The Johan stood and said, “I don’t have anything to add to what’s been said. My concern revolves around what we’re going to do about them.”
He sat down and the Welken Royal looked around the room and then turned to Lukas, “The Goran Leader said that he believes M-87 will be the first target. Is this the consensus of our military leaders?” Lukas nodded. “Why, if they know our galaxy is responsible for the deaths of the Legends in M-87.”
Lukas looked at Michael. He looked at the Welken, “It’s our belief that they don’t know our galaxy is responsible.” There was an intake of air by everyone present and Michael said, “Please remember that the only ships present at the Legend Planet when it was destroyed were the Silver Ships. The Legends on the planet had never seen them before that moment and we believe they thought those ships belonged to the Sentinels that came there at the end. My father kept our ships away from that attack and I’m pretty certain the Legends in Pandora have no records of the Silver Ships.”
The Welken Royal looked down the table and saw the other leaders digesting the information. He looked out at his Fleet Leader and saw Kyel shrug and then nod. “So them coming here after M-87 would be to consume the Goran?”
Michael nodded, “That’s how we see it.”
The Royal leaned back in his chair and stared at Michael, “So what do we do about it?”
Michael looked at Lukas, who said, “It’s your show now.”
Michael sat down and said, “Computer, summarize all statements.” The wall monitor with everything that had been discussed suddenly changed and a short list appeared. Michael read, “The Mental Vampires, matching up with the new warships, coming up with a way to fly faster; have I left anything out?”
The Welken smiled, “I think that would be more than I expect if you have a way to get around just those three.”
Michael nodded, “I’ll start with the first.” He looked at the rows of fleet officers and said, “Starting immediately, no one in the Alliance Forces will be onboard their ships without wearing a thought blocker and that holds doubly for the Goran. We have developed a new band that can be worn without having to activate their armor but make sure that anyone who violates this order will be subject to execution. It is imperative that those telepaths do not learn our technology, our plans, or anything about the location of our species.” Michael looked at the flag officers and said, “Is that understood?”
The entire group yelled, “YES SIR!”
Michael turned to the Leaders and scientists, “Hengel has developed a method of setting an ambush for those telepaths and he is going to train ten thousand scouts on how to use it. How this is done will be included in the handout you receive after the meeting is over. The decoys will be built at the Goran Capital Planet and the scouts will leave as soon as enough are ready.”
Michael looked at the Welken Royal, “I sent a message out to our Leaders a while back letting you know that we’ve found a way to increase the thickness of the silver coating on our ships.”
The Royal nodded, “I remember reading it. How much thicker can you make it now?”
Michael turned around and looked at Nudge and Budge, “The Blaine Twins discovered the process and the Alliance owes them more than we can ever repay for all of their inventions.” The Twins smiled and both had red faces. Michael turned back to the Royal, “The newest warship we’ve developed has a silver hull six feet thick.” Silence slammed down on the room and even the Royal was stunned by the remark. Michael smiled, “We’ve added three heavy round tubes on the bottom of the new ships that should be able to penetrate the Monster Warship’s hull and blow the living hell out of it. This new round is stable and can be used during a space battle. We’re uncertain about how long these new ships can withstand a full volley of the giant disruptors but we believe it will be long enough to get close enough to take a shot at them.”
The Goran thought, “How many of these new ships do we have?”
“That’s the fly in this ointment. It takes time to build the electronic systems that can be extended through the hull. The conduits for them are already in place before the coating is applied but you can imagine the difficulty at making that happen. The first ships will come on line starting tomorrow and I along with my personal bodyguards will take ownership of the first two. We’ve been training more than five hundred pilots on how to fly them and they will also start flight training the same day.”
The Myot shook his head, “Only five hundred ships?”
Michael tilted his head, “It takes two to fly these ships. The first squadron will start with two hundred and eight ships.” The room was silent and then Michael said, “As with most things, getting something started is the most difficult thing to accomplish. All of the mistakes in this ship’s development have been ironed out and, whereas it’s taken us six months to build two hundred and sixty of these ships, we expect to start producing about a thousand a week from this point forward.” A cheer erupted from the room but Michael saw the Welken’s expression. He held up his hands and the room grew silent. “I know you are aware that we are going to have to face millions of the smaller Monster Battleships and tens of thousands of the larger model. I understand your concern.” The Royal nodded. “You have to factor in that there are more than a billion Silver Ships and they are also going through the process of growing their hulls. It doesn’t take them more than a day to complete that process.” The Welken’s expression changed to a smile. He had forgotten about their ally because they were not in the room.
The Audon said, “You’ve answered the first two, what about the third?”
“You’re talking about our loss of speed?”
“Yes.” Michael leaned back in his chair and put his hand on his chin. He was silent for a long moment and the Audon Leader said, “You’ve not come up with a way around that obstacle?”
Lukas, Luke, Salud, and Jinks all looked at Michael shaking their heads. The Welken Royal saw them and said, “Why are they trying to prevent you from saying something?”
Michael looked at him and sighed, “They’re afraid if I do that everyone in this room, with one exception, will think I’m either crazy of insane.” The Alliance Leaders stared at Michael and he said, “It’s better I remain silent.”
“I don’t think so. The thing about you humans that has given me comfort in our dealings is that you have always been open and honest with us. Now is not the time to start hiding things.”
Talel stood up among the Admirals and said, “Does this have something to do with what we discussed?” Michael nodded. Talel shook his head, “There’s no way anyone here will understand what you’ve come up with.”
The Welken looked at Talel, “Who are you to make that decision?”
The Goran Leader looked down the table at the Welken, “Talel is the most brilliant military leader in our species. If he could not understand it, I suspect I wouldn’t as well. Are you challenging his intelligence?”
The Welken stared at the Goran and looked at Lukas, “Do you understand it?”
Lukas shook his head, “Not even close.” The Welken looked at Salud who had been a professor at MIT studying high-energy fields. She saw him look at her and shook her head. The Welken turned back to the Goran, “Please accept my apology. It’s obvious I didn’t have all the facts.” The Goran nodded. The Welken turned back to Michael and said, “However that does not remove my objection to things being hidden. Even if we don’t understand, I want to hear it. Nothing you can say will shock me!”
Jan knew what was coming. She remembered Michael’s expression and she shook her head. Michael looked out at the gathering and said in a matter of fact tone, “Space does not exist.”