Matthew Gardner looked out at the spiral galaxy he had just been assigned to examine. He was a Searcher and this was his first assignment since graduating from the Stars Realm Academy. “I hope I don’t mess up.” He checked his sensors and decided to start his search on the closest spiral arm and work his way in toward the center of the huge galaxy and then move back out on another spiral arm. His display read more than three million type G suns in the arm he was about to enter which offered hope his search for intelligent life was going to be successful since most of the known inhabited planets were orbiting the medium sized class g stars. His long range sensors were also set to alarm if any sign of technology was discovered in any other star types near the class G’s. He set his sensor systems and reached forward and pressed a white button on his console. His small ship began jumping into the galaxy targeting the stars that had the best probability of life. He sat back and watched his sensors as his ship moved through more than a hundred systems a minute. He looked at his readouts and saw that this arm of the galaxy was going to take more than twenty days to complete. He stared at his display for two hours and grew bored; he sat back, closed his eyes, and thought about the last five years.
He had volunteered to join the Star Realm’s Navy on Cross, his home planet, when he was seventeen and hoped he would be accepted into the academy. Growing up he had read everything he could find about the Realm’s Searchers. He wanted to pilot a ship out into the universe exploring new worlds and species; at every opportunity he and his friends pretended to be Searchers fighting off suspected enemies of the Stars Realm. Finally he turned seventeen and was at the age where he could volunteer to join the Stars Realm’s Navy. The numerous tests he had to take were difficult, exhausting, and after six weeks of examinations he had been notified that he was to report to Ross at the Kosiev Academy to continue his testing. His excitement on receiving the news was monumental and all of his friends gathered to celebrate his good fortune. He was the only one to pass the tests and earn a trip to Ross. There was no jealousy among his friends but they did throw a party that he was still attempting to recover.
He arrived on a commercial star ship along with six hundred other applicants from the worlds of the Realm and was teleported to a huge parade ground where everyone was told they were going to meet the Queen of the Stars Realm in person. He could still remember his excitement at the prospect of actually seeing her and when she arrived and welcomed everyone he felt that even if he wasn’t accepted into the academy that the opportunity to actually see her was worth all the headaches and worries that the exams had given him.
Then the Queen surprised the assembled applicants and stepped down into their ranks after her welcoming speech. She then started walking down the lines shaking each person’s hand. She had finally arrived in front of him and took his hand and said, “Thank you for wanting to be a part of our service.” He felt like a nervous child at that moment and as she touched him he felt a small shock. As she started moving away she looked back at the Admiral following her and quickly nodded at him. The Admiral handed him a red coin with the Queen’s picture on one side and Castle Gardner on the other. He stared at the coin as the Queen and her attendants continued down the lines of recruits. He looked around and noticed that everyone was given a coin and they were all looking at it as the Queen continued her walk. He noticed that the two recruits on each side of him had been given a gold colored coin and he wondered why his was different. She finally finished and waved to everyone and boarded a shuttle that flew her in the direction of the huge castle in the distance.
The admiral that has followed her through the ranks then moved in front of them and yelled in a loud voice, “Those of you that were given red coins will remain where you are; everyone else, please pick up your bags and move to the ship at the north end of the field and board for a short flight to the Academy.”
He felt his heart fall into his stomach. He had failed and was not going to be chosen. The applicants with gold coins smiled and ran to the end of the field and lined up to board the huge transport. The admiral waited until everyone had left and watched as the transport lifted with the ones that received the gold coins; then he turned and said, “I’m sure you’re wondering about the red coin.” There were only about a hundred people remaining and they all looked at each other nodding. “You have passed the first of two tests. We will now take you to see if you pass the second.” The hundred remaining applicants were shocked speechless. The admiral smiled and said, “You should all know that rose is more valuable than gold in this Realm. Please board the ship at the other end of the field and wait there for your instructions.”
He grabbed his bag and ran to the ship with the others and entered to find an Ensign assigning each of them seats. Once they were all boarded, the ship lifted into orbit and then everyone heard, “Teleport in five seconds.” They all looked out through the forward glass and saw a silver field forming in front of their ship; the ship moved forward and reappeared above a planet.
“Everyone, please move to the field in the landing bay immediately,” a voice said over the intercom and they grabbed their bags and moved out of the main cabin and entered the shuttle’s landing bay. The silver field was glowing brightly in the rear of the bay and the recruits followed the admiral through it. The group exited the field to find themselves on the surface of a planet that was remarkably barren. Off in the distance were buildings that had fallen into decay. Most were missing walls and some were little more than piles of rubble; but there lined up in front of them was row after row of small, silver, ships. Matt immediately recognized them as those used by Searchers to perform the work of the Realm. They were beautiful. Their smooth lines and gleaming silver surfaces reflecting the sun’s rays were awe inspiring.
“They’re beautiful aren’t they?”
Everyone turned and saw an Algean standing next to the admiral. The Algean was more than fifteen feet tall and had blooms that smelled wonderful. “I’m sure you’re trying to figure out why we brought you here. The reason our Queen took the time to walk through your ranks was that she wanted to touch each one of you to see if you possessed the necessary psychic ability to be able to bond with one of these ships. She can sense those abilities and you are here because she determined that you possess psychic ability in a measure that is above normal. What skill you have was increased when she touched you and in the coming days some of the things you’ll be able to do will surprise you. However, only those that can bond with a ship will be accepted as a Searcher into the Stars Realm’s Navy. The others that were at the initial gathering have all demonstrated on their tests that they have outstanding abilities and they will be offered positions in our support fleets as will those of you who are not successful here.”
The Algean walked around to stand between the recruits and the silver ships, “You are here to see if you can raise a ship. Each one of you will step forward one at a time and look out at these ships and command the ships “to rise”.” The Algean then pointed to one of the recruits and said, “You will go first followed by you.”
Matt thought, “Oh no. I don’t want to go second. I want to watch others go before I try.”
The first recruit stepped forward and everyone watched as he stared at the ships for thirty seconds but nothing happened. The Algean said, “Step back to the end of the line and you will be given another chance after everyone has tried.” He then said to Matt, “It’s your turn.”
Matt stepped forward and nervously looked out at the ships. His heart was pounding a mile a minute but as he stared at the ships he once more marveled at how beautiful they were. He forgot his nervousness as he stared at those beautiful works of technology and thought about how wonderful it must be to be able to fly a ship like those in front of him. He then smiled and thought, “Rise.”
For a moment nothing happened, then in the back row one of the ships rose and hovered ten feet above the others. The Algean and admiral looked at each other surprised. Then they looked at him and saw his smile. “What is your name,” the Admiral asked?
He blushed and answered, “Matthew Gardner, sir but my friends call me Magic.”
The Admiral looked at him and asked, “Are you related to the Royal Family?”
“No sir. I was raised in a state institution after my parents were killed in a ship accident when I was a baby. My name was given to me by the state to honor our royal family.
“How did you come to be called Magic?”
Matt shrugged, “As a kid I liked doing magic tricks. The name stuck.”
“Well, Magic, you are accepted into the Fleet Academy and that ship will be yours when you graduate. You might be interested to know that only the ships on the back row have all of the advanced systems the Algeans build into our ships. They will respond only to those that have the requisite psychic ability to fly them. Only ten other recruits in the last year have raised an Alpha Ship. You should be proud.”
The alarm went off and he was brought back to the present. His ship had found a planet with intelligent life and has dropped out of star drive. It looked like the planet was the center of a huge space battle. Thousands of ships were attacking the planet and large numbers of the defender’s ships were being destroyed. Matt looked at his display and saw the attackers would prevail if things continued as they were going. He thought a moment and then he sent a thought, “This is the Stars Realm Searcher Aladdin. I am requesting all ships to stop their attacks immediately and hold their current position. I will stop any ship that does not follow my instructions.”
The fleet attacking the planet continued their attack and Matt said, “I have given you fair warning. You have ten seconds to disingage or I will destroy any attacking ship within the orbit of the planet’s closest moon.”
Matt heard a thought answer him, “Who are you? We cannot stop defending ourselves if the Gresh won’t stop firing at us.”
He thought back, “I’ll talk with you momentarily.” Matt then jumped Aladdin into the orbit of the moon and said, “This is your last warning. Cease your attack immediately.”
The attacking ships saw the tiny three hundred foot long red glowing ship that had jumped into the system and six of them turned and started firing on it. Their beams and missiles hit the small red ship but were stopped by the ship’s screen. Matt shook his head and then put his hand into an indentation on his chair arm and linked his mind to his ship’s weapons system; his weapon console lit up and linked to his mind. Twenty of the attacking ships were inside the orbit of the moon and the attacking fleet saw twenty red beams leap out from the small ship and disintegrate the twenty ships instantly. The attacking fleet was stunned at the small ships power. “I will destroy any ship that fires a weapon in this system.”
The attackers and defenders stopped immediately. Matt watched his sensors and then thought, “Who is in command of the fleet that is attacking this planet?”
He listened and heard a thought, “I am.”
“Why are you attacking this planet?”
“Who are you to ask?”
“I am a representative of a civilization that values life. We do not normally interfere in the disputes between other civilizations; however, we will do what we can to save life if possible.”
“You just took the lives on those ships you destroyed.”
“You ignored my request to stop until I could determine if you were justified in this attack. I asked everyone to hold their positions but you refused. More than the lives on those twenty ships would have died if you continued to ignore my request. Now I ask again, why are you attacking this planet?”
“Another thought joined the conversation, “We refused to surrender to them and give up our freedom.”
“You do not have the power to refuse,” the first voice answered. “Refusal means destruction.”
“Has the planet here in this system ever attacked your worlds,” Matt asked?
The commander of the attacking fleet answered, “Not yet; only someone very stupid would attack us now.”
“So you are here to force this planet to accept your will as to their destiny.”
“They will bend to our will.”
“You will hold your positions until I tell you otherwise,” Matt thought.
“And if we don’t?”
“I will destroy every one of your ships in this system and then go to your home world and remove their ability to wage war.” All the ships in the system remained stationary wondering if this small ship could carry out its threat. Matt hit his com and said, “I have intervened in a battle between an invading fleet and a planet. The aggressors are attempting to force their will on the planet and are not acting in self defense of their worlds. I am sending you my coordinates along with the recordings of the battle along with our conversations.”
Matt heard, “Stand by.”
He waited for three minutes and then heard, “We are coming.”
Matt looked out at the attacking ships and saw that they were all about two thousand feet in length, “Looks like we’re about to get their attention.”
Suddenly a huge red globe appeared next to Matt’s ship. It was three hundred miles in diameter and dwarfed the ships around it. “We’ll take it from here, Searcher.”
“Thank you, Fleet Command. I’ll continue my mission.”
“Good luck, Searcher.”
Matt placed his hand back in to the indentation on his chair and turned off his weapons console. He then pressed the white button and his ship disappeared from the planet and continued its sweep of the spiral arm. He wondered how fleet Command was going to handle the situation he had stumbled into but decided that they would do the right thing. They also had more experience in dealing with this situation.
“I hope they support my firing on those ships. Well, worrying about it won’t change what happened.” He sat back in his chair and closed his eyes. He could feel his ship around him and marveled at the power such a small ship possessed. Then he thought about graduation from the academy and the day he was imprinted on his ship.
Matt stood at attention in the ranks of his graduating class. The day was beautiful and the high clouds against the light yellow sky of Ross made the moment memorable. The graduating officers all wore tight fitting, rose colored, uniforms with a blue sash of a Stars Realm Fleet Officer. Matt’s auburn colored hair stood out among those around him; he was well muscled, in great physical shape, about six feet tall, and he stood relaxed and at peace. His green eyes were closed as he watched the proceedings in his mind. He was trying to restrain his excitement; he was finally going to get his ship. His classmates knew him for his unselfish acts of kindness and the strength of his character. He was also an Alpha Commander; that gave him immeasurable respect from those cadets that had struggled to master ships without all of the advanced systems of an Alpha. His turn finally arrived and he walked across the stage and had the Academy Commanding Officer pin the small ship to his collar. His pin was different from most of his class mates in that his ship was surrounded by a red circle indicating that he was going to command an Alpha Ship. There were only two thousand of those ships serving in the fleet of five million Searchers. He thought that his classmates would resent him for commanding one of the Alphas but they recognized the talent one had to possess to be able to handle those ships effectively and respected those that flew the Alphas.
He saluted the Admiral and then left the stage and returned to his seat. “Congratulations, Magic.”
The thought startled him momentarily and then he smiled and thought, “Thanks, Angel. And congratulations to you.”
“You’re welcome. Are you looking forward to meeting your ship?”
“Absolutely, and I’m sure you are as well.”
“I can barely wait. Have you thought of a name?”
Matt paused a moment and said, “I’m going to name it Aladdin. And yours will be called?”
“Wings.”
They both laughed mentally and Matt thought, “It’s a perfect name for your Alpha.”
“As is yours; you will certainly be flying a magic carpet.”
Matt reflected a moment and said, “Angel, please stay in touch. I know we’ll be given different galaxies to search but I do want to keep in contact with you.”
“Magic Gardner, four years and now when we’re leaving you finally make a pass. Your timing is the worse I’ve ever seen.”
Matt got flustered and Angel thought to him, “Don’t get bothered. I know that with both of us getting Alphas it would send the wrong message if we were an item. I’ll make sure we don’t lose contact.”
“Thanks, Angel. I’m glad you understand.” Matt glanced up at the stage and saw Angel looking at him with a big smile. She was number one in her class and the truth was that he never thought he had a chance with her. He had actually made sure his grades were not so high that his fellow students would not feel threatened. Now he wished he had spent more time with the beautiful young woman looking at him from the stage. Then he heard, “Searchers, report to your ships”
The graduating class cheered and ran toward the landing field next to the graduating ceremony which was filled with ships for the thousand graduates; every one of the new Searchers knew where their ship was waiting for them. Matt ran to the last row of ships and there it was; it was just as he remembered it the day he raised it. Standing in front of each ship on the back row was a commander of an Alpha Ship waiting for each of them to enter. Matt stopped in front of his ship and the Commander reached out to shake his hand.
“Congratulations Captain Gardner, come with me and let’s get you ready for your ship.”
Matt had a huge smile on his face as he walked toward the entry port of the small, silver colored ship. As he approached the entry port Matt saw Angel entering the ship next to his and she smiled at him and disappeared into her ship.
“Searcher, we must do three things to prepare the ship for you. First, you need to place your hand in the indentation on one of the command chair arms.”
Matt sat down and placed his left hand into a hand sized depression on the left arm of the chair. His hand was immediately surrounded by an almost liquid material that shaped itself to the shape of his fingers and palm.
The Commander watched as the material shaped itself to Matt’s hand, “Now press the rose colored button on the other arm.” Matt reached over with his right hand and pressed the rose colored button and immediately felt a shock. “Don’t get excited, the ship is reading your neural pathways and is linking its systems to them.” The commander waited for five minutes and then said, “Now you must name your ship. I want you to say the ship’s name and think it simultaneously.”
Matt said and thought, “Aladdin.”
The lights on the control panel surrounding the command chair immediately illuminated and Matt could feel the ship around him. It was just like the instructors described in imprinting class.
“Searcher, I want you to take the next hour and just sit here and get a feel for your new friend. I’m sure you know but I’m going to tell you one last time about how your ship was built. The Stars Realm does not possess the technology to produce this kind of vessel. We can operate them because we possess psychic abilities that allow us to mentally link to the ships systems but the technology used to build them is not something we can produce. This small ship is actually one of the most powerful weapons in the universe. The Stars Realm Navy is built by the Algeans with the assistance of the two Alfont ships. The energy generator left by the captors when they left our universe combined with the power cell skin of the ancient Stars Realm Megaships from more than twelve hundred years ago created a weapons system that is truly formidable. The Alfont provided the technology that allows our pilots to link mentally to their ship’s computer and other systems. You ship’s computer is the most advanced technology we possess. It has all of the knowledge ever gained in the Realm for your use if you need it. The ship’s building facilities are located on planets that the Algeans had originally destroyed when they were at war with the Realm centuries ago. No home planet where the Algeans live has any trace of technology. Their main form of travel is through teleporting. Ships can only land briefly on their home worlds. They are doing this to make sure that when the Eight Legs do invade our universe that their worlds will appear to have no intelligent life, only plant life. They should be ignored once the invasion starts. The ship building facilities are on worlds that are barren with the main construction centers more than five miles under the surface. The Algeans have become the creators of our highest technology and we depend on them to provide the ships of our navy. During your initial training assignment you will be assigned an Algean Adolescent as an observer.” Matt flinched at that information. The Commander looked at an electronic clip board, “He will arrive within four weeks from now.” The Commander raised his eye brows and said, “It appears that your observer is a seed from the Leader of the Algeans.”
Matt looked at the Commander and asked, “What am I supposed to do with the Algean?”
“Why take him on your searches and answer any questions he might have.”
Matt thought about having one of the high powered Algeans on his ship and felt concerned about what would happen. He didn’t want a spectator if he made a mistake. Then the Commander said, “You are cleared for liftoff exactly fifty three minutes from now.
“Thank you, Commander.”
Matt settled into his seat and closed his eyes and felt the ship copying his brain patterns. He turned on his sensor array and immediately saw every ship in the solar system and even those on the other side of the sun. “Quite a view isn’t it, Magic.”
Matt flinched, “Hi, Angel, yes it is. When are you lifting off?”
“In fifty two minutes.”
“So am I. Would you like to take a trip together?”
“Where would you like to go?”
“I thought that Earth’s old solar system would be a good place to start. There is so much history that happened there. I want to see the star that Jupiter became in the Captor War.”
Matt waited for a moment and then heard, “Let’s also try and find the remnants of the moon that Earth left behind.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Matt jerked his attention back to his sensor systems. Someone had fired on his ship as it passed through a system. He backtracked and found the system where the energy beam had been directed at his ship. He energized his weapon systems and extended his sensors. Whoever had fired the weapon had extremely advanced sensors. He had been in the system less than a second and he had been detected and fired on in that brief moment. As a searcher, he was concerned because who ever fired did not have time to determine whether or not he was a threat or a friend which led him to believe that any ship that entered this system was attacked. Matt looked around the system and looked for the source of the attack. The system did not have intelligent life so whoever fired must be from another world.
“They must think I can’t see them.” Matt saw twenty four ships on his sensors hiding behind the moons circling the ninth planet in the system. So far they had not fired on him again. He looked back at Aladdin’s sensor record and saw that the beam that was used in the earlier attack was strong but wasn’t a real threat.
“I don’t want to have to attack you,” he thought at the twenty ships. “However, I would like an explanation as to why you fired on my ship.” He waited and heard nothing. “Looks like they need a little help in their communication skills.” Matt jumped Aladdin to within a mile of the largest ship. The large ship immediately fired all of its energy beams and launched fifty missiles at him. Matt ignored the energy beams and used his needles to destroy all fifty missiles before they could move a half a mile from the ship that fired them. He tried to communicate with them again but the large ship kept firing and was soon joined by the other twenty three ships. He didn’t want to destroy these ships because they were not attacking anyone else but him. He had a fleeting thought, “Well Aladdin, how am I going to get them to talk?”
“I would suggest a display of power,” a voice said in his head.
“Who are you,” Matt jumped up from his chair and asked quickly?
““I am your ship’s computer. I’ve been wondering when you were going to start communicating with me.”
“What, what, what.”
“I only answer questions you direct at me; that was the first time you actually asked me a question. Surly you were told at the Academy that your ship had an advanced cybernetic computer.”
“Yes, but I thought it would only connect me to the ship’s various systems.”
“Didn’t they also tell you it had all the information of everything ever learned in the Realm?”
“Yessss. Are you alive?”
“Actually, no; I am a replica of your brain engrams impressed on the total ships systems. You might say that I am you in computer form. The imprinting process took your neural pathways and produced the program that made me.”
Matt was stunned. “I think you and I have some catching up to do but I need to handle the current situation first. What did you mean by using a display of power?”
“I would suggest that you cut a section of the moon off these ships were hiding behind and fire your weapon at it to let them see just how strong we are.”
“Will you carry that out?”
“Certainly”
The ships continued to fire at the small ship and saw that nothing was getting thru the small ship’s defenses. Suddenly a bright white beam leapt out from the small ship and cut a section off the top of the small moon behind the largest ship. The section was longer than fifty miles and moved quickly away from the moon’s surface. The small ship then hit the cut off section with a bright red beam that disintegrated it. The twenty four ships stopped firing.
“Well, Aladdin, that was a good suggestion. Now let’s see if we can communicate.”
“I have been monitoring their ship to ship communications and I think I have enough of their language now to broadcast electronically to them in words they understand. Just talk normally and I’ll set the frequency and translate automatically.”
Matt raised his eyebrows and shook his head. He pressed his com button and said, “Why don’t we try this again. I don’t want to attack your ships but I’m curious as to why you fired on my ship as I flew through this system.”
There were a few moments of silence and then a voice answered, “We were expecting to be attacked by the Gresh. We thought you were one of them.”
Matt thought a moment, “Are you from the Planet they are attacking now.”
The voice sounded puzzled, “No, they defeated us seven rotations ago and destroyed most of our fleet. These twenty four ships are all that survived and they have been chasing us since the battle. I am the elected leader of our world and I was made to board this ship and flee.”
Matt sent a picture of the planet he had discovered that was being attacked and asked, “This is not your world?”
“Oh, my God; they’re attacking Hugon. No, that is another planet that we have been trading with for centuries. There are seven other worlds that we have peaceful and harmonious relationships with; Hugon is one of the most populated of the eight.”
“I have stopped their attack on Hugon and one of my Realm’s ships is there now insuring the safety of the planet’s population.”
“You stopped their fleet with your small ship?” the voice asked incredulously.
“Yes. I think I would like to go take a look at your world to see what’s happening if you don’t mind taking me there.”
“My ship would be destroyed if I went back to my home. The Gresh have scheduled the execution of more than 200,000 of my people in two days for resistance to their invasion.”
Matt grew angry, “Where on your planet are these executions planned to take place?”
“The Gresh have set up a holding camp outside our ten largest cities and are going to broadcast the executions. The camps are surrounded by thousands of their warriors armed with heavy disintegrators.”
“What is your name?”
“I am Goige and I am the Select of my people.”
“You may call me Searcher, Goige. I want to attempt to save your people but I need you to help me make that happen. Do you have a recording of the surface of your planet and the location of those ten camps?”
“We have pictures of them that we took before we escaped. I don’t see how you are going to be able to prevent their deaths. They will fire on my people at the first sign of trouble.”
“Even so, I have to try and you might be surprised at what I might be able to accomplish.”
“Thank you for your willingness to help. I have sent the information to you.”
Matt looked at his com and thought, “Al, do you have the information.” There was silence. Matt thought a moment and then thought, “Aladdin, do you have the information?”
“Yes I do.”
“Aladdin, I’m going to shorten your name to Al. So if you will respond to either name I would greatly appreciate it.”
“Change made, Searcher.”
“You may call me Magic, Al.”
“Magic it is.”
“Do you see any way we can save those prisoners?”
“Not without the use of our Realm’s Red Warriors, Magic.”
“How many would we need?”
“A hundred for each site would probably do it, however, just like before these ships would stop firing, we need to impress our power on the invaders. A company at each location would make that kind of impact.”
Matt thought for a minute and then hit his com, “Angel, do you have a moment?”
“Well hello, Magic. I am bored to tears right now. I won’t begin my first assignment for another week. I have all the time you need.”
“Angel, I need you to come help me try to save 200,000 people from being executed.”
“Where are you? I’ll be right there.”
Matt sent her his coordinates and her ship appeared instantly. “Angel, these ships have been chased from their home world and have told me that the invaders are planning to execute hundreds of thousands of their civilians.”
“Tell me what you want me to do.”
“First I want you to listen in to my conversation with Fleet command then we’ll decide how we want to handle it.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Fleet Command, I need to communicate with the Delta Ship in the Hugon system.”
“Go ahead, Searcher.”
Matt quickly filled in the commander of the SR Defender Ship Vgrig Summer. “It doesn’t surprise me. These Gresh are pretty bloodthirsty and are bent on total conquest. Reminds me of how my race used to be. We have removed them from this system and are standing by to insure they don’t return.”
“I am planning to try and save prisoners from execution but I wanted to see if perhaps your ship is better equipped to handle the exercise.”
“I’m sure we could but I think it would give you and some of the graduating searchers an excellent opportunity to take part in an action that will help them shorten their learning curve. I am also of the opinion that you could probably get in closer and faster than a ship this size. Your ship also possesses advanced systems that this class of vessel does not.”
“I tend to agree, Sir.”
“It is I that should be addressing you as “Sir”. The commander of an Alpha Ship outranks me.” Matt and Angel were surprised. “All Alpha Ship commanders outrank any other ship’s commander. You have the authority to use Fleet Command’s resources any way you think is needed.”
“Does Fleet Command have ten companies of Armored Red Warriors available if I need them?”
“I’m sending you a com code for General Durk. Tell him what you need.”
“Thank you.”
“Angel, I need you to go to Goige’s home world’s coordinates and scan the planet. I am going to call in eight other searchers and use them to screen the prisoners when we begin our exercise. I’ll have Al send you the language we have learned so you can speak to him directly.”
“Who is Al?”
“He’s my ships computer. Have you spoken with yours yet?”
Angel looked puzzled and Matt said, “Ask Wings to download the language program from Aladdin.”
After a moment Angel said, “Always the Magic man. Obviously you found yours first. I’ll use the time going to the planet to familiarize myself with my new friend. Thanks for inviting me to take part in this exercise.”
“Love having you here, Angel.” She smiled and disappeared from his com.
Matt hit his com and said, “I request the following Searchers to please come to my location to take part in a defender exercise: Stone Tree, Red Sky, Quilleron Sword, Blue Sea, Bright Star, High Shore, Dorg’s Son, and Vrig’s Wind.”
Angel returned from making her scan and found nine Searchers waiting for her. The twenty four ships of the Exkath were gathered around the small ships listening to the planning of the rescue. Matt pressed his com and said, “Welcome back, Angel. Were you seen making your scan?”
“No, I made it from outside the system. I took the time to watch what was taking place on the planet and I must say I look forward to dealing with these Gresh. They are treating the population brutally.” Angel took a minute to say hello to her former classmates and then settled back to see what Matt had planned.
While Matt introduced the other searchers to Goige, Angel thought back to her first meeting with Matt. She was sitting in the academy’s library during her second year the night before she was to take a math exam. She had struggled for hours with the problems and found that she was lost. The concepts were too much for her and she knew she was going to have her first bad grade. She was sitting there feeling her tears fall on the papers in front of her. It was one of her goals to be at the top of her class and this would end that dream.
“Excuse me, is something wrong?”
She looked up and saw Matt looking at her with a concerned look. She was used to the human students in the academy approach her because of her beauty. She had become quite adept at fending off most suitors, but this young man really looked concerned. His green eyes seemed to go through her. She lowered her head and said, “I just can’t understand the concepts of these problems. I know I am going to fail my exam tomorrow. Thanks for asking but I need get back to work.” She turned her attention back to her problems.
Matt looked at the problems on the paper in front of her and said, “Would you mind if I helped you?”
Angel looked back up at him and said, “I’m beyond help but thanks again.”
Matt looked her directly in the eyes and said, “You can do this; you just have to change your perspective.”
Angle furrowed her brow, “What do you mean?”
“These problems are in the wrong order. The concepts are hidden in them but they must be done in a particular order because they build on each other.”
She looked up at him and saw he was not just coming on to her; he really wanted to help. “Show me what you mean.”
“You don’t have enough time to just observe me do the problems. I want you to enter my mind and watch me do the problems mentally. I know that you might be nervous about that but I am inviting you to see what I see.”
Angel knew that opening one’s mind was a serious thing and that everything about the person would be available for viewing. She looked at him and he said, “I trust that you will only look at the part of my mind doing the math.”
She nodded and she entered his mind and saw the fourth problem. “I want you to follow me as I look at all the permutations of this question. I am going to just follow them until I find a pattern.” She watched as he rapidly went thru each of the avenues that the problem gave him and then she saw it. There was a pattern to how the permutations flowed. Once she saw it she knew the answer. “The answer doubles and adds the first number to each value.”
“Exactly,” Matt said. “Now that you’ve seen that pattern, question eight uses that pattern and give you another one that you have to see to arrive at the correct answer.”
She followed him through eight questions and discovered each new pattern as she watched him go through the variables. Then she said, “I can already see the answer to the remaining two questions. I can also look at the second page of problems and see what order they should be solved.”
She left his mind and looked at him. “I can see math like I never have. You have opened my mind in a rather remarkable way. It’s almost like magic.”
He flinched when she said that and she asked, “What’s wrong?”
“My childhood friends called me Magic.”
“I didn’t look in your mind to see that. However, it is a perfect name for you. Thank you for helping me. I really appreciate it.”
He smiled at her and turned and left. She sat there for an hour and remembered the feeling of being in his mind. He was amazing and though she didn’t look around in his mind, she could sense the power of his intellect. He intimidated and fascinated her in equal measure. He was also quite nice physically. She asked around the next day and found out that he, like her, was going to command an Alpha Ship. That didn’t surprise her after she had seen his mind. She kept her eye on him from that moment on and she always called him Magic for the gift he had given her that night. No one else held any interest for her from that night on but he never approached her or asked her out. She knew this was the man she wanted in her life.
She came back to the planning session when she heard Matt ask her, “How are their troops organized?”
“They have set up housing facilities in the center of each of their cities. Most of the troops operate out of those structures.”
Matt pressed a button on his com and a new face entered their conversation. “General Durk, I am going to include you in our planning session. I hope that after we have saved the prisoners that we can use your warriors to negate the forces the Gresh have landed on the planet.”
“I have viewed the scan of the planet and I think that we have enough warriors to neutralize ninety five percent of their armed forces. I am making assignments as we speak and setting up the objectives for each of our participants. The ones that we will miss are those Gresh scattered out in the population. I’m hoping that you will be able to scan the cities and find them and prevent them from causing a massacre.”
Matt pushed his com, “Each Searcher will be assigned a city. The selected targets of our warriors will be downloaded into your ships and you will scan the rest of the city for any one that has the frequency of Gresh weapons. If they attempt to kill anyone, you will have to do what is necessary to defend the population. Once we have things under control, I’ll call in a Defender ship and they will relieve us. At that point you may return to your previous assignments.’
“What about the Gresh Fleet in the system,” Emerald asked?
We will be scattered around the planet’s surface. If any of their ships come inside the orbit of their moon, we will fire on them. I will warn their fleet to stay away from the planet once we start our operation but I don’t expect them to listen. It’s important that you use your scanners and allow your ships to keep you informed as to what’s happening in your area of responsibility; any questions?”
Goige asked, “Do your ships have the ability to do all that you just talked about?”
“I’m going to honest; there may be some loss of life, however, I think that the numbers will be far less than if we don’t take action. Do we have your approval to implement our plan? We will not force ourselves on another civilization unless innocent people are going to be killed. If you say no, then we won’t carry out our plan and leave. It’s your decision.”
“Goige, I believe we have to allow these ships to help us. I’ve seen that the first ship could have destroyed all of us when we attacked him and he chose not to harm us. I believe these are people we can trust.”
““My Fleet Admiral seems to feel like as I do.” Goige paused and said, “Implement your plan.”
The ten Searchers felt their excitement rise; this is what they had trained for at the academy and now they were going to be able to use their ships to save lives. They were totally in the moment and the ten hours until they began seemed to last forever.