“Orders issued, Director.”
The Director thought about those ships coming back, but he would have his ships’ beams pointed toward the collection point and destroy any ship that tried to interfere with the process. He looked at his navigator, “Have the next target selected.”
“I’ve narrowed it down to three choices.”
“This just in, there are bodies lying in the street at Gredna.”
“Junior, are you sure?”
“Look at your monitor; you can see some of them are still twitching. You did the right thing to move the Cainth ships out of the system. There wasn’t another city after they hit Brayent large enough to justify a landing. They should be wrapping up the beaming of the planet momentarily, then they should park in orbit.”
“Connect me with Fleet Operations.”
Manny appeared on his console, “Admiral, they have left bodies in Gredna. Have your Searchers selected their targets?”
“As soon as they park in orbit our computer will assign the ships. The Searcher will attack their assigned target and the ship immediately to the left. The computer will also download the coordinates of each firing point behind those ships. The ship’s computers will target the drives and have already gone weapons live.”
“How long between shots, Admiral?”
“We guess two seconds; however, that is truly a guess. We aren’t jumping the Searchers to the second ship until we verify the first was hit successfully.”
Jake thought about what he wanted, then decided he had to do what he thought was right, “How long between shots if we don’t wait to verify?”
Manny looked at Jake and said, “Less than a second.”
“Change the protocol, Admiral. If you wait to fire again, it’s possible one of the two ships will escape. Your program is set to make the two shots; we’ll go back to the first after the second. There are three drives to hit, and certainly one of them will be damaged in the first firing. That’s the one we’ll target after the second ship is killed.”
Manny stared at Jake and then said, “It will be done as you order.”
“Manny, I can’t give you orders.”
Manny smiled, “You and Joe are the only ones that can.” Jake’s screen went dark.
Junior announced, “The Keepers Fleet is moving into orbit above Gredna.”
Jake hit his com, “Admiral Mord, I want you to reconsider your request.”
The Angry Cainth glared at his com and said, “You made a commitment.”
“Just think about this. We are going to be forced to take this fight to their universe and I’m going to need pilots who are willing to fight their way through planetary defenses to kill their planets. You are about to attack 100,000 landing craft, with sixty Keepers on each craft, using your 3,200 ships. Those landing craft have the beams that destroyed your other ships. I will keep my commitment to you if necessary, but I thought you might want to make them pay on a much larger scale”
Mord felt the need to kill permeate his body and he knew his pilots felt the same. But the chance to kill a planet of these creatures for the death of his home cried out to him. He hit his com, “You’ve heard the offer. I long to kill these creatures, but not as much as I want to kill one of their worlds. What is your wish?”
One of the Cainth Pilots asked, “What do you intend to do with the ships on the planet?”
Jake smiled and answered, “I’m going to melt that city they land in down to the bedrock of Brayent. I’m not giving them a chance to kill or consume any others.”
“Will that harm their Landers?”
“Their Landers are made from a different material than their main ships. Oh yes, it will harm them.”
“Do you promise to give us a chance at revenge?”
“Unless they surrender to us immediately, you will have your opportunity. What is your decision?”
“Will you give us ships that can go to their universe and allow us to wage our own war?”
Jake thought a moment and liked the idea. Nothing teaches others a lesson like having their actions done to them, “I will do all I can to do exactly that, and I will give you ships that can hide from them. I will require your oath to cease fighting if we settle this conflict, and I do mean an oath you will keep.”
“Then melt the bastards.”
“Junior, give the coordinates of the Algean ship building facility and tell Sprig to start measuring these pilots for ships.”
Junior worried about turning these warriors loose uncontrolled, but then he saw the bodies still twitching in the streets of Gredna on his scans and decided if this was going to be bloody, the Keepers were behind in their payment. “Done and done.”
“May we stay and observe what happens?”
“Yes; just don’t go near the system,” Jake teleported out.
The Collective separated out into its Quadrants. Two intervals had passed and the entity had looked at the data with the mental capacity of ten trillion Keepers. Their findings were disturbing. Science spoke first, “It appears that universe is more advanced than we thought. The means of moving individuals inside the drive limit is amazing. We need to capture one of the mechanisms that are being used.”
Production added, “Our scanners were not wrong. The population had to be on the planet when our fleet entered the system. Building all the structures of a civilization with no one to live in them is an economic drain that can’t be endured, especially on the scale we’ve seen.”
The Collective asked Military, “How are we going to wage war on planets where the population can leave before we can attack?”
“We will have to destroy every planet in their universe that can sustain life. We cannot leave a place for the population to come escape. We will burn every planet down to the bedrock. There are hundreds of universes for us to conquer and manage; this particular one must be eliminated. There is also the issue of the Green Creatures. We know they are there; their planets should be the first targeted.”
The Collective pondered the direction it was moving his species and remembered what Values had said. He didn’t want to, but he turned his attention to the Quadrant that was not included in their discussion, “I will not harm you. What do you think?”
“What would you do if those creatures came to our universe and killed planets? Would you just sit by and do nothing?” Values paused for the Collective to consider that thought, then said, “You also know that a very powerful being that possesses mental powers greater than any we have ever seen is now there. Have you taken this being into your considerations?”
“You are only asking questions; I want to know what you think.”
“If you continue this path of conquest and destruction, we will be destroyed down to the last worker. Now I will go back to my solitude; your arrogance will convince you that I am wrong.”
The Collective and Quadrants listened to Values and remembered when it was used in formulating their plans so long ago. Now they grew angry at what it said.
Production said, “You should just disrupt it and good riddance.”
“I promised it no harm and you will do as I say.”
Technology asked, “What is our plan?”
The Collective knew a line was being crossed that placed them on a path that could not be stopped. His thoughts were interrupted by Production. “What about the ships currently fighting in that universe? Are we agreed that the invaders were able to damage our ships at the farm?”
The Collective turned its attention away from the Quadrants and contacted the Messenger Ship, “Go back to the fleet and warn them that there is a weakness in the drive systems of their ships. They must not turn off their drives.”
The Messenger locked in the coordinates of the fleet’s last location and jumped.
The Keepers Fleet organized in orbit above the city and launched 100,000 landing craft. They turned the noses of their ships toward the planet to destroy anything that attempted to prevent the collection of food stores, and watched as the small craft entered atmosphere.
Jake watched the Keepers Fleet come to a stop and turn off their drives, “Now, Manny!”
“Keepers’ ship breaking out of universal drive at the star drive limit.”
