“Mom, we had to kill the Keepers. Calm down and listen to what Jake is going to say. I think you’ll understand.
“If you think you can shut me up..”
“Be quiet, Fly Girl.”
“What?”
Al said in a soft tone, “He said he had to kill the Keepers. Can you think of a better reason for his absence?”
Fly Girl thought about what Al said, “Did you kill them?”
“They will be gone in less than three drags. There are only three fleets still alive in our universe, and they will be killed within a quarter of a drag.”
“How did you…?
“Listen in and you will understand.”
“Do as he says, Love. It appears our child is grown up.”
Jake teleported in to the map room and found everyone sitting at a table waiting for him. Valerie ran forward and embraced him, “I’ve been so worried.”
“I’m fine, Val. I need you to listen to what I’m going to say and reserve your judgment until I finish. Can you do that for me?”
Valerie looked into his eyes and saw that something was wrong. Terribly wrong. She nodded and took her seat at the head of the table.
Jake turned and looked at AG who was sitting next to Joe, “I’m surprised that you haven’t been more involved with this war.”
AG smiled, looked at Joe, and then back at Jake, “I didn’t want to interfere with your extermination of the Keepers. I have done my best not to get involved. My role in this begins now.”
“You could have told me and removed a lot of stress. I’ve been avoiding you.”
“No, your stress was part of my vision. No one could know what was happening until now. Why don’t you explain what’s going on and why we were brought to this particular place and time in the Realm?”
Tag looked at AG and said, “You knew what was going to happen?”
“Yes, and you’re not going to like it. However, you need to hear Jake out and realize that he is the greatest psychic in the Realm’s history. You must do as he asks.”
Danielle looked at Jake and said, “What are you asking us to do?”
Jake looked at the Gardners and said, “I’m going to ask you to do absolutely nothing.”
The people sitting around the table looked at each other and Matt said, “It appears you have been deceptive about a number of things.”
“That’s true.”
“Where did you get those ships to kill the Keepers?”
“I went back to the Eight Leg universe and found a small craft inside the Nest Mother’s ship. I gave it to the Algeans to build weapons to defeat the Keepers.”
“Did you know that ship was there when we went the first time?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you get it then?”
“Two reasons. First; I didn’t want the Kosiev to have access to that weapon and second, I wanted to keep you occupied until the Keepers were handled.”
Melanie was obviously angry and said, “What? You don’t think we can be trusted?”
“That is also true.”
That statement brought an uncomfortable silence crashing down on the room.
Danielle said, “You worried that we would do more harm than good.”
“That is also true, and it is not an opinion but a reality that I’m hoping I can get you to see.”
AG looked at him and smiled, “Do we have time for this?”
“Barely, but I feel I must get everyone to understand what’s going to happen.” Matt pressed his com and said, “Sprig, will you join us in the map room?”
A silver field appeared and Sprig stepped out.
Tag looked at him and said, “You were in on this, too.”
“Not really, Mr. Gardner. We were operating independently, but Jake persuaded us to change our plans and work with him.”
Cassandra said, “The defeat of the Keepers is what probably persuaded you to change them, right?”
“No, not really. Our plans were made not caring whether the Keepers were killed or not.”
Tommy said, “What plans, Sprig?”
Sprig looked around the room and said, “Our plans to leave the Stars Realm.”
Jake looked at Sprig, “How much more time do we have?”
“About a drag if nothing is done.”
“Don’t wait on us, Sprig. You have a responsibility you must fulfill.”
“We have already gone. I was talking about you.”
Jake smiled, “Good. I have a family that needs your protection.”
Valerie looked at Jake and said, “Jake what are you talking about? You have me totally confused.”
Jake sighed and said, “Ross is going to be attacked in about an hour by more than twenty million Searcher Class ships. Sprig’s galaxy was going to be attacked by ten million ships.”
The silence was deafening. Then everyone started talking at once. AG sent a thought to everyone present, “SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!”
Matt and Melanie were stunned by the power of that thought.
“Thank you, AG. How long have you known about this?”
“Sprig, I saw it before we entered the Kosiev.”
AG’s statement silenced the Gardners.
Jake turned back to the group. “Ordinarily I would have just gone through with my plans but I knew that if I did, you would have done something I wanted to avoid.”
Tag asked, “What did you not want us to do?”
Jake looked at him and said, “Prevent the destruction of the Stars Realm.”
Joe looked at Valerie and said, “That sounds like treason to me, Jake.”
AG looked at Joe and shook her head and whispered, “You must listen.”
Tag said, “You must know we would never let that happen.”
“That’s why we’re here having this discussion. It’s your fault that it’s happening.”
Tag started getting angry, “Where do you get off making that accusation?”
Sprig said, “Because it’s true.”
Danielle put her hand on Tag’s arm and said, “Perhaps we need to hear what they’re trying to tell us?”
Jake looked at Valerie and said, “I’m sorry, but I was not sent to save the Realm. I was sent to save you.” He turned back to the Gardners and said, “The Realm has been on the path to meltdown for more than eight thousand years and once the process started, there was no stopping it.”
Cassandra said, “Oh, we can stop it.”
“That’s what I’m trying to get you to avoid. If it weren’t for the Alexander Kosiev, I would have just ignored you. But I believe you could use it and destroy all the ships being sent against Ross and the Algeans. Cassandra I need you to ask it to delay and hear what I have to say before it decides to act.”
They all heard, “I took an oath to destroy all enemies of the Stars Realm both foreign and domestic. I will be going to destroy those ships momentarily.”
“What if the enemy is the Stars Realm?”
Cassandra said, “Alex, you might want to hear what he has to say before you take any action.”
“I will, but you’d better hurry it up. Those ships are forming up and will be here in fifty minutes.”
Danielle asked, “How was this our fault?”
“Because you were lazy and took the easy way out.”
AG nodded, and Melanie and Danielle heard the truth in Jake’s statement.
“You decided that you didn’t want to wait until the war with the Keepers started. You abandoned the Realm.
