The bridge was silent for ten minutes. Finally, Junior said, “I told you that I’m your ship. I won’t hide anything from you again.”
“That’s all I ask. Now, are you ready to meet history?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Nope.”
“Then let’s make it happen.”
“Before we do, I don’t want to discuss the issues with them until the problem of the Keepers is resolved.”
“Mum’s the word.”
“That includes your parents.”
“They wouldn’t listen anyway. I’m still their little child.”
“OK; call them.”
“What?”
“You are the link to the Gardners. You always have been.”
“What are you talking about? How am I going to call them? I’ve tried to contact my parents so many times I’ve lost count.”
“Junior, do you have a distress beacon?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Who put that in you?”
“I was born with it.”
“Your parents would never agree to leave without making sure you were safe in their absence. A mother can sleep while a scheduled train roars by her house each night, shaking the building. A huge hauler can fly overhead and she’ll remain asleep. However, let her new born child whimper in the next room and she is immediately up and checking on it. You activate your distress call and your parents will arrive faster than you can imagine. If they are with the Gardners, and I really think they are, then the entire group will come with them.”
“My distress beacon will only work in this universe.”
“That’s why they are here. I might be wrong, but I doubt it.”
Junior considered what Jake was saying and decided, “We need to move to a more secure location.”
“Pick one.”
Junior jumped out into empty space between the galaxies. “Are you ready?’
“Give it a go.”
Junior activated his distress beacon.
A giant silver screen formed a hundred miles away and Jake and Junior saw the giant ship appear. The legendary Alexander Kosiev came out of the screen, followed by Aladdin and Fly Girl.
The Prime Director of the Keepers Fleets had passed frustration more than two weeks earlier. His fleets had chased the six planets from one end of this universe to another. Every time his fleets came close, the planets disappeared. This entire operation was a wasted effort.
“Enough!” he yelled.
The navigator looked up and wondered what he was going to do.
“It appears the inhabited planets are capable of escaping. If we can’t destroy them then we need to start our efforts elsewhere.”
“What do you mean?”
“There are millions of planets without intelligence that can be used for them to flee. We’ll destroy those and hope our scientists can find a way around this technology. Divide the fleet into twenty four units with a hundred thousand ships each. Find planets that are habitable and destroy them.”
The Fleet Directors reorganized their fleets and selected their new targets. The huge fleet disappeared.
Jaxl followed one of the fleets and watched as it jumped in close to a blue and green planet. Twelve hours later the planet was an airless burning ball. “Fleet Command, the Keepers are now destroying uninhabited planets.”
“Maintain station, Searcher. We knew it was coming.”
“Science, have you found a way around that frequency?”
“Not yet. However, we are going to attempt a new way to attack.”
“How?”
“We know that our non-space jump systems are blocked by the frequency. We are going to see if we can jump ships in close to one of their planets using the universal drives.”
“Will it work?”
“We’ll only know that after we attempt it. We are using a hundred thousand ships in the initial effort, and upon emergence they will immediately enter the planet’s atmosphere. We hope that if they move the planet, our ships will go with it.”
“Keep me informed.”
“Valerie?”
“Yes, Jake?”
I’m sending you Junior’s coordinates. I think you should be here to welcome our guests.”
“Really?!?!?!?”
“Yes, really. They’ll be here momentarily.”
Valerie appeared on Junior’s bridge, saw on the main screen the giant white ship approaching, and immediately recognized it. The Kosiev had its screens extended at full power and she could see all the weapons ports were energized and active. Two small ancient Searcher ships were also approaching at high speed, and they were also ready for combat.
“Junior, are you all right?”
“Yes, Mom, I’m fine.”
“Then why the distress beacon? I told you to never use it except in an emergency.”
“Father, you never told me I had a distress beacon.”
“I didn’t?”
“No, you did not.”
“Fly Girl, I could have sworn I gave him the speech about using the distress beacon.”
“Al, you missed giving him a lot of speeches.”
“Mom, Dad; I’ve missed you so much.”
‘How long have we been gone?”
“More than thirteen thousand years.”
Suddenly Jake and Valerie hear a thought, “How long did you say?”
Jake answered, “The Alexander Kosiev and the Gardner Family have been missing for more than thirteen thousand years. It is my guess that you decided to go because of the current situation the Realm is now facing.”
“Is the Realm at war?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Has Ulmerton been destroyed?”
“Just as you envisioned.”
“Will you join us on the Kosiev?”
“Give me the coordinates. I will be bringing the current Queen of the Realm with me.”
“By all means; we look forward to meeting her.”
Jake looked at Valerie, “Are you ready?”
“I’ve so looked forward to this moment, Jake, but we need to take one more person with us.”
Jake smiled and shrugged. Valerie hit her com, “Joe, please teleport to the coordinates I just sent you.”
“I was so hoping you wouldn’t forget me.”
Joe appeared on the bridge next to Valerie and stared wide-eyed at the main display.
Junior, if you’ll do the honors.”
Jake, Valerie, and Joe disappeared.
“What’s going on, Junior?”
