“Thank you, I’ve brought the coordinates. Take me there now.”
Varner said, “We’ll leave for the jump limit immediately.”
“A message came in on a discrete channel, “Varner, I’ve been going over the download and I’m troubled by what I’ve seen.”
“I am as well.”
“Will, Gilene, we’ll discuss this after we return.”
“We need to discuss it now.”
“Why?”
“Because I will not fire on Greyson if he’s there.”
“Neither will I, Gilene. Let’s just wait until we arrive before we make any decisions.”
The three ships arrived at the jump limit and disappeared. They arrived at a solar system and looked down on the planets from above. Varner was surprised and looked at his maps of the system, “Your, Grace, there is no planet where the maps indicate one should be located.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look for yourself.”
Canton looked down on the planets and saw that there was not a planet in the habitable zone around the star. Will and Gilene were surprised that Varner was broadcasting his conversation with Canton on an open frequency. Why was he doing that?
“How can this be? Do you have any idea?”
“Actually, I do, your Grace.”
“What?”
“If you look in the database, the old Realm forbid anyone from capturing any more of the Zord. El Prado took the ones they captured and put them in a zoo and the Realm quarantined this system.”
“So?”
“I suspect that to make sure that their instructions were followed, the real location of their planet was removed from all the general maps and a fake location put in its place. Without the Military Database, there is no way you can find its true coordinates in the general maps.”
Canton thought about it and said, “That must be why they stole it from New Ulmerton.”
“I suspect you’re right, Your Grace.”
“We’re wasting our time here. Take me back to Crimeron.”
“The three ships disappeared.
BC sat and listened to the exchange and then jumped to Bristone. He played the conversation and said, “I don’t know why that Searcher broadcast that conversation?”
Scotty frowned and looked at Timmy who shook his head.
“I know why.”
“Why, Greyson?”
“I downloaded the Stars Realm’s history to Varner when we were at New Ulmerton. I think he has shared it with the other four Searchers.”
“What are you saying?”
“I think they are now having reservations about continuing to follow the Duke.”
BC said, “How do you arrive at that conclusion?”
Greyson chuckled, “BC, every Searcher has a copy of the Military Database’s maps in their system.”
BC and Scotty understood at once, “They deliberately withheld information.”
“They didn’t tell a lie but they did mislead the Baron. They told him the only way for him to find it was in the military database. They just didn’t mention that it was in their maps. That tells me they are struggling with what they’ve seen in the history download.”
Scotty thought a moment, “Greyson, why did you send that download?”
Greyson didn’t respond.
Timmy said, “You’re worried that we’ll question your loyalty.”
“Yes, I am but there is no reason to worry about that. You have my total loyalty, Your Majesty.”
“Then why?”
“Those five Searchers are my family. They are my sisters and brothers. We share a common history and we lost our partners together. I know I may have to kill them if it comes down to a battle and I wanted them to understand why.”
“What do you think now?”
“I think they understand.”
Scotty looked at Timmy and saw him smile. Timmy was young and idealistic but what if he was right. BC contacted Jessica and Anglo and told them what had happened.
The huge orange colored being entered the bridge and saw his crew come to attention. He had not slept well and wondered how much longer this watch was going to take. He sat in his chair and leaned back. This duty was so incredibly boring. He lifted the clear bag and took out a pinch of orange powder and sniffed it. His crew watched him carefully not wanting to attract his attention.
“I have detected something that is unusual.”
“What is that?”
“Our screen has registered a fluctuation in the cosmic ray background.”
“What do you mean by fluctuation?”
“I’m not really sure if it means anything, but there is a slight fluctuation in the regularity of it.” The huge Commander stared at the screen operator and said nothing. “I guess it’s nothing. I just haven’t detected it before.”
“Weren’t we barraged by a cosmic ray field some time back?”
“Yes, Master,” the screen operator looked at his board and said, “It’s stopped now.”
“I think it was just a random burst. Keep me informed if it appears again.”
“Yes, Sire.” The screen operator decided that if it did he was not going to disturb the Commander again. He knew the Commander’s anger wasn’t worth it. He was lucky to have caught him in a fair mood before the powder kicked in.
“Scotty, have you decided what to do about New Ulmerton?”
Scotty looked at Julie and took a deep breath, “I planned to put Mallory on the throne and keep the facade going until we can face those 2,000 searchers. Now I’m leaning toward just letting Daulun blow it up.”
“There are millions of slaves on the planet. They’ll all die.”
“I know! But the planets they were all taken from are also facing slavery. The New Ulmerton Military will still be in control of those planets no matter what we do. What will be done with the slaves if we attack New Ulmerton? If we free them, the gig is up with the other Province. They’ll know the slaves are no longer working and they’ll invade immediately.”
“You violate your beliefs if you allow him to kill the planet.”
“I know and I hate it. But I can’t endanger all the other worlds by freeing the slaves.”
Julie leaned back, “Maybe you can keep some slaves to make it look like nothing’s changed.”
“I refuse to force those slaves to continue in those conditions.”
“I wasn’t talking about them.”
“Then who?”
Julie stared at Scotty and then he saw what she was hinting at. He smiled and said, “You are a genius.” He grabbed her and hugged her tightly. He punched his com and said, “Grang, Jingo, Nathan, Mallory, I need you to come to my house immediately. Jingo, send Cezee to get Vring and Bleath. Plan to meet me in an hour.”
Scotty presented his plan to the attendees and they all looked at each other. Bleath said, “Do we have enough of the new guns?”
“We have at least enough for every rider and most of them have been trained on their use.”
Nathan looked at Mallory and then asked, “Do we have enough warriors to make this happen? I don’t want Mallory to be placed in a dangerous situation.”
Mallory punched him in the ribs, “Then you can’t go either.”
“I have to go.”
