“And they’re going to get nastier. If they win this war, one of them is going to come to the Milky Way and take control.”
Allison shook her head, “Chris, how can we fight them if we’re immobilized by fear?”
“That is going to have to be handled by our engineers. The thought blocking systems have to be greatly strengthened before we can take them on directly.”
Allison nodded, “That’s why we weren’t able to think clearly at their planet?” Chris nodded. “We had all the evidence we needed to know that they could not detect us in the barrier but we refused to do anything. Our fear paralyzed us.”
“But you overcame that fear to send out an order to destroy the probes. It is possible to do things even when you’re being assaulted by your emotions.”
“Now that I know it’s not real, I think I could do more.”
Chris nodded, “That’s the reason I could function when they moved past us. You can do it as well.”
“You felt that much fear!”
“Maybe more. I’m telepathic.”
Allison smiled, “I’m impressed. What do we do now?”
“We go back to the Legend’s planet and take a look at the ships that monster delivered. We are going to have to find out if we can stand up to them.”
“You will not go there and pick a fight.”
“That’s not my intention but why do you say that?”
“Because if you do and we happen to win, that monster ship will be called back.”
Chris smiled and nodded, “You’re right and we’re not anywhere near being ready to take on their tools much less their ships.”
“This looks worse than when the invaders originally attacked Earth.”
“Perhaps.”
“Get real, Chris!”
“They don’t know about the barrier and their ships are slower than the new pods. We haven’t fired a dark energy beam at one of their warships and, if they can damage them, we’re in better shape than you might think.” Allison tilted her head and nodded. Chris stared out of the viewport and turned to her, “Are you ready to build that fort?”
“What?”
“We have to take what we’ve found out back to the Leadership Team. I think you’re right about staying away from the Legends for the immediate future. The Team is going to need some time to mull over what we’ve learned and decide what should be done. We’re going to have some time. Actually, if we drew up a perfect plan to scout here, it couldn’t have been better than what actually happened. We determined the Progen’s new warship’s capabilities, we discovered there actually are Legends out in the universe and we recorded one of their ships and we now know they can’t detect us in the barrier. We could have made countless scouting trips to gather that information but we got it all in a very short time.”
“It actually sounds too good to be true.”
Chris paused and forced his face to remain neutral. He smiled and said, “Let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth.” He said, “Barbie, the ship is yours; take us home.”
The Pod’s thrusters ignited and they were in orbit above Earth in a few seconds. Allison sent the recordings to Fleet as Chris collected his things and left the ship to get Michael. He thought about the giant black Legend Warship but the memory of Allison crying in his arms kept interrupting his thoughts. His arms still tingled when he thought about it.
Chapter Fifteen
The Greatest Leader slammed the side of his tub with appendage after appendage. One would appear and hit the tub’s wall as another appeared to hit it again. The force of the strikes rocked the entire assembly the tub was hanging from. The other Leaders stayed in their tubs and waited for his rage to diminish. They understood his anger. The Legends had sent a ship that witnessed one of their newest warships in action. Now they were ordered to send the new technology to the Green Civilization. Their probes did not detect the Black Warship and the Legends wasted no time contacting the Greatest to issue their orders. The Leaders waited and knew they had no choice but to comply. The Audons were going to get their hard work and there was nothing they could do about it. They waited as the room reverberated with the blows of the Greatest against the walls of his tub.
The High Leader looked around the chamber at the new members of his civilization’s ruling council. Most of them served with him in the Fleet. They understood the dangers of being a Legend Tool. The Leader responsible for communications raised a large tail over his head, “It does appear to be true, First One. Our engineers have received the building plans for the new Progen Battleship and they agree that they are as far ahead of our ships as the Legends ships are ahead of them. We would stand no chance against this new warship they’ve built.”
The Audon Supreme Leader looked at the Council Member in silence as his tail moved up and down behind his body. It stopped for a moment and he said, “Do you think they sent everything to us?”
The Councilor shrugged his lower shoulders, “They have analyzed the plans and there are no holes in the systems. They all appear to be interconnected and nothing is missing from the circuitry. I also firmly believe that, even they, would not withhold anything. The Legends would see a difference in our ships from theirs and their Greatest Leader would pay the price for any omission.” The councilor looked up at the Leader, “The Legends have ordered us to rebuild our ships with this technology and to waste no time making it happen.”
The Leader’s tail disappeared, “Read exactly what their order says.”
“You will take the Progen Technology and update all your ships immediately!”
The Leader started nodding and the Councilor responsible for ship construction looked at him, “What are you thinking, First?”
“Did you get a printout of the power of the beams the Progen developed?”
“I did.”
“How does that beam compare to the beams used by the ships that attacked us during the invasion attempt?”
The Councilor shook his head, “It’s nowhere near as powerful.”
The Leader smiled, “Why do you think the Legends want us to update our ships?”
The eight Councilors stared at him in silence until the Political Councilor said, “They’re planning another invasion of the spiral galaxy.”
“Very good. And what do you think will happen if we participate in that invasion?”
The New Fleet Leader went to all fours and sat on his bottom arms, “With our combined forces, we will probably prevail against them but there will be massive losses in the process.”
The Leader nodded, “And with the Progen in command, whose vessels will lead the attack? How do all you feel about that?” His question was greeted with silence. The Leader’s tail reappeared behind his head and fanned out as it moved quickly side to side, “If I can’t depend on you to speak honestly with me, then I need others to lead!”
The Political said, “I say the Spiral Galaxy should be left alone.”
The Fleet Leader moved his head left and right and his deep-set yellow eyes took in the entire group, “They could have destroyed all of us if they chose but they allowed us to return and defend our planets. I have no taste to repay them by attacking them.” The Leader stared at him as he looked around at the other leaders, “I also suspect that it wouldn’t matter how many ships we send against them, they would maul us.”
The Leader’s tail slowed as it moved side-to-side showing his agreement, “Do any of you see anything different from this opinion?” All of their tails moved directly over their heads showing they didn’t.
The Council’s Communicator looked around and turned to the Leader, “What are we going to do?”
“Exactly what they’ve requested.” The Councilors looked at each other and the Leader said, “Order all of our ships to our construction facilities for the modifications.”