thanking them for their courtesy?”
“Don’t stand above them, and allow ten feet for the passage.”
Jake fed the locations of the platforms to the combat computers of the team, and had an alarm sound if anyone moved between the platform and the surface. “We’re clear, Junior.”
Junior fired an intense micro needle that was only two inches wide, but incredibly hot, into the ground. It penetrated two levels and hit a beam platform. “BC, Ethan; use your scanner and fire a micro needle at any beam platform in your area of coverage. The team will not be within ten feet of the area above the platforms.”
“Ok, this is how we’re going to do this. This level is clear. Before you teleport to the next level, eject a bundle of bees. Use your blaster to burn a hole next to you through the floor into the next level. Then fire a bundle of wasps and two hornets through it. Wait six seconds to give the hornets time to complete their run, then teleport into that level. Your computers will take over once we jump in.” Jake looked at the warriors and said, “Execute.”
The Collective was analyzing production data when it felt thousands of its warriors dying. It sent its perception out and saw five thousand farms under attack. It heard, “I’ve sent ships to the farms and they will arrive momentarily.”
The Collective looked at the planets being attacked and one jumped out at him. Military responded again, “I see Grenwa is one of those being assaulted. I don’t know if the enemy just got lucky or knew its importance. I’ve sent a hundred thousand ships to its defense.”
The Collective said nothing, but turned its attention to Grenwa and entered the farm’s Director. “We have assistance on the way.”
“The Fleet arrived a twentieth interval ago and is coming in from the jump band.”
“Military, why is our fleet only jumping to the jump band?”
“I don’t know. Our drives will not take us any further. Science, what’s happening?”
“There is a probe emitting a frequency that is preventing our ships from jumping to the planet.”
“Just the one planet?”
“No, all five thousand.”
The Collective went back to the Director and asked, “Can you hold out?”
“The attackers are now down two levels and we are organizing our defense eight levels below them. At the current pace, the fleet should arrive before the nineteenth level is reached.”
The Collective was anxious. How did the enemy prevent their drives from operating? Then it had a sudden thought that caused fear, “If their drives were not working here, what about the fleet in the enemy’s universe?”
“Military, get a scout to the enemy’s universe and see if the fleet is also being affected by this device.”
“It won’t make any difference. They may move the populations, but we will destroy the planets until there is nowhere for them to escape.”
“Even so, find out what’s happening.”
Military ordered the scout to go and felt an unfamiliar emotion: fear.
“This just in for your viewing pleasure. A Keepers Fleet of a hundred thousand ships has just come out of jump at the drive limit.”
Jake fired a hornet at a beam platform and said as he released another bundle of wasps, “They really respond in a big way, Junior.”
“I’m not so sure about that, Jake.”
Jake sensed something in Junior’s tone, “What do you mean?”
“This is the only planet that drew that level of response. All the others only had a thousand ships dispatched.”
“There’s something here that’s important to them.”
“That’s how I see it, Jake. Have you seen anything that would justify that level of response?”
Jake fired his blaster at a Keeper coming out of an opening in the floor, “No but we’re only down to the sixth level.”
“My scanners show a huge welcome party for you on the eighth level.”
“What do you see?”
“The entire corridor is filled with Keepers aiming their beam platforms at the seventh level.”
Jake looked at his display and saw that the sixth level was clear of Keepers. He ordered a halt to the advance. The team waited and listened in to Jake’s transmission, “Junior, can you fire one of the old needles into that level and load it with hornets.”
“If he can’t, I can.”
Junior asked, “What are you doing with old needle armament, BC?”
“I love the old weapons. I even have an early Stars Realm Megaship primary beam.”
“Well, I am impressed.”
“I’ll give you one when this is over.”
“Thanks, BC.”
“As soon as you two Chatty Charleys finish your conversation, we could use that needle.”
Junior said, “Party pooper,” just as a brilliant, white beam hit the garrison and penetrated to the eighth level. Enclosed in the needle were four hundred hornets that scattered, seeking out the beam platforms.
Jake hit his mike, “Cynthia, take command and clean up the seventh level. I’ll meet you on the eighth.” Jake ran over to the hole made by the needle and jumped. His perceptions slowed, and as he slowly passed the seventh level he fired six bundles of wasps; three on each side of the hole he was falling through. Keepers began burning. Then he landed on the eighth level and saw the mayhem the hornets had caused. He fired three bundles in each direction and moved toward the largest concentration of platforms. His scanners showed forty were still operational, so he fired forty hornets that left him at what seemed normal speed. To the Keepers in the corridor, they punched though the sound barrier immediately and hit every platform in less than a tenth of a second.
Jake got behind the cloud of wasps moving up the corridor and hit any Keepers they missed with his blaster. He cleared one end of the corridor, turned and ran back to the other end, and caught up with the other cloud of wasps as it moved in the other direction. He knew that he was moving faster than the speed of sound. As he neared the cloud of wasps they picked up speed and the other end was cleared. Jake looked at his scanner and saw the seventh level was just about completed. He waited, and in three minutes the rest of the team joined him on the eighth level.
Cynthia looked around and saw more than five hundred beam platforms on her scanner. She had no idea how many Keepers had been killed because the wasps left little or nothing behind. Dale and his team were amazed at the destruction around them and were thankful they had not had to face those platforms. The team dropped to the ninth level.
Junior and the other two ships were no longer blasting the surface of the garrison. Every installation above the planet’s surface had been destroyed. There was nothing left alive to hit. Junior worried as he watched the approaching fleet. Finally he said, “Jake, the fleet will arrive in three hours and twenty minutes. At the current pace you will only make it to level twenty before their arrival.”
Jake knew time was going to run out, and he suspected that whatever the Keepers valued on this planet has to be on the lowest level. There just wasn’t enough time. He hit his com, “Cynthia, we’re running out of time. I’m taking over from here. Here’s what I want you to do. I am going to teleport into the fifteenth level at the west end of the corridor and move east. As soon as your scanners show it’s clear, teleport in and everyone fire a load of bees. I don’t want anything coming up behind us.”
“Jake, are you sure?”
Jake shrugged, “If it gets too dangerous I’ll teleport out and you can follow. Are you ready?”
Cynthia nodded, watching as Jake teleported to the end of the corridor and then disappeared.
Dale watched his scanner over the next two and a half hours as something moved through the corridors under him faster than anything he had ever seen. His scanner showed the huge blasts as they moved from one end of the next level to the other. His four team members were amazed at what they were witnessing. The rumors and tales about the White Demon were not even close to the reality of what they were seeing.
Finally, level twenty four was cleared. Jake stood there and the six Red Warriors saw most of his armor was covered with brown blood stains. “Load your weapons. It’s the next level that we must investigate. I don’t see
