Grimly found himself in a strange new environment. There was a huge river flowing off to the east that was not there yesterday. The sky had a different hue, the trees outside the city’s boundary were twice as tall, and the hills surrounding the city were no longer there. He saw most of the community had gathered in the central square and were looking out at the strange landscape. He raised his arm and saw that the bracelet he had been wearing his entire life was no longer on his arm.
Suddenly, the crowd heard a noise and saw a strange ship moving down into the middle of the square. Grimly yelled for everyone to move out from under it, and the crowd followed his instructions. A silver-colored square appeared under the ship as it hovered ten feet off the ground, and a strange-looking being stepped out of it. Immediately, another silver square appeared and two green creatures that looked like walking plants appeared. Silence covered the population.
The first being looked at him and everyone in the square heard in their minds, “Welcome to your new home. My name is Jake, and the two here with me are named Sprig and Twig. You have been moved from the planet you have been living on to this one to try and stop the Keepers from killing you.” The crowd was silent.
Jake looked off and saw that the occupants of the other four cities had witnessed the ship coming down and were now moving toward the central community. Jake looked at Grimly again and said, “I see that you are this community’s leader. I welcome you and your people to this planet. The Algeans have donated this planet for you to live on. I’ll let Sprig explain everything to you.”
Grimly just stared at the green being and said, “What have you done?”
Sprig could see that most of the city’s population was in a state of shock. He said, “You have been transported to another universe. We are at war with the creatures that were consuming you, and we have begun to try and save some of the planets that they have enslaved. You are the first we have chosen to move. This is a different universe and planet from where you have been living, but it is now yours to make of it what you choose.”
Grimly stared at Sprig and said, “You mean we’re free?”
Sprig leaned right, indicating a smile, and said, “Yes, you are.”
Grimly knelt down and took some dirt in his hand and slowly shook his head. He stood, looked out at the thousands surrounding him, and yelled, “Our Maker has answered our pleas! We have been rescued from the killers!” The crowd went wild and as members of the other four cities arrived, the celebration grew larger and louder. Jake walked over to Grimly with Sprig and said, “Why don’t you gather the leaders of your people and I will come back at sunset to answer any of your questions.”
Grimly hugged Jake, then Sprig, and answered, “Why not make it at sunrise? We have a lot to celebrate, and I have no idea about who the other cities leaders are.”
Jake smiled and looked at Sprig who said, “We will meet with you in the morning, and would you mind if some of us joined you in the celebration?”
Grimly smiled and said, “The more the better.” Then he ran over and started hugging everyone he could find. Immediately, thousands of Algeans began teleporting in, joining the happy crowd.
Jake teleported to Junior’s bridge and said, “Your cities appear to be quite happy about your choice.”
“Do tell?”
“Let us go and allow them this moment for celebration. The Algeans can take it from here.”
Junior hovered for a few moments, watching the revelry, and felt somehow complete. Jake saw Robby in the crowd dancing with one of the Algeans. “This is what we are here to do,” he thought.
Junior lifted into the atmosphere and jumped to Ross.
Lorg, one of the Cainth survivors from Brayent, watched his monitor and saw a huge amount of activity taking place around the Keepers’ planet he was viewing. He had landed two days earlier in stealth mode on an asteroid outside the planet’s fifth moon, set his sensors to passive, and started searching for a means of attack. After a day, he watched more than fifty thousand Keepers’ ships arrive and take station in high orbit around the planet. This was in addition to those that were in low orbit protecting the planet from surprise attack. “What’s going on?” He wondered.
He looked closely at the scans and saw that there were twenty objects being lifted from the planet’s surface into high orbit just below the outer band of ships. He moved the view in closer and saw that these objects were brown in color, and were made from the hull material used for the Keepers’ Fleet. They were about a mile in length and were slowly moving out of the atmosphere and maneuvered into orbit such that they were equally spaced around the middle of the planet. The objects were pyramidal in shape, and the base of each was pointed toward the planet with the point oriented away from the surface below.
Lorg knew what those structures were designed to do; they were orbital fortresses that would protect the planet below with the Keepers’ thought beams. He watched the alignment of the forts for two days, then the fifty thousand ships jumped away from the planet. He watched as the twenty pyramids began rotating and changing color from light brown to dark brown. “Looks like they are now on line and active,” he thought as he watched the monitor. “What is that?”
Numerous blasts were seen on the planet’s surface and huge structures began lifting into space. Lorg captured a picture of one on his monitor, and had his computer look to see if anything similar had been seen. After four seconds the computer placed a picture beside the first and Lorg felt a wave of fear. Those huge structures lifting into space were the exact match for the ship modification facilities that had been destroyed at the first Keepers planet’s destruction. After five days the structures were in stationary orbit. Lorg estimated there were two hundred circling the planet. It was then that the two hundred ships that had been protecting the planet began leaving their assigned places in the coverage and started docking with one of the facilities. It was clear that the Keepers felt that they were no longer needed to defend the planet.
Lorg loaded everything he had recorded into two microprobes and left a message that the range of those forts had to be determined. One of those probes was going to Mord and the other to the Stars Realm’s Command Center. He reported that he was teleporting to within fifty thousand miles of the planetary forts, firing a high speed penetrator at the planet, and then teleporting out at which time he would report. Lorg set his systems to teleport the two probes simultaneously with his attack. He placed his hand on the teleport button and pushed.
The Gamma ship came out of its silver screen and disappeared into dust. The two probes recorded Lorg’s death from the orbit above the last moon and then disappeared.
One of the Keepers on the closest fort to the Gamma’s destruction reported, “The system works. We have killed one of the ships attacking us at half of the beam’s range.”
The Collective received the message and knew that the stalemate would soon be over. The war was back on.
Jake sat in the map room at Castle Gardner and listened to a small device on the table in front of him. Valerie’s eighteenth birthday party was wrapping up, and he left her to say farewell to all the dignitaries, friends, and family. There was a huge surprise when Valerie announced her plans to marry Jake Talant, and everyone congratulated them as the Realm pondered the ramifications of that union. Valerie was still an unknown to most of the Realm’s members, and no one had ever heard of the man she was marrying. The various news agencies began reporting about the events in which Jake had taken part and showed video of the defense of the colonies that were rescued from the Keepers. After seeing the destruction Jake had caused to the Keepers, the Realm was actually more curious about him than the new queen, and everyone started scrambling to gather any information about this handsome human and his background.
Those videos were eye-opening, and those in the military of the Realm that had not already viewed them were more amazed than the citizens. They knew he had done things that a normal Red Warrior could never do.
Jake just sat in the library and listened to the small device on the table, unaware of the attention being given to him. Valerie finally walked in and sat down in his lap, “I’m sorry it took so long.”
“I understand, Val; duty comes first.”
“What are you doing, Jake?”
“I saw in the Realm’s early history where Anglo Gardner discovered a vault in one of the ancient cities called Chicago and found some cigars. I was hoping some were left to celebrate this moment.”
“Did you find any?”
Jake shook his head, “No, but I did find some music that was recorded on circular discs. I asked our science department to transfer it to one of our devices so I could see what they listened to fifteen thousand years ago.”
Valerie smiled, “Was anything worth listening to?”
Jake removed his headphones and looked into Valerie’s eyes. “I found one bit of music that made me think of the first moment I saw you. It was recorded by an artist named Rick James, who must have been a great balladeer of his time, and it touched my soul.”
“What was the title?”
“It’s actually two songs joined together; This Magic Moment and Dance with Me.” Jake turned on the sound and started the recording. As the first strains of “This Magic Moment” began, he stood, took Valerie in his arms, and held her close.
Valerie listened to the lyrics with the music and marveled at its beauty. Jake started moving around the library with her as the song moved into Dance with Me. She lost herself in his arms. Valerie whispered in Jake’s ear, “It’s beautiful, and I love you with all my heart.” The two continued dancing in the map room lost in each other; forgetting, momentarily, Keepers, death, and destruction.
Admiral Busigleore watched the recording sent by the Cainth Pilot that had been killed attacking the new Keepers’ shipbuilding planet. This was material that was used to make nightmares. He thought for a long moment, then hit his com, “Valerie, I need to see you and Jake as soon as possible.”
Valerie appeared on his com, “What’s wrong, Manny?”
“The Keepers have found a way to defend their planets and release their ships. They are beginning to modify their fleet, and it’s only a matter of time before they launch an attack on the Realm in force.”
Valerie got a scared expression and said, “Bring what you have and meet Jake and me in the Library.”
“On my way.”
“Jake, I need you to meet Manny in the library; now.”
Jake was on the top floor of the castle looking out at Ross and its huge city, “What’s wrong?”
“You’ll be filled in when you arrive.”
Jake walked over to a door, punched the library button, and stepped into the library just as Manny teleported in. Manny said, “I’ve set the recording into a download and I need you to look at it.”
Jake and Valerie put on the headphones and the entire recording was transmitted to their brains in less than ten seconds.
“We still have no way of killing their ships, and they will be coming here soon.”
Jake looked at Manny and asked, “Have you sent another ship to see what’s happening at that planet?”
“Yes, and the only change so far is that the two hundred ships being modified are still there.”
“How long has it been since the destruction of that Gamma?”
“Thirty six hours.”
Jake thought a moment and said, “We have some time to prepare.” Valerie started to respond, but Jake continued, “If they take more than two days to convert two hundred ships, it will take three years to modify a hundred thousand. The only way to speed up the process is to build those facilities at their other home worlds. That will take some time, so we have a period to get ready for their assault.”
Manny shook his head, “What can we do? None of our weapons will work against them and their new ships have a screen that will protect them from the slicing beam, which is the only thing we’ve found that will penetrate their hulls.”
Jake looked at Valerie and said, “I need you to call Edison and Sprig to come here to this meeting.”
“Joe also needs to be here.”
“That’s fine, Valerie; just make it happen quickly. I need to take a look at those history records again. Let me know when they arrive.” Jake went over to the couch, put the headphones on, and closed his eyes.
“What is he doing, Valerie?”
Valerie smiled, “I have no idea, but I have faith it will help us.”
Manny shook his head, “I’m afraid nothing will help us. Joe contacted me just before I teleported in and said that there has been a development he needs to handle.”
“Do you know what it is?”
“No. It must be important, and I’m sure he’ll notify us once he gets it handled.”
Valerie almost contacted Joe, but decided to focus on the issue at hand.
An hour later Sprig arrived with Twig in tow, and Edison joined the group with Newton arriving ten minutes later. Sprig looked at Valerie and asked, “What’s going on?”
Valerie played the recording of the new Keepers’ shipbuilding facilities at high speed and saw that the Algeans and Spiders were concerned. Edison said, “This is not good. If they free up their fleet, then we are all in grave danger.”
Valerie went over, turned Jake’s download off, and said, “I know. I think Jake has an idea, but he didn’t want to be disturbed before your arrival.”
Jake opened his eyes and sat up. He looked at Sprig and Twig and said, “I have just looked at the history of the war between you and the Stars Realm. Your fleet destroyed one of the Realm’s fleets in one of the early battles.”
Sprig and Twig’s leaves turned brown, “We did a lot of things during that era for which we are very ashamed.”
“Sprig, you prevented that fleet from jumping to safety through the use of a frequency generator. Do you still have that technology?”
Sprig looked at Twig and connected with her mentally. After a few moments Twig said, “Yes, but the Realm found a way around it by using double screen jumps through null space.”
Jake smiled, “The Keepers are using standard technology to jump inside the jump limit. I don’t believe they know about the frequency of null space, so they shouldn’t be able to counter it. Using the frequency generator should force them to come in from the jump limit just like the ancient Stars Realm’s Megaships were force to do.
Sprig nodded and said, “We should place a generator at every member of the Realm to prevent the Keepers from jumping in close to the planet with no warning. We can also move the planet before they arrive as they move in from the jump. That would prevent them from destroying the planet.”
Jake nodded, “Can we make that happen with the millions of worlds in the Realm?”
Sprig said, “Give us a moment,” and linked minds with Twig.
Jake looked at Edison and said, “If I understand it right, you had scanners that could detect universal drives that jumped into your universe during your war with the Realm.”
“We still have those scanners, Jake. Why do you ask?”
Because we can’t see their ships on our scanners, but we can see where they jump into our universe. If we can get a stealth probe to that location fast enough to read their jump tracks, we should be able to follow them wherever they move, giving us an advance warning of their attack.”
Newton lowered to the floor and asked, “Do we have that many probes? They have more than a hundred million ships.”
Jake looked at Manny who said, “No, we don’t. But I suspect that if they follow their normal doctrine they will use large numbers of ships in their initial attacks. If a hundred thousand ships are used, then we only need a million probes at this moment. We are close to that now. I suspect the number needed initially will be small until they can modify enough of their ships.”
Jake looked at Edison and said, “They will probably start using the minimum number necessary to burn a planet. Eventually, we can increase production of those probes and ultimately assign one to each of their ships if needed. Once more, it depends on how much time they give us before they modify their fleet. Edison, we need you to incorporate your scanner into those probes so they can detect and immediately jump to a Keepers Fleet jumping into our universe.”
Edison and Newton looked at each other, and Newton said, “We’ll need two different types of probes. One will be designed to jump to the initial arrival and follow the Keepers to their targets. It will also read all the jump tracks when they jump from their point of emergence. If there is more than one, it will communicate those tracks to other probes to follow each one detected.”
Manny asked, “What’s the second type?”
“It will lock on a single ship and follow it wherever it goes. That one is the simplest and it won’t be hard to manufacture those in huge numbers.”
Jake stood and looked at Edison, “What about moving the planets?”
Edison looked at Sprig and said, “Do you want to take it from here?”
Sprig leaned forward and said, “That’s the easy part, Jake. We have mapped this universe to a fine fare-thee-well. Our computers can select a location in a different galaxy, move a planet to a stable orbit around a suitable star, and be prepared to move it again if necessary. Since we will have time before they can move in-system to a planet, hours in most cases, we will just teleport a ship to the planet and move it just before their arrival. That will cause a massive waste of time moving in and out of a system. If we have enough time, we will send a probe to each planet to handle the process automatically.”
Jake sat down and leaned back in a chair, “I know how we can trial that frequency generator.”
Everyone just stared at him, “We take one to the Keepers’ universe and start moving some of the enslaved planets to your galaxy, Sprig. If it works, they cannot arrive in time to stop us.”
Sprig and Twig both turned green instantly, “We’ll have one ready for you in a week, and start their production within three weeks.”
Valerie looked at Jake and was amazed at his ability to recall the smallest detail of the Realm’s ancient history. She looked at Sprig, “Will you coordinate this project and make it become a reality?”
“I will, Your Majesty.” He looked at the Spiders and said, “Can you assist me in getting the probe’s production started?”
“Einstein will join us and we’ll handle the probes. You focus on the safety of the planets.”
Manny smiled and said, “I’ll collect the Realm’s probes on a planet you designate for their modification.”
Jake could see the excitement of the group now having something productive to do against the enemy.
Valerie smiled and said, “Let’s get ready for a little hide-and-seek. I hope we frustrate those Keepers to the point of driving them out.”
Jake saw Robby sitting on a table across the library smiling; then he disappeared.
A Stars Realm Colonel entered the room at a fast pace and whispered into Manny’s Ear. Manny’s expression turned serious, then he said,
“What’s wrong, Uncle?”
“Valerie, we have been given additional time for our project, but the price was very high.”
Jake looked at Valerie and waited for Manny to explain.
Mord watched Lorg’s death on his monitor and felt several emotions: anger, fear, and loathing of the creatures that had killed his home and his sailors. He knew that his ships could no longer harm the Keepers’ planets, and he wept for the brave warriors killed in the efforts to hurt them. There were only eighty nine ships left of the original thirty two hundred, and he felt rage at being impotent. He thought about what could be done and remembered something he had seen in the download of the Star Realm’s early history. He checked with his ship’s computer and tried to decide if the price was worth the effort of what he was planning. He studied the data and saw his plan was possible.
He made a decision and called for all the survivors of Brayent to meet him at the original colony that Jake had freed. The garrison personnel had been transported away so there shouldn’t be anyone there to see them. He hit his teleport key and appeared above the now empty planet, waiting for the others to arrive.
After six hours, eighty nine ships were gathered above the planet. All of them had viewed the recording of Lorg’s final seconds and silence ruled the moment. Mord keyed his com and said to the survivors, “I know what you feel and I also feel it. It seems that we can no longer hurt these creatures, but I desire to send them all to Grund. I have a plan that would allow us to kill them one last time, but it would also kill all of us if we choose to go through with it. I refuse to order you to take this action, and as of this moment I am no longer your commander, but a friend.”
Zuck asked, “How many would we kill?”
“Every living being on the planet that killed Lorg; I estimate from his recording more than sixty billion.”
There was a long silence. Nerg broke it by saying, “My family, all my close friends, and everything I ever cared about died on Brayent. I have nothing but revenge and rage left in my soul. I long to join my mate and children in Junice, and my only hope is that I can extract a price from the creatures that killed them. If we could only kill one of them I would gladly join you in this enterprise. How do you plan to do this?”
Mord paused to allow others to have a word, but no one else spoke, “I saw in the ancient history of the Stars Realm where some of their ships fired negative energy at huge red ships that were attacking one of the Realm’s planets. I know that energy will not affect their ships but in that ancient attack, enough of it was absorbed by the system’s star that it went supernova.”
Zuck asked, “Where do we get this negative energy?”
“I checked with my ship’s computer and all of us have some of that energy in the outer skins of our ships. The original ships carried a huge amount of it, but the old Megaships were decommissioned more than seven thousand cycles ago and their skins were emptied. There was no safe place to store that energy, so it was put in the skins of all the Searchers. Our ships have enough, if we combine all of our ships, to cause an explosion large enough to possibly cause a nova. I don’t know if it will go supernova, but the planet will be destroyed either way. I believe the ships gathered at that planet will melt if it goes super.”
Yogn said, “You say ‘possibly’.”
All the survivors could see the sorrow on Mord’s face as they stared at their monitors, “Our ships have self-destruct circuits that annihilate them with a large explosion, but not a huge one. You know our beams are strong enough to destroy a planet, but the self-destruct circuit is designed only to release enough energy to destroy the ship. Look no further than the moon below us to see the crater from the first Searcher’s self-destruction.”
“If all of our energy was released it would, according to my computer, destroy this entire solar system. That’s why the Realm put limits on that circuit. In order for us to release all of our energy, we must fly into the corona of the sun and turn off our screens. The heat from the sun would melt the outer layer of our ship’s skins and release all of its energy, including the black holes and negative energy. The computer still doesn’t know what the effect would be, because nothing like this has ever been done with our type of ships. However, the Algeans told me that the Gamma ships are the most powerful ships ever constructed by the Realm. I, like you, Nerg, long to be with my family. This may not work, but it is the only way I see to strike at these creatures.” Mord paused and said, “If you are willing to do this, send me a signal on my console. You have five segs to think it over.”
“What if we choose not to do this?”
“Then we return to the Stars Realm and try to find peace and happiness until these creatures arrive to kill the new loved ones.”
“We could always jump to a different universe and live out our lives.”
“That’s true, Zuck, but your ancestors would eventually be consumed by them. I know how much you loved Reeg, Zuck. Do you think you can ever be happy without her?”
The lights started illuminating on Mord’s console, and after thirty seconds all eighty eight lights were glowing red. “It’s unanimous. We will take a day to prepare ourselves to go on our mission. Take this time to remember all of those you loved and those memories that bring you happiness. I am more proud of you at this moment than you will ever know, and I am humbled by your bravery. I will prepare a probe for the Realm to record what we do and explain why we are doing it. It includes all of your names and should the Realm survive, future generations will know of your bravery.”
The next day Mord and the other survivors teleported in to the outer system of the targeted Keepers’ production planet. Mord keyed his communications panel and sent an open transmission into the system, “I suspect that there is a Stars Realm ship in this system, and if you are inside the orbit of the fifth planet you should move to the outer reaches of the system immediately.”
Besens heard the communication and saw the eighty nine Gamma ships on his scanners. She was not going to return the communication and give away her location on the third moon. She decided that the Keepers had been warned of her presence and it might be in the best interests of her ship’s safety that she do exactly what the Cainth suggested. “Get us out of here, Cren.”
“Already moving, Bes.”
Mord saw the teleport energy of the Searcher and saw Keepers’ star drives lighting at the planet. “This is for Brayent!” he yelled into his com, and the eighty nine ships teleported into the outer corona of the systems star and turned off their screens.
The six thousand advanced Keepers’ ships assigned to protect the planet jumped to the position of the small white ships and found them gone. They immediately read the jump tracks and followed them before any of the navigators had a chance to see where they led, which turned out to be the worst, and last, decision they made that day. They arrived ten seconds behind the Gammas and were able to see the massive explosion from a great vantage point. Ordinarily, their hulls would not have been affected by the blast, but this was not an ordinary explosion. The sun went supernova and the first blast of nuclear fire engulfed the six thousand ships and melted them.
As soon as Mord communicated on an open frequency, the Collective and all of the Quadrants moved their attention to the production planet. They watched as the small ships disappeared and the six thousand ships give chase. The system’s sun was 120,000,000 miles from the planet, but the Keepers’ scanners actually operated instantly at universal distances so the operators of the scanners on the planet saw the sun go supernova. They watched in fear as the blast moved toward the planet. They had about ten and a half minutes before the explosion reached the planet at the speed of light. The Collective and all the Quadrants saw the star’s explosion moving outward and knew that billions of their species were about to die. They also knew that their abilities were about to be diminished. There’s something about seeing death coming and not being able to do anything to stop it that causes a fear which touches the depths of one’s being and is never forgotten. The Collective could not do anything but watch death move toward the planet.
More than sixty thousand Keepers’ ships had jumped into the system and were located inside the protection of the forts. All of them had received the first modification to have their drives protected. The new gates had been installed on the rear drives of the ships, but the systems to open them hadn’t. Those ships were unable to get underway and save themselves. Some of them turned on their drives in the hope of burning the new bafflers off and blew burning fuel into the interior of the ship. There was no escape; Death was coming and grinned at the meal. The billions of Keepers on the planet had no clue that there were only moments of life remaining for them. Ten point seven minutes after the explosion in the star’s corona, the atmosphere of the planet on the side facing the star was blown away, along with every ocean and three hundred feet of land surface. As the full blast arrived, the rest of the planet was melted into minute particles and became part of the shock wave moving into the outer solar system.
The Collective knew it was coming and could do nothing to stop the pain from the loss of billions of Keepers that were part of its consciousness. The Collective was fragmented again, and perhaps that was a blessing; the pain stopped.
The Values Quadrant was separated from the Collective and was not affected by the huge loss of life, but it too, watched the destruction of the planet and wept for the lost billions.
Besens watched the burning of the planet and recorded the event. She was humbled by the bravery of the Cainth pilots that had sacrificed themselves to give the Realm more time. With a heavy heart, she teleported back to the Realm to deliver her reports. She hoped she would be as courageous if fate called upon her to make the ultimate sacrifice.
By the end of the month, every Searcher had viewed the sacrifice of the Brayent Survivors and vowed to do the same if duty called on them. A week after the death of the Cainth pilots, the Cainth home world placed the eighty nine names on a stone tree monument at the entryway to the government center. It was put there to remind everyone what bravery really meant. It recorded the actions of the brave hundred and eighty nine, and Valerie Gardner christened the monument with an engraving of the Crimson Crown at the top to honor them. In Life Park on Ross, grave markers with their names and the Crimson Crown were placed with the other heroes of the Stars Realm.
Junior watched the ceremony from orbit and felt remorse for his initial reservations of sending those survivors to fight the Keepers. He now understood that survival often demanded a payment that most were unwilling to give. He had not allowed the Algeans to put the advanced weaponry of the Realm on board, but now he knew that half measures were a path to destruction. He left Ross and jumped to the shipbuilding facilities in the Algean Galaxy.