretion. We thought it was possibly one of the Union Ships attempting to follow us to our home worlds and fired on it as quickly as possible. Why did you send a scout to follow us?”

“We know next to nothing about you. You have to know I’m curious about where you’re located.”

“I humbly regret that we keep our civilization’s location secret. You would do the same with all the dangerous civilizations that inhabit the universe.”

“You know my location.”

“But we are a friend assisting you. We represent no danger to you and we fear the Union might find us if they follow one of your ships to our location. You know their probes cannot be detected.”

The King stared at the smooth talking beast and knew it was thoroughly prepped to answer any of his questions. He smiled, “Thank you for coming. You’ve answered my questions.”

“Is there nothing else I can help clarify?”

“No, I understand now.”

“I wish you success against your enemy.” The tall creature turned and left the huge throne room. The King saw it step around his son, who was bowing to it as it passed. It disappeared out of the chamber and the King’s son looked at the floor and then nodded. The corners of the King’s mouth went up and he waited for the Servant’s Ship to jump away.

• • •

Four weeks earlier, one of the Grillen scientists had found a small clear object on a piece of charred metal on the planet where the production facilities had been destroyed. It had brought the piece of metal to a lab and discovered the danger the small clear object represented. The scientist examined the dot on its molecular structure and determined that the explosion of another dot had damaged the transmitter on it. He was called to the King’s office to discuss the findings with him.

“Are you saying something that small is that powerful?”

“I am, Your Majesty. And we are not able to replicate it.”

“Why not?”

“The technology of the control system is beyond anything we’ve ever created. We are centuries from being able to duplicate this.”

“Is it a Union device?”

“Who else would have put it there?”

The King remained silent and wondered if his new “Friends” might have done it. However, that didn’t make sense. It had to be created by the Union. If they were advanced enough to do this…this was not a good thing. “Can you activate it?”

“I can only set the time for it to detonate.”

“I want it set to go off in four weeks. If I need it changed, I’ll call you.”

• • •

Two weeks later, the King had watched the Servant walk over the place on the floor where the dot had been placed and his son verified that it was no longer there after the creature passed over it. He smiled and wondered if the Servants might be joining him in his fight against the Union. He’d soon know.

• • •

“You did an excellent job of answering their concerns.”

The Servant looked at the huge Lord in his chamber on the bridge of his ship and bowed, “We knew they would eventually discover the weakness. I’ve had time to prepare for this moment.”

“Even so; it was well done.”

“I’m not certain that the Ruler of this civilization trusts us. I sense he’s suspicious of our motives.”

“Let him; once he defeats the Spiral Galaxy’s forces, he can suspect all he wants.”

The Servant thought a moment, “Have we picked the right one to back in this conflict?”

“You know the Spiral Galaxy would never allow us to insert our larvae into intelligent beings. My father also wants the Spiral Galaxy for reproduction.”

“I know; but if they defeated our current allies, we could just as easily remove them.”

“We studied both of them and it was determined that the Spiral would be much more difficult to deceive. All we had to do with the current tool was convince just one being. It helped that he was ambitious and desired to conquer all those around him. No, we made the right choice. If they can weaken each other enough, we can destroy both of them. Patience is our best asset.”

The Servant bowed and the Lord said, “You know what to do; start the jumps into the decoy galaxies.” The huge grey colored ship shimmered and disappeared. The Servant went to his quarters and put his robe in the closet. He turned and went back to the bridge where he would remain for the foreseeable future.

The King watched his console as the Grey Ship disappeared and smiled. Things were about to get very interesting.

• • •

The huge Grey Ship jumped from one galaxy to another for six days. Finally, it was determined that they had not been followed. The Lord ordered the ship to go to six planets that were currently being invaded to see what progress had been made and the Lord was extremely pleased. All of them had been neutralized and the local populations were being gathered up for insemination. The inhabitants had a Servant larvae injected into their bodies and were then released to fend for themselves. The larvae required an intelligent being in order for their mind’s to fully develop. After eight months, the Larvae would chew its way out of the infected being and emerge a fully functional Servant. It was much smaller than an adult, but it would feed on the carcass of its host and would start growing at an accelerated rate.

“Take me to the center.”

“Yes, Lord.”

The huge Grey Ship jumped to an enormous planet that had a population of billions on the surface. It was an industrial complex that was incredible in scope and size. Warships were being built at a rate that was staggering and the Lord was pleased at the ships that had been built for his use. He contacted the Supreme Lord and was told to plan to meet with him the next day. Thirteen days had passed since the ship had left the Grillen home world. The next morning, the Lord prepared to board a shuttle to go to the surface when the ship exploded in a blast that strobed the planet’s dark side with an intense light. Nothing remained of the ship but tiny pieces that burned up in the planet’s atmosphere as they fell toward the surface.

• • •

The deceased Lord’s Senior Son was called to the bridge of a major Servant Warship. He arrived on board and discovered that its parent had been killed in a massive ship explosion above the Supreme Lord’s planet.

“How was this done?”

“I have no idea.”

“Do you not have all the records made at the new tool’s civilization?”

“I do; my Parent downloaded them when he visited three days ago. But I’m charged with keeping them safe. I’ve not been allowed to see them.”

“You will examine those records and find out how this was done. You will then report to the Supreme One once you determine how it happened.”

“I may need to go to the Tool and investigate.”

“Do whatever you deem necessary. That blast was at the main planet and the Supreme One is bothered greatly by it.”

“I will start my investigation immediately.”

“The Supreme One doesn’t wish to send another to do this but will do so if you fail. Send a copy of the former Lord’s records to the next in line.”

“I will send them immediately, Sire.” The display went dark and the new Lord called in his senior servants. He had them view all the recordings while he absorbed all the information into his mind. It only took a day to determine that the explosion was not caused by the tool. However, evidence would have to be gathered to support that position. “Prepare my personal ship to go to the Tool’s galaxy.”

“Lord, they have not seen one of our main battleships.”

“It’s time they did. My Parent has been killed and they need to know this will not be tolerated.”

“Yes, Lord.”

• • •

The Grillen King expected a response from the Servants two days earlier but nothing had happened. He sat on his throne and wondered if the device had detonated and decided that there was nothing he could do about it at this point. His son rushed into the throne room and deeply bowed, “What?”

“A Servant Ship has just appeared above our planet.”

“I was hoping they would come.”

“Father, the ship is not one we have seen in the past.”

The King activated his console and fell back into his throne. The ship in orbit above his planet was gigantic and its force fields were pulsing with power surges that were incredible. The beam and missile platforms on it numbered in the hundreds and it was not grey in color; it was bronze. “Have they communicated?”

“They are sending their envoy as we speak.”

The King stared at the monitor and wondered if he had made a terrible mistake in using the Union’s explosive device. “We’ll meet him in the main hall.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

• • •

The Union Probe recorded the giant ship as it entered the planet’s system and sent the recording to the Union just before the giant ship fired on it and blew it into fragments. The war had taken a new turn and it did not bode well for the Union.

• • •

Alarms went off in Fleet Headquarters and Katherine rushed to her office to find the General that commanded the Union’s Probes. “What’s going on?”

The General activated the display and the image of a giant ship appeared on it, “Admiral, it appears the source of the new Grillen technology has made an appearance. This was recorded and sent just before the probe stopped sending information.”

“Do you think they destroyed it?”

“Nothing else would account for the sudden cessation of its stream.”

Katherine stared at the giant ship and saw beam platforms similar to the ones on the Grillen Grey Ships. The missile launchers were something the Grillen weren’t using. “Get this information out to Dat Arvolo and Belwen. Do we have a passive probe in that system?”

“We do.”

“Activate it.” Katherine held her breath and saw a sudden image of the giant ship appear. A moment later the image disappeared.

“They’ve destroyed it as well.”

“Activate another passive probe but don’t have it transmit anything for three days. I suspect they can see our transmission frequencies.” The General nodded and Katherine felt a huge weight on her soul. This was not good. The General issued the instructions and talked into his communicator for ten minutes. “What are you doing?”

“I’m having the passive probe release follower trackers. If a ship exits that force field, we might be able to get one of them on it.”

“That’s good thinking, General.” Katherine stared at the image and wondered if she was seeing the doom of the Union on her monitor.

Dat came rushing into Katherine’s office, “What’s going on!”

Katherine pointed to the monitor and Dat was stunned by what he saw, “Is that what I think it is?”

“It’s got to be the ones who gave the Grillen the technology for the Grey Ships. It has the same beam platforms on it that the Grey Ships use.”

“Admiral, we were able to intercept the beginning of a transmission from that ship in the Grillen language. It appears one of their ships was destroyed by a blast similar to the one used to destroy their production planet. It was cut off at that moment but it appears the Grillen sabotaged one of their ships with one of our explosive devices.”

Kat looked at Dat and he shook his head, “They must have recovered a dot that didn’t detonate and used it.”

“Why would they do that?”

“I suspect they want their new friends to join them in the war against us.” Kat looked back up at the monitor and Dat said, “If they possess warships like that one, I wonder why they even used the Grillen to do their dirty work.”