J ake and Valerie were discussing the coming invasion when Junior interrupted, “War warning! The Keepers Fleet is forming up at one of their production facilities, and it looks like more than two million ships are headed out this way.”
Valerie felt immediate, overwhelming, fear. Jake felt her thoughts and took her hand, “We knew it was coming. Now we see if our plans are going to work.” He looked at his display and said, “Manny, are you on the circuit?”
“Yes, I am Your Grace.”
“Sorry, Manny, I don’t have a royal title.”
“I know, but you are more Royal than most of the Royal Family. What are your orders?”
“Notify all the Members of the Realm to activate their frequency generators, and have every Searcher on Ross teleport to Cynthia’s Brigade to support her attacks. Notify the modified transports to jump out of our universe immediately and wait for the signal to start their runs. Sprig, are you on the circuit?”
“Yes I am, your Grace.”
“Not you, too!”
“I happen to agree with the Admiral. We are completely at your disposal.”
“Are the destinations prepared and protected?”
“Yes they are, and we await the arrivals.”
Jake thought a moment and then said, “These actions will begin as soon as the Keepers Fleet arrives.”
Jake put his display on standby and said, “Are you ready?”
Junior answered, “Jumping now.”
Valerie turned to Jake, “Where are we going?”
“To visit a Duke.”
Valerie felt her anxiety level rise, but held Jake’s hand like it was life itself. She knew she would not have been able to handle these events as competently as Jake was demonstrating, and she said, “You are now in command of the Realm. I am now an observer.”
Jake looked at Valerie and felt his love for her to the depths of his soul. He almost snarled at the chance to get the action started.
Valerie sensed his psychic power growing at a tremendous rate, then she saw the capital of the Kosiev Province on her display. Why did we come to Ulmerton?
The Director of the Keepers Fleet waited for the final ships to assume their place in formation, then sent the command, “Activate your universal drives in four dexls. Three, two, one, activate.” The huge Keepers Fleet disappeared from their universe and reappeared near the thousands of dead Eight Leg’s ships.
“Tighten up your formations and prepare to attack your targets in ten dexls… three, two, one, jump.”
Jake kept his eyes on the display and Manny announced, “The Keepers Fleet has just jumped.”
“Carry out the plan, Admiral.”
Manny disappeared from the display.
“Activating the circuit, Jake.”
“What is Junior talking about, Jake?”
Jake looked at Valerie and said, “Watch Ulmerton.”
Four hundred thousand Keepers’ ships jumped in to Ulmerton and moved quickly into the atmosphere. Duke Jongo immediately saw their arrival on his ship’s display and yelled, “Get us out of here!”
The navigator on the Duke’s ships punched the teleport console but nothing happened. He punched it again and again, but still the ship did not move. The Duke felt unimaginable fear and yelled, “Get us off the planet!”
The drive officer hit the engines and the ship began lifting into the atmosphere. Just before the ship entered space, a Keepers’ ship focused one of its beams on the fleeing vessel. It shimmered briefly just before it turned to dust.
Valerie watched the Keepers destroy the planet. The atmosphere and a hundred feet of the planet’s surface was disappearing in a huge dust cloud. She forced herself to witness it all. She now knew that Jake and Junior had set the Duke up for the devastation being done below. She wanted to feel sorrow for the billions being killed, but knew those billions were planning to attack the Realm. The Duke was getting back what he had tried to deliver to Ross. She turned and looked at Jake, “Did the frequency generator fail?”
Jake looked her in the eyes and said, “It did not work.”
She knew that Jake was telling the truth, but not the whole truth. As his lover she wanted desperately to ask how the Duke had not just teleported away to safety, but knew as Queen she could not ask. She looked back at the display and saw hundreds of thousands of the Duke’s ships being disintegrated on the surface of the planet. “Those ships will not attack the Realm,” she thought.
She knew there was going to be fallout from this act, but that would be handled later. She asked, “What about the other planets that were attacked?”
Jake smiled and said, “Their generators did function properly.”
Five Keepers Fleets arrived at the remaining four provincial capitals as well as Ross, and found their ships dropping out of null space outside the null drive limit. The Director of the Keepers Fleet attacking Ross turned to his navigator, “Why are we here instead of the planet?”
“I don’t know. Our drive just shut off and kicked us out of our jump.”
“Try again.”
“I’ve tried five times; our drives will not take us any closer.”
The Director contacted the other five fleets and discovered that only one had made it to a target. The fleets asked the Prime Director for orders. He thought for a moment, and decided, “We will move in to the targets and attack.”
“What if they move the populations?”
“We will destroy the planets. There will be nowhere for them to return. Eventually, there won’t be any where for them to flee. The plan calls for the destruction of every planet that can sustain life. We start that here and now.”
The five fleets began moving in on the targeted planets.
“Citizens of Ross, a large enemy fleet has jumped into our system and is moving toward our planet. Please do not teleport away just yet. We will move the planet to safety when the enemy fleet is an hour out from contact. If we are unsuccessful, then you may activate your teleporters. Please understand that we will be moving the planet as many times as necessary to protect it, and if you leave you may not be able to return until after the war.”
The billions on Ross were afraid, but they did not want to leave their homes and be stranded without being able to return. Half a million citizens teleported out, but the vast majority waited.
“How long until arrival?”
The navigator looked at his board and said. “One interval in thirty dixls.”
The Director watched his screen and one interval from the planet, it disappeared.
“What? What? Where? What just happened?!?”
The navigator stared at his board and said, “It’s gone. The planet is just…gone.”
“Can they be hiding it?”
“Listen for yourself. There is no thought frequency, there is no affect of gravity that we would certainly be feeling if it were still there, and we can see the star through the space it was occupying.”
“Continue to the last place it occupied. I must make sure it is not hidden.”
The Keepers Fleet arrived at the former orbit of Ross and found nothing. Even the moons had disappeared with the planet. The Prime Director began getting calls from the other fleets wanting to know what had happened and what they should do.
The Prime Director felt a touch of fear. “Move your fleets outside the jump band and scan for the planet you targeted. See if it’s located elsewhere.”
The navigator asked, “Do you seriously think the planet was moved?”
“You explain what just happened.”
The navigator was at a loss until eight hours later, when the sensors determined that a planet identical to the one they attacked was now in a galaxy a hundred million light years away. The other fleets also reported identical planets out in the far reaches of this universe.
The Director looked at the Navigator, “Was that planet there when we arrived?”
The navigator looked at the original scan and said, “No, it was not.”
The Director reflected on the level of technology required to move a planet that distance and decided that it had to be verified. “Jump your fleets to the planet that is identical to your original target and attack if it is a match.”
The Prime Director sensed the unease of the millions of Keepers in the fleet, but knew he must carry out his orders. Those planets had to be destroyed. It wondered what other surprises awaited his Fleet.
Col. Cynthia Dodd and Glen David waited for their transportation to arrive. The transports were holding in another universe waiting for the go signal, and Cynthia’s five thousand five-man teams were gathered in the Fleet Auditorium to receive their final instructions. Cynthia stepped on the stage and Glen ordered, “Atenn-shun!” The Red Warriors gathered in the room jumped to attention. Cynthia stared out at the assembly and said, “At ease. Please take your seats.” The warriors sat down and turned on their recorders.
“I have been told that the Keepers Fleet is assembling and getting ready to jump.” The warriors began moving in anticipation of combat. Cynthia continued, “We will not start our campaign until the enemy fleet has jumped to our universe. We believe that to go before their arrival would cause them to target us with overwhelming numbers. I have informed Fleet Command that overwhelming numbers don’t exist as far as we are concerned.”
The warriors shouted, “Hooooo-Yahhhh!”
Cynthia smiled, “This campaign is going to be done completely different from our previous attempts to rescue the enslaved civilizations of the Keepers. In our first two efforts, we attacked the Keepers’ garrisons and pinned them down so our transports could come in and teleport the cities out. Since our last successful rescue, we have developed transports that we believe will be invisible to the Keepers’ scanners. Their hulls reflect all electron and light waves around them such that, like our Searcher’s ships, they will not be detected. They will go in first and snatch the communities into their bays and then teleport away.”
Cynthia paused, then continued, “Now, ordinarily that would be that and we would be merrily on our way. However, we have learned that before we can attack the home worlds of these creatures, we must destroy all of the garrisons on the enslaved planets. That’s where you come in. You have a new mix of weapons, and we believe you will be able to survive one of those thought beams long enough to kill the poor, dumb, son of a Keeper that is stupid enough to fire it at you. We believe we must go down into those garrisons and make sure that every Keeper is dead but also, just as important, if any eggs exist they too must be destroyed. Our scientists are of the opinion that these creatures lay eggs, and there could be millions of them in every garrison. You must go down and make sure they either don’t exist or, if they do, eliminate them.”
Cynthia looked out at the assembly and worried about how many would survive the coming fight. She knew they had been well trained and their weapons were the latest developments of the Spiders and Algeans, but only meeting the enemy would determine if they were prepared. She backed away from the podium and Major David yelled, “Ateennnn-shunn!”
The Warriors jumped to attention and Cynthia exited the stage. As she moved out of the building she heard Glen yell, “Report to your pick up site. Full armor check by team leaders in five minutes.” The room emptied faster than a bucket with no bottom.
Fifty minutes later, five thousand Searchers arrived. The teams boarded their ships and jumped to the Keepers’ universe. Cynthia watched them leave as she boarded her ship. “Where to, boss?”
“Take us to that planet that Jake and Junior met that Keeper entity. I want to see how our warriors perform.”
“That is going to be one of the tougher nuts to crack. The garrison is actually in the middle of the ten cities; one of the largest we’ll be facing in this round of rescues. Hey! That’s why we’re going there. You want to jump in on the action.”
Cynthia smiled and heard, “Ah Ha, I’m right.”
“Settle down, BC. If there is going to be trouble I want to make sure we’re able to observe what happens and offer help if needed. I’m worried that our teams are too small to take on a garrison. If the team can handle this one, I’ll feel better about our chances when we take on the millions of other garrisons. You have the scan of that garrison and I want you to have a good plan to target the main concentrations of their weapons.”
“Way ahead of you, boss. I laid out the scheme a week ago.”
“Why you old scoundrel, you’re starting to know me too well.”
“Takes one to know one. Now let’s go hope we can have some fun.”
“Manny, we’re going to take a trip over to Keepers-land to check on our progress against the garrisons. Send me a message if anything important happens. I think those fleets are going to be chasing our planets for several days.”
“Take care of our Queen.”
“You know I will.”
“By the way, Jake; nice job on the Duke.”
“What… the generator failed. How could we have known it was defective?”
“Yes, it was a shame it also shorted out all of their teleport systems when it failed. Joe and I owe you.”
“Manage the fire while we’re gone, Manny.”
“Will do.”
Valerie looked at Jake, “Jake, I have just one question and then I’ll let this go.”
Jake looked at her and said nothing.
Valerie continued, “Was it necessary for the planet to be destroyed?”
Junior answered, “I’ll handle this one. Yes, for three reasons.”
Valerie looked at the speaker on the wall, “What are they?”
“One, it was the only way to get at the Duke without us having to do it. Two, it was also the only way to cut his forces down to size before the civil war breaks out.”
“What civil war?”
“Don’t play dumb, Valerie. You know it’s coming. His son will now insist on assuming the Duke’s position and you are not going to allow it. You’ve also seen the data on the ambitions of the other Provincial Rulers. It may not start immediately, but it lies in our future. Allowing the Keepers to kill the Duke has bought us time to prepare for what lies ahead.”
“And three?”
“He tried to kill the Realm’s Queen and his planet willingly supported all of his actions. The local population benefited from the exorbitant taxes levied against the Realm’s members in their province and would continue the practice even if the Duke was removed.”
“There was a fourth reason, Valerie.”
Junior said, “What did I miss, Jake?”
Valerie looked at Jake and heard the real reason, “That planet’s destruction is what the Gardners must have seen in their vision. It had to happen before we can find them.”
Junior said, “I believe you must be right. The destruction of a provincial capital by an invading fleet would certainly do the trick.”
Valerie was worried about the heart of a man that could kill a member of the Realm. Now she heard the truth and knew that this was an event that had to happen. Just as her vision could not be avoided, neither could this event. She jumped up and hugged Jake and kissed him deeply.
Jake said softly, “I know, Val. I know.”
Junior watched them and jumped to the Keepers’ universe. Then he teleported to the planet where they had communicated with the strange Keepers entity.
Jake and Valerie continued to hold on to each other.
Lt. Dale Hamlet waited for his ship and looked at the four members of his team. He was one of the survivors that had fought with Jake at the first rescue, and he knew the hell they were about to enter. He realized his new armor was greatly improved since that first fight, but he still remembered the warriors killed in that action. He also knew he was selected for this assignment because of his experience. He looked at Annie Gonzalez and said, “I expect you to keep up. Don’t fall behind.”
“I won’t, Lieutenant. I’ve got your back.”
“Gord, you’ll follow us down. Make sure your packages are ready before we go underground.”
“Armed and ready, sir.”
Dale took a deep breath and said, “We’ve been told our armor will handle their beams for a longer time than our previous suits. Don’t believe them. Do not linger in one of the Keepers’ beams; keep moving. I expect more than a hundred thousand Keepers warriors are waiting under the surface. You have a surplus of armaments; don’t be afraid to use them. If it moves, hit it.”
Terry Robbin asked, “Why don’t we just hit the enemy with a main beam from space and blow it out of existence?”
“Because we don’t know if the eggs will survive the blast. We have to make sure, and that means we have to go and see. The beam strike would make it impossible to determine that.”
Lisa Jerrell said, “Why don’t we just destroy the planet? The communities will be gone.”
Dale shook his head, “Ultimately, it may come to that. But remember that these planets had intelligent life evolve on them before they were conquered. A planet that can sustain life is not something to be wasted. There are numerous species that can one day evolve to become intelligent. We’re charged to defend those that cannot defend themselves. That includes all life, not just life that is intelligent.”
Dale looked up and saw an approaching Searcher heading toward his team. The ship settled to the ground, the landing bay opened, and Ethan Rucker stepped out. Dale immediately recognized the pilot from the first fight and ran forward and embraced him. “I’m glad it’s you taking us.”
“I asked for this assignment. I’ll keep you covered.”
Dale turned to his team and said, “We have a great Searcher taking us. Get aboard. We have a job to do.”
The five Red Warriors entered the landing bay and the small ship lifted.
Junior said, “If you two lovebirds are interested, it appears we have another spectator for the coming attraction.”
Jake and Valerie broke their kiss and Valerie asked, “What?”
“Cynthia and BC are here awaiting the arrival of the transport.”
Jake looked at his display and saw Cynthia’s ship holding station 10,000 miles out from the planet. “I’ll bet Fleet Command doesn’t know she’s here. Can she see us, Junior?”
“No. I’m sure she’s worried about this particular action because of the size of that garrison. This must be one of the Keepers’ oldest conquests.” Junior paused for a moment and then said, “Jake, they have underestimated the size of this garrison.”
Jake felt a sudden dread, “What do you mean?”
“I’m looking at the fleet report on this garrison and it shows it going down ten levels. My scanners are better than anything the Realm is currently using, and I can see there are fifteen more levels they didn’t detect. There are more than three hundred thousand Keepers in that facility. That must be why there are ten communities instead of the normal three or four.”
Valerie looked at Jake, “What are you going to do?”
“I can’t warn Cynthia before the transport arrives because the Keepers will hear the transmission. Unfortunately, the warriors will enter the facility almost simultaneously with the transport’s departure. I’m not willing to call off the rescue and miss saving the ten communities.”
Junior said, “Jake, don’t do it.”
Valerie said, “Do what?”
“Junior, my armor was updated with the new weapons four weeks ago. I’m going to need you and the other Searcher to support us with your needles. Most of that support will have to come from you because the other ship won’t be able to see the lower levels. If it gets too bad you can teleport me out and I won’t block it.”
“Jake, you are not going into that garrison.”
Jake shook his head and hugged her, “Yes I am, and you know I have to go.”
“Why do you have to do it?”
“You would do the same, Val. Junior, I’m going to the landing bay to test my armor. Take care of my future bride while I’m gone.”
“Who’s going to take care of me?”
Jake laughed and left for the landing bay.
Valerie sat down in the command chair and felt her fear rising. She asked, “How is the transport going to take those cities without the Keepers seeing the teleport screen?”
“It is going to use a new process called grab and snatch.”
“What?”
“The transport will project the teleport screen eighteen inches under the soil of the ten cities and the surrounding fields. It will already be in place as the transport arrives a mile above the communities. The transport will then lock the connection and accelerate away from the planet at full speed, pulling the screen up as it departs and teleporting everything above it into the transport’s bay. The only thing left behind will be the orange trinkets the Keepers placed on the population. The screen won’t be visible underground and the Keepers will only see it for a brief moment as the ship leaves the planet. The Warriors will be teleporting in below the screen used to move the cities and begin their attack.”
“Junior, there are too many of them. Jake may be killed.”
Junior gave a sigh and said, “That’s true, but I’ve seen the new armaments and I think they can hold their own until the five Warriors can be rescued if things go south.”
“But six against hundreds of thousands.”
“Seven, Valerie. Cynthia will also be going down. I’ll update her in a few moments as the transport leaves. I’m certain she wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
Valerie sat and worried and looked for the transport to arrive.
“Here it comes,” Junior announced.
The transport teleported to a mile above the ten communities and locked the length of the beam controlling the teleport screen. It fired its drives and accelerated out of the atmosphere, pulling the silver screen up with it as it departed. The screen disappeared two hundred feet above the surface as the huge three-hundred-mile-wide transport disappeared into the darkness of space. Just before teleporting away the transport ejected a frequency generator, which immediately started broadcasting.
“Cynthia?”
“Junior, what are you doing here?”
“No time to explain. The fleet report is inaccurate. This garrison has twenty five levels instead of ten. There are more than a quarter of a million Keepers inside it, and Jake is teleporting down to support the Red Warriors.”
“BC, lock me on Jake’s signal and teleport me down.”
“Cynthia, you have been ordered not to participate in any combat operations.”
“Tell it to the Admiral after you teleport me down. What do you think they will do if I don’t go and try to keep from losing Jake?” Cynthia donned her armor and disappeared from the bridge.
Ethan Tucker was holding station above the garrison when a ship appeared a mile to the west of his position. He heard, “Rescue One, this is the Stars Realm ship Junior, and I am here to support your warriors. I am patching my scans into your system and I need you to handle the east end of the garrison.”
Ethan saw the new scan on his display, “Holy….”
“I know; Fleet underestimated the scope of this garrison. Keep moving and hit anything sticking its head up.”
“You two aren’t going to a party without me, I hope.”
“Oh, hi BC; you take the west end and I’ll handle the middle. Hit the structures that are above ground level.
The surface of the garrison exploded as the three ships began rapidly teleporting to different locations while firing low power needles into the huge Keepers facility.
Dale and the four Red Warriors teleported into the first level of the garrison and arrived in the middle of hundreds of Keepers. Dale released a bundle of the new wasps and watched as every one of the Keepers in the corridor began bursting into bright light and disappearing. Dale watched as hundreds of the brown creatures turned to run, but they could not escape the small, fast moving, darts.
The new wasp was a small Coronado Power Cell that homed in on the thought frequency of Keepers. It would hit, penetrate and release its energy, which was set to completely burn an average sized Keeper. Dale quickly looked at his scanner and was shocked at the number of Keepers coming up from the lower levels.
“Lt. Hamlet, I am taking command of this unit.”
Dale was stunned to hear Col. Dodd, but his amazement increased as the White Demon teleported in to join his team.
Cynthia looked at Jake and said, “Just like old times, huh? What’s the plan?”
“Lieutenant, send a warrior to the each end of this corridor and have them begin launching wasps. Fan out from here and follow my lead.”
Terry and Gord moved quickly down each end of the corridor and fired a bundle of a thousand hornets ahead of them. Jake closed his eyes and looked at the floor. He pointed his right arm down, lowered his wrist, and fired an intense beam into the floor. He then launched a bundle of wasps followed by two hornets. In the corridor under the warriors, the wasps fanned out and Keepers began disintegrating. The hornets turned and headed in opposite directions, homing in on two beam platforms that were moving toward the invaders. The hornets hit the platforms and melted them. These hornets did not explode, risking a cave in, but released intense heat. Every Keeper within fifty feet of the platforms burned.
Jake looked in both directions and said, “This corridor is seven miles long. I want everyone spaced with a mile separation. Once this corridor is clean, notify me.”
Dale looked at his display and noticed he was assigned the extreme left end of the long cave. He turned and ran. Gord was assigned the right end, with the remaining warriors equally spaced between them.” Jake noticed some Keepers’ beams begin to come through the floor.
“Junior, it appears our hosts are delivering a big serving of beam platforms. Anything you can do about thanking them for their courtesy?”
“Don’t stand above them, and allow ten feet for the passage.”
Jake fed the locations of the platforms to the combat computers of the team, and had an alarm sound if anyone moved between the platform and the surface. “We’re clear, Junior.”
Junior fired an intense micro needle that was only two inches wide, but incredibly hot, into the ground. It penetrated two levels and hit a beam platform. “BC, Ethan; use your scanner and fire a micro needle at any beam platform in your area of coverage. The team will not be within ten feet of the area above the platforms.”
“Ok, this is how we’re going to do this. This level is clear. Before you teleport to the next level, eject a bundle of bees. Use your blaster to burn a hole next to you through the floor into the next level. Then fire a bundle of wasps and two hornets through it. Wait six seconds to give the hornets time to complete their run, then teleport into that level. Your computers will take over once we jump in.” Jake looked at the warriors and said, “Execute.”
The Collective was analyzing production data when it felt thousands of its warriors dying. It sent its perception out and saw five thousand farms under attack. It heard, “I’ve sent ships to the farms and they will arrive momentarily.”
The Collective looked at the planets being attacked and one jumped out at him. Military responded again, “I see Grenwa is one of those being assaulted. I don’t know if the enemy just got lucky or knew its importance. I’ve sent a hundred thousand ships to its defense.”
The Collective said nothing, but turned its attention to Grenwa and entered the farm’s Director. “We have assistance on the way.”
“The Fleet arrived a twentieth interval ago and is coming in from the jump band.”
“Military, why is our fleet only jumping to the jump band?”
“I don’t know. Our drives will not take us any further. Science, what’s happening?”
“There is a probe emitting a frequency that is preventing our ships from jumping to the planet.”
“Just the one planet?”
“No, all five thousand.”
The Collective went back to the Director and asked, “Can you hold out?”
“The attackers are now down two levels and we are organizing our defense eight levels below them. At the current pace, the fleet should arrive before the nineteenth level is reached.”
The Collective was anxious. How did the enemy prevent their drives from operating? Then it had a sudden thought that caused fear, “If their drives were not working here, what about the fleet in the enemy’s universe?”
“Military, get a scout to the enemy’s universe and see if the fleet is also being affected by this device.”
“It won’t make any difference. They may move the populations, but we will destroy the planets until there is nowhere for them to escape.”
“Even so, find out what’s happening.”
Military ordered the scout to go and felt an unfamiliar emotion: fear.
“This just in for your viewing pleasure. A Keepers Fleet of a hundred thousand ships has just come out of jump at the drive limit.”
Jake fired a hornet at a beam platform and said as he released another bundle of wasps, “They really respond in a big way, Junior.”
“I’m not so sure about that, Jake.”
Jake sensed something in Junior’s tone, “What do you mean?”
“This is the only planet that drew that level of response. All the others only had a thousand ships dispatched.”
“There’s something here that’s important to them.”
“That’s how I see it, Jake. Have you seen anything that would justify that level of response?”
Jake fired his blaster at a Keeper coming out of an opening in the floor, “No but we’re only down to the sixth level.”
“My scanners show a huge welcome party for you on the eighth level.”
“What do you see?”
“The entire corridor is filled with Keepers aiming their beam platforms at the seventh level.”
Jake looked at his display and saw that the sixth level was clear of Keepers. He ordered a halt to the advance. The team waited and listened in to Jake’s transmission, “Junior, can you fire one of the old needles into that level and load it with hornets.”
“If he can’t, I can.”
Junior asked, “What are you doing with old needle armament, BC?”
“I love the old weapons. I even have an early Stars Realm Megaship primary beam.”
“Well, I am impressed.”
“I’ll give you one when this is over.”
“Thanks, BC.”
“As soon as you two Chatty Charleys finish your conversation, we could use that needle.”
Junior said, “Party pooper,” just as a brilliant, white beam hit the garrison and penetrated to the eighth level. Enclosed in the needle were four hundred hornets that scattered, seeking out the beam platforms.
Jake hit his mike, “Cynthia, take command and clean up the seventh level. I’ll meet you on the eighth.” Jake ran over to the hole made by the needle and jumped. His perceptions slowed, and as he slowly passed the seventh level he fired six bundles of wasps; three on each side of the hole he was falling through. Keepers began burning. Then he landed on the eighth level and saw the mayhem the hornets had caused. He fired three bundles in each direction and moved toward the largest concentration of platforms. His scanners showed forty were still operational, so he fired forty hornets that left him at what seemed normal speed. To the Keepers in the corridor, they punched though the sound barrier immediately and hit every platform in less than a tenth of a second.
Jake got behind the cloud of wasps moving up the corridor and hit any Keepers they missed with his blaster. He cleared one end of the corridor, turned and ran back to the other end, and caught up with the other cloud of wasps as it moved in the other direction. He knew that he was moving faster than the speed of sound. As he neared the cloud of wasps they picked up speed and the other end was cleared. Jake looked at his scanner and saw the seventh level was just about completed. He waited, and in three minutes the rest of the team joined him on the eighth level.
Cynthia looked around and saw more than five hundred beam platforms on her scanner. She had no idea how many Keepers had been killed because the wasps left little or nothing behind. Dale and his team were amazed at the destruction around them and were thankful they had not had to face those platforms. The team dropped to the ninth level.
Junior and the other two ships were no longer blasting the surface of the garrison. Every installation above the planet’s surface had been destroyed. There was nothing left alive to hit. Junior worried as he watched the approaching fleet. Finally he said, “Jake, the fleet will arrive in three hours and twenty minutes. At the current pace you will only make it to level twenty before their arrival.”
Jake knew time was going to run out, and he suspected that whatever the Keepers valued on this planet has to be on the lowest level. There just wasn’t enough time. He hit his com, “Cynthia, we’re running out of time. I’m taking over from here. Here’s what I want you to do. I am going to teleport into the fifteenth level at the west end of the corridor and move east. As soon as your scanners show it’s clear, teleport in and everyone fire a load of bees. I don’t want anything coming up behind us.”
“Jake, are you sure?”
Jake shrugged, “If it gets too dangerous I’ll teleport out and you can follow. Are you ready?”
Cynthia nodded, watching as Jake teleported to the end of the corridor and then disappeared.
Dale watched his scanner over the next two and a half hours as something moved through the corridors under him faster than anything he had ever seen. His scanner showed the huge blasts as they moved from one end of the next level to the other. His four team members were amazed at what they were witnessing. The rumors and tales about the White Demon were not even close to the reality of what they were seeing.
Finally, level twenty four was cleared. Jake stood there and the six Red Warriors saw most of his armor was covered with brown blood stains. “Load your weapons. It’s the next level that we must investigate. I don’t see anything on the next level that looks like a threat. I believe that every Keeper in the garrison tried to prevent us from getting here. Only fire at an identified threat. Everyone understand?”
They all nodded.
“Let’s go,” and the seven Red Warriors teleported to level twenty five.
The Collective saw that the fleet was not going to arrive before the enemy entered the last level of the garrison. It sensed each level die as that terrible creature killed faster than anything he had ever witnessed. Now there was no Keeper alive in the garrison for him to watch what was happening. He was hopeful the fleet would arrive in time to force the enemy to leave, but they were still a quarter interval away. He started to wish he had listened to the old Values Quadrant.
The seven warriors landed in a giant cavern that extended out into the distance. Jake turned and saw thousands of squares on the far wall and he teleported to them to see what they were. The other warriors arrived right behind him and felt immediate revulsion. Tens of thousands of clear boxes held one of the species that had been enslaved on this planet. Jake’s scanner showed they were all alive, but in some sort of suspended animation. There were no brain waves in the scans. This was how the Keepers stored their food. Jake just shook his head at the brutality of the Keepers.
“What are those Jake?”
Jake turned around and saw to the right of the storage containers a series of cutout holes in the wall extending from floor to ceiling as far as the eye could see. Jake read his scanner and saw that there were more than eight billion in just the left wall. He walked over, looked in one of the cutouts, and saw a round, brown and red, oval about four feet across. Eggs.
“Jake, the fleet will arrive in twelve minutes. You’ve got to get out of there.”
“Just a moment, Valerie. BC. Tell me you have one of the Captors’ energy balls in your storage.”
“What are those?”
“Junior, what about you?”
“No, I don’t Jake.”
“I do.”
Jake was stunned, “Ethan, what are you doing with a Captors’ energy ball?”
“I found one lying around the armory and decided to take it.”
“Teleport it down, now.”
A silver screen formed and a giant red ball appeared on the floor. “Everyone get out of here.”
“Not without you, Jake.”
“That’s an order, Cynthia.”
“So arrest me. We all go together.”
Jake turned the timer to sixty minutes and set the blast level to five hundred miles.
Valerie screamed, “Jake, come on!”
Jake threw the switch to start the countdown, looked at the warriors and yelled, “Get out of here!” All seven disappeared.
Just as Jake appeared on Junior’s bridge, the ship disappeared through a silver flash. Thousands of beams ripped through the space the three small ships had occupied one second earlier.
The navigator on the Fleet Director’s ship scanned the garrison and said, “The enemy has left a large round device in the lower chamber.”
The Collective heard the comment and ordered, “Get warriors down there and remove it.”
Thousands of landing craft screamed down to the surface and thousands of Keepers rushed into the first level. As they rushed into the sixth level, the bees in the first six levels activated.
The bee was a new type of wasp. It didn’t fly as fast as a wasp, but it carried the same sting. If it struck a Keeper, it would burn. The main difference between the two darts was the bee’s skin. Where the wasp was fast, the bee was stealthy. The bee was a leave-behind weapon. The bee would attach itself to a wall or ceiling and its skin would match the color of the surface where it landed. It would then turn off its power and wait. Once it detected movement it would remain dormant until a predetermined delay passed, then it would attack any target within range of its sensors. The seven Red Warriors had each ejected a bundle of five thousand bees on every level they passed.
Twenty thousand Keepers were rushing toward the lower chamber when 210,000 bees activated. The Fleet Director heard all of them die screaming in pain. He prepared to send more warriors into the facility but rejected the decision when an explosion ripped through the structure, blowing out into the ranks of the assembled fleet holding station just above the planet’s atmosphere.
The Keepers’ ships were not affected by the blast, but all of the landing craft on the surface were disintegrated and a five-hundred-mile-long crater was all that remained of the huge facility. Nothing was left of the egg chamber. The Collective knew that the loss of the chamber was catastrophic for the future survival of his species. It felt something new, anger and then rage.
Ales Jongo looked down on what remained of his home. Ulmerton was a ruined planet. The atmosphere had been disintegrated and the surface looked like a barren, burned desert. As he looked down on the previous location of the capital, he saw an explosion forty miles to the north where a small meteor had just hit. Without an atmosphere to burn them, even small meteorites would hit the surface. Jongo knew that the planet would look like the surface of the moon as time passed.
Ales knew he should be enraged, but he felt mixed emotions. His family was gone and his father was killed by the Keepers. He reflected and knew that his father’s death was a mixed blessing. He had never forgiven him for executing his older brother two years earlier. He loved Gilum and worshiped him. However, Gilum was infected with the same disease as his father, blind ambition, and had less patience than the Duke. He begged Gilum not to go through with his plans to kill his father, but Gilum refused to listen.
Gilum told him, “You must act like you hate me, Ales.”
“Why, you know I love you!”
Gilum reached out, tasseled Ales’s hair, and said, “If my plan fails and father even remotely thinks you knew about it and didn’t warn him…you know what he’ll do. You must tell everyone you hate me. Avoid me at meals and refuse to talk to me. I’m going to criticize you so others can see we are not friends. You must do this.”
Ales sighed and remembered following Gilum’s advice. His father even gave him the privilege of firing the blaster that killed his older brother. Before he pulled the firing lever, he saw Gilum look at him, nod, and smile. His loyalty confirmed the Duke proclaimed Ales Jongo as the new heir to the title. Ales would give everything away just to have Gilum back.
Ales also knew that he really couldn’t blame his father for what he did. He only protected himself against an enemy trying to kill him. He stared at the planet and both hated and missed his father in equal measure.
How did this happen? The other planets attacked by the Keepers were now moving around the universe, playing a deadly game of tag with the Keepers Fleets. Why was Ulmerton the only casualty? He also knew that as soon as the Keepers Fleets arrived in the Realm’s universe, all the Searchers on Ross teleported away before the planet was attacked. Why would they do that if they recommended that the Duke land his ships on his planets? There was also the issue of the failure of the teleport systems on the Duke’s fleet. Did the Keepers cause that?
He stared at the dead world and then thought, “Is is possible they detected me in the Ross system?” With that realization, it became clear that the Realm caused the destruction. He didn’t want to believe it, but it had to be true. He didn’t think the Queen would do it, but her brother or that uncle of hers would do it if they suspected the Duke had tried to kill the Royal Family. What to do now?
Ales decided that attacking the Realm during the current invasion was tantamount to suicide. If they can stop teleportation systems and make the frequency generators fail, there would be no place safe for him. No; he was going to wait. But first he was going to ensure his fleet enforced his rule on the Province’s planets. After he solidified his position, then the Realm would receive his undivided attention. Unlike his father and brother, he could be patient and strike at the right moment. He looked at the planet one more time before he teleported away, smiling. He possessed patience but like his family, he also knew the taste of raw ambition.