“Tell me where and when.”
Jongo had one more trip to make, then he would be ready. It would be a real shame if the probe protecting Nove Vista happened to be destroyed. Thank goodness for the stealth mode of his ship. He smiled as he entered Nove Vista’s current coordinates into his teleport unit; one more capital to meet a terrible fate.
Valerie was on board the Kosiev to see if the trial would work on the cutting beam when her com buzzed. She pressed it and saw Manny. “What’s wrong?”
“We’ve lost Nove Vista.”
“How? They were ordered to move the planet.”
“It appears that the probe was somehow destroyed and before another could be teleported in, a Keepers Fleet arrived and destroyed the planet.”
“Manny, what happened to that probe?”
“The ships that were monitoring for Keepers said that a red beam struck it.”
Valerie was stunned. Only Searchers had red beams. “What’s being said, Manny?”
“Ales Jongo is spreading a story that the Realm is destroying the provincial capitals and making it appear as if the Keepers are to blame. He says they are doing our dirty work for us.”
Valerie felt her rage build, and vowed to make Jongo pay for the billions that died on Nove Vista. “Where is Jongo now?”
“He’s meeting with the military leaders of the province and volunteering to assist them in their time of need.”
“Do you know if he did the same with Del Robles’ leaders?”
“They are being evasive. Admiral Teplig is not answering my calls, and his second in command says he’s too busy protecting the province to waste time communicating with the Realm.”
“You better start planning a defense, Manny.”
“I’ve been working on it since the attempt on Ross, Valerie. However, if Jongo gets those two provinces to join him, he’ll have more than three times our ships to use against us.”
“Does Jake know?”
“Yes, and he says we need to keep the roof up and worry about the back door later.”
“Keep me informed.”
“What was that about?”
Valerie looked at Tag and said, “We are facing a civil war if we can survive the Keepers. We have a number of the provincial leaders that have been posturing to assume the Realm’s throne. They are beginning to make their move while we are distracted by the Keepers’ invasion.”
Tag’s expression turned hard.
“I’ll explain what’s happening after we get the current issues handled. There won’t be a Realm to fight over if we can’t find a way to stop this invasion.”
Tag looked at Danielle and she nodded.
Valerie turned and said, “Are we ready for the trial, Cassandra?”
“Yes, Alex, show us what you can do?”
The Kosiev was parked a mile from an asteroid belt, then moved its nose toward one of the larger rocks. A bright yellow beam erupted from the surface of the giant ship and struck the asteroid. The huge rock split in half. It was cut cleanly through the middle.
“Move out to fifty miles and try again.”
Once more a huge rock was split in half.
“Now a hundred miles.”
This time the rock took twenty seconds to split.
The Gardners began congratulating Cassandra. Valerie looked at the data and said, “Alex, how far were you from the Keepers Fleet when you felt their beams affect our processors?”
The group became instantly silent. “Three hundred miles, Your Majesty.”
“Tell me what you know about this new device you’ve just demonstrated.
“It will only work once. I should be able to kill one of their ships before they destroy my central processors.”
“And you’re willing to do it even if you can only kill one ship?”
“They are the Realm’s enemy.”
Cassandra sighed, “We are not willing to lose you for the destruction of just one ship.” She looked at Tag and he nodded.
“Looks like we’re back at square one.”
Tag shook his head, “I don’t understand why we’re here. We haven’t helped this situation even in a small way. I feel helpless.”
Valerie thought to herself, “Welcome to my world.” Then she said, “There is a reason; we just haven’t found it yet. Those visions brought you here, and I believe it is to save us. We need to find it; I’m sure it exists.”
Matt said, “I really hope you’re right and we weren’t just brought here to die.”
Danielle was stunned. She saw the truth in Matt’s statement. She looked quickly at Tag and decided she would not leave his side from that moment forward. If they were going to die, she was going to make sure it was with him. There was no life without him.
“Sprig, are you ready?”
“Yes, we are. The coordinates for the Searchers are on your board.”
“Manny, will you pass these coordinates to the Brez Searchers and ask them to teleport to them without their ships?”
“Don’t they need their ships?”
“Not at this moment. I need to talk with them first.”
“They will be coming by Units.”
“Thank you, Manny. Are you ready for the rescue?”
“It’s set to take place tomorrow at twelve hundred hours Ross time.”
“Good luck, Manny.”
“We’re ready, Jake.”
“I know you are.”
Jake teleported down to a reviewing stand overlooking a huge barren field. The Searchers started teleporting in and the field was filling up quickly. Ten divisions arrived and formed up on the reviewing stand. Everyone was questioning their officers about what was happening, but no one knew. One of the Searchers recognized Jake and said, “Behold the White Demon.” The Searchers all started staring at the Reviewing stand and after a few minutes, silence settled over the field.
Jake looked out at the finest warriors in the Realm and used telepathy to communicate with them, “I know that you’re wondering why we brought you here without your ships. We are going to provide you a new ship momentarily, but before we do that I need to see your heart. You have been charged with the protection of the Crown. Your duty is to make sure the Royal Family is not harmed. I need an answer from you. If you had to choose, which you would go to defend if you could only protect one? Would you protect the Queen or the Realm? I want you to think about this seriously. You can only go save one; which would it be?”
Silence ruled the plain. Jake waited and after ten minutes heard a Glod Searcher yell from the back of the formations, “My sword belongs to the Queen.”
Jake said, “If you choose the Queen over the Realm, move out of your ranks and form up behind this reviewing stand.”
Slowly at first, a few hundred moved forward. Jake saw that the majority of them were Glod. Then the Humans began leaving the formation and walked with their Glod brothers, shaking their hands. The Cainth rushed out and joined the Searchers moving behind the reviewing stands. Then it became a mad rush and all of the assembled warriors ran to join those that were forming up behind the reviewing stand.
Jake tuned and faced the Searchers and said, “I know you had great difficulty making that decision. However, you have shown your loyalty to the Realm. The Royal Family is the Realm, and anything else is not what binds us. The Realm is facing two threats. The first are the creatures currently invading. The second are members of the Realm who have decided to take the throne. There will be a civil war if we defeat the invaders, and it will
