Chapter 45

"Katiro, we have an emergency developing," Melinda announced. I sat bolt upright in bed.

"What is it?"

"I have twelve Qinta class cruisers entering the atmosphere."

"Qinta class? I'm not familiar with that class," I frowned.

"That's not surprising. Ja'a-llia is the only person that has survived an engagement with them. She destroyed several of them at the Battle of Sacara. They are bad news," the computer informed me.

"Have everyone meet me in the living room immediately."

Moments later I entered the living room, already filled with sleepy girls.

"Where's Amy and Cindi?" I asked.

"Not here yet. I knocked on their doors and told them to hurry," Katie yawned.

"We'll fill them in when they get here. What do we have, Melinda?"

"Seven minutes ago, twelve Qinta class cruisers entered Earth's atmosphere." I noticed Jessica's eyes open wide in astonishment, then anger.

"That bitch!" she whispered. Everyone looked at her in astonishment. Katie stopped yawning.

"Tell us about those ships, Mel," I ordered.

"They're heavily armored, carry nuclear weapons for both defense and bombardment, and have large area energy bombardment weapons we know little about. They also have some high-powered offensive laser-type energy weapons that we know even less about. Each ship carries up to 1000 soldiers. Preliminary scans show they have a full contingent on board. They are a bigger threat than the Qhora class."

"Qhora class?"

"The class of the Empress' flag ship, the Khora."

"This sounds like an invasion," I observed.

"That is the normal duty of the Qinta class," Melinda agreed.

"Jessica, can you take these out?" I held my breath as I waited for her answer.

"I doubt I can take out twelve of them. They have a shielding system that makes them difficult to take out even for Leto-Paradeasal waves. I might be able to handle four or five before they land. I would eventually get them all, but they could do a lot of damage in the meantime. When I took them out at the Battle of Sacara, time wasn't an issue like it is here."

"What are we going to do?" I asked. There was a moment of silence, then a flash of light.

A beautiful woman appeared in the middle of the room.

"Hi Katiro!" she said brightly.

"Amanda! I thought..."

"If you're seeing this message, it's because an invasion of Earth is in process." I realized we were watching a recording of some type. "I figured the Empress would try this at some point. She likely has sent a dozen or so Qinta class cruisers with a full compliment of solders. These ships are very nasty. Ja'a-llia could probably take them out, but she's dead and her weapon died with her.

"I planned for this. Me'li-llia, there's a program in your hidden buffer file, in bin 292, 11, 29, 45, 73. You can now access it."

"What does it do?" Becky asked.

Amanda smiled.

"I would imagine at this point someone is asking what that program will do. It's the control program for weapons I've installed at various locations around the country. I located them where my calculations said the Empress will strike. They have an extremely long range, so it doesn't matter if I was off on the locations."

"Accessing ... Accessing ... Program is validated ... Processing ... Activating program now," Melinda and Melissa said together.

A large holographic image appeared in the room. There were twelve different sub-images, each showing an undisturbed section of ground. As we watched, large doors opened in the ground and twelve large weapons raised up out of the earth. Each one pointed in a different direction.

"What are those weapons?" I asked.

"I would imagine at this point someone is asking what those weapons are. They are essentially the same as the large laser arrays on the front of the Qinta class cruisers, known as Chorantella laser particle cannons. However, these fire Tachyon-Roton-Tetraquark composite particles, enhanced by a quantum based derivative of the Leto-Paradeasal wave. They can't be controlled by humans, nor will humans survive an attempt to control them. They are controllable only by Cornazan twin-based computer systems. The Qerda would never expect us to use an actual physical weapon against them; all their defenses are geared towards our colors. I would assume you know what to do from here on, Me'li-llia. You don't need me anymore."

"Wait! What do we do?" I asked.

Amanda laughed, a delightful sound.

"I suppose Katiro just asked what the rest of you could do. That's simple. Watch the birdie!" She smiled at Lori. "If this doesn't work ... well, I guess I could always just destroy the whole galaxy and start all over again." Her smile was directed at Julie this time. "I love you, Patrick. Oh ... you wanted to know what you could do? After this is over, I'd start looking for Amy and Cindi if I were you. Bye!"

Amanda disappeared.

"Melinda?"

"Target one locked on ... power ramping up..." Victoria, Jessica and Sarah glowed brightly. "Firing weapon number one!" Melinda and Melissa said together.

Weapon number one turned incandescent white. Seconds later, two brilliant rainbow colored beams shot out, with a silver-gold beam nestled between them. The other 11 images disappeared, the remaining image split in two, and we watched as the triple beam shot into the sky.

Less than a second later, the huge Qinta class cruiser in the other half of the screen exploded in a ball of flame. The image disappeared for a moment in a brilliant glare. A few seconds later, flaming debris was falling everywhere over central Nebraska.

There was a black hole in the sky. It took me a second to realize we were seeing a hole in the atmosphere, open all the way to space. The weapon fired again, a diffuse triple beam of the same colors and the hole closed and disappeared.

"Weapon number two powering up," Melissa announced...

Cindi was suddenly awake. She lay in bed, trying to figure out what was wrong. Katie had knocked on her door, telling her to come into the living room immediately, but that wasn't it. There was a little sore spot on her neck; it felt as if an insect had bitten her. She started to raise her hand to feel what was there when a hand covered her mouth and a gun pressed against her temple.

"Don't make a sound. Move and you die," a voice whispered in her ear.

Cindi started to react; to her surprise, the hand that held her stopped her easily.

"The prick you felt on your neck was a Neutralizer patch and an Absorber patch. Do exactly what I tell you and you might live."

Cindi was scared, her mouth dry. She knew what those patches were. She knew she didn't have long to live, one way or another.

"What are you going to do to me?" she asked, her voice breaking slightly.

"Nothing if you behave. We're going to your sister's room to convince her to come with us. Do what we say and you'll live."

'Who cares, if I don't have my powers? God, Amy, I'm sorry ... I failed you.' The blond girl tried to hold back the tears as she felt her powers ebbing away.

The knock on the door had awakened Amy. She was stretching, preparing to get out of bed when the door opened and two men walked in. Her hand just reached her gun when a third man pushed a crying Cindi into the room. He held a gun to the blonde's head.

"Pick up that gun, make a sound, do anything at all except what we tell you to do and I will splatter your sister's brains all over the wall."

"I'm sorry, Amy!" Cindi sobbed. "They ... they took my powers, my colors away!" Her eyes were lifeless and terrified. One of the men attached a small patch to Amy's neck.

"What did you do to her? What did you just do to me?" she asked. Anyone looking into her eyes would've known she already knew the answer.

"Shut up and do as you're told. Get up," he ordered. Amy stayed where she was.

"Move or I kill your sister!" he snarled.

"Go ahead. Shoot her," Amy said. Cindi's eyes flew open in fear.

"Amy?" she whispered.

"I mean it! Get up, now!" the man demanded.

"Go ahead and shoot her. Do you need help pulling the trigger? I'll help you," Amy said.

The man looked confused, then his expression went blank.

"What's your game? You wouldn't let your own sister die."

"Where is the man that led the last mission to take us? He was supposed to lead this one to take me. He's the only one I trust, the only one I'll go with."

"That's too bad; he's not here."

"That's unfortunate. That omission will be the worst mistake in your life; it will end up killing you," Amy said in a quiet, deadly voice.

"That'll be difficult, considering the patch I put on your neck."

"That's ok; I'll wait. Eventually the Empress will have to take it off. When that happens, my sole goal in life will be to find you and kill you." Amy's lips formed into a cold smile.

"You have no room to make threats, little girl," the universe's stupidest man said. He didn't realize the significance when Amy's eyes narrowed.

"On the contrary, dickhead. I hold all the cards here. You'll do exactly as I say or the Empress will cut your balls off and shove them down your throat. Then she'll start causing you some real pain."

"Oh? How do you hold all the cards?" the man sneered.

"It's easy; even a moron like you can understand it." She ignored his angry expression. "The Empress sent you to bring me back. I'm sure she made it clear I was to be delivered alive and unhurt, right?"

"Well ... alive, anyway," he said, leering at her body in the pretty nightgown she was wearing.

"Then this is the way this will go. You will remove the Absorber patch from my sister's neck, after returning all the powers and colors that it has absorbed into her body. I understand the Neutralizer patches have to remain, but I go nowhere until her Absorber patch is removed and she is fully restored."

"Why would I do that? I can kill your sister, then proceed to kill everyone in the house until you come with me. Even easier, I simply knock you out and leave the house with you."

Amy rolled her eyes in amazement.

"They sent a jackass like you to bring me in? What's your IQ, idiot? I bet if you had three IQ points more you'd be a plant," Amy replied contemptuously.

"Have your fun, little girl, but I can still do what I said," he said tersely. His eyes were mean and hard.

"Sure you can ... if you want to die."

He hesitated a moment. "Explain... bitch," he ordered.

"That's right, asshole, I am a bitch. Listen and learn. Shoot her, then you have to get another of my sisters to force me to come with you. Do you have any idea who we are? Have you ever faced us in combat before? I think not. What do you suppose the chances are that you can grab another of us by surprise? Without your precious Neutralizer patches applied while we're asleep, any girl in this house can take you and your whole ship without a scratch. If you want to take that chance, I can scream right now and bring them running. Shall I?"

"I ... I can still knock you out," he said uneasily.

"Yes, and that would be worse. The Empress ordered you to pick me up so she could use me. That requires my cooperation. If you don't do exactly as I say, I will refuse to cooperate with her. I'll tell her I refuse because you didn't do as I asked. She'll be really impressed when I tell her that all I asked was to have my sister's Absorber patch removed ... a patch that there was no reason for you to apply anyway, except you're a sadistic moron."

There was a look of uncertainty in his eyes.

"It gets worse, dickhead. It's not just my sister you have, but my twin. You know what happens when you suck the powers and colors out of a Cornazan twin? You remove their will to live. She'll die. Do you know what happens to me when my twin dies? I lose the will to live. I self-terminate. That's going to make it a little difficult for the Empress to secure my cooperation when I'm dead. I'm one of a kind; if I self-terminate, there's no one else she can get to do what I can do for her. I think you'll become her most favorite person in the world ... at least to torture. I think she'll keep you around for a long time for that."

Amy smiled at him.

"Now, shall we start over? Why don't you remove the Absorber patch from my sister, after you replace the colors it has absorbed. You really don't want to take the risk that I won't ask again."

"Replace her powers," the man growled to his companion. "Remove the patch." He shot a look at Amy that would have fried her instantly if his looks could kill.

Amy watched her sister's eyes come to life again as the patch was removed. Cindi ignored the gun at her head and flew into her twin's arms, crying and kissing her as she thanked her. Amy smiled and calmed the distraught blond.

"How did you get in here without anyone detecting you?" Amy asked.

"Oh, you mean your precious computer system? We used a mode of transportation she hasn't seen before. I'm afraid she's a little busy right now, so there's almost no chance she saw the tiny energy signature it generates. Write a note to your Dad. Tell him you and your sister went to a friends house to spend the night. Hurry up; we need to go."

Amy quickly wrote the note, leaving it on the bed. The three men surrounded the two girls and they all disappeared.

"Our cruisers are taking fire, sir!" the Communications Officer reported.

"This should be interesting," the Commander murmured. He knew there was little if anything in the galaxy that could seriously damage those cruisers. Even Loi-llia would be hard pressed to take them out. The only person that had ever destroyed any Qinta class cruisers was long dead.

"Cruiser number one just exploded, sir! It's been destroyed!" the Communications Officer said, the shock apparent in his voice.

The silence on the bridge was total for about two seconds.

"What?" the Commander barked. "Radar..."

"Confirmed," the Radar Officer said quietly. "There is no sign of survivors, sir."

"I have no rescue beacon, no distress signal. The destruction was complete and total," the Communications Officer reported.

Silence reigned again.

"Empress to the bridge immediately!" the Commander announced over the intercom.

Moments later, the Empress entered the bridge.

"What do you have, Commander?" she asked.

"Our cruisers are being engaged, Your Highness," he reported.

"We expected that." She noticed the somber mood on the bridge. "Report!" she barked.

"One of them has been destroyed," he said. It was a token of his shock that he didn't address her with the customary formality.

"Two, sir," the Radar Officer corrected.

"Impossible! How?" she asked. The Commander looked at the Science Officer.

"Unknown, sir. Preliminary scans indicate it is a weapon derived from our Chorantella laser particle cannon. However, there is a brief period of high exotic subatomic radiation readings just before the ship explodes. The radiation disappears when the cannon fires a second time where the target was."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know, sir!" the Science Officer said in exasperation. "There is no report of this type of weapon in all our military records. Neither the Cornazans or the Humans have ever shown anything remotely like this. As far as we know, they aren't even familiar with the Chorantella laser particle cannon."

"We know the Cornazans use color-based attacks. Is this a new form of those attacks?"

"No, sir. These come from physical weapons on the ground."

"Commander, order our ships to attack those weapons," the Empress commanded.

"Fire weapon number three!" Melinda ordered.

"They're changing course. They're assuming an attack formation against the weapons," Melissa announced.

"Powering up weapon number four," Melinda said.

We saw the huge ship turn towards the weapon on the screen. The whole front of the ship disappeared in a blinding light. The weapon on the ground exploded, leaving a huge hole in the ground.

"No! God damn it, NO!" Julie screamed.

"Julie..."

"I said no! I told you I wouldn't let anyone else die. I won't let this happen." Her voice fell to a whisper. "I meant what I said, Patrick. I won't let another loved one of mine die. I told you, I can and I will stop it. God help me, Patrick, I will stop it." She held out her hands to Victoria and Jessica. They clasped hands, with Sarah holding Jessica's hand.

"Give it all to me, girls," Julie said. In her anger, her panic was gone as quickly as it appeared. She seemed to be concentrating. The look on her face was one of resignation, but also contentment. She was doing what she was made to do, what she was supposed to do. The four girls glowed brilliantly.

"Melinda, show me the scene of the next weapon they'll attack," she whispered. The scene changed instantly.

"Shall I fire, My Lady?" Melinda asked, her voice filled with awe.

"There's no need now. It'll all be over in a moment, one way or another. In the next few minutes, I either win or I lose ... and I don't lose." She gave me a sad smile.

We watched the huge ship turn and approach the weapon on the ground. This time, we were paying attention enough to see the nose start to glow.

"If I'm going to fire, it needs to be now," Melinda said.

"Don't fire. Ramp up the power, but don't fire."

"Power is at maximum."

Lisa and Lori held hands.

"Watch and see..."

" ... shock and awe," they whispered together. The two little girls glowed a pretty color, blue and pink combined. They watched the dark-haired scribe, a look of adoration on their little faces.

"You go, 'Mom'," Lori added.

The nose of the ship disappeared in a blinding flash of light. A huge, bright red beam shot down to the weapon below ... except it didn't hit the weapon. A multicolored shield surrounded the weapon. The beam from the ship struck the shield and shimmered for a moment.

"Watch the birdie," Julie whispered.

A brilliant beam of rainbow colored light, interspersed with gold and silver, streaked up into the sky at an unbelievable speed along the same path the ship's beam traveled. The huge ship disappeared in a ball of fire, then a tremendous explosion filled the sky. When the ball of fire disappeared, the ship was gone.

"Bye-bye," Julie whispered sadly.

"Another ship exploded, sir! It looked like they turned our own weapons against us!" the Weapons Officer shouted.

The Empress' face blanched as painful memories flashed through her mind of the last battle she'd been involved in where this had happened.

"Get those ships out of there, Commander. Recall them now!" she ordered.

"We have an unknown energy source powering up quickly, sir!" the Science Officer said urgently.

"Can you ID it?"

"No, sir. The radiation level is off the screen. We have tachyons, rotons, tetraquarks, and a whole bunch of signatures I've never seen before. I would suggest we go to maximum shields, sir!"

"Lieutenant, we're light-years away from where those ships are. I doubt anything is going to happen to us this far away."

"You're not looking at my screen, sir. I strongly suggest..."

"Priority override engaged! Defensive condition four activated! Emergency condition class four! Armor cladding engaged, maximum strength! Shields activated, maximum strength! Prepare to engage star drive! All decks, activate Massive Casualty Protocol! Medical, prepare for massive trauma! All power cells, on line, maximum power! All back-up power generators activated, maximum power! All weapons energized, maximum power!" the computer ordered.

The Commander looked surprised; he hadn't given those orders. Then he remembered; this was the Massive Damage Protocol installed at their recent repairs and upgrades. The computer was programmed to initiate the protocol in cases where Qerda decisions might come too slowly.

"Uh-oh," he muttered.

"The cruisers are leaving," Melinda announced.

"Oh, no you don't," Julie murmured. "You do not come down here, attack my planet, then just fucking leave when you don't like the way things are going. You're not getting away that easily," she swore.

Julie unclasped the other girls' hands, closed her eyes, and concentrated. She gave a nonchalant backhanded flick of her hand. There was a brilliant flash of white light and the holographic screen went blank for a second. When it cleared, we could see the ground, the weapons, the sky, but there were no ships to be seen.

"Mel ... where'd they go?" I asked. "Talk to me."

"They're gone. You'll have to ask Julie where they went. I'm not picking them up anywhere."

"Julie? Where'd you send them?" I asked. Julie smiled.

"Somewhere," she murmured.

"Somewhere? Where's somewhere?"

She didn't appear to hear me.

"Somewhere ... and somewhen. You can stop watching the birdie now ... it went bye-bye. Bye-bye bir-die, what you got-ta go for?" she sang to herself. Jessica, Sarah and Victoria caught her as she fainted.

"Alert! Location anomaly detected! Alert! Distance anomaly detected! Alert! Time anomaly detected!" the computer intoned.

"Computer, what's the location of those anomalies?" the commander asked as his hand hovered over the emergency star drive activation switch.

"Sector 4, location 143, 129, 45."

"Earth! That's the location of the cruisers. Lieutenant..."

"They're gone!" the Radar Officer reported.

"Gone? Where?" the Empress asked.

"Unknown, Your Majesty. I have no trace of them anywhere, nor do I have any signs of debris."

"We have no communications with the cruisers, sir."

"Computer, where are the eight Qinta class cruisers that were previously on our radar screens?" the Commander asked.

"Unknown. There is no trace of them anywhere in this galaxy."

"They can't just disappear!" the Empress exclaimed.

"Apparently ... they can," the Old Chief murmured.

Victoria, Jessica and Sarah lowered Julie to the ground. I joined them, slipping her head onto my lap. Megan held her daughter's hand as I kissed the unconscious girl, whispering in her ear. Her eyes opened in a few seconds; they were clear and bright.

"I can faint more often if this is how I get to wake up," she whispered.

"Are you alright?" I whispered back.

"I'm fine, Patrick ... why wouldn't I be?"

"Do you remember anything that just happened?"

"Of course ... I remember it all. Why wouldn't I? I did it."

"Julie, where did you send those ships?"

"I don't know, exactly. I've never been there before, never seen it before," she answered.

"How did you know where to send them, then?"

"I could tell you that, but then ... I'd have to kill you." And then she giggled.

"I'm going to smack you," I threatened good-naturedly. "Melinda can't find them. They're not in this galaxy."

"I don't know about that. They might be in this galaxy. Melinda's just not looking for them in the right way," Julie said.

"Fine. You tell the irascible computer she's not doing something right."

Julie's eyes opened wide.

"No, I don't think I'll do that," she said in mock horror. "She's ... unlikely to take that well coming from me. Relax, Patrick. You'll see those ships again ... someday ... sometime." Her eyes assumed a blank expression.

When a little time is past, and 'The White One' and 'The Little One' are dead

when Amma is so angry she sees only red

when the Special One does as she said

into 'then' shall the ships be led.

Enemies they will then not be

'special ones' they shall help set free

fire they shall reign down from the sky

they shall help the Special One make a planet die.

The fabric of time they shall shatter and rend

To the Special One they shall be called a friend

Together 'enemies' the Evil One's reign they shall end

Back to hell together the Evil One they will send.

Can it be, enemies together as friends again?

Can they, together, put an end to sin?

Can they be as close together as kin?

Can they, together, destroy a world called Katala-Brin?

How close can two enemies be?

For the sake of the Ancients, can their anger be set free?

Is it forever, or can a change be made in a family tree?

Even so, the universe and the Special One shall indeed see.

Whatever happens, it shall forever last

The difficult part will be to forget the past

Into the Lake of Fire all their pain must be cast

Gone will be the painful past, and yet again will another, from before yet better, be

made fast.

Julie's eyes cleared, losing their pink color. She lay back in my lap, smiling softly at me.

"That's quite a bit different from the previous prophecies, dear. I thought I wouldn't die," I pointed out as I kissed her forehead.

Julie smiled a sad little smile and kissed me back.

"Don't worry about it, Daddy. That prophecy doesn't pertain to this time. It has nothing to do with the war that is happening now." She hugged me tightly. "Different time, different place," she murmured.

Great; and here I thought we'd have peace and calm after the war was over. I suddenly remembered something Amanda's image had said.

"Katie, Becky, find Amy and Cindi and get their butts in here," I ordered. The two cute blonds came to attention, snapping a smart salute in my direction.

"Yes, sir!" they chorused together.

"Can it and move," I growled. They giggled as they ran out the door. God, I loved those two!

"Hold me tight, Daddy ... please?" Julie whimpered. I didn't like the sad, scared look on Julie and Megan's face as they clung to me.

The three men led Amy and Cindi, their hands now secured behind their backs, to chairs in the middle of the Neutralizer room on the ship. They forced the girls to sit, then strapped them securely to the chairs.

"Ok, bitch, let's see how brave and sarcastic you are now," he sneered as he began to cut away Amy's nightgown. One of the other men did the same to Cindi.

Cindi and Amy looked at each other, their eyes wide in panic. Amy tried desperately to reign in her terror. 'This was not the way this was supposed to happen!' the two girls thought to themselves. Tears ran down their cheeks as they tried to keep from sobbing.

"No! Please, no," Amy whimpered as she felt the cold air on her naked body.

"Please, take me, don't hurt my sister! I'll do anything you want!" Cindi begged.

"Oh, I'm going to take you alright, little girl, and you will indeed do anything I want ... after you watch what I do to your sister," he chuckled evilly. "What? Not so tough now, little girl?" he asked Amy as he ran his hands slowly up her nude body.

Amy didn't answer; she just cried, her sobs a heartbreaking sound in the quiet room. Then she glared at him, hatred in her eyes as her defiance returned.

"I will kill you for this," she whispered. Despite his tough exterior, the man shivered inside at the calm, deadly assurance of her threat.

"I doubt that, little girl. You've enjoyed your last day of freedom, the last free act you'll ever make. When I'm done with you, you'll gladly do anything we tell you to do, and enjoy it." He held the back of her head as he kissed her, forcing his tongue into her mouth. He was surprisingly gentle as he caressed her hair. Amy twisted her head away, the look of disgust plain on her face.

"You'll beg me to hold you and kiss you," he chuckled.

"That'll never happen!" Amy snarled.

"We'll see, little girl," he said as he kissed her again. Amy fought away from him even harder.

"Stop it! Leave her alone!" Cindi screamed. Amy started to cry again, tears of rage at her helplessness to prevent what she knew was about to happen to her.

"Amy and Cindi are gone," Katie reported when the twins returned. "She left a note, saying they were spending the night at Rebecca's house."

"Do you believe that?" I asked.

"No," they whispered together. "They'd never leave without telling someone." They looked confused as Katie handed me the note. "It is Amy's handwriting, though."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

I showed the note to everyone in the room.

"See anything odd about this note?" I asked. Megan snorted; she caught it first.

"If Amy wrote that note legitimately, you're in big trouble. I can only remember a time or two she called you Father, and none of them were pretty."