Chapter 21

Rubbing his claws against his chest to sharpen them, Admiral 2c1b2t watched the recording of the battle between his hunter fleet and the alien ship. As soon as the recording started he shouted, "Stop!"

His aide stopped the recording and looked at the screen. There were seven pictures showing the views from all seven ships of the hunter fleet. Admiral 2c1b2t said, "Do you see that?"

"What?" the aide asked wondering why they had to do this right before lunch.

Admiral 2c1b2t said, "They fired right as our ships slowed to fighting speed. The Captain hadn't even started his scan yet."

"Ah, you are right, sir," the aide said. The signatures of twelve missiles heading towards the hunter fleet were clearly visible when the initial scan started.

Pointing a claw at the screen, Admiral 2c1b2t said, "Do you see that! Twelve missiles! They can only fire twelve missiles."

"Yes, sir," the aide said not nearly as excited as the admiral. He could add as well as the admiral. Four ships were each reporting three missiles heading towards them.

Admiral 2c1b2t stared at the screen for another moment and then said, "They are a filthy race. Do you see how much debris is there?"

"Yes, sir," the aide said. It did appear that this race did leave its trash in space.

"It is a hazard in navigation," Admiral 2c1b2t said.

"Yes, sir," the aide said.

"Play it," Admiral 2c1b2t said staring at the screen. A few seconds later, he clicked angrily and said, "They got four of our ships."

"Yes, sir," the aide said wondering why the admiral hadn't known that was going to happen when the sensors reported that four ships were targeted with three missiles each.

"Stop," Admiral 2c1b2t clicked. He stared at the screen and said, "Do you see that? They fired just before our ships returned fire. They can fire just a click or two faster than us."

"Yes, sir," the aide said thinking that it was more like a half a thrum faster.

"Play it," Admiral 2c1b2t said completely focused on the screen. The displays went out just before their missiles reached the enemy ship. He clicked his frustration and then said, "They got the last three ships. That one ship killed a whole hunter fleet!"

"Very tragic," the aide said staring at the blank screen.

"Back it up so that I can see what happens just before our ships get destroyed," Admiral 2c1b2t said.

"Yes, sir," the aide said while he dialed the recording back. Once he was a second before the ships were destroyed, he started the replay.

Clicking madly, Admiral 2c1b2t said, "I couldn't see what happened to the alien ship. Back it up again and then play it slowly."

"Yes, sir," the aide said following orders.

"Stop!" Admiral 2c1b2t said. He gestured at the screen with his claw and said, "Do you see that? Do you see that? Forty five missiles are about to strike the alien ship!"

"Yes, sir," the aide said counting the missiles displayed on the recording. There were forty-five missiles just about to encounter the shields of the alien ship.

"So our fleet destroyed it," Admiral 2c1b2t said sitting back pleased with the result. No ship could resist forty-five missiles.

"Yes, sir," the aide said.

Once his pleasure over the alien ship getting destroyed had subsided a little, Admiral 2c1b2t silently stared at the screen. He said, "One ship destroyed a hunter fleet. That is not good."

"Yes, sir," the aide said.

"They had a big advantage though," Admiral 2c1b2t said rubbing his mandible with his claw.

"An advantage?"

Admiral 2c1b2t said, "Yes. They were not moving and were able to fire first. The first ship to slow always has the advantage."

"Yes, sir," the aide said.

"The question is why the ship was not moving," Admiral 2c1b2t said thinking over the matter. The initial sensor readings said that the ship was not moving when it was first spotted. There was only one way to explain that. He said, "They have sensors that can spot our ships a little earlier than we can find theirs."

"Brilliant analysis, sir," the aide said with proper deference. He wondered how much longer he was going to be there. It was lunch time and he was really getting hungry.

"Yes," Admiral 2c1b2t said without false modesty. He said, "They spot our ships and then stop before we see them. It gives them an advantage in battle. They can fire just a click or two faster than us and that gives them another little advantage in battle."

"Yes, sir."

The news wasn't entirely bad. Admiral 2c1b2t said, "We can fire more missiles than them. That will give us the advantage when our forces meet their forces in a big battle."

"Yes, sir," the aide said.

"Have the seven hunter fleets met up yet?" Admiral 2c1b2t asked.

"Not yet, sir. They will all reach the meeting point soon," the aide answered.

Admiral 2c1b2t said, "Order them to seek out another of those alien ships. Once they've defeated the ship, they are to split into two groups and search for more ships."

"Yes, sir," the aide said glad that that he was getting orders now. That meant they would be done soon and he could go get something to eat.

"Have them transmit the battle," Admiral 2c1b2t said.

"Yes, sir," the aide said.

"On second thought, have them record the battle and transmit it back when the fight is over," Admiral 2c1b2t said. The three remaining ships might have been slow in returning fire because they were worried about broadcasting the battle back to him.

"Yes, sir," the aide said.

"Wait, have them broadcast it."

"Yes, sir," the aide said wishing the admiral would make up his mind. He was starving.

"Well, get to it!"

"Yes, sir," the aide said. The aide ran from the room thinking that he'd take care of those details after lunch.

"He's an excitable little fellow. He's very gung ho about his work," Admiral 2c1b2t said watching the aide leave the room.

Waiting for the stage curtains to open, Ann was wondering how it was that they had ended up in Nevada. When she had suggested a vacation, she had not even considered Las Vegas as a destination. She had been thinking of Paris or Rome. She was pretty sure they were going to go to Paris until James had rushed into the room excitedly pointing to a piece of paper. Now, she was about to watch what had convinced James to come here.

Looking around at the nightclub, James said, "I'm so excited."

"This was a smart idea," Ken said feeling satisfied. After gambling for most of the day, he still had five dollars left from his original stake of a thousand dollars.

"Thank you," James said nodding his head as if taking a bow. He said, "I've always wanted to see the Great Ploppertui on stage."

Kim laughed and said, "He was talking about the vacation, not the magic show."

"You don't want to see the Great Ploppertui?" James asked with a hurt expression on his face. The Great Ploppertui was only the greatest magician of all time. He said, "He can make big things disappear and reappear."

Ann rolled her eyes. For the past two months, James had talked about nothing except the Great Ploppertui. She had even enticed James into bed by suggesting that James could make a big thing of his disappear and reappear, too. He had enjoyed that and to be honest, so had she. She said, "They are ecstatic."

"They should be. We're going to see the Great Ploppertui," James said gesturing towards the stage.

The show started and James watched fascinated as trick after trick got more complicated than the one before it. The grand finale had the Great Ploppertui making a car disappear and then reappear at the other end of the stage. The car disappeared again and then reappeared where it had originally been.

James stood and clapped wildly having enjoyed the whole show. Ann wanted to crawl under the table when James started shouting, "Encore! Encore!"

"You're supposed to say, Bravo," Kim said managing to stop laughing long enough to get the words out of her mouth.

"No. I want him to perform some more," James said. He turned to the stage and shouted, "Encore!"

After James had calmed down a little, Ken said, "I take it you enjoyed the show."

"You can say that again. Isn't that guy great? Did you see how he made that car disappear and then reappear?" James replied. He wondered if he could get tickets for the next night.

"Yes, I did," Ken said hoping that James didn't have tickets for the next night.

James said, "That is his specialty. He makes big things disappear and reappear."

Thinking that her head would explode if she heard that one more time, Ann said, "We know."

"I wish that I could do that with our ships," James said looking up at the stage.

Ken and Kim looked at each other for a second. Ken asked, "Would you repeat that?"

"Huh?" James asked looking over at Ken.

"Would you repeat what you just said," Ken said.

"He makes big things disappear and then reappear," James said looking at Ken puzzled.

"After that," Ken said.

"Oh, I wish that I could do that with our ships," James said.

After exchanging a rather meaningful glance with Ken, Kim asked, "How would you like to meet the Great Ploppertui?"

"That would be so great," James said.

Chip Blatz, also known as the Great Ploppertui, was not a happy man. There were a dozen women wanting to enjoy his company for the evening and his manager was being a pain in the butt. He looked over at the man and asked, "You want me to talk to some guy rather than get laid?"

"Yes," his manager answered knowing that things were not going to work out the way he wanted. Chip was in full hormone drive that evening.

"Wrong answer," Chip said.

"He's an Admiral," his manager said.

"So what," Chip replied as a woman caught his eye. He waved over at her and then watched while she slowly raised the hem of her skirt.

"One of the officers with him threatened to draft you," his manager said.

"I'm not doing a UFO show," Chip said thinking that the woman had really nice legs that went on with no end. He licked his lips as the hem of her dress kept going up and said, "There is an end and I must say that it is a nice end."

"That's USO and that isn't what he meant," his manager said stamping his foot. He was a little man and some people thought he looked cute when he stamped his foot like that. Of course, comments to that effect tended to thoroughly irritate him and caused him to stamp his foot again. It often triggered a chain reaction of him stomping his foot thereby triggering a comment that he looked cute which caused him to stomp his foot again.