Sprig looked at Twig and connected with her mentally. After a few moments Twig said, “Yes, but the Realm found a way around it by using double screen jumps through null space.”
Jake smiled, “The Keepers are using standard technology to jump inside the jump limit. I don’t believe they know about the frequency of null space, so they shouldn’t be able to counter it. Using the frequency generator should force them to come in from the jump limit just like the ancient Stars Realm’s Megaships were force to do.
Sprig nodded and said, “We should place a generator at every member of the Realm to prevent the Keepers from jumping in close to the planet with no warning. We can also move the planet before they arrive as they move in from the jump. That would prevent them from destroying the planet.”
Jake nodded, “Can we make that happen with the millions of worlds in the Realm?”
Sprig said, “Give us a moment,” and linked minds with Twig.
Jake looked at Edison and said, “If I understand it right, you had scanners that could detect universal drives that jumped into your universe during your war with the Realm.”
“We still have those scanners, Jake. Why do you ask?”
Because we can’t see their ships on our scanners, but we can see where they jump into our universe. If we can get a stealth probe to that location fast enough to read their jump tracks, we should be able to follow them wherever they move, giving us an advance warning of their attack.”
Newton lowered to the floor and asked, “Do we have that many probes? They have more than a hundred million ships.”
Jake looked at Manny who said, “No, we don’t. But I suspect that if they follow their normal doctrine they will use large numbers of ships in their initial attacks. If a hundred thousand ships are used, then we only need a million probes at this moment. We are close to that now. I suspect the number needed initially will be small until they can modify enough of their ships.”
Jake looked at Edison and said, “They will probably start using the minimum number necessary to burn a planet. Eventually, we can increase production of those probes and ultimately assign one to each of their ships if needed. Once more, it depends on how much time they give us before they modify their fleet. Edison, we need you to incorporate your scanner into those probes so they can detect and immediately jump to a Keepers Fleet jumping into our universe.”
Edison and Newton looked at each other, and Newton said, “We’ll need two different types of probes. One will be designed to jump to the initial arrival and follow the Keepers to their targets. It will also read all the jump tracks when they jump from their point of emergence. If there is more than one, it will communicate those tracks to other probes to follow each one detected.”
Manny asked, “What’s the second type?”
“It will lock on a single ship and follow it wherever it goes. That one is the simplest and it won’t be hard to manufacture those in huge numbers.”
Jake stood and looked at Edison, “What about moving the planets?”
Edison looked at Sprig and said, “Do you want to take it from here?”
Sprig leaned forward and said, “That’s the easy part, Jake. We have mapped this universe to a fine fare-thee-well. Our computers can select a location in a different galaxy, move a planet to a stable orbit around a suitable star, and be prepared to move it again if necessary. Since we will have time before they can move in-system to a planet, hours in most cases, we will just teleport a ship to the planet and move it just before their arrival. That will cause a massive waste of time moving in and out of a system. If we have enough time, we will send a probe to each planet to handle the process automatically.”
Jake sat down and leaned back in a chair, “I know how we can trial that frequency generator.”
Everyone just stared at him, “We take one to the Keepers’ universe and start moving some of the enslaved planets to your galaxy, Sprig. If it works, they cannot arrive in time to stop us.”
Sprig and Twig both turned green instantly, “We’ll have one ready for you in a week, and start their production within three weeks.”
Valerie looked at Jake and was amazed at his ability to recall the smallest detail of the Realm’s ancient history. She looked at Sprig, “Will you coordinate this project and make it become a reality?”
“I will, Your Majesty.” He looked at the Spiders and said, “Can you assist me in getting the probe’s production started?”
“Einstein will join us and we’ll handle the probes. You focus on the safety of the planets.”
Manny smiled and said, “I’ll collect the Realm’s probes on a planet you designate for their modification.”
Jake could see the excitement of the group now having something productive to do against the enemy.
Valerie smiled and said, “Let’s get ready for a little hide-and-seek. I hope we frustrate those Keepers to the point of driving them out.”
Jake saw Robby sitting on a table across the library smiling; then he disappeared.
A Stars Realm Colonel entered the room at a fast pace and whispered into Manny’s Ear. Manny’s expression turned serious, then he said,
“What’s wrong, Uncle?”
“Valerie, we have been given additional time for our project, but the price was very high.”
Jake looked at Valerie and waited for Manny to explain.
Mord watched Lorg’s death on his monitor and felt several emotions: anger, fear, and loathing of the creatures that had killed his home and his sailors. He knew that his ships could no longer harm the Keepers’ planets, and he wept for the brave warriors killed in the efforts to hurt them. There were only eighty nine ships left of the original thirty two hundred, and he felt rage at being impotent. He thought about what could be done and remembered something he had seen in the download of the Star Realm’s early history. He checked with his ship’s computer and tried to decide if the price was worth the effort of what he was planning. He studied the data and saw his plan was possible.
He made a decision and called for all the survivors of Brayent to meet him at the original colony that Jake had freed. The garrison personnel had been transported away so there shouldn’t be anyone there to see them. He hit his teleport key and appeared above the now empty planet, waiting for the others to arrive.
After six hours, eighty nine ships were gathered above the planet. All of them had viewed the recording of Lorg’s final seconds and silence ruled the moment. Mord keyed his com and said to the survivors, “I know what you feel and I also feel it. It seems that we can no longer hurt these creatures, but I desire to send them all to Grund. I have a plan that would allow us to kill them one last time, but it would also kill all of us if we choose to go through with it. I refuse to order you to take this action, and as of this moment I am no longer your commander, but a friend.”
Zuck asked, “How many would we kill?”
“Every living being on the planet that killed Lorg; I estimate from his recording more than sixty billion.”
There was a long silence. Nerg broke it by saying, “My family, all my close friends, and everything I ever cared about died on Brayent. I have nothing but revenge and rage left in my soul. I long to join my mate and children in Junice, and my only hope is that I can extract a price from the creatures that killed them. If we could only kill one of them I would gladly join you in this enterprise. How do you plan to do this?”
Mord paused to allow others to have a word, but no one else spoke, “I saw in the ancient history of the Stars Realm where some of their ships fired negative energy at huge red ships that were attacking one of the Realm’s planets. I know that energy will not affect their ships but in that ancient attack, enough of it was absorbed by the system’s star that it went supernova.”
Zuck asked, “Where do we get this negative energy?”