Free Planet Predators by Saxon Andrew Page B

hris.”
    “Yeah.”
    “I took another look at that Alliance disc and found a section of data on it that we haven’t seen before.”
    “What did you find?”
    “Do you remember that Moet planet with the strange symbol behind it that led us to looking at its history?”
    “Sure; if I remember the symbol meant destroyed.”
    “There was another symbol in the Alliance Map records that didn’t appear on any planet in the list.”
    Chris turned from his Command Panel and looked at Jillian, “What did the symbol mean?”
    “Basically it translates to avoid at all costs.”
    Chris stared at Jillian and finally said, “You’re going somewhere with this.”
    “That second section on the disc has a list of planets and every one of them is followed by that symbol. I suspect the Alliance didn’t want their coordinates anywhere near their normal lists. I found six of them with three of those symbols after the planet’s coordinates. It’s got to mean something really dangerous is located there.”
    “Do you think they might be Jenze planets?”
    “I can’t think of anything more dangerous than the Moet but the Jenze. The planets listed at Moet all have just one of those symbols after their coordinates.”
    “Well, we don’t have any clue where to start looking so we might as well pick the best candidate of those six that would allow us the best view of the light that reflected millions of years ago.”
    “You’re assuming the Jenze aren’t alive now.”
    “You’re right. However, we need to take a look at the light before we go anywhere near those locations.”
    Jillian stared at the six locations on her panel and turned to Chris, “We haven’t heard much out of the Alliance since we’ve been preoccupied with the Moet and Blue Giants. I wonder what they’re up to.”
    Chris said, “Contact Dolly Garcia.”
    Dolly appeared on the main display and smiled, “Hello all, what’s up?”
    “Dolly, Jillian just asked me what the Alliance is up to these days. We haven’t run across any of their ships while we’ve been tracking the Blue Giants and I know they were extremely active when we first ventured out of our Solar System. With the bulk of the Moet heavy ships being evacuated, the Moets left behind will be easy prey for them. I guess I’m wondering if we want to do anything about it if they’re attacking the Moets now.”
    Dolly took a deep breath and looked off the screen and shook her head. She turned back and said, “What would you want to do if they were?”
    “Can you get George in on this conversation?”
    “Sure, stand by.”
    “What are you thinking, Chris?”
    “I’m thinking about a nasty attitude and wondering if that is where I want to go.”
    George’s face appeared on the display beside Dolly’s and he smiled, “So you think we should intervene?”
    “Why do you say that?”
    “If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have made the call to Dolly.”
    “I need you to tell me what you meant by Humans having to develop a nasty attitude. Does that mean we watch planets attacked and destroyed while we celebrate the removal of a possible attacker?”
    “Yes, it does. You know the Moet are one of our enemies and they will be coming back to attack us.”
    “Are the ones left behind to be sacrificed our enemies as well?”
    “A Moet is a Moet.”
    “Then why don’t you just order the fleet to go and destroy those Moets?”
    George stared at Chris and didn’t respond.
    “George, did you hear me?”
    “Chris, that’s not a fair question.”
    “Yes it is, Dolly. We have ships that we know the Moet and the Alliance cannot stand up to in battle. Just have George order all the Attack Craft and Jukebox Class ships to go out and burn every Moet and Alliance Planet. Then we’ll have several trillion enemies eliminated. Isn’t that what a nasty attitude is all about?”
    “I see where you’re going with this. If we allow them to be killed when we could prevent it, we have ethically killed them