Defending Earth-Searching for Death Feeders (32 page)

“You are, Poncho.”

He looked at Cisco, “Are you alright with that?”

Cisco nodded, “Your papers were sighed an hour before mine; you have seniority.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“Yes, I’m fine with it; I trust you with my life. Besides, you’ve always been the better planner.”

“Good. Now let’s get back to discussing how we work together. Willow, we are going to have to depend on you and Amber to keep us out of trouble in Feeder Space. Quite frankly, the two of us will be in unknown space and we need you to tell us how you want to organize our efforts.”

“Brittany and I will function as a scanner looking for the presence of Feeders. I will only have the receiving board on my telepathy module operating. I should be able to hear them. Brittany is coming with us to detect any Feeders that aren’t broadcasting their thoughts. Between the two of us, we should be able to determine where it’s safe to travel.”

Poncho tilted his head, “How are you going to be able to hear them if the ship is completely surrounded by a thought blocker?”

“We had to extend the tip of a passive antenna during the first voyage to their space but this ship has six molecular receivers built into the hull. They’re passive receivers and the power for them is inside the force field. When we trialed the system, our most advanced sensors did not detect them.”

Cisco looked at Brittany, “How will you be able to sense them?”

“That ability operates below the threshold of normal thought waves. I can sense them even though I’ll be inside the ship’s thought blocker and wearing a personal thought blocker.”

Poncho nodded and looked at the wall where the computer’s systems were housed, “What has you worried, Willow?”

“How do you know I’m worried?”

“Because there have been major modifications done to this vessel and I’m reasonably certain you’re the one that pushed for them. You had to be worried about something to do that.”

“You’re very astute, Poncho. I’m concerned that when the most powerful Death Feeders link their minds, an entity might come into existence far more powerful than any we’ve ever encountered.”

“You think it might see us through the thought blockers.”

“I’m really hoping we don’t get close enough to find out, but yes, there is a possibility that could happen.”

“We need a failsafe.”

“What?”

“Willow, our systems can detect thought waves, can’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Then if the system detects thought waves breaching our force field’s though blocker, we need a circuit that will instantly activate the light drive and move us to a safe location.”

“What if we’re communicating with another Alliance Telepath?”

“Then the force field will have to be down for that to happen, right?”

“That would be the only way to communicate.”

“Then the circuit will only work if the force field is active. Can you set up the circuit?”

“Willow can’t but I think I can do it.”

“Amber, we need to see if that circuit works before we skip out to Feeder Space.”

“Then let’s do this, Poncho. I’ll route the circuit to the ships detection system and you take a shuttle out and send a thought at us.”

“My mind isn’t powerful enough to penetrate the thought blocker.”

“I’ll reduce power to it so that you can.”

Poncho looked at the other two and said, “Willow, is this a good idea?”

“Actually, I’m embarrassed I didn’t think of it. I hope we don’t need it but one never knows what might happen.”

Poncho smiled, “While you’re building the circuit, we need to work out the living arrangements on board. There’s only two cabins, so Cisco and I will share one and Brittany will take the other.”

“I’ve shared living quarters with males before, Poncho.”

“Then call me old fashioned but you won’t on this ship.” Brittany raised an eyebrow and Poncho smiled, “You’re entirely too beautiful for us to endure the stress of doing that.” Poncho looked at Cisco, “Right?”

Cisco shook his head, “I was actually getting my hopes up but you’re right. No offense, Brittany, but he makes a good point.”

“If you say so. I’ll gladly take the additional space and not complain.”

Cisco mumbled, “I might.”

Poncho stood up, “We’ll discuss the other arrangements on how to work together once we test the failsafe circuit.”

The three left the bridge to organize their living spaces and Amber said, “Kyle was right, he’s pretty sharp.”

“I have to agree. I suspect he might even be better than Kyle at anticipating problems.”

“Why did they send a female Kerit?”

“I have absolutely no idea. Her quick response at being willing to share living quarters with them surprised me. See if you can nose around in Operations Files and find out why she was chosen.”

“I’ll work on that after I link the light drive to the thought sensors.”

“Never mind, I’ll do it.”

“I don’t mind doing it.”

“I know, but I’d like to have that bit of information before we leave. Something just doesn’t feel right.”

“Go to Kyle and get him to find out.”

“That’s a good idea. I’ll let you know on a private channel when I know.”

• • •

An hour later, Willow said, “Amber.”

“Yes.”

“How’s the failsafe coming along?”

“It’s done. It really wasn’t that hard to make the connections. Did you find out anything about Brit?”

“Kyle and Nicole are of the opinion that she was nudged to come with us. She volunteered for the next mission that would come into contact with the Feeders and Fleet accepted her request without questioning her motives.”

“That sounds like the Nudges’ usual modus operandi.”

“It is unusual for Fleet to accept that sort of request without investigating. They simply asked Kyle what he thought and he said he saw no problem with it.”

“Do you see a problem?”

“She’s more than she seems if the Nudges are behind this. I’m not certain she knows she was nudged to do this.”

“How do we know for certain they did?”

“Nicole confirmed it.”

“Well, that nails it. I’m wondering why they wanted her to go.”

“So am I. Nicole didn’t have any idea why. I did notice one thing.”

“What was that?”

“When Poncho said the handsome one when referring to Cisco, she didn’t take her eyes off of him.”

“What does that mean?”

“It appears she is more interested in Poncho than Cisco. I think that has something to do with what the Nudges are doing. We’ll just have to keep our sensors out to see if anything happens to give us a clue as to what’s going on.”

“Are you done with the failsafe?”

“Yes, Admiral, I am.”

“Call me Poncho, Amber.”

“Why don’t you take a shuttle out and let’s try it out.”

Brittany entered the bridge and heard the exchange, “Do you mind if I go with you?”

Poncho looked at her and shrugged, “No, come on.”

They left the bridge and Amber said on the private channel, “You don’t miss much, Willow.”

“That comes with experience. Let’s see how Cisco responds to this.”

“What are you expecting?”

“He likes her. I hope this doesn’t cause a problem.”

“This is not something we need.”

“She’s being nudged toward Poncho. I must believe there’s a good reason for it. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Cisco walked on the bridge and looked around, “Where’s everybody?”

“Amber and I are here.”

“No, I mean Poncho and Brittany?”

“They just left in the shuttle to trial the failsafe.”

“Why wasn’t I invited?”

“You weren’t here. However, you can contact them on the communications channel.”

“Willow, I’m about to send a thought, do you have the force field set at a lower setting.”

“Standby…try it now.”

“Alright, here goes.” Poncho watched the black light ship hanging in space a hundred yards away and he thought, “Can you hear me?” Instantly, the ship disappeared. Poncho smiled, “Well, it looks like the system works.”

“Indeed it does.”

Poncho looked at Brittany, “What’s going on with you staring at me?”

“What?”

“I noticed that you never took your eyes off me when I told you about Cisco. You didn’t even glance at him.” Brittany was silent and Poncho said, “You need to start talking. They’ll be back in a moment and Willow will hear anything you say.”

“I don’t have time to tell you. However, I do have a good reason but you’ll have to wait to hear it.”

The black Light Ship appeared and Poncho stared at Brittany for a long moment before he picked up the communicator, “We’re coming back. Do you want to try this again or are you satisfied with the result?”

“Let’s do this. I’m going to start raising the power of the force field and each time we reappear, send another thought. Amber will set different safe locations and we’ll see if the system can see them fast enough to respond.”

“Ok, Willow. Are you ready?”

“I am.”

Poncho sent a thought and the black ship disappeared. He looked at Brittany, “Start talking.”

“There’s not enough time to tell you everything.”

“Talk while they’re gone and resume when they disappear again.”

“Nicole suggested that I go on this voyage.”

“I suspect Willow has already asked her why you’re here. Did Nicole tell her?”

“I don’t think she did.”

“Why not?”

The Light Ship reappeared and Poncho sent another thought. It disappeared and Brittany shook her head, “I told her that I felt compelled to go with this ship and didn’t understand why. She said that I was being nudged by an advanced telepathic civilization. I told her she was crazy but…” Brittany went silent as the Light Ship reappeared and said after it disappeared, “She seems to think that you and I have some sort of bond that needs to be explored.”

“WHAT?!”

“She felt your mind when she and Kyle communicated with you during a meeting and she’s of the opinion that your mind is very much like Kyle’s. She…” The Light Ship reappeared and then disappeared almost instantly, “knows that her mind and mine are identical. She’s of the opinion that the ones pushing me have chosen another couple to carry out their plan.”

“What plan?”

“That’s all I’m going to tell you for now. Talk to Nicole if you want more details but don’t let Kyle know you’re doing it.”

The Light Ship reappeared five more times but Poncho remained silent. On the sixth reappearance, they heard, “OK, we’ve got it nailed down.”

“We’re coming back on board.” Poncho flew the small shuttle into the landing port and anchored it to the deck. He walked out and headed toward the bridge. Brittany exited behind him and slowly moved out of the landing bay. She wondered if she had made a mistake telling him what Nicole suspected but it was too late now to worry about it. She arrived and heard Poncho telling Willow, “We need to go back to Earth.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so, Willow. We’ll leave for Feeder Space tomorrow.”

“But we’re ready now.”

“I’m not. Take us to Fleet Operations.”

“You’re the commander.”

“While we’re there you might want to take what we just developed and give it to Admiral Charles to start installing it on the rest of the ships in our fleet.”

“You’re right, Commander. I didn’t think of that.”

Poncho’s eyes narrowed and knew Willow wasn’t saying something. He looked at Cisco, “You should go see your family before we go. We might be out for quite a while.” Cisco nodded and knew something was going on but he could tell Poncho wouldn’t discuss it openly. “I’ll do that.”

The Light Ship arrived on the roof of Fleet Operations and Poncho and Cisco walked off the bridge. “Aren’t you going ashore, Brittany?”

“No, I’m staying with the two of you. I’ve already said my goodbyes.”

“Well let’s go see about getting Fleet Maintenance updated on our new failsafe.”

Brittany moved to the pilot’s chair and saw the huge building appear in front of the ship. She knew what Poncho was going to do. She pressed her communicator and said, “He’s coming.”

Willow heard her and knew her plan to give them time to talk was successful. She wondered who Poncho was going to see.

• • •

Nicole lifted her communicator and scrolled through the Fleet’s rolls of Officers. She finally found the name she was searching for and pressed a button, “Admiral, if you’re looking for me, I’m in the cafeteria.”

Poncho heard Nicole and shook his head, “She’s already contacted you?”

“Of course. Come on down and pick up a plate.”

Poncho went down to the cafeteria and went through the serving line. He saw Nicole sitting at a table in the corner of the huge room and walked over to join her. “Sit down, Admiral.”

“What’s going on?”

“Before I answer your question, I have one of my own.”

“Captain, if you haven’t noticed, I out rank you.”

“You won’t for long if you continue with that attitude. Or do you want to try and see who really holds the power here?” Poncho stared at her and almost turned to leave when he heard her say, “I’m the one that suggested you and your sidekick take our place on finding the Feeder’s Main Planets. Don’t make me tell Kyle it was a mistake.” Poncho put his tray down, pulled out his chair and sat down. “What question do you have?”

“Have you ever had your DNA changed to another species?”

“My first assignment was in the Scouts. Every scout has their DNA changed to another Alliance Species to see if they can infiltrate a planet without being seen.”

“What species?”

“I chose the Goran.”

“Were you successful?”

“I was and that’s three questions.”

“You want to know why Brittany is going with you.”

“I do. She’s told me some cockamamie story about the two of us being bonded or something.”

“It’s my opinion that you are.”

“What?”

“Bonded.”

Poncho sat back in his chair and shook his head, “That’s crazy. I don’t know the woman.”

“And she doesn’t know you but she’s accepted it a lot better than you appear to be doing.”

Poncho stared at Nicole for a very long moment, picked up his fork, and took a bite of mashed potatoes. He chewed them for a moment, swallowed, and said, “Noting like mashed potatoes to calm you down. Help me understand what you’re saying, Nicole.”