Twig said, “I didn’t know those creatures had small craft like that.”
“No one did, Twig. But think about it. What if they find something that needed to be taken to the main ship. Those creatures would not be able to lift it with their personal propulsion.”
“Why do you think they went into that ship, Jake?”
Jake smiled, “The white creatures didn’t know that we had taken the Nest Mother’s chamber. I’m sure the leader wanted the chamber to take all the information that had been gathered over the long harvestings of the Eight Legs. I’m sure it feared the Demons and hoped to someday break free of their control.” Jake paused and said, “It was at this moment that the Demons activated the compulsion and the Demons began killing themselves. Keep an eye on the Nest Mother’s ship.”
They watched and, as the carnage continued with the billions of ships, they saw a single white creature fly out of the mother ship and attack another creature that had left their main ship.
“The white creatures did not use their ships to kill each other. The crew of that small ship attacked each other and the sole survivor left the ship inside and flew out to continue killing. It is my belief that the Demon did not know that craft was inside the Nest Mother’s ship. It has a weapon on it that can kill the Keepers’ ships, and I want you to take your transport, move that ship back to your labs, and duplicate it.”
Twig and Junior were quiet. Finally Twig said, “Why are you giving us that weapon? You must know what we are planning.”
“I do, but I am not going to give it to anyone that can’t be trusted with its power. I need you to make a hundred thousand of those weapons and I will send the Searchers from the Brez Division to have them installed. Those beams will not be given to the Realm’s military. The Brez Division has expanded and is now responsible for the security of the Crown’s galaxy. The majority of those Searchers are Gresh, Cainth, Glod, and Human. They can be trusted.”
The two remained silent. Jake continued, “That beam can destroy any substance in existence; even our ships cannot survive it. I will command that division and see that they are destroyed if we win this.”
“And what do you expect us to do with the one we have, Jake?”
“Use it to make sure your project is successful. You may no longer trust us, Twig; but I trust your species implicitly. You’re going to have a large family to defend shortly.”
Twig said, “We will follow your lead from this point forward. We will make your plan ours.”
“Thank you, Twig. We need to make sure the ship is there.”
A small shuttle teleported to the surface of the green ship and entered the hole in its surface. “The ship is there, Jake. We will start work on the weapon immediately.”
“Thank you, again, Twig.” Jake turned off his display and said, “Junior, I need you to take me to Admiral Busigleore.”
“Jake, you haven’t told me your plan.”
“Can your parents access your core?”
Junior was stunned, “I honestly don’t know.”
“Well, until this is over, you’re going to have to stay away from them. I’m sure the Reg would give parents the tools to manage the behavior of their offspring. You can’t risk everything on the chance they can’t.”
“Why do you think they can?”
“They responded to your distress beacon in less than ten seconds. I believe they heard it before it actually activated. That concerns me, Junior. Just tell them you’re not where you can leave me for the short term. Hopefully we can delay them getting suspicious, but I’m certain that the Gardners are already wondering what I’m hiding from them and they may ask your parents to find out.”
“Are you going to meet with the Gardners again?”
“Not if I can avoid it. I can probably hide what I’m planning from them, but I’m not so sure I could from AG.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jake sat down and looked at Manny. “Thank you for meeting with me, Admiral.”
“Call me Manny, Jake. What do you need me to do?”
“I need you to give me command of the Brez Division’s Searchers, and make sure every one of them is totally loyal to the Queen.”
“That would strip Ross of its defenses.”
“I know.”
“I need to know why.”
Jake stared at Manny and finally decided. He began telling Manny what was going to happen and his plan for handling it.
Two hours later Manny was convinced, “Does Valerie know?”
“No, she doesn’t, and she would not go along with what I’m going to do.”
“I can see that.” Manny sat and mulled over what Jake had told him. “Why did you tell me and not just order me to give you the ships?”
“You are the only one in the Realm that can see if what I’ve told you is true. I was thinking that you might know of something that I’ve missed that would change my plans. Do you know anything I’ve missed?”
“I know a number of things you don’t know, but they only support what you’re planning. I’m not certain you can make this happen.”
“Me either, Manny but I have to try.”
“This could be considered treason, Jake.”
“So shoot me, but first help me.”
“The Division is yours. There are five hundred Searchers that are spies, and I need to assign them to another venture.”
Jake stared at Manny. “Don’t act surprised. I have more than six thousand scattered throughout the Realm. The Division is yours. I’ll notify the General Officers that they are to follow your orders without question, no matter what you ask of them.”
“I want Cynthia Dodd to be second-in-command.”
Manny smiled and said, “Another promotion?”
“An Admiral outranks a General, and she is going to have to command the operation in the Keepers’ universe.” Jake paused, “Manny, if Joe knows what I’m planning, AG will know.”
“I know. I’ll make sure I stay away from any meetings with them.”
Jake tilted his head, “That’s a good Idea.”
Manny nodded, and worried.
The Kosiev jumped away from the Keepers Fleet it had attacked, and the Gardners replayed the recording of the battle. “I tried everything in my inventory and nothing affected their hulls.”
Tag said, “We see that. Do you think flying through one would cut it in half?”
There was a long pause, “I’ll try that, but I want Cassandra taken off if I do.”
Cassandra sat up in her chair, “Why do you say that?”
“I felt their beams and they started to get through to my processors. I’m of the mind that I would be broken in half if I tried it.”
“Then we won’t try it.”
Tag looked at Cassandra and knew she would not allow him to place the ship in danger. “Can you think of anything else we can do?”
She shook her head.
“If we still had those blue ships we used against the Demons, there might be a good chance of damaging them.”
Matt sighed, “That possibility does not exist. The Reg took them when they moved out of our universe. I’m also pretty certain that they would not allow us to use them to kill another species if they are not also endangered by that species. And they are not where we can reach them. They left for another dimension and we do not possess an interdimensional drive.”
“Perhaps that cutting beam is a possibility.”
Tag shrugged, “You’re probably right, Alex. Take us to Ross and let’s see if the spiders are ready.”
The Collective asked Military, “How many ships are ready for the second wave?”
“Ten million. I have also learned another of those psychic waves happened in that other universe.”
“What?”
“It appears another being has been released.”
“Was there any damage to our fleets?”
“No, it happened far away from our fleets.”