Free Annihilation: Book 05 - Searcher by Saxon Andrew Page B

watching the Gresh Warlord and saw him flinch when Matt said five million ships. “Universe just got smaller for you,” she thought to herself.
     
    “What can we do to protect ourselves? We don’t have your technology.”
     
    “There are two things. First build enough ships to transport your populations and we will provide a planet for you to hide. We think we have a screen generator that will surround the planet with the color the eight Legs can’t see. You will remain there until they move to another universe.”
     
    The Warlord said, “What’s the second choice.”
     
    “Petition the King of the Stars Realm for membership. We will then bring our technology to your planet.” The room started talking among themselves and Matt sounded the tone. Once silence was restored he continued, “I know that some of you are thinking that this is a hoax and just a way to force you to join our Realm. We really don’t care whether you believe us or not. I should also tell you that just because you petition the King doesn’t mean you will be accepted into our Realm. We will not give our technology to any civilization that harbors aggressive intents. All of our members will give their lives to defend the other members and we will not tolerate any race that cannot live by our principles. We, however, cannot stand by and not try to save you; that’s why we offer the first choice. Quite frankly, some of you would not be allowed to join our Realm because of your aggressive behaviors or your desire for revenge.”
     
    Angel stood and joined Matt at the podium. Matt looked at her and she tuned to the crowd, “There is a third option.” Everyone grew silent to hear what it was. “Don’t believe us and just go your way as you have always done. Convince yourself that we were trying to take advantage of you and that you were too wise to fall for our obviously false statements. You should understand that we don’t want anyone in the Realm that cannot embrace our reverence of life. We will never force anyone to accept our views.” She looked up at Matt and then said, “We know that to ignore civilizations and not try to help them goes against everything we hold holy. We have told you and now if anything happens, we can hold our head high and maintain our sense of worth. To do otherwise would erode our belief structure.”
     
    Matt then turned and faced the assembly, “We are going to leave your worlds.” He looked at the Warlord and said, “We have agreed to come to the defense of the planets you attacked. We are leaving a device they can use to contact us.”
     
    “What if they attack me,” the Warleader asked?
     
    “Then they forfeit our good will and defense. I suspect, however, Warlord, that you are fully capable of defending yourself. Most of your fleet is still intact.”
     
    The Warleader stood facing the stage, “I am going to order all of my military forces recalled and all of our warships converted to commercial vessels. I will also disarm our more violent nobles. We will remove any mechanism of war from my planet within the next hundred rotations and will not build any in the future.”
     
    The entire room was stunned. Matt looked at Angel then back at the Warleader, “What is your intent in performing those actions?”
     
    “I fully intend to petition your King for membership. I am going to do everything in my power to do the things necessary to persuade him of our sincerity. I sense that you are being truthful and the time is short.”
     
    Matt looked at the Warleader and could tell he was serious. He closed his eyes and he could actually hear the Warleader’s thoughts. “Warleader, why did you attack the eight planets?”
     
    “Why to protect ourselves from their planned aggression.”
     
    The entire room stood and started yelling. Matt looked at Angel and saw confusion on her face. “Stem, are you watching this?”
     
    “Yes, I am and I must confess that I’m uncertain of what is