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“Possibly; we should know shortly. You should reward those two pilots for taking the risk of going in.”

“They’ve been promoted to Commodores and will command sixty squadrons each. I suspect their groups will be two of my best.”

“I need to take one of your sub-fleet commanders to start organizing the next fleet. Your numbers are at a hundred thousand and I want another strike force put together; which one should I take?”

Chip started shaking his head, “Sir, that will have a huge impact on our effectiveness.”

“Which one, Admiral?”

Chip fought making the decision but after a long moment he sighed, “Lilly Lambert, Sir.”

“Why did you choose her?”

“Mikki and Bang really work well together. If I sent one of them, I’d hurt two groups. Lilly works well with either but is highly competitive with both of them. She was their previous commander before their promotions and I suspect they will applaud the promotion.”

“Please inform her of her new position and have her report to strike Fleet Beta.”

“Sir, may I request one thing?”

“What is that?”

“Bring her fleet to us so we can pair her new pilots up with one of ours to learn the new tactics. It will shorten the learning curve and I believe it will sharpen my pilot’s skills by having to train another in how to use them.”

Drey smiled, “It will also make it easier for your two strike fleets to work together.”

Chip smiled, “Indeed it will.”

“You are promoted one star, Admiral Robinson. You will command both units. You should choose your replacement.”

The Screen went dark and Chip sighed; he knew it had to happen. He pressed his panel, “Please call Commodores Lilly Lambert and Mikki Martin to my office.”

“Yes Sir.”

***

The High Council listened to the Senior Father and watched the videos of the attack on the Green Capital. There was much back and forth and finally the Leader called a halt. He looked at the Senior Father and his Grandfather, “Are you saying that small ship went through our defenses and killed your Son?”

“Nothing else fits the facts, Grandfather.”

“Could it be possible that ship was there recording what happened and managed to get damaged? It’s not big enough to do much more.”

The Senior Father knew he had lost. He looked around at the Grandfathers and saw they sided with their Leader, “That is a possibility.”

“Is it also true that the tactic used by the enemy won’t work again?”

“Yes, Grandfather.”

“I see no reason to interrupt the gatherings to send another family to invade with you.” The Leader looked around the room, “Unless one of you wishes to volunteer to go with him.” The Senior Father heard nothing but silence. “Prepare your Family to invade. I want a full report sent to me once you start that process.”

“Yes, Grandfather.”

“How long is it going to take you to start the invasion?”

“Twenty one days.”

The Leader rose and left the room ending the conference.

The Senior Father’s Grandfather looked at him, “Do you really think that small ship killed your son’s ship?”

“They don’t need a ship to record anything. We know they have probes just as good as ours; it was not there to record.”

The Grandfather leaned back and after a moment said, “You don’t know how many of those ships are there; do you?”

“I suspect I’ll have the answer to that question shortly.”

The Grandfather initially thought his Son was being paranoid…but now, he started to worry.

***

Moe broke into Ian and Drey’s conversation, “It appears only the one fleet is coming.”

Ian jerked his head around toward the speaker on the wall, “What have you seen?”

“The fleet outside the galaxy is organizing into groups and no other fleet has come to join them.”

“Can you determine how long we have?”

“I’m sure they’re assigning specific targets to each group with the anticipated number of ships to carry out the attack. At their current rates, you’ll have between eighteen to twenty days.”

“I guess there’s no way to determine where they’ll be coming?”

“No, there’s not. However, I’ve assigned a theta to every civilized planet in M87 and, when it appears they’re close to completing their organization, I’ll have the thetas fire a boson beam into subspace, disrupting it out to forty million miles.”

Ian looked at Drey, “You need to get the attack craft and your strike groups organized. I’ll get the Theta fleets prepared. Moe, we’ll send you our organizational charts and we’ll need you and the Hub to make the initial assignments.”

“I’m handling the assignment of the Alliance’s forces. The Hub is assigning the assets in M87. They are going in first to soften up their force fields. The Alliance’s forces will arrive to do the heavy lifting.”

Ian looked at Drey, “I’ll see you when this plays out.”

Drey smiled, “It should be fun.” Ian shook his head and ran out of the room.

***

Lilly stood at attention in front of Chip’s desk. Chip was always amazed that someone with brown hair had the bluest eyes. Lilly’s hair hung to the middle of her back but she had it tied up in a ponytail. Her natural exuberance was infectious. Her ever present smile disappeared with Chip’s first sentence, “Commodore Lambert, you’ve been promoted to Rear Admiral and will take command of our second strike fleet immediately.” Lilly was stunned. She started shaking her head and Chip said, “We are bringing your newly formed fleet here and will assign your pilots to those in the First Strike Fleet. The Dreadnaughts will be back for them to practice on and they should be brought up to speed quickly.”

“Why me, Sir?”

“You think Mikki and Bang should have been chosen?”

“They’ve both been using the new tactics longer than me.”

“Yes, but you’ve been able to give them all they can handle in the war games. You have more experience as a commanding officer and in my opinion, you are the best choice.”

“Sir, I’ve depended on you a lot to get me up to speed and direct my ships.”

“Don’t think you’re the only one taking this hit; I’ve been promoted to command both strike fleets. Your fleet will have my undivided attention until they’re ready.”

Lilly’s smile was instant, “Are you going to take some of our more experienced pilots to fill the command positions in my fleet?”

“We don’t have much time; so obviously, I’ll have to do that.”

“We need to start immediately.”

“Get your ships here and Moe will assign your pilots to one of our veterans. I want the first run at the Dreadnaughts done in forty eight hours. You have a lot to do, Admiral.”

Lilly beamed, “I never thought I’d hear that title. It sounds pretty good.”

“Get in line; I still see myself as a Lieutenant. Things happen fast in this Navy.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Sir. You are amazing in what you can do.”

Lilly ran out of his office and Chip smiled. She was just so…so…Lilly.

Lilly ran out as Mikki was walking in and yelled, “Congraturlations!”

Mikki said, “For what?” But Lilly was already out the door. Ten minutes later she stumbled out as the new Admiral commanding the First Strike Fleet. Her first thought was to wonder how Bang was going to take this.

***

“Dee, when are you leaving?”

“Violet has already left for one of the new colonies. I’m packing to join her.”

Drey didn’t like the sound of her voice, “What’s bothering you?”

“I sense an extraordinary level of danger to the Alliance. Things will start to snowball with this first invasion and, whether we win or lose, our galaxy will be a target quickly. I know it’s time to go.”

“Has the exodus been successful?”

“Violet has really made things happen. The planets were set up for the arrival of the colony ships and once the populations arrived and started farming, the ship construction facilities began going up. The Obelisk sent a duplicate of itself to the new capital planet I’m moving to and it will activate the moment anything happens to Moe. The King is standing by with the Royal family to leave once it’s determined the Invaders are coming.”

“I just don’t see how so much has been done in such a short time.”

Dee smiled, “That’s the advantage of living in a highly advanced civilization; automation is used on everything. The construction machines can build millions of homes a month while other machines provide the necessary materials to feed them. Also, many of the planets already have empty cities on their surfaces.”

“How many will stay behind?”

“Less than a third of our populations; some citizens refuse to leave.”

“That is not good.”

“Actually, they’ll be in less danger.”

“Oh?”

They’re spreading out on their planets and remember; the reason the Invaders attack civilized planets is due to high concentrations of food. They don’t like having to spread out over a planet’s surface to chase small groups. They’ll also find it hard going against our citizens, who will be armed with advanced blasters. They’re being trained in guerrilla tactics, so I expect the Invaders may just give it up and leave.” Dee paused, “Drey, where are you going during the invasion?”

“I promised the Green Civilization to defend them.”

“You know that will be a prime Invader target.”

“They’ll wait to take them on.”

Dee closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them, “You’re right; they’ll want to learn to walk before they run. They’ll take on weaker targets first.”

“Do you know where they’ll be attacking first?”

“The side of M87 furthest from the Green and Grey Civilizations would be my best guess.”

Drey’s eyebrows came together, “I didn’t think of that.”

“They won’t be hit unless we lose this first invasion. If we win, they’ll be one of the first attacked.”

“I love you, Dee. Take care of yourself and our child.”

“I wish I could be there with you. Come home to me, Drey.”

“I’ll do what I can, my Love.”

A
lbert Montgomery read the reports coming in from his forces in M87 and shook his head. The most difficult decision he had ever made as King of the Union was to order his planets to move their populations. The Milky Way was home and it had been bought and paid for with blood and tears. But the Obelisk had shown him the probabilities of survival if the Invaders attacked and he knew the decision was one that had to be made. The initial reports showed that the colonists, for the most part, really liked their new planets. If the Union survived, it would have doubled in size. He was certain many of the colonists would choose to stay at their new homes. The Obelisk should be delighted; humanity’s chances of survival went up with the move.

Julie came up behind him and put her arms around his neck. He reached up and gave her arm a squeeze, “I hate leaving our planets behind.”

Julie sighed, “The planets are not the Union, my Love. It’s the people on them. Wherever they go, the Union lives.”

Albert smiled, “You always know what to say.”

Julie came around his chair and sat in his lap, “It comes with the title. Now you need to make me feel like a queen.” Albert turned off his display and proceeded to do just that.

***

The Senior Father saw his ships were close to being ready to attack. He thought a moment and activated a channel on his display. The Senior Father from the first attacks on the giant galaxy appeared, “Is there something you need?”

“I just wanted to speak with you a moment before this invasion kicks off.”

“Yes.”

“I must say that I initially thought you were the consummate fool but now I have to congratulate you on your brilliance.”

“Excuse me!”

“You know that galaxy is dangerous. You got my Brother to lead the first attack and don’t act innocent; it wouldn’t take much to make that happen. Just suggest the glory to be had and he’d fall all over himself to do it. It’s not that which makes me see your brilliance. You recorded all your conversations and used them to prevent your Grandfather’s execution. The omission of telling my Brother how much glory was to be had tells me that there are other pieces missing from the dialogue. You deftly removed your family from attacking and, for that, I have to admire you. I’ve not been as successful.” The Senior Father just stared at him, “I’m not recording this conversation; even though I don’t expect you to believe me.”

“Then why did you contact me?”

“I suspect my Family is going to be chewed up when we invade. I’m hoping we can survive the attempt but I’m worried about what will happen afterwards. I humbly request you take the survivors and adopt them into your family if things go horribly wrong.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because you know you’ve played a major role in what happens to my family. You don’t achieve the positions we hold in our families without learning responsibility. I know you know something about the small Green Ships in that galaxy and you haven’t shared that information with anyone. You owe it to me to do this.”

The Senior Father stared at his counterpart and swelled. He blew the air out of his skin and leaned forward, “I will do what I can to see your family is well treated.”

“You can do that by adopting them.”

“I will consider the request if what you’re suggesting happens. Are you so certain of defeat?”

“No…nothing is certain. However, this has been a messed up mission from the start. I have no intelligence on what’s there, every attack has led to more and more destroyed ships, and I really believe the last successful attack was deliberately allowed to succeed by the enemy there.”

“Why would they do that?”

“To stop more than one Family from being used in the invasion; you should know that if there is great danger in that galaxy, the Council Leader will send your family in next. He wants your Grandfather’s influence removed from the council.” The Father flinched at the statement. “You’ll have a better chance than I will; you won’t go in alone.”

“Good luck; I truly do hope you survive.”

“If I fail, I’m dead either way.”

The panel went dark and the Father felt shame. That Senior Father was so much more than that idiot advisor. He knew he had to do something to prevent his execution if he wasn’t successful. He pushed his panel and began talking with Grandfather.