Nowhere to Hide (11 page)

Grandfather knew he had not reclaimed any status with the Senior’s decision. But…he and his son were still alive. His son was wise to have recorded all of his conversations. He had omitted the conversation where his son had mentioned the glory to be had by leading the initial attack. That wouldn’t have been good for the Council to see and the Advisor wasn’t there to report its omission. He left the chamber without offering any assistance to the Grandfather now leading the attack. Let him beg for it; he had called for his and his son’s execution. He sent a message to his son to destroy the attack plans. He would say the Advisor took them with him on his ship. Now he had to make sure his son wouldn’t be able to recreate them quickly. That idiot could just start the process all over again. He could also find out about the small Green Ships on his own as well.

***

“Ian, we have a development.”

“What’s going on, Moe?”

“Our probes in the Invader galaxy have sent recordings of all the ships that were gathering outside the galaxy have begun jumping to another galaxy.”

Ian grew excited, “Does this mean they’re calling off the invasion?”

“No, it doesn’t. One of the follower probes followed the Invaders and determined that they are replacing another Invader fleet in that galaxy. That fleet has started organizing outside the second galaxy.”

Ian thought a moment and shook his head, “They’re being replaced with another fleet.”

“It does appear that’s what’s going on.”

“Did they leave any ships in the galaxy they left behind?”

“They did not and we’ve also determined they collected all their probes before they left. It appears their probes are valuable in planning invasions. There’s no need to leave a probe if the galaxy has been harvested.”

Ian pressed a button on his console and saw Drey appear on his console. He also saw Dee sitting next to him, “Good morning; have you heard the latest reports from the probes?”

Drey nodded, “We have. We’re of the opinion that this is a political move being made by the Invaders.”

“Why do you say that?”

“The ten million ships we destroyed here were sent from that other galaxy to supplement the fleet that sent the four ships in the original attack. It appears they are being reassigned.”

Ian thought a moment and let the idea run through his mind. He saw thousands of possibilities in a few moments, “If that’s what’s happening, I suspect the fleet that is being reassigned to replace the other fleet won’t be helping them.”

Dee nodded, “They aren’t.”

Ian smiled, “So the new fleet is going to have to come in blind. Dee, what do you sense they’re going to do?”

“I’ve looked at that and what I keep seeing is a scouting attack to collect information. They don’t have probes in M87 and I sense the new Invasion Leader will not commit to a full invasion until he knows what he’s up against.”

“We’ve bought some time.”

“Ian, I suspect that whatever political structure the Invaders use won’t allow a long delay. They’ll launch the scouting attack as soon as possible.”

Dee nodded, “And they won’t be gathering outside M87 to launch it. They’ll jump straight in to selected targets.”

Ian stared at his display shaking his head, “How long?”

Dee looked at Drey and turned back to Ian, “They’ll attack after four weeks. Our probes will notify us when they start organizing but I sense it won’t be longer than thirty days.”

“Ian, there is at least some good news in this.” Ian’s eyes narrowed and Drey said, “We can start the exodus now.”

Ian nodded, “You’re right, Drey; I’ll get Violet, Cole, Argel, and the Kilper Admiral working on it.”

Drey’s display went dark and he pulled Dee tighter in his arms, “I’ve really missed you.”

“There’s not much time; so let’s not waste it.”

Drey smiled.

***

Chip was filthy but he had finally completed the modifications on the three missile belts, “Salud, load the belts.”

“Locking the missiles in now.”

“Make sure there’s an empty holder between the groups of three.”

“Chip, come on.”

“I know, I know; but I want to make sure we’re working together on this.”

“Have you thought about what you’re going to do if you’re given a target that only requires one missile?”

Chip looked up suddenly, “What target would only require one missile?”

“In the original attack, those four giant ships that released the troop transports would only require one. The troop transports would also only take one. Actually, one is overkill for the transports.”

“Crap!”

“What?”

“I’m going to have to modify one of the belts to fire one missile at a time.”

“Let’s think this through. Do you think there will only be one of those transports used to invade a planet?”

“Probably not; the ones used in the first attack were only attacking one city.”

“And I think you can count on there being more than just one transport heading toward a planet. I can send individual target coordinates to each of the three missiles.”

Chip leaned back in his chair and sighed, “It’s good we didn’t change the targeting boards in the missiles.”

“Have you thought about how you’re going to launch?”

“I’ll point the ship at the target and fire; that’s the easy part.”

“You need to review the recordings of the last attack.”

“Why?”

“Just watch them and we’ll discuss it after you’re finished.” Chip saw the recording loaded to his display and he pressed the activate button.

Two hours later, Chip looked up, “The Invaders are firing at anything they detect entering normal space.”

“And the missiles being launched are being burned before they can start their runs.”

Chip put his chin in his hand and placed his elbow on his chair arm. He thought about what to do and would occasionally make a comment to which Salud would respond.

“I also see that the first beam locks in on the disturbance of the ship entering normal space and a second or third beam locks on immediately after the first.”

“That happens about a half second after the first beam is fired.”

“I wonder how long it takes us to enter normal space.”

“We can enter in less than a tenth of a second.”

He reached and replayed some of the recording, “The first beam fired by the Invader usually takes about…”

“Four tenths of a second to acquire the ship.” The back and forth continued for another thirty minutes. Salud knew Chip was brilliant; he just refused to allow anyone else to see it. When he put his mind to it, he had an amazing ability to put things together.

“The only way for this to work is to enter space less than four tenths of a second from that ship.”

“Actually, it has to be less than a tenth of a second.”

“Why?”

“You haven’t factored in the time it takes the missiles to clear the launch tube and ignite.”

Chip sighed, “You’re right; how close is a tenth of a second?”

“You’ll be able to read the writing on the Invader’s hulls.”

“This is not good.”

“We can add an extra tenth of a second.”

Chip did a double take, “And just how would we do that?”

“We don’t completely emerge into normal space.”

“Tell me what you mean.”

“We only bring the top half of our ship into normal space.”

Chip nodded, “The launchers are in the top half.”

“Right; it would also decrease the time needed to get out of normal space after we fire.”

Chip stared at his display, “Salud, can you time the jump that close?”

“I’ll need some practice.”

“And you need to do it with a moving target. I suspect the most dangerous approach would be head on to an Invader Battleship moving at full speed.”

“That’s what I’ll need to practice on; hitting them from the sides is nowhere near as difficult.”

“I thought this was going to be easy.”

“Nothing ever is, Chip.”

“Contact Marlene and see if she’ll work with us.” Chip waited for Salud to respond and only heard silence. “Salud?”

“Chip, I know you deliberately avoid the casualty reports; Marlene and Greg were both killed in the last attack.”

“Both ships!?!”

“Yes.”

Chip fell back in his chair. He didn’t want to ask but couldn’t stop himself, “Could I have helped them?” Once again he was greeted with silence. “ANSWER ME!”

“Yes.”

Salud allowed Chip to mourn without interrupting. The only two friends he had in the squadron were gone; the computer hoped he could live with the information.

***

It took two days but finally Chip said, “They were going to be married.” Salud remained silent. Chip looked up at the main display and said, “Show me where I was when they died.”

The recording started and Chip saw he was less than two hundred thousand miles from the Invader ship that had killed both of them. He could have arrived using his FTL drive in less than two seconds, but he had remained at the ship he had destroyed. “Why didn’t I hear them, Salud?”

“You always turn off the squadron’s ship-to-ship chatter during battles.”

Chip stared at the display and Salud saw something had changed. She hoped it was for the better…but she doubted it.

***

Ryan Fox looked at his squadron commanders and shook his head, “I will not accept the losses we took in the last Invader attack. You will be receiving new pilots for your commands and I want you to work them into three ship units that work together. Is that clear!”

“Yes Sir!”

“Get busy and assign the new pilots to your veterans. It’s going to take more than just one wingman to take on one of those battleships. I’ll be paying close attention to your units and if you can’t perform adequately, I’ll replace you. Now get to it!”

***

Chip sat in his small kitchen and tried to eat. It wasn’t easy. “Chip, Lilly is calling the Squadron.”

Chip picked up the sandwich and walked to his bridge. He saw Captain Lambert on the display and he pressed his panel reporting in to the conference. He waited as the other survivors logged in.

“We have had a change in our structure. Admiral Fox has ordered that we are to start working in three ship groups to attack the Invaders. Each of you will be assigned two new pilots to work into attack patterns that will be effective against the huge Invader Battleships. You will start working with those new pilots and I’m holding each of you responsible for their safety. Is that clear?”

“Yes Sir.”

“Now get busy.”

Chip signed off and Lilly immediately appeared on his display, “Lt. Robinson, are you clear on your instructions?”

Chip saw Lilly’s anger and knew why. She must have viewed the recordings and saw he hadn’t come to the aid of the squadron’s pilots during the last battle. “I am, Sir.”

Lilly was past anger. She looked at Chip and sneered, “I will not have you endangering any of my pilots. If I see any attempt at your refusal to defend the warriors in my command, I will bust you out of this Navy. Would you like to resign, Lieutenant?”

Chip stared at Lilly on his display and Salud thought he was going to do it. She was wrong. “I’ll hold up my end, Sir.” Lilly stared at Chip for a very long moment and then ended the call without responding. “Salud, do you have the names of the two being assigned to me?”

“Ensigns Shrews and Cuban.”

“Send me their files; pick a coordinate in open space and have them meet me there.”

“What are you planning to do, Chip?”

Chip smiled for the first time since learning of his friends deaths, “You need your practice and they need to learn how to distract the bear while we shoot it.”

Salud saw he was back.

***

Violet looked at the Captain of the Colony Ship, “I see everyone has boarded. The commercial ships have already arrived and the buildings are in the process of being completed. Land has been cleared and most of those on board can go to work immediately. Do you have any questions?”

“No, I have the location.”

“Good luck and get them off to a good start.”

“I’ll send the ship back as soon as we get everyone on the planet.”

Violet nodded and felt her wrist unit vibrate, “Yes.”

“I need you to come and look at the fifth planet scheduled for colonization.”

“What’s the problem?”

“There’s a rather vicious predator here and we can’t really determine if it would be safe to remove it.”

“Stand by.” Violet pushed her unit, “Dee, do you have some free time?”

“I can make some; what do you need?”

“I need you to go to the fifth planet scheduled to be colonized and see if you can understand the role of a predator there.”

“I don’t understand; why don’t we just remove it?”

“We haven’t been able to determine how it fits in with the natural balance of the ecology.”

“Send me the coordinates and I’ll take my ship out to take a look.”

Violet sent the coordinates and pushed her unit again, “I have someone on the way to take a look. Hold off doing anything until they arrive.”

“Yes Sir.”

***

Dee stared at the planet below her ship in the display. She watched the predator in question and agreed that it was deadly. Its speed and savagery was beyond anything she had ever seen. She reached forward and lifted her microphone, “Captain, when is this planet scheduled to be colonized?”

“Five weeks.”

“I want you to enclose six square miles of the surface in a force field and remove all the predators. Keep a visual record of what happens and notify me of your findings three weeks from now.”

“Yes Sir.”

Dee continued to watch the predators and knew it would have to be removed for a local population to live there safely. But why were there so many of them?

***

Three weeks later, Dee’s communication panel buzzed and she saw a recording had come in. She saw the subject line and knew it was the recording from the planet with the predator. She started the recording and fell back in her chair in amazement. The six square miles was covered in a small red furred creature that had eaten every plant inside the force field. There were millions of them packed into the force field. She saw thousands of predators walking around the force field attempting to get at the small creatures. Dee shook her head and contacted the Captain of the scouting team, “Remove the force field and put that planet on quarantine.”