Ashes of the Realm - Death of an Empire (Ashes of the Realm (Book Three)) (17 page)

“Yes and we will assist you technologically to strengthen your ships if needed. However, we will require you to agree to only attack those creatures that are violent and aggressive. Are you able to make that promise and keep it? As you might suspect, we do not tolerate broken promises.”

“You don’t need a promise for us to attack those creatures. They kill for no reason. We will attack them even if we have no agreement. However, I can make an oath that we will not attack a non-violent civilization without communicating with you first.”

“Does your promise carry enough weight to be followed by your entire species?”

“Yes, it does.”

Trey was shocked. He thought this would have to be negotiated with numerous worlds, “I am somewhat surprised by your answer. What is your position with your Species?”

“I am the Oldest Male of all our Hives and my orders will be followed. If anyone violates them, I will see that they are punished; just like these ships that were sent to attack you without consulting with me first.”

Trey said, “I humbly ask that you spare them.”

“Why, they showed stupidity coming here.”

“It was necessary for them to come so you could see that my threat was real. You should be thankful they did. Would you be working with me on this agreement if you had not seen our battle? I do ask that they be forgiven. You’re also going to need every ship you possess to take on the massive force you’ll be facing.”

The Prince knew that the being communicating was someone that would could keep a promise. Forgiveness was a higher principle than most species were not capable of following. He hoped those planets his ships had attacked would one day forgive his Hives. “I will do as you ask to honor our agreement.”

Trey said, “Remove our stealth, Greyson.”

The Prince saw a bright white ship appear next to the hull of his ship with its force field down and he smiled. This being was also able to trust.

T
K listened to the conversation and felt a sense of pride at what her Nephew was accomplishing. She knew her parents would be overjoyed at what he had done in resolving the issue with the Wasps. She was also amazed at how similar the Wasps were to the Empire. One would think that there would be a huge difference in the way each species viewed the universe. She looked at Paul and he said, “He must have sensed at some level that this could be done. He will be growing in his abilities rather quickly and we have a ringside seat to watch it happen.”

“What do you mean?”

“Tommie, you and I along with all the other psychics are here to support him. He is the one destined to lead us. Do you not see that?”

TK looked at Trey and felt him. He was unique and she could sense it. “How do you see these things before I do?”

“Your strength lays elsewhere, my Love. You are the Warrior. Can you not feel how much you yearn to right the wrongs being perpetrated on innocent civilizations?”

TK thought a moment and felt her anger at what the Wasps had done. She was prepared to kill them all, “I think that comes from my Father.”

“I’m sure it does. Even though we’re matched, we have time to really come to know each other and it’s important that we take that time. I love you and have always known we would end up together; but we are given a gift that can grow if we will nourish our love. You know that Trey is already communicating with the one he will eventually be bonded to and they are learning from each other.”

“Who is it?”

“I’d rather not say just yet. I could be wrong but I sense that his psychic aura is being reinforced from another source. There is another super psychic that will join him and the resulting union will be stunning.

TK turned and looked at Trey. He just didn’t sound like a twelve year old. He was already years ahead of most adults. She shook her head and wished he had been given the time to enjoy his youth.

Paul heard her thoughts and said, “This is his youth, Tommie. Just wait until he’s grown.”

TK turned and stared at Trey and decided that she was not going to challenge his future decisions. He was possibly going to give her a chance to kill the murderers of her parents. For that reason alone she could hardly wait for him to grow up. Revenge was a feeling she was very familiar with.

* * *

Trey was reclining against a log in a clearing looking up at the stars. The fire was smoldering with red hot coals which allowed him to see the heavens with a sky ablaze with millions of points of light. He sighed and knew that most of the planets circling those stars had been killed by the invaders. The orange pods didn’t leave anything living to enjoy the view he was taking in. He looked over at the vast field next to the clearing and saw the second Flock of Grang’s Division preparing to join him in another universe. He could hear the thoughts of the thousands of Flyers and felt their excitement at the coming fight. He looked back up at the stars and felt the immensity of the universe. He was such an insignificant speck against the scope of creation. He looked back at the Flyers and knew that their efforts were a wasted effort if an answer to the Invaders was not found. Why was he pushing sending the Flocks to fight?

“Cassie.”

“I can see you’re troubled.”

“I am. Why do we go out to fight when it could all just be a wasted effort if we lose to the Invaders?”

“The Invaders are just one part of the imbalance in Creation, Trey. They are the most dangerous enemy but they are not the only species that feeds on the death of others. What happens if we win?

Trey thought about that question and said, “We would be compelled to go out and follow our principles.”

“Should we put those principles on hold until the end is determined?”

Trey sighed, “No, I guess not.”

“It’s more than just guessing. If we can make life more bearable for just one civilization, then it would be worth the effort. A tool has been forged by the Creative Force and it’s ready to be used. To withhold it from those that need it would be wrong.”

“I thought this tool was created to defeat the Invaders.”

“No, you are the tool created to make that happen. The Flyers are for making creation a safer place to live.”

Trey straightened up, “Are you saying the Flyers won’t be in the battle against the Invaders.”

Trey waited for an answer and finally Cassie said, “They may be used against their ships but they will not confront the power behind the Invaders.”

“You mean I will be facing them alone.”

“No, Trey. I’ll be there with you.”

“That’s not really reassuring, Cassie.”

“There will be others helping.”

“Who?”

“Look inside yourself and ask that question.”

Trey played with the question and smiled, “You’re right. I didn’t see it.”

“Now you do.”

“I wish you were her, Cassie.”

“I am, my Love, I am.”

Trey smiled and felt her in his heart.

Trey leaned back and closed his eyes, “When do we build it?”

“Soon.”

* * *

The former Distributor looked around his new quarters and was impressed. He was just promoted to the number four position on the Council. The supplies had finally passed the previous level of inventory and the quality was outstanding. The First Three of the Council ordered him to keep close watch on the new Distributor and make sure the supplies continued to be as good moving forward. He checked his board and saw that the new Distributor was looking at former records of the universes that had been destroyed. Ummm…he keyed his board and transferred all the records to his console.

The new Distributor saw the records disappear and knew that he was being watched by a member of the council. He had noticed a remark by one of the former Ten Masters that two galaxies were missing from one of the universes that was destroyed. He was going to take a closer look but the information was taken. He turned his board to the new universe being attacked and worried that the Council Member observing him might take action to punish him for not doing what was desired. He waited and after nothing happened, he put the missing galaxies out of his mind. It wasn’t worth being punished over. This was his first mistake and was not going to be his last.

* * *

Jingos and Ron stood outside a twenty story building that was damaged during the attack on the surrounding city. There were huge fires burning in the streets a half mile to the North and explosions could be heard from the South. “It appears the dictator of this planet is being held by our Flyers. Do you want to take part in the questioning?”

Ron looked to the East and could see hundreds of flyers circling a large military base. They were invisible to the naked eye but his armor allowed him to see them. “No, I think one of us needs to take charge of the cleanup. It appears these beings don’t surrender.”

“They don’t and I suspect there won’t be much questioning to do.”

Ron gave a slight shake of his head, “I wish there was some way to get them to see the error of their ways.”

Jingos looked to the East and saw a ship come charging in firing green beams. It was blown out of the sky by a well placed penetrator. “I don’t think they have the capacity to see anything different. The slave camps are pretty much a testimony to how they view other species. They didn’t even have food to feed them.”

“Call them what they are; they’re execution camps.”

Jingos heard a voice come in over his com, “Sir, the spaceport defenses are starting to fire on the city. It appears they are attempting to hit the camps on the south side. They’ve burned through the first row of buildings between them and the camps.”

Jingos looked at Ron, “This is Major Kune, take out the spaceport.”

“Sir, whoever is left after this exercise will need the spaceport?”

“Then they’ll have to build another one. Take it out.”

Jingos and Ron looked to the East and saw a huge fireball erupt from the port. “I’ll go with you, Sir. There’s not much cleaning up left to do after the destruction of the port.”

Jingos turned and walked into the building. Ron raised his hand blaster and hit a sniper on the roof of the building across the street and followed Jingos through the front door. The ships arriving with food would be arriving within three hours. The Wasps were providing the transportation and delivery. A full grown Wasp could lift eight hundred pounds. They’d get it distributed in time to save the bulk of the starving masses. He chuckled at a joke one of the Wasp Commanders had shared with him. Imagine; an insect with a sense of humor.

* * *

Alex watched the display and paid close attention to the rate of transfer. Vring and Weed were controlling the probe and were moving it slowly into the core of the star. After thirty minutes the probe melted.

“We’re close.”

Alex announced, “Yes we are. This is unbelievable; the energy stored in that probe was greater than any ship we’ve built.”

Trey watched the screen and said, “I think you have your answer now.”

Weed turned and said, “We didn’t absorb the star.”

“Why do you need to?”

Kreej looked at Trey, “That was our bellwether for this project.”

“Did you want to absorb a star or the energy of a star?”

“What’s the difference?”

Trey looked at Weed and smiled, “I recently saw a Blue Giant Star in another universe that has a mass of more than eight hundred G-Type Stars. You could just absorb the energy from the outer corona and gather more than you’d get from a G.”

Weed looked at Kreej, “He’s right. We wouldn’t need to go into the core.”

“But that means that there would only be ten or less stars in a galaxy to power our ships.”

Trey shrugged, “And there are how many dead galaxies in the eight universes that were killed by the invaders?”

Alex said, “We can power our ships.”

“We need to take one to that Blue Giant and see.”

“Not just yet, Weed.”

“Why not?”

“Before we start absorbing the power, we need to make sure the weapons can draw it from the skin inside the hull and send it to the appropriate location. You don’t want to overload the systems. You also need to develop a force field that uses that power instead of conventional designs.”

Weed looked at Trey and then at Kreej. Kreej said, “I’m not sure what you mean?”

Trey looked at the energy absorbed by the probe, “Do any of you remember the old force fields used by the first ships of the Realm?”

Alex pulled up a picture of a Washington Class Ship and they watched a recording of it as it fought in the first battle against the Alliance. “Notice that the force field was actually a hot energy field around the ship that burned anything coming at it out of existence. Beams that were fired into it actually raised the power of the screen and missiles were just burned. That is the simplest method to handle this level of power. If you try to build a screen that harnesses that magnitude of energy, you’re looking at more years to develop it.”

Weed looked away from the display, “How do you know this?”

“Run a program using the amount of power collected in that probe through the software we currently use to make our force fields and tell me what you see.”

“Let me get Seed in here.” The other Algean came in and Weed said, “Link with me a moment and let me run some programs with you.”

Kreej and Trey listened in on their thoughts and Kreej said, “They’re thinking too fast for me to follow.”

Trey shrugged, “The first hundred programs they ran had screen failure.”

“You can follow what they’re thinking?”

Trey nodded.

“Can you slow it down and show me?”

Trey smiled, “Take a look.”

Kreej looked at Trey’s thoughts and followed the data through the various permutations. “You’re right. Anything we could build into a force field would be weaker than the method used by the old ships.”

“That’s the way I see it.”

“While they are still working their way through all the possibilities, I want to share something with you Alex.”

“What is that?”

“I have a plan for a ship I want to build. I want you to take a look at it.”