Valerie looked at Jake and said to Joe, “How many planets have they now attacked since our absence?”
“They destroyed the Gilmer System and immediately jumped to Brayent.”
“Give me a moment, Joe.”
Valerie looked at Jake, and he could tell something was wrong, “Jake, the first planet the Keepers Fleet attacked was Gambia.”
Jake stared at her struck silent by her revelation. After several moments he asked, “What happened?”
“They killed everyone with those beams and took two million from the largest city for consumption. No one survived.”
Jake thought about all the friends he had left behind and slowly started shaking his head. Valerie could hear his thoughts and worried about what this would do to him. Jake looked up at her and said, “Life there for most of the population was worse than living under the Keepers. For the millions suffering starvation and disease, quick death was a blessing. For the rich that preyed on the population, they couldn’t die slow enough to suit me.” Jake paused and then hit his com, “Joe, this is Jake Talant. How many Searchers do you have that are thought blocked?”
“Fifty thousand.”
“Get them together to attack this fleet.”
“How are we going to make that happen?”
Jake thought a moment, “Is there any time that the fleet stops and has its drives turned off?”
“That normally happens just before it goes to the planet’s surface to start their attack. They also reorganize their lines into formation after they leave the planet, and send craft down to collect inhabitants for their food stores.”
“Have they started their attack at Brayent?”
“No, but we can’t organize fast enough to get there before they do. They’re only an hour out from the planet.”
“Then it will have to be after the attack. Assign two Keepers’ ships to each Searcher and have them fire penetrators into their drive tubes. Each Searcher must make it happen quickly before the ships not hit first have time to react. It will kill their ships if we can do it before they turn on their drives.”
Joe looked at his display, “Manny, have you been listening in?”
“I have, Your Majesty. I’ve sent the message to Fleet Command and the ships are gathering in Earth’s system assigning targets from the probe’s scan. They will have the feed sent to their ships and will all jump simultaneously at the best moment to make this happen.”
Valerie looked at Jake, “We can’t save the planet?”
“Not and kill that fleet. If we jump in they will not turn off their drives. I wish there was something we could do, but I just don’t see any way to hit them and make a difference. Look at the feed from the planet: the Cainth there have modern ships that only lack teleportation capability. They are jumping in close to attack the Keepers’ ships and are having no effect on them. I’ve just watched six of their ships ram a Keepers’ ship and nothing happened, except the ships are disintegrated immediately after they strike the hull by a Keepers’ beam. Evidently the Keepers inside the ship can fire their individual beams through the hull.”
Jake looked at Valerie and hugged her tightly, “Junior and I are going to that battle. I need you to go to a safe place.”
“Jake, I’m not leaving you.”
“Yes, you are. You are the Queen of the Realm and your place is keeping the Realm reassured that we are doing all we can to protect them. My place is finding the means to kill these creatures. We are only a thought away and you know I’ll come when I can.”
Valerie looked into Jake’s eyes and marveled at how he’d changed since the casino. She wanted desperately to stay with him, but knew he was right. “Junior, you’ll take care of him, right?”
“If he’ll allow it.”
“What about me?”
“Cynthia, I think you need to stay close to him.”
“Why? We brought him back safe!”
Jake smiled at the Searcher and said, “Now you know I’m going to be right in the middle of all the action. Do you want to be on the sidelines?”
Cynthia smiled and said, “Oh, well; I guess I’ll put up with you a little longer.”
Valerie smiled, “You two make a good team. Keep it up.”
Cynthia asked, “By the way, Valerie, where’s Admiral Zergl?”
“He’s been replaced by Manny.”
Cynthia’s expression turned into a huge smile, “Now we’ll get somewhere. What about Jake here; what’s his rank?”
“He is the Liaison for the Crown.”
Cynthia whistled. Jake looked at her and asked, “What does that mean?”
Cynthia smiled, “Very simply put, Mr. Talant, you actually outrank them all. You operate with the Authority of the Queen.”
Jake looked at Valerie and she nodded, “You are the difference maker; now go make a difference.”
Admiral Mord watched his fleet die around him. He banked his Alpha around one of the Keepers’ ships and fired his primary beam into the brown hull; it didn’t even show a flash. He jumped to the other side and launched twelve penetrators that hit the tail and just stopped and fell off. Nothing he tried had any effect. His original fleet had thirty thousand ships, which was now down to 3,200. He ordered his ships away from the huge fleet and gathered his forces outside the range of the Keepers’ main beams. “What are we going to do, Admiral?”
“We petition the Realm to join their forces and hope to take revenge on these creatures. Our planet is doomed and I see no sense in throwing away your lives against a force we cannot harm. I’ve already witnessed the death of most of my brave sailors. I desire to fly my ship into them, but it would only be suicide. You will stay here with me and watch our planet die and you will remember this moment the rest of your lives. I charge all of you to make them pay for what they’ve done this day.”
Mord watched the Keepers Fleet enter Brayent’s atmosphere and thought about the decision not to join the Realm when Brayent was first colonized. The new colony knew that it would be the power in this sparsely settled sector and wanted to be free to exercise its will over its neighbors. The Realm had issued them warnings several times, but the leaders made sure no Stars Realm planets or citizens were victims of their attacks. Mord shook his head, “If we had just joined we would have been able to teleport our population to safety. Now we pay the price for our arrogance.” The killing of the Brayent population began, and the Cainth Sailors watched with restrained rage.
Jake and Junior were parked outside the star drive limit watching as the Keepers moved toward the planet’s surface. “Jake, I need you not to use your telepathy when we are in proximity of a Keepers’ ship.”
“I can do that, Junior. It’s not using my mind to watch what’s happening that will cause me the most difficulty.”
“I’ll keep the screens active with a feed from our probe and my passive scanners. You should be able to view everything.”
Jake watched the death of Brayent and felt his anger grow. “Jake, a Keepers’ ship has just come out of star drive and is moving in-system.”
“That must be the ship coming to warn this fleet. I hope they don’t change their protocols.”
“Fleet Director, I have been sent here by the Collective to warn you about an enemy in this universe, however, I see you have already encountered the ships that are able to jump inside the Drive Band.”
The Fleet Director answered, “I was surprised by their ability to do that, but they were unable to harm my ships. We could have just ignored them, but we killed as many as came in range of our weapons.”
“Is it possible to take one of their ships back for us to examine?”
“Unfortunately, they would not stop fighting to the point where we could. If we go after those that survived, they will just jump away. Were you able to witness the battle?”
“Yes, I scanned it when I entered this universe and you’re right: these ships are no a danger to us. I’ll take the scan of this action back and report to the Collective as ordered. Please send me all that has happened so far.”