Saxon Andrew - Greyson's revenge

“Because the Provincial Dukes wanted freedom to exercise their power; they wanted to attack the other Provinces and were not allowed to do so by the Realm. The Realm would not allow the members to attack each other. The Provinces decided to attack the Realm to gain their freedom. The Realm decided that to continue to force membership on those that did not desire it was a violation of their values. The Realm from its creation had only accepted those that asked to be a part of it. Now the Dukes wanted out and the Realm decided to let them go.”

Silence ruled the channel. No one said anything. Scotty then said, “I don’t ask that you believe me. Quite frankly, I don’t care if you do. The reason I sent you that download is to make sure you understand that my Empire lives by the former Realm’s principles and we take them seriously. The main difference between us is that we will not allow any civilization that cannot defend their populations to be attacked. It doesn’t matter if they are a part of my Empire or not. We have also accepted the responsibility to protect this universe against any invader that tries to conquer it. That responsibility also includes King Border’s Kingdom.”

Rehoben said, “What do you mean?”

“Our universe is going to be invaded by ships that we cannot stand up to, and that includes my ship that just defeated your fleet.”

Jilico snorted, “You’re lying.”

“I am now sending you another download. Please look at it and I’ll discuss it with you afterwards. It will only take a few moments.”

Rehoben put the headband on and lied back. Jilico watched him and then begrudgingly put his headband on. “Send it Grace.”

After ten minutes Rehoben sat up. He stared at Scotty and his apprehension was clear. Jilico sat up and Scotty saw him look at Rehoben with concern on his face. “I’m going to assume that everyone has completed the down load. King Borders, do you have any comments?’

“You’ve manufactured this to take my Kingdom.”

“No, and I don’t want your kingdom. I am returning you to your castle momentarily and any ship here that now wishes to leave may do so safely.”

Scotty turned to Virze, “None have left, Your Majesty.”

Jilico looked at Scotty and said, “What proof do we have that this is true?”

“I’ve seen where they’re hiding, Your Majesty.”

“Who said that?”

“I did. I went to help with a disabled ship and I did a casual scan of the outer system. I saw that clear place in the dust cloud and two other places where the clear places were starting to fill in with dust. I’m broadcasting it now.”

Rehoben looked up at the display and saw the perfectly round hole in the dust cloud. He also saw two others off to the left that were starting to fill in. He looked at Jilico and saw him staring at the display. Ro asked, “Why are they at our solar system?”

“They think that you are the strongest force in this universe. They are waiting for you to defeat all the other civilizations and then your planet will be their first target. Once you’re gone, there’ll be no one to stand up to their invasion because you will have conquered all the others.”

A searcher said, “We are not the strongest, you are.”

“Yes, but that is a recent development and we don’t go out and conquer other civilizations. We would be easily missed by a scout looking for the qualities needed. You’ve conquered hundreds of civilizations. They would find you rather easily.”

Grace listened in on the Searcher’s private frequency and many of them were angry. She heard one of them say, “Well that’s over as far as I’m concerned. I can’t believe I’ve given an oath to the lying scum.”

“Shhhhh, you might be heard.”

“I don’t care. Are you blind?”

Rehoben looked at the display showing the giant Ship and then turned to Scotty, “If you aren’t here to take our kingdom, why did you come?”

“Why, to go to war with you.”

Silence descended on the channel like an impenetrable fog.

Jilico felt his fear, “You’re going to war with us?”

“Well, not really.”

Rehoben saw Jilico’s relief. He shook his head and looked back at Scotty.

“Then what?”

“I want you to send ships out to attack intruders in your various systems and fend off attacks to your Province. The attacks will be imaginary but I need your Defense Command to issue orders and receive reports just like a real war was taking place. We will attack your ships outside the jump limit at Olympos but not fire a beam strong enough to damage your ships. We will then jump away and your ships will chase after us. It would help if you have some damaged ships we can destroy to make it look real.”

“Why would we do that?”

“Because as long as the invaders think there are still powerful civilizations fighting for control of this universe, they will delay the invasion. We’ve got to have time to try and develop a counter to their ships.”

“How long do you think we can make them believe this charade?”

“Decades if we keep bringing in new enemies that are also fighting each other.”

Jilico said, “And if I don’t agree to participate in this?”

“Then we’ll go to war for real and my ships will come in and periodically kill some of your ships. We’ll free all the worlds you’ve conquered and the reports coming in will be real.”

Jilico sneered, “It’s easy for you. Your world isn’t their first target.”

“I will move your planet to another location the moment that ship starts your way.”

Once more there was silence until a lone Searcher asked, “Are you able to do that?”

“Yes, I can.”

The Searcher said, “I’m asking your ship that is also a Searcher. Can he do that?”

“Yes he can and we have already moved more than three hundred planets.”

Scotty said, “That was smart. Searchers don’t lie.”

“I meant no disrespect, Your Majesty. I just had to make sure.”

Jilico flinched when he heard one of his ships use the honorific to this stranger.

Rehoben said, “I can make this happen, Your Majesty.”

Jilico just stared at him.

Scotty said, “You cannot ever say anything on an open channel that the invader would hear to let them know what we’re doing. I’ll give you a com code where one of your ships can leave your system and contact us to schedule the attacks on your planet. Just give us the time and the details and we’ll make it happen.”

Jilico looked up at the giant ship on the display and said, “Then we will play this game.”

Rehoben looked at Scotty and said, “I think your first attack should be tomorrow at midday. I will send twenty freighters out to the jump limit that have been scheduled for decommissioning. You may destroy them all. They will be escorted by fifteen ships that will chase you away. I will then send ships to search for you that will send scheduled transmissions back to reinforce the strength of our attacker. Does that meet your needs?”

“Yes it does.”

“Admiral Hulent, I need you to get the right people in our Command Communications Center that you can depend on to make this look real.”

“I will be one of them. I’ll make sure we do our job.”

Jilico said, “It looks like Daulun dodged a bullet.”

“Daulun is dead. He’s been replaced by his brother. There will not be anymore forced shipments from his kingdom.”

Jilico’s eyes narrowed but then he looked up at the display and shrugged.

Scotty said, “Admiral, I’m leaving your fleet to your command and I thank you for your patience. King Borders, I will be taking you back to your Palace and leaving you there. Thank you for helping me to defend us against this coming menace.”