Probe Predators (24 page)

Finally, the Major Claw said, “What do you suggest?”

The First Leg shrugged, “You have two choices.”

“And they are?”

“Initiate a general invasion of that galaxy and remove an obvious threat to us now.”

“And if we do that?”

“The Family’s scouts will probably arrive, see us attacking that galaxy, and leave. They will rightly assume there will be nothing left for them to consume when we complete our attack.”

The Major Claw stared at the First Leg for a long moment in silence waiting for him to continue. The First Leg also remained silent. “What’s the second choice?”

“Do not send any more ships to scout for the Family’s arrival.”

“WHAT!?!”

The First Leg waved a pincer in the air, “How long do you think it would take a Family to invade that galaxy and consume it?”

The Major Claw’s mind slammed shut. His thoughts ended abruptly and nothing was going through his mind. He was shocked he had not seen this possibility himself. His brain kicked back in and he said, “It will take them at least a hundred years to consume a galaxy that large.”

“Unless they send several families to do it; if they arrive and we don’t show up immediately, I suspect they will have to call in help to overcome the forces we’ve observed attacking our ships. You know their ships will not stand up to those weapons used against our warships.”

“Are you so certain we could defeat that galaxy?”

“Come on! They attacked our ships with their defenses down; they were sitting still and were a perfect target to be hit. Even the Family’s ships could have killed them. It won’t be so easy to defeat one of our ships moving at war velocity with all of its weapons active.” The Major Claw thought about the possibility of several Family Fleets being called in and his excitement began to rise. The First Leg’s next statement convinced him that this advisor was going to have to die; he was becoming a real threat to replacing him. “I can see you’re leaning toward the second choice. If that is your wish, you should send a fleet to destroy every trace of the ships we’ve lost there.”

The Major Claw’s four eyes turned to the First Leg and knew he was right. “The Family’s scouts will see them.” The First Leg’s antennae waved back and forth indicating a shrug. “Order one of our fleets to the location and make sure they eliminate any trace of our presence. Schedule periodic scans to determine if the Family arrives.”

The First Leg stood on its four legs and exited the chamber. The Major Claw watched him go and knew the piece of grug preferred the first choice. Well…accidents could be arranged.

• • •

The First Leg could read the Major Claw like a poorly written book. He knew he was in jeopardy and there wasn’t much he could do in the Major’s palace. He decided to go with the fleet and personally make sure the cleansing was done properly. That would buy him some time to try and convince his father to move him back home. He contacted one of his spies in his father’s fleet and spoke with him for several minutes.

If all went well, he would be needed to fill the position of a cousin that would suddenly die in a few days. Accidents do happen and this one would not be traceable to him. That would also buy some time. The Major Claw had run out of his stores of Family members to consume and by the time he returned to being an advisor, level heads should prevail and remove the Major Claw. Then he would go and remove this troublesome galaxy. He fervently hoped the Family would delay their arrival until that war kicked off; too many were addicted to their taste. He hoped they would see the attacks and decide to stay away. He thought about other ways he could prevent their arrival but came up empty.

• • •

Katy sat in the giant hangar and celebrated her ship’s victory over the Threshers a week earlier. The support units joined in the celebration and the giant hangar was full of dancing, drinking, yelling humanity. It had been going on for three hours and didn’t appear to be ending anytime soon. She looked to the right and saw Group Leader Logan step from behind a huge tarp and look at her. She raised her eyebrows and he nodded. She smiled and nodded. Thirty minutes later, she stood and went to the podium located on the second level crosswalk and turned on the public address system. She turned the volume up and looked at the orchestra leader. He saw her and brought the music to a stop. The huge crowd looked at the orchestra and saw the leader staring at the opposite end of the huge room. They turned and saw Admiral Kemper standing on the second level. The room quickly became silent.

Katy waited and let the silence linger for a few moments and then said, “We’ve come here to celebrate our recent victory against the Threshers. Eleven hundred of our brave warriors went to attack eleven hundred of their warships. We only sent one Zombie for each of their ships; to have sent more would have increased the risk of them being seen before they arrived at their targets. We really didn’t think we would be able to kill all of them; the speed our brave companions had to fly to arrive without being detected was a huge danger to all of them. Eighty of our warriors never reached their targets and they died when their ships struck objects floating in their paths. However, we did kill every stinking one of them.”

The room erupted in cheers and Katy allowed them to yell their pride of their achievement. She raised her arms and the room grew silent again. “I want those who participated in the battle to please come forward and stand in front of us.”

The survivors began moving forward and they were given pats on the back and cheers as they moved through the crowd. They arrived at the front and then turned and faced the members of their fleet. The gathering was still cheering them and Katy raised her arms again. The room grew quiet and she looked down at the survivors below her.

“We are proud of you. You performed marvelously and completed your mission. We lost four hundred of our comrades making this happen; half of them were lost taking on the six surviving Thresher Warships that managed to get their defensive systems operational. The others were lost attacking other ships after they killed their assigned targets. It is those warriors whom I want to recognize now.”

Katy turned and faced the huge stone monument and the entire gathering turned with her. Group Leader Sanchez was on a lift next to the huge stone as six spot lights turned and illuminated the monument. Katy said, “An outsider has established what would be required to have a name placed on our wall; a warrior must kill two enemy warships to be so honored.” Katy looked out at the huge gathering. “It is with deep respect and gratitude that I tell you that some of our own have done just that. I’m going to give you their names and I’m going to start with the last one to achieve this incredible feat and end with the first. We have delayed this get together in order to search the recordings of our battle to make sure no one was left out. The last Zombie to kill two Thresher Warships was Lt. Alberto Vega.”

When Group Leader Sanchez pulled the covering off Vega’s name, the Zombies cheered loudly. Katy didn’t rush them to silence. Each of her brave pilots deserved their moment of honor. Finally the room grew quiet and Katy announced over the loud speaker, “Five seconds before Lt. Vega died killing his second ship; Captain Jeff Thompson killed his second ship. Jeff, please step forward.”

Captain Thompson stepped out of the group at the front of the room and raised his arms. The room exploded and Jeff was carried around the huge hangar on the shoulders of his fellow Zombies. Katy waited patiently and knew Jeff was going to get a Space Wing to command the next day. He deserved it.

Silence fell once again and Katy said, “One second before Captain Thompson killed his second ship; Ensign Jenny Rogers killed her second ship.”

The roll continued and the Zombies celebrated their heroes. Only fifteen of the thirty seven slots covered on the wall survived. All of them were celebrated. Finally, only one covered name remained. Katy looked out at the gathering and they saw something in her expression.

“The first Zombie to die in this engagement was someone special. We reviewed the recordings eight times before we discovered what this brave warrior accomplished. He has set a new standard for all of us and he has done something that I will never forget.” Katy looked at the wall and said, “There will never be another outsider on our wall.”

The gathering was stunned into silence when they saw “Group Leader Rolf Ericson – 3 enemy kills-First Zombie”. The silence lasted a moment and the room exploded. Everyone was jumping up and down and hugging their fellow warriors. The orchestra joined in and the room was in frenzy.

Katy stared at the wall and fought off her tears; Rolf would have never stood for them. She owed him so much. She knew Rolf had accidentally killed his two children and wife when a pusher sold him a bad drug. He thought he was being attacked by monsters and he rushed to the roof to fly away; his family tried to get him down from the roof. He threw all of them off the roof and they all died ten stories below him. He served time for what happened. The drug dealer was executed. Rolf told Katy that if he could have just killed that miserable slug, he might have been able to forgive himself. Even that was taken away from him. The homicide hallucinogenic drug he was deliberately sold took away a person’s ability to see reality. He never took drugs again. Katy knew Rolf longed to be with his family in death; now…he would finally have the peace that eluded him in life. She took a deep breath and joined her Zombies on the main floor. She danced with them and celebrated her heroes.

• • •

“Jinx.”

“Yeah, Moe.”

“I’ve recorded a ceremony the Zombies just had to honor their lost warriors. I think you might want to see it.”

“Why?”

“Ok, excuse me for bothering you.”

“Wait!” Jinx paused and said, “Send it to my panel.” He activated the display and watched Katy go down the Zombies’ honor roll. He was amazed at the respect and deference she was given and he froze her image when she had recognized the last one on the wall. He knew that particular warrior meant something special to her. He stared at her face for more than an hour.

• • •

Drey and Dee sat with Angela in the throne room and Moe said, “I’ve received a readout from one of the stalkers. It appears the Threshers aren’t going to send ships back here to await the Family’s arrival.”

“Are you certain about that?”

“They’re not mobilizing any of the ships around the planet where the others came from. I suspect they figure they can just wait for the Family to arrive and take them once they start their invasion. They know it will take decades for the Family to really start invasion operations in a galaxy that large. The best clue we have they’re not sending ships back was when they sent ships to remove all traces of the ships we destroyed.”

Angela looked at Dee, “What do you sense about this?”

“Taking on either of those civilizations would be a mammoth task. Taking on both of them at the same time would be next to impossible.”

“What are you suggesting?”

Dee shrugged, “We know where they are. We should go and take on the Threshers on their turf. Unlike the Families, they live on planets and send fleets out to do their dirty work.”

“Do we have enough ships to do this?”

“Probably not by ourselves; but M-87 has developed a weapon that will kill their ships and between their fleets and ours, we can probably take them on and determine what we’re going to have to face.”

“Does M-87 have enough of those weapons to really contribute to the effort?”

“You’re going to have to ask them; I honestly don’t know.”

“I thought you were able to sense things and arrive at a clear course of action.”

“I just gave you a clear course of action.”

Angela stared at Dee and knew she didn’t like her. “Why do you dislike me so much?”

Dee stared at the Queen as looked at Drey. He was staring intently at her and she knew he wondered why as well. “You manipulate the genetics of babies and form them into whatever you want. You never give the child a chance to become what it was naturally intended to be.”

Angela stared at Dee and said, “What weapons should we not use against the Threshers?”

Drey leaned back, “Are you out of your mind; we need everything we have.”

“What’s our most powerful weapon?”

Dee stared at Angela in silence a Drey said, “The new Pegs with shaped warheads will be our strongest weapon.”

Dee looked at Drey and said, “That’s not what she asked.”

“It isn’t?” Dee shook her head. “Then what is?”

Angela said, “You are Drey. Where would the Union be at this moment if you hadn’t acted on the probes?” Drey stared at Angela in silence. Angela looked at Dee, “I suspect if those Pegs were able to speak, they’d say they didn’t want to be fired at a Thresher Warship. You have been blessed to be born on the most powerful planet in this galaxy. We have been given the holy mission of protecting humanity and ensuring its survival. Our lives are not our own. The Citizens own us and we are here for just one purpose; to make sure they survive. I was the result of an experiment as well. They used me to perfect the process that brought you and Drey into existence. You dare to sit there in judgment and lecture me about what is right and wrong. Neither of you are here for your own selfish interests. You are here to save us from those that would kill us if they could. Your holier than thou attitude sickens me; the Union deserves better.” Angela stared at Dee and said, “Do you love Drey?”

“Don’t be ridiculous; you know I do.”

“If we didn’t impress the original Dee’s electronic signature in you, would you still love him?”

Dee stared at Angela and looked at Drey who had his brow furrowed. “I…don’t know.”

“How much do you love him?”

Dee whipped her head back to Angela and said in an angry voice, “More than life itself!”

“So by perpetrating this crime on you; you were given a love greater than most people ever find in a lifetime. I would think that alone would make you thankful for making you what you are.” Angela stood up and left the throne room.