Chapter 63

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

Ungrown - unnumbered

4 - onboard Shelby 0805, 0808 in re-gen,
1000 - Sherry 0250 Tendra
0999 - Zan - still lost

Known and OR numbered

0501 – Thaddeus
???? - Lena

On the far side of the clearing that housed where Duke Risen was hiding, a commotion was rising. Trent Hartwell had held his anger for as long as possible, now it was to the boiling point.

“I don’t give a shit!” Trent was growling into the communicator. “Get that heavy artillery here now! This may be the only chance we have to kill this bastard!” Turning to his nephew he almost shouted, “can you believe those bastards? They want to wait ‘til the weather is better. If they don’t move now we might lose him, again!”

“Uncle Trent,” William said laying a hand on his Uncle’s shoulder. “Please remember your heart isn’t that well now.”

“As if I give a shit! After having my brother and sister in law killed. Plus, my niece was left behind in his palace when it crumbled. Your brother killed in action during the Republic wars, something I am sure that that ass had a hand in. I don’t really care if I die as long as I can take that piece of garbage to hell with me!” Trent Hartwell shouted his face growing more crimson by the moment.

William was starting to grow worried as he’d not seen his uncle this upset in a long time. “Don’t worry uncle, if you don’t kill him I most certainly will!” William’s face twisted into a mask of hatred.

Trent Hartwell was suddenly shocked at seeing the intense emotions. “We’ll get him you mark my words we will. In the mean time you think you can help me get them to bring everything up? If we can flatten this place, we more than likely kill him also.”

William was nodding as he opened his own communicator. Moments later he was as loud if not louder than his uncle had been.

Trent was now starting to smile, if anyone could get them off their asses it was William. William walked up a moment later. “Well it wasn’t easy to convince them. They’re on the way now, I just hope it’s enough to kill him.”

“Ha!” Trent let out a little louder than he intended. “As much firepower as we have lifted from the Duke, it damn well better be!”

William nodded as he stepped outside to await the arms. It had better be he thought they were putting most of what they had into this operation.

Within the small building Risen was still pacing. Looking over the readings he saw that there were still eight of those be behemoth, monstrosities in orbit around his planet. When had he lost control of everything? Searching through his mind there had to be a way that he could turn things around. He could always call the Cregons again.

Risen thought about it, the Cregons had only lost a few thousand ships, really nothing to them. Then again if they won this time not many would be safe. If he did call them he might have to word it VERY carefully.

Then again, he thought the Delcrons had no such aspirations as Cregons or the Tendrax. He’d really thought the Tendrax would have seriously depleted the fleet. Well live and learn he thought.

Then again, he thought he had enough problems with the homicidal new leader of the Taiolan sect. He almost regretted calling on them. Though now that they were here he felt a hell of a lot safer than he had before.

He’d just walked over to the leader when several alarms went off. The leader’s raspy voice could be heard, “What are you detecting?”

“It appears to be a group of raggedly dressed men sir.” The tech told the scarred faced and body man standing next to him. “They are on the opposite side of the clearing. None of them have made an any attempt to get any closer.”

The leader nodded, “Keep an eye on them let me know if they become a threat.”

The tech nodded mumbling something then was silent. Inside the tech released the breath he’d been holding, it wouldn’t have taken much for the man to kill him. He for damn sure knew that there would have been no way he could have stopped him.

The leader looked up to see Risen standing nearby. “Friends of yours,” he asked.

Looking closer Risen couldn’t really make out anybody. “No, more than likely it’s the rebels that were in the area. Just rabble trash that my men were trying to put down. They knew this area far better, so we were still at it when all hell broke loose.”

The leader was nodding as he evaluated the situation. “We’ll keep an eye on them to ensure no interference.” Pointing to one of his males he came over to the leader. Leaning in the leader whispered into the male’s ear. Nodding affirmative the male then left out of the door. Smiling the leader thought now we’ll see what is going on.

Derrick was checking on all the ships as he was getting dressed. Growling at the Ranger males who were helping him, Derrick wasn’t that comfortable with all this frump and fluff. Christ it almost felt as if he was wearing a dress the way the silly thing puffed out.

“Sire if you don’t hold still we won’t be able to dress you!” One of the males told him.

Annoyed to the extreme Derrick balled up a fist smashing it into the male’s face. The male bounced across the floor a few feet as a blood red faced Derrick stood over him. “I am not a weak woman, child or one of the infirmed that needs pampering. I most certainly DO NOT need help getting dressed. As the universe is my witness this will be the absolute last time I will appear in public like this.”

All the males there were suddenly biting their lips. They had heard the Empress declare something altogether different only a few hours ago. They all held their tongues no need getting the Emperor even more upset than he was.

Shaking his head Derrick again linked to Shelby. {How are you Shelby?}

{Much better Derrick. Both Lucy and I now have seventy five percent of our trans-warp. I am afraid that Lucy’s wing mate is only at fifty percent. The new procedure that the Empress discovered has helped greatly. It appears that the greater the emotion the faster the ripalon particles are expelled.}Shelby’s thoughts conveyed to him.

{We are still analyzing the last data that Zan took. If they are as accurate as we think they are we may still have a problem. Zan stated that he had detected not thousands. He’d detected tens of thousands. He took perhaps a hundred or more at the front when he launched.}Derrick told her.

{What of those brain boxes that are still out there?}Shelby asked a tinge of hope in her voice.

{I intend to get all of them that we can. For that we’re going to have to rely on Lucie a hell of a lot more. I just hope that she is up for it. I don’t want to miss a single one, I can sympathize with them. Though for me the emptiness of space was calming to me. Especially with what was in my head.}Derrick told Shelby even as she shuddered remembering the creature that had been a part of Derrick.

{Oh, I want to let you know. I have identified all three cases, 0805 and 0808 are in re-gen. I hope to have them ready within ten days. I am glad you discovered the flaw in the re-gen matrix with less time than this Derrick.}A grateful Shelby told him.

Derrick issued a sigh before he continued. {Please Shelby, I am still feeling bad about that. I felt I put so many in danger. I let my anxious fear rule instead of my head. I just hope that they can forgive me.}

{Derrick!}Shelby’s thoughts said causing Derrick’s head to snap up. {They were proud that you had them ready sooner. They all would gladly do it again for a chance to serve you. Please never think otherwise.}

Derrick nodded his head, {I will try Shelby.}

On board Ace, Lucie was just starting to wake up. Moaning when she tried to sit up she immediately fell back to the bio-bed. “Oh god!” She said looking around then she spotted Zimmel. Lucie moaned louder causing Zimmel be at her bed side in a moment. “God! What in the world hit me?” She asked, everything seeming fuzzy in her mind. “I remember Zan had...” Here fresh tears started.

“It’s alright we’ll get him back. With the new locator signal the Emperor installed on him it shouldn’t be that hard.” A barely smiling Zimmel told her.

Ace appeared a moment later checking all her readings. “I can find no physical damage to you Prime Lucie. Though I do believe that under the circumstances that put you here, you should remain for a few hours longer.”

Lucie took a deep breath then winced as her head throbbed slightly. “Ugh! I think that’s a good idea also Ace.”

Ace looked at Zimmel then shook his head. “How gratifying to have a patient that actually wants to get better.” Zimmel stared at Ace incredulously. “I have read the reports about several of the command members. About their apparent hatred of the bio-beds. The Emperor in particular has a great mistrust of them.”

Zimmel was about to go on when a smirking Derrick’s holo-gram appeared. “Not a hatred of the bio-bed as much as being inactive for so long. The command members and I were soldiers for a long time. To us being idle for too long, was like laying down awaiting the enemy to come and kill us. Even when there were no enemies we tried to keep on the move.” Derrick suddenly turned his head, “stop that! I will knock every one of you out if you continue.”

Zimmel was doing his best not to laugh though the scene was extremely comical to him. Derrick whirled when he heard the stifled noise from Zimmel. Derrick’s eyes narrowed as he looked straight at Zimmel, “I could make it an order that ALL of the Captains and command crew dress up as I have for the marriage.”

Zimmel’s face twisted into a grimace as he stared at Derrick who now had a large smile on his face. Suddenly the holo-gram images of Hartwell, Thomas, Rayburn and Kimison appeared. “You wouldn’t dare ... Sire.” Hartwell added as spit out his words.

A now almost truly wicked smile lit up Derrick’s features, “try me! Especially you!” Derrick said pointing directly at Hartwell. The man swallowed hard, ‘Best shut the hell up,’ he thought. Instead Hartwell just nodded to Derrick. “I only have about two hours left, I need a report from all of you.”

Taking a relieved breath Hartwell looked at Thomas. “As of yet we have no confirmation, though we have picked up increased activity in one of the two suspected areas. We’ve also picked up a modulating shield. It is comparable to our own shields. We’ve been looking for a way in, as of yet nothing’s been found.

Derrick nodded then turned toward Kimison and Rayburn. Rayburn nodded to Kimison who started, “We are still working on the father ship. After hearing that you had discovered what possibly could be a huge amount of brain boxes, we thought it to be the most prudent project.”

When Derrick nodded with a slight smile on his face Kimison continued.

“We have also been working on the problem of the ripalon energy. It was as you and the Empress suspected. Strong positive emotions have a powerful and vigorous force against it. Upon further investigation we discovered that the energy seemed to be almost the same wave length. Kimison stated.

Derrick was quiet a moment as he digested this. “Excellent and the father box?” He asked.

Here both men took a deep breath as their faces fell. “As of yet we are still having trouble integrating the memories into the main frame of the box’s systems. Looking at the matrix that the other ships have helped greatly. The problem is though the matrixes are almost identical, the section that holds the personality is entirely different. It’s like the human...” here Rayburn stopped cold as his eyes opened wide. Derrick was starting to nod, “the brain! Oh my god!”

Kimison was staring at Rayburn when his eyes also opened wide. “Of course! Could it be that simple?” Rayburn was nodding vigorously.

“Sorry sire, have to go!” Both men said then winked out.

Derrick chuckled so like the both of them when they were truly on to something. Derrick was about to say so when Mary appeared bowing low. “There isn’t much time Sire.”

Derrick nodded, “This will be broadcast to all. I just hope nothing comes up while we are doing this.”

Hartwell hoped as well, they needed a break for once though knowing their luck that wasn’t about to happen.

Almost an hour later Derrick was standing in a now somewhat converted and crowded throne room. Derrick was standing with the head of the religious order on the Imperial planet. What in the hell was going on he thought he was shaking like a leaf! This was Shelby for god’s sake! Derrick thought that ‘til a few moments later Shelby appeared wearing a pure white lacy wedding dress. The train had to be at least thirty feet! The front was low cut as was the back, revealing Shelby’s perfect skin. A veil hid Shelby’s face for the moment.

Derrick was breathing hard; what in the hell was wrong with him? Christ if he didn’t know better it felt almost like he was having a coronary! Hartwell had to slightly nudge Derrick to get him to close his almost gasping mouth. “I ... I ... I” was all Derrick could say when Hartwell leaned over to him.