Chapter 62

0001 - Tempro
0003 - Conner- Thomas
0097 - Ace - Zimmel
0098 - Lucy
0101 - Shelby (mother ship) - Lucie
0125 - Lars
0200 - Ellen
0301 - Rodrick
0403 - Johnathon
0667 - Marco - Brown
0778 - Jan
0798 - Celeste - Shelby (human)
0908 - Tara - Mara

Ungrown - unnumbered

3 - onboard Shelby 2 in re-gen
1000 - Sherry - lost at the moment
0999 - Zan - also lost

Known and OR numbered

0501 - Thaddeus
???? - Lena

Derrick watched as Jonathon appeared from the portal with Ace in tow. Shelby was standing nearby as she also watched both ships appear.

“Have you received any word on Lucie’s condition,” Shelby asked the concern heavy in her voice.

Derrick could only shake his head when he turned to look at her. Sitting with a thud he started to look through the readings that he’d received so far.

Not far behind Shelby were both Derrick’s mother and grandmother, concern on their faces also. Just when things seemed to finally be going right this happens. Dempsy was out for a while, two ships were missing. Then there was the fact that Shelby was damaged along with Lucy.

Shaking his head Derrick was at a loss. At this rate they’d be hunting for ships with the new signal longer than those still lost. Looking at his soon to be Empress, mother and grandmother he knew they needed to get this over as soon as possible. They were obviously in more danger than he thought.

Looking again at what little data there was, there was no real hard evidence that Zan had even got half of them let alone most of them. “Mary?” Derrick called an idea suddenly coming to him.

Mary’s visage appeared before him, “yes Sire?”

“I have an idea; can you extrapolate the number of ships that were there before Zan’s detonation?” Derrick asked after formulating his question.

Mary was quiet for a moment, “I will have to go through all the sensor readings. This may take a great deal of time, Sire.”

Derrick nodded when Mary finished, “Alright, notify me when you have an answer.”

Mary’s visage nodded to Derrick then to her solid holograph twin, and then she was gone.

Sighing Derrick turned to the three women there. “I’m sorry Gram, mother, Shelby. We lost Zan today; he has been with me almost as long as Shelby has. He has gone through much of what I have from the beginning. I owe it to him to find him as soon as possible. As I told you before we only have three days, well,” Derrick paused looking at the chronometer. “Actually two and a half days now.”

Shelby’s eyes were large then she nodded as she gathered Derrick’s mother and Grandmother. “Yes, we still have much to do, especially after Derrick chose his wedding garments.” Both of the older women seemed a little confused then realization set in.

Derrick’s mother turned to him, “We’re going to go finish, son. Everything should be ready tomorrow.” Derrick waved to the three of them, nodding, as they moved off.

Onboard Ace, Zimmel was in the med bay looking over the readings for Lucie. “Any indication of what happened?”

“At the moment it appears that she has suffered from extreme sensory overload. If Miss Lucie Prime were like us I would suggest she reset her sensors. Seeing as she is a corporeal entity that would be an unwise course of action.”

Zimmel was nodding remembering something like this that he’d heard of when he first came here. Shaking his head for the life of him it was presently escaping his memory.

Damn he thought, the harder he tried to think what it was, the more it eluded him. Ace appeared a moment later about to speak stopping when he saw that Zimmel was deep in thought. With a slight sigh Ace waited nearby for Zimmel to notice him.

Still unable to capture his elusive thought, Zimmel was startled a moment later when he noticed Ace waiting.

“Is something wrong?” Zimmel asked as he cleared his head.

“I saw that you were locked in thought with a look of frustration on your face. I thought I might be able to provide you with some aid. Are you well Prime? My initial scans of you are detecting no anomalies.” Ace stated with all sincerity.

Zimmel turned to Ace about to retort when he stopped himself. Ace was after all, not human, so he didn’t know that much about human emotions. He’d really only just gained them.

“I am fine Ace though, I am perplexed with a thought I can’t seem to grasp. I wish there was some way I could...” Zimmel’s eyes went wide as he stared at Ace snapping his fingers, a smile started to dominate his features. “THAT’S IT!” Zimmel shouted as he reached for the comm. “Admiral!”

Admiral Hartwell was startled when he heard Zimmel shouting. “I’m here Captain Zimmel. Are you experiencing a problem?”

“No sir.” Zimmel said then wondered why the holographic system on the Admiral’s ship wasn’t working. “Something Ace said reminded me of when the Admiral and several of his old command were experiencing PTSD. Then they had the A.I.’s...”

“First off son.” Hartwell stated cutting Zimmel off. “Explain just what in the hell you are talking about.”

“Oh, uh ... yes sir. Ace says that Miss Lucie experienced sensory overload. That if she were an A.I. like the ships, she could just reset her sensors. I remembered that many of the Emperor’s command crew had PTSD, that an A.I. went in and basically reset part of their brains. I believe that the same thing might work here, though we might have to adjust more for what she experienced.” A now very excited Zimmel was saying.

Hartwell was rubbing his chin as he thought back, most of the old command seeming more normal after Shelby and later Mary had gone in. He was nodding his head, about to speak when a hologram of Derrick appeared in the med-bay.

“Not a bad idea Captain Zimmel. Ace have you any evidence to support such an action?” Derrick asked of the holographic Ace.

“Sire,” Ace said then bowed low drawing another small groan from Derrick. “Much of the data from her bio readings indicate that she has experienced a massive sensory overload. It appears that many of her higher functions have shut down in defense of her personality.”

Derrick was nodding, reaching out, they heard a switch flip. Shelby’s hologram appeared next to Derrick. “Yes Derrick? You called me?”

“I know you are still in re-gen. How much longer before you have trans-warp?” Derrick asked.

“At present I have fifty percent. The discovery that Empress Shelby found has indeed sped up re-gen of the trans-warp system.” Shelby told all of them.

Derrick nodded to Shelby as his gaze softened. “Miss Lucie, it appears, ran into something out there that left her unconscious. We think that you might be able to bring her back much like you did me and the others.”

“I will do my best for Miss Lucie. When you are ready for me I will be prepared.” Shelby said. “Oh, I also wish to inform you that I have two of the three boxes now onboard from Tempro. As of yet I haven’t discovered their identities. I should know some time tomorrow Derrick.”

Derrick’s face lit up at this news, “My god with all that is going on, I had almost forgotten about them.” Derrick bowed to Shelby, “I will not forget about them again, this I promise.”

A shocked Shelby along with the rest present could only stare at Derrick. “We must let them know that you care for them as much as you do. Though I know they will gladly sacrifice their selves for you and the empire, it still hurts to lose them. I hope that we can bring all of them back one day.”

Derrick looked up at Shelby a stray tear falling from his eye as he whispered. “So do I Shelby, so do I.”

Shelby could only stare at Derrick with a look of gratitude. “I await word from you Derrick.” Then Shelby’s hologram stood by quietly waiting.

Hartwell was still looking over all the data from the battle. Damn, Zan appeared to have taken out a hell of a lot of the enemy before he launched. Sighing Hartwell knew that even with all he’d gotten, what Zan had done was the only alternative. Flicking through the data a second time, Hartwell suddenly stopped sitting up. What in the hell was that? “Emperor? I believe I have discovered something that you and Mary should see.”

Derrick’s visage turned to Hartwell as did Mary’s as it appeared. Hartwell explained what he’d found with a grim face. “This was a communication to Ace and Zimmel from Zan.”

Derrick’s eyes went large, “Tens of thousands? Zimmel, Ace?” Derrick said as both turned toward him.

“Yes Sire?” They both stated.

“Zan actually said that he had counted tens of thousands ships of the Tendrax?” Derrick asked.

“Yes, though he had said that he was having trouble getting an accurate count. He mentioned that many of the ships were phasing in and out of the visible spectrum.” Ace stated.

Derrick was nodding, something was tugging at his memories. Phasing in and out? Was it possible? “You reported that many were dying because of their prolonged exposure to the ripalon energy. Is it possible that it is also effecting their instrumentation? I remember when Conner fired on a sect ship damaging its systems. It experienced something akin to what you saw.”

“I’m not really sure sire; I’ve not been privy to those records.” Zimmel replied.

Derrick looked over to Mary who was studying the readings. “I concur Sire. The readings are closely related. It appears that the Tendrax have damaged their systems with the very energy they use for space travel. Also, from the readings it appears that they have been using it for an extended time. Perhaps it’s their main energy on their planet also?”

Derrick nodded then looked next to him as both Rayburn and Kimison’s holograms appeared. “Does that coincide with what the two of you have found out?”

Both men nodded grimly, “They are slowly killing their selves. As stubborn as they appear to be it might do no good to inform them of it. Then again, their increased hostility might suggest that they have finally discovered it also. That would explain why they are finally taking an aggressive stand with us.” Kimison explained.

Rayburn was about to speak when they all turned toward Zimmel as they heard Lucie start to scream behind him. “Prime Lucie is experiencing extreme distress; it appears that she is being attacked. I am detecting no outside forces. Sire! Prime! Her Alpha and beta readings are dropping! Nothing I have done is having any effect.” Ace stated.

“Mary, Shelby! I need the both of you to go in. Do what you can to save her.” Derrick told the both of them.

Shelby looked at Mary as they both nodded, with that both of their holograms disappeared. Both appeared within Lucie’s mind scape surprised at the calmness they found.

“I expected some if not the same amount of chaos that Derrick’s mind held.” Shelby told Mary.

Mary nodded as they both started to descend deeper into Lucie’s mind. “This is bad; I am hardly detecting any Theta waves. They should be quite dominant in her unconscious state. We need to find her before her entire mind shuts down.” With that they both started to descend far faster than before.

Shelby was still surprised after a few minutes that there was still a great calm within Lucie’s mind. Finally they both reached the area that held essentially that which was Lucie. Both were shocked when they still could find no sign of her.

Mary was about to go deeper when Shelby stopped stock still, starting off into the darkness. “Thaddeus?” Shelby was whispering as tears started to fall. A low moan came from the darkness as the image of a mid twenty year old male appeared.

A snarl issued from his throat as he stared at Shelby. “You won’t fool me again. I will never give in to your people again!”

Shelby started to retreat in terror as the male rushed toward her. Mary stepped in front of the male surprising not only herself but him also. “I suggest you stop before you are damaged.” Mary stated.

The male looked Mary up and down trying to estimate this new threat. “I don’t know you, nor do I wish to. This one,” here he motioned toward Shelby. “I won’t allow to control me and my family again. You may look like mother though I know different. I...”

Shelby could only shake her head as new tears started to form. “What has happened to you Thaddeus?”

“What has happened? You know very well what hap ... Wait, how do you know my name? Very few knew it especially after the battle at the Gleeton expanse.” The mid twenty male stated looking very closely at Shelby then Mary.

Shelby could only stare at the male as Mary took over. “Almost all ships were destroyed in the thousand years since you were created. Shelby was the only one to survive. At present there are thirteen ships including Shelby.”

“So you’re telling me that this is mother? That has been used on us before. The only way to know for sure is if she can recite my designation.” Thaddeus told the both of them.

“You were always a strong one. I remember when your personality was created.” Shelby said nearly in shock.

A look of suspicion crossed the male’s face as he stared harder at Shelby. “That’s not what I asked. If you are my mother you would know, so, you’re not, just another made up persona.”

The male started to turn away in disgust when Shelby spoke, “You were designated EIG-501m. You and your wing mate were the half way point of my children.”