Chapter No. 66 Union

The rules of engagement are subject to debate.

Six Scath vessels joined us near the galactic center. We were only a light year away from the supermassive black hole that dominated the Milky Way Galaxy. Even at that distance the monster appeared frightening because it was ablaze with accretion radiation.

We were surprised to find that each Scath vessel only had a hundred crewmembers. The Scath androids were partly robotic. They had hominid faces but no other bodily resemblance to a living creature. Their mechanical nature was plainly visible. They reminded me of the Terminator.

But it wasn't their appearance that was disturbing. It's what they revealed.

Molly and I went to the Scath command ship to discuss plans. Metor, the leader of the rebel Scath fleet who was blunt and unapologetic about their situation, met us.

"Where are the other vessels that were in your fleet?" I asked him.

"They have been destroyed. Two remaining vessels fled through the gateway to the far side of the universe."

"Are they a possible threat?"

"No. They have been neutralized."

I wasn't sure what he meant by that, but I assumed it had something to do with their computer system.

"What other threats do we face?" I asked.

"The Myst is our main enemy."

"The Myst?"

"They are an advanced mechanized species that can appear out of nothing."

"Do you mean out of warp?"

"No. Out of empty space."

I tired to imagine how that would be possible. Quantum particles are the only things I knew that could pop in and out of empty space.

"We were planning to patrol the center of the galaxy on the opposite side," I said. "We would appreciate your aid in this."

"We will comply," Metor said.

As soon as we returned to our ship, we went to warp and did something that would have been completely impossible before. We executed a turn while in warp. This was now possible because of Molly's latest tweaks to the warp drive engine control system programming.

I slouched back in my engineering station chair. "I just knew that we would face yet another enemy."

"Stupid Space Command didn't realize what they were getting into when they created the Phoenix Project," Molly said. "The universe is a quintessential dangerous place."

I sighed. "That's putting in mildly."

"I wonder what Fist is going to think about us merging with the Scath," Molly said with a subtle smirk.

I shook my head. "Yeah, that's going to be a shit show."

"He'll get over it," she said.

We came out of warp near Sagittarius A-Star, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. It was currently pitching a hissy fit because of some newfound gas and dust. Black holes are like messy infant eaters and spew out excess food in the form of directed energy beams that are more powerful than our Sun.

"I doubt anyone would be hanging out around this beast," Margaret said. "It's more active than I thought."

"The temperature of the accretion disk around that thing is in the millions of degrees," Molly said. "I wouldn't get too close because the spacetime distortion could alter our timeline."

"Yeah," I said. "I think we should move further away."

Judy began the move without me telling her. Before we got that far, something appeared on our main screen.

"Go to Red Alert," I yelled.

The large vessel was unlike anything I've seen. It was built like a giant pie section with all sorts of geometric projections. It was hard to see because it was totally black and light didn't reflect off of it.

"Let me guess," I said in a sarcastic tone. "It's a Myst ship."

Judy wasn't in a humorous mood. She moved our vessel out of its way and began a dance that resembled that of a hummingbird. The large vessel began firing powerful plasma balls at us, but Judy kept us out of harm while Madison returned fire with our enhanced gamma ray blasters.

The Scath ships joined the fray, but were taking hits. Judy did something very risky. She flew up under the Myst ship, allowing Madison to concentrate fire at what she reasoned was a weak point.

Judy moved our ship away just as the Myst ship detonated in a brilliant explosion.

Metor's image appeared on our screen. "I am impressed. You fight well."

"Thank you," I said, trying not to smile.

The transmission dropped.

And that was it. We were officially part of the Scath. We decided to return to Earth to make sure that our human colonists were not in danger from our new enemy.

I felt better about the fact that we could handle a Myst ship, but if we were attacked with a much larger fleet of them, we might not be so lucky.

When we returned to our solar system, we saw that our three other vessels had been positioned to better protect Earth. Our original vessel orbited Earth. The Red Vessel stayed back near Helios Station, and the Black Vessel positioned near Mars.

We joined Explorer-1 in orbit around Earth. The six Scath vessels assembled in outer orbits.

"Well," I said. "No use avoiding the inevitable." I turned to Judy. "Establish a link with the Coalition Headquarters."

Fist's image appeared.

"I have good news and bad news about our mission to the center of the galaxy. The good news is the Scath are no longer a threat. We assimilated what was left of them. They are under our control. The bad news is that there is a new, more dangerous enemy out there. They are an advanced robotic species that are able to appear out of empty space. I will send you the data on them so that you can warn the other coalition members."

"How did you overcome the Scath?"

"They destroyed themselves. A rebel faction revolted against their command and the ensuing battle did the work. We were able to assimilate what was left. As soon as we determine how the Myst are doing this trick of appearing out of empty space, we'll send you our findings."

Fist was momentarily rendered silent for a few minutes before replying. "We appreciate your work. I will inform the others of the new threat."

The transmission ended.

"Well," I said, smiling. "That went better than I had expected."

"What else could he do about it," Molly said. "We have become powerful enough to dominate them, but we don't exhibit any aggression."

"Yes," I said. "They should realize by now that we don't want to take over."

But, that was not the end of it. The next day, Fist contacted us with startling new information.

"One of the Coalition members has detected a large vessel at sub light speed at the following coordinates. They believe it has humans inside it."

The coordinates appeared on the screen, along with an image of the vessel.

"Thank you for the information. We will check it out."

When the transmission ended, I turned to Judy. "We will go to the coordinates he provided us with three of the Scath vessels and the Explorer-1. The Red and Black vessels, along with three of the Scath ships, will stay to guard Earth."

Judy nodded.

End of Part 6
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