Chapter 2

Mark Jerked awake, what the hell? The last thing he remembered was that the drones had just touched down with him; oh yeah, that’s right, Sam was mad at him; judging from the look on Nissie’s face, she wasn’t too happy with him either. Mark tried to sit up in the bed and immediately fell back, a low groan escaping his lips; this awoke Nissie and Sam, who were asleep by his bed.

His vision blurring, he heard Sam speak up, “Damn Mark, bout time you woke up. You scared the shit out of me.

Nissie thought you were dead with all the blood, plus the whole passing out.”

Cringing, Mark tried to ask how long he’d been out. Unfortunately, the only thing That escaped his lips were squeaks. Nissie immediately grabbed a glass and poured a full serving on Mark, which she handed to him. Mark’s throat was so dry he didn’t even look at the liquid as he downed a huge swig; as it hit his stomach, the flavor finally caught up to him. Coughing and sputtering, Mark tried not to gag; damn, Mark thought, what were they giving me? It tasted somewhere between warm piss and sour milk; try as he might, he wasn’t able to hold it down long. A look of worry crossed Nissie’s face when Mark’s stomach started to lose its contents.

“Damn it, Mark! You ought to know not to try and chug the energy medical drink! You’ll tear your stomach up!”

Nissie almost shouted.

Looking up, Mark gasped for breath. “I know that Nissie; I was too thirsty even to look at the glass.”

Sam stood back, trying her best not to laugh. Finally, she couldn’t hold out any longer, almost falling to the floor. The bad thing was that the nasty look she got from Mark made her laugh even harder. Finally, sitting up, Mark had to hang on to Nissie to keep from falling off the bed.

Staring into Nissie’s eyes, Mark got serious, “I know you are worried about Arthur. That bastard won’t get that far.

I pulled one of his tricks, and after a day, he wouldn’t be able to go very far and would have to land. I planted one of your new tr-50s on his ship, Sam, though I increased the range to a few billion miles, more if he is anywhere near the system network I’ve set up.”

Nissie and Sam, both their mouths hanging open, could only stare at him. “You increased it that much? I only had it to 50 million, damn Mark, here I thought you weren’t working on anything.” Sam said when she found her voice.

“I am always working on new ideas,” Mark replied, “it’s always good to stay ahead of everyone.”

Mark looked over at Nissie, hoping that would put her fears to rest. The strain behind her smile was enough to convince him that it was time to get up and get going. Calling up his display, he saw that Tantka hadn’t gotten all that far, smiling. Mark knew that that wouldn’t last too long with Tantka. Strange though, why was Tantka heading toward the galaxy edge? As far as he knew, there really wasn’t much out there but a few asteroids and barren rocks that were moons of a planet long destroyed. Calling up another drone he’d launched years ago for several kings, Mark soon got an answer, one that he wasn’t at all pleased with. Only a few trillion miles beyond the edge of the empire was a fleet of a design that Mark wasn’t that familiar with. The problem was they went beyond the range of the drone; as he remembered this drone had a far-reaching range, he knew that he’d have to contact the Emperor soon, which was never a pleasant thing.

“Computer,” Mark started, “analyze configuration, composition, and design of the detected fleet of ships on the outer galactic rim, access drone zz3.”

“Compliance, beginning analysis now,” the new AI he’d built two years ago droned to him.

Mark knew it’d be a while, so he began to work on another power-boosted shield he’d gotten the idea for a few days ago.

Almost an hour later, his comp rang to gain his attention. “Analysis complete,” it droned to him, “accessing all records available, but the owners of the fleet remain unknown. The configurations appear to be those of warships. Many of the weapons on them mirror those that you have created in the last five years, though the power levels are almost double. I estimate your strongest weapons are the only weapons that exist in the entire empire that might be able to damage them even slightly. Recommend stronger weapons or defensive retreat till you have developed said weapons and shields.”

Mark was afraid of that; when he’d first seen them, he thought they might be an invading force. Sighing, he knew he had to call the Emperor; if the man wasn’t such a prick, then dealing with him might almost be pleasant.

Taking a deep breath, Mark activated a special comp that very few had; after only a few seconds, a dour-faced older man appeared on the screen, “I hope you realize you are interrupting an extremely important meeting,” the man said, an almost scowl on his face.

“I apologize, sir; I have information about a possible invading force,” Mark replied, trying not to get pissed, “I think your people should see what I’ve gathered; it appears to be a rather large force.”

The Emperor just grunted, rolling his eyes, “I told you last time that my people are always on top of these things, don’t...”

“Look, you pompous windbag, I don’t have time for your posturing and speech-making. You have a week at the most from what I saw before they reach the edge of the empire, get off your ass and get your men in gear,” Mark shouted, his temper starting to rise.

The Emperor’s round face had grown red, “I’ll take it under advisement, then...”

“You take too long, and you’ll have no kingdom! You’re acting like an idiot! Just like last time, you almost waited too long. Then, you were very close to a breach of contract. I have half a mind to no longer monitor everything I installed, let it break down, and refuse to repair it if you keep this up!” With that, Mark snapped the comp off just as the Emperor was about to shout back at him.

Mark was fuming, shoving every piece of hardware he could into his equipment bag. Nissie looked at Sam, even more worried now; Sam took her brother’s lead, stuffing even more hardware into another equipment bag. Mark stopped a moment when he saw Sam stuffing the bag, “What the hell are you doing, Sam?” Mark said, his attention fully on her now.

“I’m packing to go; I may only be a seventh year, and my skills are not as good as yours, but I can help you more than you think,” Sam said matter of fact.

“Sam, you’re a mother now. You can’t just pull up and go like that, you...” Mark started.

“That’s what you think; you forget I was on the move with Mom ALL the time, so I am a lot more qualified than you are,” Sam replied, her voice as stern as she could get it, her red hair seeming to flare and blaze.

Mark backed up a moment. There was no arguing with her when she was like this.

“Fine, but,” Mark reached into his bag, tossing Sam a wrist wrap with a small screen on it, “wear this at all times; it’s the most advanced I’ve ever built. It has twice the shield strength, power output, and power supply.”

Sam caught the comp, marveling at the complex yet simple design of it. “Just when did you have time to build this?” Sam asked, shocked at the readings she was getting from it.

“You and Nissie both know I can’t always sleep at night, so I worked on it every night for a week.” Mark replied, a little proud of his work, “Here,” tossing an almost exact copy of Sam’s comp to Nissie, “I know that even god couldn’t keep you away.”

Nissie, even with her limited tech knowledge, could see that this was far more advanced than anything he’d ever done before. A smile briefly crossed her face, giving Mark a bit of relief; maybe now she wouldn’t doubt him as much.

“Your tech has finally surpassed everything of yours that I’ve seen before,” Nissie said, a still faint smile on her face.

Mark breathed a sigh of relief, continuing to load his bag. Finally loaded, they started toward the door when Mark’s comp went off again; from what he saw, it was the head of the Imperial Star fleet.

“Hello, Mark,” the large, imposing man said, “I just caught wind of what you told the emperor; anyway, I can see what you have before you leave?”

Mark hesitated a moment, then opened his comp, “I’ll transmit it to you. Hopefully, you can convince that idiot man to take action. We have to set out after Tantka. He seems to be headed for the enemy fleet.”

“Tantka!? That little shit is out? Thought his ass was gone for life,” the Imperial space force leader said.

“He was; apparently, he escaped a few weeks ago, and no one thought it was important enough to notify anyone outside of the prison,” Mark replied, the irritation on his face. Punching in a few commands, the information was soon on the way. The space leader nodded upon receipt, and then his eyes grew wider as the scenes played out on his screen.

“Oh my god!” The leader almost whispered, “It’s the Styrox. I’ve seen their ships before. It appears that they’ve increased their power base now. What do you make of their weapons? From what I see, these are more human weapons than Styroxian.”

“Yes, I am almost to the point of believing that Tantka is supplying them with plans to use these weapons. As you can hear from the report that my AI gave,” Mark replied, as he heard it droning in the background.

Many of the weapons on them mirror those that you have created in the last five years, “Yes, I see; according to this, you’re the only one with the capability to fight them, anyway that you can help the fleet so we’d have a chance against them?” The leader asked, a look of concern crossing his face.

Mark thought for a few moments, then punched in a few more commands, “instigate these upgrades, power increases, add these parts, then upload these programs to your system. I estimate that your fleet should more than be a match for them.”