Ashes of the Realm - Death of an Empire (Ashes of the Realm (Book Three)) (14 page)

“I’m more curious about what those ships are coming to do, Kreen. This planet has been defeated and offers no resistance. Why bring in the extra ships?”

“I have no idea but the planet put up quite a fight. Most of the larger cities are still burning to some extent but they were not been nuked from orbit. It looks like their fleet didn’t have much success against the invasion.”

Day glanced out at the space surrounding the planet and saw the wreckage of ships scattered around the planet in high orbit, “No, it appears they didn’t.” Day accessed his computer and queried it about information on wasps and related insects. He downloaded it and immediately felt a sense of dread. “Kreen, take a look at this download.”

Kreen took a look and said, “You don’t think that’s what they’re going to do?”

Day looked at the huge incoming fleet, “Those ships are either bringing something here or are going to take something away. I don’t see those warriors on the surface collecting anything but the population. This may get ugly.”

“I hope you’re wrong.”

Day shook his head knowing whatever was going to happen was never good for a conquered planet. “It appears those creatures haven’t discovered a means of jumping inside the jump limit.”

“You’re right. I’ve scanned their warships and they have a force field that’s as good as a Zeta. I’ll need to see one of their weapons fired before I can assess their strength. We can probably assume it’s pretty strong if the beam to force field relationship holds true.”

“I was just thinking that as well. I’m glad we charged our armor; it could get dicey if they discover us.”

Kreen looked at his helmet’s display, “They are advanced in terms of the weapons on their ships but they are behind in terms of the finesse of their tools. Their drives are standard fare and their stealth is adequate to hide them from too close an inspection, but not that advanced. While I’m scanning the planet, you should keep your scanners on their ships. Let me know if you see one charging their weapons.”

“Already on it, Kreen.”

The fleet of ships arrived at the planet and thousands of small shuttles began dropping toward the planet. “Pick one and follow it down, Kreen.”

Day saw one of the shuttles landing at a compound where hundreds of captives were being held. The shuttle landed and the guards surrounding the compound started moving the prisoners toward the shuttle. As the line walked slowly toward the shuttle the guards would fire a hand weapon at the ones in the entrance and stun them; the shuttle crew would then carry them into the shuttle. “What are they doing?”

“I’m not sure, Day.”

Suddenly they saw one of the wasp creatures run out of the shuttle, grab one of the captives and drag them out of line. Day and Kreen saw that the wasp’s abdomen was much larger than those herding the hostages. The wasp threw the captive to the ground, whipped its abdomen around, and penetrated its body with a large stinger. The captive struggled but then grew stiff and ceased moving. After ten seconds the wasp withdrew its stinger and its abdomen was back to normal size.

The captives in line saw what happened and turned and fled in panic. The guards fired their weapons until all of them were on the ground. One of the wasps walked forward and hit the one that had stung the prisoner and it was clear it was angry that it had caused an orderly process to disintegrate into chaos. It was clearly saying something and the wasp it was addressing was cowering in front of the leader. The leader took a small container for its vest and sprayed a bright white X on the stung prisoner. The body was carried into the shuttle with the others being moved.

Day said, “The population is going to be used to feed their eggs.”

“What are they doing now?”

The leader of the wasps looked over the bodies lying on the ground and began pointing at some of them. The guards came forward, picked them up, and carried them back into the buildings of the small city. Day watched and knew what they were doing, “They’re leaving some of them as a breed stock for future invasions.”

Kreen saw Day had to be right, “This is just another form of Keeper. I wonder how extensive these creatures have become in this universe.”

“I think we’ll know once we collect all the information we gather. However, that first planet we recorded stands no chance against them. They don’t even have a war fleet.”

“We need to follow one of these ships when it jumps out, Day. We’re also running a risk staying in one place too long.”

“Go ahead and teleport to the jump limit and we’ll wait for them there.”

* * *

The Sensor worked his panel and just couldn’t localize the location of a strange energy signature. It scanned a wide area and tried to home in on the source but was frustrated in its efforts. He called the Nest Master over and he was also unable to find the source. Suddenly the reading turned to zero. “It’s gone.”

“What was that?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen that pattern before and it seemed to just fill a huge area above the planet. Whatever caused it was small.”

The Nest Master looked at the Sensor, “How do you know that?”

“I could see the energy of our ships in orbit behind it.”

“Can you estimate the size?”

“My best guess is that it is one tenth the size of our drop ship.”

“Are you sure there was something there? That’s too small to have been a ship.”

The Sensor hesitated, “No, I’m not sure and that may have been why I couldn’t locate anything. This is something I can’t explain.”

“Let me know if you see it again.”

“I will.”

* * *

Kreen watched the scans from the planet while they waited for a ship to arrive and noticed something, “Day, we may have a problem.”

“What!”

“I’m going to feed this to your display; I want you to watch the warship that was located about twenty miles to the west of our location.” Day watched as the ship slowly turned in orbit until its bow was pointed in their direction. “They are turning the ship so they can bring their main sensors toward us.”

“Do you think they saw us?”

“I don’t think they could see us but they must have detected something.”

“Why do you say that?”

“If they saw us, they would have fired on us. Notice that the bow was turned toward us for ten minutes and they didn’t charge their weapons. We are giving them something but they can’t see us.”

“What do you think it is, Kreen?”

“Well, we can eliminate anything physical so it must be energy. Their scanners must be able to see our energy frequency.”

Day thought about it and said, “Then their scanners must be better than the Invaders. You know how good our stealth mode is and it appears we’re not completely hidden. We need to tell Command about this.”

“I’ll send a probe with what we’ve collected so far.”

“I think that would be wise. Is there any way to hide our energy signature?”

Kreen looked at his systems and said, “It must be a product of our stealth mode. I think the advancements in bending light around us must be causing it. We can go to a camouflage mode and not use the energy bending feature.”

“Back to basics, huh.”

“That’s how their stealth works. We’ll try it and if I see one of their ships start turning toward us, I’ll have our armor automatically teleport to another location.”

Day thought about the suggestion, “Kreen, what would happen if we changed our armor’s surface to charge while we’re in stealth mode? Would it absorb the energy leaking around us?”

Kreen was surprised by the suggestion. He never ceased to be amazed at Day’s insights. “Let’s try this; teleport ten miles away and I’ll set my armor to charge inside the stealth field. Tell me if you see a change.”

Day teleported and said, “I can’t see you through a normal scan. Give it a try.”

“Alright, I’ve gone to charging.”

Day scanned the area with every possible scan his armor could make, “I don’t see anything. You are still fully cloaked.”

“I’m turning off the charging.”

Dray stared at his scanner and saw something, “It appears the color of the background has shifted ever so slightly to a different color. The area is growing fast.”

“My charging is back on.”

Day watched as the area was sucked into the position he knew Kreen was located.”

“It’s really hard to see and if I weren’t looking for it I would have missed it. Your armor has pulled in the energy and there is no difference in background. You should launch another probe.”

“It’s on the way. There’s a ship arriving at the jump limit. You should get back so we can follow.”

Day teleported back to Kreen’s back and watched as the huge green and yellow ship approached. It crossed the jump limit and disappeared. Kreen entered the jump coordinates he had collected and teleported to a nearby location.

* * *

Paul saw the first probe and downloaded its information. He assessed the capabilities of the wasps and prepared a download for his warriors. Just before he sent it the second probe arrived and he was glad he was delayed. The energy leakage represented a real danger to his Flyers. He included it into his download and sent it out to the warriors. He sent a copy to Jingos and had the probes jump to the Defense Facility to let them know about the problem with their armor.

He paused and looked at his roster. Day East was proving to be a good Scout. Kreen was proving to be everything his Father was; Kreej was known for his mental prowess. He made a note to look at future command for the two. Another probe arrived and he saw that the Wasps were not the real danger in this universe. He teleported to the Scout that had found a species that was extremely dangerous. Unlike the Wasps, they left no survivors.

“C
assie?”

“Yes, Trey.”

“How are you able to communicate with me when all the others had compulsions to prevent any contact?”

“We are different from the others. You and I are the end product of a long evolutionary process that started with Tag and Danielle.”

“I’m not sure what you mean and how do you know this?”

‘You’ve looked at how psychic skills develop their power over generations in those that carry it passively and have no access to them?”

“Yes, I’ve seen how that works.”

“You and I are direct descendants of Tag and Danielle. You are a direct male descendent from Tag and I am a direct female descendent of Danielle. Our lineage has been unbroken for almost twenty thousand years and the psychic power has been building over that vast time. We can’t touch each other until we are mature enough or we could cause tremendous damage to creation. Just as you are able to sense danger, I am able to see truth. What I’m telling you is true.

‘Like when Tommy and Cassandra caused the energy nexus to heat up by making contact too early.”

“Yes, but much worse. We could also kill each other from the contact.”

“Then my original question still remains, why are we not compelled to avoid contact?”

“Because our minds will have to grow together for us to be ready; we need to be in contact to prepare ourselves. Haven’t you felt me watching you every day?”

Trey smiled, “Yes I have and the feeling is what makes my day bearable. I still hurt from the loss of my parents.”

Cassie hesitated but felt he had to know, “Trey, your parents had to die before you acquired your full power.”

“What!!”

“Can you understand that we are a product of the Creative Force that brought life into existence? Do you really understand that?”

Trey thought about the question, “I don’t really understand that mythical kind of stuff.”

“It’s not mythical; it’s a reality. You and I are direct descendents but your parents were as well. Obviously they would have to be for you to carry their power to the next level. Your developing mind would have killed them as you grew up because they were the source of your power; their death would have been painful. There is not enough room in this universe for the power in the three of you. This would have happened even if you aren’t released.”

“I would gladly die if they could have lived.”

“Their next child would have made the same thing happen. There was no escaping the reality of your building power. You must also remember that you are the reason for all of this taking place.”

“Why didn’t your parents have to die as well?”

“Because I’m a first generation psychic and you are a second. I don’t have the massive amount of psychic force that you possess and my parents have no psychic abilities.”

“Will we have to die if we have children?”

“No, I don’t see that. They will be psychic but not at the level you and I will become.”

“Cassie, I sense that your mind is different from mine. You feel…I don’t know…smarter.”

“I am my Father’s Daughter and you know how smart Carter is. He is the third element in our development that has also been developing for thousands of years. He is like a Catalyst. He is what will make our union truly dangerous.”

“When we finally come together, will I finally be able to understand what you’re saying?”

“Yes. Your mind will be changed in a remarkable way. I am already feeling great excitement for what you are going to become. I know we’re destined for each other and I have no choice in being with you but I want you to know that if psychic powers didn’t exist, I would still choose you to love. You are so remarkable.”

Trey saw her in his mind and smiled, “You are so much a part of me now. I feel you wherever I go and the feeling is what makes me whole. I know I should be angry at a force that caused my parents to have to die but I’m not.”

“There’s a reason for that, Trey.”

“What is that, Cassie?”

“I’m the gift to you to make up for your loss.”

Trey smiled, “I think my parents understood at the end what was happening. I know they knew their time was over and they faced it bravely. I felt their love and know they were complete. You were right that night.”

“What?”

“I already love you more.”

Cassie smiled and Trey held her feelings in his heart. He stood and walked over to the practice field and Grang said, “The Flyers are improving.”