Probe Predators by Saxon Andrew

doesn’t acquire the Crown. At least not until he proves he’s not a ticking time bomb.”
    “That may not be an issue.”
    “Oh?”
    “The Threshers may make it all a moot point if something’s not done quickly.”
    “There is that. It appears Drey is going to get his war.”
    “We need to decide what to do?”
    “And that means I have to use him and that woman to help us plan.”
    “I thought you…”
    “That’s the problem. You have to pick up a blaster to defend yourself whether you want to or not. We have to use them.”
    “Your Majesty, genetic manipulation is like a hole in the ground.”
    “How’s that?”
    “You never know what’s going to crawl out. I suspect that before this is over, all of us will be surprised.”
    Angela rolled her eyes, “Contact them and call them in along with the Lead Scientist and Military Staff.”
    “I’m sure Victor will want to be here.”
    “Tough, I don’t want him around.”
    “It will only make things more difficult.”
    “Moe, he did crawl out of a hole.”
    “Alright, I’ll exclude him. However, in order to issue a declaration of war, somebody from the Royal Team will have to give approval. You know they are pushing for us to stay out of other civilization’s issues. Victor is the poster child for isolationism. If you exclude him, you’ll just have to repeat everything that’s said to the entire council.”
    “Alright! Have it your way.”
    • • •
    The Sovereign looked at the Gedna on his monitor and slouched forward, “Calling to gloat?”
    “Not at all.”
    “I guess I should have listened to you.”
    “Pride and conceit are difficult partners to ignore.”
    The Sovereign straightened up in anger and then slouched back in his chair, “You are, of course, right.”
    “What made you possibly think you could defeat them? You have no idea what power their ships possess.”
    “I really thought we could catch them off guard and hit their ships on the ground.”
    “Do you seriously think your new penetrator would make it through their defenses?”
    “I guess I did.”
    “Well, there’s a price to pay for being wrong.”
    “The agreement fell apart.”
    “That’s not the price.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I am currently moving populations off my planets to another galaxy far away from here.”
    “Why would you do that?”
    The Gedna reached forward and lifted a data cube and inserted it into his panel, “I have sources inside the Union that have my best interests in mind. They send me this and asked that I view it and destroy it. I can’t do as they ask and I’m sure I’ll not be trusted again. Your civilization and mine have been allies for thousands of years and I can’t just allow you to be blindsided by what’s coming.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “On this cube is a conversation between the surviving members of the Family that attacked us and a member of the Union. I think you’ll find it interesting. Your stupidity has caused us to lose an ally that we sorely need to survive. You deserve everything that is coming your way.”
    The monitor went dark and the Sovereign saw a human sitting in front of a Family Leader. He listened and felt paralyzed to the point of passing out. He was so incredibly stupid, so stupid. His son rushed over but it was too late. The Sovereign died as the conversation on the monitor continued. The Sovereign’s son rewound the recording and fell to his knees. He called in the Royal Council and played the recording for them and two of them were taken away for medical care. A new word went out to M87, Thresher. The civilizations began launching probes from all points in the galaxy searching for Orange Ships.
    • • •
    The Gedna heard the news about the Sovereign’s death and knew it was the best thing that could happen. History had a way of repeating itself and he sent a message over a communicator before his ship lifted and jumped away from M87.
    • • •
    “Do you have the location of the