by Saxon Andrew
“The coming menace will be able to detect your presence here. They are highly advanced in their detection systems and you cannot run the risk of being found by them.”
“Are their ships more powerful than those you see here?”
“We’re still looking at that but how many ships do you have to defend your people?”
“Half-a-million.”
“The menace has more than a hundred times that number. You will be overwhelmed.”
“I need some evidence to show the people.”
“Alex, send him a copy of the scans we took.” Danielle sighed, “I’m sending you a copy of the recordings we collected where they are currently located.”
“I’ll look at them while we go to our new home. I’m looking forward to seeing you.”
“We will follow your vessel and I am also looking forward to seeing my best Warriors.”
Dela’s eyes narrowed, “I thought we were the best.”
Sprigly smiled, “That argument has been going on since the very beginning of the Realm. It won’t be settled now.”
“If you say so.” Dela shook her head and Kogo shrugged. Dela sighed, “I guess we’re among friends.” She turned to the viewport and saw the dust move around the Kosiev as it moved into the densest part of the Orion Nebula.
• • •
“Danielle, Kogo and Dela are back.”
“Thanks, Grace.” Danielle focused and thought, “Why have you come back so soon.”
“It’s been three-weeks and Sprigly and Seedel have returned with a giant fleet of Giant Green Ships.”
“That would be the Spiders. Stand by and we’ll be joining you shortly.” Danielle turned to Tgon-Cee, “Are your citizens going to accept being moved.”
“They are nervous but they have decided to follow your lead. When are you going to make this move?”
“Sprigly is back and he’ll handle it. I suspect it will be within the next ten days or so.”
“The history says that when we were moved long ago, it was hard to tell it happened.”
“It won’t be this time. It’ll be more than just different stars in the sky that will let you know. I do suggest you land all your warships on the planet before the move. It’ll make it easier if you do.”
“Thank you for searching for us, Your Majesty.”
“It is what I had to do. I’ll see you when you arrive in Bristone Territory.”
Tgon-Cee bowed and Danielle looked up, “Bring me on board, Grace.” Danielle arrived on the bridge and looked around, “I miss not having the Cainth on board.”
“They’re landing as we speak. I think they miss it as well. Besides, they’ve learned everything their ships’ tutorials could teach them.”
“Grace, are they here.”
“They are Danielle.”
“Head out to where Sprigly is located.”
Tag sighed. Danielle heard him and replied, “I’m sorry I asked you to stay on board!”
“It’s all right, Danielle. I’m sensing that the time for us to make contact is getting close.”
Danielle closed her eyes. She was fatigued from the constant meetings that she had to attend to convince the Glod to move, “How can you tell?”
“Because the need to touch you is growing.”
Danielle opened her eyes and nodded slightly, “I agree. Let’s get back and we’ll see what’s going on.” The Kosiev cleared the dust clouds and disappeared in an instant. Danielle was asleep in her chair before Dela and Kogo arrived on the bridge. Tag sighed, “I’d normally carry her to our quarters but that’s not an option. Grace, recline her chair.”
Danielle’s chair reclined and Dela looked at Tag with compassion, “Tough time, huh?’
“Yes, but she handled it like the champion she is. Do you have any news from Sprigly?”
Kogo nodded, “He used the time finding the Spiders to analyze the data we collected.”
“And?”
“It appears this alien species uses teleportation as a defense system.” Tag blew out a breath, as Kogo continued, “It appears that any beam, missile, or anything else that hits their ships is teleported to the other side of the ship’s hull into the space beyond the vessel.”
Tag tilted his head to the right, “Now, that is a novel idea.”
“Sprigly said the same thing. He doesn’t think our weapons will do any damage to them.”
“What kind of offensive weapons do they have?”
“They use standard blaster beams that are close to our power level.”
Tag shrugged, “That explains why we didn’t see a force field.”
“They don’t need one if nothing can hit them,” Kogo agreed.
“How do they attack a planet?”
“That’s what’s truly demonic, Tag.” Dela shook her head, “Sprigly found a different vessel on one of his long-range scans and it appears to set its teleporters to the frequency of vital natural resources. Their warships will fire their blasters into a city knocking the city down. Then this new ship flies over the planet’s surface and teleports the minerals into what must be a giant processor inside the vessel. If all the metals are removed from buildings, they will collapse on those inside them and crush the inhabitants around them. It basically sends the planet’s population back to the stone age.”
Tag stood up and walked to the viewport before saying, “No muss, no fuss, they don’t get their hands, if they have hands, dirty and off they go to the next target.”
“I don’t know how we can handle that issue, Tag.”
Tag walked back to his chair and leaned back, “I can think of one but it doesn’t answer the problem of dealing with their warships, Kogo.”
“How can you counter that?”
“Give their ships something they can’t digest, Dela.”
Kogo looked at Dela and she shrugged. What was he talking about? She turned to ask him and saw he was sound asleep in his chair. She sighed and saw his chair reclining. She looked at Kogo, “No, Dela. I don’t hear anything in my mind.”
“This isn’t looking good.”
Kogo sighed, “No, it’s not.”
• • •
Dela and Kogo sat in a huge conference room on the Defense Facility and watched as old friends were reacquainted. Everyone came over and introduced themselves but the Cainth had no idea who they were or what their relationships were to the Gardners. It was quite a menagerie of alien species. They both agreed the Spiders were the weirdest of the lot. It might have been the Algeans but they had grown accustomed to the two intelligent plants while on the Kosiev. The Zord and Cats were still intimidating, but those Spiders…they captured and kept one’s attention. And they were quick!
Danielle finally thought to everyone, “We’re going to conduct this meeting telepathically since everyone here, as well as the Computers, have telepathic ability. I’m going to ask Sprigly to tell us what he’s been able to determine about this new civilization’s armaments and defenses. Sprigly, you have the floor.”
Sprigly took the monitor controller off the table and pointed it at the monitor. An image of a Black Warship appeared that was involved in an attack with numerous grey warships. “I’m going to use the scans we made of this enemy while we were scouting them in another universe.” Sprigly pointed the controller and the black ship grew larger. “What you’re going to see here is a missile that is fired by a grey ship hit one of the black vessels.” The gathering stared at the giant monitor and saw a missile leap out of the grey ship and suddenly go to slow motion. It moved in on the black ship and hit it dead center. The image froze and Sprigly said, “The flash you’re seeing is made by a teleporting field. That black ship’s hull is one giant teleporter. Now watch closely what happens to that missile; keep your eyes on the opposite side of the ship from where the missile hits.”
Dela stared at the image as it began moving again and the missile disappeared into the black ship and immediately emerge from the opposite side as it flew away. She looked at Ko
go and saw him shaking his head.
Tag said, “I thought that wasn’t possible.”
Sprigly said, “It’s possible but it requires technology we don’t currently possess.”
“Tell me how they do it!” Tag responded.
“Teleportation requires a field that is in a fixed position that doesn’t fluctuate. The teleportation drives we use around our vessels are locked into a circular field that does not vary a thousandth of an inch in diameter. When we move a planet, the field is fixed with no movement of the field as the planet goes through it.”
Newton looked away from the monitor and said, “Couldn’t this be done with teleport fields instead of the hull?”
Spring looked at the young Spider and shook his head, “It would only work on one side of the ship. Teleport fields interfere with each other when they’re too close. It would take at least ten-fields to completely surround that ship where it would not be hit.”
“So, how do they do it?” BC asked.
“The only answer is that the hulls on those ships are the most rigid structure I’ve ever seen. They’ve bent a teleport field on the surface of their ships and whatever hits it is sent out on the opposite side of the same field.”
“Why do they do that? Couldn’t they just teleport whatever hits them into a star or another dangerous place?”
“No, Destiny. That would require a different field and the two would interfere with each other.”
The huge Spider looked at Sprigly and said, “So nothing fired at their vessels will hit them.”
“That does appear to be true,” Sprigly replied.
“How are they able to fire any weapons through that field?”
Sprigly turned to King Robbins, “As you probably know, if you’re behind a teleport field, you won’t see it. You can walk right through it from the backside and not be affected by it. But if you turn around and walk into it, you’ll be teleported away. The blasters, or whatever it is they use, fire out of recessed holes below the surface of the hull. They are unaffected by the field on the ship’s hull due to moving through it from the backside. The same is true of the missiles they use.”
“That would limit the focus of those beams.”
Sprigly shrugged, “Not by much. Those holes are about five feet wide and the blaster can move around on some sort of swivel inside them and fire at various angles. There are numerous holes on those ships and they’re pretty much covered by their blasters.”
“What do you know about their blasters?” Grace asked.
“They’re quite powerful. They appear to be computer guided.”
“Our force fields won’t stop them?”
“No, Grace. The Kosiev’s field will but our new warships’ force fields won’t as they’re currently designed.”
“Don’t we have a teleportation blocking field?”
“Yes, we do, Alex. But I’m not sure it will work on the frequency they use. They could also change the frequency render the blocking field ineffective.”
Danielle scowled, “Is there any good news in this?”
“They can’t run.”
“What?”
“In order to teleport out from a battle, they would have to shut down the field on the hull and emit a teleportation field around the vessel to move away. It wouldn’t take long, but they would be in jeopardy during the switch.”
“Sprigly, are you saying we cannot defeat these ships?”
Sprigly tilted left, “I’m saying we don’t have the necessary tools to do it now. I can think of several ways around this technology but we would have to develop them and install them on the ships in our combined fleets to have a chance. That is going to take some time and I’m not at all certain that we have enough time to do it.”
Danielle looked at Eyes, “Do you have any idea of when they’re coming?”
The giant Cat looked at the Zord and said, “The level of Creation Forces is getting higher. We may have another four-months, maybe a little more.”
Danielle looked at Scotty, “Your Majesty, we are going to have to move your galaxy to the Dark Dimension. We’ll work on developing the things we need to defeat them there.” She then turned to Sprigly, “What about the Psychic Ships. How do they match up?”
“No force is greater than the psychic beams but unfortunately, the Psychic Ships’ generators aren’t powered.”
Danielle looked up, “Is that right, BC?”
“You know the ships must draw their power from a crew that has large psychic power. We do not have the crews needed to make that happen. The couple of hundred crews we have can barely maintain the generators on their ships and if they’re in a major battle, the generators would be depleted quickly.”
“How many Psychic Ships do we have?” Tag asked.
“A thousand, but that is all I’m able to build. We don’t have enough parts to build anymore,” BC answered.
“Where are they?” Danielle asked.
“They’re just outside the Facility.”
“So, we need psychically talented crews and a means of charging the generators until we can find them.”
“That’s how we stand now, Your Majesty.”
Danielle glanced at Tag and then turned to Newton, “Do you have the Dimensional Generator?”
“I do. I kept it when Twig allowed me to use it against the Demons.”
“Do the Algeans have another one?”
“No, Twig told me it was the only one she had.”
Danielle turned to Destiny, “We are going to have to move your ships with us.”
“That’s fine, Danielle. We’re perfectly at home living on them and perhaps my children can assist Sprig in developing what we need.”
Sprigly tilted right, “I can use their help.”
“What about you, Eyes. Are you willing to come with us?”
“For a while.”
“And what about the Zord, Vring?”
“Sprigly, will any of our armaments work against those ships?”
“No, they will not.”
“We’ll move to El Prado and stay with the Cats during this move.”
Danielle looked out at the gathering and said, “Alright, this is what we’re going to do. Sprigly, I need you and Newton to go to the Milky Way and move the surviving Cainth Planets to this galaxy, along with the planet the Glod are currently on. You should do that as quickly as possible. Tag and I are going to see if we can’t charge the psychic generators and those ships will move out of this galaxy and attempt to slow them down. They have the capability to move into the Dark Dimension before their charge weakens to the point where they would be stuck here.”
Tag smiled, “Are you saying…”
“I am, Tag. It’s time. I also need a large number of your Primes to go with me to talk with the current rulers of the Realm.”
“How large?” Scotty asked.
“How many can you send?”
Scotty said, “BC, where are we?”
“About two-hundred-thousand crews have been trained.”
“I also need an isolated place where several-hundred-thousand ships can land.”
“What ships are you talking about, Danielle?”
“The ships that will bring the crews we need to fly the Psychic Ships, Scotty.”
“I can clear an area on El Prado of the Torg large enough for that many.”
“Thank you, Eyes; you should do that now. If everything happens as I hope, we’ll be leaving this universe in about three-weeks.”
“Will you and Tag be going with us?”
“No, Grace. You will go with BC and the Defense Facility. We’ll remain here in one of the Psychic Ships. You will, however, be taking us to talk with the Realm.”
“I guess you can’t have it all.”
“Alex, you also have psychic generators on board. I want you to have all the modifications Sprigly, the Zord, and the Spiders can come up with installed immediately.”
“You do know my generators are fully charged, Danie
lle.”
“I know. But I don’t want to have to wait to come back if needed.”
“I understand.”
Danielle looked around the room and said, “I know many of you have questions about what I’m asking and I’ll take the time to answer them once we move. We need to get moving on what needs to be done and I hope you’ll trust that I’m doing the right things.” No one spoke and Danielle said, “This meeting is over and, Tag, I need you to come with me to one of the Psychic Ships. Sprigly, I need to speak with you for a moment.”
The attendees started standing up to leave and Danielle looked at Dela and Kogo, “May I speak with you?” The two Cainth walked over and Danielle said, “I need you to go back your planet in your Primes and convince your Clan Leaders to follow us in what’s coming.”
Dela shook her head, “That will take forever.”
“Take a teleportation Shuttle with you and gather them all in one place and don’t offer them but two choices.”
“What are those?” Kogo asked.
“To sit by and watch or fight. There is no other choice so don’t allow them any others. Now get moving and make it happen. You might tell them the Glod have chosen to fight.”
Kogo smiled, “That should do it.”
“I hope so.” The two ran away and Danielle turned to Sprigly, “Do you have a good psychic meter?”
“There’s one on my ship.”
“Get it and meet us in the landing bay closest to the Psychic Ships.” Sprigly grabbed one of Seedel’s branches and ran away as Danielle looked at Tag, “Let’s go take a shuttle.”
“After you, my Love.
Chapter Twelve
Danielle and Tag stood apart outside a shuttle as Sprigly and Seedel ran to them, “I’m sorry I took so long but this is the best I have.”
“How good is it?”
“It was developed after Tommy and Casandra made initial contact.”
“The two of you come with us.” They boarded the shuttle and flew out to one of the Psychic Ships. They entered the landing bay and walked to the ship’s bridge. Tag walked over to the pilot’s console and said, “The generator is empty.”