Andrew Saxon - Demon's sacrifice

“From this day forward the name Gardner will only be used by the King and Queen of the Stars Realm. Ross will be the home of the chosen ruler of the Stars Realm and this galaxy will be its Royal Possession. This galaxy alone will be ruled by the Royal Family. Each of the five couples will take the name of the female for their Royal Name. Tag and Danielle Ash will be the Duke and Duchess Ash of Life’s Land and will rule that province following the ideals of the Star’s Realm. Rose and Chris will be the Duke and Duchess Andrews of Grena’s Glory. Matthew and Melanie Grace will be the Duke and Duchess Grace and will rule Stem’s Ground. Anglo and Jenny Connor will be the Duke and Duchess Connor and will rule Petal’s Path. Tommy and Cassandra Dodd will be the Duke and Duchess Dodd and will rule Kosievs’ Quest. They have sworn their allegiance to the Stars Realm and will follow the Realm’s Royal Couple’s decrees. They will move to their provinces and bring order and peace to their members. Each of them will be assigned four million Searchers to assist them with protecting their citizens and a corresponding number of Red Warriors. The future ruler of the Stars Realm will be chosen by those families. It has also been decreed that the Stars Realm’s rulers may not rule longer than a thousand years. The successors chosen by the provinces to replace the provincial rulers must be approved by the Crown.”

Sprig paused and looked out at the trillions watching and said, “Those of you who are not currently members of the Realm as well as those that choose to leave the Realm may rule yourself as you deem appropriate, but I want to be sure you understand this; we will protect our members. We will not tolerate any form of aggression and will deal with it quickly and effectively. I think you know the power of the humans being sent to bring in a new age of peace and prosperity to the Realm. I am also sure that our future rulers will represent many other races in our realm. It is my belief that the Realm at this moment in time is in the best hands to help shape it into something that will amaze all of us in the future. To those that are attacking ships and planets, I caution you to stop immediately. If you continue we will not ask questions; we will act decisively. Those that are being honored here today died to preserve the Stars Realm; we will not let them down. Stars Realm, may I present your new provincial Rulers.”

The Realm exploded into cheers. The celebration moved from planet to planet and grew to a fiesta of joy and great expectations. Members began to immediately lobby to be selected for the new government centers to be located on their worlds. Those planets that felt pressured to join the Realm began rethinking their wish to leave. They knew the power of the new rulers and the immediate effect of them ruling their provinces. At the end of the thirty day period, only eight hundred and fifty six planets chose to leave the Realm. All eight hundred and fifty six asked for membership again within a hundred years. Thousands of years later, historians incorrectly said that this day was the day the Stars Realm truly began. Everyone correctly agreed that the golden age began on this day.

Not everyone bought in to the new order. Thirty ships appeared out of nowhere and the first to appear shot the teleport emitter off the front of the huge commercial liner that was parked in orbit over a member planet. The liner was then hit with a beam to prevent it jumping away on its null drive; then the pirates moved toward the ship to board, take hostages, and remove the cargo. Suddenly a small, white ship appeared and fired red beams disintegrating twenty nine ships. A Red Warrior appeared on the last ship and moved through the corridors killing everyone on board. The ship jumped away but the Red Warrior was still on board moving inexorably toward the bridge. The bridge crew barred the door but the Red Warrior burned a hole through it like it didn’t exist. He stepped on the bridge to find the five man bridge crew cowering in a corner as far away from the door as possible.

The huge warrior walked up to the five and stopped just in front of them, “We did not destroy your ship because we are sending you back to your base in the Veumag System.” The pirates flinched when he mentioned their main base. We know that there are more than a six hundred ships that operate out of there; we could destroy all of you now but we have decided to give you a chance to survive. Go back and tell your leader that if one of their ships attacks another ship we will come and destroy every ship and remove the planet’s means of space travel. There will be no exceptions and all will perish. Do you understand?”

They all nodded, but one young Brageth stood and faced the Red Warrior, “I was captured by the pirates and have been forced to be a crew member. I do not want to be sent back; I’d rather die here now.” The other four tried to silence him but he ignored their efforts. “I humbly ask you not to send me back.”

The Red Warrior looked at the other four, “Is what he’s saying true?” The four looked at each other. “I can tell if you lie, my sensors allow me to determine if you’re being honest. If you lie, I’ll find others to send my message.”

“Yes, he’s telling the truth.”

“How many of your crew members are forced to join you?”

“About one third of the crew.”

The Red Warrior reflected that he had killed the crew too quickly; he pressed a button and teleported the hostage to the bridge of the Searcher. “Unfortunately, we are going to have to change our plans. That means we are not sending this ship back.”

The four pirates jumped up and started begging for their lives but the warrior was gone. An instant later the Searcher fired and destroyed the last ship.

“Do you know the crew members that have been forced to serve on the pirate’s ships?”

“Yes, I do. We are kept in chains when not serving on a ship.”

“Searcher, are all their ships still docked at their base?”

“Yes, they are.”

“We are going to free some captives and destroy the other ships. These pirates have no redeeming qualities and slavery is something the Realm does not tolerate. This captive is a citizen of the Realm and we are authorized to take whatever action we deem necessary.”

“How do you want to handle it?”

“I will enter one of the ships and eliminate the crew. I’ll start at the bridge and work my way back; teleport the captives to the landing bay where this young citizen will be waiting to give them their instructions and then you can eliminate the others.”

The Searcher arrived in the Veumag system and the Red Warrior teleported to one of the larger warships and killed every pirate on board. “The ship is clear.” Immediately more than seven hundred captives appeared in the landing bay and cowered away from the Red Warrior.

The red warrior began communicating, “You have been brought here to free you from those that have enslaved you. We have placed the coordinates of one of our bases in your jump drive and we will work to either reunite you with your families or provide a place for you to live in peace in the Stars Realm. Brandt will organize you to make the jump.”

The captives looked at the Red Warrior and some of them began crying. Most of them had marks on their faces and bodies where they had been punished with electric prods by the pirates. The Red Warrior felt his rage at seeing how badly these young hostages had been treated.

The Red Warrior teleported back to the Searcher’s ship and reported, “We were wrong to consider granting mercy to these scum.”

The Searcher activated his weapon console and then hit his communication panel. “Attention all citizens of Veumag, I am going to allow you to see the consequences of your actions. You have been supporting a fleet of pirate warships that have attacked the Stars Realm. If you will turn your attention to the station above your planet, you will see the first action we are taking.”