Annihilation: Book 05 - Searcher Read online

  “Excuse me, is something wrong?”

  She looked up and saw Matt looking at her with a concerned look. She was used to the human students in the academy approach her because of her beauty. She had become quite adept at fending off most suitors, but this young man really looked concerned. His green eyes seemed to go through her. She lowered her head and said, “I just can’t understand the concepts of these problems. I know I am going to fail my exam tomorrow. Thanks for asking but I need get back to work.” She turned her attention back to her problems.

  Matt looked at the problems on the paper in front of her and said, “Would you mind if I helped you?”

  Angel looked back up at him and said, “I’m beyond help but thanks again.”

  Matt looked her directly in the eyes and said, “You can do this; you just have to change your perspective.”

  Angle furrowed her brow, “What do you mean?”

  “These problems are in the wrong order. The concepts are hidden in them but they must be done in a particular order because they build on each other.”

  She looked up at him and saw he was not just coming on to her; he really wanted to help. “Show me what you mean.”

  “You don’t have enough time to just observe me do the problems. I want you to enter my mind and watch me do the problems mentally. I know that you might be nervous about that but I am inviting you to see what I see.”

  Angel knew that opening one’s mind was a serious thing and that everything about the person would be available for viewing. She looked at him and he said, “I trust that you will only look at the part of my mind doing the math.”

  She nodded and she entered his mind and saw the fourth problem. “I want you to follow me as I look at all the permutations of this question. I am going to just follow them until I find a pattern.” She watched as he rapidly went thru each of the avenues that the problem gave him and then she saw it. There was a pattern to how the permutations flowed. Once she saw it she knew the answer. “The answer doubles and adds the first number to each value.”

  “Exactly,” Matt said. “Now that you’ve seen that pattern, question eight uses that pattern and give you another one that you have to see to arrive at the correct answer.”

  She followed him through eight questions and discovered each new pattern as she watched him go through the variables. Then she said, “I can already see the answer to the remaining two questions. I can also look at the second page of problems and see what order they should be solved.”

  She left his mind and looked at him. “I can see math like I never have. You have opened my mind in a rather remarkable way. It’s almost like magic.”

  He flinched when she said that and she asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “My childhood friends called me Magic.”

  “I didn’t look in your mind to see that. However, it is a perfect name for you. Thank you for helping me. I really appreciate it.”

  He smiled at her and turned and left. She sat there for an hour and remembered the feeling of being in his mind. He was amazing and though she didn’t look around in his mind, she could sense the power of his intellect. He intimidated and fascinated her in equal measure. He was also quite nice physically. She asked around the next day and found out that he, like her, was going to command an Alpha Ship. That didn’t surprise her after she had seen his mind. She kept her eye on him from that moment on and she always called him Magic for the gift he had given her that night. No one else held any interest for her from that night on but he never approached her or asked her out. She knew this was the man she wanted in her life.

  She came back to the planning session when she heard Matt ask her, “How are their troops organized?”

  “They have set up housing facilities in the center of each of their cities. Most of the troops operate out of those structures.”

  Matt pressed a button on his com and a new face entered their conversation. “General Durk, I am going to include you in our planning session. I hope that after we have saved the prisoners that we can use your warriors to negate the forces the Gresh have landed on the planet.”

  “I have viewed the scan of the planet and I think that we have enough warriors to neutralize ninety five percent of their armed forces. I am making assignments as we speak and setting up the objectives for each of our participants. The ones that we will miss are those Gresh scattered out in the population. I’m hoping that you will be able to scan the cities and find them and prevent them from causing a massacre.”

  Matt pushed his com, “Each Searcher will be assigned a city. The selected targets of our warriors will be downloaded into your ships and you will scan the rest of the city for any one that has the frequency of Gresh weapons. If they attempt to kill anyone, you will have to do what is necessary to defend the population. Once we have things under control, I’ll call in a Defender ship and they will relieve us. At that point you may return to your previous assignments.’

  “What about the Gresh Fleet in the system,” Emerald asked?

  We will be scattered around the planet’s surface. If any of their ships come inside the orbit of their moon, we will fire on them. I will warn their fleet to stay away from the planet once we start our operation but I don’t expect them to listen. It’s important that you use your scanners and allow your ships to keep you informed as to what’s happening in your area of responsibility; any questions?”

  Goige asked, “Do your ships have the ability to do all that you just talked about?”

  “I’m going to honest; there may be some loss of life, however, I think that the numbers will be far less than if we don’t take action. Do we have your approval to implement our plan? We will not force ourselves on another civilization unless innocent people are going to be killed. If you say no, then we won’t carry out our plan and leave. It’s your decision.”

  “Goige, I believe we have to allow these ships to help us. I’ve seen that the first ship could have destroyed all of us when we attacked him and he chose not to harm us. I believe these are people we can trust.”

  ““My Fleet Admiral seems to feel like as I do.” Goige paused and said, “Implement your plan.”

  The ten Searchers felt their excitement rise; this is what they had trained for at the academy and now they were going to be able to use their ships to save lives. They were totally in the moment and the ten hours until they began seemed to last forever.

  Chapter 2

  The King of the Stars Realm looked over at his Queen and said, “I’ve just been told that one of our new Searchers has discovered new civilizations that are in the middle of a galactic war.”

  “I’ve also seen the reports. The Searcher commands an Alpha ship and I met him four years ago when he was a new recruit. I hear he has saved millions of lives in one system and is organizing an effort to save more lives in another system.”

  “Could he be the one?”

  “I haven’t said anything before because I’m not certain but he is a Gardner.”

  The King furrowed his brow. “Is he a true Gardner?”

  “Yes he is. He doesn’t know it but he has both Rose’s and the other family’s blood line. His powers are latent and have not been released yet, however, he is manifesting some psychic abilities. I sensed him four years ago. He has exceptional skills but unless he finds his initiator, they will not grow to the level he’s capable of achieving.”

  The King thought for a long moment and then said, “Well, my love, if he doesn’t find his match, maybe it will find him.”

  The Queen smiled and reached over and took his hand. “Love will find a way.”

  “I hope it’s soon. My sense of danger is growing.”

  “As is mine, my Love; as is mine.”

  Brez was asleep when his com vibrated then sounded an alarm that brought him straight out of bed. He hit a button on the wall to put his house on standby and then punched the red button on his com and twisted it left for two seconds and then right. A silver screen appeared in front
of him and he stepped through it. As soon as he emerged from the silver screen a voice announced, “Brez, Red Warrior Captain, Third Battalion, Delta Company.” Brez ignored the voice and ran across the huge facility to the place his company sized group was assigned.

  One of his warriors ran up beside him and asked, “What’s up, Captain?”

  “I don’t know but this is not a drill. The central teleporter is warming up and that means fighting.”

  The warrior smiled a huge grin and sprinted ahead to tell the rest of the team. Brez was an Adjement and only stood four feet tall. He had joined the military when he graduated from the Advanced Mechanics Institute on Sten’s Planet and had worked his way up through the ranks to Captain in command of one of the ten companies that comprised a battalion. He looked around and saw that nine other companies were gathering so it looked like the entire battalion was forming up. He looked at his company and saw that most of the platoons had arrived and were standing in ranks talking to their fellow warriors. Each company had ten platoons made up of four squads with six two man warriors assigned to each squad. The warriors were trained to operate in tandem with the basic unit being two armored warriors. Their armor’s software was capable of handling organizations of two, four, eight, sixteen, thirty two, or all the way up to ten divisions in hostile fighting environments. Brez noticed that all of his ten platoon’s personnel were present except for his teammate Juck. He hit his com and Juck appeared in a hospital bed.

  “Sorry, Sir,” the small Cainth said. “I’ve contracted an illness and I’m unable to answer the call.” Brez could see the anguish on Juck’s face and knew that missing this call up was worse than the illness.

  “You’ll be here next time, Warrior. Semper Fi.”

  “Semper Fi, Captain.”

  Brez hit his com and said, “One replacement.”

  Immediately a huge Glod stepped out of a silver screen in front of his team, looked into the ranks, and moved to the place in front where Juck was supposed to be. He shook hands with his team mates and began introducing himself to the other twosomes. He had a huge smile on his face looking forward to the coming action.

  Brez punched his com notifying Battalion Command that all of his platoons were present and accounted for. Brez then looked at the other five thousand warriors in the huge building and thought about the structure of his battalion. He thought it funny that the ancient names regiment, battalion, and division were still used along with terms like company, platoon, and squads. He learned in his military history class that the terms were still used to honor those that had fought on Ross in the war that formed the Stars Realm. The Star Realm’s warriors were known as Naval Marines to honor the Red Warrior’s most famous Commander, General Richard Wiseman who commanded the First Division, Naval Marines in the war against the Alliance and Algeans. Now only the absolute best warriors were invited to join the Wiseman Division. A place in their ranks had to be earned and membership was something every Red Warrior aspired to attain. An announcement brought his thoughts back to the present. The warriors were called Red Warriors because of the bright red color of their armor and protective screens.

  “All Red Warriors, suit up in ten seconds.”

  This was something Brez never tired of seeing. All five thousand warriors stood at attention and brought their right arms into a salute and two seconds later they grabbed the two outside fingers of their saluting hand. All the warriors were immediately surrounded by a rose colored field and their appearance was undergoing a rapid metamorphosis. Their fighting armor was being teleported around them and every piece of it knew exactly where it should go. In less than ten seconds, every warrior in the building was standing in their full armor.

  The Battalion Commander ordered, “At Rest.” Every warrior put their hands behind their back and stood with their legs at shoulder width. The Colonel commanding the battalion looked at his warriors, “I am downloading your assignments for the upcoming action. I have included everything that we have learned about the situation and want to make sure that all of you know that saving lives is the Prime Order. I remind you of your oath at the Quilleron Temple and trust you to use good judgment in using your weapons.”

  Brez along with every warrior in the building immediately remembered when they had graduated from their training and had been assigned their armor. The entire graduating class was then teleported to Glod where hundreds of thousands of Stars Realm citizens were waiting for them to arrive. The new Red Warriors marched down the Quilleron Path in slow cadence while their commander recited the ceremonial words that all new Warriors were told.

  “You are marching down the path where the Stars Realm’s first chosen Queen walked more than twelve hundred years ago. Warriors, Halt!” The procession stopped and they heard, “It was at this spot that our new Queen’s right to rule was challenged by a group of Glod Warriors. Her Husband and champion, Thomas Anglo Gardner, faced five Glod Martial Arts Champions with nothing but his bare hands and defeated four of them that attacked him together. As he approached the fifth warrior, our first Queen stopped him and ended the killing. Thomas Gardner then threw the two Glod Long Swords he was holding into the pillars on each side of the entrance to the Quilleron Temple where they remain to this day. The Fifth Glod Champion, Ron-Dar, who later became a great leader of the Glod, was made to decide whether or not the new Queen would rule his people; he chose the New Queen. That choice is what led to the founding of our Stars Realm. On that day, Danielle said that a Warrior’s destiny is to make the universe a better place for their people to live. A Warrior’s duty is to defend those that can’t defend themselves. Today is the day you will profess your determination to follow that choice. You are being given unimaginable power to weld and with that great power comes great responsibility. Each of you will go to each sword and grip it with your hands and silently swear your life, loyalty, and strength to protect the Stars Realm and all others that cannot defend themselves; you will then pass through the entry and verbally swear your oath; you will then be accepted into the Ranks of the Realm’s Naval Marines as a Red Warrior and be one of the most respected members of our military. Do not touch the swords unless you mean what you promise. Forward, March.”

  The ranks moved forward and stopped in front of the entrance to the huge temple. The thousands of citizens gathered to witness the event all bowed and remained silent as each new warrior approached the two swords embedded in the pillars and took the grips in their hands for a moment. After they had gripped each sword they stepped through the entry and bowed to make their oath. They then returned to the ranks of their fellow graduates. After the last new warrior had said his oath and returned to the ranks, the Commander turned and said to the gathered multitude, “Citizens, I present to you our newest group of Red Warriors.”

  The crowd rose and began cheering; they ran into the ranks to welcome the Realm’s newest defenders.

  Every Red Warrior relived that moment as their Commander challenged them to use their strengths wisely. There was a moment of silence to allow them to remember and then the warriors heard, “Companies, prepare your teams; we teleport in ten hours.”

  Brez turned and faced his company. “Alright, you know the drill; invisibility, now!”

  His entire team disappeared. Brez looked at his helmet scanner and saw all of his troops but he could see nothing with his eyes. He looked closer and said, “Te-Dar, report to the armory after drills; I can see a small flash around your suit.” He paused and ordered, “Guns.” Every warrior raised their arms and he could see their beam and projectile weapons appear on their arms. This is where the Cainth with their four arms were truly formidable. They had a wide inventory of weapons at their disposal. They were usually assigned as the clean up member of the team. Being able to use those four arms to perform four different tasks simultaneously made them some of the best warriors in the regiment. Brez went through the rest of their inventory of weapons and then sat down in front of them. “We’ll wait on you to return, Te-Dar. I want
everyone else to go through their assignment and be prepared to offer suggestions to help avoid unnecessary loss of life when you return.” The warriors in Brez’s company sat down and began analyzing their assigned tasks.

  Goige made a call to Matt, “Why are you waiting until just before the scheduled execution to attempt this exercise?”

  “Because we are hoping to neutralize all of their armed forces on the planet.”

  Goige looked shocked, “How are you going to accomplish that?”

  “We are using ten companies of our Naval Marines in this action and after we save the prisoners we are releasing our warriors to neutralize the other Gresh on the planet.”

  “How many of your warriors will be used.”

  “About five thousand.”

  Goige looked skeptical, “There are more than six hundred thousand of their warriors on the planet.”

  “That’s why we’re waiting until the last moment; we want them in large groups. They should be in gathered to prevent the population from taking action to prevent the executions.”