Ashes of the Realm - Greyson's Revenge (29 page)

Grang couldn’t speak. The six foot nine inch tall Magrum female stood in the doorway staring at him. “I’ve also heard you don’t ever have much to say; at least that appears to be true. You can close your mouth now.”

Grang’s mouth was open and he was amazed at how beautiful she was. He couldn’t move or speak.

“Are you going to invite me in?”

Grang rushed over and brought a chair for her. She walked in and sat down. He continued to stare at her.

“You’re wondering where they found me?”

Grang nodded.

“I live on one of Jilico’s former conquests. We have a small community on Burke and since Rehoben has freed us, all I’ve been hearing about is the huge Magrum Warrior that is always with the Emperor. They tell me you’re tough enough to handle me, and though I doubt it, I’ve decided to see for myself. I’ve heard about all you’ve done and a Zord showed me your history on El Prado.”

Grang slowly sat down and she saw his immediate sadness.

“You killed the Emperor’s Mother.”

Grang nodded. “She was such a beautiful person and I ended her life. I’ve done so many evil things.”

“It appears to me you’ve also ended your life as well.”

Grang looked up sharply.

“Grang, are you the same person you were when all that happened?”

Grang shook his head.

“Then you did end that old life. That Grang died years ago but you don’t know it yet. Now it’s time for you to live the new life you’ve been given. You should understand that there are no accidents in the universe and that before you could arrive at this place in time, you had to do those things. They made you what you’ve become. You’re here to make a difference and your accomplishments have made me proud to be a member of your species. You are much more than you think. Everyone has forgiven you…except for yourself.

I came here to tell you that, after a lot of thought and soul searching, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I think my father is right; you are the only one that can possibly handle me. I’ve been told no one can and, unfortunately, they’re probably right. I am somewhat strong willed and opinionated. So, when you’re ready to give it a go, you’ll find me waiting on Burke with my family.” She stood and kissed Grang on the cheek, turned toward the door and said, “Please don’t make me wait too long. I really don’t have much patience.”

Grang watched her walk away and heard, “Grang, it’s time to live.”

Grang saw Madeline in his thoughts and felt his agony return. He saw Madeline smile, “It’s time to live again.”

Grang ran out the door and ran up to the huge Magrum Female and looked down on her, “Why me? What do you see in me that you want!?!”

She turned and smiled, “I have very high standards. I’ve been told that you’re the only one that could possibly handle someone like me. I want a Warrior for my mate and you are all I heard you were. The Zord confirmed it. However, I refuse to be here with you unless you can open your heart. Can you do that?”

“What if I’m not what you think?”

She stepped back and slowly looked him over from head to foot as she slowly walked around him, “Ohhhh, I think you’ll do.”

Grang smiled, “What’s your name.”

“Geena.”

“I promise not to hurt you.”

She smiled coyly, “I’d like to see you try.”

Grang laughed for the first time in years, “Please stay. I do want to see if we can make a go of it.”

Geena smiled, “I thought you’d never ask.”

Grang swept her off her feet and carried her back to his home.

Scotty and Julie peeked around the small house and Julie jumped into Scotty’s arms. “Oh Scotty, how did you make this happen?”

The Planet Leader on Burke contacted me about a rather hard to handle Magrum Female and wondered if I had a place for her in our military. I contacted her father and he confirmed that she is a rather strong willed Daughter. I told her Father about Grang and asked him to mention to her that there was only one Magrum in this universe that could handle her and she had better hope she didn’t run in to him. He’d teach her a thing or two. She took it as a challenge and decided to find out all she could about Grang. Vring just happened to be around when she started her search.”

“Just happened to be around?”

Scotty smiled and looked up at the sky, “Ohhh, it was entirely an accident. Her father told her to ask the Zord about the Magrum on Bristone that could teach her a thing or two. She couldn’t resist. Vring showed her the ongoing duals between Grang and the Northern Cats and she was impressed. I think his pet Torg sealed the deal.”

“She is a rather strong personality.”

“And Grang isn’t?”

She punched him in the ribs laughing, “We’ll see.”

Scotty picked her up and tickled her, “I guess we will.”

Julie laughed uncontrollably and said, “Stop, please stop.”

“I will if you behave.”

“I will, I will.”

S
eventeen year old Jenna Talben watched her display as the giant black ship moved toward another planet to conquer. “Gilene, are we going to intervene?”

“Jenna, they have learned how to handle our attacks. It was easy at first but now they fire all their beams as soon as we hit their force field destroying the hornets. If we continue to penetrate them, they’ll reach a level that our full Zeta Beam would not penetrate.”

Jenna thought a moment, “Gilene, do you have the information from the first probe that Alex used to spy on them.”

“Yes, why?”

“Show me the information in a download.” Jenna put on the head band and Gilene downloaded the information. “So the probe was able to get to the ship when it lowered its force field.”

“It appears so.”

“Why did they lower it?”

“To receive a communication.”

“Do you have the frequency of that communication?”

“Just a moment.” Jenna waited and pulled up the structure of the huge ship on her display. “Yes, I do.”

“Let’s try something new. Move up next to the force field and hit it with that frequency. If they drop their force field, hit them with your main beam just below the bottom of the main control room. That’s where their reactors are located”

Gilene thought about it, “It might work. Are you ready?”

“Just keep the teleport board hot.”

“You don’t have to ask. Here we go.”

Gilene moved up next to the force field in stealth mode and sent the frequency intermittently. She paused and sent it again. The force field came down and Gilene hit the giant black ship with her main beam. The giant ship exploded so fast that Gilene was barely able to teleport away from the blast before it struck them.

“My, my but that was dramatic. I can also assume from the immediate explosion that they were unable to send a message out.”

Gilene smiled, “You are a genius. Let’s tell the others.”

“Tell them to only use it on ships that are alone and attacking a planet. We don’t want them to think we’ve used a more powerful beam.”

“Good idea. We still need them to keep their attention on this universe.”

“This event should get their attention.”

Gilene teleported away. Ten black battleships appeared ten hours later when the destroyed ship failed to report its progress. A message went out to the Fleet Master and he directed his ship to the scene of the attack. As he viewed the destruction he began to feel something alien, fear.

Three weeks later Varner and James were moving in on a giant black ship that was moving in toward a civilized planet. The giant ship was destroying the ships coming from the planet to defend it and was moving inexorably on the defenders. Varner moved slowly toward the ship. “I don’t believe they will lower the force field until that fleet is eliminated.”

“You’re probably right. I hate to see those ships destroyed but we don’t have much choice.”

Suddenly five giant black ships appeared in the system. James looked at his display and said, “Why are they here? They don’t need that firepower to defeat that fleet.”

Varner said, “I don’t like this.”

All six ships suddenly opened fire on Varner with their main beams. James yelled, “Get us out of here! They can see us.”

Varner sent a message warning the other Searchers that their Stealth mode no longer worked when he saw that the beams had knocked down the screen and overloaded the collection panels. The teleport system was bypassed to expel the additional energy flooding the system. James saw the needles on his board race across the dial and then Varner exploded into fragments that were disintegrated by the hellish beams.

The Ship Master looked at the site of the explosion and regretted that nothing remained to examine. They were still no closer to finding out where these ships were coming from. Well now they could find them and destroy them. He smiled anticipating his next kill.

Greyson and Timmy received the message that was suddenly cut off. Timmy was silent and Greyson said, “Varner is gone and they just killed Kelly as well. He’s not responding to my calls.”

“I’m so sorry Greyson.”

“They died like we all hope to go; fighting the good fight. I’m going to miss them greatly.”

Timmy took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “They can see us in stealth mode, Greyson. That changes things.”

“Yes, but I suspect it’s not as bad as you think.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“If you thought they couldn’t see you, would you teleport away if several of their ships showed up?”

“No, probably not; I’d hang around to see what was going on.”

“Which I’m sure Varner and Kelly did when they were killed; we can still teleport out before they can emerge into normal space.”

“What are you thinking about doing?”

“We have some Captor balls in our inventory and I want to try something.”

Timmy looked at his panel, “We have three.”

“Well, I can see where the Invader ships are going to emerge into normal space. What if I teleport those balls to the location of their arrival set to detonate in three seconds. If the balls are close to the center of their emergence, they should be inside their force fields.”

Timmy thought about it, “You don’t want them in the center. The ship won’t enter if there’s an object occupying the same space.”

“I know, they’ll just emerge close by. The result would be the same. Are you open for a little pay back?”

“You know I am. Just don’t be foolish.”

“I won’t.”

The Ship Master ordered the five ships to jump away to see if another of those ships showed up to investigate. He hoped for another opportunity to fight his ship. Then he heard, “I’m reading another one of those disturbances. The coordinates follow.”

The Ship Master sneered and sent instructions to the other four ships. They waited for a minute and then jumped.”

“Here they come, Timmy.” Greyson teleported away leaving three, large round, objects behind.

The Ship Master watched his display as he emerged into normal space and didn’t see a disturbance. What was that thing next to his ship? That was his last thought. The explosion blew through the middle of the Giant Black Ship and touched off its reactors. Three of the attackers were blown into dust. The three survivors watched the explosions rip through space and felt their ships shudder from the blast wave. The Master of the three ships slammed his arms against his chair arm. Those demons baited a trap and sprung it. Three main battleships destroyed after only killing one small ship. Now it was dangerous to jump in close to one of those strange ships. He opened his communications panel and sent a record of what happened. This would have to be figured out by the Fleet Master. He knew he wasn’t going to jump his ship in close to one of the disturbances. No, half a light year is about as close as I’m going to come.”

Timmy and Greyson watched the explosions from two hundred thousand miles away. Timmy shook his head, “We should go home and notify the Emperor of our losses.”

“I’ve also got to tell my family about Varner and Kelly. I guess we’ve just been lucky so far.”

Timmy sighed, “Things are getting dangerous, Greyson. Let’s go get some more Captor Balls.”

“Unfortunately, there are only twenty left in the Defense Facility. We need to use them sparingly.” Greyson was silent for a moment, “Timmy, how do you think they’re able to see us?”

“The same way I would if I knew there were ships that my scanners wouldn’t detect. I’d program a scanner to measure the difference in light. Light and energy is bent around us and there is a minute difference in the arrival time of the light slowed by our stealth screen. They scan for that small difference and that tells them where we are.”

“Is there anything we can do about it?”

“Yes. What do you think is going to happen when ten more of their ships are destroyed when they jump in on us?”

Greyson chuckled, “I suspect they are going to be very reluctant to come close.”

“I want to see if Varner’s destruction probe was able to teleport out before he was destroyed. We need to get a read on just how powerful their main beams are.”

“I’m headed to deep space and then to the Defense Facility. I’m also telling the others about what we did and see if they want to join us.”

The Fleet Master stood in front of the ten Ruling Masters and feared for his life. More than five hundred battleships had been destroyed by the invisible ships and only two of them had been killed. He worried that his life was forfeit. He watched as the Masters reviewed their findings and then Zyl looked at him, “You have been very inefficient in handling those ships.”

“Yes, Master.”

“You have nothing to say?”

“I’ve done my best. I’ve tried to trap them but they can escape before my ships emerge into normal space. I have done all I can think of to do. I understand your doubt about my command abilities. It has been troubling trying to find where they are coming from.”

“Perhaps they are not from that Universe but one that we have already surveyed.”

“Nothing in any of our ships databanks matches up to them.”

“Perhaps they hid when the universe was being surveyed.”