“Perhaps there are races that are more tolerant than your own. I want you to think about what would have happened if that buoy you destroyed happened to be a black hole instead.”
With that the First Male jumped off the construct and began flying around the planet in attack mode. Finally he slowed down and said, “We will totally destroy you and everyone associated with you.”
“If you could do it you would have already done it,” Cassandra said.
The First Male was furious. His warriors were now attacking the broadcasting buoys without having to be ordered; buoy number three hundred and three stopped.
“How many races have you destroyed in your long history,” Cassandra asked.
“More than a million.”
“And you feel no remorse for that?”
“No, the eight legs would have killed all of them, we just did it first.”
Cassandra looked at Tommy and then said, “Eight legs?”
“They harvest this universe for intelligent life then move on to another universe. No civilization will live past them.”
Cassandra said, “You did.”
“Yes, but they can’t see us. Every other race is just food for them. Destroying other races means nothing; they would be killed any way eventually.”
Buoy four hundred and seventy nine stopped broadcasting. “There is one thing you have not considered in your point of view.”
The First Male said, “What is that?”
“We can see you.”
The five hundred and ninety sixth buoy was destroyed. The first male broadcast, “So what.”
Suddenly, the strange white ship materialized next to the construct and he heard in his mind, “This is your last warning. If you want peace, we will discuss it, however, if you attack us, we will move to destroy you.”
Ten thousand ships rushed toward the intruder and the First Male saw black balls fly from the hull of the ship and start hitting the ships rushing in. The giant red ships that were hit by one of those balls stopped dead still and imploded into nothingness. All ten thousand ships were vaporized into seconds, not even dust remained. Then he heard, you have the frequency to contact us. If it’s war you want, we are ready to bring it to you. You have one revolution of the planet below you to contact us.” The intruder disappeared from the planet as a million ships rushed at it.
The First Male did not know if they left out of fear of that many ships or because of their agreement. The uncertainty of which one it was unnerved him. Then he could not help himself, his instinct drove him to fly around looking for the intruder. How stupid of the strange ship, they must think that he had a choice about attacking. That action was reflex; he could not do anything else. It was ingrained into his genes over millions of years of selective breeding. Anyone or thing that came near or even knew about the nest must be destroyed. That ship must be found and eliminated.
Tommy looked over at Wes and said, “Did you record both ends of the conversation?”
“Yes Sir, I did.”
“Sprig, what do you think about Captain Dodd’s idea of dropping a black hole on their planet?”
“It’s a great idea. How are you going to do it?”
Tommy looked at him and said, “Just like you dropped the buoy; teleport it in.”
Sprig leaned forward to show his discomfort and then said, “I’m afraid we can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because sending a black hole big enough to cause any damage to the planet would disrupt the field before it could go through. The gravity from it would cause the field to collapse.”
“Well, it was a good idea while it lasted. When do you and Twig want to start working on converting a megaship?”
“Where are the ships,” Twig asked?”
“They are waiting for you at the learning facility.”
“We’re on our way,” and they adolescents left the bridge.
The conference was a large one. All the major leaders were present and many of the Realm’s elected officials were present. This one was being done in person and the conference room at the Government Center on Ross was full. Only the ones on the raised dais were allowed to speak during the conference but many of the assembled crowd didn’t care. This was history being made.
Tommy had just completed playing the recording of the conversation with the first male and the room was silent. Rose said, “Did they answer?”
Cassandra said, “We have received no transmission.”
“I wish I could be certain of their answer,” Rose said.
Tommy said, “That’s easy enough to find out.” Rose and all the other attendees looked at him. Tommy lifted his com and said, Lt. McAnn, please transport the buoy now.” Tommy looked back at rose and said, “I’ve just teleported a buoy five light years from their home world. Captain Dodd, if you will ask for their answer.”
Cassandra talked as she thought to the buoy. “I am trying to speak with the leader of the red ships. We have not received an answer from you.” Almost immediately the buoy stopped transmitting.
“Well, that didn’t take long, they found that buoy in less than a minute,” Tommy said.
Rose said, “Then its war to the death. Unfortunately, the only weapon we have to use is the Kosiev.”
“Perhaps,” Tommy said, “however the adolescents think that they can produce more ships like the Kosiev and I’ve learned not to bet against their hunches.”
Danielle said, “What are these so called “eight legs” the Captor spoke about?”
Cassandra said, “I was listening to him telepathically and I saw a picture in his mind of huge clouds of planet sized green ships flying through a galaxy like a plague of locusts. I don’t know if it was real or just a metaphor but I do believe he was being truthful.”
“Do any of you feel any danger when you think about what he said,” Rose asked the group at the center table.” All of the gathered psychics shook their heads. “Well, if he was truthful, they are not a danger to us in the near future. Let’s deal with one crisis at a time. Does anyone have a suggestion about what our first course of action should be?”
Misty Nicole said, “I want to kick them out of our solar system. They killed more than half a million people and they should pay a price for their actions.”
Rose looked at Tommy and said, “What do you think; the home world or Earth first?”
“Earth should be first. I don’t want to run the risk of Atlas’ kin being destroyed if we fail in our first attack. Captain Dodd, do you agree?”
Cassandra closed her eyes and said, “Yes, Earth should be first. I need some space to flex my strength.”
Rose, Tgon-Gee, Tag, Danielle, and Tommy all worried about her remark. Everyone knew that her strength was an unknown quantity but they all suspected it was massive.
“Then Earth it is.”
“As the conference continued Cassandra thought to Tommy, “We need to go look in on the adolescent’s efforts.”
“Why don’t you go ahead and take the Kosiev. I’ll join you with Atlas later.”
“Don’t be long, I miss you already.”
Tommy smiled and thought, “You just made my day. Keep me informed.”
Cassandra got up and left the conference. On the way to the shuttle she commed Wes, “Prepare the ship for a jump to the learning center; I’m on my way.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,”
The Kosiev came out of null space and its battle alarms went off a full blast. The crew scurried to their stations while Wes read the ship’s sensors. “We have a megaship on fire off the port bow, Captain”
Cassandra looked at her view screen and saw a megaship totally burning. The bright glow was coming from its covering of Coronado power cells. The Kosievs’ intercom came on with Sprig saying, “Everything is ok, we just made a mistake and as you can see, the results were somewhat dramatic.”
Wes said under his breath, “Not as dramatic as the deck three toilet.”
Cassandra smiled and said, “Yes, but these are in 3D.”