Ashes of the Realm: Book 04 - The Return of the Realm (12 page)

“Sir, we have a ship breaking into normal space.”

“Who is it?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen a ship like it.”

The Commander turned to his display as two of the giant Black Ships exploded.

• • •

Captain Charles Bare yelled, “Go to plan Beta now!”

The Empire ship Zord Claws disappeared just as the other three black ships fired their beams. The huge beams ripped through the space it had just occupied as the Claws reappeared behind them. The bright white ship fired and two more Black Ships exploded into massive blasts that shot debris out from the white hot explosions. The last Black Ship disappeared as it jumped away.

The Commander stared at the savior of his world and wondered who it was. The White ship remained motionless for ten minutes and then disappeared. The display came on and the Commander saw the President, “Who was that?”

“I have no idea, Sir. But we owe them our lives.”

The President looked away for a moment and said, “Those white ships have appeared at the two subject worlds being attacked and saved them as well. We must find them and tell them our appreciation.”

“I think they’re going to be busy, Sir. It appears they are fighting the Giant Ships. Whoever they are; they are heroes of our people.”

“Yes, they are, Commander.”

• • •

Ron waited for the ships to return and soon 27,853 were in formation. He took a deep breath and knew that more than two thousand ships had been lost. He activated the general frequency and announced, “We will be attacked shortly by more than a million ships. I’m hoping they suspend their attacks on the civilizations here and come after us. When they start arriving we will fire on any that break into normal space. When the main fleet starts arriving, you will jump to the coordinates I’m sending you and repeat the process until we see some of their advanced ships joining the attack. Form up into three ship groups to protect each other and maintain that formation throughout the exercise.”

Ron thought a moment and said, “At that point, we will teleport, fire on their arrival and immediately teleport again. Do not allow yourself to be surrounded and teleport out quickly if that happens. We will join you at the next coordinates. If you lose a member of your three ship group, join another group. We will continue this exercise as long as possible. The command for the end of this action will be Bristone. If you hear that command, jump out into deep space and teleport away. Good luck and make your shots count. The longer we can keep those ships focused on us the longer some of these civilizations can survive.”

The Fleet spread out over a huge volume of space into nine thousand three ship groups. They wouldn’t have long to wait.

T
he Robbins broke out into normal space and saw the Home World of the Algeans. The central display showed an image of the Sacred Grove that was surrounded for more than twenty miles with Algeans standing packed in close to each other. The tall Elders had moved out of the Grove and the yellow colored soil was the only bare place on the display.

Danielle looked at Trey and he said, “Are you ready?”

Danielle nodded and looked at Weed and Seed who were staring at the display. “What are the two of you thinking?”

“We are very inexperienced. I expect we will meet resistance.”

“Just tell them the truth and whatever happens you can walk away knowing you’ve done what you could.”

Weed looked back at the display and said, “Let’s go.”

Trey smiled, “Cassie and I will remain on board.” He looked at Valerie and said, “Order the Searchers to move out of the system and take station beyond the last planet.” Valerie got on the com and they watched as the millions of Searchers teleported away. Trey said, “AK, send them down.”

Danielle, Weed, and Seed disappeared from the Robbin’s Bridge.

• • •

Twig stood at the edge of the grove and felt the anger of the gathered leaders. She had told them everything that happened, including the destruction of the sensor buoys and the razing of the former universe. The gathered Algeans were horrified at the numbers that had been killed and once again felt horror and sorrow at what their actions had caused. They were also angry that their Elders were being removed from the Sacred Grove. The mood of the gathering was fluctuating as they linked and shared their thoughts. They all grew silent as a silver screen appeared next to the grove and they saw Danielle Gardner and two young Algeans appear. They waited, simmering in their emotions.

Twig turned and said, “I have told them what has happened. I’ve left nothing out.”

Weed looked out at the vast numbers and thought so all could hear, “I can feel your sentiment. You bring shame to me and my mate.”

The roar of thoughts was enormous until Weed and Seed combined their minds and roared above them, “You will be silent!”

Silence slammed down on the vast plain as they felt the power of the two at the Grove. The power of their minds was stunning to the assembled mass and they had not sensed anyone with that much power since Sprig and Twig had first absorbed each other. Even Twig was amazed at the power of the thought.

“What would Dorg-Ross say to you about what has happened to the innocent people that were burned? What would he say!?! He would look at you who were supposed to protect the ones he fought for and see that you turned your backs on them. He would weep at the broken promise we made to him when we joined the Realm. That universe our beloved hero came from is dead! Everyone is dead! You stand here and show anger to us who fought to save it, yet you were nowhere to be found at the critical moment. You turned your backs on your promise. You deserve the Demons. You placed your galaxy ahead of all other life. You chose to protect those worlds brought here by the Realm ahead of the Realm that fought and died to save them. You dishonor yourself and our ancestors. You chose to leave the Realm behind to fight alone for survival against massive forces. Would Dorg-Ross have left and not defended us against an invader even if it endangered his own people?” Weed paused and yelled, “WOULD HE!”

Weed waited and looked out at the gathering and saw their leaves begin turning brown. First, in isolated places and then it spread throughout the vast multitude. The first to turn brown were the Elders. “YOU HAVE NO HONOR!”

Seed said, “We attacked the Demons and knew you would be coming to defend us. We had no doubt that you would come to fight for those civilizations. What we found was destroyed sensor buoys. Now trillions are dead and you have the unmitigated emotion to be angry at those you betrayed? You deserve to die.”

Twig finally saw what her mate had done. She thought, “We were wrong. We were so wrong.”

Weed looked at Twig and said, “We have sworn our loyalty to the worlds that fought for that universe. I am going to share with you what has happened.” Weed sent Robby and Dani’s vision and the last moments of the Robbin’s Family. The billions of Algeans felt the love of the four and saw their willingness to die for those they loved and to prevent the Realm from being discovered.

Seed said in a quiet thought that everyone heard, “They knew that if they saved themselves, the Three Galaxies of the Stars Realm would be discovered and destroyed. They gave their lives for hard hearted beings that turned their backs on them. They held true to the principles we took an oath to follow. I do not want to lead you. I have been told that if I don’t, you will not be saved by those fighting the Demons. Please tell me that you will not accept us. You deserve the Demons.”

The former Eldest said, “We will accept you.”

Weed said, “Before you make that decision, you will swear that you will never defend the worlds of this galaxy again.” Silence ruled the moment. The Eldest looked at Weed and asked, “Why do you require that?”

“They are the reason you broke your oath. You placed their welfare ahead of your commitment to the Realm. You will never be allowed to do that again.”

“Then who will assume that responsibility?”

“The ones you will swear to obey. You will never be allowed to bring dishonor to us again.”

Danielle said where all could hear, “I have also sworn to obey the Empire that has stood by the old principles that the Realm was originally founded on. Ross has also sworn their loyalty as well.”

Weed looked out and said, “At this moment, the ships of that Empire are attacking the Demon Fleets that are killing civilizations in four universes. They are fighting for life. I don’t know if we will prevail, but I will die fighting with my Emperor. I do know that as a result of attacking their fleets, the Demons will be coming here soon. If you decide to make me your Elder, you will join that fight and make your lives count for something. You will swear your loyalty and you will never again betray that oath. I will know if you mean it and if any of you choose not to join us, we will leave all of you to handle the Demons alone; just like you left our friends in our old universe. Now decide. I have a war to fight and we’re wasting time.”

Twig bowed and said, “I will make the oath.”

The former Eldest said, “I will as well.”

Danielle watched the vast plain bow and in one thought they shouted, “We make the oath.”

Weed stared at the gathered Leaders of the Algeans and said, “We will be moving this Galaxy in three hours. You will return to your planets and acquire the oaths of your subjects. We are going to need you to send your engineers to a facility that we will be moving to our galaxy after we move it. We are going to need you to modify the Searchers so they can stand up to the Demon’s Fleets. Go now.”

One moment the plain was standing room only with billions of Algeans and the next it was empty. Weed turned to Twig and said, “I feel your shame, but you will not give in to it until this war is over.”

Twig remained bowed and said, “I want to die but I will follow your command, Eldest.”

“We need your help, Twig. Don’t let us down again.”

Twig leaned forward and thought softly, “I won’t.”

“Twig, you need to tell the Adolescents that if they want to defend our Galaxy, they will have to join the Searchers and fight for the Empire in a warship. It is those ships that will be responsible for defending all of us.”

Twig looked up and Weed saw the change in her. “We have been on the sidelines too long allowing others to carry the burden.”

Weed smiled, “Yes we have but that is going to change.”

Twigs leaves began turning green.

• • •

AK said, “Trey, the war has started. Admiral Kune is confronting the Black Ships and has lost more than two thousand in the initial contact.”

“How many does he have remaining?”

“Twenty seven thousand; he is being forced to fight on the run.”

“Has he encountered any of their advanced ships?”

“Not yet but you know they will be arriving shortly.”

“Danielle, you need to come back to the Robbins. The war has started and we are going to have to go support our fleet.”

“You can’t go, Trey.”

“What do you mean? Of course I’ll go.”

“Look at the danger level if you do?”

Cassie said, “She’s right.”

Trey was starting to get frustrated, “Sometime you just have to ignore the danger to do the right thing, Cassie.”

Tag said, “Only if you are stupid enough to do it.”

Trey snarled, “My sailors are being killed.”

“So you are going to reveal the one weapon that can confront the Demons head on before we manage to get them where the Robbins could be most effective. Is that what you intend to do?”

Trey felt his anger dissipate instantly. He took a deep breath and exhaled, “You’re right.” He thought a moment and said, “Paul, please organize the fleet and go to support our ships. Use Grang and Jingo and the other Flag Officers and take all of our available ships with you.”

“Yes, Your Grace.” Trey heard, “All Empire Flag Officers will Teleport to the Bristone for an organizational meeting immediately after teleporting to the Defense Facility. Trey, we need you to take us there. We do not have dimensional drives to make the jump.”

Danielle appeared on the Robbins and Trey said, “Prepare to jump in one minute. The Gardners and I along with Cassie will be joining you on the Bristone after the jump.”

“Thank you, Your Grace; I can use your suggestions.”

Danielle said, “Cassandra, you and the Kosiev will remain behind to be upgraded by the Defense Facility. You are not strong enough to meet the Black Ships.”

Alex thought to Cassandra, “I never thought I’d ever hear those words, yet they are true.”

“I know my friend. We’ve stagnated over the centuries and it’s time we begin to grow again.”

Danielle had a thought, “Is there an engineer that knows the new upgrades that can assist the Kosiev in assimilating them?”

Trey thought a moment and said, “Yes, there is. Junior, teleport to the Kosiev and assist them with the upgrades.”

“On my way.”

Suddenly Trey jerked his head at Danielle, and he saw her smiling. She said, “Maybe we can bring them both back to life.”

Trey and Cassie smiled and were amazed at the smallest details that Danielle saw that they missed. The huge Fleet disappeared.

• • •

The Distributor heard the Alarm go off and immediately hit the activate button on his board. He sat back and thought, “Oh this is just marvelous.” Those white ships had found his fleets. Now his plan to harvest to build their supply went up in dust. He paused and pressed the button he hated to touch. The Council appeared and he said, “The white ships have found our harvesting fleets and are currently attacking the older ships.” The Distributor immediately saw the rage of the First, “I thought you said they wouldn’t be found?”

The former Distributor said, “He can’t be blamed for technology he didn’t know about. This at least tells us how advanced the makers of those ships are.”

The Distributor looked at the Fourth and nodded. Both of them knew that the debt had been paid between them. The Distributor said, “I do agree with the Fourth. It appears that they can track us and see what we do. We need to take steps against that in any future dealings with them.”