“Alex.”
“Yes, Grace.”
“The Algeans have started their trial. How far along are you on the new power system?”
“Not far enough. Keep me posted on what’s happening.”
“You need to hurry.”
“Grace, we’re doing all we can. I’ll let Vring and Kreej know what’s going on. We’ll do all we can.”
“Alex, I’m worried.”
“Should we delay the Algeans?”
“You know that won’t stop them. They are driven by different goals.”
“How so?”
“They’re working to prevent the discovery of the Stars Realm in their dimension. We are a secondary consideration.”
Alex paused, “Grace, I’m afraid I’m on their side on this issue. My first loyalty is to the Realm.”
“As is mine; this is a clear conflict of interest for them and us. Unfortunately we are not given any wiggle room on this issue either. We are sworn to the Realm and must allow them to continue but we’ve got to do all we can to try and save our friends here. You are the key to making that happen.”
“Do the Algeans Know?”
“They do; but like us they also have no room to maneuver. Their first loyalty is with the Realm.”
“We’ll step up our trials, Grace. If we fail I want you here with me.”
“I’m sorry, Alex. My destiny lies with our friends.”
Alex decided that he was going to triple the trials. He couldn’t allow Grace to come to harm. Even Grace didn’t know she was his first priority even ahead of the Realm and he was not going to allow her to die; no matter what he had to do to protect her.
TK and Malah waited in the Defense Facility to receive their armor. TK had selected Malah two weeks earlier and had been given her Zecka just five days ago. “Are you excited?”
“Yes, I am, TK. I’ve seen what the flyers can do and I want to start learning how to use my armor. What about you?”
“I’m not sure. I’m still young to be placed in the ranks of the Flyers. I’m concerned that they might resent me. I know Jingos is not happy with having to wait.”
“You just don’t look at their thoughts. I’ve never understood the reluctance of Humans to look at the thoughts of others. Jingos totally supports you getting armor now. All the citizens of the Realm want the Royal Family to have every protection possible. Jingos feels the same way.”
“I wish Mon and Dad would get fitted.”
“Your father just doesn’t feel he should. Your Mother supports him in that decision.”
“Even so, it bothers me for some reason.” TK thought a moment and said, “Malah, we feel that to invade a person’s privacy it wrong. We’ll only do it if circumstances force us to it. You don’t have that problem because all of your species are telepathic. Besides, I don’t need to look as long as I have you.”
Malah laughed, “Right you are. Let’s go and get us some technology and afterwards I’d like to use it to get home.”
TK laughed with her and said, “Lead the way great Flyer.”
The giant Black Ship entered a solar system and moved on the planet. It was obviously civilized and had a huge population centered in numerous industrialized cities. No ships rose to meet the incoming Invader and the only thing indicating the planet had space technology was two giant satellites orbiting the planet on opposite sides. The satellites were more than a hundred miles in diameter and the Invader saw a force field go up as it drew closer.
The Ship Master looked at the huge structure on his display and turned to his Sensor Master, “What can you determine about that satellite?”
“The force field is quite strong. Before it went up I scanned the surface and didn’t see any type of beam emplacements. Once the field was active, my scans were blocked.”
“Send a copy of this to Fleet.”
The Sensor Officer nodded and sent the report.
“Prepare our beams.”
“They are targeted on the structure, Sire.”
The Ship Master quickly looked back at his display as the Sensor Master said, “Incoming missile.” The missile was tiny. It was less than three hundred feet long but it did have a force field around it. The Satellite had only fired the one missile and that bothered him.
“Readings?”
“None are getting through the force field.”
The Ship Master may have regretted his next decision if he had lived long enough. He decided to allow it to hit his force field and destroy itself. The missile went through the force field without even a spark to indicate it had impacted. It hit the giant Black Ship and it exploded so violently that the force field didn’t have time to drop before the blast was reflected back into the center of the explosion doubling the intensity of the blast.
Timmy looked at Robby and Dani and said, “I wondered what you saw that brought us here.”
“We weren’t sure, Timmy.” Robby looked at Dani and continued, “We just saw this planet and knew we should come here.”
“It looks like we’ve found a weapon to use against the Invaders if we can persuade the planet to give us the technology.”
Dani shook her head, “No, that’s not going to help us. This will actually harm our efforts to survive.” Timmy leaned forward in his command chair and stared at her. Dani saw his expression and shook her head, “The only thing this will do is cause the Invaders to build a stronger ship.”
Robby nodded, “They’ll lose ships here but they will record the technology that planet is using to enhance their capabilities. This is not good.”
Greyson said, “So getting the technology is wasted effort if they are going to come up with a counter to it.”
Robby and Dani nodded. They waited as fifteen Black Ships jumped in and were destroyed.
Greyson said, “There’s a Black Ship at the jump limit recording what’s happening. I can see their scan. Should we teleport one of those missiles to open space to take a look at it?”
Robby shook his head, “No, the Invader will record its disappearance and know that there is another adversary here. It would make them start looking for us again.”
Dani watched the battle and sighed, “We need to see how long it takes them to build a new ship and bring it on line. Greyson, leave a screened microprobe here to record what happens.”
“The probe is launched.”
Timmy looked up from his command board, “How did you know to come here?”
“Timmy, Dani’s and my ability to sense danger is growing stronger. We saw this happening and knew the best decision was to come here.”
Greyson said, “I did get a reading on the force field being used by the missile. It appears to match the frequency of the force field it hits almost instantaneously. Maybe Alex can use this.”
Robby looked away from the display and thought a moment, “No, it won’t help. I suspect that the invaders will simply modify their force fields to use two different frequencies so that if one is read the other will stop the missile. At least that’s how I would counter it.”
“What if two don’t work?”
“Then they’ll use four and have them changed a thousand times a second, Timmy. We could do that and I’m certain they will as well.”
“Then why are we here?”
Dani looked at Robby and he nodded, “We’re sensing the Invaders will be delayed here. It gives us more time to develop our defense. At least that’s what we think is causing us to be here. We can’t think of another
