Planet Predators (12 page)

Hemon looked at Kenny and nodded.

* * *

Tenah and the other nine Leaders of the Alliance heard an alarm, “Six hundred ships emerging into normal space two hundred thousand miles out.”

“Put full power to the Planetary Defense Shield.” Tenah looked over at his console and saw Admiral Jdah shaking his head, “What’s wrong?”

“We have no chance against those ships. If we bring in our reserve, they will be destroyed in less time than you can imagine.”

Tenah looked at the wall display showing the six hundred small ships and said, “Let’s hope the Shield will keep them at bay.”

* * *

Kenny watched his sensors and saw late arrivals jump in from the fight at the Moet’s planets and then quickly jump away. It appeared they had learned they could not stand up to the Earth Fleet. He looked over at Hemon and heard, “Open a channel to the planet.”

Kenny pulled up a frequency that was used by the Alliance Ships during the battle and activated it on Hemon’s console, “It’s on your board, Sir.” Kenny leaned back and waited for Hemon to start his negotiations. This should be interesting.

Hemon pushed the toggle and smiled, “I desire to speak with the Leader of the Alliance on the planet.”

Tenah heard the request over the speakers in the chamber and took a deep breath. He pressed the small pad on his board, “I am the one who leads the Council.”

“How many members are there on your Council?”

Tenah looked around puzzled by the question, “There are ten of us.”

“Before we get to the issues at hand, is there a Sheera on the planet that goes by the name of Yelt?”

Tenah looked at the far end of the table and saw the only Sheera on the Council jerk his attention toward the speaker on the wall, “There is a Sheera on the Council that goes by that name. Why do you ask?”

“It tells me just how cold blooded you are. I figured that if he was in a leadership role that it would confirm my belief of just how worthless you are and how removing you would be the right thing to do. Please put him on this channel.”

Tenah looked at Yelt, “Do you know who this is?”

“No, I have no idea.”

Tenah pushed a switch and said, “Talk to him.”

“This is Yelt.”

“Hello, old friend. This is Hemon. I hate you had to leave in such a rush the last time I saw you.”

Yelt’s shock was visible to everyone in the room. He was speechless.

“What’s wrong, Yelt? You don’t have anything to say to your old worker?”

Yelt leaned back and didn’t respond. Tenah said, “Give us a moment?”

“You have two minutes.”

“What’s going on here?”

“We were building a Pyramid for one of our planetary shields on the planet of that speaker. The Moet destroyed our main battleship and we were forced to rush away in our landers.”

Tenah stared at Yelt, “There’s more to it than that.”

“I followed our protocols and killed the translator and burned his residence to make sure none of our technology was left behind.”

“It appears you didn’t kill him. How long ago was this?”

“More than eight cycles.”

“Well this ship has come home to land in your chair.” Yelt nodded and Tenah activated his communicator, “Yelt tells me he thought he killed you before he left your planet.”

“He tried but was only successful in killing my brother, wife, and young son. He also left my planet to the tender cares of the Moet.”

“If that’s the case, why did you come to their defense?”

“Because it was you who was attacking them; the Moet thought we were part of the Alliance and you never came back to assist us against them.”

“How could we? Our ships stood no chance back then against their weakest ships.”

“I know; I don’t blame you for leaving but I do have an issue about my family which will be resolved shortly.”

Tenah looked at the ships on the main display and felt his fear level rise quickly, “We have a shield around the planet which I doubt you will be able to penetrate; however, if I send Yelt out to you, will you leave us in peace?”

Kenny glanced at his board and saw Jeff and Dolly listening in to the conversation. This was not looking good.

“Probably not.”

“Why?”

“We have learned that those planets that were placed under your shields became little more than slaves to your government. They are nothing more than laborers providing you with all their raw materials and products. That is going to end today.”

“Just how do you expect us to survive the Moet? We needed those materials to build a fleet in the hopes we could one day be free of their attacks. This structure is the only way for us to fight back.”

“Does that explain why you evacuate your planet and leave all the others behind to be destroyed by the Blue Ships? I see the huge transports under your screen and it’s clear you are only going to save yourselves. You’re nothing more than a dictator that cares nothing about those that labor for your benefit.”

“That’s true.”

Hemon, Kenny, along with Dolly and Jeff were stunned by the admission. “You admit it?”

“Absolutely, what else would you have us do? This structure is the only way for us to survive against the many species that come to kill us all. You are just one of many that want us dead. We need a lot more than just those planets in our Alliance to try and survive. We have been so pressured by the Moet that we have been unable to explore and find new worlds to assist us in building our defenses. With that new Moet Ship, we are once again, unable to take them on in combat. We hide behind our planetary shields and try to develop the tools that would allow us to survive. You have no right to question our attempt at survival. We have no way to build enough ships to transport our populations to safety. Moving this planet’s population would at least allow us to try and start over after the Blue Ships leave.”

Hemon stared at his board and said, “Then tell me why you attempted to kill me and why you killed my family?”

Yelt pushed his board, “We could not allow the Moet to get their pods on our gravity technology. Two of our gravity guns were missing and we didn’t have time to escape if we stopped to search for them. We assumed that you had one and the other was at your residence. I did what I must to protect us.”

Hemon was shocked speechless. It was his theft that had caused the death of his family. He lowered his head in his hands and wept. Kenny looked at him and pushed his com, “I’ve taken readings on your planetary shield and you should know that we can penetrate it at will. I’m going to demonstrate that now.”

Kenny launched a fusion missile at the shield surrounding the planet and it accelerated at three quarter light speed and hit the shield with a blast that spread over its surface and blew a hole in it bigger than the continent under it. Tenah saw the destruction of the shield and knew that before the shield came back on line three seconds later that the invading fleet could have launched more than one missile and destroyed the surface of the Capital. Silence ruled the channel. “We are not going to destroy your world.”

Tenah looked at the speaker on the wall and said, “What! What! Did I hear you correctly?”

“Yes but there will be conditions placed on allowing you to live that you will follow or we will destroy your Capital Planet.”

“And they are?”

“You will not be allowed to attack any planet in this galaxy. You will also stop your attacks against the Moet and that begins now.”

“But they have been trying to kill us for thousands of cycles.”

“We are going to notify them that their attacks against you will also stop immediately and that if they do not comply that we will come to defend your planets.”

“That new ship of theirs is invincible. They won’t listen.”

“One of our older ships has already destroyed nine of those ships in an earlier encounter. They will listen or they will die. Your heavy handed tactics with your member planets will also end today. You will no longer need to build a huge fleet for defense. We will assume that responsibility. Your Members live at poverty level and it’s time they started enjoying the fruits of their labor.”

Tenah looked around the room and didn’t know whether or not to believe the speaker. “What about the Blue Ships?”

“We think we have delayed their invasion by killing two of their main battleships. Our efforts are directed at being able to confront them and survive. If they invade, you should evacuate this planet and leave the others to our protection. I can’t guarantee we will be successful against their numbers but we are working on it.”

Tenah looked around the room, “How do I know we can trust you to protect us?”

“You don’t. Frankly, the way things have operated in this galaxy, I would be skeptical as well. However, here is what you can trust; if you don’t agree to these conditions, I will burn your planet to the bed rock and destroy every Alliance Ship in this galaxy.”

There was a moment of silence and Yelt said, “Hemon, can you do what he says you can?”

Hemon looked up and said, “Yes.”

Yelt looked at Tenah, “Hemon does not lie.”

“We still have thousands of warships.”

“You won’t if you’re dumb enough to use them. I would suggest you use them to plan an evacuation of as much of your population as possible when the invasion of the Blue Ships starts. This is not negotiable; if you don’t do as we say, we will destroy you.”

“How will we contact you if the Moet attack?”

“We will leave one of our ships in this system from this day forward until we determine that you are going to do as we ask. At that point we will give you a device that will allow you to contact us directly. What is your answer?”

Tenah saw his power slipping away as he sat down in his chair. “We will comply with your demands. I should be angry but I feel the constant pressure of defending my people easing. I just hope you are worthy of my trust.”

“It’s really not a trust issue.”

“Oh! Why not?”

“If we can’t stand up to the Blue Ships, we’re all dead. We are not your enemy and you shouldn’t be ours. We have a common foe and that should be enough for all of us.”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

“That’s exactly how it works. We have no desire to rule your Alliance. We just want you to stop acting so childish.”

Yelt pushed his button, “I’m sorry, Hemon. I’ll turn myself over to you if you so desire.”

Hemon took a deep breath, “No, not yet.”

Tenah saw the six hundred ships disappear leaving one behind that accelerated to the outer system and assumed a position above the solar system. Jdah said over the speakers, “I’ve ordered the fleet grounded until further notice.”

Tenah smiled, “I think that would be wise. Notify the planets that shipments of materials will be reduced to one tenth beginning tomorrow.”

* * *

Hemon remained silent during the jump back to Earth and Kenny released the fleet to resume their former assignments. As he arrived in the outer Solar System Kenny’s sensor alarm went off. He saw a small attack ship and watched a small shuttle leave it. He opened his landing bay and the shuttle moved in. Kenny waited and suddenly Sasha burst on to the bridge and ran to Hemon and threw her arms around him. Hemon felt the tears come again and Sasha quietly said, “If you had not taken those gravity guns we would all be dead now. It was your destiny to save our species…and me.”

Hemon put his arms around her and held her tight. Kenny went to .95 light speed and rushed Hemon home to heal in Sasha’s arms.

Chapter Nine

“L
t. Rosillo, Commodore Connor has requested our presence on the bridge.”

Izzy looked up from her board and said, “I apologize for my behavior earlier. It was not professional and I hope you’ll overlook it.”

“What was that?”

“I was concerned that you would lose your focus on our mission. We can be a good team if we really focus on what has to be done.”

Arvolo stared at her and turned to go to the bridge without saying anything leaving Izzy to wonder what was going through his mind. She sighed and followed him.

Chris put the recording of the encounter with the Jenze up on the main display and narrated what had happened. After the video completed Chris looked at the two and pointed at the small Jenze ship on the screen, “We are going to attempt to find where that ship came from. I’ve been able to determine where it jumped into normal space and we’re going to launch the Ninja at the location and have you follow its jump trail. You must get into Sierra Space as fast as possible to prevent either the Moet or Jenze from seeing you on their scanners. You will be going more than 64 million years in the past and if you change anything it could have a disastrous effect on our future.”

Izzy looked at the display and said, “I think it’s called the butterfly effect.”

Jillian smiled, “Exactly right, accidently killing a butterfly that far in the past would cause a tidal wave of minute changes that would add up to history being altered.”

“I’m not at all sure that’s right.”

Chris turned to Arvolo, “What do you mean by that?”

“If you go back to that moment in time now and look at it would the Ninja be in it?”

Chris looked at Jillian and saw she was as confused as him, “I guess so.”

““So there are now two reflections moving out into the universe, the one where you did not take the weapon and one you did. I suspect that original universe probably still exists but another was created when you went back.” The three stared at Arvolo and he continued, “There is also the possibility that we have already gone back in time and searched for the Jenze Battleship and we are here now to make that particular history happen. Whatever takes place has already happened and the present will not be affected by whatever we do.”

“I’m not sure I agree with that. If we go back and kidnap Abraham Lincoln, history would be altered in a major way.”

“Only that point in history. The one where you didn’t would continue and a new history would branch off at that point.”

“You’re talking about parallel universes.”

“Yes, I am Admiral. I just believe that if the possibility of time travel exists, then creation would have a way to prevent major damage. The Universe is governed by laws that make things work. This technology has to be part of the big picture.”