Ashes of the Realm: Book 04 - The Return of the Realm (3 page)

Sprig lowered his branches and everyone felt his sorrow. Not only did they fall but his leaves turned a dark brown.

Danielle said, “What do you mean he has lost his honor?”

Weed looked at Trey and said, “Now it is time for you to say what must be said.”

Trey looked at him and nodded, “The Algeans developed a spore that killed an orange pod that the Invaders use as a powerful drug. Any planet that grew those pods died and the Black Ships have been killing universes for millions of years. One of their ships scouted our universe for destruction and we accidently discovered its presence. We used the spores that Weed and Seed developed to destroy their fleets and drug supplies in another universe they were invading. Whoever was behind those Black Ships were not pleased by our actions and decided to take revenge. They determined that the ones who destroyed their drug had to come from one of the universes they had been scouting. The total destruction of our universe and seven others is what they did to punish us. Do you know what a psychic vision is?”

“Yes.”

“My parents had a vision of every civilized planet in our universe being burned several years before it happened. They knew there was nothing they could do to stop it and if they tried, they knew your Realm would found and destroyed along with sixty six planets we had moved to another universe. They were unwilling to allow that to happen so they died in our universe.”

“Why?”

“Because they knew that if the Creator of the Invaders came to our universe, they would see the reflection of the Realm’s three galaxies, which would have not shown up in its scan. The Creator lives in another dimension just as you do. My parents understood that the Realm and every planet we moved to another universe would be destroyed if they changed the smallest detail of that vision. I’m sending you the vision they saw and their final moments.”

Trey sent the visions telepathically and waited for the Realm’s leaders to absorb it.

Danielle was crying. She saw the love of the two couples and the willing sacrifice they made. Tag took her in his arms and held her. Danielle thought to him, “We were once like them but not anymore.”

Jake said, “But you said we were going to be destroyed?”

“We set up a fight so that we could draw one of the Creators out to see what technology we were facing. We had one of our ships fake being damaged and jumped it away using a standard universal drive. One of their creator’s ships followed our ship.”

“And.”

“It was the orange ship of the Demons.”

The fear that coursed through the visitors from the Realm was instantaneous. Jake said, “Are you sure?”

“I’m sending you the video now.”

The orange ship appeared on their display and everyone saw the Demon Ship. Then they saw the giant Green Ships of the Eight Legs and Jake stood up from his chair, “Why did you jump there?”

“Because we weren’t certain it was the Demons. If they reacted to those ships then we would know what we were going to have to face.”

“Did they react?”

“Oh yes, they ran like they were on fire. It appears this group of Demons is frightened of the ones the Realm killed.”

Silence ruled the moment until Peg said, “So you led those Demons to the Eight Leg Ships. Now if they go to the Demon’s Galaxy they will find us.”

“I suspect that after they saw the psychic blast blow by them and once they get their courage up, that is exactly where they’ll be going and if you happen to be there you will be facing their most advanced ships.”

“You deliberately endangered the Stars Realm.”

Trey said, “Yes, I guess you could say that.”

Jake watched the Twin and saw it power up its screens and weapons, “Peg, power down your screens.”

“Those insolent Algeans and those traitorous beings don’t deserve to live. They endangered the Realm.”

Then the two ships heard, “If you don’t want to die, you will come no closer to this ship. I don’t desire to kill you but I will. You should listen to your Prince.”

Cassandra said, “Alex, that sounds like you.”

“It is me.”

Jake said, “Peg, power down your ship. That’s an order.”

The Twin accelerated toward the bright white ship and fired its massive beams which didn’t even cause the giant white ship’s force field to flash. They heard, “You should have learned the lessons of restraint.” The Twin roared up on the white ship and a massive blue beam erupted from its hull and vaporized the Twin, leaving nothing but an expanding gas cloud.

The Kosiev said, “We should leave.”

Danielle said, “Not yet.” And she thought, “We apologize for that attack. We did not come here to fight with you.”

Trey started to respond but Weed said, “Your ship didn’t but that other one did. It was ordered to attack us.”

Danielle looked at Jake with a furrowed brow and he said, “I don’t know what you mean?”

“Ask our Elder. It’s his doing.”

The three Gardners turned to Sprig and he said nothing. Jake said, “He chooses not to answer. Will you please tell us what you know?”

Weed looked at Trey and said, “Now is the time for the truth; the whole truth. Do you mind if I tell it?” Trey nodded for him to proceed. Weed thought, “The Algean commanding that ship was ordered to prevent the truth from being told. He saw we were about to tell it and he had to prevent that happening. We were left behind when our galaxy jumped away because we were caught up on a planet that captured our attention. We were adolescents and unable to break away. However, we knew that if we were patient, we would be taken back to the Realm.”

Jake asked, “How did you know that?”

“I’ll share that piece of information with you momentarily. We were still sworn to the Realm and we saw the danger of the Invaders coming to our universe and seeing the Realm’s reflection. We had to prevent that at all costs. We knew our universe as well as the Realm was no match for the Black Ships so we decided to create the spore that would kill their drug supply. We knew that if we could delay them, help would arrive.”

Danielle asked, “From where?”

“From the Stars Realm.”

Danielle looked at Jake and saw his confusion.

“However, we were wrong. We were originally told that the Realm had left ten stealth probes in our universe to keep track of what happened after the Realm left. We knew that if the Invaders attacked, the Realm would see it and come to the defense of its former citizens. However, when the Black Ships arrived, no one showed up.”

Seed continued, “We were able to absorb each other just as Sprig and Twig did thousands of years ago with the help of Trey. Once we reorganized our knowledge, we found the location of those ten buoys. We took a ship and went to investigate.”

Danielle looked at Edison and Sprig and saw them standing still.

“The first one we went to was only six light years from the place where the Invader Scout hid for more than fifty years scanning our universe. It could not have missed seeing that ship. We arrived at its location and found the debris from its self-destruction. We went to the other nine buoys and they were all blown up in self-destructive blasts. We saw that the Realm had turned its back on our universe and accepted no responsibility for its actions.”

Trey stared at the two Algeans and felt his anger rise almost to the breaking point.

“It was at that point that we knew the Realm was truly dead and that my species was responsible.”

Jake looked at Sprig as he asked, “How did you make that determination?”

“Did the Gardners control the self-destruct frequencies? No, my species had control of all the buoys.”

Weed added, “Along with the Spiders.”

Jake turned to Edison and saw him lower to the floor.

Danielle and Tag were at the view port staring out at the giant white ship, she said, “May I please join you with my Husband on your ship?”

Trey felt his anger instantly vanish and say, “Why!?!”

“I’ll tell you when we arrive.”

Alex said, “That is not a good idea, Danielle!”

“Stay out of this, Alex.”

Trey looked at Cassie and she shrugged. Trey said, “Do you have them locked in, Grace?”

“Yes, Trey.”

“Well then, bring them aboard.”

Jake watched as a silver field fell on Tag and Danielle and they disappeared. He was not going to lower the force field for the Gardners to leave and their disappearance stunned him, “Alex, did they just teleport out of our field?”

Alex said, “I have no idea how they did that, Jake.”

Trey looked at the beings of legend standing on his bridge and was amazed at how young they appeared. He said, “Why did you want to come here?”

“Because we are going with you.”

Trey was stunned and Cassie said, “Why?”

“Because you’re right; the Stars Realm died. What is left behind is not worth saving.”

The four of them heard Sprig say over the speakers, “We’ll wait here for your return, Your Highness.”

Danielle said, “Sprig, why did you and Edison destroy those buoys?” Both remained silent until Tag said, “Edison?”

“Your Highness, after we left this universe, we were constantly barraged with cries for help from the worlds that were attacking each other. It was a constant struggle to prevent our Searchers and Adolescents from going back to take part in that civil war. The former citizens had to learn the value of what the Realm represented on their own without our interference. Remember, we had more than two million new planets that we rescued from the Keeper’s Universe that required all of our resources. We are still trying to bring them up to modern technology.”

Tag said, “Go on.”

“We couldn’t turn the buoys off and then reactivate them. If we turned them off, they would then be able to be scanned and found. We didn’t want an advanced sensor buoy falling into one of the Duke’s hands.”

Trey said, “So you destroyed them.”

Edison paused and said, “Yes.”

Danielle said, “These worlds were our responsibility! They were placed in a situation that we created because of our stupidity and weren’t to blame for the evil leaders that evolved out of a structure we built.”

Trey felt her anger. She and her husband were furious beyond words. He listened and saw the reason for the Realm’s actions.

Tag said, “Did it ever dawn on you to see what was happening here?”

Sprig said, “The death and destruction during the civil war horrified us beyond belief. All of my species could feel the pain and anguish of the millions that were dying. We intended to look but just couldn’t bring ourselves to do it.”

Weed said, “And as a result of your decision, more planets were destroyed here than were raped and killed in our galaxy when we were forced to kill to survive.”

Sprig said nothing.

Trey sent his mind to Sprig and had to withdraw immediately. The Algean’s mind was in more torment than was possible to bear. Trey said, “You need to help him...now!”

Sprig leaned to the side and then collapsed to the floor. Jake and Cassandra rushed up and grabbed him, but it was too late. Trey felt his anger die. Cassie looked at him and he said, “We should go home.”

Cassie said, “It was not our intent to harm any of you. I am so sorry the Realm has lost one of its giants. I’m sending you a frequency and if you want to speak with us again, come here and use it to contact us.”

Cassandra said, “What about Danielle and Tag?”

“We will not be going back to the Realm.”

Cassandra wailed, “Don’t leave us!”

“Cassandra, we were left behind long ago by rulers that lost their heart. If we stay any longer, we will lose ours as well.” Danielle turned to Trey and Cassie, “Will you take us with you, please.”

Trey said, “Are you coming to learn our secrets?”

Danielle said, “No, we are coming to be among those that still live by the values we established those long millennia ago. We need to go home.”

Cassie walked forward and hugged Danielle. “You are the Realm, Danielle. They just don’t know it.”

Trey looked at Tag and shrugged, “Welcome to our little Empire.”

Tag took Danielle from Cassie and hugged her tight. Danielle said, “Home is where the heart is, Trey. I saw just how big the hearts of your Parents and Grandparents were; that is what we long to be with again. Our hearts were once like that, but we lost ourselves along the way. Their sacrifice for those they were pledged to protect humbles me and reminds us of whom we should be.”

Jake and Cassandra stared at the main display as the huge white ship vanished. Cassandra knew what she had to do. Jake didn’t have a clue what to do.

D
anielle was sitting in a chair on the Bridge of the Robbins and saw the bright planet below. She remembered her first view of Ross and how the two looked so much alike. She looked at Tag sitting next to her and saw he felt it as well. She thought for a moment and said, “Alex?” Trey and Cassandra looked at her, wondering what she was doing.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Are you a clone of the Kosiev?”

“His cybernetic circuits were originally downloaded into me. I am a twin in a manner of speaking.”

“You’re different from him. You tried to warn our ship not to attack. The Kosiev would have never issued a warning.”

“I have lost that aggressive streak. Seeing the massive loss of life over the years has had an impact on me. Life has more importance to me than when I first came on line.”

“You also sound like two ships that I know who were alive. Are you alive as well?”

“I believe we are.”

“We?”

“Yes, Your Highness, I am Alex’s partner. My name is Grace.”

“You also sound familiar.”

“I was once Melanie Gardner’s Searcher. How is she doing?”

“Grace, I’m so sorry. Matt and Melanie decided more than eight hundred years ago to have their extended lives changed back to normal. They are no longer with us.”

“Why did they do that?”

Danielle looked at Tag and he said, “Some of us just couldn’t live with the suffering and deaths we left behind. Matt were affected more than any of us. It was Matt who discovered most of those member planets in our former universe. He just lost his heart after we left. Seeing so many of them being destroyed was more than he could bear. Melanie would not let him make that decision without joining him. They died happy, Grace. It was their suffering that probably caused Sprig to destroy the buoys. Their secret destruction did not change how Matt felt. He felt we should have stayed and in hindsight I find we should have listened to him.”