Luke pressed another button and the gigantic wall monitor came on. A small light appeared in the center of the monitor and then grew larger as the ship scanning it moved toward it. The small light quickly resolved itself into a planet and it continued to increase in size. The planet finally filled the monitor and everyone was stunned. Luke looked at Michael and saw him sit back in his chair and blow out a breath. Michael saw Luke staring at him and he shrugged and leaned over and whispered as the recording continued, “You know they were going to eventually do something like this?”
“Why?”
“It’s exactly what we’ve done over the last twenty years.”
“Nothing like that?”
“My mom said that size is not always the determining factor of what makes a warship dangerous.”
Luke saw the video had ended and looked at the assembly, who were all staring at him. He stood up and pointed at the frozen image of a gigantic warship, “The vessel that the Legend is having built is as large as a small moon or large asteroid. Hengel couldn’t move in any closer to record a better scan. I think the Legends are starting to detect energy in the barrier.” He heard the gasps from the Alliance Leaders.
The Johan said, “How did he determine that?”
“He skipped in closer initially and started recording but a fleet of Black Ships began moving toward him. He backed out and after ten minutes, they turned around. They evidently detected something but didn’t know what it was.” The Welken Royal shook his head. Luke continued, “The images he managed to take aren’t as good as we would like but we can see that the disruptor emplacements on that ship are actually larger than the ones we faced on the Legends’ Planet in M-87.”
The Goran Leader thought, “Can we stand up to it?”
Luke changed the image and the assembly saw another ship that was nearly half the size of the monster. “I don’t know if we can and the ship on the monitor now has to be the new warship model that the Legend Elder mentioned. Once he completes building the monster, he intends to build thousands of the other model.”
Michael shook his head, “They don’t build things in the thousands. He’ll be building millions.”
Luke shrugged, “A million starts with a few thousands.”
Michael smiled, “Touché.”
The Green High Leader shook his head and ruffled his feathers, “We don’t have anything large enough to take that thing on. It would be like attacking a small planet.”
Michael nodded, “That’s intentional.”
Everyone looked at him and the Myot Ruler said, “Educate me. Why do you say that?”
Michael looked at Luke to answer him but Luke sat down and turned to him. Michael’s head went back slightly and then he turned to the Myot Ruler. “We can build ships that big if we wanted. However, we determined early on that the barrier is not large enough for even our former battleships to enter. We would give up our speed advantage as well as our ability to hide in the barrier if we built larger ships. That’s why the new ships are so much longer than they are tall. The ability to enter the barrier to avoid an enemy’s firepower is more important than building something like that. Our current Battle Pod is as large as we can build and still use the barrier.”
“Can our new ships withstand a salvo of those disruptors?”
Michael looked at Audrey, “I don’t know. That’s something that will have to be determined before we face them in a major fleet action.”
Luke said, “What would you do about this, Michael?”
Michael looked at him and chuckled, “That’s pretty obvious.”
“Illuminate me.”
Michael looked at Luke shaking his head, “Come on, Luke! We’re going to have to go and blow that ship apart before it’s completed. The Legend won’t start building the other huge ships until that one is completed. He said as much.”
Luke stood up and looked around the room, “Do you see why I made the suggestion?”
Michael’s head went back and saw many in the room nodding. “What suggestion? You didn’t tell me anything about a suggestion.”
“It had to do with you.” Michael’s eyes narrowed and Luke looked back at the gathering and said, “Is there any disagreement?”
Kyel shook his head, “I think he’s right; and it’s obvious. All of us see it has to be destroyed before it’s completed.”
Luke smiled, “How would you go about destroying that ship, Kyel?”
Kyel looked around and said, “I’d send enough Battle Pods to get the job done.”
Luke pulled the image of the giant black ship back up on the monitor, moved the view in closer, and pointed at the solid wall of black ships surrounding it. “So you would fight your way through those ships to hit it?”
Kyel looked at the massive numbers surrounding the giant ship and took a deep breath, “I don’t see another way of doing it.”
“And if the Legends can detect our ships in the barrier?”
Kyel nodded, “They will be at battle stations before we arrive. However, we don’t know for certain they can detect us.”
Michael shook his head, “Yes we do.” Kyel looked at him. Michael looked at Luke, “Do you have a recording of the ships moving toward our scout?” Luke pressed buttons on his panel and they saw thousands of Black Ships move away from the planet. They watched them accelerate directly toward the scanner recording the image and Michael said, “There was nothing else in that area of space they’re moving toward except our scout. They lost the signal when it moved further away and they probably ruled it out as a sensor error. But they did detect something.”
Luke looked at Michael, “How would you do it?”
“First, I want to know about that suggestion you mentioned.”
“Answer the question Admiral Stone!”
Michael’s face grew angry. Luke had never pulled rank on him before. “Yes sir.” Michael looked at the assembled leaders. “I would have a Sentinel go into normal space out from that planet and broadcast his presence. Matter of fact, I’d probably send ten of them. Once the Legend Elder sees them, he’ll order his fleets to place themselves between him and them. Once the ships move out, we move in and hit the monster.”
Kyel looked at Michael and shook his head, “You are so much like your father.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Kyel sat back in his chair, “My objection is removed.”
Michael looked at Luke, “What objection!”
Luke looked at Michael, “The Leadership have chosen you to command our efforts against the Legends. You will turn your fleet over to your second-in-command and assume the position of First Commander.”
“I’ll do no such thing! I’m not old enough.”
“You’re older than most of us?”
“Then I’m not as experienced as Kyel and the other Leaders that fought in the first war.”
The Welken Royal stood up, “It’s not experience that makes the difference. It’s being able to see the things that everyone else misses.”
Luke smiled, “Trust me on this, he doesn’t miss much.”
Michael’s eyebrows came together in anger, “You should call Dad out of retirement and have him take the position.”
Audrey stood up and said, “We asked; he didn’t say no; he said hell no! And then he suggested you for the position.”
Michael looked at his sister, “Audrey, you know I’m not up to this!”
Audrey slowly shook her head, “Michael, you were in Dad’s mind long before any of us. You are the only one of his children to see his thoughts during the last fight with the Legends. You saw how his mind functioned and how he developed his strategies. We weren’t there then and by the time we came along, he didn’t think about it anymore. It brought back too many dark memories of what he did. You think like him. What you just suggested is exactly how he would plan to take on this new Legend Warship.” Laney listened to Audrey and looked at Stoney and Josh; both nodded. They agreed with Audrey.