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  The display went dark and the Sixth stared at the first. The Eighth Councilor stood and said, “First Councilor, you told us that the Councilor from Aeredom volunteered to send his ships to search.”

  The Sixth said, “The Third Councilor was the First’s major opposition on the Council. This disposed of him. He only had to kill eighty billion of our citizens to do it.” The Sixth turned to the Admiral and said, “Why was the Sub-Admiral of the fleet protecting Aeredom executed?”

  The Admiral stood and said, “As all of you know, no officer in the military can order the execution of another flag officer. I had nothing to do with that execution.”

  The Tenth Councilor shouted, “Then who ordered it?”

  No one spoke and after a long moment of silence the Sixth said, “Why don’t we see who ordered his execution.” He looked at the back of the room, the door opened, and a Ship Commander entered and moved into the center of the chamber. The Sixth looked at him and said, “You executed the Sub-Admiral on your ship after the destruction of Aeredom.”

  “I did.”

  “Why did you do that?”

  “I received an order from the High Council to do so, Councilor.”

  “Who gave you that order?”

  • • •

  The First looked around the room and knew that he had the majority of the Councilors in his pocket but he saw that many of his supporters were showing shock at what was being said. He began to feel something he had not felt in years…fear.

  • • •

  “The order came directly from the Second Councilor.”

  The entire room turned and looked at the Second. The Sixth turned to the Second and said, “Why did you order his execution?”

  The Second said, “Someone was going to pay for the loss of Aeredom. He was the commander of the fleet that failed to defend it.”

  The Sixth looked at him and said, “That might be true if he wasn’t ordered to leave. If he was ordered to take his fleet away, then he is guilty of nothing. By executing him, the one that ordered his fleet to leave would not be known.” The Sixth turned back to the Admiral and smiled, “Admiral, who ordered the ships to leave Aeredom?”

  The Admiral knew that the critical moment had come. He had to decide what to do and he finally chose to do his duty, “You know I can’t give you that information.”

  The room erupted in shouts and the Sixth held up his arms. The room grew silent and he turned back to the Admiral, “And why is that?”

  The Admiral looked the Sixth in the eyes and said, “The High Council has passed laws regarding Prime Orders. No officer may reveal the contents of a Prime Order to anyone but the First Councilor. Failure to follow that rule is cause for execution.”

  The Sixth looked up at the First and said, “Please ask the Admiral who ordered the fleet away from Aeredom.”

  The First stared at the Sixth with his hatred on his face, “I will not participate in this treasonous attempt to overthrow my position.”

  The Sixth looked at the First and then looked at the Admiral, “You can’t reveal Prime Orders, but you can testify to intelligence you had before the fleet was removed. Admiral, what was the Military’s view on whether or not our planets were being watched by the enemy?”

  The Admiral didn’t blink, “We were of the opinion that they were probably being watched.” The gasps in the chamber were loud.

  “Did you share that information with the First?”

  “I did.”

  “After the destruction of Aeredom, why did you remove the ships from Munnik?”

  “That is another Prime Order, Councilor.”

  The Sixth said, “Well, let me ask you this. After Aeredom was destroyed, what probability did the military have about whether or not our planets were being watched?”

  The Admiral stared straight ahead and said, “We determined that there was an eighty five percent probability that they were being watched.”

  The Sixth turned back to the room and said, “After the Third Councilor died on Aeredom, the next leader of the opposition was from what planet?” The Sixth didn’t answer the question; everyone in the room already knew.

  The Sixth turned back to the Admiral, “Knowing that, you ordered the ships away from Munnik.”

  The Admiral stared at the Sixth and said, “If you issued a Prime Order to any officer in the Military and they didn’t follow it; what would you do, Councilor?”

  “You could have told someone.”

  “And been given a death sentence for doing so; I fight at the orders of the High Council. It is not for me to question those orders but to do as I am directed. If the military starts questioning its orders, we are all in danger. It is the duty of the High Council to make sure those orders are good ones.”

  The Sixth stared at the Admiral and slowly nodded his head. He turned around and said, “It’s rare to find an honorable warrior.” He paused and said, “I call for a vote.”

  The First said, “I have not been allowed to offer a defense.”

  The Sixth turned and said, “You may defend all you choose immediately after you release this officer to tell us who ordered Aeredom’s and Munich’s fleets away.” He looked out at the Councilors and said, “You can see your destiny in what happened to them if you ever cross the First.”

  The Sixth turned to the First and raised his eyebrows. The First said, “We have to find the enemies home worlds…”

  The Sixth interrupted, “First, release the Admiral.”

  The First looked out at the room and knew if he did release the Admiral, that he was dead. He sat back in his chair and said, “Take your vote. You’ll be tried for treason after it’s done.”

  The Sixth looked up at the Second Councilor and he stood and began calling the roll. He saw before the vote was halfway concluded which way the vote was going to go.

  The Admiral watched the vote and knew his life was over. He thought about all that had happened and decided that the system they used was flawed. He knew that he could at least die knowing that he had followed his orders and done his best to defend the Council.

  At the conclusion of the vote the newscasters were allowed to record the First Councilor’s execution outside the huge government building. His screams didn’t end until the blaster bolts hit him.

  Chapter Eight

  Dee looked up, “I have a message coming in from Moe.”

  Doc looked away from his helmet display, “What is it?”

  “If we encounter one of the FTL Destroyers, run as fast as possible.”

  Doc leaned back in his chair, “I was afraid of that. What did they find out?”

  “Give me a moment; Nise, can you take my thoughts and provide a printout of that ship?”

  “I’ll have it done momentarily.”

  Doc looked at Dee and said, “Why did you name your computer Nise?”

  Dee sighed, “The letter D was taken by Dom and Dee is short for Denise.”

  “Really?”

  “Yep.” Doc shrugged and Dee said, “What?”

  “It fits.”

  “Oh.”

  “The diagram is on the display.”

  “Thanks, Nise.” Dee looked up at the diagram and said, “They’ve added reactors for the force field.”

  “They probably supplement the beams as well.” Doc looked closer at the diagram and said, “Nise, what do we know about that cannon that disrupts space?”

  “Cole is of the opinion that the ship will have to be in normal space to fire it.”

  Dee looked at the cannon and said, “What are you thinking?”

  “We couldn’t react fast enough in our old ships but the Sigmas might be able to do it.”

  “Do what?”

  “Drey, how long would it take you to see one of those ships emerge into normal space and jump us a light second away?”

  “About a half a second.”

  “Nise, the same question.”

  “I could jump us before the ship was halfway into normal space.”
Dee looked at Doc and he said, “Nise controls the scanners. She would detect it and see it before Drey would.”

  “What are you thinking?”

  “Nise, could you fire some FTL Missiles at the Slaver Ship before you jumped?”

  “Only six; I’d have to fire them from the upper decks before they went into other space.”

  Doc shook his head, “It’s a good thing the Sigmas have two computers. I don’t think one could do it. Nise, set as an automatic protocol to jump us away the instant you detect one of those ships.”

  “You also want the missiles fired as well don’t you?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Done.”

  “Dee, contact Dom and tell him what we just set up and tell him to duplicate the process. He narrowly missed the one that jumped in after his first attack.”

  Dee closed her eyes and the Obelisk relayed the message. She looked out and said, “Getting a scanner in all the farm worlds will take forever.”

  “We won’t be doing it much longer.”

  “Oh?”

  “Gary has fifty crews trained and they’ll be joining us in a week. Six of them will continue the seeding of the scanners and the others will start attacking the planets we’ve found.”

  “Doc, how long do you think it’s going to take them to start disrupting space around their planets?”

  Doc shook his head, “I’m surprised they haven’t already started that process. It shouldn’t take them much longer to figure that out.”

  “What are we going to be able to do if that happens?”

  “Take what they give us.”

  “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “They can’t have it both ways. Either they will place the new battleships at the outer edge of the disruption to prevent us from coming in FTL or they’ll place them just above the planet. They are vulnerable either way they choose to do it.”

  Dee closed her eyes and said, “You’re right.”

  Doc smiled and shook his head, “You got it that fast?”

  “If the ships at the planet moving the food supplies out of the disrupted area are not protected at the edge of the disruption, we can hit them before they get out. If the battleship escorts them out to the edge, the loading facility on the planet is vulnerable.”

  Doc nodded, “They’ll have to have two ships to adequately protect their shipments.”

  “Which means they’ll need more than a million to defend all their farm worlds.”

  “Or they could send the ships to search, while thousands of their main worlds starve. Either way, they’re in a lose-lose situation.”

  Dee yawned and said, “We should take advantage of the current lull in their operations.” Doc raised his eyebrows. “We’re placing scanners in their farm worlds’ systems. What’s preventing us from hitting the shipping facilities on the planet before we leave?”

  “It will slow down the seeding of scanners.”

  “We’ll be able to seed their systems any time we choose. Having an opportunity to hit their production and shipping facilities on their planets may not be so easy in the future.”

  Doc thought a moment and said, “I like the way you think. Drey, set up an attack at the next planet and show me what you come up with.”

  “I’m on it.”

  • • •

  The High Council remained in session while the First was led out. The ensuing struggle wasn’t easy but the Sixth was chosen to replace the First. At the conclusion of the election, one of the Councilors stood and said, “There is one more that needs to be executed.”

  The New First said, “And who would that be?”

  “That Admiral!”

  The First looked at the Councilor and said, “Who do you want leading our Military?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What is the Admiral guilty of doing? He followed the orders given him by the Council and followed our rules concerning revealing those orders. He knew his life was in jeopardy by not crowing at the top of his voice who had ordered him to remove the fleets, but he still followed our rules. Do you want someone who is going to do what they think is best or someone we can count on to follow our instructions?” The Sixth looked around the room and said, “Do you have anyone in mind that would be more loyal to the council that this officer has demonstrated?”

  The Councilor stared at the new First and said, “I apologize; you’re absolutely right. However, the rules prohibiting the revelation of Prime Orders must be modified.”

  The new First smiled, “I suggest that any officer asked a question during a meeting of the High Council must answer it. All in favor say yes.” The room echoed with the shouted affirmation. The First looked out at the room and said, “The time for opposition and working against each other is over. We are facing an enemy that can destroy us and we must all come together to survive. I am depending on all of you to lead your worlds in this struggle. One thing I can promise you; I will not leave your worlds undefended. We are going to win this conflict together.”

  The Councilors rose and cheered. The Admiral looked at the new First and saw him staring back. The Admiral smiled and nodded. The First smiled and moved to the recently vacated chair of the First Councilor. The Second Councilor waited for an execution squad that never came.

  • • •

  The Second Councilor waited with the Admiral in the new First’s office. He looked at the Admiral and said, “I’m surprised I’m still alive.”

  The Admiral looked at the Second and said, “I’m not.”

  “Why not?”

  Suddenly the First entered the room and the Admiral came to attention. “Sit down Admiral. Second, I need you to continue in your previous role.”

  The Second looked at the First and was confused. He finally managed to say, “I don’t know what you mean. I expected you to have me executed.”

  The First waved his hand and said, “Everyone on the Council knows you did whatever the former First told you to do. I don’t think you came up with those ideas to eliminate his opposition…did you?”

  “No, they were his ideas.”

  “That is what makes you valuable to me. You get things done and I need you to make sure my plans are followed. Can you pledge me your support?”

  The Second stared at the First and said, “I can and I’ll do it willingly.”

  “Good, I need you to go to the first eight Councilors and make them increase their ship production. Do you think you can make that happen?”

  The Second stood, “I’ll start working on it now.”

  “That would be good.” The Second left the office and the First looked at the Admiral, “What are we going to do about our farming worlds being attacked?”

  “You have to decide which has a higher priority; finding the enemy or defending the farms. We can’t do both.”

  “Why not?”

  “You’ve seen what happens when we reduce the number of ships at our main planets. So we can’t pull ships from their defense. We will have to send all of the new ships we’ve built to defend the farms and that is not going to be an easy task with the huge number we’ll have to protect. That doesn’t leave any to search for the enemy’s origin.”

  The First stared at the Admiral and said, “May we assume that the enemy is also building ships?” The Admiral nodded. “What has gotten us into this box?”

  “We’ve overpopulated our worlds.”

  The First thought a moment and said, “What have you determined will happen if nothing changes?”

  “I need to bring the Hub Computer in on this conversation, First.”

  The First reached forward and pressed a button on his console, “The Admiral tells me you should be in on our discussion.”

  “I am always at your disposal.”

  The Admiral said, “The First has asked me what will happen if the current situation continues unchanged.”

  “Our main planets will break down into anarchy and huge numbers of our worlds will die of starvation.�
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  “Tell me why?”

  “The enemy doesn’t have to destroy all of our distribution channels to destroy us. If they reduce the amount of food being delivered to our main planets by just twenty five percent, the local populations will turn on each other for what they are receiving. The planets are totally covered in buildings and growing food on them is a wasted effort. Once a quarter of the citizens start to go hungry, anarchy will break out.”

  The First stared at the speaker and said, “Then protecting our farms is the most important thing to do.”

  “We have more than four hundred thousand planets that feed our citizens. I have done an analysis and it would take us more than twenty years to build enough ships to defend all of them along with our home worlds. While we’re doing that the enemy will be systematically destroying our distribution facilities on them. All they have to do is damage twenty five percent and starvation would start in less than eight months.”

  “Did the former First know this?”

  “He refused to listen to me and would not allow me to contact him.”

  “The idiot; do you see anything we can do?”

  The Admiral slowly shook his head and said, “There is one thing but I don’t see it happening.”

  “What is that?”

  “The issue that will kill us is getting food to our citizens. If we can’t get food to them, then we need to get our citizens to the food.”

  The First stared at the Admiral and the Hub Computer said, “And we don’t have long to make that happen before things start to unravel.”

  “I can see you have thought about this. How could it be done?”

  “Starting immediately, every farm planet must have the jump space around it disrupted so enemy ships can’t jump in on the planet. Once the space is disrupted, every commercial ship that goes to that planet must carry a load of citizens back to the farm world. The commercial transports are huge and can carry more than a hundred thousand citizens. Over time, the danger of our civilization being destroyed will be reduced.”

  “How many citizens will need to go to each planet?”

  “A minimum of six billion, to ensure our species survival.”

  “How will they be sheltered?”