by Saxon Andrew
Danielle looked at her husband and he saw her expression. She didn’t need to say anything, he could feel her. He felt her love and remembered when he vowed upon learning that she was going to have their first child that he was going to make sure that they would be safe even if he had to destroy the entire Alliance of Worlds that was bent on annihilating the human race. If he could have hid then, would he have allowed that danger to always be shadowing their lives?
Danielle watched Tag closely and could see the struggle he was having and then she saw him decide.
“Even if we die in this struggle, to turn away from this fight and allow so many to be destroyed would be something that I believe would kill us just as certainly as the Eight Legs. We will not turn away at this critical moment.”
As Tag spoke, Danielle thought back to that meeting that had changed both of their lives so substantially twelve hundred years ago. Rose called them in to a meeting of the First Family where all of the representatives of every Stars Realm member and Rose had been attempting to choose the military leaders of the future. The meeting had lasted six days and no one could agree on any selection until Rose had presented a radical choice. After very little back and forth, all the members agreed. Danielle and Tag arrived and found the entire assembly and Rose waiting in silence for them. Danielle took one look and knew something monumental was going on.
Rose stood and said, “Mom, Dad, the elected representatives of the Realm have decided who is to lead us in the coming years. We have struggled and we could not find consensus until I suggested a leader we could all trust.” Rose paused, looked at the First Family and then said, “I hereby abdicate my throne and the First Family has voted unanimously that Thomas Anglo Gardner, Sr. will be named the new King of the Stars Realm.”
Tag’s mouth fell open and he said, “I cannot and will not accept this position. You are so better qualified than I that this is a bad decision. What possessed you to even consider this?”
“Come sit down and let me explain.” Tag and Danielle took their seats in front of the gathering and Rose said, “We know the Eight Legs are coming. It could be a week or it could be a thousand years, however, we know without doubt that they are coming. Whoever leads the Stars Realm must possess psychic talents; one of which is the ability to sense when danger approaches. Dad, your sense is the strongest in our family; there’s no sense is even thinking about denying that much.” Tag looked at her and then nodded. “Further, your talents lie in the province of being a warrior. Tgon-Gee says that you are death incarnate and cannot be defeated. Dad, the Realm now needs a warrior to lead it into the future; it needs you.”
Danielle said, “What she’s saying has merit, Darling.” Rose looked at Danielle and Danielle thought, “Uh oh!”
“This is where you will have the most trouble with what we are asking of you; the Realm requests that you allow Atlas to extend your life spans again.”
Danielle stood and said, “We will not!”
Rose looked at her mother and Danielle saw the sadness in her eyes. “Mom, none of Cassandra’s or my children have manifested any psychic skills. They do not possess the necessary vision to know when danger approaches. The Realm needs a ruler that has the psychic skills that you, and I, possess. Mom, I need to be with my children and move them from Castle Gardner. They cannot succeed me and they need me close to them. If you do not accept this role, then I will be forced to it and I say to you from my heart that I cannot continue in peace.”
Tag saw her sorrow and said, “Tommy and Cassandra can take your place.”
Rose shook her head, “You know the danger inherent in Cassandra’s lack of control of her power. The stresses of the crown would be too much for her. They have agreed to extend their lives if you will accept this responsibility. Cassandra wants to see the child in her vision and will wait until he arrives. However, the Realm has voted unanimously that they want the two of you to be the Royal Couple leading the Realm toward its coming confrontation with the Eight Legs. They call upon you to serve.”
Tag looked at Danielle and took a deep breath, “It will only be until Cassandra’s coming child reaches maturity; he can replace us at that time.”
Danielle looked at Rose and asked, “Are you going to extend your life?”
“No, I do not want to live longer than my children. I have no need to live that long and Michael agrees. You must accept; the Realm needs a warrior to lead it and I am not a warrior.”
Danielle move forward and embraced her daughter, “We will reluctantly accept, Darling. All I’ve ever wanted is your happiness.”
“Being with my children for the time that remains in a normal human life span is what I desire most.”
Danielle looked at Tag and shrugged. Tag looked at the First Family’s representatives and said, “We will accept your decision. We will do all we can to protect the Realm against the coming storm.”
The entire assembly rose and cheered. Danielle held Rose and thought to her, “You gave them the idea, didn’t you?”
“Yes, Mom, I lied about not having a vision.” Danielle stepped back from Rose and looked her in the eye. “I saw Dad and you leading the Stars Realm a thousand years from now. You have to do it or the Realm will die.”
Danielle pulled Rose close and nodded already missing her daughter knowing she would die long before the thousand years was over.
Tag stood and Danielle was brought back to the present. It was this kind of moment that showed her why she loved him so much. She was proud of him beyond measure and the Realm’s decision twelve hundred years earlier to select a warrior to lead them into the future was vindicated in this moment.
Tag saw her admiration and felt twenty five years old again, “We will fight this fight. I stand with you, Matthew Anglo Gardner and I welcome you into the Royal Family. You are hereby selected to succeed me as the Realm’s ruler at the conclusion of this nightmare and I charge you to protect it as we have. Please bow.”
Matt was stunned. He didn’t want this responsibility. The King and Queen stood and walked around the table to his chair followed by the representative of the Glod Union and Cainth Empire. Matt rose from his seat and bowed before them. Thomas Gardner drew a fencing sword from a scabbard at his waste followed by the Glod drawing a Glod long sword and the Cainth drawing a short sword. The huge Glod tapped him on both shoulders with the long sword followed by the Canith and then Tag tapped him on each shoulder, “I hereby name you Prince Matthew Anglo Gardner, defender of the Realm, and charge you with the safety and well being of all its subjects. Your decisions will be followed by all and we charge you to continue the Prime Directive of the Royal Family to protect the life of the Realm and all those that cannot protect them self.”
Matt was humbled by the words. This was too much for him to take on but then he thought about Angel and knew he could not decline the title; it would diminish her sacrifice. He said, “I swear to keep the faith of the Realm and do all within my power to protect her.”
“Please rise, Prince Gardner.”
The first to arrive to congratulate him was Anglo. “I have been waiting for you, cousin. Welcome to my family.” He stepped forward and embraced Matt. The rest of the room joined Anglo in greeting the Royal Family’s newest member.
Stem and Al watched the meeting from orbit and Stem said, “I hope we’re not demanding too much from him at this sad time.”
“I believe he needs this, Stem. It gives reason to Angel’s loss and he needs something to take his mind away from her death.”
“You’re probably right, Al. Take care of him; the life of our universe is depending on him.”
“I will. I also depend on him.”
“You need each other, Al.”
“More than you know, Stem.”
Chapter 12
Matt, Al, and Stem were watched the feed coming from the second planet the invaders attacked. Matt commed General Durk who had assumed command of all armed forces until a new commander could be selected to replace hi
m. “Are the ships in place, General?”
“Yes Your Grace, we have five Searcher class ships waiting for them to depart this system. They will jump in and hit the mother ship when it clears the jump limit.”
“Make sure they jump away fast.”
“They have already programmed their jumps.”
“Thank you, General.”
Matt turned back to the feed and watched the large troop carriers descend toward the planet. As he watched, something troubled him and he couldn’t quite determine what it was. It was like a bug flying around your head; you’d swat at it and after a moment it would reappear.
“Want to talk about it?”
“Al, I don’t know what to talk about. Something about this attack is bothering me.”
“I can see that. Ever thought about asking for help?”
“Who?”
“Let me see if I can remember the exact words, “The Royal Family has the most powerful psychics in this universe.”“
Matt snickered and Stem said, “Boy, you are dramatic.”
“No he’s not Stem.”
“I’m not,” Al said.
“No, I think you have a good idea. Matt thought, “Pardon me Your Majesty but do you have a moment?”
“I do, Matt but from this moment on you will call me and my wife by our first names. Agreed?”
“Yes Your Majes….,I mean, yes Tag.”
“What do you need?”
“I’m having a nagging feeling about the attack we’ve planned on the Eight Legs when they leave the system they are currently attacking. Something just doesn’t feel right.”
Tag remained silent for a moment and then said, “You should call off the attack.”
“Why?”
“Let me help you learn how to use one of your talents.”
“By all means.”
“I want you to clear your mind and get a clear sense of how much immediate danger you sense to the Realm at this moment; got it?”
Matt closed his eyes and replied, “Yes I do.”
“Now I want you to think about making the planned attack and sense if that level of danger changes.”
Matt thought about it and said, “No, no change.”
“Now think about canceling the attack.”
“Holy Groad.”
“Ah, you can feel it can’t you?”
Stem thought, “What do you feel?”
“The danger level dropped appreciably.”
“What else did you sense?”
“If we don’t attack, the main invasion may be delayed.”
“Matt, that’s what I sense when I look at it both ways. I’m not sure why that is but it appears that it won’t happen as quickly as we thought.”
“Tag, I think we need to try and figure out why that is. Al, cancel the attack.”
“Fleet command has been notified, Magic.”
“Danielle, got a minute?”
“Always time for you, love; oh hi, Matt; what are you two up to?”
“We’re trying to find the truth in a situation and you are the best at that. Matt, tell Danielle what you’ve discovered?”
As Matt explained to Danielle, Al thought to Tag, “Your Majesty, may Stem and I participate in this discussion?”
“Of course you may provided you also abide by the rules of first names only in private conversations. I recognize that in public forums titles are necessary but not among friends.”
“Then Tag and Danielle it is.”
“I see my husband has taught you how to use one of your talents.”
“Yes he has and I’m very appreciative.”
“Then let me walk you through how I would go about trying to understand this situation.”
“We’re all ears,” Al said.
“Danielle chuckled, “Oh, so you’re the computer I’ve heard so much about.”
“You’re making me blush.”
“Danielle laughed, “Well, we’ll talk later; I do want to get to know you. But first, you have determined that if we attack the Eight Legs as they leave this system they will follow up this first ship with the full invasion within two months. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“Has either one of you looked to see if that follow up comes after any attack or just this one.”
“Go ahead, Matt,” Tag said.
Matt closed his eyes and after a moment opened them, “No, it’s only this attack that causes the invasion to come earlier.”
“Alright, so now we have to ask two questions; what would cause them to delay their invasion and what would cause them to invade earlier. Which question feels like the right one to answer,” Danielle asked?
Matt and Tag both said in unison, “The second.”
Danielle laughed again and said, “Then it must be the second if you two are in agreement. Now ask yourself this, what would make us invade ahead of a planed timetable if we were planning an attack?”
Stem thought, “If there was a danger to our forces or something was discovered that we wanted very much.”
“Does everyone else agree?”
No one said anything. “Silence means agreement,” Danielle said, “because you can’t think of another reason at this moment. So let’s follow the path these conclusions lead us. Why is this system so critical as to cause them to move their invasion plans up? What do we know about this system?”
Matt said, “I was surprised they invaded this system.”
“Why is that, Matt,” Danielle asked?
“Because according to our maps of this galaxy, there are other civilizations much larger and more advanced than the one they attacked; this one doesn’t even have space travel. That civilization, however, seems to be fighting among themselves constantly.”
“So we can say that this particular planet will not possess anything that would represent a threat to the invaders.”
“That’s how I see it, Danielle.”
“Then we have to see why they chose this particular planet to invade. If we understand that then we can find what we’re missing. What do you think the invaders might be looking for that they want very much?”
Stem thought, “Probably a highly advanced civilization to consume.”
“So how does invading this backward civilization give them what they seek?”
“I have one more piece of information that relates to this discussion.”
“What is that, Al”
“I have been looking at the map of that galaxy and the planet they are invading is the closest inhabited planet to the last one they consumed.”
Matt said, “You already knew, didn’t you Danielle?”
“Yes, but I wanted you to go through the process yourself to learn how to do it in the future. You haven’t had as much practice as I have.”
“What’s the reason,” Tag asked?
“They are baiting us to attack them.”
Stem thought, “How do you arrive at that conclusion?”
“Three of their warriors just disappeared while they were attacking the first planet. They must assume that if their disappearance was caused by an advanced life form then that life form must be located close to the site of the attack. If they attack another planet close by and they are attacked by a civilization that has jump capability, then they will connect the two events together. That will cause an immediate response from the main fleet. If they are not attacked then they are left with the possibility that the disappearances are not connected with an advanced life form but something else. They may decide to attack another planet close by just to make sure but if nothing happens then they will not perceive any danger to their invasion.”
“That’s how I see it, Matt.”