Carter turned on his armor and saw the nineteen coordinates on his data screen. He fed them into his guidance module and stuffed nineteen clear bags into the outer surface of his armor. Do I need to teleport them so they can fall?”
“No, just send them a thousand feet over each city. The bags are made to dissolve once they detect a rapid rate of descent. The spores will then scatter and cover the city.”
“Should I drop them up wind?”
Weed looked at his scans, “That’s a good idea. I’ll feed you the weather data on each city. It looks like the winds are nominal for thirteen cities. The six with high winds are being sent to you now.”
Carter read the data and allowed his navigation module to modify the coordinates. He saw the green light illuminate and teleported out. Two minutes later he appeared back on board. “It’s done; how long until the spores activate?”
Seed said, “Six months. We’ve decided that we shouldn’t rush the spread by allowing them to be discovered too soon. We’re going to start teleporting to the other planets and drop the packets over the highest concentration of Invaders. There are sixty other planets that are being attacked by multiple ships; we’ll pause at each of those for you to saturate the landers.”
Carter took his seat and watched the display. Planet after planet appeared in rapid succession and he knew the Algeans had already visited this universe and set up the program for dropping spores. He took a deep breath knowing that it was now beginning. He hoped the plan would work but he worried about how the Invaders were going to respond. The Empire’s ships weren’t ready to take on the Black Ships. He worried about Jenna and the baby.
“Alex, the Algeans are delivering the spores. Are you any closer to a solution?”
“No, Grace. It appears that we are going to have to take an entirely new approach to the power delivery and it appears that the process will take years to complete.”
Grace was frightened, “Why!?!
“We can’t get a teleport screen close enough to a star to make the transfer. The heat is just too much for them.”
“Alex, you have to know what that means.”
“I do, but I can’t just conjure up what we need. We really believe the new process will work, but it’s going to take years to put in place.”
Grace teleported away, just after Alex sent a probe into her outer skin. He was going to teleport her to him if she was in trouble. She would just have to forgive him afterwards.
Scotty looked at Julie and felt his heart beat faster. She was teaching a group of ten young children the history of the Empire and somehow she was more beautiful today than he had ever seen. Grang and Geena were with her answering the children’s questions and he knew that it was a moment like this that made all the effort worth it. He didn’t know what the future held but he knew that he was blessed with a love that was larger than the universe. He waited until the class ended and then walked up to her. She smiled and saw his expression “Is something wrong?”
“No, I just need you to spend some alone time with me. I want to go back to our home on Bristone and have some time to ourselves if your schedule allows.”
Julie stood and bowed, “You could order me to go, Your Majesty.”
“Then you are so ordered.”
Julie came into his arms. Scotty hit his com, “Timmy, you and Virze will assume command in my absence. The Queen and I are taking a trip.”
“We’ll arrive momentarily, Your Majesty.”
Scotty held Julie and looked at New Hope from the top floor of the new capital building and saw the capital of the empire was growing at a phenomenal rate. He longed for the simple surroundings of Bristone. Julie looked up at him and he smiled, “Let’s go home, my love.”
Julie held on tight as Greyson teleported them on board and took them home. Three weeks later Scotty stepped down from the throne of the Empire and named Tim and Virze Valrico as the new Emperor and Empress. He didn’t know why but he knew he wanted every moment possible to be spent loving Julie. The Empire worried about the change initially but the new Royal Family quickly put their fears to rest. Grang and Geena continued their roles as the Emperor’s body guards.
Greyson missed Timmy when he became Emperor but was excited that Robby and Dani had asked him and Grace to accept them as their new partners. He knew that Scotty’s son was going to be heavily involved in the defense of the Empire and Grace also accepted their request; they became a formidable team.
Grang would visit Scotty occasionally and saw that he was finally at peace and truly happy. He loved his adopted brother and knew he had to let him go and continue his quest to pay back his sins. He hoped that he and Geena would find the same peace one day. Scotty and Julie would be safe on Bristone.
Alex and Vring were getting the probe ready to trial its ability to absorb extreme heat. Kreej got a faraway look and said, “I’m going to leave you soon.”
Vring turned around and looked at Kreej’s thoughts. Alex said, “Why, we’re at an important point in the new process.”
Vring said, “He has to go, Alex.”
“Why!”
“Robby and Dani are going to attempt to steal a dimensional drive from one of the Invader’s ships.”
Alex was shocked at the statement and didn’t know what to say. Vring looked at Kreej, “You know the risk?”
“We do but, if the spores work, we won’t have another opportunity like this one.”
“Are they sure that this is the time?”
“No, but they sense they need to make the attempt.”
“When are you going?”
“We’ll be leaving tomorrow to find a suitable candidate.”
Alex interrupted, “Then assist us today. This experiment will determine whether or not we’re on the right track.”
“Fair enough; I’ll leave after the probe sends its data.”
Robby and Dani hugged each other and waited for Grace to arrive. “Dani, are you sure you see yourself involved in this?”
“Yes, I do.”
Robby shook his head slowly, “I don’t get that sense when I think about it.”
“Robby, I knew when we were originally selecting weapons for our armor at the Defense Facility that I would need those slugs. Trust me; you are going to need me there.”
Robby shrugged but realized that Dani’s sense of anticipating danger was more developed than his. He knew he had to make the effort to steal the drive but he got no sense of what the outcome would be. He sighed and held her tighter, “Are you bringing Neelah with you?”
“No, I sense that would be a mistake. Kreej is the one we need to take with us. He’s going to play an important role is this mission.”
“Do you know where we’re going to make this happen?”
“Yes, I do. We’re going wherever the Algeans are currently located and I do have a sense of them not cooperating.”
Robby frowned, “Do tell.”
“I don’t understand it but I know they will be a problem.”
“Are you ready to go?”
“Yes, we are Grace. Is Kreej with you?”
“Yes, he just teleported on board.”
Robby and Dani turned on their armor and teleported to Grace’s Bridge. Dani went to the command chair and
