by Saxon Andrew
The Cainth Warriors were excited to have an opportunity to vent their rage on the creatures that killed their world.
The Collective absorbed the data from the messenger and presented it to the other Quadrants. “It appears that even if they are able to jump inside the drive band, their ships are ineffective against our hulls. It seems that nothing has prevented us from killing whenever we choose.”
Technology added, “I’m troubled by their ability to deceive our scanners. We scan huge populations and arrive to an empty planet. How can that possibly happen?”
The Collective turned its attention to Science who responded, “If they broadcast a huge signal on the frequency of the brains of the local population, it might be seen as a population.”
“But why would they do that?”
The Collective pondered that question and said, “What if our scans are not wrong? Is there a possibility of the population actually leaving the planet unobserved?”
Technology answered, “I know they can jump inside the drive band, but it takes enormous power for that to happen. There is no way individuals can jump from a planet’s surface.”
Production asked, “I’m also puzzled by the fuel that was in the system where we lost our fleet. If that blue wave killed them, why would the ships have lost fuel?”
The Collective paused and then ordered, “We will combine for two intervals and examine these questions in unity. We’ll discuss our findings after we complete the examination.”
All of the quadrants melded into the overall structure of the Collective, and the immense mind began taking all the collected data and processing it.
Twig looked at Sprig and said, “You’ve not said much since the rescue of the colonists.”
Sprig gave a mental sigh, “I made a mistake not believing Valerie Gardner’s vision.” Twig started shaking her branches and Sprig interrupted, “I know, I know; there was nothing to support it becoming reality. But you and I have seen the power of these human psychics. Even now I doubt Jake Talant will be able to overcome this threat.”
“Valerie has not said he will; she only says he is our only hope.” Twig paused a few moments and then said, “Do you remember when we were looking for a way to kill the Eight Leg Invaders and both of us were frustrated to the point of feeling that the war was lost?”
Sprig leaned forward.
“Well, that is where we are at this moment in time. I believe that there is a way to beat these creatures and it is right in front of us again, but we don’t see it.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Matt Gardner, thousands of years ago, postulated that our Realm was created to bring balance back to creation. These creatures go against everything we’ve seen about the creative force. I believe he was right and a way will be found. I doubted it at first, but I am now certain that we not only must, but will, win this war or all creation will look like their universe. Jake is not here by accident and to quote a very famous queen, “There are few accidents.”
“Then you know what that means. The only way to stop them from coming here is to take the war to their turf. There will be monumental loss of life if we are forced to do that.”
“You worry that it is not in us to do what’s necessary?”
“Yes, I am.”
“That is why you should believe we will prevail.”
Sprig just looked at her puzzled.
“It’s why Jake was the perfect choice to lead us; he was raised on Gambia and knows what it means to struggle to survive. We may lack the courage to do what’s necessary, but do you doubt for a moment that he isn’t strong enough to make the hard decisions? The ones you should worry about are those creatures that had the stupidity to kill his home.”
Sprig thought, and said, “What will we become if we take that path?”
“Survivors, my love; survivors.”
“Manny, what’s happening at Brayent?”
“We are waiting to see if the Keepers Fleet parks in orbit to launch landing craft. So far they have destroyed the entire population, and they may not stop long enough for us to attack. Jake jumped the remaining Brayent warships out of the system so we’re hoping they follow normal doctrine, Valerie.”
Valerie hesitated but then asked, “How are our ships reacting to Jake giving orders?”
“The Red Warriors and transport crews that moved the colonists away from the Keepers’’ planet have been contacted by huge numbers of our military and told about the fighting powers of the White Demon. That information has a way of traveling fast in our navy, and there is a huge amount of curiosity about how he was able to do the things he accomplished. The word has also leaked out that he is the psychic savior of the Realm that the Queen has foretold.”
“White Demon?”
“The Red Warriors that fought with him against the Keepers’ garrison were amazed at the damage he caused to the Keepers; they say he fought like a demon. Some of their recordings of his bravery have been released to the fleet, and the numbers that have viewed them is staggering. Trust me, Valerie, his actions have earned him more respect than anything we could ever say.”
“How are the colonists?”
“Their happiness makes all the risks we took worth it. We need to remember why we fight, and they are a great example. They are in another universe on a planet of humans that are caring for them.”
“Thank you for accepting your new role, Uncle. I know the Navy is excited to be working for you.”
Manny nodded and Valerie ended the connection. She leaned back in her chair and missed Jake. She closed her eyes and saw Junior just outside the Brayent ships in another galaxy and wondered how he was going to turn things around. She wanted to be with him but he was right, the Realm was almost in a panic. She thought about it and decided to return to Ross and the Castle. The Realm needed the reassurance that the Queen was not running scared. If the Keepers Fleet showed up she would teleport away, but for now it was time to be the Queen. Her eighteenth birthday was three weeks away; she hoped Jake would be there to celebrate with her.
“Director, those ships have jumped away.”
“Where did they go?”
“They are no longer in this galaxy. We will need to leave the planet for a better scan. Are you planning to collect food stores?”
“I wasn’t, but the uncertainty of finding another planet to attack soon leads me to lean in that direction. Is there enough left to collect?”
“We will arrive at a medium city in one third interval with the required numbers. It is the only one remaining with population enough to meet our needs.”
The Director knew that if he didn’t take the stores from a densely population area, the landing craft would have to touch down over wide areas to gather enough stores. “Issue the orders to modulate the beams over that city.”
“Orders issued, Director.”
The Director thought about those ships coming back, but he would have his ships’ beams pointed toward the collection point and destroy any ship that tried to interfere with the process. He looked at his navigator, “Have the next target selected.”
“I’ve narrowed it down to three choices.”
“This just in, there are bodies lying in the street at Gredna.”
“Junior, are you sure?”
“Look at your monitor; you can see some of them are still twitching. You did the right thing to move the Cainth ships out of the system. There wasn’t another city after they hit Brayent large enough to justify a landing. They should be wrapping up the beaming of the planet momentarily, then they should park in orbit.”
“Connect me with Fleet Operations.”
Manny appeared on his console, “Admiral, they have left bodies in Gredna. Have your Searchers selected their targets?”
“As soon as they park in orbit our computer will assign the ships. The Searcher will attack their assigned target and the ship immediately to the left. The computer will also download the coordinates of each firing point behind tho
se ships. The ship’s computers will target the drives and have already gone weapons live.”
“How long between shots, Admiral?”
“We guess two seconds; however, that is truly a guess. We aren’t jumping the Searchers to the second ship until we verify the first was hit successfully.”
Jake thought about what he wanted, then decided he had to do what he thought was right, “How long between shots if we don’t wait to verify?”
Manny looked at Jake and said, “Less than a second.”
“Change the protocol, Admiral. If you wait to fire again, it’s possible one of the two ships will escape. Your program is set to make the two shots; we’ll go back to the first after the second. There are three drives to hit, and certainly one of them will be damaged in the first firing. That’s the one we’ll target after the second ship is killed.”
Manny stared at Jake and then said, “It will be done as you order.”
“Manny, I can’t give you orders.”
Manny smiled, “You and Joe are the only ones that can.” Jake’s screen went dark.
Junior announced, “The Keepers Fleet is moving into orbit above Gredna.”
Jake hit his com, “Admiral Mord, I want you to reconsider your request.”
The Angry Cainth glared at his com and said, “You made a commitment.”
“Just think about this. We are going to be forced to take this fight to their universe and I’m going to need pilots who are willing to fight their way through planetary defenses to kill their planets. You are about to attack 100,000 landing craft, with sixty Keepers on each craft, using your 3,200 ships. Those landing craft have the beams that destroyed your other ships. I will keep my commitment to you if necessary, but I thought you might want to make them pay on a much larger scale”
Mord felt the need to kill permeate his body and he knew his pilots felt the same. But the chance to kill a planet of these creatures for the death of his home cried out to him. He hit his com, “You’ve heard the offer. I long to kill these creatures, but not as much as I want to kill one of their worlds. What is your wish?”
One of the Cainth Pilots asked, “What do you intend to do with the ships on the planet?”
Jake smiled and answered, “I’m going to melt that city they land in down to the bedrock of Brayent. I’m not giving them a chance to kill or consume any others.”
“Will that harm their Landers?”
“Their Landers are made from a different material than their main ships. Oh yes, it will harm them.”
“Do you promise to give us a chance at revenge?”
“Unless they surrender to us immediately, you will have your opportunity. What is your decision?”
“Will you give us ships that can go to their universe and allow us to wage our own war?”
Jake thought a moment and liked the idea. Nothing teaches others a lesson like having their actions done to them, “I will do all I can to do exactly that, and I will give you ships that can hide from them. I will require your oath to cease fighting if we settle this conflict, and I do mean an oath you will keep.”
“Then melt the bastards.”
“Junior, give the coordinates of the Algean ship building facility and tell Sprig to start measuring these pilots for ships.”
Junior worried about turning these warriors loose uncontrolled, but then he saw the bodies still twitching in the streets of Gredna on his scans and decided if this was going to be bloody, the Keepers were behind in their payment. “Done and done.”
“May we stay and observe what happens?”
“Yes; just don’t go near the system,” Jake teleported out.
The Collective separated out into its Quadrants. Two intervals had passed and the entity had looked at the data with the mental capacity of ten trillion Keepers. Their findings were disturbing. Science spoke first, “It appears that universe is more advanced than we thought. The means of moving individuals inside the drive limit is amazing. We need to capture one of the mechanisms that are being used.”
Production added, “Our scanners were not wrong. The population had to be on the planet when our fleet entered the system. Building all the structures of a civilization with no one to live in them is an economic drain that can’t be endured, especially on the scale we’ve seen.”
The Collective asked Military, “How are we going to wage war on planets where the population can leave before we can attack?”
“We will have to destroy every planet in their universe that can sustain life. We cannot leave a place for the population to come escape. We will burn every planet down to the bedrock. There are hundreds of universes for us to conquer and manage; this particular one must be eliminated. There is also the issue of the Green Creatures. We know they are there; their planets should be the first targeted.”
The Collective pondered the direction it was moving his species and remembered what Values had said. He didn’t want to, but he turned his attention to the Quadrant that was not included in their discussion, “I will not harm you. What do you think?”
“What would you do if those creatures came to our universe and killed planets? Would you just sit by and do nothing?” Values paused for the Collective to consider that thought, then said, “You also know that a very powerful being that possesses mental powers greater than any we have ever seen is now there. Have you taken this being into your considerations?”
“You are only asking questions; I want to know what you think.”
“If you continue this path of conquest and destruction, we will be destroyed down to the last worker. Now I will go back to my solitude; your arrogance will convince you that I am wrong.”
The Collective and Quadrants listened to Values and remembered when it was used in formulating their plans so long ago. Now they grew angry at what it said.
Production said, “You should just disrupt it and good riddance.”
“I promised it no harm and you will do as I say.”
Technology asked, “What is our plan?”
The Collective knew a line was being crossed that placed them on a path that could not be stopped. His thoughts were interrupted by Production. “What about the ships currently fighting in that universe? Are we agreed that the invaders were able to damage our ships at the farm?”
The Collective turned its attention away from the Quadrants and contacted the Messenger Ship, “Go back to the fleet and warn them that there is a weakness in the drive systems of their ships. They must not turn off their drives.”
The Messenger locked in the coordinates of the fleet’s last location and jumped.
The Keepers Fleet organized in orbit above the city and launched 100,000 landing craft. They turned the noses of their ships toward the planet to destroy anything that attempted to prevent the collection of food stores, and watched as the small craft entered atmosphere.
Jake watched the Keepers Fleet come to a stop and turn off their drives, “Now, Manny!”
“Keepers’ ship breaking out of universal drive at the star drive limit.”
Jake looked at Junior’s display as the brown ship emerged. He hoped that the Searchers were going to act before the ship could communicate with the stationary fleet.
The fifty thousand Searchers teleported in, hit their firing solutions, and immediately teleported to their second target.
“Fleet Director, I have a message from the Collective.”
“What is it?”
If the messenger had just said, “Turn on your drives now,” the fleet may have had ships survive. That short pause proved disastrous for the Keepers Fleet. These Searchers were locked on their targets and they did not miss. The blast from the fuel lines burned every Keeper in the fleet and the Messenger lost mental contact with every Keeper above the planet. It was only able to hear the ones on the planet collecting stores. It knew those small craft were not protected like the ships in orbit. It started to warn them, but then saw a red beam hit the city and burn everything down to the planet’s bedrock
.
Jake watched the Keepers’ ship hang in space at the drive limit. It did not turn off its drives. Jake sighed in relief and commed Manny, “Admiral, teleport in enough Searchers to haul these ships to the star. That ship at the drive limit can’t do anything about it; it would take it seven hours to reach the planet.”
Manny looked at his display and nodded, “They’ll arrive momentarily.”
Six hundred thousand Searchers arrived three minutes later, hooked cables to the Keepers’ ships, and towed them on a path toward the sun. The Messenger stayed and watched as the fleet accelerated into the star’s gravity and were burned into nothingness.