Surely you are not going to allow our world to be destroyed. We must have your assistance. Please.
Fleet Control, are you listening in to this conversation?
Yes we are.
The only way we will assist is after you have arrested the Administrator and his assistants and put them on a ship and send them out of the system to us.
But that ship said Ill be killed if I leave!
Let us hope youre good at hiding. You have my conditions.
We will do as you ask, Commander. You are now the Leader of all our forces. Please make the return happen as quickly as possible.
Ill leave when he leaves. Losel waited for an hour and saw a small ship leave the planet and head toward the jump limit.
Fleet Command commed, If you will leave a ship to escort them out, you can start moving our forces.
Losel watched his monitor and sent a destroyer in to meet the ship. He waited until it arrived next to the small ship and said, You will turn on your video and show me who is on board that ship. The video came on and he saw all of the Leadership Council. He activated his com, Carry out your orders.
The destroyer fired on the small ship and blew it into six pieces. We will now start moving our troops. Contact them and tell them they are ordered home. I suggest you find new leaders that will make us work together. The fleet jumped away.
Virze and Grace looked at their scans of the planet below and saw thousands of soldiers on the surface forcing the population to work at hard labor stripping raw materials. How many sites do we have to handle?
I count more than a thousand with a hundred or more troops at each.
Some of those troops are mixed in with the workers, Grace. Its not going to be easy to hit them from space.
No, well have to depend on the Flyers.
Thats going to require them to come close to their targets. Well lose some if were forced to do that.
Vring and Kreej have developed a mechanism on the Riders guns that may prevent that.
Oh?
You know the guns are powered by a small red generator.
Yes.
Well, theyve added a force field that will surround the Zord and Rider once the gun is activated. It will turn off to allow the sparks to fly out and then reactivate. The Flyers will only be exposed for a very small interval. It should reduce our losses.
So how do we do this?
Im teleporting five riders to each site and fifty over the capital. You and I will send the ships parked in orbit home to assist them in getting their troops off the other planets.
Do you think theyll go?
Ill make an offer they cant refuse.
Virze laughed, Youve been watching some old videos.
I found them in the learning center. Are you ready?
Yes, start sending them.
Anglo, this is Grace. Ive sent you the coordinates for the Flyers. Please start them coming now.
Theyve been getting impatient. The first five hundred groups will arrive in thirty seconds.
Grace, lets go talk to some ships.
The Commander of the military transports in orbit above the planet sat in his chair eating a meal and suddenly heard over his PA system. Good morning, please continue you meal while I tell you what your next actions are going to be. You will take your ships back to your home world and assist them in moving troops back home from the planets youve conquered. You have exactly one minute to start moving toward the jump limit. Ill kill any ship that doesnt follow my instructions.
The Commander looked sharply at his Communications Officer, There is nothing on my scanner.
The Commander looked at his display and said, I cannot leave without direct orders from the First Administrator.
Well, unfortunately, he and his entire Leadership Council are now deceased along with the eight thousand warships that were there. I really dont want to make an example of one of your ships to prove I mean what I say, however, I will.
The Commander yelled, Raise all screens; power the weapons. The Commander watched the force field form around his ship and then saw a bright beam blow it apart.
My next shot will not be at the edge of your force field.
He looked over at his scanner and saw that the beam had not been slowed or reduced in power. He watched as all one hundred ships had their force fields blown away. Get underway, start moving toward the jump barrier!
That is very wise,
What about my troops on the planet.
Youre talking about the ones that murdered almost half the planets population. Well remove them. You dont have to worry about them.
The Commander felt a cold shiver go up his spine. He knew that they werent talking about relocating those troops. The Communications Officer looked at his board and said, The General Officer of the military forces on the surface is demanding to know where youre going.
Ignore him. I suspect hell know in a few moments. He looked at his navigator, Get the fleet to maximum speed.
Higlon leaned right as Mraak banked hard right and screamed in from high altitude. The young Cainth Rider locked in ten sparks and set the gun for blaster-organic. He left his second gun in the holster on the bindings and listened as the guns tone announced that targets had been acquired. Mraak banked in on the large crowd gathered around the small rail cars that were transporting the gold ore they were being forced to load. Fifty troops stood and watched with their blasters in their hands as the workers struggled shoveling the huge mound into the cars. Higlon pulled his trigger ten times and Mraak banked hard left. Higlon held on and turned to watch. He saw his partner come in right behind him and fire ten more sparks. As they banked left two more flyers came screaming in at high velocity from the opposite direction and barely missed hitting them head on. Forty more sparks were released as Higlon banked back and fired ten more sparks from his second gun. All fifty guards were hit in less than ten seconds and were burned into small piles of ash.
The workers laboring over the huge load were stunned at how quickly the guards were killed. One of them picked up one of the blasters that had fallen to the ground and ran over to the mine entrance. Fifteen more workers joined him and stood to either side of the entry way. Twenty five guards ran out of the mine. They heard the screams from the burning guards and knew something was happening outside. They rushed out and were blasted by the waiting workers.
Higlon turned off his Zecka and flew in and landed next to the mine. The workers were shocked at the size of the creature coming in to land and initially raised their blasters until one of the workers yelled, They must be the ones helping us.
The workers lowered their weapons as Higlon and four other Riders dismounted. Higlon said, Were going after the other guards in the mine. Set up a defensive perimeter around the mine and get out of the open.
One of the older workers started yelling instructions. They all gasped as the five beings disappeared. The Zord watched the workers and as the crowd scattered toward the forest, they heard in their minds, We are freeing you from the invaders. Please get undercover and await further instructions.
The workers looked at the huge winged creatures and then they disappeared as well. The leader yelled, Get into the tree line! Those with blasters set up coverage from the mine. The thousands of workers ran toward the forest.
Higlon and Steve Jamos entered the mine first and rapidly ran down the tunnel. They passed the guards silently as they hit them with the designator beam on their guns. Higlon and Steve split up at the first intersection. The three other Riders followed them and saw the guards glowing with the designator field as they passed. They split up at the intersection and followed Higlon and Steve into the mines depths. The guards heard something but didnt see anything in the dark tunnels. After thirty seconds, Higlon looked at the counter on his gun and saw that eight guards had been designated. He fired eight sparks and continued moving down the tunnel. Steve felt the timer vibrate and checked his counter. He fired ten sparks and reloaded as he moved quickly down another tunnel breaking off the main Corridor. The sparks moved back up the tunnels and began hitting the guards that had been designated. The workers watched as the guards burned and then began running out of the shaft. They began pouring out of the mines entrance and heard their fellow workers yelling at them from the forest. They turned and headed for the tree line.