Chapter 4

His Majesty's deep recon ship, Whisper, was a state of the art, specialty constructed ship. It had a range that was unheard of for a ship of it's size. Although lightly armed and armored, it relied mostly on it's stealth capabilities. HMS Whisper had drawn the job of following the data trail that was taken from the captured alien ship.

One way they maintained the ability to remain undetected, was despite their advanced stealth capabilities, they always exited from hyper farther out from systems than was normal. This gave them a better than average chance to avoid being detected during breakout from hyper into normal space. To compensate for the extended distances they had to cover their ship had highly advanced space normal drives that were better than most drives in the known galaxy.

Captain Laura Bennington had been briefed on the alien's technology as it was understood. They had a fairly good idea of detection capabilities as well as other abilities. Captain Bennington was a very cautious person, and allowed for probable miscalculations in information, and in hyper breakout, so she always erred on the side of caution. This had stood her in good stead in the past.

HMS Whisper was doing a recon on the fourth system that had been identified as belonging to the aliens. So far nothing unexpected had come up. They were still going in system from their exit point, but long range passive sensors were detecting an anomaly. She didn't dare go to active sensors as there were enemy ships in system.

The wealth of information she already had was enough to keep naval intelligence busy for weeks. She had dropped a message drone during a brief stop as well as an update on her projected course prior to coming to this system. Everything she had was in that drone.

They had slowly been moving closer to the inhabited planet in this system when a drive node blew. It had been known to happen, rare an event though it was, but when it did, it damaged the ship, and notified even the blind that something or someone was in system. The reaction to this was almost instant.

Ships started to converge on the area of space that was now occupied visually by an Imperial recon ship. Try though she might, Captain Bennington was unable to get away. Despite the best efforts of her engineers, the damaged drive node gave away their position. Even after being taken off line, they were unable to control electronic leakage. It was as if they were sitting in space with a big target saying, "HERE I AM, SHOOT ME."

She fought her ship hard, taking two enemy ships with her, but finally came the time when she could fight no more. With her hull breached in hundreds of locations, and most of her crew dead, Captain Laura Bennington managed to get one burst transmission off with the FTL ( FTL is Faster Than Light) communications gear before it too was taken out of action. HMS Whisper, Captain Bennington, and over 600 men and woman ceased to exist as the Whisper performed it's final command and blew itself and all ships close to it to their component atoms.

[Once more, Richard. Unless you practice constantly, you will not become proficient in the mind disciplines.] The symbiot said silently in the emperor's mind.

<Right. I understand. But you have to give me a little slack now and then. I do have an empire to run you know> Richard replied just as silently.

[Richard. Where I am from, most people were much stronger than you are now, and all practiced on a daily basis. Mind discipline was the most important of the disciplines.]

<You know, you never did tell me where you were from. I mean, I know you were ejected from a ship, and landed on that planet I came across you, but you never really did tell me everything. You still come up with technical information on a who knows basis! I mean by that, that out of the blue, you decide to share a bit of tech with me. I am not complaining, but really, can't you at least tell me your home system? Who created you? How long will you live? You always side step these questions, reminding me you saved my life when my life boat crashed over three hundred years ago during the break up of the Terran Federation.> The emperor replied.

[You and your race are not ready yet for information on who and what created me. Suffice it to say, that as long as I am your symbiot, you will live as long as I will, and my life expectancy is very very long.] The symbiot replied a bit smugly.

<Ok, lets do this again.> The emperor said with a mental sigh.

[Very good. Now, when you are outside your body, you use energy. To extend your time out of body, and to provide yourself with energy, or food, you must concentrate and you will notice 'BANDS' of energy. Lightly touch on these bands. Some will repel you, others you will be able to use as food, or energy. To use a food band, just touch it, and will the energy into you. You just soak it up like a sponge.]

Admiral Elias Sethton was planning probable fighting scenarios when the FTL flash message came through. It was the death message of HMS Whisper. Communications decoded it and decompressed it. It was then passed to the duty officer who reviewed it, then passed it to the captain. After the captain watched it, she notified the admiral who then watched it in turn.