Dahlia's Deception (The Annihilation Series) (20 page)

“What would have happened?”

“This conversation would have ended abruptly.”

The Rageon stared at the crystal being and said, “Why are you killing my ships?”

“We’re not. We would never kill a life form.”

“You’ve destroyed thousands of my ships.”

There was a pause and then the Rageon heard, “You and several companions are traveling together and encounter something that you don’t understand. One of your companions reaches down and picks up a stone and he throws it at the object. A few moments later, a stone ten times larger than the one he threw comes out of the object striking your companion, killing him; what would you have learned from that experience?”

“Not to throw a stone at that object. However, the object did kill my companion.”

“What if your companion didn’t throw the stone?”

The Rageon stared at the Crystal and reluctantly said, “Then he would still be alive.”

“So who killed your companion?”

“It was your technology that killed my ships.”

“Did you miss the point?”

The Rageon sighed, “No, none of them would have died if they had not attacked.”

“I was beginning to think your mind was too feeble to understand simple lessons.”

The Rageon felt his anger but quickly stifled it. He was not in a position to be able to afford the luxury of anger. “So it isn’t you that’s been destroying my production planets?”

“Why would your childish creations interest us?”

“What do you mean by childish?”

“We’re amazed at the huge waste of wealth and energy used to build them. You must lack the ability to see clearly.”

“We need those planets to defend my civilization.” The Crystal remained silent. The Rageon waited and then said, “We have to have them to defend ourselves!”

“Most of the last hundred thousand civilizations you’ve destroyed didn’t even have rudimentary space flight. They would never achieve your level of technology and were no danger to your civilization. Defending yourself is a self-deception and you know it. I don’t communicate with beings that are deceptive.”

“My civilization was almost destroyed.”

“And you removed the ones that attacked you. Beyond that, you continued killing for reasons other than defense. Why do you really do it?”

The Rageon thought about what the Crystal said and really didn’t have a good reason. He thought for a moment and said, “I want to expand my Empire’s territory.”

“Do you need it because of population pressures?”

The Rageon paused and said, “Well, no.”

“Do you need it because you lack basic resources to build your civilization?”

“No.”

“You could never visit all the worlds you’ve conquered in six of your lifetimes. You do it for another reason.” The Rageon struggled with the question and finally the Crystal said, “You do it because you enjoy it.” The Rageon tried hard and finally had to admit the Crystal was right. “Your feeble excuse that you’re doing it to defend yourself is an outright deception.”

“NO IT’S NOT!”

“Who in this universe represents a danger to your civilization?” The Rageon stared at the Crystal and it said, “The four civilizations you came here with to attack us are the only real danger facing you and you work with them. If defense was your reason, you would never do that. They grow stronger from their contact with you.” The Rageon Ruler could not argue with the Crystal’s statement. The Crystal grew slightly brighter and it said, “So you are like a small child that wants to possess every other child’s toys and you come up with lies and deceptions to justify your behavior. I agreed to communicate with you in the hopes that you weren’t as stupid as we’ve observed. I see we were right in our judgments. Your intellect is too feeble to really understand the universe around you.”

The Crystal being disappeared and the Rageon’s ship suddenly appeared with the Five’s fleets around the planet. The Beast appeared on his display, “What happened?”

“They are not the ones attacking us.”

“Are they a danger to us?”

The Rageon looked at the Beast and suddenly saw himself in front of the Crystal. He saw the naked ambition of the Beast and knew he mirrored it. He slowly shook his head. “We are more of a danger to each other than the beings here.” He lifted his communicator and said, “All Rageon ships will exit this system and return to their original assignments.”

The Beast saw the Rageon fleet disappear and wondered why the Rageon Ruler would leave with his ships left behind in the disputed star cluster. That just didn’t make sense. He began to suspect treachery. Maybe those beings were going to attack all of those left behind after a short time passed. He grabbed his communicator and ordered all ships to leave. He decided that possessing this cluster was not as important as before. He didn’t want to be anywhere near that invisible planet.

• • •

The Rageon Ruler arrived back at his throne room and saw the disappointment on his son’s face. He hoped to become the new Ruler. He couldn’t be angry. His son was exactly who he raised him to be. He ordered everyone out of the chamber and stopped all communications. He couldn’t get the Crystal’s words out of his mind. He remained in his throne room for three days and then called his Fleet Admiral. He gave the Admiral instructions and then issued orders to call off the search for the ones that were attacking his production planets.

• • •

The small Rageon Scout appeared and the Fleet Admiral raised his communicator, “I have a request, if you would be kind enough to hear it.” The Admiral waited, expecting to be killed, but nothing happened. He watched the space in front of him and a day later a Crystal appeared on the scout’s bridge. The Admiral looked at the glowing creature and said, “My Ruler has asked me to deliver a message to you.” The Admiral waited and heard nothing. He sighed and said, “My Ruler believes that you know the ones that are attacking our planets. He doesn’t want to know who they are or where they’re located; but he asks that, if it’s possible, you tell them that he will not attack them in the future. He understands why they did what they did and he holds no malice toward them. He asked me to see if you would deliver his apology for the danger he has placed them in because of his stupidity.”

“I will deliver your message.”

The Crystal disappeared and the Scout appeared back at the Rageon Governing Planet.

• • •

Ping and Dahlia rushed to the control room and found Dean issuing orders to the Mites to hold their positions until ordered otherwise. “What’s going on?”

Dean turned to Dahlia, “Something is happening at the Rageon production planets.”

“What?”

“There are thousands of shuttles going down to the surface and ferrying civilians up to the fleet in orbit.”

Dahlia and Ping looked at the feed coming in from one of the probes at a Rageon Production Planet and saw the massive exodus. “What are they doing?”

Dean looked at his panel, “Whatever it is, they’re doing it at every one of their ship building facilities.”

Dean shook his head, “About four days ago the probes began reporting the energy being used on those planets had started to fall off. It is barely detectable now. It appears all production on the planets has stopped.”

Ping looked at Dahlia and she frowned, “They have to be shutting them down. Nothing else makes sense.”

“But why would they do it?” Dahlia shook her head. An hour later, Dean said, “The fleet above one of their planets has jumped away.”

“Do we know where it went?”

Dean stared at his panel, “The probe at their Governing Planet has just reported a fleet appearing.” Dean continued to watch and said, “Hundreds of shuttles are leaving the fleet for the planet’s surface.”

Ping looked at Dahlia and said, “It has to be the Reg’s doing.”

Dahlia smiled, “The Rageon Ruler must have spoken with them. I suspect he was affected by that conversation.”

“Should we go ask him?”

Dahlia looked at Ping and after a moment said, “Where did you get that idea?”

“I really don’t know.” Dahlia shrugged and Ping looked at Dean, “We’ll be right back.”

“Hey, is this a good idea?”

“Just don’t tell Tess where we’ve gone.”

“Dahlia!” But he was speaking to empty space.

• • •

They arrived on Pare and Sprigly appeared right behind them, “Are you two out of your mind?”

Ping smiled, “Dean must have told you.”

“He did and he hoped you would listen to reason.”

Dahlia smiled and said, “You can leave or go with us.”

Sprigly looked back and forth between them and fell back on the floor, “I know I’m going to regret this.”

“Pare, take us to the Rageon Governing Planet. Try to find a place where we won’t be near their warships.”

“Is another galaxy close enough?”

Ping laughed out loud and said, “Just do your best.”

T
he Mite teleported in and they saw the planet off in the distance, “Is this as close as you can get?”

“I’m too close now! Ten thousand of their warships can be here in less than two seconds.”

Ping shrugged and looked at the distant planet, “Pare, have you been able to detect their command frequency?”

“I have the one used by their Fleet Admiral.”

“Open it.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Open it, Pare.”

“It’s open. If any of their ships start moving this way, I’m making tracks.”

• • •

“I would like to communicate with the Rageon Ruler.”

The Fleet Admiral heard the voice on his panel and punched his general frequency, “All ships will stay away from the source of that transmission. If you violate my orders you will be tried and executed!”

A thousand Rageon Warships that were powering up their jump drives stopped and remained in place. The Admiral watched his main panel and after a moment said, “I had to make sure your conversation was not interrupted. I’ll connect you in a moment.”

Sprigly sat up and said, “Well I’ll be a prickly cactus.”

Ping stared at his panel and after a minute a Rageon appeared, “I see you got the message I sent you.”

“What message?”

The Rageon looked confused and said, “I asked them to deliver a message to you.”

“We’ve not received a message from them but we sensed we needed to come and speak with you.”

The Rageon shook his head, “I guess that would be like them; they’d want me to deliver it myself.”

Dahlia said, “You must have spoken with them?”

“I did. I must say they had an impact on my worldview.”

“They have a way of doing that.”

“I asked them to tell you that I will not attack you in the future. Nor will I attempt to find your location.”

“What are you doing with your production planets?”

“I’m shutting them down. I already have more warships than I can ever use to defend my territory. I have no plans to expand my domain in the future.”

“You don’t have enough ships if the other four learn of your decision.”

“They’ll think long and hard before they take me on. Even if they combine forces, they’ll pay a huge price for making that mistake. I don’t think they have it in them to run that risk.”

“What did they say to you?”

“They only pointed out the truth. They told me I was too feeble minded for them to waste time on me. After the fact, I’m forced to agree with them.”

“What happens now?”

“We learn to live together in peace. I suspect you have some connection with the forces that invaded here not long ago. The remaining four are still incredibly powerful and represent a real danger to them.”

“We know.”

“I do wish you long life. Feel free to visit whenever you choose.”

“We need to resolve other issues before that happens.”

“You’re not alone in that. Good luck.”

“We wish you the same.” Dahlia said, “Take us home, Pare.”

Sprigly remained sitting up on the floor, “Who would have ever believed…”

“No one, Sprigly.”

Ping sighed, “You know they will be in danger if the Gardners launch their project. Should we have told him?”

“There’s nothing he or we can do about that. He has enough worries without us adding to them.” Ping nodded and they teleported back to the Planter’s Planet and teleported down to the planet. They found Tess railing at Dean about where they had gone. Dean’s relieved expression made them both laugh.

• • •

“Ping.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you really love me?”

Ping sat up and looked at Dahlia staring at him, “How can you ask that question? You know I do.”

“I know how much you loved Nicole. Is there enough of you left to really and truly love me?”

“When Mios died, I nearly died with him. Something was torn from inside me. However, I have learned to love your brother, as much as I loved Mios. You’re operating on the mistaken belief that a heart has a limited capacity. You should know by now that a heart is infinite. My love for Nicole does not reduce my feelings for you in any way. You’ll find this out if anything ever happens to me.”

Dahlia leaned over taking her feet out of the stream and threw herself into his arms, “Please don’t even suggest that. I couldn’t live without you.”

“You wouldn’t want to; trust me; I’ve been there. But you would live and you would ultimately heal, if you will just not close your heart. It didn’t even dawn on me to close mine; I thought there wasn’t room for anyone else. I was wrong.”

“If she were still alive…”

“None of this would have happened. You can’t live your life based on what ifs. You have to trust that there are no accidents. There is a reason for everything.”

“You act like we were destined to be together.” Ping sighed and Dahlia’s brow furrowed, “What’s wrong?”

“The hardest thing for me to come to grips with was that Nicole had to die for the plan to move forward. I’ve had to accept that we are all a part of something greater than ourselves. You are my reward for staying true to my calling. And what a reward you are.”

“Are you committed to me, Ping?”

“As long as I live, Dahlia.”

“I needed to hear that.”