by Saxon Andrew
“Manny told me that there were more than five hundred Searchers in the Brez Division alone that owed their loyalty to one of the Provinces. All it would take is for one of those ships to get close enough to Ross and the Royal Family will be gone and a foot note in history.”
Jake turned around and looked at the Garners, “You will have no choice but to enforce peace among the members, and you’ll become the dictators they think you are.”
Tag looked at Jake and said, “I just can’t stand by and watch the Stars Realm commit suicide.”
“The real Stars Realm is not in danger.”
Matt said, “But you just said Ross is going to be attacked.”
Jake walked over and took Valerie’s hand and pulled her up out of her chair, “This is the Star’s Realm.” He looked at Tag and Danielle and said, “Do you not remember what Tgon-gee said at the founding of the Realm?”
Tag and Danielle looked at each other and shook their head.
“He said ‘The Queen is what will unite us. We will handle our own worlds, but she will decide all issues between us. She will not be an honorary Queen but one that rules us all.’”
Danielle smiled, “I was petrified at the responsibility.”
Jake looked at Valerie and she could see his love, “The chosen ruler of the Realm is the Stars Realm embodied in one person. Without the chosen Ruler of the Realm, there is no Realm. Every planet in this universe knows that if the Royal Family is eliminated, the Stars Realm will be destroyed.”
Jake looked at Tag and Danielle, “Danielle, what would you have done if the worlds you ruled decided they did not want you as Queen?”
“I would have sent them on their way and wished them luck.”
“What if they weren’t allowed to go their own way, but were instead forced to remain?”
Danielle thought for a long moment and said, “I just can’t envision the Stars Realm I love doing that. We should never force anyone to be in the Realm.”
Jake said, “The members of the five provinces decided centuries ago to handle their own affairs and no longer accept the rule of the Stars Realm’s monarch. However, they were given no choice because of the Realm’s Fleet and Red Warriors. No one was willing to face the consequences of doing anything that would bring that might down on them. If you destroy those ships, you’re sending the message that membership is not optional.”
Jake paused. “Now, they see the war we just fought as another attempt by the Queen to expand her control into other universes. The Keepers didn’t come here first. We sent one of our newest and most powerful warships into their space to spy on them and, as a result of our action, they attacked our innocent planets out of self-defense. Now that the Keepers have been exterminated, their fear becomes monumental. The Realm now feels that the tyrants on Ross must be stopped before their lives are threatened again. The rulers of the provinces are playing to their fears. Two of the Dukes have been deliberately killed; one by the Realm and one by Ales Jongo. We were forced to do it in self-defense and Jongo for in his lust for power. In both instances, billions died. To protect the Royal Family from the Five Provinces, trillions will have to die. I’m not prepared to do that, are you?”
Jake looked at the silent group considering his words and continued; “Now, the provinces are sending thirty million ships to destroy the Rulers of the Realm and the Realm’s tool makers. Sprig knew this was coming and made plans to save his species. He no longer trusted the Realm’s leaders to do the right thing, and he was right to do so. The Spiders also saw what was coming and could not take part in the coming civil war. They will not kill again after their destruction of so many universes. The Algeans also knew that stopping the founders of the Stars Realm from preventing the coming civil war was impossible. They knew you would take action to preserve the Realm you created. They saw the civil war that would follow would be unimaginable. They both knew that if you did use the Kosiev to attack the traitors, the consequences would be catastrophic.”
Cassandra was clearly distraught, “Jake, how can we stand by and allow billions to die?”
“The same way we sat and watched Ulmerton die at the hands of the Keepers. The same way you allow a child to fall and hurt itself while learning to walk. The Algeans and Spiders will never take part in killing another creature. They build the Realm’s weapons because they saw the Realm as a peace maker that would never use them inappropriately. They also began to see long ago that the Realm was turning into something that made them fear the possible uses of their creations.” Jake paused, “The Algeans have been building those weapons so that if the Realm should ever forget its ideals, the weapons could no longer be used.”
Everyone in the room looked at Sprig and he leaned right showing his agreement.
“Now, as a result of their actions, the provinces forfeit the Realm’s protection and are no longer in the Realm. They want freedom, they will have it. The only territory remaining loyal to the Stars Realm’s Queen, Valerie Rose Gardner, is the territory she rules. This galaxy is the Stars Realm’s holy ground and always has been. It is the only place the Realm actually rules. All the other galaxies now belong to other kingdoms. This galaxy is where eight hundred planets begged to be allowed to join the Realm. Those planets knew the horror of war. This is where the Cainth and Glod gave their eternal allegiance to the Queen. This galaxy is the Queen’s Royal Fief and we are not going to allow it to come to harm.”
“There are more than twenty million ships coming that say otherwise, Jake.”
“I know, Alex, but we cannot harm those that we have promised to protect even if they are planning to attack us. They are attacking because we have been unwilling to give them the freedom to grow up, and in the process of holding them in the Realm, we have violated every principle the Realm was built on.” Jake looked around the room and dropped the bomb, “We are moving the Stars Realm to protect it from its traitors.”
Valerie said, “You’re going to do what?!?”
Jake took the map controller and pushed the buttons. The cursor moved quickly across the universe and left the edge of the most distant galaxy and continued to move outward. Finally it stopped. Valerie said, “Sprig, that looks like your galaxy.”
Melanie said, “And the Demon’s Dark Galaxy is there with it.”
Jake looked at Sprig and nodded. Sprig moved over to the map, then turned and faced the Gardners, “The Spiders went to the Dark Galaxy under the pretense of escaping the Keepers. They searched for and found the mechanism the Demons used to move their galaxy out of normal space into a dimension that overlaps all universes. They replicated it and moved the Dark Galaxy back into that dimension. We now have that device and we moved our galaxy, along with all the millions of newly rescued, primitive, farming civilizations we transported from the Keepers’ universe, to join them in that dimension. Now our destiny is to help these new civilizations grow and thrive. We don’t have to teach those rescued civilizations about the value of peace. They’ve learned it from the Keepers. It wouldn’t matter whether the Keepers were defeated or not. We were going to take direct action to protect those that have been brutalized for centuries. We could no longer trust or be a part of a Realm that had lost its way and its principles. We assumed the Gardners would never allow us to move the Milky Way Galaxy and would use the Kosiev to put down the rebellion.”
Sprig turned from the map and said, “Jake, I visited Jackson Grant and asked if he would be interested in living on the planet where his people were held by the Keepers. He told me that the original colonists had selected that planet because of its beauty. The Keepers came later, but the humans still see that planet as their world. I asked if he wanted to go with us to another dimension and they said no. The humans all said that wherever the Queen of the Realm was located that is where they belong. Their planet is now on the opposite side of Ross’s sun sharing this solar system. They didn’t care if they were destroyed in the coming civil war; they would never be disloyal to the Realm and the Queen and her mate t
hat saved them. It was this spirit that created the Stars Realm. Those in the provinces have no appreciation of what the Realm has done for them. The Realm’s gifts are expected and resented.”
Jake took a deep breath, turned, and said, “And we are going to join those two galaxies and take this new family of ours along with all the planets in our galaxy.” Jake got a faraway look and said, “For thousands of years the humans that were held by the Keepers told the tale every evening of the magical Realm they had left. They longed to return and live in the peace and protection of that beautiful place. They learned the real value of what the Stars Realm provided by experiencing the harsh brutality of being conquered.” Jake looked at the Gardners and said, “How many members of the Realm tell a similar tale now?”
Valerie said in a soft voice, “How can we leave the loyal planets in the five provinces that still believe in the ideals of the Realm? We’ll leave them to be destroyed by those that hate everything about the Realm.”
Jake shook his head slowly, “Valerie, more than ninety percent of all loyal planets remaining are in our galaxy. The other ten percent are now here as well.”
Joe said, “What?!?”
“As all of you may remember, we have been moving planets to protect them for the last eight months. I had Sprig move every planet that refused to send ships to attack Ross to our galaxy this week. They are all here; the Gresh, the Eight Trading Partners, and all the others that are still loyal to the Realm. We have had all of the Realm’s personnel stationed at military installations in the provinces teleport in to Fleet Command.”
Jake looked at the Gardners, “Can you in good conscience force your will on those that don’t want it? If you do, you violate the core of what the Stars Realm has stood for all these centuries. The Stars Realm is more than just membership. It is a belief in the core principles that founded it. It is founded on the real belief and trust in the Star Realm’s Queen to do the right thing for all its members.”
Danielle said, “If we’re gone, perhaps there will be no reason for a civil war.”
Jake and Sprig stared at her, saying nothing.
“There’s something you’re not telling us.”
Sprig looked at Jake, then Jake slowly shook his head showing his sorrow, “Danielle, there are five provinces you created that will covet the Crown with all its power. With Ross gone, the ambitious will not wait to claim the throne. They will see the leadership vacuum and know the time to act is now. They crave power, and possess unrestrained desire to rule this universe. I have created an environment that will slow them down, but war is coming and billions will die.”
Danielle looked at Jake and asked, “What did you do?”
“I moved all the fiveprovince’s planets around such that every province now has twenty percent of all the other provinces’ planets within their borders.”
AG said, “They could just use the probes to move them back to where they were initially.”
Jake smiled, “That could possibly happen if they knew how to operate the probes’ programming. However, only the Spiders and Algeans have the skills to do that.” Jake paused, turned away from AG, then looked back at her smiling, “Did I mention that when the last Keepers Fleet in our universe was destroyed, all the probes self-destructed?” AG actually laughed. “No? Well they did.”
Tag started laughing.
Danielle said, “Tag, billions will die if they fight.”
“Serves them right. They’re attacking the Crown and coming to kill us, which if you haven’t noticed, includes you. That puts them on my list to teach the danger of attempting to kill my family. They don’t know the value of the Realm’s peace. It’s time they learned. I forgot what it means to protect the ones you love. What better teacher than the one who teaches himself.” Tag looked at Cassandra and said, “Alexander, we are going to let them work this out amongst themselves. Do not attack those ships.”
“Cassandra, do you agree?”
Cassandra looked at Tag’s expression and nodded, “Yes, I do.”
Tag said, “Can you imagine what’s going to happen when those provincial rulers attempt to get their subjects to attack another province? That would almost be worth hanging around to see.”
Matt said, “That move was ingenious, Jake. Instead of one giant civil war, you’ll have the five provinces fighting internally to see who is going to rule each of them.”
“They won’t be doing that any time soon, Matt.”
Danielle was watching Jake and Sprig and said, “You’ve done something else?”
Sprig leaned left showing slight embarrassment, “Yes, it seems that we have been putting a small device in every teleportation device we’ve built for the last six thousand years. It allowed us to listen in on any conversation in the Realm that had one of those devices in close proximity. Once I power the master relay, every teleportation unit in this universe will no longer operate. Their ships will be forced to travel the old fashioned way; from the jump limit, if they still possess ships with the old null space star drives. Since most of the old ships that used null space to travel were destroyed long ago, the planets left here are going to have great difficulty attacking anyone. I suspect more than ninety five percent of them will be isolated. The ones that still have ships with null drives will only possess a few ships and most of them are not warships.”
Jake asked Valerie, “What is the biggest danger to the worlds that are left behind?”
Valerie said, “The provincial Searchers left behind can destroy planets with their beams. This could get deadly.”
“That’s true, Val, but you know that the provinces have been building their own ships for two thousand years.”
Valerie nodded.
“Did you know that even they can’t manufacture the teleportation circuit boards? All their ships use Algean teleportation devices.”
Sprig said, “And they did not build standard null star drives in their Searchers. Why waste the money with such antiquated technology?”
Valerie understood, “Their ships will be stuck and unable to jump.”
Jake nodded, “And more than ninety five percent of the provincial Searchers are gathered in the fleet to attack Ross. Sprig, if you will allow the Queen to do the honors?”
Sprig handed Valerie a small black box with a raised button on it. Valerie looked at the box and asked, “What happens if I activate this?”
Jake said, “Every Searcher in this universe will be stuck wherever they are currently located. The Searchers from the provinces that are gathering in open space between the Stars Realm and the Algean Galaxy will not be able to jump anywhere in the Realm. If you press that button, those ships will not be able to attack anyone for more than 380 years. Ales Jongo will not arrive anytime soon to lay claim to any throne, much less the Crown of the Realm.”
Fly Girl asked, “How did you arrive at that conclusion, Jake?”
“They don’t have standard star drives on their ships. If their teleportation devices are damaged, their only way of moving is by using their propulsion engines. They will be limited to the laws of relativity and cannot go faster than the speed of light. Since they elected to gather their ships out in open space between galaxies, they’ll have to travel more than 380 light years just to reach the closest galaxy.”
“Can’t someone just jump out and assist them?”
“How are they going to give their coordinates? The teleportation device provides that information and, I’m willing to bet the Castle’s garden, that not one of them has memorized those forty six numbers of their coordinates. Oh, they’ll be able to communicate, but one’s location can’t be determined with communication devices. Those thirty million warships will not take part in any fighting that happens after we leave.”
Valerie thought and said, “What will happen to them?”
Jake sighed, “They’ll have plenty of time to think about their sins. Valerie do you want those ships available to help Ales Jongo take the Crown and force his rule on millions o
f planets? Those Searchers took an oath to protect the Realm, and they’re clearly violating it. Sometimes a ruler must be able to make hard choices.”
Valerie thought about the billions that died on Del Robles, and pushed the button.
Jake looked around the room and said, “There is going to be war. The provinces are going to fight and planets will die. With the loss of teleportation, it will take hundreds of years before enough ships are built with the old star drives. That won’t stop the war from starting, it will only delay the most vicious portion of it. This process has been building for more than eight thousand years and has a momentum that cannot be turned. After the war, most of the advances of the Realm will be lost and a more primitive life will be the norm for most of the worlds that survive. Once their economies are isolated from other planets, paying to build star ships is not going to be easy. Those Searchers still in the provinces may be modified to the old star drives, but I believe they will fight each other to gain power. One ship won’t be enough for one pilot to rule multiple planets. They’ll just start the war that will eventually spread throughout the old members of the Realm.”