Trey heard her thought and smiled, Hello, Aunt Tommie, Ill always have a moment for you. Im at the weapons practice center.
TK briefly turned on her armor and found the coordinates and Malah turned and dove for a clearing ten miles to the north. Trey had his armor active and saw the large Zord in the skies to the south. He looked at ten of his protectors that were using their armors beams to hit small plastic discs that were shooting across the clearing. They were only allowed to fire beams that were smaller than the high speed discs and he saw that they were making excellent progress with their accuracy. It was rare that one made it across the clearing. He turned off his armor and walked over to Malah as she landed, Hello Aunt Tommie and Malah, Its good to see you. What brings you to my neck of the woods?
Im going to use my favored status with you to ask for some of your protectors.
Trey smiled, Now you know that my two Fathers would not appreciate me giving you preferential treatment.
I know, but I have a valid reason for my request that they cant match.
Trey tilted his head to the right and smiled, What would that be?
My Division is the first to leave for another universe and I barely have enough time to get your protectors acclimated to their units.
Treys expression turned serious, When are you leaving?
The Scouts are jumping out in two weeks and the remainder of the Division two weeks later.
Why are you rushing this?
TK looked at Trey and shook her head slightly, Im not sure, Trey; but I sense a need to do it quickly. I just get a feeling thatI dont know; I cant explain it.
Trey thought about TK leaving with her Division and looked at the level of danger. He then thought about her delaying her departure and his sense of danger increased, Youre right; something is going on in that universe that is important for our survival. You can take all but ten of them.
What do you sense?
There is something dangerous there. You need to be careful and make sure youre not traced back here. How many Scout Units do you have?
Eighty at the moment.
Then take eighty of the Protectors and assign them to their commands today. Ill keep twenty here to start training the next hundred on the list. Trey paused, Who is in overall command of your scouts?
I am.
Trey shook his head, Thats not going to work. Youre going to have to stay here to get the main body of flyers ready. Its not good tactics to force your troops to have to contact you in another universe to get approval for their actions or questions answered. I have someone here that has been instrumental in training the Protectors and he will assume command of your scouts as an advisor. I know youll be pleasantly surprised at his abilities.
TK thought about giving up command of her troops to a stranger but Trey had made some good points, Who is he?
Trey turned and said, Here he comes now.
TK turned and saw a handsome young man walking toward her. He smiled and she recognized him, Youve grown up.
It couldnt be avoided; time has a way of doing that.
Trey saw that the two knew each other, This is
TK interrupted, Paul Blake.
Trey heard the way she said it and knew, It appears your time has come.
Paul never took his eyes off TK as he said, Yes, it has.
TK ran forward and wrapped her arms around Pauls neck and an incredibly bright blue flash jumped out of them. Paul smiled, Ive looked forward to this day since your Fathers birthday.
Ive forced myself to not even think about it.
Paul looked at Trey, Your sense is right. There is a species in that universe that must be slowed down in their conquests.
Trey and TK looked at each other and Trey said, Do you see them?
I do. You should also get either Grangs or Jingos Division ready to follow up on the initial incursion.
TK held Paul tight and said, Perhaps you should be in overall command and I should go with the Scouts; I can see your abilities are more advanced than mine.
Paul laughed, Your Flyers love you. You would only hurt their moral to make that change. Think about it for a moment and youll see it.
TK closed her eyes and after a moment opened them, Youre right.
Paul turned to Trey and said, You need to get the Protectors that are being reassigned moving so they can get their units ready. We barely have enough time.
Barely enough time for what?
Paul looked at TK and said, Why, to have a wedding before we leave.
TKs smile was dazzling and Trey knew that his time was still several years away. He really envied them as he watched the two nineteen year olds walk away to be alone for the first time. He shook his head and sent a thought to Jingo and Grang, Fathers, it looks like its back to war. Please plan to meet with TK in an hour. He watched as TK put her arms around Pauls waist as they walked away and he smiled, Better make it five hours.
Vring watched as another ship melted in the stars outer corona, This is not going to work. Weed leaned back and said, It appears youre probably right.
Eight ships had been burned in the effort to develop a hull that could absorb the energy of a star before it would burn. All eight attempts were failures.
Kreej said, Call Carter.
Weed leaned back, What is he going to be able to do that we havent?
Kreej smiled, Even the Spiders said the Humans were smarter than they were. There are different types of intelligence and Carter has it in abundance. Call him in; what could it hurt?
Alex said, Ill make the call.
Weed shrugged and felt it was a waste of time.
Four days later, Carter looked up from the down loads of the eight failures and smiled, Well, you cant say you havent tried to make this happen. I also agree with Vring that this is a step in the wrong direction.
Alex waited a moment and said, Why do you say that?
Because you throw away all the work youve done designing the reflective hulls. Those are still formidable weapon systems that cant be used if you move in this direction. Youre also expecting a physical material to handle the atomic heat at the core of a star. I just dont see that happening.
The group was silent and Kreej said, Thanks for your input, Carter.
I said it cant be done using the current process; I didnt say it couldnt be done.
Weed turned sharply and said, What do you mean?
Youre trying to move energy into a container. Its the highest level of energy in creation and if youre going to do that you have to fight fire with fire. Youve got to move it with energy not a physical substance.
Seed interjected, You have something in mind to make that happen. What do you see?
Carter said, Alex, when we teleport objects, where does the teleportation happen? Does it take place at the back of the teleport screen or at the surface?
Im not really sure. Weed, your species developed this process. Do you have the answer to this question?
Weed looked at Seed and they thought about the teleportation process. We believe it happens at the surface. We can run some experiments to confirm it but why do you ask?
I looked at your earlier efforts to teleport energy into the ships hulls and noticed that energy was moved but the teleportation module melted quickly after the process started. That leads me to believe that a stars energy can be moved; you just cant do it with a physical module that would be exposed to the heat of a star.
Vring listened and thought he understood Carters point, So youre saying we have to move it without using a machine to make the transfer?
Yes, and that can be done, I think. Carter turned back to Weed, How thick is the teleport screen?
About six inches thick.
And how thick is the Coronado Power Cells that make up the hulls of the new ships?