were told.
“You are marching down the path where the Stars Realm’s first chosen Queen walked more than twelve hundred years ago. Warriors, Halt!” The procession stopped and they heard, “It was at this spot that our new Queen’s right to rule was challenged by a group of Glod Warriors. Her Husband and champion, Thomas Anglo Gardner, faced five Glod Martial Arts Champions with nothing but his bare hands and defeated four of them that attacked him together. As he approached the fifth warrior, our first Queen stopped him and ended the killing. Thomas Gardner then threw the two Glod Long Swords he was holding into the pillars on each side of the entrance to the Quilleron Temple where they remain to this day. The Fifth Glod Champion, Ron-Dar, who later became a great leader of the Glod, was made to decide whether or not the new Queen would rule his people; he chose the New Queen. That choice is what led to the founding of our Stars Realm. On that day, Danielle said that a Warrior’s destiny is to make the universe a better place for their people to live. A Warrior’s duty is to defend those that can’t defend themselves. Today is the day you will profess your determination to follow that choice. You are being given unimaginable power to weld and with that great power comes great responsibility. Each of you will go to each sword and grip it with your hands and silently swear your life, loyalty, and strength to protect the Stars Realm and all others that cannot defend themselves; you will then pass through the entry and verbally swear your oath; you will then be accepted into the Ranks of the Realm’s Naval Marines as a Red Warrior and be one of the most respected members of our military. Do not touch the swords unless you mean what you promise. Forward, March.”
The ranks moved forward and stopped in front of the entrance to the huge temple. The thousands of citizens gathered to witness the event all bowed and remained silent as each new warrior approached the two swords embedded in the pillars and took the grips in their hands for a moment. After they had gripped each sword they stepped through the entry and bowed to make their oath. They then returned to the ranks of their fellow graduates. After the last new warrior had said his oath and returned to the ranks, the Commander turned and said to the gathered multitude, “Citizens, I present to you our newest group of Red Warriors.”
The crowd rose and began cheering; they ran into the ranks to welcome the Realm’s newest defenders.
Every Red Warrior relived that moment as their Commander challenged them to use their strengths wisely. There was a moment of silence to allow them to remember and then the warriors heard, “Companies, prepare your teams; we teleport in ten hours.”
Brez turned and faced his company. “Alright, you know the drill; invisibility, now!”
His entire team disappeared. Brez looked at his helmet scanner and saw all of his troops but he could see nothing with his eyes. He looked closer and said, “Te-Dar, report to the armory after drills; I can see a small flash around your suit.” He paused and ordered, “Guns.” Every warrior raised their arms and he could see their beam and projectile weapons appear on their arms. This is where the Cainth with their four arms were truly formidable. They had a wide inventory of weapons at their disposal. They were usually assigned as the clean up member of the team. Being able to use those four arms to perform four different tasks simultaneously made them some of the best warriors in the regiment. Brez went through the rest of their inventory of weapons and then sat down in front of them. “We’ll wait on you to return, Te-Dar. I want everyone else to go through their assignment and be prepared to offer suggestions to help avoid unnecessary loss of life when you return.” The warriors in Brez’s company sat down and began analyzing their assigned tasks.
Goige made a call to Matt, “Why are you waiting until just before the scheduled execution to attempt this exercise?”
“Because we are hoping to neutralize all of their armed forces on the planet.”
Goige looked shocked, “How are you going to accomplish that?”
“We are using ten companies of our Naval Marines in this action and after we save the prisoners we are releasing our warriors to neutralize the other Gresh on the planet.”
“How many of your warriors will be used.”
“About five thousand.”
Goige looked skeptical, “There are more than six hundred thousand of their warriors on the planet.”
“That’s why we’re waiting until the last moment; we want them in large groups. They should be in gathered to prevent the population from taking action to prevent the executions.”
Goige just looked at Matt on his display. “Goige, we will also be using our ships in this exercise and though there may be some loss of life, we really think that it won’t be as severe if you just do nothing. We will send your ship a feed of what is happening so you can watch what transpires.”
“What are you going to do if you are successful? Will you then rule my world?”
“No, Select Leader; we will free your people and insure they are not attacked again. After that we will leave you in peace. It is against my Realm’s basic beliefs to force anyone to accept us by force or intimidation. We are driven to save life not rule it.”
“Just how are you going to make sure we are not attacked again?”
“Why we will go and ask the Gresh not to do it again in terms that they can understand.”
Goige stared at Matt on his display and then said with a smile, “That should be an interesting conversation.”
“You have no idea, Select Leader.”
“Al, have you linked to the other searchers?”
“Yes I have. Our systems are optimized and your link is ready for use when you activate our weapons.”
“Good, we should start in less than thirty drags.”
“I must say that the other Alpha in our group is impressive.”
“Why do you say that, Al?”
“Fly Girl is optimized and I picked up a few pointers from her.”
“Fly Girl?”
“You know her as Wings but she likes her short name better.”
Matt smiled and thought to Angel, “Fly Girl?”
Angel laughed and said, “It just happened during our initial bonding session. It just seemed to fit her.”
Matt thought a moment and said, “I agree; it’s a great name.”
“Thanks, Magic and thank you again for letting me participate. I have learned so much about my ship getting ready for this plan.”
“I’m glad to have you here. I feel better about our chances of success with two Alphas in the action.” Matt then paused and said, “Attention all Searchers. We will teleport in five minutes. Our Marines will arrive in two minutes using their invisibility mode and wait for us to initiate the plan. Does anyone have a question?” Matt heard in his mind that everyone was ready. The time marched forward and Matt thought, “Teleporting in 3,2,1, Go.”
On the planet the Gresh were warming up the heavy disintegrator platforms when a voice came over their communication devices. “Attention all Gresh military personnel, this is the Stars Realm Searcher Vessel Aladdin. We are not going to allow you to execute your prisoners. If you attempt to do so we will be forced to use killing force to prevent it. We will protect the prisoners and remove any threat you pose to the native population. Select Leader Goige has authorized us to take this action and we will assist him in protecting his people. If you attempt to carry out your plans then all Gresh forces in this system will be dealt with such that your threat is removed. If any Gresh ship moves inside the orbit of their closest moon, we will destroy it immediately. All Gresh ships inside the orbit that don’t move outside the orbit will be destroyed in the next minute.”
The Gresh Supreme Warrior on the planet heard the announcement and felt his rage grow. His sensor leader looked at him and said, “Excellency, a small ship has appeared over the ten cities scheduled to hold executions.”
“How small?”
“Less than 300 imns.”
“Order the executions to begin at once.”
The sensor leader pressed his device and said, “Begin the executions now.” Immediately his device erupted in a loud hiss and all contact with the Gresh Military ceased.
The disintegrator platforms heard the order and fired their weapons into a red field that had suddenly appeared surrounding the prisoners. The beams struck the field and disappeared without even making a flash. On one of the Gresh platforms the operator saw a bright white beam come out of nowhere and hit his weapon, the entire platform disappeared. It was the same at all ten sites. Every Gresh weapon platform was blown out of
