“We need to see if we can escape first.”
“You know we can’t jump out.”
“Yes, but we need to see it they can track teleportation. If we wait until the shooting starts we may not get the chance.”
“How do you want to do it?”
“Program in six jumps. A light year, three light years, ten light years, thirty, sixty and finally a hundred. We’ll jump each time we detect their arrival. I’m hoping we’ll lose them on the first one.”
“And if we don’t?”
“We release the probe and face them after the last jump.”
Toland turned back to his board and took a deep breath, “I think that’s a good plan, Sir. The ship is at optimum; ready to go?”
“I’m taking the ship; get the weapons ready.”
“I’m ahead of you.”
“Universal jump in 4,3,2,1, now.”
Scotty sat on board BC and watched the Bristone disappear. He lowered his head and remembered when the two former New Ulmerton Sailors had joined his fleet. BC said, “What’s bothering you?”
Scotty sighed and looked at the display, “They won’t be coming back.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because they realize they can’t without leading the Invaders here.”
BC thought about it and knew he was right.
The Invader Battleship hung in space doing a full active scan of the galaxy in front of it. The Commander watched the readout on his display and was thankful for something to do other than just watch a universe and do nothing. It had been such a long time since he was allowed to fight his ship. He welcomed the chance to get back into action.
“Sire, I have a ship that just jumped into normal space seventy light years from our current location.”
The Commander jerked his attention to his combat display and saw the small ship. Isn’t that where we arrived?”
The Sensor Being stared at his readout, “I can’t tell from this range but it’s close. I suspect they scanned our arrival and came to investigate.”
“Did they come from this universe?”
“I can’t tell. The track is too far away to read.”
The Commander hit a pad on his panel and said, “Power all weapons, expand the force field, and lock in an approach trajectory.” The huge black ship turned on its axis and prepared to attack.
Niles saw the ball galaxy off in the distance. Toland looked at his board and said, “How do you want to go about finding one of their ships?”
“Just sit here. We know there’s nothing within range of our scanners. Let’s see if theirs are good enough to see us.”
Niles reached forward and put his finger on the teleport board. He waited and kept his eye on his scans. He heard Toland say, “Disturbance breaking in normal space a hundred miles off the port side.” Niles pressed the board.
“Sire, the ship just moved a light year away.”
“Follow them. How did they move so fast?”
“I’m not sure. They left no reading.”
“What!?!”
“Whatever method they used to escape, it didn’t register on my board.”
“Don’t lose them!”
Niles looked at Toland and yelled, “Change the last teleport to a hundred thousand light years in deep space.”
“Why?”
“They scanned us from more than fifty light years. I want to make sure about them following teleport signals.”
Toland scrambled to enter the last coordinates as Niles punched the second jump.”
“They are now three light years away.”
“Continue the pursuit.” The Commander was troubled. He had never encountered a ship that did not leave a trace of their jumps. That small ship could be from an advance civilization that had been missed in the survey of this universe. “Do not lose them!”
“Sir, I don’t think they can trace a teleport.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because they scan before they chase us. I’ve picked up their scan on the last three jumps. They wouldn’t scan if they could read a trace.”
“That is at least one good piece of news.”
“Let’s do this; after the next jump, if I detect a scan, immediately take the last jump and see if they can see us.”
“Thirty light years, Sire.”
“I’ve detected a scan, hit it.” Niles punched the last jump.
The huge black ship emerged into normal space and the Sensor Being worked the controls on his panel. He looked up at the Commander and said, “They are no longer on my board, Sire.”
The Commander felt his rage and drew his side arm and shot the Sensor Being. “Get me someone here that can follow orders!”
Niles and Toland watched their boards closely. Toland had released the probe and was preparing to face the giant ship. After two minutes Toland looked up, “I have not detected a scan. It looks like we lost them.”
Niles recalled the probe into storage, hit his teleport board, and teleported another hundred thousand light years at a ninety degree angle to their last jump. Toland watched what he was doing and said, “You’re right. We’ve been moving on the same line. That’s my fault.”
“Don’t worry about it. Leave one of our stealth probes here to see if anything shows up.”
The Commander stared at the new Sensor Controller and heard, “They have been on the same track for all their jumps. I’m moving the ship eighty light years.”
The Commander nodded and the ship jumped. The Sensor Being stared at his board and said, “Nothing appears on my board, Sire. They may have jumped again during the delay of my arrival.”
The Commander whipped out his side arm again and saw the Sensor Being stand and stare at him with no fear. Ummm, this was one brave controller. He could be counted on during a fight to keep his composure. He lowered his gun and said, “I want random jumps. Find that ship and get a message out to Command with a recording of what just happened.”
He leaned back in his chair and felt his excitement grow. Maybe there was an enemy that would challenge his ship. It had been so long since there had been anything to generate any excitement. He hoped his ship would be the one to find that ship.”
The probe attached to the black ship dropped off when the Force field was dropped to send the message and make a scan. It waited for the black ship to disappear and then teleported four hundred thousand miles into open space and jumped back to the Empire.
“Well, what now?”
“I think we need to pull the probe back in and go take a look at that galaxy being invaded to see what the Invader’s tactics are. Program a hundred quick teleports into the board at different points in that galaxy and have the final one jump us into deep space where we can take a look at what we’ve found.”
“Are you just putting off the fight?”
“No! I’m gathering as much information as possible to help the Empire. There’s no rush to have the confrontation as long as we can collect information about these creatures.”
“I know you’re right. I just want to get it over with. The waiting is starting to make me jumpy.”
“I know, Toland. Let’s do our duty.”
“That’s why you’re in command. You’ve always kept a clear head.”
