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Drey looked at Dee, “That gives us time to work on building up our number of ships.”

Dee snorted, “The Invaders have billions of ships to use. Do you honestly think we can come anywhere close to their numbers if we were given a hundred years to build? We also don’t know their capabilities. What if our ships don’t match up well against them?”

The Admiral said, “What have you seen?”

“If there’s going to be a war, and we know there is, then we should not fight it here.” The room grew silent and after a moment Dee continued, “We also need to hide the fact that our ships come from here, if we choose to get involved.”

Cole looked up from his computer, “And just how are we going to do that?”

“We send all of our ships to M87 and have them prepared for battle there.”

“Just how are we going to do that?”

“I have an idea but I need to discuss it with the Green and Grey Civilizations. Will you delay making a decision until I can do that?”

Ian looked at Drey and then shrugged. “We need to move on what we’re going to do quickly. You have a week.”

Dee stood and looked at Drey, “Let’s go.”

“Now?”

“Now.”

Drey stood and they left the room. Violet watched them go and said, “Ian, I wish you followed instructions that well.”

Ian looked at her and rolled his eyes again, “Admiral, what do you think about this?”

“Put yourself in the invaders shoes and consider what you’d do if one of your fleets invaded a galaxy and was getting kicked around by the locals. Where would you send the next fleet?”

Ian thought a moment, “I’d send it to help the one in trouble but then if the fight is still going against them…”

“They would send all of their available reinforcements to M87.” Ian shook his head and the Admiral nodded, “That’s right; it would be murderous. However, would you rather that happen here?”

“What are you saying?”

“They will come here unless they are stopped there. It only makes good sense that we fire our best shot in M87 and, if we can’t stop them, we at least have time to move as many of our people as possible to other galaxies while the fighting takes place. She’s right; we need to take the long view on this.”

Ian looked at Violet and Argel said something that made him change his mind, “If we can move enough of our populations to other galaxies, there won’t be enough civilized planets here to support them invading here.”

Ian looked up, “Moe, can we find enough habitable planets to do this?”

The Obelisk’s main computer immediately responded, “If we start now, we can move huge numbers before the real fighting starts in M87; even without a successful fight, that galaxy will take a very long time for them to conquer. I would also recommend that we evacuate the large cities on our current planets and spread the populations out into smaller communities. It would triple the time they would need to invade a planet. They might go elsewhere just because of that.”

“How do you see this happening?”

“We find a habitable planet and we send an advance team to start building sites on it for colonization. We’ll prepare the new planets with the necessary structures to support our exodus and won’t move our populations unless it looks like we’re going to lose to the invaders in M87. I suspect we’ll be ready in time if we start now.”

The Admiral took a breath and blew it out, “We need to make sure the sites we choose don’t have another Black Civilization in the chosen galaxy.”

Violet nodded, “You’ve got that right.”

“Moe, get the commercial fleets out to start looking for the planet’s we’re going to need. Cole, we need to do this whether or not we decide to assist M87.” Cole looked at Argel and saw her nod. He looked at Ian and nodded as well.

The Admiral said, “We will start looking for planets as well. We’ve already done this once. The second time should be easier.”

***

The Ship Controller sat in space and stared at his display. The Grey Ship Commander said, “Black Missile to square ninety seven, annihilation.”

The Ship Controller looked at the board and saw his planet could not be defended, “Drat! You win again! How do you do this?”

“We’ve been playing the game much longer than you have.”

“Even so; this is ridiculous. Do you ever lose?”

“I guess I didn’t tell you that I won the sector Championship eight cycles ago.”

“Now you tell me; I’m playing a grand master.”

“We have to do something. This assignment is boring.”

The Ship controller rocked his shoulders back and forth, “It doesn’t make sense that we are assigned here on the chance that those small ships might return.” Suddenly a small green ship appeared between the two huge ships.

The Grey Commander smiled, “Maybe not so crazy after all.”

Dee picked up the communicator, “We need to speak with the Sovereign and Gedna as quickly as possible.”

The Ship Controller leaned forward, “We will have them here momentarily.”

Dee looked puzzled, “Were you expecting us?”

“We were hoping you would come. We’ve been stationed here to wait for your arrival and have been ordered to notify our leaders if you did.”

Dee looked at Drey and he was just as surprised as she was. Fifteen minutes later, both leaders arrived. Dee knew that quick a response was completely out of the ordinary.

The Sovereign pushed his communication panel, “We were hoping you would figure out what you need to do.”

Dee smiled, “It took some time but I think we’ve seen it. What did you determine?”

“That you would have to come here to fight the invaders.”

Dee smiled, “You realize that we would do that for our own self-interests and not because of our concern about your safety.”

“That goes without saying but the end result would be the same.”

Dee nodded, “You’re right; your survival against them gives us a longer time to prepare before they attack us.”

The Gedna interrupted, “What do you need?”

“We need two habitable planets where we can station our warships. We want the Invader to think we are one of the civilizations here.”

“You want the invader to think you’re from this galaxy?”

“We do. That will decrease the chance they’ll attack us immediately.”

“What else do you want?”

“We need you to start building structures on the planets to house our sailors. Once they’re completed, we’ll move our fleets to them and start organizing to support your fleets in taking them on.”

The Sovereign stared at them on his display and, after a moment, leaned forward, “We’ll build one planet in each of our civilizations.”

Drey picked up his communicator, “We will not be sharing our technology.”

The Gedna smiled, “We understand why you wouldn’t.”

Dee frowned at Drey and said, “What do you understand?”

“If by some miracle we’re able to defeat the invader, the threat that binds us now would disappear and old fears and anger would once again start to reappear. I know you feel that giving us your technology would only endanger you in the long run.”

Drey smiled, “Exactly right.”

Dee said, “We are going to give you one of our weapons.”

Drey jerked his head toward her as Dee said, “We have a missile that travels at light speed. You’ll need to start building them quickly.”

Drey said, “We haven’t been given permission to do that!”

Dee looked at Drey and frowned; she turned back to the two leaders, “I will make sure you get it. Now, the faster you can get those planets built…”

“We’ll have them ready in thirty days.”

Drey looked shocked, “That quickly?”

“We hope to have it done sooner. We need your help.”

Dee nodded, “We’ll be back shortly to let you know if our leaders agree.”

The Gedna said, “We aren’t going to wait to start building.”

Dee nodded and the small green ship disappeared.

The Sovereign looked at the Gedna on his display, “I hope this makes a difference.”

“We’re going to need everything we can get to survive. Let’s start building now.”

***

Drey looked at Dee, “Are you crazy? We can’t give them FTL missiles?”

“You’re not up to date on our ship modifications.”

“What do you mean?”

“The FTLs can’t penetrate our new force fields. They don’t represent a danger to us.”

“But they’ll learn FTL technology.”

“We’ll still be able to see them coming, Drey. This just gives them another avenue to attack the invaders. They’re going to need it to prolong the fight.”

Drey shook his head, “Ian will never approve this.”

Dee smiled, “We’ll see.”

***

“YOU OFFERED THEM WHAT!?!” Dee looked at Ian and rolled her eyes. Ian saw her and screamed, “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!!!” Ian looked at Drey, “We won’t do it!”

The Kilper Admiral looked at Dee, “Is that all you offered?”

Ian jerked his head toward the Admiral, “You can’t be seriously considering this!”

The Admiral looked at Ian, “How many ships does M87 have to use against the invaders?”

Ian stopped yelling and thought about the question. Moe interrupted and said, “There are more than a billion.”

The Admiral said, “And what good are those ships if they can’t harm the Invader’s ships?”

Moe said, “From the recordings we’ve received from the probes, those ships would be destroyed within six weeks of the Invader’s arrival.”

Dee said, “Moe, how long will we need to get the populations moved?”

“At least two years.”

Ian looked at Dee and she smugly nodded, “Those missiles can’t penetrate our new force fields. However, they can weaken the Invader’s force fields enough that their ships can get a shot off if enough of them are fired at it.”

“But they’ll have FTL technology.”

“They’re going to need it to get close to the Invader’s fleets.”

Violet softly said, “We have to do it to prevent them coming here.”

Ian sharply looked at her and Violet smiled, “You’re taking the short view. If we move our populations, the civilizations in M87 will never find them. Either way, we have to extend the fight by whatever means possible.”

Ian looked at the Admiral and he nodded, “She’s right.”

Ian turned to Drey, “When she suggested this I was just as adamant that we shouldn’t do it. However, what good would a blaster do you if it couldn’t penetrate a force field around me? If they can weaken the Invader’s force fields, it will make it easier for our ships to take them out.”

Ian shook his head, “Do you think the King and First Councilor will agree with this?”

“You’re going to have to convince them to do it.” Ian looked at Dee and she continued, “And you have to do it right now.”

“It’s not easy convincing someone to do something you don’t think you should do.”

Violet said, “Ian, I’m pregnant.” Ian fell back in his chair. Violet stared at him, “We need time to build a safe place for our baby to live.”

The room was shocked silent. Ian stared at Violet for a long moment and then picked up his communicator. Dee went over and hugged Violet, “Congratulations.” Violet returned her hug as Ian began talking with the King and First Councilor.

***

The Sovereign looked at the Pental Ruler on his display, “Get these diagrams out to every civilization and have them start constructing these missiles immediately.”

“I’ll send them to the Negotiator and have him explain what they are and their importance. Please thank them for their gift.”

“You also need to start installing the FTL Drives on your ships.”

The Pental Ruler nodded and disappeared from the display. The Sovereign hoped there was enough time but his hopes were dashed; the first battle was fought two weeks later before the new technology could be used.

***

The Senior Father watched the four transports jump away and hoped they were successful. The main invasion was delayed another four months due to three aggressive civilizations that fought them savagely…but Grandfather wanted information now.

***

The ship that emerged into space above the planet was larger than the capital city on the surface that it parked in orbit above. It extended a force field more than eighty miles wide between it and the planet’s surface as thousands of large troop carriers began leaving its bay dropping toward the city below. Twenty thousand warships jumped in and began firing on the giant intruder but all of their most powerful beams were easily shrugged off. The defenders were not so fortunate. Massive beams began lancing out from the giant ship hitting scores of the defenders and most of those ships that were hit were vaporized. Thousands of additional warships started jumping in and the thousands of beams being fired at the intruder began targeting small areas on the intruder’s force field. The intruder was forced to reduce the size of its huge force field to prevent its hull from being hit. But it didn’t have to maintain the force field much longer. The troop transports would be in atmosphere shortly.

***

The Sensor Nephew looked up from his panel, “Father, two small green ships have arrived and our beams are not getting through their force fields.”

“Target them with multiple beams.”

“We’re firing twenty at them now.”

The Father changed his display from the transports to the small green ships and saw them flickering four hundred miles out. They accelerated and began moving in; he began to feel apprehension. “Target all our beams at those ships.”

One of the small green ships was hit with a hundred beams and after twenty seconds exploded. The second leaped forward at an incredible speed.

Five hundred beams began turning to fire on the small ship but never had the opportunity to lock on the small target. The Green Ship fired a twenty mile wide beam that blew through the force field as if it wasn’t there and the giant Invader transport blew up in a massive blast. The defending warships fell on the landers after the giant force field disappeared and, before they could make it into the planet’s atmosphere, the defender’s beams blew all of them into debris, which, along with the giant transport, became brilliant meteorite showers on the planet below.

The Commander of the defenders looked for the Green Ship to offer thanks but it had disappeared. The city was lucky to have survived. Three other large cities that were targeted by the Families initial scouting mission weren’t. Millions of inhabitants were stunned and lifted off their planets to the giant ships hanging in orbit. They withdrew before they could be stopped. The survivors knew the invaders were coming back.