message.”
“Yes, he’s telling the truth.”
“How many of your crew members are forced to join you?”
“About one third of the crew.”
The Red Warrior reflected that he had killed the crew too quickly; he pressed a button and teleported the hostage to the bridge of the Searcher. “Unfortunately, we are going to have to change our plans. That means we are not sending this ship back.”
The four pirates jumped up and started begging for their lives but the warrior was gone. An instant later the Searcher fired and destroyed the last ship.
“Do you know the crew members that have been forced to serve on the pirate’s ships?”
“Yes, I do. We are kept in chains when not serving on a ship.”
“Searcher, are all their ships still docked at their base?”
“Yes, they are.”
“We are going to free some captives and destroy the other ships. These pirates have no redeeming qualities and slavery is something the Realm does not tolerate. This captive is a citizen of the Realm and we are authorized to take whatever action we deem necessary.”
“How do you want to handle it?”
“I will enter one of the ships and eliminate the crew. I’ll start at the bridge and work my way back; teleport the captives to the landing bay where this young citizen will be waiting to give them their instructions and then you can eliminate the others.”
The Searcher arrived in the Veumag system and the Red Warrior teleported to one of the larger warships and killed every pirate on board. “The ship is clear.” Immediately more than seven hundred captives appeared in the landing bay and cowered away from the Red Warrior.
The red warrior began communicating, “You have been brought here to free you from those that have enslaved you. We have placed the coordinates of one of our bases in your jump drive and we will work to either reunite you with your families or provide a place for you to live in peace in the Stars Realm. Brandt will organize you to make the jump.”
The captives looked at the Red Warrior and some of them began crying. Most of them had marks on their faces and bodies where they had been punished with electric prods by the pirates. The Red Warrior felt his rage at seeing how badly these young hostages had been treated.
The Red Warrior teleported back to the Searcher’s ship and reported, “We were wrong to consider granting mercy to these scum.”
The Searcher activated his weapon console and then hit his communication panel. “Attention all citizens of Veumag, I am going to allow you to see the consequences of your actions. You have been supporting a fleet of pirate warships that have attacked the Stars Realm. If you will turn your attention to the station above your planet, you will see the first action we are taking.”
The pirates on the space station detected the emergence of the Searcher and began scrambling to their ships to escape. Unfortunately, there was not enough time and their time had run out. The entire station was hit by a red beam and disintegrated leaving nothing behind.
“Your planet has prospered by supporting these pirates and has demonstrated a callous disregard for life. You will not be allowed to leave your planet until you demonstrate you will not be a menace to other races.”
The Searcher then fired beams into their spaceports, ships in orbit, and all satellites circling the planet, removing any means of lifting from the plant’s surface. “If you choose to disregard this warning, our next visit will remove all of your technology and force you to learn farming to survive.”
The Red Warrior listened to the planet’s leaders beg for mercy, “They should have listened; they were warned.”
The Jimnil began launching their fleet from the stations orbiting their planet. The ten thousand warships moved smoothly away from the planet toward the jump limit. The Jimnil had not been contacted before the Eight Leg invasion because they were a warlike race and had conquered four other planets and enslaved the populations that they ruled with barbarous brutality. The fleet commander looked at his well ordered formations and knew they were well trained for the coming conquest. A bonus was that the planet selected for conquest did not have a fleet to stop them.
“A small ship has appeared between us and the drive limit.”
“Put it on my screen.” The commander saw a small red glowing ship in front of his fleet. Then he heard a thought, “You will stop your forward progress and return to your planet.”
“Who are you to order us?”
“I represent a Realm that does not allow defenseless planets to be attacked. We do not interfere with a civilization’s internal issues but we will prevent loss of innocent life. My leaders have finally decided that your reign of terror will no longer be tolerated. If you want to live, turn your ships around.”
The commander looked at his screen and asked, “Are there any other ships out there?”
“We detect only that small ship.”
“Order the first squadron to fire on that ship.”
Two hundred ships launched five hundred missiles at the small white ship. All five hundred were hit by small red beams that detonated them a foot above the ships that fired them destroying all two hundred ships. The commander was stunned.
“I hope that demonstration is enough to persuade you to turn around and return to your planet. I know you do not want to believe me but I can destroy your entire fleet before any of you reach the place where you can jump.”
“If you know us at all you must be aware that we yield to no one.”
“I was really hoping that you would not force me to kill needlessly. However, since your fleet is well organized, I will begin destroying your ships as soon as they move within twenty thousand miles of the limit. If any want to live, turn around and return to the planet.”
The Commander ordered his fleet to fire their beams at the red ship and to continue forward. The remaining ships all fired their entire batteries of energy weapons at the small ship and the million beams just flashed on its screen. As the fleet moved forward, a thousand ships crossed the twenty thousand mile limit set by the stranger. The small ship fired those red beams and all of the thousand ships were blown apart. A thousand more crossed and they were destroyed. Three thousand more ships were blown up before the commander ordered his fleet to stop.
The Ruler on the planet watched as the small ship ravaged his fleet. Then he heard a thought along with every other being in the system, “I am glad you decided to stop throwing away lives needlessly. It is important that you listen to what I am about to tell you and to understand that I will carry out what I say. You will move your fleet back to your planet and will only use it only to defend your world from outside aggression. You will immediately recall all of your forces from the four worlds you have conquered and will not harm the native populations in any way during your withdrawal. If you do not comply with these instructions within seven rotations, I will destroy your forces on those planets down to the last warrior and then come here and remove your ability to wage war. It is my belief that there will be unavoidable loss of life here on your home world if you force me to carry out my threat. You may not think I am capable of carrying out my threats but just to make sure you know, I am going to offer one more demonstration. I hope you will take it to heart and make the right decisions.”
The small ship disappeared and reappeared above the surface of the eighth planet in the system. The fleet commander was stunned that the ship had jumped inside the drive limit and then he along with every member of his species saw the ship fire a huge red beam into the planet. The planet exploded and vaporized leaving nothing but empty space where it had been.
“I will be watching your actions; you might want to begin your withdrawals immediately. Patience is not something I possess. Remember, seven rotations from now.” The small ship disappeared.
The three hundred gang members moved down the middle of the street shooting into the dwellings on each side as they passed and laughed at the cowering civilians hiding in their homes. Fires lit the street behind them and the damage being done to homes was extensive. This was their territory and one of the civilians had not responded fast enough when told to pay for protection. The gang’s leader decided they needed to be reminded who was in charge. Two of the gang members moving ahead of the main group had captured a young female returning home
