Chapter 17

Scott quickly made his way to the Operations Room. He could see the winking lights on the tactical board that had to represent the latest iLOX fleet. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands of them and he felt his heart sink. Would there never be an end to the attacks he wondered. He blinked as all of the lights suddenly disappeared at once, leaving the board showing only the US Broadswords in space.

"Admiral, what just happened?" he asked.

"Your Grace, we're analysing the data now. It looks as if the iLOX just made a jump. It's almost as if they came for a quick look-see and then left again as soon as their jump reactors had recharged," he said.

"What are they up to?" Scott wondered aloud.

"Data is coming through now, your Grace. The iLOX seem to have been flying a very tight formation. The smart-dust picked up hits for over two thousand ships over a five-mile area, but none of them varied the distance between any other as they moved. Some of them at least have been here before because we picked up signals from some of the smart-dust that we seeded in the iLOX transporters, so they must be aboard some of these ships. They must have been co-ordinating using computers because they all made the jump at the exact same moment," Admiral MacCulloch advised.

Scott looked thoughtful for a few seconds and then his face began to grow pale.

"Admiral, could the smart-dust have been picking up one ship, one huge ship, one so big it confused them?" he asked.

Admiral MacCulloch looked at Scott as if his High King had suddenly grown another head. Scott could see that he was having difficulty imagining a ship of that size and was clearly writing the possibility off as too fantastic to even consider.

"Admiral, review all of your data, could it have been one ship?" Scott asked again.

"AI, run the data from the smart-dust again and view it in light of the Ard Righ's question please," MacCulloch ordered.

"The data confirms that the Ard Righ's suggestion is not only possible, but probable. None of the smart-dust particles could isolate an engine signature for any of the cruisers. I concur with the suggestion that the smart-dust did in fact pick up one single ship, approximately five miles long and one and a half miles wide," the AI said.

There was an immediate stir and a hubbub of voices in the Ops Room as all those present began to speculate about the capabilities of a ship that big. It didn't make for pleasant discussion, as they knew they had nothing anywhere near powerful enough to take it on.

Scott realised the same thing. He immediately began checking in with his various plant managers to find out how production was going with the defensive measures he planned for the platforms that would ring the Earth. He also enquired about the gun placements he had ordered for siting on the moon. Finally, he checked on the progress with the construction of new Broadswords.

The news was mixed. Most of the weapons had been completed and were in the process of being mounted on the specialised platforms that had been created for them. The installation of the batteries on the moon was almost finished and one Broadsword was ready for launching. Another Broadsword would be ready within three days.

"It's amazing what you can do with droids and drones," he thought to himself.

He knew it still wouldn't be anywhere near enough. Five Broadswords, six if and when the Dalriada returned, was not going to cut it. It would be like fleas attacking a dog, annoying, but ultimately not deadly. His guess was that the huge ship had jumped to see whether they could detect it and to find out what kind of response they would make to its size. Maybe it had jumped for the sole reason of letting them know just how outgunned they really were.

It was a bit of a squeeze, but accommodation was found for Gabrain and all of his team aboard the Dalriada. He had joined Tara on the bridge out of curiosity and he stood by her co-pilots seat as they prepared to make the jump back to Andromeda and the planet that would become his new home.

Bruce had returned to the Captain's chair, his ribs firmly taped and he was the one to give the order.

"Mr Sigurdson, are the co-ordinates locked in?" he asked.

"Locked and ready to go, Captain."

"Ok, prepare to execute jump sequence on my mark. Execute in three, two, one, mark," Bruce said coolly.

"Executing jump, sir."

Bruce had not been on the bridge when they had made the last trip across the two galaxies and he was slightly unnerved by the length of time they seemed to remain in the jump. He glanced round at the crew on the bridge and they were all calm so he assumed this was 'normal'.

"Coming out of the jump now sir," said Sigurdson.

"Thank you, navigator. Any threats or life forms?" Bruce asked.

"Sensors show everything is clear, no threats and only animal life signs on the planet, sir," Sigurdson responded.

"Captain, I have managed to crack the language used on the stone column on the planet's surface," the AI informed Bruce.

"Yes! Put a translation up on the screen please," Bruce ordered.

There had been carved words on three of the four faces of the polished column and the AI had arranged the translation in what it thought was the correct order.

Here on the planet Alban, in our most important city, Destiny, we the iLOX have carved this stone of power from the living rock. We dedicate ourselves anew to the gods our ancestors sprang from. With the rising and setting of the sun we offer our thanks and praise to the old ones, may they smile upon us and bless all that we do.

"That appears to be the earliest inscription," the AI said, "Followed by this one."

In the year 550 by our reckoning, we hereby commemorate our acceptance of integration with the Albannach, the eldest of the tribes on this planet. Together, we dedicate ourselves to work for the greater glory of the old ones.

"This one is the latest inscription," the AI said.

In memory of the Albannach race, who died at our hands. To signify our guilt and in penance for our crime, we have cut the head from this stone of power and send it with the sole remaining Albannach, Columba to a new world. The guardians go with him.

"Sweet Jesu!" exclaimed Tara and Gabrain together.

"Surely they don't mean The Columba, the saint?" asked Bruce.

"I think they do. And the name of the race, the Albannach, does that mean the Scots are directly related to the people who lived on this planet?" Tara questioned.

"I don't think that's possible," said Gabrain, "Columba arrived on the shores of Iona when many men already inhabited Dalriada and what we now know as Scotland. I think he brought the name with him though and somehow we adopted it."

"Who are the Guardians that are mentioned? I have no recollection of the blessed Columba having any guardians or even any companions. And who or what were those strange white beings we saw on the droids memory chip? I assumed they were responsible for the deaths of the people we found," Tara said.

The translation seemed to have raised more questions than it answered. Tara explained to Gabrain the recording they had managed to extract from the droid they had brought on board the ship from the planet Alban. She described the milky white creatures, their almost transparent bodies and the thin blue veins that seemed to run below the surface of their 'skins'. She explained how they had seen the ships spraying the skies above the city they now knew was called Destiny and how the people had all died. It was still strange to think of those people as the Albannach.

"Captain, I've used my understanding of the language to access the computers on the surface. They were well secured, but I have broken their codes and have full access. There is a full history of the planet stored in the computer archives. I estimate it would take twenty three years to view the highlights," said the AI.

"AI, show us the highlights relating to the death of the Albannach and the anything that explains why this planet has no life forms other than animals," Gabrain said.

He had cut across the Captain and showed he had lost none of his sharp wits, even down to already being able to make use of the new technology.

The AI began to show documents and various pieces of film, interviews and action sequences, in response to Gabrain's request. The crew on the bridge watched and read in silence as an extraordinary story of quite staggering pathos, treachery and horror played out in front of them.

It started with details of the iLOX. It turned out that they were the milky white beings. The iLOX had a weakness and it was libidinous sex. They couldn't get enough of it and there was no suggestion of monogamy or even of being faithful in their society. As a consequence, they had developed powerful contraceptives to avoid the possibility of over-population. The full effects of the contraceptive went unknown for over a hundred years with dire results.

Over time, sexual congress began to introduce small amounts of the hormone that controlled fertility into the bodies of the male iLOX and it eventually caused a virulent illness amongst them. Over a three-year period every male iLOX had died and the females were left on their own.