Pray for the Prey (22 page)

RV smiled, “The real time is likely years. There is one thing that would make it easier.”

“What is that?”

“What if you knew the exact place you were going to be jumping to?”

Kenny thought a moment and looked at Cyanna and Bob before he said, “Then I would assign the jump coordinates in advance and jump the entire formation together. They could then adjust their ranks on arrival.”

“That is exactly what happened and they arrived less than one second before we did.”

Cyanna said, “How do you know that?”

“Those ships that were jumping out to that globe were not coming after us. They wouldn’t have been able to detect us inside that formation. They were jumping out to determine what those White Ships were doing.”

Jillian added, “We saw them start jumping right after our arrival. If that globe had already been there waiting, they would have been there waiting as well.”

Bob said, “That implies that they knew your exact arrival location and your exact moment of entry into normal space.”

“It implies more than that. If I set the drive to jump one light year, how close would I be to that distance?”

‘You could be off as much as a million miles on either side of it.”

“So even if they knew in advance that I was going to be jumping away one light year from that radiation stream, they would not know exactly where I would emerge into normal space.”

The Admirals looked at each other and Kenny said, “You make a valid point. Our drives are not that precise.”

George said, “So they knew the exact place and time of the Jukebox’s arrival.”

Cyanna said, “They must have seen it happen before.”

Chris said, “That’s the only way they could have done what they did.”

Silence ruled the moment and after a minute Bob asked, “Why were they there?”

RV said, “To make sure we made our scans.”

Kenny slowly shook his head, “Are you sure about that?”

“The field that prevented our stardrive from working disappeared the moment Jillian announced she had completed the scan. If they were there for another reason, we would not have been released at that moment.”

Jillian looked at RV and said, “How did you know we were only going to jump one light year from the stream? I asked Chris and he said he didn’t tell you.”

RV signed and said, “I’ve been listening to the live feed from your ship every night at nine p.m. your ship’s time.”

“What!?!”

“I’ve been spying on you.”

Chris started complaining but Jillian put her hand on his arm, “You should be thankful he did.” She turned to RV and said, “That’s what made you suggest we use you as a pilot, right.” RV nodded. “We would not have been able to escape those ships chasing us. Your intervention probably saved our lives.”

Chris looked at Jillian and then slowly nodded, “She’s right. Let us know in the future if you’re listening in; we could use someone else’s opinion on many of the issues we struggled with.”

“I will but I think you have done an excellent job so far. I might get you off track and hurt your processing.”

“Even so.”

“I’ll tell you.”

RV looked at George and said, “I respect your intelligence. You need to help me process this event.”

George shrugged and said, “I think you’ve got it right. This happened before and the Jukebox and all hands were destroyed. As a result of that, the civilization of the White Ships was destroyed. The scan you took of that galaxy was a critical point in that civilization’s timeline.”

RV nodded, “But you’ve determined more than that?”

George looked at RV and said, “Saving you this time around did not bring that civilization back to life. The universe we’re currently in is a branch off the one where the Jukebox was destroyed. Someone in that first universe came back and warned the White Ship civilization of the importance of your visit.”

“That’s not all they did, George.”

George looked at Chris and said, “What else did they do?”

“They gave the White Ships advanced technology from the future to assist them in making sure we made our scan.”

“Do you have evidence of that?”

“We’ve looked at all the scans we’ve made and the White Ships were not any stronger than the other civilizations. That was true up to six million years ago, but in the present that has changed.”

“A lot of advancements can happen in six million years. You need look no further than our own development.”

“That’s true, but most of our advancements came from civilizations more advanced than our own. The first gravity gun is a good example. Where would we be now without the technology we stole from the Alliance, Jenze, and Moet?”

George thought a moment, “You need to go back and see if you can determine when the White Civilization advanced technologically beyond the others.”

“We’ll leave at the end of this meeting.”

Bob said, “My fleet will be going with you.”

Jillian said, “Why?”

“For you to have a place to jump to escape; we will not follow you in because we would be a large blip on anyone’s scanners.”

George smiled, “Take the help, Jillian. Be thankful that Admiral Hardy called in help. The Havana and Jukebox could not have handled those ships chasing you.”

Chris smiled, “We appreciate your help Admiral Owens.”

RV said, “I took a frequency reading of one of their ships. Focus in on the time when that frequency appears and look for a ship going to their planets.”

RV paused and said, “If that ship from the future does appear, it changed the future of this universe and made it branch off from the old. We don’t know what our scan will lead to now and neither does the White Ship civilization. The future has been changed radically.”

George said, “That’s not necessarily true.” RV nodded for him to continue. “You’re making an assumption that that was the only place in time they interfered.”

RV nodded, “You’re right; I didn’t consider any other possibility.” He paused and said, “Is that why you’re determined to go to M-87?”

“Do you see any way around it?”

“No, if you’re right about that possibility, we’ll have to go.”

Cyanna said, “You’ve lost me.”

RV said, “The civilization that protected us is tied to us. Our future survival is linked to them and they know it. Right now they are holding on against the others. Their actions in saving the Jukebox from destruction may cause the others to combine against them. We can’t allow them to face that alone.”

Bob said, “So there is another time traveling species in our future?”

George looked at RV and nodded. He sighed, “No, there isn’t.”

“Then who came back to that civilization?”

“We did.”

Jillian said, “What?”

“They speak our language, Jillian. They expanded the globe the moment you announced you had completed the scan. We had to be the ones that warned them. Do you see any other possibility?”

“Nooooo...you must be right.”

Kenny said, “At least their ships are far more advanced than ours.”

RV shook his head, “I don’t think so.”

“They prevented you from jumping away.”

“Their force fields are what prevented me from jumping. The globe of ships surrounding us had the inside of their force fields right up against the hull of the Jukebox. Our drive field couldn’t expand against them and we were prevented from jumping. That’s what made me start thinking about interference from a time traveler. That globe had to be the perfect size for that to occur.”

“Well, they appear to be more advanced than the others.”

“Kenny, we killed ten thousand ships from their most advanced civilizations. Of course we outnumbered them about a thousand to one and that’s why we were able to do it. We could hold our own against most of those ships. We might be overwhelmed in the end, but the victors know they would then be so weakened they would be destroyed by the other predators. I suspect if we were in that galaxy, we would be given a wide berth as well.”

Cyanna shrugged and said, “One of those ships required two hundred beams and mini-strikers to kill it.”

“Hey, you’re singing to the choir. Building more ships is not the answer to this problem. We need a weapon that would be effective against millions of those ships.”

George leaned forward, “I’ll get Dr. Morrison working on it with Boden. It will probably have to be a development in the strikers. Our beams can’t be made any stronger.”

Jillian smiled, “Right now a striker uses speed and mass. Perhaps adding energy to the package might make a difference.”

Cyanna slowly shook her head, “It’s hard to believe that a weapon strong enough to destroy a planet can’t destroy a ship.”

George said, “It can obliterate a ship. It’s the force field that destroys the striker before it can hit the ship. A planet has nothing between it and the striker.”

Kenny sighed, “A planet is nothing but a giant ship circling a star. Even the Jenze knew that and developed a force field for their planets.”

Cyanna saw RV’s and George’s expressions immediately change. “What are you two thinking?”

George said, “And the Jenze didn’t have reactors as powerful as ours.” George turned to Meisa, “Get Dr.’s Levin and Morrison here now!”

Kenny looked at RV, “What did I say?”

“You reminded us that a planet is just a large ship. Why can’t it have a force field?”

Kenny smiled, “I see no reason why it couldn’t if you have enough power to make it large enough.”

“We have power in spades.”

“We also have those old force field generators on the Alliance planets.”

George said, “That’s where we’ll start exploring this concept.

RV smiled and said, “But first we have to welcome some visitors.”

George said, “Not before Chris and Jillian take a look at the six million years before we took our last scan.”

“Always spoiling my fun.”

“Don’t worry; it just gives us more time to plan a bigger party.”

“I know who will provide the piñatas.”

George laughed out loud.

• • •

Two weeks later Chris appeared on George’s display. George smiled, “Did you find what you were searching for?”

“Yes, we did.”

“That didn’t take long.”

“We skipped the entire eight million years and started at five thousand years ago. At that point in time the White Civilization was no stronger than the others.”

“And?”

“There was a remarkable change when we reached two hundred years ago. We backed out to two hundred and fifty years and scanned to two hundred. You were right.”

“What did you see?”

“A small ship similar to our current attack craft appeared above the planet and was allowed to land. It remained there for three weeks and then launched and disappeared.”

“Did you see anything else?”

“We saw the ones that exited the ship when it landed.”

“Who was it?”

“RV and Cyanna, but they were older.”

“How much older?”

“They looked to be in their fifties.”

George thought a moment and said, “You will not tell anyone about who was on that ship. You will only confirm that it was one of our ships.”

“I understand and will do just that. Jillian will also follow these instructions.”

“No one should know their future. They might change it just to see what happens.”

“We are both thinking the same thing, George.”

“Thanks, Chris. Bring the Jukebox home and start seeing if you can give us a story of what’s happening in that galaxy.”

“We’ve joined Admiral Owen’s fleet and will be jumping shortly. What do you want to do with this record?”

“Bring it to me personally. I’ll hold on to it.”

George leaned back in his chair and furrowed his brow. He had expected Zack and Izzy to be the ones that went to that civilization. He shook his head and turned back to the report on the Alliance pyramids.

• • •

The Aide approached the entrance and pushed a button. “Enter.” The door slid up and he stepped into the entrance and waited. “Why are you here?”

“One of our spies in the other quadrant notified us that one of the civilizations prevented a red ship from outside the galaxy from being destroyed.”

“So?”

“More than a million ships pursued the ship when it jumped away but only ten thousand of the most advanced ships were able to continue the pursuit.”

“And?”

“Those ten thousand ships have not reported back to their civilizations and there is no clue as to their location.”

“Now that is interesting. Did any of them scan the Red Ship?”

“If they did, they are not sharing what they saw. Our spy’s ships were not one of those that continued the pursuit.”

“Are the others planning any action?”

“There’s a lot of talk, but no one trusts the others to do anything.”

“Someday we are going to break this jam.” The Aide waited and heard, “But not today. Keep me informed about this. Have you passed this on to the other Majors?”

“I have waited for your approval.”

The large creature thought about it and decided the risk wasn’t worth it. If that spy was double dealing and told another Major that he knew…it would cause unnecessary problems. “Send the information.”

The Aide bowed and backed out of the entrance as the door closed in front of him.

• • •

RV looked at Cyanna and said, “I notice that there is a disproportionate share of Jenze in the fleet.”

“They are motivated to even the scales. Their populations have been assimilated into the colonies and they have had an impact on the colonists from Earth.”

“In what way?”

“They’ve shared their history with them. They’ve been fighting for millions of years to survive. They believe in everyone working together to make that happen. They come from a military culture and understand discipline and honor. They insist on doing their share of fighting our enemies.”

“Where are Zack and Izzy?”

“They’re on Dundee. There is a large Jenze settlement there that they’ve made their home.”

“Do they have any assignments?”

“Not at the moment; why do you ask?”

“No reason, I was just curious.”

Cyanna looked back at her panel. RV never asked a question without a reason. Why was he asking about the crew of the Ninja? She shook her head, looked back at him, and saw him smiling. “Is your first name still Enigma?”