mind; the shuttle is from the Alexander Kosiev; and the third was the ship of the last admiral promoted by the Realm. If they can’t be trusted, who can?”
After a long pause the computer answered, “Perhaps no one, Grace.”
Grace sighed, knowing he was probably right.
Nathan was sitting onboard Anglo looking at the display. It was his shift at guard duty, and he hoped nothing was going to happen while he was on duty. “Anglo, how will we know if we’re needed?”
“We have treaties with Queen Carrie and Queen Ashley to assist in defending their Kingdoms. If a problem arises, we’ll go and see if it’s something that requires our help. We won’t step in unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“Why am I here? You could probably do this by yourself.”
“Probably, but life and death decisions shouldn’t be made alone if they can be avoided.”
Nathan thought about it, and said, “What do you think about my fast promotion? I know there must be some resentment among the Riders.”
“I asked Jingo about that very thing. He says that Cezee has only seen happiness among those in your flock of Riders. I happen to agree with their appraisal.”
“But I’m so much younger than most of them.”
“You’re older than the first queen was when crowned. Age is not the most important issue.”
“What is, Anglo?”
“The quality of the individual. You’ll be fine.”
“Thanks, Anglo.”
Twenty black ships came out of star drive and began moving into the system The Sensor Officer said, “We have a planet with heavy industry and no ships.”
Captain Niles looked at his display and felt his excitement rise. At last! Technology for the taking! “Get the drop soldiers ready.” He looked at his sensor office, “How long?”
“We’ll arrive in orbit in seven hours.”
“Power up weapons and force fields.”
“All boards active, Captain.”
“Nathan, we’ve just received a distress call from a planet in the Talben Kingdom. Twenty black ships have arrived and are moving in on the planet.”
“That’s not good. Black is the color raiders use on their ships.”
“We’ll arrive there momentarily.”
Nathan felt his stress level rise as the silver screen formed in front of his ship.
They arrived in the Haldale system and saw the giant ships moving toward the planet. “Nathan, those ships have more than fifty thousand troops on board. It appears they are drop troops and are planning to invade the planet.”
“Have they made any demands?”
“No, they have ignored the planets queries about why they are here.”
“Anglo, these are raiders, and they will brutalize the population. We must stop them.”
“That’s my opinion, as well. First, let’s see if they’ll leave.”
The black ships had moved two hours in-system when they suddenly heard a voice come over their intercom, “You are entering space of the Bristone Empire. You will reverse course and leave immediately.”
Niles looked at his sensor board and didn’t see anything. He looked at his Sensor Officer and shook his head. “Continue on our present course.”
“This is your last warning. Turn around immediately and leave the system.”
Niles looked at his sensor officer, “Sir, my sensors don’t have anything on them. Whoever is broadcasting those messages is not visible.”
Niles felt nervous, but knew a firing squad awaited him if he turned around, “Continue on present course.”
The four lead ships of his squadron were suddenly hit by a bright red beam and disintegrated into balls of expanding gas.
“Reverse course! reverse course!”
The surviving sixteen ships turned toward the jump limit and accelerated at full speed. The four ships killed had their screens at full power and were destroyed instantly. Niles looked back at the still expanding clouds and still could not see anything on his sensors. Daulun was not going to be happy about this. Niles hoped his ships wouldn’t be sent back to this system, but he knew Daulun would not let this go unpunished.
Nathan Valrico watched them leave, and almost asked Anglo to kill the survivors. “You did the right thing, Nathan.”
“I’m not so sure about that, Anglo. They were very well organized and wherever they came from, there may be many more.”
“Then let’s follow them and see.”
“That’s a good idea.” The small white ship disappeared as the black ships jumped away.
The sixteen ships appeared in a system and Niles sent, “This is Niles Barden requesting permission to enter the system.”
“You are supposed to be investigating a planet.”
“I was, but my fleet was attacked and four of my ships destroyed. I came to report to Fleet Control what happened.”
“Standby.”
Niles waited, worrying that he might face charges for leaving without having put up a fight. After fifteen minutes he heard, “You may enter. Park your ships at the third moon and come to the surface with your recordings.”
“On my way.”
“Nathan, I’m going to mix in with the ships and follow them toward the planet. My scanner shows something that troubles me.”
“What is it?”
“There are five Searcher Class ships parked in orbit above that planet. They all have the markings of the former Provinces. I need to get close enough to see the numbers on them. If these raiders have Searchers assisting them, this could be a huge problem for the Empire.”
As they moved in-system Anglo said, “A sixth Searcher Ship has just joined the other five. It came in from the other side of the system. I also see numerous ships disembarking thousands of prisoners that are being taken to huge holding facilities. Most of the work being done on the planet is by forced labor. This is a slavery planet.”
“Will they be able to see you?”
“Not as long as I stay in the electronic shadow of the ship in front of us. I should be able to see the serial numbers shortly. I’ve also seen the name of this planet on one of their commercial vessels.”
“What is it?”
“New Ulmerton.”
“That is not good. Wasn’t that one of the former Provincial Capitals?”
“Yes, and the leader of the rebellion was the Duke’s son of that capital. This is looking worse by the minute. All right, I’ve got them.”
“Are we going to teleport out?”
“No, those ships are Gammas. They’ll detect the field and know someone possesses a working teleport board. We are going to turn and accelerate away trying to keep this ship between us and the planet as long as possible.” Nathan didn’t say anything and Anglo said, “They will see us, but they won’t be able to determine what we are with my stealth screens on. I suspect they will think that I am a Searcher, but they won’t know for certain. We’ll use our null drive to jump away and make multiple jumps before I teleport back home. Are you ready?”
“Is guard duty always like this?”
“Nope, this is the first real problem we’ve faced. Here we go.” The small white ship turned and accelerated toward the jump limit.
“Control, I have a ship accelerating out of the system. It appears to have come in with the sixteen ships that arrived three hours ago.”
