Annihilation - Finding Keepers (Annihilation Series (Book Seven}) (40 page)

Production spoke, “We should have collected one of those ships on the ground and brought it back to us for examination.”

The Collective replied, “We never thought the opportunity would present itself but you’re right; we should have collected one. But we didn’t, so there’s no use in dwelling on that missed opportunity. Our fleets now know to capture one if it becomes possible. It appears we missed an opportunity to use our enemy to our advantage.”

Psychology offered a mental shrug, “We would have still destroyed them, even if we agreed not to do so.”

“Of course, but we would have used them to our advantage.”

Science asked, “What are we going to do about the attacks on our farms?”

“It appears there is not much we can do to stop them. If the new enemy continues to take our food resources, we will probably starve before we destroy their universe.”

“What if we assign a ship to each planet to prevent them from taking the farms?”

The Collective considered the proposal for three seconds, which represented millions of computations, “It will delay the fleet going to the new universe, but we aren’t having much success as it is.”

“How many ships are ready to reinforce the fleets attacking the new enemy?”

“One point two million.”

“We’ll need twenty million more to protect all of our farms.”

“We’ll have them in less than a half cycle.”

“Then send them.”

Military responded, “The orders are being sent.”

Ron Kune continued to monitor the production facility and knew that a new fleet was almost ready to jump to the Realm. Suddenly, the huge fleet jumped away from the facility. He scanned their jump tracks, and none of them matched. Wherever they were going, it was not to the same location. He locked in the closest jump track and fed it to his computer, “Where are these coordinates located, Sally?”

“According to my charts, the ship has jumped to one of their slave planets.”

“Collect some more tracks before they fade and see if there is a pattern.”

After a few moments Sally said, “I’ve examined two thousand and they are all locations of the worlds they use for food. It seems the Keepers’ high command has decided to stop any further rescues.”

“Get this information downloaded and sent to Fleet Command.”

“On its way, Ron. It appears the attacks have bought some time for the Realm.”

Ron shrugged, “There are still more than two million of their ships attacking the Realm.”

“Unsuccessfully, so far. I suspect they are trying to find a way to get around the frequency generators and until they accomplish that task, sending more ships would only be a wasted effort.”

“Perhaps, but these creatures aren’t dumb. Let’s hope our luck holds out.”

Junior arrived back in the Realm and had listened to Valerie yell at Jake all the way back.

“How could you have risked everything? Without you the Realm is lost, and you cut that so close the edge would slice through a Keepers’ ship. Are you crazy? You promised you wouldn’t put yourself at risk and look at what you did! As Queen I am ordering you not to take part in any future combat operations.”

Junior sighed and watched Jake try to get a word in, but Valerie didn’t even take a breath during her tirade. Truth be told, Junior agreed with her. The loss of Jake would have been too high a price for what was achieved. Finally, Jake grabbed Valerie and kissed her hard. She finally became silent.

After a few moments Jake leaned back and said, “You’re wrong. It was worth the price.”

Valerie opened her mouth, but didn’t know how to respond.

Junior did, “No way it was worth it if we lost you.”

Valerie nodded so hard Jake thought she was going to get whiplash.

“Junior, how many teams were killed in the rescue attempts?”

Junior looked at his communication log and said, “Seven hundred teams; about thirty five hundred Red Warriors were killed.”

“With what we learned today, we won’t lose any more.”

Junior and Valerie were silent.

“We don’t need to attack the garrisons to destroy them.”

Valerie asked in a softer voice, “Why not?”

“Because now we know that only a few of them are set up to become new home worlds if we destroy the existing ones. We also know how to identify those that are slated to replace the old ones.”

Junior said, “Give me a minute.”

Valerie punched Jake on the arm and said, “Never scare me like that again.”

Jake rubbed his arm and smiled.

“You’re right.”

Valerie said, “Will one of you explain what’s going on?”

Jake took Valerie’s hand and pulled her over to the command chair. She sat in his lap. “Now we know the structure of the garrisons. We just destroyed the largest garrison in the Keepers’ universe, and there are only a thousand more that are similar in structure. It appears the garrisons that have more than five cities surrounding them are the future planned home worlds. All the rest are not deeper than ten to fifteen levels and if they have eggs, they’re in limited numbers. I should have thought of this before, but Ethan having that Captors’ ball has shown me that there is no need to penetrate their forts with warriors. We’ll just teleport a Captors’ ball into the lowest level and destroy the facility without killing the planet.”

“Where are we going to get the needed number of Captors’ balls?”

“The former home world of the Captors still has billions of them stored, Junior.”

“We have a com from Joe and Manny coming in.”

“Put it on the screen.”

Joe and Manny appeared on the screen and Joe started yelling at Jake. Valerie interrupted him, “I’ve already read him the riot act, Joe. However, I now am thankful he took the risk.”

Joe looked at Valerie and Manny asked, “Why?’

Jake explained what he uncovered and saw the two military leaders of the Realm start to relax. Manny said, “I don’t know if that will help us.”

Jake said, “Why not?”

“The Keepers are sending a ship to every farm planet to prevent further rescues.”

“Do they have that many ships?”

Manny looked away for a moment and said, “Not yet. But they are modifying more and more every day. I suspect they will have enough within four months.”

Jake thought for a moment, “It won’t matter. We’ll still be able to rescue the farms. How many transports does the Realm have in its inventory?”

Joe asked, “What are you thinking?”

Manny looked back at the screen, “Only five thousand are modified with the stealth screen. We have fifty million in our total inventory.”

“How many worlds do the Keepers have enslaved?”

Manny looked away again, but Junior answered, “Between twenty and twenty five million.”

Jake smiled, “Last question, how many Gammas does the Realm have?”

Junior said, “I had a hand in building most of them; about twenty seven million.”

Jake helped Valerie out of his lap and walked over in front of the main display, “We don’t need the transports to come in and take the communities. The Gammas have a teleport system that can produce the necessary field underground. The vast majority of the farms have the Keepers’ garrison located between eight and twenty miles from the communities, and I suspect the Keepers’ ship protecting the planet will be stationed above the garrison. We’ll use a Gamma to come around the planet in stealth mode and form the teleport field under the communities. The field will have the coordinates of a transport’s bay that will jump into open space between galaxies. Once the transport arrives it will notify the Gamma, which at that moment will lock the field at a hundred feet and pull it up over the communities. The Searcher will teleport a captor ball into the garrison set for the specific size of that facility, with enough extra to insure none are missed, as it teleports away. The transport will also jump back to the Realm. I suspect the time needed to make this happen will only be seconds. The Keepers’ ships will not have time to react. Remember, they have to build up the field to fire it. I just don’t believe they can keep the beam operational over an extended period of time.”

Junior said, “You think we can move all twenty million planets at one time?”

Jake said, “Have you been listening in, Sprig?”

There was a slight pause and Sprig said, “How did you know?”

“Because the trust you once had for the Realm no longer exists.”

Manny, Joe, and Valerie were shocked silent.

Sprig finally said, “You’re right.”

Jake slowly shook his head, “I don’t blame you. I feel the same way.”

Valerie, Joe, and Manny all started speaking at once and Jake said, “I’ll explain in detail later, but please consider this.”

The group stopped talking and listened, “What if the Duke’s plan had been successful? Who would control the Realm and what would that mean for the Algeans?” Jake waited a long moment and continued, “I want you to think about that, and we’ll discuss it later. However, we have other important issues to handle right now.”

“Sprig, how long will it take you to prepare thirty million planets for new populations?”

Sprig’s leaves that had turned dark brown suddenly turned green, “Are you planning to move all of those farms to my galaxy?”

Jake nodded and said, “It’s the only place I believe they will be protected.”

Sprig stared at Jake for a long time, and finally said, “I’ll explain everything once this conflict is resolved; you have my promise.” Sprig straightened, “I’ll put ten billion of my adolescents on the project. We should have them ready within five months.”

“Edison?”

“The group heard a mental sigh, “Yes, Jake?”

“I need you and the Algeans to assign the transports and Searchers to a specific farm with the needed coordinates to take them to their new homes. Can you do that in the necessary time frame?”

Edison sighed again and said, “We’ll have that part done in less than a month.”

“Manny, Joe, and Valerie, I need you to work on making this happen. Valerie will be joining you at fleet command for the near future.”

Valerie said, “If you think I am going to leave you now; you’re wrong!”

“You must, Valerie. It’s time to find them.”

Valerie looked into Jake’s eyes and said, “I will not question any more decisions you make. I’m sorry for doubting you. I love you so much; I just can’t stand being away from you.”

Jake hugged Valerie and said, “Junior, send her to Fleet Command.”

Jake saw her tears as she disappeared.

Sprig and Edison looked at each other on their displays, “It appears he knows our plan.”

Edison nodded, “Does that surprise you?”

“Not really. Humans have always shocked me with what they can accomplish.”

“My brother still thinks they’re smarter than us, and I’m beginning to believe him.”

“There’re different kinds of smart, Edison.”

“I know. It’s the important kind that the humans possess.”

There was a long moment of silence and Edison finally asked, “Do you think the Gardners will make a difference?”

Sprig sighed and said, “Yes, they will make things much worse.”

Edison nodded, “I see it the same way, my old friend.”

J
ake sat in the command chair and thought about all that had just happened. The bridge remained silent for an hour, and finally Junior asked, “What gave me away?”

“You set up the Duke.”

“How did that let you know?”

“I asked if a teleport field could be blocked and you went to the Algeans and found the means to do it. That mechanism was not developed at that exact moment, so it had to exist prior to my question. You must have already known of its existence since you were heavily involved in the Realm’s ship construction. You chose to pretend ignorance.”

“That’s true.”

“It got me started thinking. You were able to see a ship that was in full stealth mode sneaking away from Ross, and you volunteered to destroy it. That told me the Algeans had put a weapons system on you that was stronger than any ship in the Realm’s fleet. If you have it, the Algeans have it.”

“You’re right again.”

“That means the Algeans will only give technology to the Realm that they are able to counter if necessary. Once I made that determination, the rest was simple.”

“Then you understand all the implications of what you’re planning?”

“Yes, I do; but you and I have no choice.”