Probe Predators by Saxon Andrew Page A

Family’s probe?”
    “I do.”
    “You will go and watch for their arrival.”
    “I’m going to need more than just my group.”
    “And why is that, are you that inefficient?”
    “The place where the message originated is just outside a galaxy more than five hundred thousand light years across.”
    “What!?!”
    “It is one of the largest galaxies we’ve ever seen. There’s no possible way to cover all the approaches with just my group.”
    “The risk of discovery will go up with more ships.”
    “We can’t have it both ways. What do we care if the civilizations in that galaxy detect us as long as the Family doesn’t know?”
    “Take command of two other groups and take your positions. You may have to wait a while.”
    “Do we have permission to go into the galaxy to gather stores?”
    The giant red creature rubbed his head next to his right antenna with a pincer and said, “Only one at a time. Choose a planet inside the outer edge to avoid having your weapons seen by the Family. Collect what you need and gather enough for the other ships.”
    The Group Claw didn’t like the extra work but knew the Major Claw was being generous, “I really hope the wait won’t be long; but one never knows.”
    “I expect you to get out of there as soon as you detect the Family’s approach. If you scare them away, I’ll pull you apart myself.”
    “I understand what needs to be done.”
    Two hundred Orange Ships jumped away and scattered around M87. They assumed positions so that the entire galaxy was covered with overlapping scans tuned to the frequency of the Family’s Ships. Like a good predator that hides from its prey, the exterior lights and power were deactivated and they waited for what they hoped was coming.
    • • •
    A probe launched three months earlier had its electronic brain tickled by an object that suddenly appeared a light year away. It sensed the disturbance in null space and made a determination of the exact location of the object.
    The probe was ancient but was one the Union gave to M87 two millennia earlier during the war with the Family. It was incredibly small and, upon entering null space, it shrunk to the size of a hydrogen nucleus. It turned off the null space field generator and popped into normal space without generating a field signature. A crew on a ship that tried that would have all been knocked unconscious. Machines didn’t have that issue.
    The Union Probe did not scan the object; its passive receptors had already determined that it was an incredibly advanced star ship. Once that determination was made, its central processor moved to a subroutine and deactivated its active scanner. It arrived before the ship went dark and it recorded every frequency given off. It ran an infrared analysis and positron emission locator. It recorded the ship’s coordinates and after ten hours of in depth observations, it activated a null field under it and slowly sunk out of normal space. It jumped back to M87 and sent a data download.
    • • •
    The Newly chosen Sovereign shook his head as the representatives yelled at each other. The Mediator sat back and allowed them to scream and thought about what it was going to have for dinner that evening. It knew if he interrupted the arguments, they would only emerge later. They had to get the tension released to move forward. After two hours the assembly on the teleconference wound down. The Mediator said, “I am going to call on the most powerful civilizations first, and I would hope the rest of you will think before you choose to interrupt them. If forced, I will mute the channel and only allow one to speak. We’ll start with the Pental and move to the Greens afterwards.”
    The Pental King said, “How do we know this is accurate? This could all be a fabrication to prevent us from getting that galaxy under our control. All of you know how dangerous they are. I’m sure they discovered our plans to invade when they sent that ship three weeks ago