planets, and he wept for the brave warriors killed in the efforts to hurt them. There were only eighty nine ships left of the original thirty two hundred, and he felt rage at being impotent. He thought about what could be done and remembered something he had seen in the download of the Star Realm’s early history. He checked with his ship’s computer and tried to decide if the price was worth the effort of what he was planning. He studied the data and saw his plan was possible.
He made a decision and called for all the survivors of Brayent to meet him at the original colony that Jake had freed. The garrison personnel had been transported away so there shouldn’t be anyone there to see them. He hit his teleport key and appeared above the now empty planet, waiting for the others to arrive.
After six hours, eighty nine ships were gathered above the planet. All of them had viewed the recording of Lorg’s final seconds and silence ruled the moment. Mord keyed his com and said to the survivors, “I know what you feel and I also feel it. It seems that we can no longer hurt these creatures, but I desire to send them all to Grund. I have a plan that would allow us to kill them one last time, but it would also kill all of us if we choose to go through with it. I refuse to order you to take this action, and as of this moment I am no longer your commander, but a friend.”
Zuck asked, “How many would we kill?”
“Every living being on the planet that killed Lorg; I estimate from his recording more than sixty billion.”
There was a long silence. Nerg broke it by saying, “My family, all my close friends, and everything I ever cared about died on Brayent. I have nothing but revenge and rage left in my soul. I long to join my mate and children in Junice, and my only hope is that I can extract a price from the creatures that killed them. If we could only kill one of them I would gladly join you in this enterprise. How do you plan to do this?”
Mord paused to allow others to have a word, but no one else spoke, “I saw in the ancient history of the Stars Realm where some of their ships fired negative energy at huge red ships that were attacking one of the Realm’s planets. I know that energy will not affect their ships but in that ancient attack, enough of it was absorbed by the system’s star that it went supernova.”
Zuck asked, “Where do we get this negative energy?”
“I checked with my ship’s computer and all of us have some of that energy in the outer skins of our ships. The original ships carried a huge amount of it, but the old Megaships were decommissioned more than seven thousand cycles ago and their skins were emptied. There was no safe place to store that energy, so it was put in the skins of all the Searchers. Our ships have enough, if we combine all of our ships, to cause an explosion large enough to possibly cause a nova. I don’t know if it will go supernova, but the planet will be destroyed either way. I believe the ships gathered at that planet will melt if it goes super.”
Yogn said, “You say ‘possibly’.”
All the survivors could see the sorrow on Mord’s face as they stared at their monitors, “Our ships have self- destruct circuits that annihilate them with a large explosion, but not a huge one. You know our beams are strong enough to destroy a planet, but the self-destruct circuit is designed only to release enough energy to destroy the ship. Look no further than the moon below us to see the crater from the first Searcher’s self-destruction.”
“If all of our energy was released it would, according to my computer, destroy this entire solar system. That’s why the Realm put limits on that circuit. In order for us to release all of our energy, we must fly into the corona of the sun and turn off our screens. The heat from the sun would melt the outer layer of our ship’s skins and release all of its energy, including the black holes and negative energy. The computer still doesn’t know what the effect would be, because nothing like this has ever been done with our type of ships. However, the Algeans told me that the Gamma ships are the most powerful ships ever constructed by the Realm. I, like you, Nerg, long to be with my family. This may not work, but it is the only way I see to strike at these creatures.” Mord paused and said, “If you are willing to do this, send me a signal on my console. You have five segs to think it over.”
“What if we choose not to do this?”
“Then we return to the Stars Realm and try to find peace and happiness until these creatures arrive to kill the new loved ones.”
“We could always jump to a different universe and live out our lives.”
“That’s true, Zuck, but your ancestors would eventually be consumed by them. I know how much you loved Reeg, Zuck. Do you think you can ever be happy without her?”
The lights started illuminating on Mord’s console, and after thirty seconds all eighty eight lights were glowing red. “It’s unanimous. We will take a day to prepare ourselves to go on our mission. Take this time to remember all of those you loved and those memories that bring you happiness. I am more proud of you at this moment than you will ever know, and I am humbled by your bravery. I will prepare a probe for the Realm to record what we do and explain why we are doing it. It includes all of your names and should the Realm survive, future generations will know of your bravery.”
The next day Mord and the other survivors teleported in to the outer system of the targeted Keepers’ production planet. Mord keyed his communications panel and sent an open transmission into the system, “I suspect that there is a Stars Realm ship in this system, and if you are inside the orbit of the fifth planet you should move to the outer reaches of the system immediately.”
Besens heard the communication and saw the eighty nine Gamma ships on his scanners. She was not going to return the communication and give away her location on the third moon. She decided that the Keepers had been warned of her presence and it might be in the best interests of her ship’s safety that she do exactly what the Cainth suggested. “Get us out of here, Cren.”
“Already moving, Bes.”
Mord saw the teleport energy of the Searcher and saw Keepers’ star drives lighting at the planet. “This is for Brayent!” he yelled into his com, and the eighty nine ships teleported into the outer corona of the systems star and turned off their screens.
The six thousand advanced Keepers’ ships assigned to protect the planet jumped to the position of the small white ships and found them gone. They immediately read the jump tracks and followed them before any of the navigators had a chance to see where they led, which turned out to be the worst, and last, decision they made that day. They arrived ten seconds behind the Gammas and were able to see the massive explosion from a great vantage point. Ordinarily, their hulls would not have been affected by the blast, but this was not an ordinary explosion. The sun went supernova and the first blast of nuclear fire engulfed the six thousand ships and melted them.
As soon as Mord communicated on an open frequency, the Collective and all of the Quadrants moved their attention to the production planet. They watched as the small ships disappeared and the six thousand ships give chase. The system’s sun was 120,000,000 miles from the planet, but the Keepers’ scanners actually operated instantly at universal distances so the operators of the scanners on the planet saw the sun go supernova. They watched in fear as the blast moved toward the planet. They had about ten and a half minutes before the explosion reached the planet at the speed of light. The Collective and all the Quadrants saw the star’s explosion moving outward and knew that billions of their species were about to die. They also knew that their abilities were about to be diminished. There’s something about seeing death coming and not being able to do anything to stop it that causes a fear which touches the depths of one’s being and is never forgotten. The Collective could not do anything but watch death move toward the planet.
More than sixty thousand Keepers’ ships had jumped into the system and were located inside the protection of the forts. All of them had received the first modification to have their drives protected. The new gates had been installed on the rear drives of the ships, but the systems to open them hadn’t. Those ships were unable to get underway and save themselves. Some of them turned on their drives in the hope of burning the new bafflers off and blew burning fuel into the interior of the ship. There was no escape; Death was coming and grinned at the meal. The billions of Keepers on the planet had no clue that there were only moments of life remaining for them. Ten point seven minutes after the explosion in the star’s corona, the atmosphere of the planet on the side facing the star was blown away, along with every ocean and three hundred feet of land surface. As the full blast arrived, the rest of the planet was melted into minute particles and became part of the shock wave moving into the outer solar system.
The Collective knew it was coming and could do nothing to stop the pain from the loss of billions of Keepers that were part of its consciousness. The Collective was fragmented again, and perhaps that was a blessing; the pain stopped.
The Values Quadrant was separated from the Collective and was not affected by the huge loss of life, but it
