Jake and Valerie finally separated and looked around. Suddenly a huge shadow covered them and they looked up to see the transport descending. “Looks like I was right, Jake.”
“Are you ever wrong?”
“Not really; I did say you would find your initiator here on this planet. I just didn’t know it was me at the time.”
Jake smiled at her and shook his head. Then he heard Manny, “Why did you need all these Searchers? It looks like you’ve got everything under control.”
“Manny, there are 400,000 Keepers’ ships in orbit with their drives off. Junior has discovered that if you launch a high speed penetrator up their drives it will destroy the interior of those ships. We need to do that to reduce their ship count.”
“Stand by.” Manny keyed his com and issued instructions.
Jake watched in his mind as 400,000 Searchers jumped to the rear of the Keepers’ ships and fired a high speed penetrator in each of the three drive tubes.
“How do you know if it worked?”
Jake smiled, “Trust me on this one; it worked. There is another thing you must do quickly. How many ships can avoid detection by the Keepers’ ships in our universe?”
“All of our ships can avoid detection, however only fifty thousand Searchers have the covering to prevent their thoughts from being detected. Why do you ask?”
“Because I expect another, larger, fleet to come here shortly and they will discover how we killed these ships. We must kill those in the Realm before they are warned. The window to make that happen is short.”
“Maybe we can delay them finding out.”
“How can we do that?”
“Every ship has places on the hull where a cord can be attached for hull inspections in zero gravity. Our Searchers have cables strong enough to pull these ships out of orbit and accelerate them toward the star in this system. We have two Searchers for each ship so we should be able to get them moving at a very high velocity. They won’t find out anything if we remove the evidence.”
“That is a great idea, Manny! Get them moving.”
The eight hundred thousand Searchers were given instructions, and in less than an hour two small ships began pulling each Keepers’ ship out of orbit. It was good fortune that the colonies were on the day side of the planet, so they just had to be pulled directly away from the planet instead of around it. Jake and Valerie watched as the Keepers’ ships started moving slowly, but picked up speed rapidly. The Searchers drive systems were powered by red generators and the Keepers’ ships reached half light speed in less than ninety minutes. They were released six light minutes away from the star, and twelve minutes later impacted the star’s corona. They melted and disappeared. Even the brown hulls could not withstand the heat of a sun.
“Manny, we still have to move on those ships quickly. If they don’t know how we did it, they will still try to warn them.”
“We’ll get together when we arrive back in the Realm and decide what to do.”
Jake watched as the transport came down and hovered about two hundred yards above the gathered colonists. Jake heard Edison, “Tell them that they are about to be moved aboard ship. Since we have time, we will teleport the women first and move them to quarters where they can put on clothing we’ve brought for them. Tell any of the females that are holding a male child to please give the child to a male to hold; I would not like them to be injured if they fall.”
Jake gave the instructions to the colonists and watched as many of the women gave their male children to their mates. Valerie and Jake teleported outside the gathering and watched as a silver screen came down and all of the female colonists disappeared. Jake noticed that the ground was covered with thousands of bracelets and wires that were left behind. After fifteen minutes the males were teleported, and the transport began moving into orbit.
Jake sent a thought to Manny, “How is it going at the Glod and Cainth Colonies?”
“They went up in one trip; seems they aren’t as modest as we humans. Their transports have now achieved orbit and jumped back to the Realm.”
Jake had his arm around Valerie, and they watched the huge Stars Realm transport with the big SR on the tail rise higher. “Looks like they are going to be with the Seniors.”
“Seniors?”
“I’ll explain later, Val.”
“Will you please allow me to bring you on board now?”
Jake and Valerie laughed, “Give me a moment, Junior.”
Jake walked over to the center of the square and looked around. He lifted some bracelets and threw them aside. Valerie asked, “What are you doing?”
Jake moved to his left, leaned down, picked up something, and put it in his pocket. He looked up and said, “You can take us on board now.”
“I thought we’d never leave. Cynthia has been on me for the last hour to get you out of here. She still doesn’t feel safe.”
“It’s the other way around, Junior; the Keepers aren’t safe here. I’ve seen her fight; she’s really good.”
Jake and Valerie disappeared from the now empty farm.
Six Keepers’ ships came out of jump and started moving in-system. The Collective was tuned in to them and saw the fleet sent to the planet was not there. It watched the scan taken of the planet and also discovered that the inhabitants of the farm were missing as well.
The other Quadrants had worked together to pull Military back together, and it was starting to function groggily. It watched the results of the scan and actually felt anger over the loss of life. “How did this happen?”
The Collective ignored the still-damaged Quadrant and wondered the same thing. Where were the ships? Nothing could have destroyed the hull material, yet they were not there. The Quadrants turned their attention to the Military Quadrant and asked, “Why did we not have ships ready to respond to emergencies?”
Military took a moment to gather the answer, “We had the fleet we sent to that planet. I asked how many to send and you ordered them all. How could we have known more than those sent would be needed?”
The Collective pondered the response, “We should always have ships outside drive bands to go where we need them.”
“It will be done in the future but as you know, all of our ships are used to transport food and are usually in orbit above their assigned farms.”
“Let me know how you plan to handle this in the future.”
“I’ll start work on it now.”
“Start on it later; I want all of you to watch the scans of the ships entering the place of our losses.”
The Collective turned its attention to the Director of the six ships entering the system of the recent battle. The six ships arrived in orbit, parked directly above the former garrison, and launched twenty attack craft. They swarmed down to the atmosphere and scanned for life; none was detected. The Collective ordered, “Land and tell me what you find on the surface.”
Ten attack craft landed at the garrison and another ten landed at the site of the colonies. There were Keepers lying dead from the garrison all the way to the hills just outside the colonies. Most of those on the surface were killed, but those still underground looked like they had just fallen down dead. Keepers were hit with explosive projectiles, blown apart by close explosions, and some were burned beyond recognition by some kind of beam. The Collective and the Quadrants watched it in the minds of the warriors on the planet’s surface and saw the ferocity of the combat that had taken place. Some of the beam platforms were still smoking and the crews were scattered around it. Some of the Keepers lying dead on the ground did not suffer severe enough injuries to have died, but every Keeper on the planet had lost their life.
The Science Quadrant said, “I believe that whatever that blue wave was that disrupted Military must have killed all those on the planet and in our fleet. Here at its source it must have been enormous.”
“Do you have any idea what it was?”
Science went into its databanks and responded, “Yes, I do. We have systematica
lly eliminated any life form that possessed any mental powers. Those that had it in high levels released that blue color upon their death. Either a super strong psychic died or released its powers.”
“What do you mean, released?”
“We have studies that show a number of those with mental powers are not able to use them unless they are released by another person with mental powers. It has been millions of years since we recorded this phenomenon, mainly because we have killed any that demonstrated these powers. But we know that the stronger the powers, the larger the blue wave that follows release.”
“Are you saying that an individual had its powers released here on this planet?”
“It is the only thing that accounts for what we’ve recorded.”
“Where did this individual originate? Certainly not in the farm population?”
“It appears that they came after the ship was destroyed.” Science paused a moment and looked in the Military Quadrant and analyzed new data, “It also appears that the invaders are now able to hide their thoughts from our scanners.”
The Collective looked at Military’s data with Science and begrudgingly agreed. “You said that someone who also possessed mental powers would be needed to release this wave. None of our food could have possessed that kind of power.”
“You’re right. However, it was not one of the food that released this individual; we did it.”
The Collective looked again in Military’s information with Science and watched as the Warrior scanned and then touched one of the foods just before the first disruption hit. “How could we release this invader?”
“It was our combined connection with all of our Species that made it happen. The connection with trillions of us is extremely strong. The second blast was done by another invader that arrived when the combat started. They planned the final release just as our fleet arrived at the planet. It was that release that killed all of our warriors on and around the planet.”
Military asked, “Are we in danger of this wave being using against us?”
Science analyzed the data and responded, “Only if there is another individual with that magnitude of mental power and we are dumb enough to touch them. I don’t see how they could be released with anything but our combined mental connection. The being that was released here cannot cause that wave again.”
“Put that information into a form for all Quadrants to examine, and plan to discuss it next interval. Now; where is our fleet?” Silence greeted the question. “We can assume the crews were killed by that blue wave, but what happened to the ships?”
Science responded, “Perhaps we need to ask that question another way.”
“Such as?”
“If our crews were dead, we know no one could enter the ships from outside. That means they had to have been moved or disintegrated. The Question should be; what could destroy our ships?”
“Enough heat would do it,” Production answered. “We use high temperatures to mold the hulls.”
The Collective and all Quadrants looked at the star in the system. “Ship Director, make a detailed scan from the planet toward the system’s star.”
Two ships moved away from the planet and picked up speed as they broke out of orbit. “We have a reading of fuel across a wide band.”
“Fuel?”
“Yes. It’s very small, but is in a very wide band between the planet and the star.”
Science asked, “Is the fuel raw or burned?”
“Some of both.”
Military said, “They moved our ships into the star. They must have towed them.”
The Collective felt immediate nervousness, “How many ships did we send here?”
Military said, “We sent 400,000.”
“How long after the ships stopped reporting did we arrive in this system?”
“Six intervals.”
“Explain how our fleet could have been towed to the star and the ships used to move them could then get out of this system before we arrived? It’s ten intervals to the drive band from the planet, and they had to go another five intervals in-system to move our fleet. It also suggests that at least the number of our ships was used to move them. What does this tell us?”
Science answered, “They are not bound by the star drive limitation.”
The Collective and every Quadrant pondered that threat.
Military suddenly said, “What about our ships in the invader’s universe? We must warn them.”
“Do we have a ship outside the star drive band to send?”
“No; you told me to work on it later.”
The Collective ordered, “Send a ship from a system that has a small drive band.”
“It will still take five intervals.”
“Then get them moving; they must be warned.”
Values remained silent and knew trouble was not far away. It was becoming more difficult to hide the fear it felt.
Valerie and Jake arrived back in the Stars Realm and immediately received a com from Joe Gardner, “Your Majesty, the Keepers Fleet is now entering the Brayent System. The Cainth Colonists have launched ships to meet them coming in-system but have done no damage to the Keepers Fleet. What should we do?”
Valerie looked at Jake and said to Joe, “How many planets have they now attacked since our absence?”
“They destroyed the Gilmer System and immediately jumped to Brayent.”
“Give me a moment, Joe.”
Valerie looked at Jake, and he could tell something was wrong, “Jake, the first planet the Keepers Fleet attacked was Gambia.”
Jake stared at her struck silent by her revelation. After several moments he asked, “What happened?”
“They killed everyone with those beams and took two million from the largest city for consumption. No one survived.”
Jake thought about all the friends he had left behind and slowly started shaking his head. Valerie could hear his thoughts and worried about what this would do to him. Jake looked up at her and said, “Life there for most of the population was worse than living under the Keepers. For the millions suffering starvation and disease, quick death was a blessing. For the rich that preyed on the population, they couldn’t die slow enough to suit me.” Jake paused and then hit his com, “Joe, this is Jake Talant. How many Searchers do you have that are thought blocked?”
“Fifty thousand.”
“Get them together to attack this fleet.”
“How are we going to make that happen?”
Jake thought a moment, “Is there any time that the fleet stops and has its drives turned off?”
“That normally happens just before it goes to the planet’s surface to start their attack. They also reorganize their lines into formation after they leave the planet, and send craft down to collect inhabitants for their food stores.”
“Have they started their attack at Brayent?”
“No, but we can’t organize fast enough to get there before they do. They’re only an hour out from the planet.”
“Then it will have to be after the attack. Assign two Keepers’ ships to each Searcher and have them fire penetrators into their drive tubes. Each Searcher must make it happen quickly before the ships not hit first have time to react. It will kill their ships if we can do it before they turn on their drives.”
Joe looked at his display, “Manny, have you been listening in?”
“I have, Your Majesty. I’ve sent the message to Fleet Command and the ships are gathering in Earth’s system assigning targets from the probe’s scan. They will have the feed sent to their ships and will all jump simultaneously at the best moment to make this happen.”
Valerie looked at Jake, “We can’t save the planet?”
“Not and kill that fleet. If we jump in they will not turn off their drives. I wish there was something we could do, but I just don’t see any way to hit them and make a difference. Look at the feed from the planet: the Cainth there have modern ships that only lack teleportation capability. They are jumping
in close to attack the Keepers’ ships and are having no effect on them. I’ve just watched six of their ships ram a Keepers’ ship and nothing happened, except the ships are disintegrated immediately after they strike the hull by a Keepers’ beam. Evidently the Keepers inside the ship can fire their individual beams through the hull.”
Jake looked at Valerie and hugged her tightly, “Junior and I are going to that battle. I need you to go to a safe place.”
“Jake, I’m not leaving you.”
“Yes, you are. You are the Queen of the Realm and your place is keeping the Realm reassured that we are doing all we can to protect them. My place is finding the means to kill these creatures. We are only a thought away and you know I’ll come when I can.”
Valerie looked into Jake’s eyes and marveled at how he’d changed since the casino. She wanted desperately to stay with him, but knew he was right. “Junior, you’ll take care of him, right?”
“If he’ll allow it.”
“What about me?”
“Cynthia, I think you need to stay close to him.”
“Why? We brought him back safe!”
Jake smiled at the Searcher and said, “Now you know I’m going to be right in the middle of all the action. Do you want to be on the sidelines?”
Cynthia smiled and said, “Oh, well; I guess I’ll put up with you a little longer.”
Valerie smiled, “You two make a good team. Keep it up.”
Cynthia asked, “By the way, Valerie, where’s Admiral Zergl?”
“He’s been replaced by Manny.”
Cynthia’s expression turned into a huge smile, “Now we’ll get somewhere. What about Jake here; what’s his rank?”
“He is the Liaison for the Crown.”
Cynthia whistled. Jake looked at her and asked, “What does that mean?”
Cynthia smiled, “Very simply put, Mr. Talant, you actually outrank them all. You operate with the Authority of the Queen.”
Jake looked at Valerie and she nodded, “You are the difference maker; now go make a difference.”
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