Ashes of the Realm - Greyson's Revenge (27 page)

“Niles, this is terrible.”

“You notice we have not been discovered. That means most of their ships are now in that other universe.”

“Niles, did you notice the color of the inhabitant that was burned.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m going to freeze the video.”

Niles watched as the picker that had breathed the fruit quit twitching. As the chest collapsed Toland froze the video. The formerly brown colored picker was now a bright orange color. “It appears the invaders are addicted as well as the population.”

“We need to collect one of those fruits.”

“Stand by. Get a vacuum container out of storage.”

Toland left the bridge and came back with a clear round container. Niles used the scanner to zoom in on one of the fruit from a tree well ahead of the harvesting efforts. He read the coordinates and entered them in his board. He read the coordinates of the container and enabled the board. He pressed the teleport pad and a bright orange fruit appeared in the container.

“Toland, teleport this to a probe along with all that we’ve recorded so far and send it out into deep space to return to the empire.”

Toland began pressing the keys to release a probe.

Niles leaned back and decided that they had done all they could to scout the Invaders. Now it was time to see how the Bristone would hold up under attack. He looked at Toland and hoped his friend survived the coming attack. Toland made the teleport and Niles smiled, “Are you ready?”

“I am. Let’s go do this.”

The Bristone broke back into the first universe and ejected the probe. They waited for what they knew was coming.

“Sire, that ship is back at the place they were first detected.”

“Go there immediately.” The commander felt his excitement. They were not getting away this time. He sent the message to five other support ships that surrounded the small ship eighty thousand light years away. No matter which way it tried to escape a ship should be able to follow it. He smiled as his ship broke into normal space and the small ship was still there.

“It doesn’t have a force field up.”

“Scan it.”

“Our scans are being stopped at that ships outer hull.”

The commander watched the small ship wondering why it didn’t flee. Then a brilliant white beam struck his force field and rocked the giant black ship.

“We’ve blown a hole in their force field that lasted two seconds. We did not hit the ship.”

Niles teleported away.

“What are you doing?”

Niles jumped and saw another ship emerge. He teleported again and said quickly, “Are you sure about the hole in their force field?”

“Yes, it was about ten feet in diameter.”

“We can’t trial our beam.”

“I thought that was why we’re here.”

“It is but think about this.” Niles teleported again as two giant ships emerged. “What will those creatures do if we hit them and destroy one of their ships?” Niles teleported again and barely missed being hit by one of Invader’s main Beams.

“They’ll strengthen them.”

“We didn’t think our Zeta Beam would penetrate. Now we know it will open a hole that we can send things through. We can’t show them our focused beam. If the Zeta Beam opened a hole, the new beam will blow through. We don’t need to trial it.”

Niles teleported again and Toland said, “I’m turning off the hull.”

Niles smiled at Toland and released the probe as he teleported away. The probe waited until the four ships that had emerged chased after the Bristone and then teleported to deep space and jumped back to the Empire.

“It appears the Black Ships are all jumping out after us.”

“Weaken the Zeta Beam and fire at one of the ships.”

The Commander was closing in on the small ship when a brilliant white beam struck his force field again and was stopped. The small ship disappeared and the Commander was right behind it. He watched as his Weapons Controller fired and hit the small ship with a main beam. The small ship exploded and blew small fragments out from the center of the explosion.

Eight hundred of the Giant Black Ships arrived and scanned the explosion. There was nothing large enough to gather for examination. The Fleet Commander said, “Do any of you have a record of this ship in your databanks?”

The Ship’s Commander looked at his Sensor Controller and he said, “Not really. There are a couple of ships in the last universe we were watching that resemble it very slightly.”

“Show me.”

The Commander looked at his display at an Ultraship and compared it to the ship he had just destroyed. Then he heard, “I have a ship that is similar in size and color in the universe I’ve been watching.”

The Commander looked at the Ultraship again and said, “It’s the wrong color, the engines are different, and the bridge is not in the same location. The lines of the hull are also different.”

“It is about the same size.”

“But that is all they have in common. It probably came from the other universe.”

The Fleet Commander ordered, “Go back and really take a look at that universe. Take four hundred ships with you. The rest of you spread out and take another look at this universe to make sure it didn’t come from here.”

The Ship’s Commander received his quadrant to search and motioned to his navigator. The Black Ship disappeared. The small fragments of the Bristone continued to travel away from the center of the ship’s destruction. The final micro probe waited and then teleported to deep space after all of the giant ships disappeared.

V
ring, Bleath, Scotty, Julie, and Robby sat at the fire watching the flames dance in the center of the clearing. The Robbins had walked up to the fire to remember the two brave sailors that had died. Vring and Bleath flew in. They were listening to their thoughts and felt the need to join them. They all just stared at the fire in silence. Jingo and Grang walked up and sat down and watched the fire. Timmy and Virze arrived and joined the gathering. James Silvey and Carol walked up and sat down beside Timmy and Virze. The only sound was the wood crackling in the fire. Scotty looked up at the stars and said, “The first night I met Niles and Toland was right here at this fire. They volunteered to go take the Military Database from Daulun. I knew at that moment that they were good men. There were many nights both of them sat here and stared up at the stars. Vring tells me that they felt incredible remorse at all the worlds they had helped conquer for Daulun. This assignment was their attempt to start to balance their debt.”

Scotty paused and said, “They decided before they went on this assignment that they couldn’t risk coming back to our universe. If their jump track was recorded by the Invaders, then we would have been attacked immediately. They refused to take that risk. They also refused to reveal our most powerful weapon to defend themselves when they discovered it would weaken our ships if the Invaders strengthened their force fields to handle that beam. Because of their sacrifice, we now know what we need to do to prepare.” Scotty stood up and looked up at the stars, “We will honor them tomorrow…..but tonight we will remember them in silence.” He sat back down and lowered his head and wept for the sacrifice he had asked of the two brave warriors. Julie put her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tight.

Robby watched his father and saw the price of being a leader. He hoped he would have the courage to make such hard decisions if it ever came to him to lead. He looked up at the stars and wished Dani was here. He heard a distant thought that barely touched his consciousness, “I’ll always be close by.”

Dani was staring at Robby’s picture she kept by her bed and felt sad. She wondered what he was doing and wished he was there. “I’ll always be close by, Robby.” She rolled over and went to sleep.

Robby knew she was feeling his sorrow. He smiled and thought, “I’m waiting on you, my love.”

Dani rolled over and smiled in her sleep.

The gathering continued to grow and more wood was put on the fire. Soon the Zord started arriving in large numbers and the only sound was the crackling of the flames.

Nine Zeta Searcher Vessels were gathered at the Defense Facility. Scotty was on board BC with Jingo, Grang, and Julie. Robby was on board Greyson with Timmy. “I’ve gathered all of us here with Alex so we can decide what we need to do about the Orange Beings coming to invade our universe. I think all of us have had time to view the information send back by Niles and Toland. Does anyone want to start the discussion?”

Alex said, “It appears we need to relook our weapons mix.”

Scotty said, “Why is that?”

“What happens if the invaders refuse to fire on our ships once they learn we are using their beams to destroy them? I think we should hold that weapon until the last possible moment when they send their biggest fleet here.”

“What do we use in the mean time?”

“Grace, we now know that a Zeta Beam will penetrate their force field for a moment. It won’t hit the ship but it opens a door to send other weapons through.”

“Are you referring to the ancient penetrators that had small missiles inside them?”

“No, Timmy. I’m referring to sending a Flyer through the opening.”

Scotty said, “What! That doesn’t make sense, Alex. The Zord can’t fly in the vacuum of space.”

“You’re forgetting the Rider as well, Your Majesty. Let me explain. Bleath, you and Vring may join in anytime.”

“We will but we’d rather you explain our proposal.”

Alex paused and continued, “Grace tells me that you are reluctant to use armor for our Riders.”

“I am. I’m not certain that we need to release that technology in this universe. It’s just too dangerous.”

“But you’re ok with building Searchers.”

“Uhhh, I think we have to have them for our defense.”

“Is it also because you trust their use with a good partner assisting them?”

“Yesssss, I think the checks and balances with the two make them safer.”

“How do you Searcher Vessels feel about that?”

Greyson said, “Even a good partner will not always prevent us being used for evil purposes. We need look no further than the Provincial Dukes that lied to us and led us into an evil enterprise.”

Scotty said, “That’s true, but once you saw the truth you were able to make a good decision.”

“After hundreds of worlds had been enslaved and forty million killed on Haldale, Your Majesty. Even we can be dangerous if the right circumstances cause us to be led astray.”

Scotty thought about what Greyson was saying, “Alex, are you telling me that we should allow armor to be introduced in this conflict?”

“I’m just saying that there are no absolutes in any weapon turned loose in this universe. What is the one thing that prevents them from being used for evil?”

“I think making sure that they never fall into the wrong hands.”

“Then consider this; who would you trust with an all powerful weapon system.”

Robby said, “That’s easy.”

Scotty said, “Who?”

“The Zord.”

Scotty smiled, “You’re right, son. I would trust the Zord to do the right thing in any circumstance.”

Bleath said, “You can’t say that, Your Majesty.”

“Why not?”

“Remember, we were planning a long and painful death for Grang. You stopped us. I was also planning to attack your community before Samuel killed those three teenagers. Sometimes we are also blind to events.”

“Then who, Alex?”

“The Flyers. The Zord and their Riders can always be trusted to do the right thing. The two of them together are just as effective as a Searcher and their partner. You know how every Rider is screened and trialed to make sure they truly believe in the values of our Empire.”

“Alex, I notice you said, ‘Our’.”

“I did. I am now accepting your authority over my facility. I’ve seen that you are even more careful with how my technology would be used than I am. I’ve learned I can trust you. I’ve also seen that your chosen successors will also follow your vision.”

Timmy looked at his display and saw Virze nod. He smiled and felt his love for his wife.

“So what are you suggesting?”

Vring said, “We are going to armor the Flyers.” No one said anything. Vring waited and said, “We have looked at the armor chamber and discovered that it can be modified to armor a Zord as well as any other species. The DNA protocols have to be changed but that is not hard to accomplish. We have also made modifications so that it won’t be so painful to make the process work.”

“How will that help us against the Invaders?”

“There is a ten foot hold in their force field when a Zeta beam hits it. We’ll teleport a Flyer through that hole and the Zord and Rider will teleport in to the giant ship’s hull and attack the ship.”

Jingo said, “With what? Claws and sparks won’t do damage to those ships.”

Robby said, “Jingo, armor can hold enough weapons in the outer skin to fight for a year. With the wing span of a Zord being close to two hundred feet, some pretty big missiles can be loaded in. Once they’re inside the force field they can launch a devastating barrage ahead of them. Once an armored rider gets to the ship’s hull, the amount of destruction possible is staggering.”

Scotty looked at Robby then said, “They will still have beams available to hit the Flyer.”

Bleath said, “Yes, but the Flyer will not appear on their scanners. Remember that armor directs all energy around it. It’s hard to target something you can’t see.”

Vring said, “White Hair, I know the real reason you did not want to armor only the Riders.”

Scotty remained silent.

“You didn’t want to leave us out of the fight. You knew we are warriors and you couldn’t bring yourself to force us to only stay on our planet.”

Scotty saw Grang looking at him and he said, “You’re right.”

“Well, now our Flyers will remain a team. Rider and Zord will fight together in a just cause and it will be a glorious battle.”

Scotty shook his head, “Alex, how can they be effective in space combat? The Invaders are so far ahead of us technologically.”

“Your Majesty, the armor developed by the old Realm was the most dangerous weapon ever devised. Searchers must stay in orbit and are limited in what they can do on the ground. Our old Red Warriors were what truly made the Stars Realm formidable. With the modifications being made by the Zord, the new armor will make that old armor as obsolete as null drives. The Flyers will be more powerful than a Zeta Searcher.”