“I had a ship on the moon there.”
The Collective sent his senses to the farm planet and could only sense the population in the garrison. It saw that it was greatly reduced in size. There was no indication that the ship was there, “The ship is not responding. Get the ships that came back from the search to go there now!”
“All of them?”
“Yes, and send any others that are available.”
“The orders are going out.”
Admiral Zergl looked at his display and said, “Are you charged and ready?”
Major Draygen nodded, “We could always load more inventories into the skin, but that would take more time.”
“What you have will have to be enough; teleport to your ship and go assist the Queen. Make sure of her safety.”
Dragen hit his com, “Report to the landing bay and charge your weapons. We will be teleporting to the planet momentarily and assisting in the defense of the three colonies. Remember, we do not know if this coating will protect us or how long it will hold up to their beams. Do not allow yourself to be a stationary target. Teleport now.”
The fifty Red Warriors teleported into the Landing bay of the small attack ship and Captain Ethan Rucker hit his com, “Belt in; we’re jumping in twenty seconds.” Ethan charged the ship’s weapons and counted down the jump. The small ship disappeared in a purple flash.
The Collective sent a thought to the Garrison Leader, “What is happening?” The Leader thought about the last three hours and the Collective watched his thoughts. It sent its senses into the garrison and the Military Quadrant totaled the remaining inventory.
Military ordered, “Send all your survivors and attack. You have ninety thousand and you will have to overwhelm the forces facing you. Kill everyone in the three farms.”
“Jake?”
“Yes, Junior?”
“More than 400,000 ships have jumped in at the jump limit and are moving in-system. They will arrive in less than ten hours.”
“Junior, if the transports don’t arrive in time I want you to take Valerie and jump away.”
“I’ve promised her not to go without you. You must go with us or she will stay.”
“Junior, you must save her. She’s the Queen.”
“Yes, but you are our only hope of survival. I’ve doubted her, but now I believe she’s right. Either you go with us or we all die here.”
Jake didn’t want to live if he had to leave the colony to the Keepers, but he knew that he could not allow Valerie to die. “I’ll make the decision when there are no other options, Junior. Do not lose a lock on her; do you understand?”
“I won’t, Jake, but I also have you locked in on my board. Don’t block me, Jake.”
“Pray I won’t have to, Junior.”
Cynthia screamed into Jake’s com, “Massive forces leaving the building! I’m targeting the air units!”
Jake looked out at the garrison and saw thousands of Keepers’ vehicles and troops pouring out of the ground around the central building. He teleported to the ground next to Cynthia as thousands of beams ripped through the space he had just occupied. Jake watched everything go into slow motion, but saw so many black lines going out into the oncoming horde that he knew he could not hit them all. He released his armor and began teleporting away from the incoming beams and projectiles being fired at him. His armor took on a life of its own as wasps, hornets, beams, and auto cannon projectiles left in a solid wave of death. The front ranks of the oncoming Keepers were obliterated by Jake’s and Cynthia’s combined fire.
Cynthia thought to Jake, “I told you this was not good on Ross.”
Jake killed twelve Keepers’ aircraft as they approached the row of hills, “Yes, you did, but admit it; aren’t you having fun?”
Cynthia hit eight more circling around to the left, “Yes, but don’t tell anyone.”
Jake smiled, then felt his rage build. The Keepers were gaining ground, but they were dying by the thousands.
The Humans could hear the explosions moving closer and knew that a massive battle was happening just over the hills from their colony. Valerie thought, “Junior, what’s happening?”
“Jake and Cynthia are holding off more than eighty thousand Keepers.”
“Junior, you have to get them out of there.”
“I would if I could, but Jake is still blocking my efforts.”
“Junior, can you scan Jake and get a reading on the level of his psychic power.”
“Yes, but why do you want me to do that?”
“I want to make sure he has really been released.”
“Standby, I’ll send the reading to your com.”
Valerie looked at her com, saw the reading was at the top of the psychic meter, but no higher than her own reading. “Junior, it’s not high enough. He has not been fully released.”
“What are you talking about, Valerie? I felt the psychic wave that killed those Keepers.”
“Junior, that wave came off the shell holding his powers in. He is not fully released. He still has to touch his initiator.”
“Valerie, we don’t have time for him to touch everyone again.”
“He doesn’t have to, Junior; I am his initiator.”
Junior was speechless.
“I felt him the first time I touched him, but I did not release him so I assumed it was someone else. I was bonded to him that day; we have to get him to come here.”
“If he comes here then the colony and you will die.”
Valerie screamed, “He must come here! It’s our only chance.”
Jake saw that he was not going to stop them all. The Keepers were only a mile from the break in the hills that would lead them to the Human colony. He felt a huge weight of sorrow and wondered why his psychic powers were not able to overcome this enemy. Suddenly the entire front of the Keepers blew up in huge explosions. Ethan Rucker came in over the row of hills in stealth mode. The fifty Red Warriors teleported out of the ship and took up positions on each side of Jake and Cynthia as Ethan released his weapons and fired a barrage of high speed penetrators into the front ranks of the advancing Keepers. He then teleported forty miles past the garrison and turned to line up another pass.
The Collective was watching the battle take place from the mind of the Garrison’s Leader as he directed his troops from his bunker. When the explosions started at the front of their advance the Collective could feel the Keepers being killed. This was a new experience for the Collective, and caused a high level of consternation. He detached himself from the Garrison Leader and asked the Military Quadrant, “How are they attacking our front? Those projectiles came out of nowhere.”
“It has to be a ship that is invisible to our sensors. This species has also found a way to hide their thoughts from us.”
“How much longer before the fleet arrives at the farm?”
“Seven intervals.”
The Science Quadrant added, “I would recommend that you not connect with the forces at the farm. We don’t know how they hit us, and it could happen again. Those forces must be isolated from the Collective.”
The Collective examined that suggestion and almost disagreed, but it still felt the shock of the disorganization of its components, “Military, assign someone to keep contact and send us reports. Separate yourself from us and keep us informed.”
Jake watched the Red Warriors knock the front line of the Keepers back three miles, then he saw the beam platforms being aimed at their position, “Teleport behind their lines now!” The Warriors teleported away just before seventy of the focused beams hit the hill they were on. The entire hill disappeared. The Keepers began advancing again just as Ethan came roaring in. He released a six mile wide barrage of hornets that targeted the beam platforms and any other mobile weapon. One of the platforms saw the hornets leave from midair and fired in front of the barrage.
Ethan felt the beam hit his small attack craft and his weapon console shorted out. He banked hard left and then went vertical back int
o orbit above the planet. The coating saved the ship but the external weapon pods were useless. He tested his Coronado beams and discovered he could only fire them manually. The projectors were inside the nose of the ship and had not been hit by the Keepers. He turned his craft and saw on his display that thousands of Keepers were coming out of a hole in the ground a mile in front of the gap to the colonies. He teleported a thousand yards in front of the hole and lined up for a shot.
Jake and the fifty Red Warriors saw the breakout of the Keepers and Jake tuned his armor to the frequency of the commander, “We are going to have to jump in and out and slow them down.”
Major Draygen tripped the command circuit and said, “You have your assignments, don’t take too long in one place.”
The Red Warriors jumped in among the advancing Keepers and began releasing a hail of high velocity projectiles and hornets. Jake teleported into his assigned position and once again saw everything slow down. To the Keepers he appeared to be moving faster than they could visually follow. Everywhere he moved Keepers died by the hundreds. More beam platforms had come out of the ground and Jake fired a steady stream of wasps and hornets. Ten Red Warriors were hit by multiple Keepers’ beams and had their armor fail. The Keepers then hit them hundreds of times and they disintegrated. The battle became more intense as hundreds of Keepers began coming out of a new hole. Then he heard over his com circuit, “Jump out, I’m coming in with beams.” The remaining warriors and Jake teleported to the left and right flank of the Keepers as Ethan came roaring in with all ten power cells firing at full power. Every Keeper in the center of their line was burned out of existence as Ethan teleported back into orbit. Jake continued to fire his auto cannon and heard, “Jake, you’ve got to come to the colony now.”
“Why is that, Junior?” He teleported to the other side of the Keepers’ formation as fifty beams hit the ground where he was just standing.
“Valerie says that your powers have not been released.”
“Junior, I’m a little busy right now and if I’m not released, what was that blue psychic blast?”
“That was the shell holding your powers. The Keepers removed it, but they did not release your full ability.”
Jake jumped into the middle of the Keepers’ formation and fired at the Keepers on each side as they tried to reform their line. “Junior, we’re down to twenty eight Red Warriors and I’m the one doing the most damage. If I leave, the colony will be in range of their weapons. There’s no way I can go.”
“Jake, those ships coming in from the outer system will be here soon. If they arrive, we’re all in range of their weapons.”
“Where are the transports, Junior?”
“I don’t know.”
“I don’t care what you think, Admiral, get those ships moving immediately.”
“But, Your Majesty, we’ve had to remove the power to the weapon consoles to power the teleport fields to only take the colonists. There is a battle taking place that can hit those ships before they can teleport the colonists.”
Joe decided at that moment that Admiral Zergl was going to have to go. He just couldn’t make the tough decisions in a crisis. Joe keyed his com, “What does our probe say about the situation in the Keepers’ system?”
Edison responded, “The battle with the garrison is just outside the hills surrounding the colonies. The transports are tall enough to extend above those hills such that the Keepers can shoot off the tops of them before we can teleport the colonists.”
“What about the incoming Keepers Fleet?”
“They’ll arrive in less than an hour.”
Joe thought about what to do. “How long will it take to teleport the colonists?”
“At least fifteen minutes. The process is difficult because we have to leave those bracelets and connections behind.”
“Can we take smaller ships in to take the colonies?”
“It took us ten hours to get these working. There’s no way to move the screens or modify others.”
Joe thought a moment and then decided, “When the Keepers Fleet is twenty minutes out, teleport in and take the colonists.”
There was a momentary pause and Edison said, “I was hoping you would make that decision, Your Grace.”
“Admiral, notify our people at the Keepers’ planet what we are doing.”
Zergl started to protest but saw the Prince’s expression and ordered the message sent.
“Jake, the transports are coming in forty minutes. If we don’t knock out every Keepers’ beam platform here, they will disable the transports. The Keepers Fleet is an hour out.”
Jake looked at the Keepers still pouring out of the ground and knew there was no way to get them all. He continued to fight, but knew there was no hope.
“Jake, there is hope.”
“I don’t see any way to make this happen, Valerie.”
“That’s why you must come here at the last minute and let me touch you.”
“Why?”
“Remember what happened to the Keepers when your psychic shell was broken, it could happen again when your powers are released.”
Jake suddenly saw what she was saying, “That will only happen if you are truly my initiator.”
“Do you doubt that I am, Jake? Look in your heart; you must have felt something when I first touched you.”
Jake thought back to when Valerie had shook his hand on Cynthia’s ship and he did feel something. “But what if you’re not?”
“Then Junior takes us back to the Realm. However, this is the only chance we have to save your family.”
Jake fired six hornets at Keepers that were coming up on Cynthia’s right flank, and watched his auto cannon take out a beam platform that come out of the hole to his left. “Tell the transports to hold off. We have to wait until the fleet is just above planet to try this. The closer they are, the better the chance of success if the next psychic event is not as strong as the first.”
“I love you, Jake.”
“I love you, too.”
Joe punched his com, “Prince Gardner, your sister has asked that you delay the transports until after the fleet reaches the planet.”
“What? She must be out of her mind!”
Manny looked at Joe on his com and said, “Her exact words were, “I know you love me and this makes no sense to you, but you must do as I ask. I also want you to have 400,000 Searchers ready to teleport in if I call for them. Please do this for me, Joe.”
Joe felt his heart beat faster for fear of losing his sister. “Manny, what would you do?”
“I’d listen to her, Joe.”
Joe shook his head, then lifted his com, “Fleet Command, I have a Red Priority Order.”
Ethan made another pass at the Keepers’ front and blew their forces back four hundred yards. Just before he teleported into space, three beam platforms hit his left wing and disintegrated it. He arrived in space and saw the huge Keepers Fleet approaching. His stealth controls were destroyed right after his weapons console, so he used his teleport system to jump out of the system. He knew that only Jake, Cynthia, and eighteen Red Warriors were all that remained between the Keepers and the colony. He felt severe sadness at the death of Major Draygen. He had died when he landed among forty beam platforms, destroying them just before three platforms hit his armor. He prayed for the safety of those still fighting.
The Fleet Leader watched the battle taking place on the ground and knew he could not use his beams until he got a reading on the attacker’s mental frequency. The Collective had it but was not communicating directly with the fleet, so he was forced to take it from the inhabitants of the colony. “Let me know when you have the needed frequency.” He could not use the full force of the beam without that frequency, because it would kill all the Keepers that were currently fighting the invaders. “I have it, Fleet Director.” The 400,000 ships all saw the frequency and downloaded it to their main beam.
The huge fleet came to a stop and pointed their ships’ bows at the pla
net below.
“Jake, the fleet is arming their weapons.”
“I’m coming, Valerie.”
Valerie waited in the center of the gathered colonists and hoped her plan was not just wishful thinking. She felt in her heart that she had to be right, then there was Jake in front of her with his armor disappearing. He walked forward, lifted her in his arms, and kissed her. The blue flash that erupted from the couple blinded everyone.
The Keepers Fleet in orbit was hit with the psychic blast just when all the crews were tightly connected mentally sending their thoughts to their ship’s main beam. It killed every Keeper in the fleet and every Keeper on the planet. Junior looked at Jake and Valerie still holding the kiss and sent the message to Ethan, “Notify the Realm to send the Transports and Searchers now.”
Ethan hit his jump button, disappeared from the Keepers’ universe, and arrived at Fleet Headquarters, “Send the transports and Searchers now.”
Joe hit his com, “Launch your ships.”
The three transports disappeared and 800,000 Searchers jumped into the Keepers’ universe.
Chapter Twelve
The Collective was not connected to the Keepers fighting the invaders, but was receiving information from the Military Quadrant that had another contact. When the psychic blast hit, the contact died with the Keepers at the farm and the Military Quadrant that was in touch with the contact was blown apart. The rest of the Collective was stunned by the blast, but not disrupted. After a few minutes the Collective recovered and asked Values, which had remained separated from the Collective, “What happened at the farm?”
“I do not know. There is no one there to make connection.”
“What?!?”
“It appears all of our forces there are no longer able to communicate. I’ve considered sending another ship to investigate, but the quadrants that have those contacts have been temporarily disabled. I’m not sure if it would be wise to send another ship.”
The Collective now learned that it had become too complacent in allowing the Quadrants to run all the various aspects of the Keepers’ civilization. It directed its attention to six Keepers’ ships above the home planet and ordered them to the troublesome farm. It was going to take them six hours to get to the drive band.
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