“Actually, it should only take two sailors; one for flying and the other to man the weapon.”
“You’re right, Vring.”
“Of course this class of ship will only be used to attack the small craft that are used by the invader.”
“Why is that?”
“We need a much larger ship to collect the full beam to get the most from them. I’m sure the beams being fired by the mother ship will be at least two thousand feet wide at impact. We don’t want to waste any of it.”
Alex thought about the two Zord that would want to be hit by a two thousand foot wide beam and knew that these creatures were natural engineers. He was reluctant to admit it but they were probably more advanced than the Algeans at developing technology. However, they wouldn’t know if this would work until they placed a ship in front of one of those monstrous ships. Still, this looked like the only avenue to defend the universe. I hope it’s enough.
Searchers started asking questions and Scotty pushed his com, “I would like to wait until your pilots and crewmembers have finished the download. I also have someone here to help answer your questions that should have some credibility with you.”
“Who would that be?”
“Why, King Jilico and his advisor Rehoben. We picked them up on the way here. It just wouldn’t be a party without them.”
“Do you really have the King?”
“Yes, I do. I’m not going to answer your questions without an opposing point of view. It wouldn’t be right.” The thousand Searchers talked among themselves as they waited. Something wasn’t right.
Finally, Jilico and Rehoben opened their eyes and Scotty said, “I hope you enjoyed the show. Now it’s time to answer some questions.”
Jilico looked at Scotty and said, “I’ve already seen this download. There’s a copy of it in my data center.”
Rehoben looked at Jilico, “I’ve never seen it, Your Majesty.”
“It’s under state security. None one has access but me and my family.”
Scotty said, “Why is that?” Jilico just stared at him. “Are you concerned that your subject’s view of your rule might change if they viewed it?”
“They’ll see what I want them to see.”
“Oh, I neglected to tell you that everything said on this bridge will be broadcast to all the ships here.”
Jilico’s gaze hardened and Scotty said, “I will now take any questions you might have and if your King disagrees with my answer he will be allowed a rebuttal.”
“The history in my databanks says that the Humans attacked the Cainth home world and forced them into their control.”
“Actually, the Cainth attacked the Human’s world first and sent an invasion fleet to destroy the Humans three times. After the Humans destroyed an Alliance Fleet they sent ships to destroy the Cainth Home world. They were able to find common ground and the Humans and Cainth became friends.”
“Is that true, King Jilico.”
Jilico looked at the speaker and said, “of course not. The Humans attacked them and forced them into bondage.”
“King Jilico, if we are forced into bondage by this Human, will you accept them as your ruler?”
“Never!! We will fight them and never give in.”
“Then why did the Cainth, who we all know are a warrior race, become the Human’s closest ally?”
Jilico sat there and finally said, “Obviously, they were not the warriors everyone puts them up to be.”
“Have you ever seen one of them fight, Your Majesty?”
Jilico stared at the speaker, “No.”
“I have. They don’t give up, they don’t surrender, and they choose to die before dishonor.”
“What about the Algeans, Your Majesty. They were the closest allies of the Stars Realm. How could they have done that if they were attacked and devastated by the Stars Realm? And why was their greatest hero a Cainth?”
Jilico looked at Rehoben and he said, “I can’t answer that. I wonder myself.”
“Your Majesty?”
Scotty watched Jilico and saw he was not saying anything else. “Your King now refuses to answer any more questions.
“Tell us stranger, why did the Realm leave?”
“Because the Provincial Dukes wanted freedom to exercise their power; they wanted to attack the other Provinces and were not allowed to do so by the Realm. The Realm would not allow the members to attack each other. The Provinces decided to attack the Realm to gain their freedom. The Realm decided that to continue to force membership on those that did not desire it was a violation of their values. The Realm from its creation had only accepted those that asked to be a part of it. Now the Dukes wanted out and the Realm decided to let them go.”
Silence ruled the channel. No one said anything. Scotty then said, “I don’t ask that you believe me. Quite frankly, I don’t care if you do. The reason I sent you that download is to make sure you understand that my Empire lives by the former Realm’s principles and we take them seriously. The main difference between us is that we will not allow any civilization that cannot defend their populations to be attacked. It doesn’t matter if they are a part of my Empire or not. We have also accepted the responsibility to protect this universe against any invader that tries to conquer it. That responsibility also includes King Border’s Kingdom.”
Rehoben said, “What do you mean?”
“Our universe is going to be invaded by ships that we cannot stand up to, and that includes my ship that just defeated your fleet.”
Jilico snorted, “You’re lying.”
“I am now sending you another download. Please look at it and I’ll discuss it with you afterwards. It will only take a few moments.”
Rehoben put the headband on and lied back. Jilico watched him and then begrudgingly put his headband on. “Send it Grace.”
After ten minutes Rehoben sat up. He stared at Scotty and his apprehension was clear. Jilico sat up and Scotty saw him look at Rehoben with concern on his face. “I’m going to assume that everyone has completed the down load. King Borders, do you have any comments?’
“You’ve manufactured this to take my Kingdom.”
“No, and I don’t want your kingdom. I am returning you to your castle momentarily and any ship here that now wishes to leave may do so safely.”
Scotty turned to Virze, “None have left, Your Majesty.”
Jilico looked at Scotty and said, “What proof do we have that this is true?”
“I’ve seen where they’re hiding, Your Majesty.”
“Who said that?”
“I did. I went to help with a disabled ship and I did a casual scan of the outer system. I saw that clear place in the dust cloud and two other places where the clear places were starting to fill in with dust. I’m broadcasting it now.”
Rehoben looked up at the display and saw the perfectly round hole in the dust cloud. He also saw two others off to the left that were starting to fill in. He looked at Jilico and saw him staring at the display. Ro asked, “Why are they at our solar system?”
“They think that you are the strongest force in this universe. They are waiting for you to defeat all the other civilizations and then your planet will be their first target. Once you’re gone, there’ll be no one to stand up to their invasion because you will have conquered all the others.”
A searcher said, “We are not the strongest, you are.”
“Yes, but that is a recent development and we don’t go out and conquer other civilizations. We would be easily missed by a scout looking for the qualities needed. You’ve conquered hundreds of civilizations. They would find you rather easily.”
Grace listened in on the Searcher’s private frequency and many of them were angry. She heard one of them
