“How long has it been since the destruction of that Gamma?”
“Thirty six hours.”
Jake thought a moment and said, “We have some time to prepare.” Valerie started to respond, but Jake continued, “If they take more than two days to convert two hundred ships, it will take three years to modify a hundred thousand. The only way to speed up the process is to build those facilities at their other home worlds. That will take some time, so we have a period to get ready for their assault.”
Manny shook his head, “What can we do? None of our weapons will work against them and their new ships have a screen that will protect them from the slicing beam, which is the only thing we’ve found that will penetrate their hulls.”
Jake looked at Valerie and said, “I need you to call Edison and Sprig to come here to this meeting.”
“Joe also needs to be here.”
“That’s fine, Valerie; just make it happen quickly. I need to take a look at those history records again. Let me know when they arrive.” Jake went over to the couch, put the headphones on, and closed his eyes.
“What is he doing, Valerie?”
Valerie smiled, “I have no idea, but I have faith it will help us.”
Manny shook his head, “I’m afraid nothing will help us. Joe contacted me just before I teleported in and said that there has been a development he needs to handle.”
“Do you know what it is?”
“No. It must be important, and I’m sure he’ll notify us once he gets it handled.”
Valerie almost contacted Joe, but decided to focus on the issue at hand.
An hour later Sprig arrived with Twig in tow, and Edison joined the group with Newton arriving ten minutes later. Sprig looked at Valerie and asked, “What’s going on?”
Valerie played the recording of the new Keepers’ shipbuilding facilities at high speed and saw that the Algeans and Spiders were concerned. Edison said, “This is not good. If they free up their fleet, then we are all in grave danger.”
Valerie went over, turned Jake’s download off, and said, “I know. I think Jake has an idea, but he didn’t want to be disturbed before your arrival.”
Jake opened his eyes and sat up. He looked at Sprig and Twig and said, “I have just looked at the history of the war between you and the Stars Realm. Your fleet destroyed one of the Realm’s fleets in one of the early battles.”
Sprig and Twig’s leaves turned brown, “We did a lot of things during that era for which we are very ashamed.”
“Sprig, you prevented that fleet from jumping to safety through the use of a frequency generator. Do you still have that technology?”
Sprig looked at Twig and connected with her mentally. After a few moments Twig said, “Yes, but the Realm found a way around it by using double screen jumps through null space.”
Jake smiled, “The Keepers are using standard technology to jump inside the jump limit. I don’t believe they know about the frequency of null space, so they shouldn’t be able to counter it. Using the frequency generator should force them to come in from the jump limit just like the ancient Stars Realm’s Megaships were force to do.
Sprig nodded and said, “We should place a generator at every member of the Realm to prevent the Keepers from jumping in close to the planet with no warning. We can also move the planet before they arrive as they move in from the jump. That would prevent them from destroying the planet.”
Jake nodded, “Can we make that happen with the millions of worlds in the Realm?”
Sprig said, “Give us a moment,” and linked minds with Twig.
Jake looked at Edison and said, “If I understand it right, you had scanners that could detect universal drives that jumped into your universe during your war with the Realm.”
“We still have those scanners, Jake. Why do you ask?”
Because we can’t see their ships on our scanners, but we can see where they jump into our universe. If we can get a stealth probe to that location fast enough to read their jump tracks, we should be able to follow them wherever they move, giving us an advance warning of their attack.”
Newton lowered to the floor and asked, “Do we have that many probes? They have more than a hundred million ships.”
Jake looked at Manny who said, “No, we don’t. But I suspect that if they follow their normal doctrine they will use large numbers of ships in their initial attacks. If a hundred thousand ships are used, then we only need a million probes at this moment. We are close to that now. I suspect the number needed initially will be small until they can modify enough of their ships.”
Jake looked at Edison and said, “They will probably start using the minimum number necessary to burn a planet. Eventually, we can increase production of those probes and ultimately assign one to each of their ships if needed. Once more, it depends on how much time they give us before they modify their fleet. Edison, we need you to incorporate your scanner into those probes so they can detect and immediately jump to a Keepers Fleet jumping into our universe.”
Edison and Newton looked at each other, and Newton said, “We’ll need two different types of probes. One will be designed to jump to the initial arrival and follow the Keepers to their targets. It will also read all the jump tracks when they jump from their point of emergence. If there is more than one, it will communicate those tracks to other probes to follow each one detected.”
Manny asked, “What’s the second type?”
“It will lock on a single ship and follow it wherever it goes. That one is the simplest and it won’t be hard to manufacture those in huge numbers.”
Jake stood and looked at Edison, “What about moving the planets?”
Edison looked at Sprig and said, “Do you want to take it from here?”
Sprig leaned forward and said, “That’s the easy part, Jake. We have mapped this universe to a fine fare- thee-well. Our computers can select a location in a different galaxy, move a planet to a stable orbit around a suitable star, and be prepared to move it again if necessary. Since we will have time before they can move in- system to a planet, hours in most cases, we will just teleport a ship to the planet and move it just before their arrival. That will cause a massive waste of time moving in and out of a system. If we have enough time, we will send a probe to each planet to handle the process automatically.”
Jake sat down and leaned back in a chair, “I know how we can trial that frequency generator.”
Everyone just stared at him, “We take one to the Keepers’ universe and start moving some of the enslaved planets to your galaxy, Sprig. If it works, they cannot arrive in time to stop us.”
Sprig and Twig both turned green instantly, “We’ll have one ready for you in a week, and start their production within three weeks.”
Valerie looked at Jake and was amazed at his ability to recall the smallest detail of the Realm’s ancient history. She looked at Sprig, “Will you coordinate this project and make it become a reality?”
“I will, Your Majesty.” He looked at the Spiders and said, “Can you assist me in getting the probe’s production started?”
“Einstein will join us and we’ll handle the probes. You focus on the safety of the planets.”
Manny smiled and said, “I’ll collect the Realm’s probes on a planet you designate for their modification.”
Jake could see the excitement of the group now having something productive to do against the enemy.
Valerie smiled and said, “Let’s get ready for a little hide-and-seek. I hope we frustrate those Keepers to the point of driving them out.”
Jake saw Robby sitting on a table across the library smiling; then he disappeared.
A Stars Realm Colonel entered the room at a fast pace and whispered into Manny’s Ear. Manny’s expression turned serious, then he said,
“What’s wrong, Uncle?”
“Valerie, we have been given additional time for our project, but the price was very high.”
Jake looked at Valerie and waited for Manny to explain.
Mord watched Lorg’s death on his monitor and felt several emotions: anger, fear, and loathing of the creatures that had killed his home and his sailors. He knew that his ships could no longer harm the Keepers’
