Probe Predators (25 page)

Dee watched her walk out and turned and looked at Drey. He had his head lowered and he blew out a breath, “I didn’t know you felt like this.”

“Drey…I just…” Drey stood up and walked out. Dee was left alone to replay Angela’s words in her mind. She felt her mind open and she saw all of the relationships flood into her consciousness. She jumped up and ran after Drey. She saw him walking quickly toward his ship and she yelled, “Wait!” Drey continued to walk. “I said for you to wait a minute you big dummy!”

Drey turned around and glared at Dee, “Big Dummy! You think I’m a big dummy!”

“If you don’t know I love you, you’re dumber than that. Angela is right. I’ve looked at this entirely wrong. I’ve been blessed in a way that is unbelievable and I’ve refused to see it. Now I do.”

“What do you see?”

“The two of us are destined for each other for all eternity. If we weren’t brought back through genetics, we would have come back as another person and found each other. What happened is exactly what needed to happen; I wouldn’t change anything about my life as long as you’re in it.”

“Dee, are you a warrior?”

“I haven’t been. I can see I’ve been standing back resenting the geneticists. Now I want to thank them. I’m in this, Drey. I’m in it to the end.”

Drey pulled her close and she held him so tight his ribs hurt. “I can see we need to take this fight to their turf. We don’t have to go in our initial attack with everything we have; we just need to go with enough to hurt them. After that we have to keep the pressure on them and force them to defend their territory.”

“M-87 will have to agree.”

“Don’t you see, Drey, they’re in the same place we are. They know they need to hit them on their turf to keep them away from theirs.”

Drey nodded and said, “Contact the Queen and tell her we’re on board.”

“I’ll do better than that. I’m going back to apologize.”

Moe said, “There’s no need; she’s heard what you just said and she’s forgiven you for the argument. She’s contacting the Sovereign in M-87 and wants the two of you to get the Union’s forces ready to take the fight to the Threshers home worlds.”

“Tell the Queen I’m sorry.”

“She knows, Dee. Go and do what you know best.” Drey took Dee’s hand and they ran to the ship.

• • •

Angela sat on the throne and stared at the flashing Obelisk. She sighed and said, “Moe, did you seen how Drey intends to use the fleets from M87 in the coming attack?”

“I did.”

“Do you see a pattern to it?”

“I do.”

“Get Drey on a channel.”

Angela waited and continued to stare at the Obelisk. A few minutes later, Drey and Dee appeared on the Obelisk, “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Drey, I’ve looked at the plans you’ve made for the invasion into the Thresher Domain.”

Drey’s eyes narrowed and he had a small smile, “Do you disagree with them?”

“You’re using this invasion to weaken them.” Drey’s eyes showed no emotion; Angela saw something dark in his expression. “Do you intend to attack M87 after this situation is resolved?”

“Do you think they are no longer a danger to the Union?”

“I believe they are doing all they can to repair the break in our relations.”

“That isn’t an answer, Your Majesty.”

Angela sighed, “I guess the development of this new penetrator makes them more dangerous.”

“They can use it to penetrate the Obelisk’s defenses. They’ve attacked us twice now, even after we saved them from the Family’s invasion two thousand years ago.” Drey looked at Angela and she felt a chill run down her spine, “I am going to make sure that never happens again.”

“Is that why you have their strongest civilizations leading the attacks? You hope to reduce their numbers.”

“It is and they will continue to be used as the point on the M87 spear.”

“You know we should be leading some of these attacks?”

Drey stared at Angela and smiled slightly, “Let’s cut to the chase; I’m going to blast that galaxy into rubble once this issue with Threshers and Families is resolved. I don’t care how many planets die in the process and I will make sure they never threaten the Union again.”

“If you follow that course of action, trillions of innocent civilians will die.”

“There are no innocent civilians. Are the scientists on Euclid innocent of killing Thresher Warships?” Drey paused and Angela just stared at him. “I’ll help you with this one; no they are not. They contribute to the armed forces that go out to attack our enemies. M87 had combined all of its forces and was going to attack us. The only one that stayed out of it has left that galaxy and The Gedna knew we would make them pay for their actions. That’s why he chose to leave.”

“And if I order you not to do it?”

Drey tilted his head and looked at Dee who shrugged, letting him know that this decision was solely his. Drey looked back at Angela and said, “You are my only living relative and I love you more than you know. I will follow your orders because of that love. However, I ask that you tell me honestly that you know M87 will not attack us after this is over. If you can look me in the eye and promise that we will be safe, I will abide by your orders.” Drey paused, “Can you promise me?”

Angela stared at Drey in silence. Moe said, “If we win this war; M87 is going to see how powerful we are and question whether or not we will punish them for their actions prior to this war. I suspect they might feel compelled to launch a preemptive attack.”

Angela said, “It would be my responsibility to convince them they are in no danger from us.”

Drey’s eyes were penetrating as he said, “It is my responsibility to make sure they aren’t a danger to us. I’ve seen into their hearts and I’ve found them wanting. How many more times are we going to have to be attacked by them before we end their ability to harm us? They would have destroyed our planets if the Family’s probes hadn’t become an issue.”

“Drey, can you kill trillions of women and children.”

Drey lowered his eyes, “What do you think?”

Angela sighed, “I can’t promise you we’ll be safe. I only ask that you wait until the Thresher and Family attacks on M87 are completed before you decide to take any action.”

Drey smiled, “I won’t eliminate them if they’re useful in keeping other enemies away from us. However, I am going to use their fleets against those enemies; even if we don’t need them.”

Dee watched Drey and knew that he had finally emerged from the shell that used to be Trip. She looked at Angela, “You know he’s right.”

Angela took in a breath and let it out slowly. “I know; but where does it stop.”

Drey smiled, “I’m not going out looking for trouble. My only targets are those that endanger the Union.”

“Are you sure about that, Drey?”

“I am, Your Majesty. I have a family of my own I want to have time to enjoy in peace.”

“Fair enough.”

• • •

M-87 began a massive organization of their military. The initial invasion fleet would be composed of a million Major Battleships armed with each ship armed with six of the new penetrators. Factories were working overtime but cutting the new warheads couldn’t be rushed. The warship’s Commanders knew they could not waste their penetrators; they had to get in close to the Thresher’s Warships and make every shot count. Their firing computers were programmed to fire two penetrators; one would not be enough to take out a target.

The Union was sending a million String Needles and they were being organized into groups of three ships. The three would work together to find an open lane to the Thresher’s warships. All of the Zombies were going to take part in the attack and would be the head of the Union’s lance. They were charged to clear a lane to the Thresher’s planets so a heavy penetrator could be launched. The Senior Staff decided that if the Thresher planets were placed in Jeopardy, they would be forced to keep their fleets at home to defend them.

• • •

Jinx looked at his panel and smiled, “It’s good to see you Rags.”

“Are you going out with the big boys to play or is your mama making you stay at home?”

Jinx shook his head, “I’m ordered to get the next fleet organized to follow up the initial attack. They just aren’t ready to take on the Threshers.”

“We have the same issue. My fleet is ready but several of the others just haven’t mastered FTL maneuvers. You might want to get them to work together to get up to speed.”

“That’s a good idea, I’ll see if Kragon is ok with it.”

“You also might want to have your fleet in formation when we launch the attack.”

Jinx stared at Rags and tilted his head, “Do you see trouble?”

“How many ships would it take to destroy an entire Family Invasion?” Jinx just stared at Rags. “I know the probe shows two million ships around the planet we’re attacking; how long would it take to call in help?”

“If we’re forced to withdraw, they may pursue.”

“That’s a definite possibility. Has the Old Men made any plans for that possibility?”

“No. Put the Admirals being left behind in touch with me. I’m going to contact the secondary units in M87. We’ll schedule some war games but be in ranks when the invasion kicks off.”

“How are you going to explain live weapons?”

“I’ll think of something.”

Rags stared at Jinx, “You’re thinking of something else.”

“If the Threshers send help, we might go and take a shot at them.”

“I wouldn’t keep your fleets there; they really aren’t ready for combat operations.”

I know; I’ll try to work on something to make them more effective.”

J
inx looked at Mac and said, “I need a maneuver where my fleets could come in to attack a Thresher Fleet without getting involved in ship-to-ship combat.”

“Your fleets aren’t ready for combat operations, Jinx.”

“I know that; but there has to be something they could do if our invasion is going to be overwhelmed.”

Mac blew out a breath as he slowly shook his head, “You’re thinking they’ll jump in when the attack starts.”

“I do.”

If you were going to support one of our fleets, how would you move your forces in to attack?”

Jinx raised a shoulder slightly and said, “I think I would jump them in formation until I could determine where to send them.”

“So for the first few minutes, all your ships would be in formation waiting for attack orders?” Jinx nodded as he thought about the question. “If you could have all your ships two long lines with a ship placed above a ship below, you could go FTL and launch a barrage of pegs. Once you launch, you jump away. However, you would have to have all your ships jump simultaneously and go FTL the moment they enter normal space. Which means you will have to choose how far out from the Thresher Reinforcements you need to be to launch before they break up their formations to attack.”

“Mac, what would be the optimum distance to make this happen?’

“You’re going to need some information before you can even start to think about doing this.”

“Such as?”

“The exact coordinates of the center of the Threshers you’re going to attack. You’ll have to have the center of your two lines lined up on that coordinate.”

“What else?”

“The coordinate three hundred thousand miles behind the center of their lines; you’ll go FTL and launch a thousand miles out. Your computers will have a less than a hundredth of a second to launch their Pegs and jump before you hit their formation.”

“You’re right; no one has the reflexes to make that happen.”

“You might also have to change the two lines to four.”

“Why?”

“What if the reinforcements arrive in a tight formation? Your lines would extend beyond the edge.”

“How do we make a change that fast?”

“I’d choose a coordinate near your training site. Line your ships up and have them lock that coordinate into their jump drives. Have the computers lock in the exact position they occupy in relation to the center ship at the front of your formation. Their computers will modify any coordinate they receive to arrive at the proper position. Then send all of them a coordinate and the lead ship will jump to that coordinate and the fleet will jump in the proper position from that ship. They will then go FTL and start their attack.”

Jinx smiled, “And if I need four lines, I just send the coordinate that corresponds to the ships forming up in that formation. I’ll also have a coordinate for the fleets to jump to when we jump out.”

“Exactly; they will need to practice this once or twice but it’s pretty straight forward. Moe can work out the details and send it to every ship. If this works as we plan, the entire attack will take place in less than two seconds after the fleets form up.”

“Thanks, Mac.”

“I’ll hang around and see if there are any problems.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

• • •

Five days later, Mac watched the formations on his display and contacted Jinx, “You have too many ships with different capabilities. We need to change the plan.”

“The M87 battleships can’t keep up with the Needles.”

“They also have too many.” Mac thought for a moment and said, “What about this; we put all the ships from M 87 into one formation and have them come in from the top and bottom of the Thresher’s Fleets. The Needles will hit first and the battleships will hit less than a half a second behind them. They can all launch at the exact time and the launches would come in half a second apart.”

“Back to the drawing board.”

“Not really, just have the center ship in each formation determined. Have it oriented on the Thresher Fleet and the positions will remain the same. We have their ships working together now; this shouldn’t be difficult to set up. The Needles will be gone when the battleships launch.”

Jinx thought for a moment and smiled, “I imagine this will also improve the chances of hitting ships inside their formations.”

“That it will.”

“Let’s get to work.”

• • •

Drey looked at Kragon, “What is Tollervar doing with the new fleets?”

“I think he’s trying to organize them to come to our assistance if needed.”

“Those pilots are too inexperienced to send into combat.”