“Allison, they didn’t detect us.”
“They might have been traveling too fast.”
“I’m shutting down all non-essential systems and I’m going to move toward the Legends’ Planet until we can optically see what’s going on.”
“Chris, this is crazy!”
“Loree.”
“Yes!”
“I’m sending you what we recorded. Get it out to fleet and I’ll contact you later.”
“What are you doing, Chris?”
“That thing that destroyed our probes is a Black Ship that’s nearly the size of a small moon. It blew past us and did not see us in the barrier. I’m going to move until I can see it on my most powerful passive scanner. If it moves toward us, I’m going to run.”
“You shouldn’t be the one doing this!”
“I have the only ship in the fleet that can! We have to find out what’s going on!”
Chris shut down the communicator before Loree could respond. Allison began shutting down most of the systems on her panel, “I have the passive scanner searching ahead of us.”
“I’m going to give us a push and coast toward them.” Chris tapped the right pedal and watched the normal space monitor. The star the Legends’ Planet circled was a small light in the distance but it grew larger. Soon they passed the outer planets and the Legends’ Planet appeared on the monitor. He softly tapped the left pedal and the ship slowly came to a stop. Chris saw Allison was shaking almost uncontrollably. He said, “I’m not going to use my telepathy. Barbie, record that ship and anything it does along with any thoughts you hear. Allison, start the passive scanner recording.”
Allison nodded, pressed a button on her panel, and then pressed another. Chris looked at the central monitor and then both of them heard a loud thought flood their minds, “YOU DISGUST ME.”
“LORD, TEACH US WHAT TO DO.”
“I’VE DESTROYED MORE THAN A THOUSAND PROBES ON MY WAY TO YOUR PLANET. WHY HAVE YOU NOT REMOVED THEM!?”
“LORD, WE DEPEND ON OUR TOOLS TO PERFORM THAT FUNCTION.”
“THEN YOU NEED TO SELECT A BETTER TOOL!”
“THEY’RE THE BEST WE HAVE TO WORK WITH.”
“SEND OUT YOUR SHIPS IMMEDIATELY AND REMOVE ALL OF THEM.” Chris shook his head as hundreds of thousands of Black Ships orbiting the planet ignited their thrusters and blasted away. “WHO PUT THOSE PROBES HERE?”
“LORD, WE DON’T KNOW. WE WERE UNAWARE OF THEM.”
Chris didn’t want to do it but he activated his communicator, “LOREE, RUN!” He shut off the communicator and breathed a sigh of relief. His transmission wasn’t detected. Allison looked at him and shook her head. He nodded and mouthed, “No more.” Allison nodded again and turned back to the monitor as she fought her to control her shaking hands.
“IT APPEARS THERE IS A BETTER TOOL THAN THE ONE YOU’VE CHOSEN. FIND THEM AND FORCE THEM TO YOUR WILL.”
“YES LORD.”
“YOU CAN START BY COLLECTING ONE OF THOSE PROBES AND DETERMINE WHERE IT IS SENDING ITS SIGNALS.”
He looked at Allison as she pressed her panel. She quietly said, “Fleet. Destroy all our probes in M-87 immediately. This is a Red Flag Priority.” She turned off her panel and looked at the giant ship in orbit above the planet. After a moment, she started breathing again. She looked at Chris and he nodded. She was right to do it.
Jinks rushed into Lukas’s office, “We’ve received a message from Chris to destroy all our probes in M-87! It was a Red Flag!”
“JINKS DO IT NOW!”
Jinks nodded and ran out of his office talking loudly on his wrist unit.
“LORD, WE HAVE REPORTS OF THOUSANDS OF PROBES EXPLODING ALL OVER THE GALAXY!”
“THEY ARE WATCHING YOU! FIND THEM!”
Chris turned the bow away from the planet and pressed the right pedal to the floor. The Pod flew out of the giant galaxy in an instant and Chris brought it to a stop more than a million light years away. He looked at Allison and shook his head. “Gene, keep an antenna in the void and let me know if you see anything moving our way.”
Allison began pressing buttons and her panel lit up. Chris began activating his programs and he stared at the void and normal space monitors. His fear was almost overwhelming. After two hours, he deactivated his armor and saw Allison turn hers off as well. She jumped up and ran across the small bridge and threw herself in his arms and started weeping. Chris held her and stroked her hair. “We’re alright! We’re alright!”
Loree ordered her scouts out of M-87 and they went to full speed. The new battleships flew out of the galaxy at a speed that left M-87 quickly behind. The Montana flew into a dwarf galaxy circling M-87 as Loree looked at Janice, “Show me the last images we received from the probes!” Janice pressed a button and they saw a huge Black Ship moving quickly toward the probe. The view ended and other views began appearing. The Black Ships were moving toward the probes at an incredible speed in every image. Then the images stopped as the probes self-destructed. She looked at Janice.
“Sir, none of our probes are operational.”
“Did you get a reading on that black ship’s speed?”
“It was moving faster than we can fly, Sir.”
Loree punched her panel, “ALL SCOUTS, STOP AND ACTIVATE YOUR BLACK CLOUD! EVADE, EVADE, EVADE!”
Loree looked at Janice, “Sir, ten ships have failed to respond.”
Hawk looked at Loree and nodded toward the tactical monitor, “Sir!”
Loree looked at the monitor and saw a huge Black Ship blow past them at an incredible speed. “Take us into normal space and keep the cloud around us.” Hawk nodded as they saw the black ship start a wide turn on the monitor as they left the void.
The Montana entered normal space and Loree yelled, “RUN TO THAT MOON AND LAND IN A CRATER!. DO IT NOW!”
Hawk accelerated the huge battleship and dove into a deep, high walled crater. Loree grabbed her chair and knew they were going to crash. How Hawk managed to prevent it was beyond her. She looked at Janice, “Kill all power to the ship; keep the black mist flowing around us!”
“Sir, the bow is not completely covered, yet.”
The inside of the entire ship went black. The only light they could see on the bridge was through the small section of the view port not yet covered by the black mist where the top of the huge crater wall above them was in direct sunlight. She stared at the top of that wall and saw a giant shape pass over it. Then the dark cloud covered the entire ship and they were in pitch-black darkness.
Finally, Allison stopped crying and stood up, “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I almost ran to you.”
Allison wiped her face with her sleeve and shook her head, “Uh Unnn.”
“No, honestly.”
She exhaled and moved back to her chair. “How long are we going to stay here?”
“We’re leaving now.”
“Where are we going? Please don’t say back to that planet!”
“No.” Chris looked up, “Barbie, do you know the coordinates of the place that ship entered M-87?”
“No, but they should be easy to determine. I have the line it followed on its way in.”
“You have the ship. Take us to a location far enough out where we will be able to see if that ship leaves.” The ship moved back toward M-87.
“Chris, I have us three hundred thousand miles out. Our optical system should be able to get a very good view if that vessel returns this way.”
“Thanks, Barbie. I want you to activate the receiving portion of your telepathy module. Focus in on the Legend’s and convert what you hear to our speakers.”
“Is that a good idea!?”
Chris looked at Allison and saw her fear, “They won’t be able to detect anyone listening.”