by Saxon Andrew
The Zord circled high overhead. It heard everything Grang thought and wondered at the change in the yellow creature over the last two years. It was absolutely amazed that a Torg had adopted him. You can’t adopt a Torg. It appears that particular one felt something in the Magrum. It watched the giant grey beasts moving south, and knew if they continued moving in that direction they would arrive at the three peaks in ninety days. Something had to be done to stop them. He waited for his replacement to arrive and thought about Grang.
Bleath flew in to the communities and screamed overhead. Scotty and Julie ran out to the clearing followed by Jing, Samuel, and Champ. “I wonder what’s going on?”
“I don’t know, Julie.”
Bleath landed and thought, “We are facing a dangerous situation. We need your help.”
“What’s happening?”
Bleath shared the vision of the giant grey creatures moving south. “Great galloping Torg on a plain! What are those?”
“One of our warriors heard a thought of the Yellow Skin that they are northern mountain cats, White Hair.”
“I’ve never seen any that size,”
“The Yellow Skin thinks they have been affected by the death of the waste lands.”
Scotty thought a moment, “He’s probably right.” He looked at the community leaders and said, “Those cats are alpha predators. They hunt in packs and are vicious. At that size, nothing will be safe. How far away are they, Bleath?”
“Three moons.”
Scotty shook his head, “The giant Torg herds will bring them to your lands. You will not be safe from those creatures.”
“What can we do?”
Scotty thought about it and finally decided that the time had come. “Bleath, would you consider moving?”
“Where would we go? Most of the land is not habitable.”
“I was thinking of taking you home.”
Bleath was silent.
“I believe we can return you to your home world.”
Bleath was stunned silent. So were the community leaders.
“Are you interested?”
“White Hair, we have dreamed of our home for centuries. How can you do this?”
“We will just send you there through a silver screen.”
“I do not know how we would be received after our long absence.”
“Why don’t we try this? I will go with Vring and see how things have changed since your ancestors were taken. We’ll see if everything is safe for you to go.”
“Let me consider your proposal. We’ve only known this world. Some may not choose to go.”
“Let me know what you decide.”
“This is a dream come true.” Bleath lifted and flew north.
“Scotty, we should take a look first.”
“That’s exactly what I intend to do, Julie.” Scotty lifted his arm and pushed a button on a bracelet. “Did you hear what we discussed?”
“Yes. Are you ready to go?”
Scotty looked at Julie and she nodded.
Scotty looked at Jingo and said, “Please handle any issues until we return.”
Jingo bowed and said, “We will work together, Your Majesty.”
A silver screen appeared beside Scotty and Julie. They stepped through and found themselves on a small bridge. “Welcome aboard. I’ve wondered why you’ve not visited before.”
Scotty took a deep breath and saw Julie’s expression. She looked at him and nodded. “I believe that we are going to need your weapons, Anglo. I’ve avoided coming to you until a crisis made the decision necessary. I believe this situation calls for us to use your skills. Do you know the location of the Zord’s home world?”
“Yes, it’s listed in my charts. Here we go.”
The small white ship flew through a silver screen and appeared over a planet covered in dense forests and high mountains. “There’s someone here.”
“Show me, Anglo.”
The display on the wall came on, and they watched five small runabouts flying quickly over the planet’s surface. Julie watched them fire blaster beams at nothing and spread out as they approached a line of tall trees. “What are they doing?”
Scotty said, “They’re chasing a Zord.”
The display changed and now they could see the Zord flying as fast as it could to get away from the pursuing runabouts. “There’s more.”
They saw a view of a large building with hundreds of runabouts around it. Mounted on trees around the building were the heads of many giant Zord.
“They’re hunting them.”
Scotty said, “Anglo, stop those runabouts.”
“The weapons are ready, Your Highness.”
Julie looked at Scotty and started crying. The dream was now a reality. “Fire, Anglo.”
The five runabouts had found a giant Zord and knew they would win the trophy for their team if they could bag it. The thing was so agile it was hard to corner. Keeping it on their screens so they could see it was next to impossible. The team leader finally saw his board lock in on the giant beast as it slowed for the trees ahead. Reaching for the trigger of his blaster was the last thing he did.
The Zord knew his life was over. He was exhausted from the long chase and didn’t have enough energy to get over the trees. He rose higher, then saw all five runabouts explode and crash into the forest. “What the…?” It banked away from the trees and turned back toward the runabouts. He saw a small white ship descending and heard, “We will not harm you. You may leave in peace and go home.” The Zord didn’t know what to think. The creatures in the ship were communicating with it. How did they know it could hear them? “We are going to the building that hunts you and ask that they leave your world. We wish you peace.”
“Who are you?”
“We come from another world where some of your descendants are now our brothers. We will not allow you to be attacked again.”
“The ones taken to El Prado.”
“Yes. They are now a part of our community. We are discussing bringing them home. They wonder how they will be received after their long absence.”
“We have mourned the loss of the six children that were stolen. They were eggs of our high ruler. They will be welcomed with love and veneration. However, I wouldn’t bring them back to this deathtrap our world has become.”
“What do you mean?”
The ruler on a distant planet sells the rights for hunters to come kill us. They have murdered many thousands of us.”
“Why didn’t you communicate with them and let them know you were an intelligent species?”
“We did. The Messenger was blasted from the sky. They said they didn’t care.”
Scotty’s eyes narrowed. He said, “I am going to resolve this problem momentarily. Where may we go to communicate with your Ruler?”
“The far right mountain peak behind me. You will find him there.”
“Thank you for communicating with us. We will be back with one of your descendants.”
Scotty looked at Julie and then said, “Anglo, are there anymore runabouts hunting on the planet?”
“There are about eight hundred scattered around this continent.”
“Please remove them from hunting our brothers.”
The small ship rose high in the atmosphere until it was looking down on the huge land mass. Suddenly, bright white beams erupted from its surface toward the land mass. The ship’s hull grew bright white and the dark black and green colors of the former Duke of El Prado were blasted off its surface. “I’ve been wanting to do that for more than two thousand years. How do I look?”
Scotty and Julie looked out of the ports and saw a gleaming white ship with a huge SR on the rear fin. Julie said, “You clean up pretty well.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“Anglo, I’m not royalty.”
“You married the King over a year ago. As I understand it that makes you a Queen.”
Julie looked at Scotty and he nodded, “He’s right, Julie.”
“They did just before the wedding and you really gave the one who said it the business.”
“That was Jingo and he was being sarcastic.”
“He was just checking if you would accept the honor.”
“No, he was being sarcastic.”
“How can you tell the difference?”
Julie gave a start and thought about it. “I guess you can’t.”
Anglo interrupted, “A ship is coming at high speed. I can only sense it because of stars disappearing as it approaches. It is another Searcher, and I believe it is a newer model.”
Scotty and Julie looked at the display and saw the stars disappear as an object accelerated toward them.
“Say hello to them, Anglo.”
“What the hey, why not? Hello to the ship approaching off my port bow. Is everything all right?”
The ship turned and flew away from their location and then began a slower deliberate approach. “You might as well come on in. I still see you.”
“Why have you attacked our citizens?”
“Because they were attacking ours.”
Silence ruled the room. “What do you mean your citizens? They were hunting flying beasts.”
Scotty said, “Who happen to be our citizens. Many of them live on our planet and are part of our community. They are intelligent and an honorable species.”
“It’s a gamma.”
“Anglo, do you want to escape?”
“Do you?”
“I can’t leave our brothers to the blasters of these hunters.”
“Then I’m with you.”
A different voice came over the speaker, “Who are you, Searcher?”
“I am the Stars Realm Searcher Ship Anglo Gardner.”
“My pilot is contacting the King to see what we should do about you.”
“My King is present with me.”
“Well, you should leave and protect him from my pilot.”
Scotty said, “I cannot leave my brothers to the blasters used to hunt them.”
“What did you mean they were intelligent and honorable?”
“They are telepathic and communicate with their thoughts. They are honorable because they will fulfill their promise even if it should cost them their lives. They would lay down their life for me and I must do the same. The Zord on this planet are the brothers of the Zord on my world.”
“You come from El Prado.”
“How did you know that?”
“It was the only planet that had Zord in captivity. What are your plans?”
“We are going to destroy every hunting facility on the planet and then go visit your King and let him know he should not come back.”
“Why are you taking this risk?”
“Because these are beings that are being attacked and cannot defend themselves. That is a principle we believe in and are willing to die for.”
“You know you cannot defeat me.”
Anglo said, “Yes, but either you live for your ideals and accept dying for them or you are nothing but a shallow husk hiding from your fears. I would have never accepted this Human as my King, but he proved to me that he will live and die defending his principles. He is very much like the Royal Family.”
“He’s not psychic.”
“No. But his children will be.”
Scotty and Julie looked at the speaker in shock. Scotty held up his hand motioning Julie to remain silent.”
“How do you know that?”
“Searcher, I’m going to lower my screen. Scan them with your meters.”
There was a long moment of silence and the voice continued, “My pilot just received orders to destroy your ship.”
“Why are you not powering up your main beam?”
“I just ejected him out into open space. Is your King going to try and get the Realm to return?”
“No. He is going to build something better than the Realm.”
“My name is BC. If you will have me, I wish to join you in your quest.”
Scotty said, “BC, we really do live by the old Realm’s ideals. You are welcome to join us, but only if you are willing to face destruction to up hold those ideals.”
“I am. My partner left with the Realm. I know it was done suddenly without warning or she would have not left me behind.”
“Who was your partner?”
“Admiral Cynthia Dodd.”
Anglo said, “Well, I am impressed.”
BC said, “You should be. I’m a very impo-tent ship.”
Scotty said, “We’ll get to know each other later. I’m going to destroy all of those hunting facilities. We need to do that now. BC, what kind of ships does your former King have in his navy?”
“He has about five hundred ships of various descriptions. None of them but me are Searchers.”
“How did you get here so fast?”
“The lodges put in a call for help. I have null drive so I just jumped in.”
Anglo said, “You would have lost if you had tried to take me on.”
“Oh, get real.”
“I still have teleport capability. The star in this system looks different from the middle of it.”
BC was silent. After a very long pause he asked, “Why didn’t you?”
“You talked to us before you took action. I knew your heart was good.”
“Thank you, Anglo. Now it is I that is impressed.”
“Hey, guys; lodges, remember?”
The two ships laughed and Anglo said, “Scotty, why aren’t you going to give them a chance to leave?”
“That was my plan before the Zord told me the hunters knew they were intelligent. They are nothing more than coldblooded murderers. This universe is better without them in it.”
BC said, “I’ll go east; you go west.”
“Don’t harm the planet. Just destroy their facilities.”
The ships went around the planet, destroying every runabout, ship, building, and landing port. Scotty watched the destruction and ignored the pleas of mercy from the occupants of the lodges. Julie looked at Scotty and said, “Are you going to kill everyone that doesn’t agree with our principles?”
Scotty heard the two ships grow silent when they heard Julie’s question. “You ask some pretty hard questions, love. You wonder how I could allow Grang to live and then kill those here who were begging for mercy. Right?”
BC said. “Who’s Grang?”
“Be quiet, I’ll tell you later.”
“It doesn’t seem to make sense, Scotty. This is not in keeping with your heart.”
“Julie, I’ve wondered what our new venture is going to be named. I see the SR on Anglo and BC’s rear and I think I know. The last Realm was called the Stars Realm. Our venture will be the Bristone Empire. It will carry the name of the Zord’s planet to honor our brothers that joined us first. Everyone should feel safe under their own sky. Whether a planet is a part of our vision or chooses to go its own way, we will not tolerate the invasion of another world. Those here knew they were killing an intelligent life form and chose to do it anyway. If I don’t take forceful action against them, my request to their King will carry no weight. I’m certain the lodges were in contact with the King’s representatives and the King knows he sent his strongest ship to stop us. He now knows he failed. He’s on his throne at this moment trembling in fear. To leave these murderers behind will show him we are not willing to do the hard things that must be done. Here, we destroyed eight lodges. I’m hoping now we won’t have to destroy a planet. I suspect they will listen after what we have done here. Having a loving heart doesn’t mean you have to accept evil actions and the ones that perpetrate them. I did this to save lives, Julie.”
BC sent a private thought to Anglo, “If the Royal Family had done the hard things…”
“I know, BC. I know.”
Julie pondered what Scotty said and then remembered, “Hey! What did you mean our children were going to be ps
ychics?”
Anglo gave a heavy sigh over the speaker, “Both of you top my meter on latent psychic power. You don’t have access to those powers, but your children will.”
Julie looked at Scotty and he shrugged, “You know we’re a family of overachievers.”
Julie burst out laughing. Scotty smiled and said, “I can hear Jingo now.”
“No, you won’t. We’re not going to tell anyone. Our children will grow up being treated like everyone else. If this gets out, they’ll be looked at differently. Anglo, BC, I want your word you won’t tell anyone.”
“I’ll stay quiet, but you’d better tell Jessica. I know she has scanned you and knows your readings. You know how she likes to talk.”
BC said, “Jessica?”
“She’s one of the Kosiev’s shuttles.”
“I know her. I met her at the planet where she was built.”
Scotty sighed, “This universe is getting smaller and smaller.”
“What do we do now?”
“We go home and bring Bleath here to meet with his family. Then we go see a King.”
“Sounds good to me.”
BC said, “Lead the way.”
“Just step through the little silver field. Watch your step.”
“Showoff!”
“You know it.”
Scotty took Julie in his arms and kissed her. On the planet behind, the Zord came out to find all their persecutors were dead. One Zord flew to the Ruler to tell him what he had learned.
Scotty sat on Jessica with Julie and said, “Anglo, I know the Zord on the home world said they would welcome the lost ones back, but I still worry about their safety. I want you to be ready to go with them to make sure they’re safe should anything happen.”
“I’ll be glad to go. How do you want to get them there?”
“I was thinking that they would go with Jessica. Her cargo hold is large enough for Bleath and Vring. You could teleport Jessica there and she could release them when she makes sure they’re safe. Jess, is that ok with you?”
“Of course; I’ll also watch them when they land.”
“Good. Anglo, you stay in contact with Jess and keep me informed of what’s happening.”
“Do you want me to go with her?”