Annihilation - Finding Keepers (Annihilation Series (Book Seven}) (30 page)

Sprig and Twig both turned green instantly, “We’ll have one ready for you in a week, and start their production within three weeks.”

Valerie looked at Jake and was amazed at his ability to recall the smallest detail of the Realm’s ancient history. She looked at Sprig, “Will you coordinate this project and make it become a reality?”

“I will, Your Majesty.” He looked at the Spiders and said, “Can you assist me in getting the probe’s production started?”

“Einstein will join us and we’ll handle the probes. You focus on the safety of the planets.”

Manny smiled and said, “I’ll collect the Realm’s probes on a planet you designate for their modification.”

Jake could see the excitement of the group now having something productive to do against the enemy.

Valerie smiled and said, “Let’s get ready for a little hide-and-seek. I hope we frustrate those Keepers to the point of driving them out.”

Jake saw Robby sitting on a table across the library smiling; then he disappeared.

A Stars Realm Colonel entered the room at a fast pace and whispered into Manny’s Ear. Manny’s expression turned serious, then he said,

“What’s wrong, Uncle?”

“Valerie, we have been given additional time for our project, but the price was very high.”

Jake looked at Valerie and waited for Manny to explain.

Mord watched Lorg’s death on his monitor and felt several emotions: anger, fear, and loathing of the creatures that had killed his home and his sailors. He knew that his ships could no longer harm the Keepers’ planets, and he wept for the brave warriors killed in the efforts to hurt them. There were only eighty nine ships left of the original thirty two hundred, and he felt rage at being impotent. He thought about what could be done and remembered something he had seen in the download of the Star Realm’s early history. He checked with his ship’s computer and tried to decide if the price was worth the effort of what he was planning. He studied the data and saw his plan was possible.

He made a decision and called for all the survivors of Brayent to meet him at the original colony that Jake had freed. The garrison personnel had been transported away so there shouldn’t be anyone there to see them. He hit his teleport key and appeared above the now empty planet, waiting for the others to arrive.

After six hours, eighty nine ships were gathered above the planet. All of them had viewed the recording of Lorg’s final seconds and silence ruled the moment. Mord keyed his com and said to the survivors, “I know what you feel and I also feel it. It seems that we can no longer hurt these creatures, but I desire to send them all to Grund. I have a plan that would allow us to kill them one last time, but it would also kill all of us if we choose to go through with it. I refuse to order you to take this action, and as of this moment I am no longer your commander, but a friend.”

Zuck asked, “How many would we kill?”

“Every living being on the planet that killed Lorg; I estimate from his recording more than sixty billion.”

There was a long silence. Nerg broke it by saying, “My family, all my close friends, and everything I ever cared about died on Brayent. I have nothing but revenge and rage left in my soul. I long to join my mate and children in Junice, and my only hope is that I can extract a price from the creatures that killed them. If we could only kill one of them I would gladly join you in this enterprise. How do you plan to do this?”

Mord paused to allow others to have a word, but no one else spoke, “I saw in the ancient history of the Stars Realm where some of their ships fired negative energy at huge red ships that were attacking one of the Realm’s planets. I know that energy will not affect their ships but in that ancient attack, enough of it was absorbed by the system’s star that it went supernova.”

Zuck asked, “Where do we get this negative energy?”

“I checked with my ship’s computer and all of us have some of that energy in the outer skins of our ships. The original ships carried a huge amount of it, but the old Megaships were decommissioned more than seven thousand cycles ago and their skins were emptied. There was no safe place to store that energy, so it was put in the skins of all the Searchers. Our ships have enough, if we combine all of our ships, to cause an explosion large enough to possibly cause a nova. I don’t know if it will go supernova, but the planet will be destroyed either way. I believe the ships gathered at that planet will melt if it goes super.”

Yogn said, “You say ‘possibly’.”

All the survivors could see the sorrow on Mord’s face as they stared at their monitors, “Our ships have self-destruct circuits that annihilate them with a large explosion, but not a huge one. You know our beams are strong enough to destroy a planet, but the self-destruct circuit is designed only to release enough energy to destroy the ship. Look no further than the moon below us to see the crater from the first Searcher’s self-destruction.”

“If all of our energy was released it would, according to my computer, destroy this entire solar system. That’s why the Realm put limits on that circuit. In order for us to release all of our energy, we must fly into the corona of the sun and turn off our screens. The heat from the sun would melt the outer layer of our ship’s skins and release all of its energy, including the black holes and negative energy. The computer still doesn’t know what the effect would be, because nothing like this has ever been done with our type of ships. However, the Algeans told me that the Gamma ships are the most powerful ships ever constructed by the Realm. I, like you, Nerg, long to be with my family. This may not work, but it is the only way I see to strike at these creatures.” Mord paused and said, “If you are willing to do this, send me a signal on my console. You have five segs to think it over.”

“What if we choose not to do this?”

“Then we return to the Stars Realm and try to find peace and happiness until these creatures arrive to kill the new loved ones.”

“We could always jump to a different universe and live out our lives.”

“That’s true, Zuck, but your ancestors would eventually be consumed by them. I know how much you loved Reeg, Zuck. Do you think you can ever be happy without her?”

The lights started illuminating on Mord’s console, and after thirty seconds all eighty eight lights were glowing red. “It’s unanimous. We will take a day to prepare ourselves to go on our mission. Take this time to remember all of those you loved and those memories that bring you happiness. I am more proud of you at this moment than you will ever know, and I am humbled by your bravery. I will prepare a probe for the Realm to record what we do and explain why we are doing it. It includes all of your names and should the Realm survive, future generations will know of your bravery.”

The next day Mord and the other survivors teleported in to the outer system of the targeted Keepers’ production planet. Mord keyed his communications panel and sent an open transmission into the system, “I suspect that there is a Stars Realm ship in this system, and if you are inside the orbit of the fifth planet you should move to the outer reaches of the system immediately.”

Besens heard the communication and saw the eighty nine Gamma ships on his scanners. She was not going to return the communication and give away her location on the third moon. She decided that the Keepers had been warned of her presence and it might be in the best interests of her ship’s safety that she do exactly what the Cainth suggested. “Get us out of here, Cren.”

“Already moving, Bes.”

Mord saw the teleport energy of the Searcher and saw Keepers’ star drives lighting at the planet. “This is for Brayent!” he yelled into his com, and the eighty nine ships teleported into the outer corona of the systems star and turned off their screens.

The six thousand advanced Keepers’ ships assigned to protect the planet jumped to the position of the small white ships and found them gone. They immediately read the jump tracks and followed them before any of the navigators had a chance to see where they led, which turned out to be the worst, and last, decision they made that day. They arrived ten seconds behind the Gammas and were able to see the massive explosion from a great vantage point. Ordinarily, their hulls would not have been affected by the blast, but this was not an ordinary explosion. The sun went supernova and the first blast of nuclear fire engulfed the six thousand ships and melted them.

As soon as Mord communicated on an open frequency, the Collective and all of the Quadrants moved their attention to the production planet. They watched as the small ships disappeared and the six thousand ships give chase. The system’s sun was 120,000,000 miles from the planet, but the Keepers’ scanners actually operated instantly at universal distances so the operators of the scanners on the planet saw the sun go supernova. They watched in fear as the blast moved toward the planet. They had about ten and a half minutes before the explosion reached the planet at the speed of light. The Collective and all the Quadrants saw the star’s explosion moving outward and knew that billions of their species were about to die. They also knew that their abilities were about to be diminished. There’s something about seeing death coming and not being able to do anything to stop it that causes a fear which touches the depths of one’s being and is never forgotten. The Collective could not do anything but watch death move toward the planet.

More than sixty thousand Keepers’ ships had jumped into the system and were located inside the protection of the forts. All of them had received the first modification to have their drives protected. The new gates had been installed on the rear drives of the ships, but the systems to open them hadn’t. Those ships were unable to get underway and save themselves. Some of them turned on their drives in the hope of burning the new bafflers off and blew burning fuel into the interior of the ship. There was no escape; Death was coming and grinned at the meal. The billions of Keepers on the planet had no clue that there were only moments of life remaining for them. Ten point seven minutes after the explosion in the star’s corona, the atmosphere of the planet on the side facing the star was blown away, along with every ocean and three hundred feet of land surface. As the full blast arrived, the rest of the planet was melted into minute particles and became part of the shock wave moving into the outer solar system.

The Collective knew it was coming and could do nothing to stop the pain from the loss of billions of Keepers that were part of its consciousness. The Collective was fragmented again, and perhaps that was a blessing; the pain stopped.

The Values Quadrant was separated from the Collective and was not affected by the huge loss of life, but it too, watched the destruction of the planet and wept for the lost billions.

Besens watched the burning of the planet and recorded the event. She was humbled by the bravery of the Cainth pilots that had sacrificed themselves to give the Realm more time. With a heavy heart, she teleported back to the Realm to deliver her reports. She hoped she would be as courageous if fate called upon her to make the ultimate sacrifice.

By the end of the month, every Searcher had viewed the sacrifice of the Brayent Survivors and vowed to do the same if duty called on them. A week after the death of the Cainth pilots, the Cainth home world placed the eighty nine names on a stone tree monument at the entryway to the government center. It was put there to remind everyone what bravery really meant. It recorded the actions of the brave hundred and eighty nine, and Valerie Gardner christened the monument with an engraving of the Crimson Crown at the top to honor them. In Life Park on Ross, grave markers with their names and the Crimson Crown were placed with the other heroes of the Stars Realm.

Junior watched the ceremony from orbit and felt remorse for his initial reservations of sending those survivors to fight the Keepers. He now understood that survival often demanded a payment that most were unwilling to give. He had not allowed the Algeans to put the advanced weaponry of the Realm on board, but now he knew that half measures were a path to destruction. He left Ross and jumped to the shipbuilding facilities in the Algean Galaxy.

T
he Values Quadrant took the time to look around the Keepers’ universe while the Collective was fragmented. It saw the suffering on the millions of planets that had been enslaved by his species. He could see that the Keepers did not feel anything for those enslaved, and it knew that it was due to the absence of any of the finer emotions that would cause remorse. Their original goodness had been removed when it had agreed to separate until the Green Invaders were defeated. It then learned that the Collective, drunk on the power of victory, had decided to keep it in exile. It didn’t possess enough power to overcome the combined might of the Collective, and spent its time helplessly watching his species become Alpha Predators in their universe. It knew that to continue on the current path would lead to destruction. He could not get the Collective and its Quadrants to believe it.

Now it was at a crossroads; it had made a determination that troubled it deeply. It had selected one of the Keepers on a planet far from the home worlds and attempted to enter its consciousness. It discovered that the place in the Keepers intellect that housed the finer emotions of love, compassion, religion, and devotion was no longer present. There was no place for it to return. It refused to believe it, attempted to enter a hundred other Keepers, and failed every time.