Ashes of the Realm - Death of an Empire (Ashes of the Realm (Book Three)) (2 page)

Carter looked up at the display and smiled, “I suspect whoever is running the show for the Invaders is going to be somewhat upset with our meddling; especially if we destroy their stockpiles of the drug.”

“That’s what we hope. We need to get them out in the open where we can see what we’re dealing with. Right now, they are unknown and we’re working in the dark.”

“Do you mind if Jenna and I go with you?”

“No, you should plan to leave in two days. The Invaders will be wrapping up their destruction of the universe they’re now farming and start moving to their next target within the next nine months. We need to hurry and perform the trial while we have a maximum number of planets to attack.”

“I’ll let Jenna know.”

* * *

Scotty looked at Julie and blew out the candles. He shook his head and wondered at how fast the years had flown. It seemed just yesterday he was ten years old on El Prado looking at stars. Now he was forty six and starting to feel it. Julie was still as beautiful as the day he first saw her and her smile still warmed his heart. He noticed that his white hair was starting to turn a slightly different color and he knew it would be noticeable before too much longer.

He looked and saw Grang and Geena with Maddy who was growing up to be a beautiful Cainth Female. Scotty smiled knowing that Maddy was Grang’s favorite. She was a commander of a twenty unit of Flyers and was moving up in the ranks quickly. Robby was growing up to be a tall young man and he was proud of the way he and Dani fit in with everyone. Their psychic abilities were amazing and really helped him make good decisions; they did an excellent job of not demonstrating them around the citizens of the Empire. Dani’s sense of impending danger was invaluable. They were married three years ago and anyone could see how happy they were together. Jenna and Carter were married six months later. They were a high powered couple as well and Carter never ceased to amaze him with his brilliance.

Michael and Carrie had just had a baby girl and, to June’s shock, had named her Maranda. Carrie explained that the real Maranda was one of the most beautiful people she knew. June finally knew she was forgiven and insisted on babysitting her at every possible moment. Even Samuel loved the little girl.

The forty six industrialized planets were making progress in the construction of ships but they were not able to stand up to the new ships the Invaders had brought in. Alex and the Zord were still working on a power system that would allow them to take one on but in the initial confrontation, the Invaders had destroyed two new ships with one beam into each of them. They still weren’t there yet.

Scotty heard laughter and didn’t even have to look to know that his daughter was the source. TK was seven and was psychic. Unlike her mother, she had blonde hair but her eyes were green like Julie’s. Scotty chuckled; I wonder where she got that hair. It would soon be time for her to choose a Zord and there were hundreds competing to be on the list for her selection. Once she decided, she and the Zord would go to have their armor installed.

The Flyers had all been fitted and were now an imposing force. They were responsible for the fast growth of the Empire. Scotty heard Julie shout, “Tommie Katherine, only one piece of cake.” Scotty heard TK laugh again and smiled; TK was always up to something.

The Empire had grown to more than a thousand planets but its future was going to be determined by the forty six industrialized worlds that had been moved close together to build the ships to fight the Orange Creatures. Twenty more planets had developed industry to the level where they were slated to be moved to the galaxy where the other industrialized planets were located within thirty days. The ship’s structure was there but the means to provide them enough energy to take on the Black Ships was still not developed. Scotty started greeting the guests and put his worries aside for the moment.

TK saw her Father start greeting guests and worried about him. The stress of ruling the Empire was showing and she knew her Mother was worried about his health. She continued to listen to Jingos as she glanced at the long line of attendees that were hoping to see the Emperor. She saw a couple at the back of the line with a young boy and a baby girl. Who were they? Oh yeah, Carrie and Michael Blake. Their planet was one that was to be moved in a few weeks. She stared at the young boy and saw him immediately look her way and smile.

“I’ve been wondering when you were going to notice me?”

TK’s mouth fell open.

“Yes, I’ve been listening to you all night.”

“You’re telepathic?”

“Of course; I started to beg off and not come but I wanted to see what my future bride looked like. I must say, I am impressed. You are absolutely beautiful. However, now we’ve started communicating, I suspect there will be compulsions to stop us. Do you feel them yet?”

TK did. That told her more than anything this boy just said that he was right about their future. TK smiled, “I’ve been wondering who I was going to be matched up with. You must be further along in your development than I am.”

“Maybe, however, I had to see you before the compulsions became too strong to overcome. Now that I have, I can wait until the right time. You’re really something.”

TK smiled as she stared at him, “You’re not so bad yourself. I’ll see you when the time is right. I’ll try to catch up before we meet again.”

The young boy smiled, nodded, and turned to bow to Emperor Robbins. Scotty nodded and as they stepped away he immediately looked at TK. TK shook her head and wondered how her father, who had no active psychic ability, sensed the boy’s connection to her. She smiled and turned back to ten year old Jingos, Jingo’s youngest child. He had inherited his father’s natural ability to carry on a conversation for hours and he hadn’t even noticed her not paying attention to him. Once he got on a subject, it would take a stunner to stop him from talking for hours. She interrupted, “Jingos, you know you’ll get a Zord of your own before too much longer. Just have patience.” Jingos started complaining again and TK looked at the young boy as he walked with his parents to the other side of the huge room.

TK sighed as she felt the negative feelings hit her. He was right. She was being pushed away from any feelings for him. Even so, he was a very attractive boy with an interesting mind. Even negative compulsions couldn’t prevent her seeing that. She was going to have a talk with her Aunt as soon as possible. Dani could tell her what to expect. TK looked around. Where was Dani and Robby? They should have been here already.

* * *

Dani and Robby stood in a crater on the surface of a moon overlooking a huge industrialized planet. They had surrounded themselves with a psychic bubble that would hide them from the Black Ship’s sensors and used their armor’s passive scanners to view the battle taking place above the planet’s atmosphere.

“That ship is a different model than the one that destroyed our two ships.”

Dani shook her head, “I don’t think the ship is new although it has been modified. They’ve added a raised bridge on the hull which will give them additional weapon storage and a better view around the hull. Putting that bulge in the hull changed the lines and shape but everything else looks just like the one that killed our ships.”

Robby stared at his scanner and said, “They’re also able to communicate without having to lower their force field. I detect a frequency being used.”

“That is a change, Robby, but it’s not advancement in their weapons. The strength of the force field is unchanged and the beam cannons on the hull are essentially the same size, location, and barrel length. There have been incremental changes but the ship is still basically what they’ve been using since our last encounter.”

Robby briefly glanced across the surface of the moon and saw the ruins of a base that the Invaders had destroyed directly across the crater from where they were standing. There wasn’t much left of the giant structure. He shook his head and looked back up at the planet with the fleet of huge Black Ships in orbit. The Invaders were kicking off the preliminary invasion of this universe by first attacking the strongest planet and eliminating its fleet. They watched as the Invader Ships destroyed thousands of ships jumping in attempting to defend the planet.

One of the Invader ships had been destroyed when nine hundred ships attacked simultaneously. The destruction of the Black Ship was not good for the planet, as six more Black Ships jumped in to support their attack. Robby and Dani watched their scans as the remaining defending ships were burned out of existence. The twenty Black Ships hung in orbit, killing any new ships that jumped in attempting to save the planet.

Dani looked at Robby, “Why are they just hanging in orbit?”

“The task of this fleet is to soften up the forces they’ll have to face when the entire fleet arrives in nine months. It’s clear this planet has become the major force occupying this universe. More than three hundred thousand ships have already been demolished in the initial attack and, according to my scans, another two hundred thousand jumped in afterwards. They’re waiting because they want to make sure whoever is on the planet calls in all the forces available to defend it. That will weaken all the other planets that they now control.”

“If they’re not invading to start farming, what are they going to do with this planet?”

Robby sighed, “Dani, you know what happens next. This planet is far too industrialized for their purposes. Most of the land masses are covered with huge cities. The effort to clear land for growing pods would be too expensive and time consuming.”

Dani watched as the number of ships jumping in became fewer and finally an hour passed where none appeared. Nineteen of the Black Ships jumped away for other military targets leaving one behind. The ship waited another hour and then it happened. A brilliant green beam shot out from the huge ship and struck the planet at the largest city’s location. The beam was more than a thousand miles wide and when it hit; the continent below was shattered and the shockwave blew the atmosphere away. The Invader moved around the planet and fired four more beams into other major population centers. The entire surface caught fire and a once beautiful green and blue planet turned into a red burning ball of smoke and ash.

Robby watched the planet die and felt his anger start to rise. Dani felt it as well and didn’t want to control it. She was also feeling horror and grief at the huge loss of life. She looked at the Black Ship and said, “Robby, they’ve lowered their force field.”

Robby looked at his scanner and saw that a new frequency was being used to communicate, “Dani, they must have to drop the force field to communicate to another dimension. Now would be a good time to make them pay.”

“How do you want to do this?”

“We know where their reactors are located. We’ll teleport in and hit them with our armor’s strongest beam and then we’ll teleport away immediately after we fire.”

“They also have a missile storage bay on the other side of the ship from the reactors. I’ll hit that port simultaneously with the hit on the reactors. Are you ready?”

“Let’s do this before they stop communicating”

“Do you think they can see us?”

Robby thought a moment, “If we were just using our camouflage there would be a chance. However, we’re using our psychic ability to hide our armor. I don’t think they’ll be able to see us through that. At the first sign of a weapon warming up on their hull, teleport back here. Are you ready?”

Dani connected with Robby mentally and they teleported together. The force field went back up behind them and the two knew that the communication had stopped. They arrived on the hull of the giant ship and they simultaneously fired their armor’s main beam at their selected targets. They immediately teleported away as the Giant Black Ship exploded into a huge fireball and then fell toward the planet. There was no atmosphere to burn the ship as it rolled over and descended. It crashed and added its mass to the burning surface of the now dead planet. The fire was so hot that the entire ship melted and merged with the magma rushing out of the cracks blown into the planet’s molten core.

Dani went into Robby’s arms back on the moon’s surface and held him as they watched the ship turn over, slowly at first, then faster, fall toward the surface. It finally hit and shattered into a huge debris field.

“Do you think they can trace this back to us?”

“I don’t think so. Even if they have a probe recording everything, we were inside their force field when we fired. The probe will see that nothing penetrated their screen and that the explosion came from inside it.”

“Let’s go home, Robby. It’s your Father’s birthday.” Robby sighed and nodded. The two of them disappeared from the moon. The Invaders were one universe closer to finding their home.

* * *

“Alex, getting the teleport module to draw power from the reactors is not going to work. Aligning the field inside the core is just too delicate a maneuver to make consistently happen within the walls of the reactor. A piece of the reactor gets taken with the energy and causes the reactor to explode. This process is entirely too dangerous to use on a large scale.”

“Vring, I’ve seen that but without the additional power, we can’t face the Invader’s ships. The new model is impenetrable to any weapon we have. Even the reflective hulls won’t function at their current level. Their beam overloads the collectors too fast to focus back at them.”

Kreej said, “You would think it could handle that much power but it overloads and fails. Obviously, there is a limit to how much it can handle. It would work if the power could be loaded at a slower, increasing level but the Invader’s beams hit at maximum power. It’s the initial, sudden surge that makes the hulls fail. We just can’t charge them to a high enough level to match the Black Ship’s beam. We need a larger power source to charge them to make them effective. This is frustrating.”

Vring was silent for two minutes as the three contemplated what to do. Then Vring said, “I agree Kreej.”

Alex looked at the data again and asked, “Do you think they would work if they were charged properly?”