Jake looked out at the garrison and saw thousands of Keepers’ vehicles and troops pouring out of the ground around the central building. He teleported to the ground next to Cynthia as thousands of beams ripped through the space he had just occupied. Jake watched everything go into slow motion, but saw so many black lines going out into the oncoming horde that he knew he could not hit them all. He released his armor and began teleporting away from the incoming beams and projectiles being fired at him. His armor took on a life of its own as wasps, hornets, beams, and auto cannon projectiles left in a solid wave of death. The front ranks of the oncoming Keepers were obliterated by Jake’s and Cynthia’s combined fire.
Cynthia thought to Jake, “I told you this was not good on Ross.”
Jake killed twelve Keepers’ aircraft as they approached the row of hills, “Yes, you did, but admit it; aren’t you having fun?”
Cynthia hit eight more circling around to the left, “Yes, but don’t tell anyone.”
Jake smiled, then felt his rage build. The Keepers were gaining ground, but they were dying by the thousands.
The Humans could hear the explosions moving closer and knew that a massive battle was happening just over the hills from their colony. Valerie thought, “Junior, what’s happening?”
“Jake and Cynthia are holding off more than eighty thousand Keepers.”
“Junior, you have to get them out of there.”
“I would if I could, but Jake is still blocking my efforts.”
“Junior, can you scan Jake and get a reading on the level of his psychic power.”
“Yes, but why do you want me to do that?”
“I want to make sure he has really been released.”
“Standby, I’ll send the reading to your com.”
Valerie looked at her com, saw the reading was at the top of the psychic meter, but no higher than her own reading. “Junior, it’s not high enough. He has not been fully released.”
“What are you talking about, Valerie? I felt the psychic wave that killed those Keepers.”
“Junior, that wave came off the shell holding his powers in. He is not fully released. He still has to touch his initiator.”
“Valerie, we don’t have time for him to touch everyone again.”
“He doesn’t have to, Junior; I am his initiator.”
Junior was speechless.
“I felt him the first time I touched him, but I did not release him so I assumed it was someone else. I was bonded to him that day; we have to get him to come here.”
“If he comes here then the colony and you will die.”
Valerie screamed, “He must come here! It’s our only chance.”
Jake saw that he was not going to stop them all. The Keepers were only a mile from the break in the hills that would lead them to the Human colony. He felt a huge weight of sorrow and wondered why his psychic powers were not able to overcome this enemy. Suddenly the entire front of the Keepers blew up in huge explosions. Ethan Rucker came in over the row of hills in stealth mode. The fifty Red Warriors teleported out of the ship and took up positions on each side of Jake and Cynthia as Ethan released his weapons and fired a barrage of high speed penetrators into the front ranks of the advancing Keepers. He then teleported forty miles past the garrison and turned to line up another pass.
The Collective was watching the battle take place from the mind of the Garrison’s Leader as he directed his troops from his bunker. When the explosions started at the front of their advance the Collective could feel the Keepers being killed. This was a new experience for the Collective, and caused a high level of consternation. He detached himself from the Garrison Leader and asked the Military Quadrant, “How are they attacking our front? Those projectiles came out of nowhere.”
“It has to be a ship that is invisible to our sensors. This species has also found a way to hide their thoughts from us.”
“How much longer before the fleet arrives at the farm?”
“Seven intervals.”
The Science Quadrant added, “I would recommend that you not connect with the forces at the farm. We don’t know how they hit us, and it could happen again. Those forces must be isolated from the Collective.”
The Collective examined that suggestion and almost disagreed, but it still felt the shock of the disorganization of its components, “Military, assign someone to keep contact and send us reports. Separate yourself from us and keep us informed.”
Jake watched the Red Warriors knock the front line of the Keepers back three miles, then he saw the beam platforms being aimed at their position, “Teleport behind their lines now!” The Warriors teleported away just before seventy of the focused beams hit the hill they were on. The entire hill disappeared. The Keepers began advancing again just as Ethan came roaring in. He released a six mile wide barrage of hornets that targeted the beam platforms and any other mobile weapon. One of the platforms saw the hornets leave from midair and fired in front of the barrage.
Ethan felt the beam hit his small attack craft and his weapon console shorted out. He banked hard left and then went vertical back into orbit above the planet. The coating saved the ship but the external weapon pods were useless. He tested his Coronado beams and discovered he could only fire them manually. The projectors were inside the nose of the ship and had not been hit by the Keepers. He turned his craft and saw on his display that thousands of Keepers were coming out of a hole in the ground a mile in front of the gap to the colonies. He teleported a thousand yards in front of the hole and lined up for a shot.
Jake and the fifty Red Warriors saw the breakout of the Keepers and Jake tuned his armor to the frequency of the commander, “We are going to have to jump in and out and slow them down.”
Major Draygen tripped the command circuit and said, “You have your assignments, don’t take too long in one place.”
The Red Warriors jumped in among the advancing Keepers and began releasing a hail of high velocity projectiles and hornets. Jake teleported into his assigned position and once again saw everything slow down. To the Keepers he appeared to be moving faster than they could visually follow. Everywhere he moved Keepers died by the hundreds. More beam platforms had come out of the ground and Jake fired a steady stream of wasps and hornets. Ten Red Warriors were hit by multiple Keepers’ beams and had their armor fail. The Keepers then hit them hundreds of times and they disintegrated. The battle became more intense as hundreds of Keepers began coming out of a new hole. Then he heard over his com circuit, “Jump out, I’m coming in with beams.” The remaining warriors and Jake teleported to the left and right flank of the Keepers as Ethan came roaring in with all ten power cells firing at full power. Every Keeper in the center of their line was burned out of existence as Ethan teleported back into orbit. Jake continued to fire his auto cannon and heard, “Jake, you’ve got to come to the colony now.”
“Why is that, Junior?” He teleported to the other side of the Keepers’ formation as fifty beams hit the ground where he was just standing.
“Valerie says that your powers have not been released.”
“Junior, I’m a little busy right now and if I’m not released, what was that blue psychic blast?”
“That was the shell holding your powers. The Keepers removed it, but they did not release your full ability.”
Jake jumped into the middle of the Keepers’ formation and fired at the Keepers on each side as they tried to reform their line. “Junior, we’re down to twenty eight Red Warriors and I’m the one doing the most damage. If I leave, the colony will be in range of their weapons. There’s no way I can go.”
“Jake, those ships coming in from the outer system will be here soon. If they arrive, we’re all in range of their weapons.”
“Where are the transports, Junior?”
“I don’t know.”
“I don’t care what you think, Admiral, get those ships moving immediately.”
“But, Your Majesty, we’ve had to remove the power to the weapon consoles to power the teleport fields to only take the colonists. There is a battle taking place that can hit those ships before they can teleport the colonists.”
