Those in the provinces have no appreciation of what the Realm has done for them. The Realm’s gifts are expected and resented.”
Jake took a deep breath, turned, and said, “And we are going to join those two galaxies and take this new family of ours along with all the planets in our galaxy.” Jake got a faraway look and said, “For thousands of years the humans that were held by the Keepers told the tale every evening of the magical Realm they had left. They longed to return and live in the peace and protection of that beautiful place. They learned the real value of what the Stars Realm provided by experiencing the harsh brutality of being conquered.” Jake looked at the Gardners and said, “How many members of the Realm tell a similar tale now?”
Valerie said in a soft voice, “How can we leave the loyal planets in the five provinces that still believe in the ideals of the Realm? We’ll leave them to be destroyed by those that hate everything about the Realm.”
Jake shook his head slowly, “Valerie, more than ninety percent of all loyal planets remaining are in our galaxy. The other ten percent are now here as well.”
Joe said, “What?!?”
“As all of you may remember, we have been moving planets to protect them for the last eight months. I had Sprig move every planet that refused to send ships to attack Ross to our galaxy this week. They are all here; the Gresh, the Eight Trading Partners, and all the others that are still loyal to the Realm. We have had all of the Realm’s personnel stationed at military installations in the provinces teleport in to Fleet Command.”
Jake looked at the Gardners, “Can you in good conscience force your will on those that don’t want it? If you do, you violate the core of what the Stars Realm has stood for all these centuries. The Stars Realm is more than just membership. It is a belief in the core principles that founded it. It is founded on the real belief and trust in the Star Realm’s Queen to do the right thing for all its members.”
Danielle said, “If we’re gone, perhaps there will be no reason for a civil war.”
Jake and Sprig stared at her, saying nothing.
“There’s something you’re not telling us.”
Sprig looked at Jake, then Jake slowly shook his head showing his sorrow, “Danielle, there are five provinces you created that will covet the Crown with all its power. With Ross gone, the ambitious will not wait to claim the throne. They will see the leadership vacuum and know the time to act is now. They crave power, and possess unrestrained desire to rule this universe. I have created an environment that will slow them down, but war is coming and billions will die.”
Danielle looked at Jake and asked, “What did you do?”
“I moved all the fiveprovince’s planets around such that every province now has twenty percent of all the other provinces’ planets within their borders.”
AG said, “They could just use the probes to move them back to where they were initially.”
Jake smiled, “That could possibly happen if they knew how to operate the probes’ programming. However, only the Spiders and Algeans have the skills to do that.” Jake paused, turned away from AG, then looked back at her smiling, “Did I mention that when the last Keepers Fleet in our universe was destroyed, all the probes self- destructed?” AG actually laughed. “No? Well they did.”
Tag started laughing.
Danielle said, “Tag, billions will die if they fight.”
“Serves them right. They’re attacking the Crown and coming to kill us, which if you haven’t noticed, includes you. That puts them on my list to teach the danger of attempting to kill my family. They don’t know the value of the Realm’s peace. It’s time they learned. I forgot what it means to protect the ones you love. What better teacher than the one who teaches himself.” Tag looked at Cassandra and said, “Alexander, we are going to let them work this out amongst themselves. Do not attack those ships.”
“Cassandra, do you agree?”
Cassandra looked at Tag’s expression and nodded, “Yes, I do.”
Tag said, “Can you imagine what’s going to happen when those provincial rulers attempt to get their subjects to attack another province? That would almost be worth hanging around to see.”
Matt said, “That move was ingenious, Jake. Instead of one giant civil war, you’ll have the five provinces fighting internally to see who is going to rule each of them.”
“They won’t be doing that any time soon, Matt.”
Danielle was watching Jake and Sprig and said, “You’ve done something else?”
Sprig leaned left showing slight embarrassment, “Yes, it seems that we have been putting a small device in every teleportation device we’ve built for the last six thousand years. It allowed us to listen in on any conversation in the Realm that had one of those devices in close proximity. Once I power the master relay, every teleportation unit in this universe will no longer operate. Their ships will be forced to travel the old fashioned way; from the jump limit, if they still possess ships with the old null space star drives. Since most of the old ships that used null space to travel were destroyed long ago, the planets left here are going to have great difficulty attacking anyone. I suspect more than ninety five percent of them will be isolated. The ones that still have ships with null drives will only possess a few ships and most of them are not warships.”
Jake asked Valerie, “What is the biggest danger to the worlds that are left behind?”
Valerie said, “The provincial Searchers left behind can destroy planets with their beams. This could get deadly.”
“That’s true, Val, but you know that the provinces have been building their own ships for two thousand years.”
Valerie nodded.
“Did you know that even they can’t manufacture the teleportation circuit boards? All their ships use Algean teleportation devices.”
Sprig said, “And they did not build standard null star drives in their Searchers. Why waste the money with such antiquated technology?”
Valerie understood, “Their ships will be stuck and unable to jump.”
Jake nodded, “And more than ninety five percent of the provincial Searchers are gathered in the fleet to attack Ross. Sprig, if you will allow the Queen to do the honors?”
Sprig handed Valerie a small black box with a raised button on it. Valerie looked at the box and asked, “What happens if I activate this?”
Jake said, “Every Searcher in this universe will be stuck wherever they are currently located. The Searchers from the provinces that are gathering in open space between the Stars Realm and the Algean Galaxy will not be able to jump anywhere in the Realm. If you press that button, those ships will not be able to attack anyone for more than 380 years. Ales Jongo will not arrive anytime soon to lay claim to any throne, much less the Crown of the Realm.”
Fly Girl asked, “How did you arrive at that conclusion, Jake?”
“They don’t have standard star drives on their ships. If their teleportation devices are damaged, their only way of moving is by using their propulsion engines. They will be limited to the laws of relativity and cannot go faster than the speed of light. Since they elected to gather their ships out in open space between galaxies, they’ll have to travel more than 380 light years just to reach the closest galaxy.”
“Can’t someone just jump out and assist them?”
“How are they going to give their coordinates? The teleportation device provides that information and, I’m willing to bet the Castle’s garden, that not one of them has memorized those forty six numbers of their coordinates. Oh, they’ll be able to communicate, but one’s location can’t be determined with communication devices. Those thirty million warships will not take part in any fighting that happens after we leave.”
Valerie thought and said, “What will happen to them?”
Jake sighed, “They’ll have plenty of time to think about their sins. Valerie do you want those ships available to help Ales Jongo take the Crown and force his rule on millions of planets? Those Searchers took an oath to protect the Realm, and they’re clearly violating it. Sometimes a ruler must be able to make hard choices.”
Valerie thought about the billions that died on Del Robles, and pushed the button.
Jake looked around the room and said, “There is going to be war. The provinces are going to fight and planets will die. With the loss of teleportation, it will take hundreds of years before enough ships are built with the old star drives. That won’t stop the war from starting, it will only delay the most vicious portion of it. This process has been building for more than eight thousand years and has a momentum that cannot be turned. After the war,
