Star Rover-Chosen to Die (Lens of Time) (23 page)

Jillian’s smile was small and she said, “What were you told, Sir?”

“It’s too late to bring in a new Fleet Commander at this late date.”

“Do you buy it, Sir?”

“Who signed your orders, Commodore?”

“Fleet Admiral Arvolo.”

Bret nodded, “Well, I have to say I’m glad you’re here. You can make a huge difference in getting us ready. Perhaps you and I will just have to make the best of the circumstances we find ourselves in.”

Jillian sighed, “Yes Sir.”

Bret looked at Ray, “Commodore, just between you and me, you won’t have enough time to keep that uniform as tidy as it is now. If you take the time to do it away from getting your task force ready, I’ll bust you back to commanding a ship. Is that clear?”

Jillian snickered and Ray said, “Yes Sir!”

Bret sighed, “Why were you promoted?”

“My ship won the last competition, Sir.”

“Well, that is something. Let’s get the ground rules straight; when we’re meeting in private, we will address each other by first names. We will relax with each other and I expect you to share anything of interest with me. You need not fear telling me things you might believe I wouldn’t want to know. We have five thousand ships that are going to have to learn to work together and they are only going to be as efficient as we are at working as a unit. Commodore Burns, you will follow Jillian around for the next week and watch how she operates. I expect you to emulate her. Jillian, get your ships organized and I’ll work on the others while Mr. Burns is with you.”

Jillian smiled and said, “Mr. Burns, if you’ll come with me, we’ll get started.”

• • •

Ray followed Jillian and said, “The Admiral doesn’t like me.”

“He’s holding his opinion for the moment. He’s not comfortable with someone who takes the time to wear a perfect uniform.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

Jillian stopped walking and said, “How long did it take you to shine those boots?” Ray stared at Jillian and saw her boots were worn. Jillian said, “At least thirty minutes; am I right?”

Ray shrugged, “More like forty five.”

“That’s forty five minutes you could have been working with your ship commanders getting their maneuvers perfected. Sailors should be in uniform and neat but this is not the academy; this is real life. You have to show those under your command that the most important things are what they can do with a Jukebox. You have to encourage them and tell them they are better than they think they are. Those ships will need to develop a trust in you and your judgment. We’re past deciding if they can do it; they’ve shown they can. That makes our job easier. We have to make them a team.”

Ray was skeptical but after five days of watching Jillian he saw the ships under her command almost worshipped her. He decided it was due to her worship of them. He shucked the polished brass and asked Bret if he could start working with his taskforce two days early. Bret smiled and said, “Welcome aboard, Commodore Burns. You may join me on the Europe.”

• • •

Mitch eased the Stealth Rover into normal space in the outer planets of a twelve planet system. His scanner showed all of the space around the inner planets was full of warships. He stared at his display and said, “Do you have an idea of how many ships are here?”

“About three million.”

“Do you have any of the trackers reporting other locations?”

“I have three of them reporting in.”

“Jump to the closest one.” The SR disappeared and reappeared in another planetary system. The view looked identical to the first. Mitch stared at his display and shook his head.

“One of the trackers is located in a different galaxy.”

“What!?!”

“The commercial vessel went to a different galaxy.”

“Jump us there.”

The SR emerged again and this time the number of ships was doubled. Mitch shook his head and the computer said, “I have trackers reporting in from eight different galaxies.”

“This is not good!”

“Extrapolating from what we’ve observed, this civilization possesses an incredibly large number of war fleets.”

Mitch thought a moment, “We need to take a look at the planet producing those ships. We’ll allow the trackers some time to arrive at their destinations and then we’ll have them make a quick scan and send it to us along with their coordinates. We’ll gather the information and go back and pick up Leon.”

Mitch hit the thrusters and began moving toward the inner planets.

• • •

Leon tried to decide how to approach the giant temple and knew his instincts were to depend on his natural talents. That predisposition could get him killed. There were thousands of the inhabitants between him and the structure and he knew they had intimate contact with the ground; they were grazing creatures and were much more aware of the ground around them. Going under the soil might be noticed.

He debated and also worried that his field might be noticed as well. There were so many of the light brown inhabitants in the open ground that he would be forced to come close to many of them. As he tried to make a decision he noticed movement among the beings. As it became darker, they started moving into large groups and clustered together. He shook his head. Most herd animals moved closer together at night for defense. These beings didn’t have anything to be frightened of but their instincts still made them most comfortable in large groups. The thousands were shifting around and in less than an hour, the gaps between them had grown to more than a hundred yards in most instances. He activated his field, rose out of the ground, and walked to the edge of the forest. He had his translator in his ear and could hear the closest group talking among themselves. He decided that he wasn’t going to make a trip to the temple tonight; he would listen to some of the groups to see if he could learn anything from them. He determined that the inhabitants had moved into large family clusters and were discussing the issues that affected their families. He moved ten yards closer to the group and listened.

• • •

“Jelil has threatened to leave without permission if the Elder does not approve her union to Trab.”

The male chewed and said, “He will not approve for the immediate future.”

“Why not?”

“Too many of our young females are paired with warriors. They could end up alone if the next assault turns ugly. Then the family will lose them and their possible children. They will weigh on the family having to continue to support them until they die. Jelil is infatuated with a pilot of a warship; the Elder will only approve of their union if the pilot survives the next war.”

“You know she won’t listen to reason.”

“That’s the nature of being in love. She could run to his family but they would just send her back; they will not violate the Elder’s prerogative.”

“How long do you think she’ll have to wait?”

“I’m surprised the war hasn’t already started; I understand there has been a hold for the moment.”

“I didn’t hear that.”

“It was embedded in the sermon if you paid attention.”

“You know I’m too busy with the children to listen all day.”

“I know; that’s why I’m here.”

“What do you think about this next war?”

“There is a carnivore species that eats the inhabitants of the worlds it conquers.”

“NO!”

“Yes they do. I know it’s hard to fathom but the word I’ve heard about them is that they are a highly advanced civilization and losses could be quite high. I think that’s why the Elder has insisted those couples with Warriors be pushed to start their families. It’s also why he won’t approve Jalil’s request.”

“Do you think we’ll prevail?”

“Of course. The Chosen says that our path is already a success. We must stay on it and all will be fine.”

“But if they’re really advanced…”

“They will fall like all the others. The price might be high but we will prevail.”

“You should talk to Jalil.”

“Bring her here; I’ll try to teach her to be patient. I think her fear of losing him in the coming conflict is what is really pushing her to the edge.”

“What are you going to tell her?”

“That if he dies in the war, she will never have a family. The bonding is for life and she will wither and die without him. If he loves her; he will insist on waiting until he comes back. If he won’t; he’s not the one for her.”

“I’ll go get her.”

• • •

Leon moved away from the couple and moved closer to another family unit. He listened to more than thirty of them through the night and all of them were talking about the same thing. The young couples with warriors were being pushed to start their families. It appeared everyone of the inhabitants knew about the coming attack on the Yellow Beings. And the information was sent to them in the sermons being transmitted by the huge Temple. He was also bothered that there appeared to be a large number of warriors just in the family groups he listened in on but there were no warships above the planet. How were they going to be moved to their ships? He found the answer in the last group he moved in on. He saw two young males talking just outside the edge of the cluster of inhabitants.

• • •

“Have you heard anything about the call up?”

“It’s been delayed.”

“Why? I thought we had all the information we needed to launch the assault?”

“It appears the Exalted Military Commander has received information that leads him to believe the target is going to use its fleets to invade another galaxy. If that happens, we’ll go in pretty much unopposed at the start.”

“Are they preparing our ships?”

“They are ready and will be sent here when the time is set for the operation. You should enjoy this time.”

“Are you going to start a family?”

The young male moved his small proboscis side-to-side and nodded, “I have no desire to have children and leave Kelei alone to raise them. However, she has been bonded with me and if I don’t there is a possibility that she will never have children.”

“Do you honestly think it will be that bad?”

“I’ve seen the warships we’ll be facing; our ships are no match for them.”

The other young male nodded slowly and stood up, “You’re right. I’m going to discuss this with my mate.”

“You should.”

• • •

Leon listened to the conversation and was perplexed. Why would they be attacking a civilization that was more powerful? It just didn’t make sense. How could they possibly hope to win? He looked at the giant temple and saw it had a soft glow around it. That had to be a force field. It had not shown up on the SR’s scanner. He thought about it and moved back into the forest. He went deep into the thick trees. He used the neural connector to pull up the images of the giant structure and saw that there were vast grazing lands inside the walls. He had the images fast forwarded and at no time did anyone outside the facility enter it. He pulled up a section of the walls and moved the view in closer. The large raised, circular shaped object on top of the wall didn’t seem to fit in with the wall. There were numerous flowers growing on it and it added brilliant colors to the temple’s appearance. Leon looked under the object and saw that the wall was thicker. The round object had to be a blaster cover and the size of the blaster had to be gigantic. Leon moved the view out and saw there were round covers all the way around the walls with only twenty feet separating them. The temple was a fortress. He shook his head and was glad he hadn’t tried to enter. He moved into the soil and began replaying the prior day’s sermon. The adult male said the information was embedded in the sermon. He needed to see if he was being honest.

D
at looked at Gresha, “I have to go back to the SR’s.”

“Why? What’s happened?”

“It appears Mitchell and Leon launched a large number of Trackers; hundreds of them are sending coordinates and it appears that civilization is located in ten or more galaxies.”

“What?”

“I need to get this analyzed and see what we’re facing but I have to go now.”

Gresha moved up and hugged Dat tightly. Dat was still amazed at his wife’s strength. The Havens were powerful beings. She was beautiful but she was far from dainty. She kissed him and looked into his eyes, “Please be careful. I don’t trust those Yellow Beings.”

“I think they feel the same way about us but we may be forced to work together.”

“Let’s talk about that before you make any decisions.”

“Do you sense something?”

“They will not work with us.”

“They’re doing it now.”

“I don’t know what it is about them that bothers me so much but I sense they will not allow us to enter their galaxy with a battleship.”

“They might not have any choice in the matter.”

“Just don’t make a quick decision.”

“Now you know I always make good decisions.” Gresha leaned back and looked in Dat’s eyes as she raised an eyebrow. “Well, most of the time I make good decisions.” Dat smiled, “I promise I’ll consult the Union’s Leadership before I commit us to anything.”

“That would be good, Darling. Now stay safe.”

Dat rushed through the Jukebox and found Einstein waiting for him in the landing bay. He boarded and the SR moved out of the landing bay and jumped away.

• • •

Leon was at the edge of the forest watching the inhabitants grazing in the clear land between the forest and the temple. He stood inside the forest’s edge and knew he couldn’t be seen. Suddenly, a strong breeze blew through the forest and moved out into the plain. Leon saw all the inhabitants standing closest to him suddenly stand up on their rear arms and lift their six inch long noses into the air. As the breeze blew across the plain, more and more of the light brown colored creatures stood and lifted their noses into the air. They could smell him. He instantly activated his personal field and ran from the edge of the forest. He went left and moved at an incredible speed through the trees as hundreds of the inhabitants moved quickly toward the place he was formerly standing. Leon was stunned. His species did not have a smell. That trait was a product of their evolution. Predators needed stealth to be successful and the absence of an odor made Leon’s species dangerous to any life form. However, it was now clear that he did possess an odor and the inhabitants could smell him. It was probably a very small odor but these beings had noses that were incredible.