Saxon Andrew: Searcher

The assembly began talking among themselves and Rose sounded the tone again. After silence was restored she continued, “My family members and I do not sense a danger from these creatures in the near future so we believe there is some time to prepare for their return. However, after studying these creatures we have determined that our current defense structure will not work against this enemy. I am going to turn this meeting over to Sprig and let him tell you what he and his mate Twig have developed to help us.”

The Algean moved up to the podium and used telepathy to address the assembly. “The Captors also left us another gift; one of their energy generators that caused their red color and powered their ships. They told us that the Eight Legs did not see anything that was surrounded by that particular color so we think that the ships we build with it will be invisible to them. We are also developing a planetary screen that will cover a planet with that same hue so it’s possible they will be invisible as well. We have also determined that the large ships of our fleet will not be able to handle the literally millions of ships that will be used to invade. We have to build our numbers as quickly as possible and build ships that can handle this invasion.

The assembly started talking again and Sprig waited until they quieted down. “We have discovered something extraordinary about using the Captor’s generator.” The crowd became silent and sat forward. “When we removed our black hole reactors and replaced them with the Captor’s red reactors, the power of our ships grew more than a thousand times greater.” Everyone was stunned; this was big. “The Alexander Kosiev is the deadliest ship in our Navy, however, a ship we can now build that is less than three hundred feet long with only one of those Captor reactors can go toe to toe with it and withstand any weapon the Kosiev fires at it. That small ship is going to be the future of our Realm.”

The crowd started talking again. Sprig waited for them to grow quiet, “There is one thing that will slow our construction of a huge fleet down. The red generators will only work as weapons for a pilot that has telepathic ability. It will provide power but weapons will only work with mental commands. Remember, the Captors were energy beings that were part of their ships and commanded their systems mentally. These reactors will have to be directed by personnel that have some psychic skills.”

Rose stood and said, “That’s not as bad as you think. It appears that more and more of our citizens are being born with psychic ability especially after Cassandra’s psychic aura expanded to the edge of our universe. We just have to find them and train them.”

Sprig turned back to the assembly, “Atlas and Diana have given us the means to build the control modules for these new ships. They are currently a part of their ship’s structure just like the Captors, and they have also given us the means to build a hull around the ship that is silver in color and will house the new red powered Coronado Power Cells on their hulls. These cells will now emit a red colored screen instead of white. Each of these small ships will have enough weaponry stored inside those power cells to last them for years of combat.”

Rose stood and moved back to the podium, “Thank you, Sprig. There is one other thing that has become clear to our planners. We cannot build these ships on our planets. We just don’t have the necessary mental capacity or speed for all the information needed to put one of these technological marvels together; only the Algeans do. We will provide them the ship’s hulls but they will have to become the Realm’s ship builders. They will build their ship yards on some of the planets they had originally destroyed. They have also decided to remove all traces of technology from their home worlds so the invaders will not find them. Being plants we believe they will not be detected if there is no technology on their planet’s surface. They will build their facilities on more than a thousand worlds and when the invasion begins they will totally destroy those facilities so that the Eight Legs will not be able to use them to gather information that can be used against us.” Rose stepped back and looked at her mother.

Danielle stood and approached the podium. The Assembly rose and cheered the first Queen of the Stars Realm. She waited and bowed to their applause and after ten minutes the crowd grew quiet. “The people who fly our new ships will be called Searchers. We cannot just turn our back on those worlds in our universe that will be attacked by this coming horde; we have to try and save as many as possible. Our Searchers will go out to the millions of galaxies in our universe and seek out any planet that has intelligent life. When we find them we will try to save them by installing our red screen around their planet. We will sometimes have to resort to force in getting their attention to try and save them but we will not force ourselves on another civilization. If we are refused, then so be it. However, we will try to save as many as we can in the time that remains. I truly hope we are given enough time to save ourselves and perhaps we will be given enough time to save others as well.”

The crowd cheered and Rose came forward again. “We will now break off into groups to decide what things we need to do to make this vision become a reality. We will come together again in two rotations.”

The assembly stood and moved to their assigned group..

Atlas and Diana were in orbit watching the event and Diana asked, “Do you think they can stand up to the coming invasion?”

Atlas was quiet for a moment, “My initial feeling is no but these children of mine have done things I never thought possible. You and I will have to do all we can to help them. However, the immense numbers of ships used to invade is staggering. If it looks bad at the end we will shut down our systems and wait for them to leave. Then we will find suitable candidates and try again.”

Diana moved up against Atlas’ hull, “You know I’ll be there with you always.”

Matthew Gardner looked out at the spiral galaxy he had just been assigned to examine. He was a Searcher and this was his first assignment since graduating from the Stars Realm Academy. “I hope I don’t mess up.” He checked his sensors and decided to start his search on the closest spiral arm and work his way in toward the center of the huge galaxy and then move back out on another spiral arm. His display read more than three million type G suns in the arm he was about to enter which offered hope his search for intelligent life was going to be successful since most of the known inhabited planets were orbiting the medium sized class g stars. His long range sensors were also set to alarm if any sign of technology was discovered in any other star types near the class G’s. He set his sensor systems and reached forward and pressed a white button on his console. His small ship began jumping into the galaxy targeting the stars that had the best probability of life. He sat back and watched his sensors as his ship moved through more than a hundred systems a minute. He looked at his readouts and saw that this arm of the galaxy was going to take more than twenty days to complete. He stared at his display for two hours and grew bored; he sat back, closed his eyes, and thought about the last five years.

He had volunteered to join the Star Realm’s Navy on Cross, his home planet, when he was seventeen and hoped he would be accepted into the academy. Growing up he had read everything he could find about the Realm’s Searchers. He wanted to pilot a ship out into the universe exploring new worlds and species; at every opportunity he and his friends pretended to be Searchers fighting off suspected enemies of the Stars Realm. Finally he turned seventeen and was at the age where he could volunteer to join the Stars Realm’s Navy. The numerous tests he had to take were difficult, exhausting, and after six weeks of examinations he had been notified that he was to report to Ross at the Kosiev Academy to continue his testing. His excitement on receiving the news was monumental and all of his friends gathered to celebrate his good fortune. He was the only one to pass the tests and earn a trip to Ross. There was no jealousy among his friends but they did throw a party that he was still attempting to recover.