enduring. She was surprised that he was holding up as well as he appeared. After Matt finished and took his chair, Tag said, “How are we going to find the means to kill these creatures?”
Sprig thought, “We are going to have to attack them and use anything we can think of to hit them.”
Matt leaned forward and said, “The danger of attacking them has gone up tremendously.”
Tag flinched, “Why?”
Matt looked at Sprig and then said, “Because we have uncovered how they knock out ships so quickly, Your Majesty.” Matt put on a glove and reached over and unfolded a white cloth in front of him. He lifted a green colored pointed shard and held it up for the attendees to see. “This is what killed Angel and damaged her ship. Each of the three Eight Legs all fired one of these when they entered the ship and all three hit her.”
The attendees all looked at the shard and Danielle asked, “What have we learned about that, Searcher?”
Matt looked at Sprig and Twig and said, “Not a lot but we can surmise several things. If I am wrong about anything, please correct me.”
Sprig thought, “Please continue, Searcher.”
“It appears that the Eight Legs can actually see intelligent life even through solid walls. The only holes in Angel’s ship were made in a direct path from the three that penetrated her hull. All three of them fired at the only life on the ship and there was no other damage anywhere else. These shards went through our strongest materials to hit her and were not affected by the passage; the holes they made left no residue when they passed through. It is my belief that this is one of their weapons systems but they only use it when they penetrate a ship so that they can consume what they hit. The shard was covered in an extremely powerful neurotoxin that paralyzes the victim it hits giving the Eight Leg time to consume the victim before they die. Another by product of this toxin is that it holds the brain in a stasis so that even if the body dies the brain can still be consumed giving up any memories it holds.”
“Why does that make attacking them more dangerous,” General Durk asked?
“Imagine a fleet of our ships attacking them and the invaders fire a barrage of these shards. Our sensors would not detect them coming and they would penetrate our screens and hulls before we even knew they were approaching. Just because they have only used them on ships they’ve penetrated in the past does not mean that is the only way they can be utilized. I suspect that if the invaders learn that we can teleport away before they can land on our ships that they will fire first and then harvest the crew. If we dared to use our warriors against them, they would fire these shards right through their armor and devour them at their leisure.”
The room was silent. Everyone understood the implications of what he said.
“The attack on Angel also removed one of the methods I was planning to use against them.”
Sprig leaned right and said, “What was that, Searcher?”
“I was planning to teleport the mother ship into the heart of the hottest star in our universe.” The room stirred at the idea. “However, it won’t work.”
“Why not,” Twig asked?
“When I teleported Angel’s ship to my location, which was a very dangerous thing to do in hind sight, however, I wasn’t thinking clearly at that moment; the three inside her ship were left behind. It appears even our teleportation screens are ineffective against this material. This also means that we will be unable to teleport any kind of weapon into their ships.”
“Every time we discuss these creatures they seem to become more powerful and dangerous,” Tag observed.
“Not necessarily, Your Majesty. I have been concerned from the start that these creatures may see all of the ships and planets we’ve hidden behind the red screens simply by reading the energy emissions coming from them. They may be invisible visually to them but the planets stand out like a flaming torch with the energy it emits. After I killed the three Eight Legs, their entire fleet searched the system looking for them. Our ships emit energy but they obviously didn’t see Angel’s ship. The only way they found her was by the shadow that her ship cast on the moon’s surface. It defies all odds that one of their smallest ships just happened to be located where that shadow was cast.” Matt paused and the room could see his anguish. Matt took a deep breath and continued, “However, it gives us information that is vital. I think this mother ship is here to scout our universe and see if it warrants a full invasion. Right now it is only going to planets that show intelligent life, however, the full invasion would examine every star. We know how to bend light around planets psychically. If we can prevent the member planets from casting a shadow then they should truly be invisible to them. I think the data supports that they ignore any kind of energy and use their vision only that allows them to see those systems that have intelligent life. It may be that the substance they use to cover all of their creations prevents them from seeing energy. When they look at a galaxy, all they see is where intelligent life is located; I don’t think they even see the stars.”
“That is the first good news I’ve heard,” Danielle responded. “What else have you surmised?”
“We don’t need to waste time hitting them with any energy weapons. If they are immune to teleportation then I think we can rule out all forms of energy.” Matt looked at Sprig.
“You are probably right, Searcher; but we still should verify that beyond all doubt.”
“Then you have to hit them outside the jump limit and jump away immediately. Make ten fast, and I do mean fast, jumps and then teleport away. I hope they can’t follow fast enough and conclude that they missed arriving at the last jump track before it dissipated. Reading jump tracks, since they use the process to travel, is probably something they are capable of doing. We can’t reveal that we can jump inside the jump limit or use teleportation. This race is so old that they may have the information in their stored data that would allow them to develop the processes if they ever suspect that it is actually being done.”
“We could also land all our ships and just ignore them until they leave,” Tag said.
Matt looked at the King of the Stars Realm and said slowly, “I have thought about that, too, Your Majesty. However, that would be a weight on our civilization that would ultimately lead to our downfall. Are we going to sit by and watch millions of civilizations we were unable to contact be killed as we hide? The Reg didn’t leave that ship because they wanted to help. They left it because their civilization is in decline because of the horror of what they are unable to stop. I could feel the pain they felt for all the ones that have been killed. We are here today with an opportunity to stop these creatures and save all of the universes in creation. If we ignore that opportunity, what will we become after they leave? I have tried to find a reason for Angel’s death and until this moment I have only suffered because I can see no reason. The odds of what happened to her are so high against it happening that it staggers my sense of reality but I now know that it was for a reason and the death of these universe killers must be it. I do not believe that we should just hide, Your Majesty.”
Danielle looked at her husband and he saw her expression. She didn’t need to say anything, he could feel her. He felt her love and remembered when he vowed upon learning that she was going to have their first child that he was going to make sure that they would be safe even if he had to destroy the entire Alliance of Worlds that was bent on annihilating the human race. If he could have hid then, would he have allowed that danger to always be shadowing their lives?
Danielle watched Tag closely and could see the struggle he was having and then she saw him decide.
“Even if we die in this struggle, to turn away from this fight and allow so many to be destroyed would be something that I believe would kill us just as certainly as the Eight Legs. We will not turn away at this critical moment.”
As Tag spoke, Danielle thought back to that meeting that had changed both of their lives so substantially twelve hundred years ago. Rose called them in to a meeting of the First Family where all of the representatives of every Stars Realm member and Rose had been attempting to choose the military leaders of the future. The meeting had lasted six days and no one could agree on any selection until Rose had presented a radical choice. After very little back and forth, all the members agreed. Danielle and Tag arrived and found the entire assembly and Rose waiting in silence for them. Danielle took one look and knew something monumental was going on.
Rose stood and said, “Mom, Dad, the elected representatives of the Realm have decided who is to lead us in the coming years. We have struggled and we could not find consensus until I suggested a leader we could all trust.” Rose paused, looked at the First Family and then said, “I hereby abdicate my throne and the First Family has voted unanimously that Thomas Anglo Gardner, Sr. will be named the new King of the Stars Realm.”
Tag’s mouth fell open and he said, “I cannot and will not accept this position. You are so better qualified than I that this is a bad decision. What possessed you to even consider this?”
“Come sit down and let me explain.” Tag and Danielle took their seats in front of the gathering and Rose
