Annihilation - Finding Keepers (Annihilation Series (Book Seven})

by Saxon Andrew

  “Yes, I am. Who is the ship operator of the frequency generator in the Duke’s system?”

  “It’s actually not a ship. The generator is placed in one of our advanced probes and is activated by a signal from the planet it’s protecting. It will follow the planet wherever we move it.”

  “Has the Duke received his probe?”

  “No, it’s due to be delivered in three days.”

  “Will you handle the details or should I do the honors?”

  “No, I’ll do it. If you don’t know, you can’t tell our Queen.”

  “You are one very smart individual.”

  “And don’t you forget it.”

  Joe watched the recording of the Searcher vessel sneaking out of the Ross system with Manny and slammed the table with both hands.

  Manny looked up, “You’re going to hurt yourself doing that.”

  “I’m going to kill that traitor.”

  Manny shook his head, “Not right now. We can’t start a civil war and survive the Keepers. If we go after the Duke, he might join the Keepers. I’m reasonably certain he would try to negotiate with them.”

  Joe felt a rage that was threatening to overcome him, “They tried to kill my sister and family. I cannot let this go unanswered.”

  “Just be thankful that Jake prevented the attack. I’ve had my doubts about him being all that Valerie has made him up to be, but I’ve been forced to reevaluate my opinion. He has stopped us from making some huge mistakes.”

  Joe looked at Manny, “Have you found new information?”

  “Yes, I have. I had Einstein take a look at our scans of the home worlds, and he confirms that births only happen when a Keeper dies. The birth usually happens within six minutes of the death, so they must be able to reproduce at a rate that is staggering. If Jake had not stopped our plan to use novas, we would have been overwhelmed quickly.”

  Joe thought for a few minutes as they continued to watch the recording of the ship sneaking out of the Ross system. “Manny, are you saying you are willing to follow his decisions without question?”

  Manny looked away from the video, “When the invasion starts, there won’t be time to discuss possible choices. He has proven to me that I do not make the best decisions, even though I think I am doing so. Do you see it any differently?”

  Joe shook his head slowly, “No, I’m forced to agree with you.”

  “Then from this moment forward we must become tools to carry out his orders. Can you agree to do this?”

  “I can. And it removes a huge weight questioning if I am doing the right things for the Realm’s survival. I really shouldn’t have questioned Valerie’s decision about his importance, but my psychic skills are nowhere near her level. I just can’t stop myself from worrying.”

  Joe stuck his hand out to Manny and they shook. Manny smiled, “You should have seen him go through the valley in the initial armor exercise. I think that, more than anything else I’ve seen, is what makes me think we have a chance in this fight.”

  Joe looked at the video again and felt his rage simmering. Manny smiled and said, “If you think you’re angry, think about Jake’s reaction. I suspect he has a plan for handling the problem Duke that will be more effective than anything we could dream up.”

  Joe looked away from the video and considered what Manny said. He looked back at the video and began smiling.

  Ales stood at attention if front of his father listening to him rant, “You idiot! You took too long to get in position! You missed our best chance at achieving our goals!”

  “Father, the Royal Family had probably already moved to the fleet before I arrived. They don’t announce the Royal Family’s location before their arrival. We assumed they would be on Ross, but they weren’t.”

  Duke Jongo stood and walked to the window and stared out at the rain falling from a dark sky. It matched his mood. Still, Ales was probably right and had done the correct thing by leaving without destroying Ross. So close! So damnably close! He turned and looked at his son and saw his fear. Fear was a good thing, even for family members. Still, this was his heir and a future ruler of the Realm, if his plans were successful.

  “Relax, Ales. You did the right thing and used good judgment. If we can eliminate the Royal Family away from Ross, then we can move the planet here after we assume power. That Castle is amazing and would make a great home for our family. Do we know where the Queen is located?”

  Ales took a deep breath and knew he was going to live to see another day, “No, they have scattered into the Realm’s fleet and we only discovered their whereabouts after they have moved to a different location. I suspect we will have to eliminate them once the invasion starts.”

  “That reminds me. Have we received the device to prevent star drives from operating and move our planet should it become necessary?”

  “Yes; it is in place and waiting for us to activate it.”

  “Do it now. I’m not willing to risk a sneak attack by those creatures. We have a huge electronic signature and I’m certain they will see us in their scans. Have we been able to contact them?”

  “We’ve sent four ships and all four were destroyed before they could send a message.”

  “Send four more. Those creatures are intelligent and should be willing to accept our help, along with a guarantee of our loyalty in return for allowing us to survive.”

  Ales didn’t like this part of the plan but knew he had no choice, “I will set it up immediately.”

  Twig looked at Sprig and thought, “Are you still committed to your plan?”

  “Yes, my love.”

  “Is there nothing we can do to save the Realm?”

  “No.

  “You’re certain of its destruction?”

  “You’ve seen the data. Am I missing something?”

  Twig’s leaves turned brown, “No, I see it as well.”

  “Help the engineers make the device.”

  “I will leave momentarily.”

  “But first?”

  “I want you to hold me for a few moments.”

  Sprig wrapped Twig in his branches, feeling sorrow for what was coming and the course of action he was being forced to take.

  Valerie looked at her display and saw Duke Jongo was comming her. Jake looked at the display and said, “Play it like we discussed.”

  Valerie nodded, took a deep breath, and said, “Duke Jongo, how may I help you?”

  The Duke had a smile pasted on his face as he said, “It would be easier to contact you mentally, Your Majesty.”

  “The Keepers are able to track telepathic communications. I’ve sent out instructions that all telepaths should avoid using their ability while the Realm is under a threat of invasion. Did you not receive the notification?”

  Duke Jongo kept his smile, but was frustrated by his inability to track where the young queen was hiding. He had tried unsuccessfully to find her using his telepathic skills but she had not responded to his calls. “I just wanted to discuss how I should handle the use of my ships during this invasion. What does the Realm suggest we should do with our military forces?”

  Valerie smiled to herself and hoped he would take the bait, “We are grounding our Searchers on our most important planets.”

  The Duke’s smile disappeared, “Why would you do that?”

  “We want them available in the event they are needed for defense. Once the planets start moving it will be next to impossible for them to keep up with the worlds they defend. If they are on the planet, they will just go with it.”

  “Why have I not heard anything about this strategy?”

  “Check your com log. I believe Mr. Talant sent you that information two days ago.”

  Jongo looked down at his log and saw a message from a Jake Talant. “You should have sent this to me directly under your name. This is important to know.”

  “I believe that my name is in the message. He is my liaison to the military of the Realm. Did you not see his title?”

  J
ongo looked again and saw that he had set his com up to show just the name without titles. “Then I am glad I contacted you, Your Majesty.”

  “What is it that you want?”

  “Nothing more than what you have just given me. I wanted to make sure I had all the information needed before the invasion begins. I also wanted to make sure that all the planets that are moved out of my province would be returned after the war.”

  Jake, sitting out of view of the display, smiled, “He doesn’t want to lose his tax base.”

  “We have every intention of doing that, and we have started a list of those planets that desire to be moved first. The list is getting quite long.”

  This was the real reason that prompted Jongo’s call. He had received the notice and immediately determined it meant trouble. He knew that many of the planets would not want to return to the province if given a choice. His province paid ten times the taxes of the other four.

  “ We can assist in moving them back.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know you knew the process and the equations necessary to move a planet into a stable orbit. We could certainly use your help.”

  Jongo felt his rage begin and his smile disappeared, “I’ll contact you after this is over.”

  Valerie smiled, “Please do. We can use your help.”

  Valerie terminated the connection and turned to Jake, “Now that is one unhappy puppy.”

  Jake smiled and said, “I’ll let you know if he bit.”

  “Jake, what are you planning?”

  Jake looked up at the ceiling and said, “Oh, nothing. I’m not doing anything.”

  Valerie looked at Jake and saw he was being honest….but…something was going on. Whatever it was, she knew it was the best thing for the Realm.

  Jongo looked over at Ales, “Do you think she was being honest?”

  “The Crown has never been deceptive in all of our past dealings. I also know that thousands of Searchers are landing on Ross every day.”

  Jongo thought about what he should do and decided, “I want a quarter of our ships landed on our northern desert. I want you to take the remaining ships and distribute them among our most prosperous worlds. Once this is over, make sure the populations know they are coming back. Use force if necessary.”

  Ales saluted and left the room. He didn’t tell his father that the four ships he had just sent to the Keepers’ universe had also been destroyed. He was looking forward to being out of his father’s view. It was never safe to be around the Duke very long.

  The Collective observed progress of the fleet updates. It was surprised that the new enemy had not attacked and destroyed more of the main planets, but grudgingly accepted that Psychology was probably right about their reluctance to kill. It remembered millions of years ago when his species had the same difficulty. But that was then, this is now.

  “Military, how long before our initial attack?”

  “Two hundred and forty intervals.”

  “Have you selected the initial targets?”

  “I have. There are six planets that direct the actions of those in the enemy’s universe. However, there has been a development that is problematic.”

  The Collective turned all of its attention to the Military Quadrant, “What is that?”

  “The Green Creatures are no longer present.”

  The Collective called all Quadrants in to the discussion, “When did this happen?”

  “We are uncertain about exactly when they disappeared. Our scouts have not used their wide scanners for fear of being detected and giving away our initial targets. Now that we’ve selected our targets, we had a wide scan done and the Green Creatures are no longer present.”

  “Is it possible they are hidden from our scans?”

  Military paused, then responded, “Possibly. However, their numbers had a massive mental signature that would be difficult to hide. I suspect they knew we were coming and fled.”

  Science said, “They were the reason we went to that universe. Should we delay our attack and search for them?”

  The Collective reflected and then decided, “It was not the Green Creatures that caused the supernova. It was a small number of those ships piloted by other creatures. They represent a larger threat to us than the green ships. We must eliminate the new threat and then go after the old invaders.”

  The Quadrants thought about the decision and finally reached agreement.

  Military said, “So, we will invade with two million four hundred thousand ships in the first wave and knock out the enemy’s most important planets. The fleets will jump directly to their assigned target and begin their attack upon emergence into the other universe.”

  Production answered, “Yes, and in another two hundred and forty intervals another two million will join the first attackers. This process will repeat itself until our entire fleet is available.”

  The Collective listened to the Military Quadrant and said, “You are aware that the new enemy will know when you launch your attack?”

  “No, how did you arrive at that conclusion?”

  “Do you think they don’t have ships here scanning our every move? We cannot see them, but they are here. There is no way to surprise them.”

  Military was quiet and then said, “We could jump the five fleets simultaneously without forming them into formations.”

  “Do you not think their scanners, detecting more than two million ships energizing their drives at the same moment, would not be a clue to our intentions?”

  The quadrants all thought about how to solve the problem of attacking without warning. Finally Military said, “You’re right. If they have ships here observing our fleets there is no way to attack without them seeing us coming.”

  “Does that change your strategy?”

  “Yes, it does. We will form up the six fleets where the dead green ships are located and jump to our targets from there. We will arrive just above our targets’ atmosphere and begin sweeping the surface immediately. A hundred thousand ships will start from the north and another hundred thousand will move from the south. The remaining two hundred thousand ships will surround the planets at the equator, and half will move north and half will move south. They should meet our ships coming from the north and south and complete the destruction in less than six hours. The increased strength and width of our ship’s beams will decrease the time needed to destroy a planet by seventy five percent. Once we destroy those six planets, the enemy’s organization will suffer a tremendous blow.”

  The Collective added, “This process should happen quickly. The targets will not have time to move large populations before our ships are directly above their planets. The populations that escape will eventually run out of places to flee as we destroy the planets they need to survive. After the destruction of that universe we will search for the Green Creatures.”

  Science asked, “What if we fail to destroy those planets?”

  The Collective and the other Quadrants were all stunned into silence by the question.

  Science continued, “We have seen these enemies develop techniques that have enabled them to survive our best efforts to kill them. We are assuming success without really knowing what our ships are jumping into.”

  Production responded, “But they have not found a way to penetrate the hulls of our ships, and we are now blocking the entry they used to penetrate our drives.”

  The Collective pondered the question and said, “Until they can kill our starships, they cannot win. If they could accomplish that task, they would be here now and we would not be alive. I don’t think I am being optimistic assuming we can and will destroy their planets. Keep me informed of our progress.”

  Military and Production both agreed to do just that.

  Ron Kune’s emergency alarm went off with a loud wail, followed by, “Incoming ships! incoming ships!” Ron silenced the alarm and checked his display. Keepers’ ships were jumping in to the Modification facility by the thousands, filling the space between his ship and the huge
Keepers structure. His display had the ship count approaching a million ships, and they still continued to arrive in huge numbers. He hit the active scanner and recorded a picture of the huge fleet, then teleported out of the area.

  It was beginning, and the initial attack on the Realm was imminent. He jumped back to the Stars Realm to report his discovery.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Jake and Valerie were discussing the coming invasion when Junior interrupted, “War warning! The Keepers Fleet is forming up at one of their production facilities, and it looks like more than two million ships are headed out this way.”