Chapter 87

There was a large crowd at the station when we got back. Being a public figure now, I had to wave at the crowd and tell them what they wanted to hear.

We brought our booty on board and stored most of it. Lazarus sent over some of his probes while some military types did their own investigations.

Captain Radi had not been frightened off. She checked her ship for damage and then examined what we had brought back. The lances were just short of 300 metres long and 3.6 metres in diameter at their widest. The crystals were like a telescope with the distance between held in vacuum. The power to the crystals was much higher than we would normally use. The arrays of crystals were not much different though. The most interesting aspect to me was the method used to apply power.

Their basic structure was little different from our own weapons. We had long ago folded the structure to a much more convenient package. Using the power conductors as a guide, it looked like they used at least half again as much power but the effect was amplified many times.

Each ring in the array boosted the power and each ring of crystals was slightly different from the one before. It didn't take long to see that they were each twisting the energy to move through all of the dimensions. The fourth ring seemed to be the same structure that I used when going through a shield and represented time.

Lazarus pointed out, "My Emperor. The casing of the weapon is slightly different from ours. There seem to be extremely small crystals embedded in the ceramic. The ceramic though is much thinner than what we use and judging from your difficulty in cutting it through the shield; it must be two and a half times more effective than ours."

"Thanks Lazarus. See what you can find that will power each of the crystals."

We disassembled the other lances and compared them minutely to the first one. Lazarus and the other Tandra did not find any differences, but I found a few in the crystalline structure. Perhaps a heterodyning effect took place where the beams converged. The higher level of interaction could be what allowed the energy to flow through my new shield.

I apprised Lazarus of the rest of the data I found and he passed it all back to Mom. I examined the missile crystals next. Again much more power went to the crystal than I would normally expect. The crystal was the only basic difference. The distortions in the pattern of the crystal gave me a few ideas to explore in my own efforts to understand the crystals.

Lazarus took some of the missiles and copied their construction. I took a few of the crystals and worked on them to be even better than those used by the strangers. Perhaps if we threw them back, we would find out how good they were against their own shields.

Captain Shingle had just received the orders from Mom. He smiled widely and his exec looked up at the mirth he felt in his captain's mind.

"Exec, recall our escorts. Place them so we can rendezvous as we travel." This was not seen as too odd by the second in command. "Take us to Falm 6 at your best speed." This though startled the young man.

"Waa... ? Ah... yes sir. Recall escorts and proceed to Falm 6 at our best speed." The ships got their orders and in most cases they proceeded quickly out of the system. They would complete the link up in a few hours. At that time the dozen ships would fan out to protect their small group.

"What are our orders, Sir?"

This should be discussed privately, but the crew would soon know anyway. The presentation of the information should be given with a little fanfare though. On a private channel Charlie said, "We are going to Tandra, on the other side of the galaxy."

"What!" Slipped out, and Paul clamped his mind tight as his captain was doing. "Why? We have only gone to our next-door neighbour so far. Now we are going to cross the galaxy?"

"The Emperor knows we are the fastest ships he has. I just found out that Mom in the tug is going too. She has been given a very serious upgrade and will be towing or pushing us to get us to go even faster. The Emperor wants all the children taken off the home world matter transmitter and transported to a safe place."

The Captain made his announcement to the crew and that of the escorts after getting some additional information from Mom. "The Emperor commanded us to sail to the former location of the Tandra home planet and recover the children still in stasis. Mom has warned him of an incursion in that area of space involving a new type of ship. The Emperor has specifically gone to reinforce the station and to see what he can find out about the invaders." The talk continued with some of the background and then he turned the announcement over to his exec.

Each of the escorts were given general orders and some of the equipment really tested for the first time at the top speed. Some Humans and Tandra got on the couches and closed their eyes to concentrate. The predictor crystals were supposed to be good but they would be even better with some biological assistance.

Charlie Shingle sat in his chair and interfaced with Hans using the full extent of his capabilities. The systems seemed to fly by. The recent upgrades to their compensator and computer enabled their ship to travel a bit over eight thousand light years per day. The ship made a few minor corrections as it travelled to miss debris in space. Casting his mind to navigation, he saw that the predictor crystals were indeed working well with the people in that department.

The engines were working hard to assist in propelling the mighty carrier. It was the AI though with its connection to the upper universe that did most of the work.

Hans was transmitting back all the images and data he could in this undertaking. Mom would transmit a portion of them to the Earth population when she felt the time was right. That time though might be many years in the future because of the way the Humans failed to accept the Alliance.

A short time later the sensors showed the escorts taking their assigned positions. The dozen craft were mostly cruisers and smaller but one destroyer took the point position. The escort craft were even capable of more speed. The Terra's Pride was no slouch but simply had too much mass to move.

The watch ended and Captain completed his log entries before assigning the watch to another officer. With a last look around the bridge, he walked the short distance to his suite. When he walked through the portal Amney quickly got to her feet and approached her captain. "Why are we going to Tandra? Are my people in danger?"

"Cadet Amney. Is that the way to greet your captain? Last I heard you had not taken the throne. Perhaps you could be moved down to Engineering or Weapons, where you may have some time to ponder your ways." The girl was not now a cadet because of her major infraction, but the term at least might give her the incentive to try harder.

"I am sorry sir. I didn't know what came over me." She hung her head a bit, but still expected the answers.

"Get my robe, please. I will be taking a shower."

"But... Yes sir. Right away, sir."

The captain had a little bit of a chuckle at the girl's expense. She still showed little remorse for the reasons that she first came here. She was still the former Empress' child in many ways. The duty to the Emperor was another thing. The girl needed to be shaken from her imaginary perch and shown that she was not an eagle but a person much like the rest of the crew.

He stepped out of the enclosure when he finished his shower. The water was whisked from his skin as if removed by a vacuum. This chilled him a little and he gave an involuntary shiver. Amney was ready to hand him the long robe. Captain Shingle glanced aside at the projector that served as a mirror instead. He walked closer and then remembered that he could just enlarge the area he was inspecting. The chin started to show just a bit of hair just below the skin. He felt that it would soon be time to renew his treatment to restrict hair growth.

Turning sideways when he did not need to brought other parts of his skin into view. The waistline was still very trim as were the abdominal muscles. He flexed his biceps and saw that perhaps he had to find some time for the gym. The hair on his head was in disarray though. He concentrated for a split second and a comb dropped from the air just above followed by a small towel. He wrapped the towel around the neck like a silk cravat. A small rain fell on his hair as he rubbed it with his fingers. The water stopped at his command. He used the towel to partially dry his hair, then the comb did its work.

The figure looking back at him was still young. An idle thought crossed his mind about a way to look a little older to fit in with the duties of captain. He saw Amney still holding his robe when he turned back. It was disconcerting to have a servant, particularly one that had to remain idle as she waited for him to finish some of his grooming. He took the robe and slipped it on. Amney for some reason tried to help. She got very close as her hands took the clothing and pushed it as high as she could to clear her captain's shoulders.

"Thank you Amney. My exec will be dining with us tonight. What have you picked for our meal?" The captain said, as he tied the knot in the front of the robe.

The girl finally came to her senses. She had been looking at the equipment that set the captain apart from her. She had seen the Emperor's very large phallus. The one she just saw was much smaller but quite a bit larger than any male Tandra. For a second she shivered thinking what it would be like to experience pleasure from such an instrument. She said, "Sorry sir. My mind was elsewhere."

"That is fine cadet but you have to pay attention when a superior officer addresses you. I could have given you orders that could be very important. If you day-dream while being spoken to then you would be much like one of the children. One day you will have to grow up and take on adult responsibilities."

Captain Shingle looked at the small Tandra girl, and saw that she was about the size of a eight year old Human girl. It was difficult to remember that she was the equivalent of fourteen and a half Earth years old. The girl was very intelligent but still acted emotionally as if she were really an eight year old child. "I said that my exec was coming over for our meal. I wished to find out what was being prepared."

"Oh,... I did some research and decided to have a consommé followed by some boiled potatoes. A meat dish called a burger would be followed by some string beans." She waited to hear her captain compliment her but heard instead.

"The dishes do not complement. Let me show you." Charlie pictured the boiled potatoes and described the bland taste and consistency. Next he pictured the burger patty. This was fairly tasty but lacked accompaniment from other varieties of food. The beans were last. They, like the burger, needed other food to accompany them. He described the boiled potatoes with butter, gravy or sauce on them. The burger was shown in a sandwich or covered with gravy on a plate. He showed her other vegetables that she could utilize to make the meal more satisfying.

In the closed off section of his mind, he knew the Tandra were still getting used to Earth type foods. The consommé was fine, but again was mainly water when the body wanted more substance. He also knew that the girl did not do very much investigating in all her free time.

"I am sorry sir. I will consult some other Humans before recommending another meal."

"That is a good idea. You should also eat a bit of that food to see what it is like. If you do not try something then you will not learn."

Taylar was upset when she heard that Terra's Pride was leaving the space outside the system. She was even more worried about her youngest child going into a war zone with only a Human/Tandra crew. Ingrid was beside her when the news came in. The tall Human said, "Taylar, I see Amney as my child too. I want her safe with us, but I also want her to learn. It must be fairly safe if our husband is asking for them."

Taylar let slip all the times his family were together when they were either killed or almost so. Ingrid saw this and had no way of refuting it for it was all true. All she could say was, "Henry has changed since the last time somebody was hurt. Sometimes I am afraid of what he can do if he put his mind to it. He can work his way into an enemy computer without the use of anything other than his mind. I saw in Bassinda's mind how he casually took two planets and flung them together as if playing with children's toys. His ability to harness the energy from the other universe and propel a ship hundreds of times faster than even a dimensional tap can is something akin to godlike. He can do many other things but keeps them hidden from us. He thinks that we will fear him or treat him differently."

Taylar was shaking a bit and Ingrid put her arms around her sister/wife. Taylar hugged the woman back. Having Ingrid fulfill the duties of a metsu made Taylar feel very happy that she had joined this family. The duties of an Empress were sometimes too hectic to handle. Now she felt like she was falling apart because her daughter was going into possible danger.

Ingrid held the woman tightly to her and seemed to know most of what was bothering the woman. Their common husband was away most of the time and usually in danger. Her family was broken up with each member now doing an important job. Taylar had to organize the Thonas war when she was Empress and now had much less work to do. Finally, her youngest daughter was leaving and possibly going where so much danger was.

The natives of Defren had quieted down after reinstatement of the complete set of Tandra laws. They now, more than ever, were a part of the Empire rather than just an isolated system. There was a meeting in an hour and perhaps there was some time before that to bring Taylar around.

Ingrid steered Taylar into the other room where they would be more comfortable. When in position she undid the clasps on the Tandra woman's clothing and let it fall to the floor. Ingrid's soon followed before Taylar was even aware of what was happening.

Ingrid laid the smaller woman on the bed and kissed the woman's lips in a tender way with both her hands cradling her head.

Taylar weakly moved and said, "We don't have time."

"Hush."

Taylar did and was actually happy to have been ordered to do so. "Yes my Metsu."

Ingrid continued her duties to her family and Taylar was breathing in deep rapid breaths. The first orgasm made her flex her back and forced her pelvis far off the bed as a scream left her mouth. When she finally relaxed, she came to her senses and opened her eyes to her Metsu. She felt a little better and wanted to get up and return the favour but she was held in place instead. Her questing mind told her that Ingrid too was worked up and needed some relief.

Ingrid could see that Taylar was feeling a bit better but there was much more improvement possible. When Taylar tried to get up to please her Metsu, Ingrid said, "Get up my beautiful Suna. I want to mount you."

Taylar was now very happy. For some reason her people had never used a phallus. Now that she had experienced it, she did not want to be without it. For some reason if it was used by a Tandra on another Tandra it was not as erotic. When a Human used it though, it was many times more exciting. As soon as Ingrid's hands left her she scampered off the bed then crawled back on in the position that would be the most comfortable for her Metsu.

Ingrid gave her commands and the long device nicknamed 'Henry Jr.' fell into her hand. She activated the controls with her mind and a lubricant came out of each end and small holes in the side. It took only a few seconds to work it into her body and activate the band about her waist.

Looking down at her wife, she saw the child-like woman patiently awaiting whatever Ingrid wanted to do to her. The back cheeks had separated and it was easy to see the six angry red nubs around the anus and one much hanging down around her vagina. Ingrid knew that Taylar needed to be pleased by her male husband and the only way with him gone was to do this herself.

Ingrid moved closer and Taylar did not move or even look for she was in a servile position and would take whatever she was given. The phallus swayed from one side to another as she approached the beautiful and trusting Tandra woman. Her hands caressed the cheeks and Ingrid could not resist running the fingers of one hand up the woman's crease. Taylar moaned at the touch and strained to remain still. She was surprised when the dildo entered her. She thought lips and fingers would help her forget her problems.

"Think of our husband as he slides carefully into you. If you were not yet pregnant I would make you so now." After a groan from Taylar she said, "You belong to our family and to our husband. He will take you as I do now."

Ingrid did her best to imitate how her husband thrust into his wives. The pace and stroke alternated as he looked into his wife's mind to see how she felt. He always tried to give his best, except when he tortured them until the final orgasm was too much to take. This was what Ingrid strove to emulate.

She pounded Taylar's rear openings for forty minutes. The final time was too much for the Tandra woman. She collapsed unconscious on the bed. Ingrid pulled the device from her wife and shivered in the after-effects of her own orgasm. She threw the device into the air and it disappeared.

Ingrid bent over the small woman and picked her up in her arms. Taylar groaned and put an arm around her metsu. Ingrid walked into the cleanser and washed her suna. In a few moments, Taylar started to come around enough to help herself. Before she started though she reached up and pulled her metsu to her for a Human type kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too, Taylar. Our family has lots of love, and this is what makes us strong."

A few moments later they made it to the meeting. Most could see that Taylar as quite happy for some reason.

The information from the invader's ships was transmitted to the group of AIs for processing. There was enough information to show that a very advanced encryption mechanism was being used. The language was tentatively guessed at, but the AIs had no similar languages in their memories. The shape and construction of the ship were strange. The small probes came back with little snippets of information. The ship appeared to have an oxygen and argon environment. The gravitational pull was half again that of Earth. The internal structure could not be determined, but the broken ends of the ship showed a structure similar internally to the ceramic used by the Tandra.

I had finished with the preliminary examinations. Lazarus, the other AIs and I worked on some of the components. We figured that I could duplicate the weapons now and did so. The discharges were the same as what I saw through the link. I studied the individual rings again with a thought toward improvements I could make with the crystals. We made new units with my improved designs. It took a few more hours to get the weapons to work as they did before. I spent more hours 'tuning' the improved crystals to do as I expected. Three sets of crystals had to be removed because the focal length had increased so much. The design now was twenty percent greater range than our last model and used the same power as before. The effect of the weapon though was much more dramatic.

Taking the distance in the first attack as an baseline, we easily surpassed that mark by a factor of five using the same energy input level. The weapon could now accept nearly nine times the energy input of the original. I was happy to see that all these figures because we had access to much more power now. The range at full power had increased by a factor just shy of twenty-three times. The power used was at the borderline; any more would burn out the lenses. The crystalline pattern had to be individually altered based upon the purity of the crystals. It remained to be seen how effective they would be against the newcomer's shields.

The computer in each of the missiles was quite simple. A small processor seemed to have some control over the odd crystal that made the shield. The original units would still work better than our own missiles but again we knew nothing of the effect against our visitor's shields.

These weapons had to be tested though and there was only one way.