“They leave jump tracks. Follow them.”
“We have followed them and lose them after three jumps. There are no tracks to follow after their third jump.”
Jilico stared at Ro, looked at his display, and turned back to Ro “How is that possible?”
“We have no idea but we’re chasing our tails trying to find them.”
Jilico looked back at his display and saw another three ships destroyed. He stood and walked to the window overlooking his capital city and put his hands behind his back and swayed back and forth. Ro remained silent. He knew that the King was at his most dangerous at moments like this. Finally Jilico said, “They are attacking our ships that are holding station outside the jump limit, right?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Move the Searchers two hours inside the jump limit. If they move inside we will trap them. They will have to come to us.”
Ro nodded, “I will issue the orders immediately.”
Ro left the room and Jilico continued to sway looking out at Olympos, his capital city.
Scotty answered his com and saw Jeramiah Jongo, “Your Majesty, the Ambassador has notified us that he has been delayed.”
Scotty smiled, “Well, we’ve bought some time. Make good use of it solidifying your position.”
“The people have embraced our vision, Your Majesty. The name change and my reduction in rank have proven my good intentions. Everything is moving smoothly.”
“That’s good, Jeremiah. Keep me informed on your progress.”
“I will.”
Scotty turned off his com and immediately received another beep, “BC, what’s up?”
“Your, Majesty, Grace has contacted me and requests you come see her as soon as possible.”
“Did she say why?”
“No she didn’t but I sense it’s something serious.”
“I’m bringing Julie this time. Let her know and teleport us aboard.”
Scotty and Julie looked at the recording of the giant black ship on their display as Alex described it, “Its force field is the strongest I have ever seen and that includes the strongest ships of the Stars Realm. The energy being used is of a different order of magnitude and the beams are just as formidable. They remind me of the ships that the Red Demons used to attack the Realm. The psychic ships were just barely able to defeat them and those ships are no longer available for us to use against them. They were taken by the Reg when they left.”
Julie stared at the display shaking her head, “Where did this ship come from?”
“It did not come from another universe. I believe it came from another dimension.”
Scotty looked up, “Is that significant?”
“Yes, it is. The Demons had eliminated all of the really powerful species in the universes but I don’t believe they searched the dimensions for possible adversaries. It requires a truly advanced civilization to be able to travel between dimensions. It appears that whoever sent that ship has that level of technology and represents a grave danger to this universe.”
“Tell me what you think, Alex.”
“I believe that ship is an initial scout that was sent to scout our universe for an invasion. It parked outside the most powerful force in this universe and has been watching it for years. I think that once that Province takes control, the invasion will start. All they will need to do is defeat that King to take control of everything. They’ll just wait and let us weaken ourselves by fighting each other.”
Scotty stared at the display and said, “So your advanced weapons will not defeat this ship?”
“In my opinion, without having the chance to scan their weapons in operation, they will not.”
“So what do we do?”
“I’ve called you here to ask you the same question.”
“What makes you think I’m more qualified to answer it than you are?”
“You’re repaired teleportation boards that I could not. You’ve increased the power of your ship’s weapons without my assistance. I can go on but I think you get the picture.”
“We need access to your facility.”
“I am programmed to prevent that and it is not a program that I can override.”
“Well maybe you can give a hint.”
“The most important word in the Stars Realm repeated three times followed by the second most important three times.”
Julie looked at Scotty and asked, “Who established this center.”
“The Gardners.”
Julie smiled and said, “Rose, Rose, Rose, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy.”
There was a slight pause and then they heard, “You have been granted access. How did you figure that out?”
“I thought about what was the most important thing to a person and it dawned on me that it has to be their children. I know my child’s name will be the most important thing to me.”
Scotty looked at Julie, “Your child?”
“Actually, it’s our child and you need to be thinking of a name.” Scotty’s eyes widened and he stared at Julie as she nodded, “It’s true.”
Scotty grabbed her and embraced her. He leaned back and kissed her. Julie smiled, “We can make the announcement later. Right now we need to see what we can do about the Invaders.”
Scotty looked at her with love in his eyes and then said, “Grace, I am going to bring two Zord here to look at what you have in the way of defensive and offensive weapons. Alex, will you work with them?”
“Yes, I will but I don’t know what they can do to improve the weapons the Algeans built.”
“I don’t either, but that’s where we have to start. Will you send me a download of that ship?”
“Why do you need it?”
“I’m going to have to do some persuading of a King and get him to see the big picture. Your commentary on it would also be appreciated.”
BC said, “I have it.”
“Do you mind if I join you?”
Alex stammered, “What, what?”
“I’m serious, Alex. I’ve been thinking about it and you know you can run this facility by yourself. I think I was put here just to keep you company. I miss the freedom of open space when Melanie and I were working together. You’re going to have plenty of company shortly. I want to go.”
“Grace, we would love to have you. How are you going to make that happen?”
Alex said, “You’re going to take a Zeta.”
“Yes, I am.”
“What’s a Zeta?”
“Julie, it is the most powerful Searcher ever constructed by the Algeans. It’s capable of teleporting without using a screen that can be detected. Its beams are capable of penetrating any screen ever built by the old Realm and its screen can withstand the assault of more than five hundred Searchers. I plan to download into its positronic system.”
“Grace, I don’t want to lose you. You still can’t withstand that invader’s weapons.”
“I understand that, Alex. But before we take them on we are going to have to meet them on a united front. I can make a difference in making that happen.”
Scotty said, “How many of those ships do you have?”
“Only twenty.”
“Would it be possible for my Searchers to relocate into one of them?”
There were a few moments of silence and Alex said, “We’ll start with BC.”
“Alex are you sure about releasing these weapons?”
“Your Majesty, I am now going to swear my loyalty to you. If that invader wasn’t here, I would not be doing this but I see that I don’t have the luxury of time. I have to decide which side I’m going to take and I know that you are the best choice. When you didn’t kill that Magrum, I knew you could be trusted to maintain the principles I
