Defending Earth-Searching for Death Feeders (24 page)

“You have the hard part.”

“It’s my fault you’re involved in this, it’s only fair.”

Cisco sighed, “I’ll move out to the scout’s approach. As soon as I take it out, I’ll skip in to your light signature. I think it would be better if we go together so nothing is different from the first time we contacted them.”

“You don’t have to do this.”

“Oh yes I do, Poncho.”

“Oh, Cisco.”

“See you in the morning.”

• • •

Poncho watched the Feeder Scout move in on the Red Alien’s home planet and looked up, “Amigo, feed the scout’s transmission to the wall speaker.”

“It’s starting now.”

• • •

“Fleet Leader, I’ve found a planet with hundreds of thousands of the ships we attacked at our next target. They appear to be moving into formations to launch an attack.”

“Send me the coordinates now!”

“I’ve just sent them.”

“How many ships?”

“Around half a million, Leader.”

“You say they’re forming up to launch an attack.”

“Yes Leader, they are. They’re…”

Suddenly, the scout’s transmission ended abruptly. The Fleet Leader tried to contact the scout but it could no longer hear its thoughts. He looked at his second, “PULL ALL SHIPS FROM THE PLANET AND MOVE INTO FORMATION TO LAUNCH AN ATTACK!!” The Second stared at him and the Fleet Leader screamed, “START THEM MOVING IMMEDIATELY!!”

• • •

The Red Alien Fleet Commander was rushing his fleets into formations when his detection officer yelled, “COMMANDER, A SHIP HAS EXPLODED CLOSE TO THE FIFTH PLANET!!”

The Commander looked at his monitor and saw the gasses from the explosion expanding on his display. “Those two ships are back!!”

“We’ve just destroyed one of the scouts of that species you attacked. We weren’t able to stop it before it sent information about the location of your world and we’ve determined that they will be launching an attack on this planet immediately. I’m sorry. We tried to stop it.”

The two ships disappeared and the Leader on the planet yelled, “START LAUNCHING THE FLEETS NOW!!”

“We’re not ready! What proof do we have that was actually a ship from the species that attacked our ships at Lenren?”

“You will follow my orders or I’ll have you executed! Send the others as they form up!”

The Fleet Commander closed his eyes and knew he was now in the hands of Krendel, the great God of War. He looked at his Communications Officer and nodded. Thousands of huge formations began disappearing from above the planet and began moving through the void toward the location of the Feeder Fleet. The final ships left twelve hours later to enter the killing space above the planet the Feeders were attacking.

• • •

Kyle watched the battle start as the first Red Alien Warships jumped in and attacked the closest Feeder Warships. They would open fire and immediately enter the void to go after another Feeder Warship. The numbers of Feeder Vessels being killed were incredible. But the Feeder Fleet Leader released his ships from formation and it became extremely difficult to jump in to attack a single target. The Feeder Warships would also jump in and often find themselves close to a Red Alien Warship. Space above the planet of telepaths looked like a toxic nightmare from a drug induced hallucination. Thousands of warships were dying every minute and the carnage would not slow.

A Red Alien Warship entered normal space and opened fire on a Feeder Warship ten miles away. It launched missiles and they blew through the Feeder’s force field destroying it as a feeder ship entered normal space next to the victorious Red Warship and the Feeder killed the crew by devouring their minds. The Red Ship was set to self-destruct if it sensed everyone on the bridge was dead and it exploded in a massive fireball that took out the Feeder Warship that killed it. And the carnage continued.

“But the two sides were learning how to fight against each other. Ships would flicker in and out of the void and launch attacks if an enemy ship were in range. If not, it would immediately reenter the void to escape an enemy warship from emerging close by. Ships continued to die but the pace was slowing. The survivors were learning how to survive.

• • •

Nicole watched the battle on her display. The feed from the probes had images that were incredibly detailed and Nicole switched from one probe to another to follow the action. She saw ten ships die in a single explosion and looked at Kyle, “This is hard to watch.”

Kyle sighed, “Most wars are.”

Nicole tilted her head as she turned back to her display, “I was wondering something.” Kyle looked at her. “The Fleet Leader had to have the records of the scout that found the planet of telepaths the Red Aliens conquered pulled to examine them.” Kyle nodded. “Why didn’t he just ask the scout?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if the scout wasn’t there at his fleet, where is it?”

Kyle stared at her for a moment with his brow furrowed and then his eyes flew wide open, “Oh my God! Amber, take us out of here to Fleet Operations!”

“But this battle is long from being decided.”

“AMBER, DO IT NOW!!”

Nicole shook her head and wondered what was happening, “Kyle, you need to stay and make sure our fleets do what’s necessary to win!”

“Nicole, our Admirals are going to have to earn their keep. Where did that question come from!?”

“I don’t know.”

“If you had to guess, where would you say that scout is now?”

Nicole stared at Kyle with a blank expression and then her face showed shock, “It’s gone to scout the target after the Red Alien’s planet of telepaths.”

“And where would the next target be located?”

“It’s headed toward our cluster.” Nicole’s eyes narrowed and she shouted, “Stop us now!”

Kyle looked at her, “What?”

“Stop us at above our cluster and start moving back toward the Coma Cluster. I need to see if I can sense that scout.”

“It might already be in our cluster.”

“That’s not likely.”

“Why not?”

“Because it would have been checking out the galaxy the Feeder Fleet is currently located for another planet of telepaths before it started toward us. If it found another planet, it might still be in that galaxy; I doubt it’s arrived in the Virgo Super Cluster.”

“Amber, notify Kyley what’s going on and take us above M-87 and start moving toward the Coma Cluster. Nicole, do you honestly think you can sense a single Death Feeder traveling in the intergalactic void?”

“We should use the barrier.”

“That’s not an answer?”

“How would I know? Can you see another way to do it?” Kyle shook his head. Nicole looked up, “Willow, you should contact Grengel and tell him to order every Goran in their galaxy to put on a thought blocker and keep it on until we locate this scout.”

“Kyle?”

“Do as she says, Willow.”

“How did you know about the Goran carrying thought blockers?”

“When I met with Grengel, I saw one on his robe’s belt. I didn’t know what it was at the time but it makes sense that the Goran would have to prepare to eventually use them if the Feeders showed up.” Kyle stared at Nicole and she shook her head, “I wasn’t nudged. So that tells me we’re not in critical danger…yet.”

Kyle blew out a breath and shook his head, “That’s the damnable thing about this, there’s no way to know for certain.” Kyle said, “Amber go in the barrier and start moving toward the Coma Super Cluster. Try to keep it centered above M-87.”

“How fast do you want to move?”

“About twenty times faster than the scout can move in the void.” Kyle looked at Nicole, “I’m contacting Kyley and telling her what we’re doing. If you sense anything, interrupt me.” Nicole nodded and closed her eyes.

• • •

The Scout moved out of the galaxy and felt his anger starting to get the best of him. He wasted more than two weeks attempting to locate a telepathic species on a planet only to find it was a species of large fish. The thought field around the planet could be detected more than six light years away. He arrived and searched the planet and was sure the species that was telepathic was hiding only to find…stupid fish. They weren’t intelligent, so they wouldn’t be a good meal. He shook himself and tried to put his frustration aside. FISH…STUPID FISH!! What a waste of time. He looked out across the void and saw the distant lights of another galactic cluster in the far distance. He looked at his display and saw it was about three hundred million light years away. One of his species had reported a highly telepathic species in that cluster more than a hundred revolutions in the past. He had eight paralyzed bodies in his hold and he hoped they would be enough to feed him until he arrived and could gather others. He pushed the engines and knew he had more than three weeks before he arrived. He sat back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling as he screamed mentally, FISH!

He almost activated his communicator to talk with someone in the fleet but that would be a violation of his protocols. He started to go back and consume one of the beings but decided he should be careful. He’d be in trouble if his food stores ran out. He stood up and walked around the tiny bridge. Who would have ever considered that a primitive fish could be telepathic? Fish for star’s sake! He shook his body and forced himself to release his anger. Could this constant thoughts about them be a byproduct of making mental contact with them? He forced his thoughts on another subject but after a few minutes he was back to thinking about those damnable, stupid, primitive, water logged, scaled, slimy, orange colored FISH! The things had infected his psyche. He sat back and closed his eye. Damn fish.

After thirty minutes he opened his eye and slumped in his chair. He saw the distant lights were a little larger and hoped this mental infection would pass before he arrived at that distant cluster. He focused on the minds of the beings in his hold and could barely hear them. How was he going to find a telepathic species if he couldn’t detect minds less than a hundred feet from where he was sitting. He put his head in his hands and shook it. All he could see was orange fish swimming in giant schools. This was a unique form of hell. He almost turned back but decided that there was a possibility he could infect others if he made mental contact with them. He slammed the arm of his chair with his clawed hand and wailed mentally.

• • •

Nicole’s eyes snapped open, “Slow down!”

Kyle sat up straight, “Do you sense something?”

“I just heard a Feeder wailing. We’ve not near it…yet. But slow down, it’s in front of us.”

“Willow?”

“I don’t hear it, Kyle.”

Nicole shook her head, “This particular Feeder is really suffering.”

“From what?”

“I’m not sure. However, something has it really bothered.”

“Willow, take a look in Nicole’s mind and see if you can determine what’s going on.” After ten minutes, Kyle looked up, “Well?”

“I can hear it and something is going on with that Feeder.”

“What?”

“It appears that Feeder found a planet with a species of telepathic primitive fish and made mental contact with them. Now his mind is being plagued by that contact. He can’t get them out of his thoughts. He just wondered if he would infect other members of his species if he makes mental contact with them.”

“Boy, if he made mental contact with the Feeder Fleet while they were linked he could infect every one of them.”

Kyle’s eyes widened and he looked up, “What?”

“I’m just saying.”

“Amber, that’s a great suggestion.”

“Sure, but how do you make it happen?”

“Don’t even think about it!”

“Come on, Willow. This is worth doing.”

Nicole listened to the exchange and tilted her head, “What is worth doing?”

“Kyle is thinking about taking control of the Scout’s mind and sending it back to the Feeder Fleet.”

Nicole’s eyes went wide, “Oh no you didn’t consider that?”

Kyle’s lips tightened and he shook his head, “Remember that Hensel killed a Feeder mentally by making it commit suicide. I have the same mind he had and it’s only one Feeder.”

“No!”

“Nicole, this could save thousands of our pilots if we could pull it off.”

“NO!”

Kyle sat back in his chair, “Why are you adamant about this?”

“I just don’t…it shouldn’t be done.”

“You just don’t what?”

Nicole shook her head, “I don’t want to lose you. It’s not worth the risk.”

Kyle stared at her for a long moment, sat back in his chair, and sighed, “Nicole, our fleets are going to attack those Feeders when they’re linked. Are you suggesting my life, against the tens of thousands that could die, is more important?”

“I am.”

“If you could do it, would you? Remember that most of your people are on ships with our pilots assisting them.”

Nicole closed her eyes and shook her head, “I would still insist you not do it.”

“Is this a nudge?” Nicole stared at him, lowered her head, and shook it.

“I have to try.”

“Kyle, I can hear the Scout now and have it pretty much located.”

“Willow, give the coordinates to Amber and move us close to that scout in the barrier.”

Nicole turned to her panel and fought the tears that screamed for release. She prayed Kyle was right but worried he wasn’t. She activated the main disruptors and set them to automatically target the next vessel they encountered. She turned and kept her eyes on Kyle as she put a finger on the firing button. If he showed any indication that he was affected by the Feeder, she wouldn’t hesitate to push it. Kyle saw what she was doing and smiled, “Don’t be too fast on that. I’ll raise my arms when I make contact, if I lower them, then fire away.” Nicole nodded.

The Scout appeared on the main monitor and Kyle said, “Amber, lower the force field.” The force field around the light ship disappeared and Kyle raised his arms and removed his thought blocker. He closed his eyes and saw the Feeder’s mind.

• • •

The Feeder was in misery. It was struggling to remain coherent. “I should go back to the planet where the enemy is located that’s attacking the Fleet and wait for them to participate in the link.” It never considered that it had no way of knowing about that planet. It saw the coordinates of the planet and entered them into its console. It turned the small ship and headed back toward the galaxy it had left. It went to its fastest speed in the void and rushed back toward the distant planet.