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  The Father slowly shook his eye stalks; Grandfather was much smarter than him; “I’ll issue the orders to make that happen.”

  “Don’t say anything overtly; I don’t want to make this obvious.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll just move family units around and delay their landings.”

  “That would be good, Son.”

  The Senior Father saw his panel go dark and he walked to the view port. That family going to the large galaxy was in for a surprise. The council still hadn’t determined how the ten million ships had been destroyed. He suspected a certain civilization that flew small green ships was responsible. He looked over his shoulder, “Call my oldest son here.”

  His youngest daughter left his office to bring the oldest son to the Father’s presence.

  ***

  “Sandi, he can’t be as bad as you say.”

  “He’s a freaking tyrant! All the other groups are back at base and he’s still having us conduct micro-jumps for three more hours. He won’t listen to anything we suggest.”

  Mikki looked at Bang and he took a deep breath and nodded. Mikki shook her head for a moment and said, “Would you like to trade places?”

  Sandi looked at Mikki like she had two heads, “Are you crazy?”

  “I hate to see you suffer like this. I’m willing to request a transfer to his team.”

  Sandi’s smile was immediate, “You’d do that for me?”

  “You have a love interest in one of the other wings. I’m pretty much alone and the additional hours wouldn’t really matter.”

  “Will you go with me to Captain Lambert and make the request?”

  Mikki looked at Bang who was trying to shake his head where Sandi couldn’t see him. Mikki sighed and said, “You’ll owe me if she allows the trade.”

  “I’ll give you anything you want. Let’s go see if the Captain is available.”

  The two stood and Mikki looked back and saw Bang shaking his head.

  ***

  Lilly looked at Mikki and agreed with Sandi; she was out of her mind to choose to serve with the Hermit Coward. “Why do you want this, Ensign? Do you owe this officer something to cause you to do something this stupid?”

  “Sir, if he’s that bad, why is he still in the service?”

  “He probably won’t be after the next attack.” Lilly stared at the two and slowly shook her head. She decided that it was better if someone wanted to serve with the coward rather than someone forced to do it, “I’ll notify Lt. Robinson of the change.” Sandi tried not to grin but couldn’t stop herself. Lilly stared at them for a moment, “Both of you have some catching up to do; however, training has only been going for a week. If you had waited any longer, I wouldn’t have approved it. Go and report to your new commanders.”

  Lilly watched them leave and pulled up Mikki’s training file on her display. She shook her head and almost called them back. The young woman was number one in her class in tactical maneuvers. She stopped herself and wondered what the ensign saw in the loner known as Chip Robinson. The Squadron had christened him the Hermit. She decided to allow the transfer and made a note to herself to keep a close eye on what happened.

  ***

  “Chip.”

  “Yeah, Salud.”

  “It appears that Ensign Shrews had transferred to another group.” Chip looked up from his display in silence. “It appears the one that’s taking her place asked for the transfer.”

  “Is she out of her mind?”

  “Actually, her training records are quite interesting.”

  “How so?”

  “She was number one in her class at tactical maneuvers. She was second in weapons.”

  Chip leaned back in his chair, “That doesn’t make sense. She should know teaming up with me is a sure fire way to be killed and never get promoted.”

  “I wonder why she made this happen.”

  “How do you know she instigated the change?”

  Salud actually snorted, “Sandi is a pretty good pilot but do you think she could persuade a collie to eat a pork chop?” Chip stared laughing and couldn’t stop. “Do you?”

  Chip laughed harder and finally managed to say, “Where did you get your sense of humor?”

  “You know it’s in you; you just never use it.”

  “Please contact my two babies and have them report to me…now.”

  “It’s after hours.”

  “And?”

  “I’ve sent the message.”

  Chip sat in his small office located in the front room of his living quarters. He expected the two would take at least an hour to show up but both of them arrived eight minutes after Salud sent the message. Chip didn’t want to be, but was impressed. He sized up the new ensign and saw she was very composed. She exhibited no nervousness. The same couldn’t be said for Ensign Cuban. They stood at attention in front of his desk and after a moment he said, “At ease; take a chair.”

  Chip looked at Ensign Martin and then turned to Bang, “Would you mind telling me why you and Ensign Shrews decided to disrupt my training schedule.” Bang looked very uncomfortable , “Didn’t you warn her of what she was getting herself in to?”

  “We both told her, Sir, and I tried to stop her but she wouldn’t listen.”

  Chip stared at Bang and for the first time respected the young sailor. It took guts to say that to his commander. He looked at Mikki and said, “Well!”

  “Sir, Bang, Sandi, and I were in the same class at the academy. I’ve been waiting for them to arrive each evening to discuss the day’s events so I’ve had a ringside seat hearing your training methods.”

  Chip glanced at Bang and said, “You have?”

  “Yes Sir; and I’m extremely curious about why you’re working so hard on micro-jumps. The only thing I could come up with was that Sandi and Bang were going to be used as a distraction while you did the heavy lifting.”

  Bang looked at Mikki with obvious confusion and Chip said, “She’s right.” Bang looked at Chip as he said, “Go on.”

  “I’ve heard all the scuttlebutt about you and how everyone thinks you’re a coward.” She watched Chip’s face closely but he showed absolutely no emotion. “So, I decided to see what I could learn about you.”

  “And what did you discover?”

  “I have a professor that likes me at the academy and he sent me a copy of your training files.”

  Chip leaned back, “You know that is a violation of privacy.”

  “Yes, but you’d do the same. I ignored most of it and went straight to the mental tests you took prior to entering the academy.”

  Chip’s lips showed a sneer, “And what did you find out?”

  “If you aren’t the most brilliant person I’ve ever encountered, I don’t know who would be.”

  Bang was shocked at the statement. Could this be true?

  Chip just stared at Mikki and she said, “I wondered why you didn’t excel at the academy and it dawned on me that you have no patience for anyone that’s an idiot. I noticed in your first class that you had a run in with the professor and I personally think that colored your career decisions.”

  “He was quite the consummate imbecile.”

  “That convinced me that you are more than you appear and, after that, I determined that if I want to survive my first battle, and most of the other newbies didn’t, I needed to team up with you…Sir.”

  Chip stared at her and the silence was deafening. “There’s another question you haven’t mentioned, Ensign.”

  “I don’t have an answer for that issue and I don’t expect you’ll give me the answer.”

  Bang said, “What question was that, Mikki?”

  “He’s described as a coward.”

  Bang looked at Chip, “Are you?” Chip just stared at him saying nothing. “I’m putting my life in your hands, Sir.”

  “And you think that gives you the right to know?”

  “Yes Sir, it does.”

  Chip stared at the two sailors and took a dee
p breath. He blew it out slowly and leaned forward, “I decided I was going to serve my time and get out of the Navy. I would volunteer for nothing and do only what I was ordered to do. I took out the Invader Battleship I was assigned and I received no further orders; so I stayed at my target and waited for instructions.” Chip paused and took another breath. “While I was waiting at my target, the only two friends I made at the academy were killed by an Invader Battleship less than two seconds from my location. I never heard about their danger because I always turned off ship-to-ship during maneuvers. I could have saved them…or at least made the effort. Now they’re dead.”

  Mikki waited and when Chip remained silent she said, “Something changed.” Chip raised his eyebrows. “If you were a coward, you would not be working your team as hard as you’ve been doing.”

  Chip looked at Mikki and his expression was deadly, “I will not allow that to happen again. My goal is to kill as many Invaders as I can and then kill some more. Choosing to transfer to my team was a mistake, Ensign,”

  Mikki shrugged, “Not really.”

  “Oh?”

  “If you’re applying that massive intelligence you’ve been blessed with at making sure Bang and I don’t get killed, I suspect being with you will be the safest place to be in a space battle.” Mikki paused, “Which makes me wonder why you’re training your two team members to be a distraction.”

  Chip shook his head, “Ensign, are you always this blunt?”

  “I guess.”

  Chip thought about it and made up his mind, “I’ve violated about eight hundred fleet regulations.” Bang sat up straighter and even Mikki was surprised by the remark. He stood and then walked around his desk, “Come with me.”

  They went to the landing field and followed Chip into his ship. He took them to the missile magazine and opened the door to the missile belts. Mikki and Bang looked in and were confused at what they were seeing. Chip waited to see if this big mouthed ensign was as smart as he thought. After eight minutes, it was Bang that surprised him, “You set up the missiles to fire groups of three.”

  Mikki smiled, “The gap between the first two and the third will ensure the proper spacing of the hits.”

  Bang stared at the belt, “Why the empty holder between the groups?”

  “The launchers are programed to automatically launch any missile that’s loaded.”

  Mikki stared nodding, “You need us to distract the Invader ship so you can get a shot off from close range.”

  “That’s the plan.”

  Bang looked at Chip, “Why didn’t you tell us about this, Sir?”

  Chip smirked, “Do you think Ensign Shrews wouldn’t have turned me in for all the violations of ship modifications?”

  Bang looked at Chip, “What makes you think I wouldn’t?”

  “By all means, have at it.”

  “I’m not going to do that.”

  “Why not?”

  “I understand why you’ve been working us in making micro-jumps. The jumps are timed to avoid the four tenths of a second the Invader’s beams need to lock on us.”

  “That is a remarkable insight, Ensign; however, you’ve been making straight jumps; those are easy. The Invaders will time your jumps and fire a beam in your path. You have to learn how to make spiral micro-jumps around their ships.”

  Bang looked at Mikki shaking his head, “You wanted Sandi to trade. You didn’t do it for her.”

  Mikki smiled, “No, I did it for me.”

  “She could get killed.”

  “That’s karma.”

  Bang looked at Chip, “Sir, however long it takes to get this done, I’ll give you my best effort. I can live on six hours sleep.”

  “But I can’t.”

  Mikki smiled, “When are we going to modify our ships?”

  “Not until this is tried in actual combat. I might need the two of you to save me if it fails.”

  Mikki shook her head, “You’re going to have to get very close to get the shot off and not have it burned.”

  “I know.”

  “How are you going to do it?”

  “The same way you’ll be making your jumps around the ship.” They looked at him with questions in their eyes and Chip shook his head, “I’ll discuss that with you after you master the spiral jumps.” He saw their disappointment and nodded toward the bay door, “Now go get some sleep. We start early in the morning.”

  Mikki and Bang walked back toward their living quarters and Bang said, “He’s not what I thought. The squadron is wrong about him.”

  Mikki grabbed his arm and stopped him, “You will not come to his defense.”

  “Why?”

  “That would cause too many questions. Just nod and act like you’re suffering; you’ve had lots of practice.” Bang stared at her. “Those violations are real. Right now, no one wants to be around him. He needs that to protect him from anyone seeing the changes to his ship.”

  Bang nodded, “You’re right; mums the word. Are you going to make Sandi pay for making the change?”

  “You better believe it.”

  Bang laughed, “Good.”

  Chapter Ten

  The Grandfather looked up at his oldest son as he read the scouting reports, “It appears your brother didn’t do a good job of communicating what was going on in that galaxy.”

  “I feel part of that blame belongs to the family he was sent to advise. I suspect he was a tool for them.”

  “How so?”

  “You know he was smart but bravery has never been one of his strong points. He was careful to a fault. It was out of character for him to lead the first invasion.”

  The Grandfather turned all six eyestalks at his son, “Then why did he do it?”

  “The only quality he possessed that was stronger than everything else was ambition. I suspect the other Senior Father simply pointed out how much glory would be given to the one making the first attack.”

  The Grandfather swelled in size and moved the top of his body back, “That would have done it.”

  “I also suspect the plans for the invasion were not destroyed in his attack. I know that family must still have a copy.”

  “Yes, but we can’t prove it and I know they won’t give it to us. I called for their Grandfather to be executed.”

  The Son leaned forward, “That wasn’t a good idea.”

  “I see that now; however, I had to make an effort to place the blame with the other family.”

  “And now here we are.”

  The Grandfather leaned right indicating a shrug, “What are you planning to do?”

  “Do my best not to get our family killed.”

  “You think the danger is that great?”

  “I do; how was our fleet destroyed?” The Grandfather sat in silence. “More than nine million ships were blasted out of existence and no one knows how it was done. The Scouts that escaped recorded a very powerful, organized attack immediately after they arrived at their assigned coordinates. The removal of our probes a year ago indicates they know about our plans to invade and the civilizations there have united to meet us.”

  “Should I suggest to the Council that we avoid that galaxy?”

  “You can make a case for it but I suspect that will just harden their resolve to attack.”

  “Why?”

  “Now that we’ve attacked that galaxy three times, do you think they’re just going to forget it? No, the council will see that the civilizations there will come after us now to prevent a future invasion; I know that’s what I’d do in their place.”

  “Son, you should replace me on the council. You’re much smarter and wiser than I am.”

  The Son swelled and then deflated, “No, we don’t have another Senior Father qualified to lead us during this dangerous time. My place is here.”

  “So what are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to be forced to launch a major scouting attack. I’m not sending just one ship to scout; I’m sending them in groups of four.”<
br />
  “Why four?”

  “So they can have protective coverage for each other. I’ve seen the scout reports and more might have survived if they had multiple fields of fire around them.”

  “How many are you sending?”

  “A million groups of four ships each. They’re getting their assignments now. They’ll launch in five days.”

  ***

  Drey and Ian watched the giant gathering of ships outside a distant galaxy on the main display. Drey let the patterns of the ships flow through his mind and said, “They’re doing something.”

  Ian nodded and looked up, “Moe, can you see any pattern in their movements?”

  “They’re trying to hide what they’re doing but they are organizing an attack.”

  “What do you mean hide?”

  “I suspect they think they’re being watched. However, ships are being loaded with provisions throughout that mass gathering and the numbers indicate an attack is going to be launched.”

  “How many ships?”

  “Between three and five million.”

  “Can you determine how they’ll come in?”

  “No; but I can make a guess.”

  Drey leaned forward, “Have at it.”

  “They launched a million scouts in their last invasion. That would indicate they have the locations of that many civilizations in their databanks. I honestly don’t think they’re going to launch ships to just cruise around and casually look around for what’s going on here. All of the ships will have a target and I think they’ll be going back to their targets from the last attack.”

  Drey looked at Ian, “They’re sending in groups of ships instead of just one scout.”

  Ian shook his head, “That is not good. Just killing one of those ships is a dangerous undertaking. If they provide covering fire for each other, we are going to lose ships.”

  “And planets.”

  Ian looked quickly up at the speaker, “Planets?”

  “The targets during the last invasion were the main planets of those civilizations. I suspect they want to remove the galaxy’s leadership. They won’t just be scouting; they’ll attempt to destroy their targets.”

  Ian looked at Drey, “Do we have enough dreadnaughts to disrupt space around those worlds?”