by Saxon Andrew
Chapter 2
The King of the Stars Realm looked over at his Queen and said, “I’ve just been told that one of our new Searchers has discovered new civilizations that are in the middle of a galactic war.”
“I’ve also seen the reports. The Searcher commands an Alpha ship and I met him four years ago when he was a new recruit. I hear he has saved millions of lives in one system and is organizing an effort to save more lives in another system.”
“Could he be the one?”
“I haven’t said anything before because I’m not certain but he is a Gardner.”
The King furrowed his brow. “Is he a true Gardner?”
“Yes he is. He doesn’t know it but he has both Rose’s and the other family’s blood line. His powers are latent and have not been released yet, however, he is manifesting some psychic abilities. I sensed him four years ago. He has exceptional skills but unless he finds his initiator, they will not grow to the level he’s capable of achieving.”
The King thought for a long moment and then said, “Well, my love, if he doesn’t find his match, maybe it will find him.”
The Queen smiled and reached over and took his hand. “Love will find a way.”
“I hope it’s soon. My sense of danger is growing.”
“As is mine, my Love; as is mine.”
Brez was asleep when his com vibrated then sounded an alarm that brought him straight out of bed. He hit a button on the wall to put his house on standby and then punched the red button on his com and twisted it left for two seconds and then right. A silver screen appeared in front of him and he stepped through it. As soon as he emerged from the silver screen a voice announced, “Brez, Red Warrior Captain, Third Battalion, Delta Company.” Brez ignored the voice and ran across the huge facility to the place his company sized group was assigned.
One of his warriors ran up beside him and asked, “What’s up, Captain?”
“I don’t know but this is not a drill. The central teleporter is warming up and that means fighting.”
The warrior smiled a huge grin and sprinted ahead to tell the rest of the team. Brez was an Adjement and only stood four feet tall. He had joined the military when he graduated from the Advanced Mechanics Institute on Sten’s Planet and had worked his way up through the ranks to Captain in command of one of the ten companies that comprised a battalion. He looked around and saw that nine other companies were gathering so it looked like the entire battalion was forming up. He looked at his company and saw that most of the platoons had arrived and were standing in ranks talking to their fellow warriors. Each company had ten platoons made up of four squads with six two man warriors assigned to each squad. The warriors were trained to operate in tandem with the basic unit being two armored warriors. Their armor’s software was capable of handling organizations of two, four, eight, sixteen, thirty two, or all the way up to ten divisions in hostile fighting environments. Brez noticed that all of his ten platoon’s personnel were present except for his teammate Juck. He hit his com and Juck appeared in a hospital bed.
“Sorry, Sir,” the small Cainth said. “I’ve contracted an illness and I’m unable to answer the call.” Brez could see the anguish on Juck’s face and knew that missing this call up was worse than the illness.
“You’ll be here next time, Warrior. Semper Fi.”
“Semper Fi, Captain.”
Brez hit his com and said, “One replacement.”
Immediately a huge Glod stepped out of a silver screen in front of his team, looked into the ranks, and moved to the place in front where Juck was supposed to be. He shook hands with his team mates and began introducing himself to the other twosomes. He had a huge smile on his face looking forward to the coming action.
Brez punched his com notifying Battalion Command that all of his platoons were present and accounted for. Brez then looked at the other five thousand warriors in the huge building and thought about the structure of his battalion. He thought it funny that the ancient names regiment, battalion, and division were still used along with terms like company, platoon, and squads. He learned in his military history class that the terms were still used to honor those that had fought on Ross in the war that formed the Stars Realm. The Star Realm’s warriors were known as Naval Marines to honor the Red Warrior’s most famous Commander, General Richard Wiseman who commanded the First Division, Naval Marines in the war against the Alliance and Algeans. Now only the absolute best warriors were invited to join the Wiseman Division. A place in their ranks had to be earned and membership was something every Red Warrior aspired to attain. An announcement brought his thoughts back to the present. The warriors were called Red Warriors because of the bright red color of their armor and protective screens.
“All Red Warriors, suit up in ten seconds.”
This was something Brez never tired of seeing. All five thousand warriors stood at attention and brought their right arms into a salute and two seconds later they grabbed the two outside fingers of their saluting hand. All the warriors were immediately surrounded by a rose colored field and their appearance was undergoing a rapid metamorphosis. Their fighting armor was being teleported around them and every piece of it knew exactly where it should go. In less than ten seconds, every warrior in the building was standing in their full armor.
The Battalion Commander ordered, “At Rest.” Every warrior put their hands behind their back and stood with their legs at shoulder width. The Colonel commanding the battalion looked at his warriors, “I am downloading your assignments for the upcoming action. I have included everything that we have learned about the situation and want to make sure that all of you know that saving lives is the Prime Order. I remind you of your oath at the Quilleron Temple and trust you to use good judgment in using your weapons.”
Brez along with every warrior in the building immediately remembered when they had graduated from their training and had been assigned their armor. The entire graduating class was then teleported to Glod where hundreds of thousands of Stars Realm citizens were waiting for them to arrive. The new Red Warriors marched down the Quilleron Path in slow cadence while their commander recited the ceremonial words that all new Warriors were told.
“You are marching down the path where the Stars Realm’s first chosen Queen walked more than twelve hundred years ago. Warriors, Halt!” The procession stopped and they heard, “It was at this spot that our new Queen’s right to rule was challenged by a group of Glod Warriors. Her Husband and champion, Thomas Anglo Gardner, faced five Glod Martial Arts Champions with nothing but his bare hands and defeated four of them that attacked him together. As he approached the fifth warrior, our first Queen stopped him and ended the killing. Thomas Gardner then threw the two Glod Long Swords he was holding into the pillars on each side of the entrance to the Quilleron Temple where they remain to this day. The Fifth Glod Champion, Ron-Dar, who later became a great leader of the Glod, was made to decide whether or not the new Queen would rule his people; he chose the New Queen. That choice is what led to the founding of our Stars Realm. On that day, Danielle said that a Warrior’s destiny is to make the universe a better place for their people to live. A Warrior’s duty is to defend those that can’t defend themselves. Today is the day you will profess your determination to follow that choice. You are being given unimaginable power to weld and with that great power comes great responsibility. Each of you will go to each sword and grip it with your hands and silently swear your life, loyalty, and strength to protect the Stars Realm and all others that cannot defend themselves; you will then pass through the entry and verbally swear your oath; you will then be accepted into the Ranks of the Realm’s Naval Marines as a Red Warrior and be one of the most respected members of our military. Do not touch the swords unless you mean what you promise. Forward, March.”
The ranks moved forward and stopped in front of the entrance to the huge temple. The thousands of citizens gathered to witness the event all bowed and remained silent as each new warrior approached the two swords
embedded in the pillars and took the grips in their hands for a moment. After they had gripped each sword they stepped through the entry and bowed to make their oath. They then returned to the ranks of their fellow graduates. After the last new warrior had said his oath and returned to the ranks, the Commander turned and said to the gathered multitude, “Citizens, I present to you our newest group of Red Warriors.”
The crowd rose and began cheering; they ran into the ranks to welcome the Realm’s newest defenders.
Every Red Warrior relived that moment as their Commander challenged them to use their strengths wisely. There was a moment of silence to allow them to remember and then the warriors heard, “Companies, prepare your teams; we teleport in ten hours.”
Brez turned and faced his company. “Alright, you know the drill; invisibility, now!”
His entire team disappeared. Brez looked at his helmet scanner and saw all of his troops but he could see nothing with his eyes. He looked closer and said, “Te-Dar, report to the armory after drills; I can see a small flash around your suit.” He paused and ordered, “Guns.” Every warrior raised their arms and he could see their beam and projectile weapons appear on their arms. This is where the Cainth with their four arms were truly formidable. They had a wide inventory of weapons at their disposal. They were usually assigned as the clean up member of the team. Being able to use those four arms to perform four different tasks simultaneously made them some of the best warriors in the regiment. Brez went through the rest of their inventory of weapons and then sat down in front of them. “We’ll wait on you to return, Te-Dar. I want everyone else to go through their assignment and be prepared to offer suggestions to help avoid unnecessary loss of life when you return.” The warriors in Brez’s company sat down and began analyzing their assigned tasks.
Goige made a call to Matt, “Why are you waiting until just before the scheduled execution to attempt this exercise?”
“Because we are hoping to neutralize all of their armed forces on the planet.”
Goige looked shocked, “How are you going to accomplish that?”
“We are using ten companies of our Naval Marines in this action and after we save the prisoners we are releasing our warriors to neutralize the other Gresh on the planet.”
“How many of your warriors will be used.”
“About five thousand.”
Goige looked skeptical, “There are more than six hundred thousand of their warriors on the planet.”
“That’s why we’re waiting until the last moment; we want them in large groups. They should be in gathered to prevent the population from taking action to prevent the executions.”
Goige just looked at Matt on his display. “Goige, we will also be using our ships in this exercise and though there may be some loss of life, we really think that it won’t be as severe if you just do nothing. We will send your ship a feed of what is happening so you can watch what transpires.”
“What are you going to do if you are successful? Will you then rule my world?”
“No, Select Leader; we will free your people and insure they are not attacked again. After that we will leave you in peace. It is against my Realm’s basic beliefs to force anyone to accept us by force or intimidation. We are driven to save life not rule it.”
“Just how are you going to make sure we are not attacked again?”
“Why we will go and ask the Gresh not to do it again in terms that they can understand.”
Goige stared at Matt on his display and then said with a smile, “That should be an interesting conversation.”
“You have no idea, Select Leader.”
“Al, have you linked to the other searchers?”
“Yes I have. Our systems are optimized and your link is ready for use when you activate our weapons.”
“Good, we should start in less than thirty drags.”
“I must say that the other Alpha in our group is impressive.”
“Why do you say that, Al?”
“Fly Girl is optimized and I picked up a few pointers from her.”
“Fly Girl?”
“You know her as Wings but she likes her short name better.”
Matt smiled and thought to Angel, “Fly Girl?”
Angel laughed and said, “It just happened during our initial bonding session. It just seemed to fit her.”
Matt thought a moment and said, “I agree; it’s a great name.”
“Thanks, Magic and thank you again for letting me participate. I have learned so much about my ship getting ready for this plan.”
“I’m glad to have you here. I feel better about our chances of success with two Alphas in the action.” Matt then paused and said, “Attention all Searchers. We will teleport in five minutes. Our Marines will arrive in two minutes using their invisibility mode and wait for us to initiate the plan. Does anyone have a question?” Matt heard in his mind that everyone was ready. The time marched forward and Matt thought, “Teleporting in 3,2,1, Go.”
On the planet the Gresh were warming up the heavy disintegrator platforms when a voice came over their communication devices. “Attention all Gresh military personnel, this is the Stars Realm Searcher Vessel Aladdin. We are not going to allow you to execute your prisoners. If you attempt to do so we will be forced to use killing force to prevent it. We will protect the prisoners and remove any threat you pose to the native population. Select Leader Goige has authorized us to take this action and we will assist him in protecting his people. If you attempt to carry out your plans then all Gresh forces in this system will be dealt with such that your threat is removed. If any Gresh ship moves inside the orbit of their closest moon, we will destroy it immediately. All Gresh ships inside the orbit that don’t move outside the orbit will be destroyed in the next minute.”
The Gresh Supreme Warrior on the planet heard the announcement and felt his rage grow. His sensor leader looked at him and said, “Excellency, a small ship has appeared over the ten cities scheduled to hold executions.”
“How small?”
“Less than 300 imns.”
“Order the executions to begin at once.”
The sensor leader pressed his device and said, “Begin the executions now.” Immediately his device erupted in a loud hiss and all contact with the Gresh Military ceased.
The disintegrator platforms heard the order and fired their weapons into a red field that had suddenly appeared surrounding the prisoners. The beams struck the field and disappeared without even making a flash. On one of the Gresh platforms the operator saw a bright white beam come out of nowhere and hit his weapon, the entire platform disappeared. It was the same at all ten sites. Every Gresh weapon platform was blown out of existence. The gathered Gresh Warriors began firing their mobile weapons at the prisoners only to see them stopped when they struck the red screen. Having no success with the prisoners, the Warriors turned to fire on the unarmed civilians gathered to mourn the death of the gathered prisoners.
“Red Warriors, go to visibility and eliminate the threat to the population,” Brez ordered.
A hundred and twenty red armored warriors suddenly appeared surrounding the site where the prisoners were being held and opened fire on the Gresh that were about to fire on the civilians. The Gresh were killed faster than they could fire their weapons. At every prisoner camp, every Gresh Warrior attempting to fire was gone.”
“Go to your assigned places,” Brez ordered and all but forty eight of the Red Warriors disappeared leaving only two to guard the camp while the remaining forty six fanned out into the city.
All ten cities saw the same thing. The Gresh units were trying to get orders from their leader when suddenly two red armored warriors appeared in their mist. “Drop your weapons and lay down and you won’t be harmed.”
The Gresh opened fire on the Red Warriors. The two red screened warriors immediately opened fire on any Gresh holding a weapon and began disappearing and reappearing in their ranks. Thousands of the Gresh died where they stood. Some of the
m had enough good sense to throw down their weapons and lay flat on the ground. They were hit with a yellow beam that wrapped them up in yellow bonds that held them in place. The two Red Warriors moved to their next target.
Matt remained stationary over the largest city on the planet and let his sensors direct his actions. There were individual Gresh Warriors scattered around the city that did not warrant a Red Warrior’s attention and Matt used his sensors to track them. If they raised their weapons to fire on the population, Matt would hit them with a small needle from space vaporizing them. It didn’t take long before every Gresh Warrior still alive threw down their weapons and ran toward their installations.
Simultaneously with the land battle, the fleet of Gresh ships began moving toward the planet. Matt had already killed eight ships that had refused to move outside the moon’s orbit and he did not relish killing the entire Gresh Fleet. How do we avoid so much loss of life?”
“Use terms they understand,” Al said.
Matt thought a moment and then hit his com, “Fleet Command, how many Defender Ships are available for our use?”
“Eight, Searcher.”
Please launch them immediately.”
Matt watched the Gresh Fleet move closer to the moon when there was a bright silver flash and eight huge Red Ships that were as large as the moon appeared in orbit around the planet. The Gresh Fleet came to a sudden stop.
“I ask you to leave this system immediately. If you do not begin moving toward the jump limit we will destroy all of you.”
The Fleet hesitated and then turned and accelerated toward the jump limit. “Right again, Al. This race only understands force.”
“And when you’ve been beat with two hammers, one doesn’t feel so bad,” Al responded.
Matt started laughing and though he tried to control himself he couldn’t stop. “Al, take over; I need a moment.”
“Your wish is my command.”
“On no, you’ve read the book.”