Probe Predators by Saxon Andrew Page B

and came up with this hoax to give them time to prepare.”
    The new Sovereign stared at the Pental King and thought about how funny it was that history repeated itself. It was the Pental that led the first invasion of the Union’s galaxy thousands of years earlier. “I’m going to assume that you saw the fleet report of chasing an intruder.” The Pental King nodded. “I’m also going to assume that the Mediator sent that report to the rest of you prior to this meeting.” He saw many indicate they had received it. “I’ve received a report from the Allowitz scientists whom I requested to investigate the recordings made during that pursuit.” Every civilization in the conference knew how good the Allowitz were.
    The Pental King said, “Will you get to the point.”
    “In good time, you pushed for this invasion and we foolishly listened to you.”
    The King started to yell but the Mediator muted his communicator, “Screaming is over; you will have time for rebuttal afterwards. Do you understand?” The King leaned back in his chair with his appendages crossed. The Mediator said, “Sovereign, you may continue.”
    “I’m sending the report to the Mediator and he can send it out to you in a moment. I must confess that I, like everyone else, thought the intruder was a Union Vessel. I suspected after the fact that it was; however, it didn’t come here to scout our forces. The Union discovered that the probes that were launched by the Family’s Leader during the final battle were going to move out from the edge of our galaxy and make a broadcast. The ship was here to record that broadcast.”
    Lights immediately started illuminating on the panel and the Mediator listened offline to what was being said. He looked at the Sovereign, “Many of our Representatives are challenging that statement. They believe they were here to scout our forces. Will you please direct your next statements to that issue?”
    “Mediator, do you have the exact coordinates in your databanks of where those probes were launched?”
    The Mediator was surprised the Sovereign directed a question to him; that wasn’t done very often. “I do, stand by just a moment. I’ve sent them to all of you. The probes were launched from the Gongril Planetary system a little over two thousand years ago.”
    “One more question Mediator; it took six hours for those probes to move close to the speed of light. How long would it have taken them to arrive at the edge of open space outside our galaxy if they took the shortest route?”
    The Mediator didn’t like being questioned. He was always the questioner but he entered numbers on his console and looked up with his eyes narrowed to slits, “They would have arrived at the edge of our galaxy exactly three weeks ago.”
    The conference was silent. Even the Pental King thought about the implications. The Sovereign said, “That intruder immediately turned and went to light speed when it entered normal space. If it was here to scout our forces, I don’t think it would have moved to leave our galaxy. It went to light speed to be able to move close to one of the Family’s Probes so it could record anything it transmitted. The Allowitz have confirmed that the entry point of that intruder was in the exact middle of the projected location of the probes. We, of course, immediately attacked and tried to destroy it, giving away just how good our defenses were.”
    The Mediator said, “The Pental King has requested to ask a question.”
    The Sovereign nodded and the King said, “Why didn’t they just ask to come and investigate?”
    The Sovereign shook his head, “I was told by the Gedna before they packed up and left our galaxy…” The entire conference began shouting questions. They had not learned of the Grey Civilizations flight.
    The Mediator rolled his eight eyes and muted the channel. After a moment he sent an incredibly loud vibration over the channel which silenced everyone. “Hold your comments until