Andrew Saxon - Demon's sacrifice

The pirates on the space station detected the emergence of the Searcher and began scrambling to their ships to escape. Unfortunately, there was not enough time and their time had run out. The entire station was hit by a red beam and disintegrated leaving nothing behind.

“Your planet has prospered by supporting these pirates and has demonstrated a callous disregard for life. You will not be allowed to leave your planet until you demonstrate you will not be a menace to other races.”

The Searcher then fired beams into their spaceports, ships in orbit, and all satellites circling the planet, removing any means of lifting from the plant’s surface. “If you choose to disregard this warning, our next visit will remove all of your technology and force you to learn farming to survive.”

The Red Warrior listened to the planet’s leaders beg for mercy, “They should have listened; they were warned.”

The Jimnil began launching their fleet from the stations orbiting their planet. The ten thousand warships moved smoothly away from the planet toward the jump limit. The Jimnil had not been contacted before the Eight Leg invasion because they were a warlike race and had conquered four other planets and enslaved the populations that they ruled with barbarous brutality. The fleet commander looked at his well ordered formations and knew they were well trained for the coming conquest. A bonus was that the planet selected for conquest did not have a fleet to stop them.

“A small ship has appeared between us and the drive limit.”

“Put it on my screen.” The commander saw a small red glowing ship in front of his fleet. Then he heard a thought, “You will stop your forward progress and return to your planet.”

“Who are you to order us?”

“I represent a Realm that does not allow defenseless planets to be attacked. We do not interfere with a civilization’s internal issues but we will prevent loss of innocent life. My leaders have finally decided that your reign of terror will no longer be tolerated. If you want to live, turn your ships around.”

The commander looked at his screen and asked, “Are there any other ships out there?”

“We detect only that small ship.”

“Order the first squadron to fire on that ship.”

Two hundred ships launched five hundred missiles at the small white ship. All five hundred were hit by small red beams that detonated them a foot above the ships that fired them destroying all two hundred ships. The commander was stunned.

“I hope that demonstration is enough to persuade you to turn around and return to your planet. I know you do not want to believe me but I can destroy your entire fleet before any of you reach the place where you can jump.”

“If you know us at all you must be aware that we yield to no one.”

“I was really hoping that you would not force me to kill needlessly. However, since your fleet is well organized, I will begin destroying your ships as soon as they move within twenty thousand miles of the limit. If any want to live, turn around and return to the planet.”

The Commander ordered his fleet to fire their beams at the red ship and to continue forward. The remaining ships all fired their entire batteries of energy weapons at the small ship and the million beams just flashed on its screen. As the fleet moved forward, a thousand ships crossed the twenty thousand mile limit set by the stranger. The small ship fired those red beams and all of the thousand ships were blown apart. A thousand more crossed and they were destroyed. Three thousand more ships were blown up before the commander ordered his fleet to stop.

The Ruler on the planet watched as the small ship ravaged his fleet. Then he heard a thought along with every other being in the system, “I am glad you decided to stop throwing away lives needlessly. It is important that you listen to what I am about to tell you and to understand that I will carry out what I say. You will move your fleet back to your planet and will only use it only to defend your world from outside aggression. You will immediately recall all of your forces from the four worlds you have conquered and will not harm the native populations in any way during your withdrawal. If you do not comply with these instructions within seven rotations, I will destroy your forces on those planets down to the last warrior and then come here and remove your ability to wage war. It is my belief that there will be unavoidable loss of life here on your home world if you force me to carry out my threat. You may not think I am capable of carrying out my threats but just to make sure you know, I am going to offer one more demonstration. I hope you will take it to heart and make the right decisions.”

The small ship disappeared and reappeared above the surface of the eighth planet in the system. The fleet commander was stunned that the ship had jumped inside the drive limit and then he along with every member of his species saw the ship fire a huge red beam into the planet. The planet exploded and vaporized leaving nothing but empty space where it had been.

“I will be watching your actions; you might want to begin your withdrawals immediately. Patience is not something I possess. Remember, seven rotations from now.” The small ship disappeared.

The three hundred gang members moved down the middle of the street shooting into the dwellings on each side as they passed and laughed at the cowering civilians hiding in their homes. Fires lit the street behind them and the damage being done to homes was extensive. This was their territory and one of the civilians had not responded fast enough when told to pay for protection. The gang’s leader decided they needed to be reminded who was in charge. Two of the gang members moving ahead of the main group had captured a young female returning home and dragged her to their leader who stripped her and threw her to the ground; suddenly a huge red glowing being appeared in front of them. The gang members froze.

“Your world has petitioned the Realm for membership and while we are considering whether or not to accept their petition, we have promised the Realm’s protection for its citizens, which include you. However, one of our guiding principles is that we defend those that cannot defend themselves. This young female is obviously incapable of warding off your attack. I will make this offer only once; leave and return to your homes and you will live.” The Red Warrior looked at her display and saw ninety of the three hundred gang members moving behind vehicles and other structures to present a smaller target as they raised their weapons. She set the lower barrel of her auto cannon to target them with high velocity slugs.

The gang leader looked at the armored being in front of him and sneered, “Kill this bum while I enjoy the company of this lady.”

Eight gang members fired energy weapons at the red colored being. Ten seconds later all three hundred gang members lay dead on the street. The Red Warrior moved forward and lifted the young female, carried her home, and handed her to her parents. “Please care for her; she’s been through a bad experience.” The warrior then turned and moved out into the street where she teleported the dead bodies into the systems sun. Every gang in the city heard what had happened and after two more gangs were killed, they went home and stayed.

Ten thousand years passed and the Stars Realm was at peace. Every citizen enjoyed the prosperity the Realm had brought to their worlds and populations grew and expanded to millions of new worlds where they grew in wisdom and knowledge led by the inventions and developments of the Algeans and Spiders. It was at that time that the exodus began and citizens that longed for the excitement and adventure that come from new beginnings began moving into other universes to start over in an untamed, unknown, new environment. The majority of those that left were the races that provided the warriors of the Realm. Three thousand years later the Searchers were released to go out and explore new universes to spread the ideals of the Stars Realm.