Jake sat down and looked at Manny. “Thank you for meeting with me, Admiral.”
“Call me Manny, Jake. What do you need me to do?”
“I need you to give me command of the Brez Division’s Searchers, and make sure every one of them is totally loyal to the Queen.”
“That would strip Ross of its defenses.”
“I know.”
“I need to know why.”
Jake stared at Manny and finally decided. He began telling Manny what was going to happen and his plan for handling it.
Two hours later Manny was convinced, “Does Valerie know?”
“No, she doesn’t, and she would not go along with what I’m going to do.”
“I can see that.” Manny sat and mulled over what Jake had told him. “Why did you tell me and not just order me to give you the ships?”
“You are the only one in the Realm that can see if what I’ve told you is true. I was thinking that you might know of something that I’ve missed that would change my plans. Do you know anything I’ve missed?”
“I know a number of things you don’t know, but they only support what you’re planning. I’m not certain you can make this happen.”
“Me either, Manny but I have to try.”
“This could be considered treason, Jake.”
“So shoot me, but first help me.”
“The Division is yours. There are five hundred Searchers that are spies, and I need to assign them to another venture.”
Jake stared at Manny. “Don’t act surprised. I have more than six thousand scattered throughout the Realm. The Division is yours. I’ll notify the General Officers that they are to follow your orders without question, no matter what you ask of them.”
“I want Cynthia Dodd to be second-in-command.”
Manny smiled and said, “Another promotion?”
“An Admiral outranks a General, and she is going to have to command the operation in the Keepers’ universe.” Jake paused, “Manny, if Joe knows what I’m planning, AG will know.”
“I know. I’ll make sure I stay away from any meetings with them.”
Jake tilted his head, “That’s a good Idea.”
Manny nodded, and worried.
The Kosiev jumped away from the Keepers Fleet it had attacked, and the Gardners replayed the recording of the battle. “I tried everything in my inventory and nothing affected their hulls.”
Tag said, “We see that. Do you think flying through one would cut it in half?”
There was a long pause, “I’ll try that, but I want Cassandra taken off if I do.”
Cassandra sat up in her chair, “Why do you say that?”
“I felt their beams and they started to get through to my processors. I’m of the mind that I would be broken in half if I tried it.”
“Then we won’t try it.”
Tag looked at Cassandra and knew she would not allow him to place the ship in danger. “Can you think of anything else we can do?”
She shook her head.
“If we still had those blue ships we used against the Demons, there might be a good chance of damaging them.”
Matt sighed, “That possibility does not exist. The Reg took them when they moved out of our universe. I’m also pretty certain that they would not allow us to use them to kill another species if they are not also endangered by that species. And they are not where we can reach them. They left for another dimension and we do not possess an interdimensional drive.”
“Perhaps that cutting beam is a possibility.”
Tag shrugged, “You’re probably right, Alex. Take us to Ross and let’s see if the spiders are ready.”
The Collective asked Military, “How many ships are ready for the second wave?”
“Ten million. I have also learned another of those psychic waves happened in that other universe.”
“What?”
“It appears another being has been released.”
“Was there any damage to our fleets?”
“No, it happened far away from our fleets.”
“Psychology, have you seen this data?”
“Yes, but I don’t really know what it means.”
The Collective thought and asked, “Could those beings develop a weapon that uses that wave, and are just waiting for us to attack with our larger fleets?”
Silence greeted his question. Psychology said, “We won’t know unless we go ahead with the attack.”
“Don’t send the full fleet. Send four million and an observer to see if they possess that weapon. How many planets have been destroyed?”
“We have destroyed seven thousand which were all uninhabited. We are going to jump a small fleet in on one of their inhabited planets within twelve intervals to see if we’re successful.”
“Then hold off on sending any ships until we make that determination.”
Three hundred thousand Keepers’ ships waited for the scout to arrive and give them the coordinates needed for their attack. The Fleet Director watched his display and the scout jumped in and transmitted the location. The Keepers began sending thoughts to the main beam and when all ships reported ready, the Director said, “Jump in 5,4,3,2,1, jump.”
The three hundred thousand ships jumped into the upper atmosphere of Del Robles and immediately accelerated toward the planet’s surface firing their main beams. The two continents on one side of the planet blew up in a huge blast, and everything was burned a hundred feet into the planet’s surface. The official designated to activate the probe to teleport the planet away was killed in the first Keepers’ blast.
The Keepers Fleet spread out, and in two hours the planet was a smoldering ball of bare rock. The Director jumped his fleet back to the home universe to report his success. Now they could destroy this new enemy and they looked forward to the next attack. For Del Robles, twenty billion died and the Realm lost another provincial capital.
The Gardners were in the map room discussing the cutting beam with Edison and Valerie when Joe rushed in the room and interrupted the meeting, “Valerie! The Keepers have destroyed Del Robles!”
Valerie stood, “How did they get through the frequency generator?”
“It appears they used their universal drives and jumped directly above the planet’s atmosphere. They accelerated to the planet’s surface and fired their weapons. The teleport official was killed in the initial volley.”
Valerie hit her com, “Move Ross now.”
“What?”
“I said teleport Ross right now. Don’t question one of my orders again or I’ll have you shot for treason.”
The Gardners looked at each other and listened as Valerie punched her communications panel. “Attention all members of the Star’s Realm. The Keepers have found a way to jump in to our planets. I am ordering your teleportation official to move your planets every ten minutes until we find a way to counter this new threat. You will activate the first move immediately.”
Valerie punched another key, “Sprig!”
“I’ve just heard, Your Majesty. We are working on how to deal with this new tactic.”
“In the meantime, I want you to order the teleport officials off-planet and to take station near the probe. At the first scan of a universal drive I want the planet teleported.”
“The Keepers Fleet will emerge from their drives in three seconds from the field being detected.”
“How much time does it take for the planet to be moved?”
“About two seconds.”
“Then get five ships up for every planet. There is only one second to respond and we can’t allow fatigue from constant surveillance to allow us to lose another planet. I would also suggest that shifts only last thirty minutes and overlapping ten minutes.”
“The orders are being sent.”
“Now, how can we make this a mechanical process?”
The Gardners listened to Valerie issuing her instructions and their opinion of her changed. Danielle had already seen the mettle of the young woman, but the others saw just a young, inexperienced ruler. She demonstrated that they were wrong.
Tag looked at Danielle, “You’re right. She deserves our respect.”
“I wasn’t much older when I assumed the throne, and Rose was even younger. Her psychic power is greater than Rose’s.”
Tag felt bad, and the other Gardners began to feel shame at how they had disregarded her opinions.
“We can set the probe to initiate the move when it detects a universal drive. However, it will take several rotations to send the instructions to the probes’ processors.”
“Then get on it. I’m sure the Keepers will try to take advantage of this tactic. I want the provincial capitals moved every ten minutes even if we have a mechanical answer.”
Sprig disappeared off her board.
“Jake, are you in this universe?”
“Yes, I am, Valerie. I’ve just received the news. I was talking with Sprig when you commed him, and I think you are doing exactly what needs to be done.”
“When are you coming here? We need to make some decisions.”
“Valerie, you are going to have to handle that end for the foreseeable future. Junior and I are tied up with this project. If you need any suggestions, call me. However, I’m sure the Gardners will help you with any serious threat to the Realm. I’m going to see if we can coat our Searchers with a new process so they can stand up to the Keepers’ main beams. I’m starting with the Brez Division Searchers, and if it works we’ll use it on the remainder of our fleets.”
Valerie sensed that Jake was not telling her the real reason for not coming, and she suspected that it had something to do with the Gardners. She pressed her com and said, “Just be careful and get back here as soon as you can.”
“I will, Love. Take advantage of the Gardner’s experience. They’ve survived this kind of conflict. I’m sure they’ll offer you good council.”
Melanie listened to Jake and still felt something was not right, but it could have been he was stressed over the loss of an important planet. She looked at Danielle and saw she was also sensing something.
“Sprig, how’s the development coming along?”
“I heard what you told Valerie, and you’re not far from the truth.”
“How’s that?”
“We have duplicated the material used to make the hulls on the white ships, and we are going to use it to coat the surface of ships that have been mothballed by the Realm.”
Jake thought about that a moment, “Tell me what you mean. I’m not sure I follow you.”
“If you take the Searchers from the Brez Division and bring them here to be armed, it won’t go unnoticed.”
“That’s true, but we have a cover story.”
“Which may not be believed, Jake. This way we will have the 100,000 ships ready for the pilots to come and use when we’re ready. If the Demon really did develop these ships to kill the Keepers, then their thought beams will not penetrate that white substance. We’ve also duplicated their scanners, and during a trial we were able to see every Keepers’ ship in our universe. They can’t hide anymore.”
“That is good! What about the beam?”
“Remarkably, that was the easiest part. It operates on a frequency outside the normal band we know. Once we got a reading on it, developing a weapon was simple.”
“When will you be ready?”
“I have more than twenty thousand of our planets working on it. We should be ready in less than ten rotations.”
“Then we are going to move the captured civilizations in nine rotations. I’m bringing the Brez Searchers in nine rotations as we move the farms.”
“We’ll let you know if anything slows us down.”
The Collective received the data and ordered, “Organize the ships into units and begin the invasion. Recall the fleets currently in that universe and get them organized into the major fleet.”
Production asked, “You’re not worried about that psychic weapon?”
“I’ll worry about it if they use it.”
“Get the scouts to start assigning targets. We need to use this method before the new enemy finds a way to counter it.”
Twelve million Keepers’ ships organized into forty fleets of 300,000 ships. The scouts began jumping in with target coordinates, and the forty fleets jumped.
Alex Jongo received the news about the destruction of Del Robles and actually held a private celebration. Duke Zenic posed a real problem to his mounting the Realm’s throne because of his own ambition, and now the Keepers had solved another problem for him. He contacted the military commander of the province and offered to lead his forces in the absence of a successor being chosen.
“Why would I turn my forces over to you? You haven’t been given the title of your own province.”
“Do you doubt that I will be the next Duke? You also need to ask why it is that two of the strongest planets in the Realm were allowed to be destroyed. You don’t seriously believe the story the crown is using to explain it, are you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Perhaps those devices designed to protect us were, shall we say, conveniently broken. Do you think that inexperienced child is worthy of the title? We all know that the Realm’s leader should be a strong, wise leader. One of our Dukes should have been given the title. Do you not also find it strange that one of the Realm’s ships attacked that universe and they responded to our unwarranted aggression? This is a clear attempt by the Realm trying to grab more subjects and power, but it backfired on them. Now, those of us in the Realm that can hold them accountable for their actions have been destroyed. We are paying the price of their unbridled ambition. Have you not heard your Duke say the Realm was not to be trusted?”
Admiral Teplig thought about what was being said, “What’s in it for my province to support you?”
“You need a new Duke. I’ll support you for that position once this affair is handled.”
The Admiral didn’t even need to think about that offer, “Count us in. Just make sure you keep your commitment.”
“Oh, you know I will. I need you to meet me to discuss how we will respond when the moment arrives.”
“Tell me where and when.”
Jongo had one more trip to make, then he would be ready. It would be a real shame if the probe protecting Nove Vista happened to be destroyed. Thank goodness for the stealth mode of his ship. He smiled as he entered Nove Vista’s current coordinates into his teleport unit; one more capital to meet a terrible fate.
Valerie was on board the Kosiev to see if the trial would work on the cutting beam when her com buzzed. She pressed it and saw Manny. “What’s wrong?”
“We’ve lost Nove Vista.”
“How? They were ordered to move the planet.”
“It appears that the probe was somehow destroyed and before another could be teleported in, a Keepers Fleet arrived and destroyed the planet.”
“Manny, what happened to that probe?”
“The ships that were monitoring for Keepers said that a red beam struck it.”
Valerie was stunned. Only Searchers had red beams. “What’s being said, Manny?”
“Ales Jongo is spreading a story that the Realm is destroying the provincial capitals and making it appear as if the Keepers are to blame. He says they are doing our dirty work for us.”
Valerie felt her rage build, and vowed to make Jongo pay for the billions that died on Nove Vista. “Where is Jongo now?”
“He’s meeting with the military leaders of the province and volunteering to assist them in their time of need.”
“Do you know if he did the same with Del Robles’ leaders?”
“They are being evasive. Admiral Teplig is not answering my calls, and his second in command says he’s too busy protecting the province to waste time communicating with the Realm.”
“You better start planning a defense, Manny.”
“I’ve been working on it since the attempt on Ross, Valerie. However, if Jongo gets those two provinces to join him, he’ll have more than three times our ships to use against us.”
“Does Jake know?”
“Yes, and he says we need to keep the roof up and worry about the back door later.”
“Keep me informed.”
“What was that about?”
Valerie looked at Tag and said, “We are facing a civil war if we can survive the Keepers. We have a number of the provincial leaders that have been posturing to assume the Realm’s throne. They are beginning to make their move while we are distracted by the Keepers’ invasion.”
Tag’s expression turned hard.
“I’ll explain what’s happening after we get the current issues handled. There won’t be a Realm to fight over if we can’t find a way to stop this invasion.”
Tag looked at Danielle and she nodded.
Valerie turned and said, “Are we ready for the trial, Cassandra?”
“Yes, Alex, show us what you can do?”
The Kosiev was parked a mile from an asteroid belt, then moved its nose toward one of the larger rocks. A bright yellow beam erupted from the surface of the giant ship and struck the asteroid. The huge rock split in half. It was cut cleanly through the middle.
“Move out to fifty miles and try again.”
Once more a huge rock was split in half.
“Now a hundred miles.”
This time the rock took twenty seconds to split.
The Gardners began congratulating Cassandra. Valerie looked at the data and said, “Alex, how far were you from the Keepers Fleet when you felt their beams affect our processors?”
The group became instantly silent. “Three hundred miles, Your Majesty.”
“Tell me what you know about this new device you’ve just demonstrated.
“It will only work once. I should be able to kill one of their ships before they destroy my central processors.”
“And you’re willing to do it even if you can only kill one ship?”
“They are the Realm’s enemy.”
Cassandra sighed, “We are not willing to lose you for the destruction of just one ship.” She looked at Tag and he nodded.
“Looks like we’re back at square one.”
Tag shook his head, “I don’t understand why we’re here. We haven’t helped this situation even in a small way. I feel helpless.”
Valerie thought to herself, “Welcome to my world.” Then she said, “There is a reason; we just haven’t found it yet. Those visions brought you here, and I believe it is to save us. We need to find it; I’m sure it exists.”
Matt said, “I really hope you’re right and we weren’t just brought here to die.”
Danielle was stunned. She saw the truth in Matt’s statement. She looked quickly at Tag and decided she would not leave his side from that moment forward. If they were going to die, she was going to make sure it was with him. There was no life without him.
“Sprig, are you ready?”
“Yes, we are. The coordinates for the Searchers are on your board.”
“Manny, will you pass these coordinates to the Brez Searchers and ask them to teleport to them without their ships?”
“Don’t they need their ships?”
“Not at this moment. I need to talk with them first.”
“They will be coming by Units.”
“Thank you, Manny. Are you ready for the rescue?”
“It’s set to take place tomorrow at twelve hundred hours Ross time.”
“Good luck, Manny.”
“We’re ready, Jake.”
“I know you are.”
Jake teleported down to a reviewing stand overlooking a huge barren field. The Searchers started teleporting in and the field was filling up quickly. Ten divisions arrived and formed up on the reviewing stand. Everyone was questioning their officers about what was happening, but no one knew. One of the Searchers recognized Jake and said, “Behold the White Demon.” The Searchers all started staring at the Reviewing stand and after a few minutes, silence settled over the field.
Jake looked out at the finest warriors in the Realm and used telepathy to communicate with them, “I know that you’re wondering why we brought you here without your ships. We are going to provide you a new ship momentarily, but before we do that I need to see your heart. You have been charged with the protection of the Crown. Your duty is to make sure the Royal Family is not harmed. I need an answer from you. If you had to choose, which you would go to defend if you could only protect one? Would you protect the Queen or the Realm? I want you to think about this seriously. You can only go save one; which would it be?”
Silence ruled the plain. Jake waited and after ten minutes heard a Glod Searcher yell from the back of the formations, “My sword belongs to the Queen.”
Jake said, “If you choose the Queen over the Realm, move out of your ranks and form up behind this reviewing stand.”
Slowly at first, a few hundred moved forward. Jake saw that the majority of them were Glod. Then the Humans began leaving the formation and walked with their Glod brothers, shaking their hands. The Cainth rushed out and joined the Searchers moving behind the reviewing stands. Then it became a mad rush and all of the assembled warriors ran to join those that were forming up behind the reviewing stand.
Jake tuned and faced the Searchers and said, “I know you had great difficulty making that decision. However, you have shown your loyalty to the Realm. The Royal Family is the Realm, and anything else is not what binds us. The Realm is facing two threats. The first are the creatures currently invading. The second are members of the Realm who have decided to take the throne. There will be a civil war if we defeat the invaders, and it will commence as soon as the war ends. Ross will be attacked and destroyed.”
The Searchers started talking amongst themselves. Jake waited until silence returned. “I tell you this with a heavy heart. However, we must defend the Queen and you will be given a task to make sure she is safe. If I am wrong, and I truly pray every day that I am, then nothing will happen. However, I need you prepared for the worst. I ask you, what is your choice?”
The mass of warriors screamed, “We fight for the Queen!”
Jake smiled and said, “First we have an invader that requires we remove as a threat. Before we start that process, I want to share the words of a being that was a part of the invaders’ leadership.” Jake sent a vision of the meeting with Values so that all could see what the species attacking the Realm represented. Jake said at the completion of the vision, “This species has no heart. They deliberately killed theirs, and they have no remorse, no kindness, nor any regard for any other life form. We have no choice but to try and remove this threat to creation. You’ve seen recordings of the worlds they’ve enslaved and consumed. We are charged to end this evil, and we cannot back away from this responsibility.”
“A Glod on the front rank yelled, “How are we going to carry out that charge?”
Jake smiled, “We have constructed some ships that, we believe, will kill their ships. You are going to be teleported momentarily to a planet where you will be assigned one of these ships, and an Algean will be there to teach you how to pilot it. The information will be downloaded, so the training should be completed within seven hours. We will attack the Keepers Fleet that is forming in their universe to jump into our universe to carry out their attacks. Admiral Dodd will meet you at your ships and has command over those ships sent to the Keepers’ universe. Once we handle that hurdle, you will be released to find any of their ships in that universe. Thirty percent of you will remain in our universe under Admiral Busigleore’s command, and look for any of their ships that are here and destroy them. Once they are removed, you will receive your assignments to protect the Royal Family. You will be joined by the rest of your brothers when they finish with the Keepers’ universe.”
Jake pressed his com, “Send the coordinates, Sprig.”
Every Searcher on the plain felt their coms vibrate. Jake said, “Teleport to the coordinates on your com to board your new ships and begin your training.”
One of the general officers yelled, “Ateeennnnshun!” The hundred thousand Warriors came to attention and saluted Jake.
Jake returned their salute and said, “Dismissed.”
One moment the plain was covered with thousands of Warriors; the next it was empty.
“Junior, are you ready?”
“Sprig has given me one of those new weapons, Jake. We can’t get close, but we should be able to see what’s happening and defend ourselves if necessary.”
“Well, let’s go visit the Keepers Fleet and see what they do when we snatch their food source away.”
“Jake, are you sure these ships will do what you hope?”
“I’m not, but their designer was. That Demon tried to keep them from us knowing the Keepers would ultimately kill us. He wouldn’t have done that if they weren’t what we hope they are.”
“How does this weapon work? What if we’re attacked by huge numbers?”
“Questions, questions, questions. Let’s just get on with it.”
“OK.”
Manny looked at the main screen on the wall of his ship and shook his head. The twenty million transports paired off with twenty million Searchers was a vision he would never forget. They filled the space of the universe they had jumped in to assemble in advance of their mission. The teams had practiced on planets in this universe for more than eight weeks, and he knew that they were ready. He also knew the spies from the Brez Division would never know about Jake’s plans until it was over. He smiled and knew there was going to be a price to pay after the fact, but that would be faced at the appropriate time. The Keepers were going to get a wakeup call in another ten minutes.
He keyed his general frequency and said, “We are going to make history today. You will be performing the task of liberating millions of worlds from their slave masters. This is what your oath is all about. You know what must be done, and it must be timed precisely. Make sure you make the grab exactly ten minutes from my mark. It must be timed so that the Keepers won’t have time to respond.
Those of you that are transporting the freed communities have the coordinates of the planet where you will deliver them to the Algeans. They are waiting to tell them what has happened. Searchers, make sure the Captors’ energy ball is set for ten seconds after you pull the screen and get out of there. Upon completion of your assignment, you will report to your normal posts.”
Manny hit a button on his console and said, “Are you ready?”
Sprig answered, “We are excited about today’s event. We are waiting for the transports to arrive.”
Manny keyed the general frequency again and said, “Searchers and Sailors of the Stars Realm, make the Realm proud. The operation will commence ten minutes from my mark. Ready…mark.”
The forty million ships disappeared and Manny teleported back to the Realm to await the return of Brez Searchers, “This should be interesting. Let’s hope everyone will listen to reason.”
Ron Kune teleported in to his assigned planet in full stealth mode and entered the atmosphere over the horizon from the Keepers’ garrison. He accelerated and hit the teleport field key as soon as he sighted the captured communities. The field formed underground, and he set his ship down on the surface and waited as the countdown continued. There was a Keepers’ ship in orbit above the garrison taking on food stores for transport to the home worlds. That ship might pose a problem during his escape, but it would be too late to stop the rescue of the population.
He looked at his board and saw there were thirty seconds left to make the grab of the teleport screen. He checked the Captors’ energy ball and set the timer for teleportation and detonation. “Time to go!” With two seconds remaining, he lifted his ship, hit his thrusters, and watched as the terrain screamed by in his display. He roared over the six communities, stiffened the teleport field connection, and went vertical, pulling the silver teleport field out of the ground and over the population that was staring at the small white ship as it roared into the sky. Their view was brief as all six communities disappeared from the planet’s surface.
Ron hit the weapons console and teleported the energy ball into the lowest level of the Keepers’ garrison, punched his teleport board, and held the arms of his chair tight hoping the Keepers’ ship wouldn’t have time to target him with their main beam. His ship disappeared two seconds before the Keepers’ beam went active. Five seconds after Ron teleported out, the Keepers’ garrison exploded and blew more than twenty miles of the planet’s surface into the atmosphere.
The Keepers’ ship in orbit didn’t detect the cities being teleported out before their sensors were blocked by the huge blast. The appearance of the small ship diverted their attention from the crust as it flashed away from the surface. The ship’s Director heard billions of his species die. What was happening?
The Collective heard Military scream, “The farms are being taken!” Before it could respond, it was blown apart by the deaths of more than twenty million garrisons that all perished within two seconds of each other. The Collective did not recover quickly. The bulk of the Keepers’ population was still on the home worlds so it wasn’t killed, but it suffered a huge shock. It was unavailable just when the Keepers needed it most.