Tommy saw her distress and said, “You had no choice; we could not leave any negative matter behind for them to study. One thing we now know though; the tactics of following such a huge amount of negative matter is not something we would do in a system that has value to us.”
Twig looked at them and said, “I suspect that if there were any tracks in this system they were wiped out by the blast.”
Tommy thought a moment and said, “Sprig, you need to find a system for the planet.”
“I already have fifteen selected.”
Tommy looked at the monitor with the destroyed system and then thought, “Rose, I just don’t see any way that the Captors could track anything from this system.”
Sprig stopped as he was about to leave the bridge and stopped. “I just heard what you said to Rose. What is the problem?”
“Rose and my father sense a danger to the Realm. We thought that the Captors might be able to follow jump tracks from here to the rest of the Realm.”
Sprig started shaking and said, “Captain Dodd, find us a nerve center, quickly.”
Cassandra looked puzzled and then comprehension showed, “Lt., jump us to a nerve center, now”
Ortiz looked at his board and entered a coordinate, “Jump in three seconds, 3,2,1, execute.”
The Koseiv broke into normal space and Sprig focused his device on the center. “The temperature is down. The Captors can read all they want. Cassandra, you’ve got to raise the temperature.”
Cassandra focused on the nerve center and saw the particle was no longer white hot but had cooled to red. She mentally entered the particle and felt it respond to her presence. The heat shot up instantly and roared past white to violet. She pulled out instantly and barely got out before the particle exploded. She held her head in her hands and said, “It’s getting close to time for the explosion. The particle is ready.”
Cassandra sat down in her command chair and held her head. Tommy came over and took her hands and shared her thoughts. “Just take it easy, darling. Deep breaths, just relax.”
“Tommy, whatever you did, that sense of danger ended abruptly,” Rose thought to him.
“We found what it was, Rose. However, we have about four months and then we will have to attack the Captors home world. We cannot close this avenue again without a dramatic energy event and I’m not certain what the end result would be. If we wait longer than that, the Captors will be able to see all the planets in the Realm.”
“Tommy, that means only half our ships will be converted,” Rose thought.
“Actually less than that; we can’t wait until the last moment to attack.”
“Have you developed a plan to win this war?”
“We had one but every contact with the Captors forces us to reevaluate. We should meet and discuss our best options, but first we have to find a new home system for Crengren. We’ve pretty much destroyed their home system.”
Rose closed her eyes and saw the system. “What did you do?”
“Well, we came here to party and had a blast. Rose, we had no idea we would cause this much damage. Like I said, we have to reevaluate our plan.”
“Contact me when you’re ready to meet. I’ll let everyone else know to be on standby.”
“Give me about seven days; we lost one of our ships in the last battle and we need to contact the next of kin.”
Rose thought to him, “Let me know when you’re ready,” and she broke the connection.
Sprig and Twig were standing in the main library on Ross looking at the history books. They had just finished consuming the “History of The Human and Alliance of Worlds Conflict” that was written by Sten. Sprig said, “That was an interesting time, Twig. I wish we had been able to see it.”
Twig thought a moment and said, “Me, too. I was greatly impressed with the human military leader Admiral Kosiev. He was a remarkable individual.”
“Yes, he was; it’s a shame he lost his life saving that Stars Realm Fleet from our attack.”
Twig was silent for a moment and then said, “I know you have the same thoughts I have about a possibility of what happened when his ship was destroyed.”
Sprig shook for a moment showing his surprise. “I didn’t know you had seen that thought. I just have these fantasies occasionally and I was wondering what the great Admiral was like. I just wondered if there was a chance he could still be alive.”
Twig leaned in close to Sprig and said, “I have run several simulations on my console and guess what they showed?”
Sprig looked at her for a long time and then said, “You can’t be serious. That was just a wild thought I had.”
“Well, my simulations show that there is a real possibility that what you thought might happen; could have actually happened.”
Sprig turned slightly yellow showing his stress and then said, “Ok, what do I do with this information?”
Twig raised her branches to the sides and said, “I really don’t know. Perhaps you should contact Tommy’s father.”
“Will you have your simulations available for him to see?”
“Certainly.”
Sprig thought a moment and then sent a thought, “Prince Gardner, do you have a moment to discuss an issue with me?”
Tag started and thought, “Hello Sprig. I’ll be glad to discuss anything you choose. Is it important?”
Sprig thought a moment and then thought, “Prince Gardner, Twig and I believe that a friend of yours might still be alive.”
Tag said nothing.
Twig then thought to him, “There is a real possibility that Admiral Alexander Kosiev might still be alive and we would like to discuss it with you.”
“Where are you right this moment,” Tag thought?
“We’re in the Ross main library,” Sprig thought, “However, we can come to you if that meets with your approval.”
“I’m in the map room in Castle Gardner. Please come as quickly as possible.”
Danielle ran into the map room looking for Tag, “What’s wrong, Tag? I sense your tension.”
Tag looked at Danielle and she immediately knew something major had just happened. He walked forward and took Danielle in his arms and held her close. “The adolescents have just told me that there is a real possibility that Alexander Kosiev may still be alive.”
Danielle was stunned speechless; all she could do was stare at Tag.
“I know, darling. I have no idea how it could possibly happen. If anyone else had told me I would dismiss it out of hand; but these adolescents know so much. Could it possibly be true?”
Danielle thought, “I don’t know, Dear. I don’t know.”
Tag, Danielle, Sprig, and Twig were sitting in the universal map room in Castle Gardner. They were gathered around the main display while Twig set up her simulations. Twig finally said, “I saw a thought in Sprig’s mind as we were melding about the possibility of Admiral Kosiev surviving the destruction of the Moscow. I thought it was an interesting concept so I studied the tapes of Moscow’s destruction and made a couple of assumptions and ran a simulation using those premises. Watch what would have happened on the bridge of the Moscow as the first anti-matter missiles hit.”
The video had a transparent hull around the bridge and as the first missile hit Twig froze the image. “I’m assuming that the skin of the Kosiev above the bridge has already absorbed the black holes and had been converted. I’m also assuming that the force of the blast exceeds that of a normal nuclear event.”
The video started again in slow motion and as the blast hit the hull of the Moscow it drove the floor of the bridge up into the ceiling of the bridge. Sprig said, “If the floor was driven up fast enough, then all of the bridge’s contents were sent into the new wall of the Kosiev. That wall was then blown away from the ship by the ensuing anti-matter explosions.”
Tag watched the simulation and said, “Are you saying that Kosiev is locked up in the wall of the Alexander Kosiev?”
“There is a good chance that it happened that way if our initial assumptions are accurate.”