Annihilation - Finding Keepers (Annihilation Series (Book Seven}) (50 page)

Valerie said in a soft voice, “How can we leave the loyal planets in the five provinces that still believe in the ideals of the Realm? We’ll leave them to be destroyed by those that hate everything about the Realm.”

Jake shook his head slowly, “Valerie, more than ninety percent of all loyal planets remaining are in our galaxy. The other ten percent are now here as well.”

Joe said, “What?!?”

“As all of you may remember, we have been moving planets to protect them for the last eight months. I had Sprig move every planet that refused to send ships to attack Ross to our galaxy this week. They are all here; the Gresh, the Eight Trading Partners, and all the others that are still loyal to the Realm. We have had all of the Realm’s personnel stationed at military installations in the provinces teleport in to Fleet Command.”

Jake looked at the Gardners, “Can you in good conscience force your will on those that don’t want it? If you do, you violate the core of what the Stars Realm has stood for all these centuries. The Stars Realm is more than just membership. It is a belief in the core principles that founded it. It is founded on the real belief and trust in the Star Realm’s Queen to do the right thing for all its members.”

Danielle said, “If we’re gone, perhaps there will be no reason for a civil war.”

Jake and Sprig stared at her, saying nothing.

“There’s something you’re not telling us.”

Sprig looked at Jake, then Jake slowly shook his head showing his sorrow, “Danielle, there are five provinces you created that will covet the Crown with all its power. With Ross gone, the ambitious will not wait to claim the throne. They will see the leadership vacuum and know the time to act is now. They crave power, and possess unrestrained desire to rule this universe. I have created an environment that will slow them down, but war is coming and billions will die.”

Danielle looked at Jake and asked, “What did you do?”

“I moved all the fiveprovince’s planets around such that every province now has twenty percent of all the other provinces’ planets within their borders.”

AG said, “They could just use the probes to move them back to where they were initially.”

Jake smiled, “That could possibly happen if they knew how to operate the probes’ programming. However, only the Spiders and Algeans have the skills to do that.” Jake paused, turned away from AG, then looked back at her smiling, “Did I mention that when the last Keepers Fleet in our universe was destroyed, all the probes self-destructed?” AG actually laughed. “No? Well they did.”

Tag started laughing.

Danielle said, “Tag, billions will die if they fight.”

“Serves them right. They’re attacking the Crown and coming to kill us, which if you haven’t noticed, includes you. That puts them on my list to teach the danger of attempting to kill my family. They don’t know the value of the Realm’s peace. It’s time they learned. I forgot what it means to protect the ones you love. What better teacher than the one who teaches himself.” Tag looked at Cassandra and said, “Alexander, we are going to let them work this out amongst themselves. Do not attack those ships.”

“Cassandra, do you agree?”

Cassandra looked at Tag’s expression and nodded, “Yes, I do.”

Tag said, “Can you imagine what’s going to happen when those provincial rulers attempt to get their subjects to attack another province? That would almost be worth hanging around to see.”

Matt said, “That move was ingenious, Jake. Instead of one giant civil war, you’ll have the five provinces fighting internally to see who is going to rule each of them.”

“They won’t be doing that any time soon, Matt.”

Danielle was watching Jake and Sprig and said, “You’ve done something else?”

Sprig leaned left showing slight embarrassment, “Yes, it seems that we have been putting a small device in every teleportation device we’ve built for the last six thousand years. It allowed us to listen in on any conversation in the Realm that had one of those devices in close proximity. Once I power the master relay, every teleportation unit in this universe will no longer operate. Their ships will be forced to travel the old fashioned way; from the jump limit, if they still possess ships with the old null space star drives. Since most of the old ships that used null space to travel were destroyed long ago, the planets left here are going to have great difficulty attacking anyone. I suspect more than ninety five percent of them will be isolated. The ones that still have ships with null drives will only possess a few ships and most of them are not warships.”

Jake asked Valerie, “What is the biggest danger to the worlds that are left behind?”

Valerie said, “The provincial Searchers left behind can destroy planets with their beams. This could get deadly.”

“That’s true, Val, but you know that the provinces have been building their own ships for two thousand years.”

Valerie nodded.

“Did you know that even they can’t manufacture the teleportation circuit boards? All their ships use Algean teleportation devices.”

Sprig said, “And they did not build standard null star drives in their Searchers. Why waste the money with such antiquated technology?”

Valerie understood, “Their ships will be stuck and unable to jump.”

Jake nodded, “And more than ninety five percent of the provincial Searchers are gathered in the fleet to attack Ross. Sprig, if you will allow the Queen to do the honors?”

Sprig handed Valerie a small black box with a raised button on it. Valerie looked at the box and asked, “What happens if I activate this?”

Jake said, “Every Searcher in this universe will be stuck wherever they are currently located. The Searchers from the provinces that are gathering in open space between the Stars Realm and the Algean Galaxy will not be able to jump anywhere in the Realm. If you press that button, those ships will not be able to attack anyone for more than 380 years. Ales Jongo will not arrive anytime soon to lay claim to any throne, much less the Crown of the Realm.”

Fly Girl asked, “How did you arrive at that conclusion, Jake?”

“They don’t have standard star drives on their ships. If their teleportation devices are damaged, their only way of moving is by using their propulsion engines. They will be limited to the laws of relativity and cannot go faster than the speed of light. Since they elected to gather their ships out in open space between galaxies, they’ll have to travel more than 380 light years just to reach the closest galaxy.”

“Can’t someone just jump out and assist them?”

“How are they going to give their coordinates? The teleportation device provides that information and, I’m willing to bet the Castle’s garden, that not one of them has memorized those forty six numbers of their coordinates. Oh, they’ll be able to communicate, but one’s location can’t be determined with communication devices. Those thirty million warships will not take part in any fighting that happens after we leave.”

Valerie thought and said, “What will happen to them?”

Jake sighed, “They’ll have plenty of time to think about their sins. Valerie do you want those ships available to help Ales Jongo take the Crown and force his rule on millions of planets? Those Searchers took an oath to protect the Realm, and they’re clearly violating it. Sometimes a ruler must be able to make hard choices.”

Valerie thought about the billions that died on Del Robles, and pushed the button.

Jake looked around the room and said, “There is going to be war. The provinces are going to fight and planets will die. With the loss of teleportation, it will take hundreds of years before enough ships are built with the old star drives. That won’t stop the war from starting, it will only delay the most vicious portion of it. This process has been building for more than eight thousand years and has a momentum that cannot be turned. After the war, most of the advances of the Realm will be lost and a more primitive life will be the norm for most of the worlds that survive. Once their economies are isolated from other planets, paying to build star ships is not going to be easy. Those Searchers still in the provinces may be modified to the old star drives, but I believe they will fight each other to gain power. One ship won’t be enough for one pilot to rule multiple planets. They’ll just start the war that will eventually spread throughout the old members of the Realm.”

Jake saw the expression of the Gardners, “Don’t think this is a bad thing. The reason the original Stars Realm loved peace so much was because of what they had learned from living through bloody wars. Earth fought numerous nuclear wars in its early history before humans learned the importance of peace. The survivors left behind here will remember the peace and prosperity the Realm provided and will long for what they lost. This is what’s called growing pains. It’s the only way for them to become what they should be. Thanks to you, there isn’t another force left in creation strong enough to come in and conquer the survivors. They’ll have time to learn from their actions.”

Sprig said, “Sometimes you just have to let them fight and learn from the experience.”

Jake said, “Are you ready, Sprig?”

“Have the Brez Division’s ships returned?”

“I believe so. Manny has them at Fleet Command.” Jake raise his com, “Cynthia, are all your ships back?”

“Yes, Jake, we finished the last Keepers’ ship an hour ago. I just arrived a moment ago.”

Sprig pulled another small device and pressed a button on it. The Milky Way Galaxy shimmered and disappeared.

Tag held Danielle as she cried softly on his shoulder, “We defeated every enemy that could have annihilated us. It’s ironic that the one enemy we couldn’t defeat was us. I wish we had stayed. The Realm might still be alive.”

Danielle looked at the map now showing three galaxies together and said, “Love conquers all, Tag. You just have to make sure you never stop loving.”

Tag kissed her tenderly and said, “That is something you will never have to worry about.”

“I know, my love.”

Jake had his arm around Valerie and said, “I think it’s time for a wedding.”

Valerie looked up at him and smiled, “Yesterday is not soon enough.”

A
les Jongo and the huge fleet of Searchers were finally getting sorted out into formations for the attack on Ross. Suddenly he heard, “My teleportation board just shorted out. The entire panel is dark.”

Ales quickly looked at his jump board and watched it blink four times and then go dead. Ales stood up and looked out of his viewport as his communicator was overwhelmed with voices, telling anyone that would listen that their jump drives had died. He saw the Milky Way Galaxy off in the distance and it appeared to be as small as a one credit coin. As he watched, it shimmered and disappeared. He asked his computer, “Are we able to jump back to the province?”

“The only way we can go anywhere is with our standard drives.”

Ales felt his first taste of fear, “Can they get us back?”

“Yes; but not for 380 years in real time. I have communicated with the province and they have also lost all of their teleportation devices. We no longer possess a ship that can travel faster than the speed of light.”

“Will we make it back if we accelerate right up to light speed?”

“I will, but you will not. Even at extreme relativity, you will die of starvation two hundred years before I can make it back.

Ales looked out where the Stars Realm’s home galaxy had once been and began shaking. Surely the Queen will not let all of them die. She just can’t let that happen. Then he knew. They had seen his attempted attack on Ross and knew about Del Robles.

He never found out. Twenty Searchers angered at being led into a death trap fired on Ales’ ship and he died instantly. The two Admirals were the next to die. All the other high ranking officers of the Provinces were killed quickly by the angry Searchers. For those that killed them, death smiled and waited patiently. The Searchers just didn’t discover that until much later. Of the thirty million Searchers that came to attack the Stars Realm, only six died of starvation, still years away from home. The others intentionally triggered their ship’s self-destruct circuits.

The Provincial Wars started two hundred years later and blasted most of the former members of the Realm back into coal, electricity, and agricultural societies. Those were the lucky ones. More than fifty thousand planets were killed in the early fighting with no survivors. Millions of others were blasted into radioactive ashes. For those that struggled in the aftermath, just like the humans that were held captive on the Keepers’ farms, they longed for the days of the Stars Realm. Two thousand years later, the legends of the Giants that were named Gardner still persisted. The former members of the late Stars Realm prayed for forgiveness and longed for the return of the mythical creators of a Realm that no longer existed.

The End

T
his is the last book in the Annihilation Series. This series tells the story of The Stars Realm and the family that built it and ultimately destroyed it. It was named for the enemies the Realm had to face in order to survive. Each of those enemies could have easily annihilated the Realm.