Even more fantastic, the Xeno's subatomic scramblers could not pick up a contrail from any of these ships, which suggested, foolishly, that they were somehow moving without the aid of star engines. But then again, they weren't traveling in Supertime, either. They were actually flying even faster than Supertime.
However, the most startling piece of information was the point of origin of these ships. The Xeno's superbubbler was insisting that they had flown into the Galaxy from a location someplace outside of it.
This made no sense. It was the stated policy of the Empire— and the almost universally held belief among the citizens of the Galaxy — that all life in the universe was contained within the Milky Way.
Therefore, it was impossible that any life could exist outside of it.
But now, here were indications that at least twenty bizarre starships of some type were moving down the second swirl at inconceivable speeds. What did it mean? The Xeno crew asked their superbubbler.
The answer that came back startled them: From all appearances, the bubbler said, this was an invasion from somewhere outside the Galaxy, by beings unknown, who possessed technology that seemed to dwarf even Supertime.
It wasn't the invaders the Omega Force were supposed to be looking for.
But it was an invasion, nevertheless.
The flagship of the Omega Force was an enormous M-class Starcrasher called TempusVox.
This colossus was two and a half miles long, carried a crew of nearly 10,000, plus thousands of weapons and an entire of corps of Space Marines, numbering more than 25,000.
As it was the lead ship of Omega, all orders for the special fleet were generated from here. Since the fleet was on a highly secret mission and there were to be no communications at all back to SF Command, the TempusVox had the final say for the entire operation.
The commander of the Tempus was a 150-year-old veteran of the Space Navy named Haxx Grinx.
Handsome, bright, and energetic, Grinx was also a highly capable 'crasher driver who had helmed Omega's flagship for the past twenty-three years. He was well-connected within SF Command and respected by his contemporaries throughout the Empire. He was also very loyal to the Emperor.
Grinx was on his bridge when the startling message came in from the XenoVox. He read over the communique several times before it actually sank in. The Xeno's report seemed so outlandish, he doubted its credibility at first. But still, in these days of high uncertainty, he knew everything had to be taken as truth unless proven otherwise — even the most outlandish. So Grinx put out a call to the rest of the Omega fleet, telling them to move into a close battle formation at a point just outside the Two Arm.
He then ordered his squadron commanders to beam aboard his ship immediately.
The six SCOs were standing in Grinx's war room a few moments after that. Grinx explained what the Xeno had found. Twenty-four ships were confirmed to be heading toward the mid-Two Arm at incomprehensible speed, and these ships appeared to have an origin point outside the Galaxy.
To a man, the squadron commanders were shocked upon hearing the news.
"An alien invasion?" one of them blurted out. "Is that even possible?"
The other SCOs were visibly uncomfortable with their colleague's choice of words. The phobia about life in other parts of the universe was so prevalent in the Galaxy that the word alien was not allowed to be spoken in public nor did it appear anywhere in the Empire's string documents or charters. Nor was it taught to schoolchildren. It was, in effect, a nonword.
"Anything is possible these days," Grinx replied somberly. "And I just don't know what else it could be."
"They must be some kind of ultra-advanced craft if they can move quicker than Starcrashers," another squadron CO said. "Who knows what kind of weapons they possess? What powers they have?"
"And if they get by us," Grinx said, "they could be on Earth in a matter of hours, minutes even."
"But what can we do?" another officer asked. "We are probably the only souls in the Empire who have this information already."
"We must fight them, of course," one commander said defiantly.
Grinx bit his lip. Fighting them might prove suicidal. Though Omega outnumbered the incoming force, their technology seemed so highly advanced there was a chance that Empire weaponry might not have any effect on them. Plus, these ships would be in their area in just minutes. There certainly was no time to bring any other SF ships in to do battle with them.
"But what about our orders?" another SCO worried. 'They are as strict as any I've ever heard…"
Grinx thought about this, too. But he knew sometimes orders had to be broken.
Especially when it meant trying to save the Empire.
The Omega Force turned about in a matter of seconds and realigned into ten arrowhead formations.
Their orders set, the squadron commanders were preparing to beam back to their ships when another report from the XenoVox came in. The mysterious alien force was close enough now to get a fuzzy visual on them. The Xeno commander uplinked his viz to the Tempus, along with a warning that what the fleet commanders were about to see was rather startling.
The viz appeared on the Tempus' s huge battle management screen. It showed twenty-four ships, and indeed they were heading right for them at inconceivable speed. But the startling thing was this: the ships were of an almost ancient design, right down to their blue and chrome color scheme.
This made no sense, but the time to question anything was over. Grinx was the person solely responsible for the Empire's very survival now, and he ordered his ships to prepare for battle. They would try to stop these mystery ships here; if not, then they would break all the orders and inform Earth what was coming their way.
The squadron commanders agreed. But as they prepared to jump back to their ships, three images suddenly materialized on the bridge of the Tempus.
Grinx and the squadron commanders were astonished. These three people had not transported in by usual means; they would have been detected by the ship's security auras. Nor had they dropped in from another dimension. This, too, would have been caught by the security systems.
They had literally come from nowhere.
Even more astounding, the trio was well-known to Grinx and his SCOs. One of them was none other than Skol Fyxx, a ten-star general emitrus for the Space Forces. Loy Staxx, a very well-known starship SF commander, was the second man.
Most astounding of all, the third man was Zapp Multx, quite possibly the most famous SF ship captain of the past 400 years.
Grinx somehow got up the gumption to have the three men scanned. Remarkably, they all passed.
They were the authentic items. In this trio was more than 1,000 years of high-caliber service to the Empire and the Space Forces. Oddly, though, each one was wearing a drop of oil on his forehead.
"We must talk," was all Multx said upon their sudden arrival. "Alone…"
Grinx immediately cleared the bridge. In seconds, only he and his squadron commanders remained.
"You've detected an incoming fleet," Multx went on. "You cannot interfere with it. It is here to do good, and it will not harm anyone who doesn't deserve it. You have to let it reach its destination unimpeded."