Chapter 9

Wren smiled when she saw her brother’s ship in front of them as they were exiting Hyper - space.

“How long before we can fire?” Shwe asked of the ship’d A.I.

“No longer than a half hour,” her A.I. Trigon said.

“Stay out of sight and sensor range,” Wren said.

“What? You’re not going to take his ass and find out all you can,” her father’s voice replaced Trigon’s.

Wren scoffed as she checked the readings from her brother’s ship. “Really, father, I’d rather blow his ass out of the sky than get anywhere near him.”

“So, are you any closer to breaking the fourth code?” The voice asked.

“No,” Wren let out a frustrated sigh. “I thought I had a handle on it only to discover, I was way off.”

“I have to go, Wren, OK, consider it ok? As I taught you, death isn’t always the answer, though ninety-eight percent of the time it is.”

A smile came to Wren’s face, it had been quite some time since she’d heard her father’s voice. After the revelation that her father was still alive, she was more than ready to shoot Thomas’s traitorious ass.

“What are you getting from his ship, Trigon,” Wren asked.

“It appears that they almost have their main engines repaired. At present their long range sensors are offline. This I feel won’t last for long, they have several crews attempting to repair everything,” Trigon said.

“Good, continue to monitor them to see if there is anything to delay them more without them discovering us.” Wren said.

Empress Esmeralda was pacing the deck, waiting for her lead scientist to finish readying the launchers. The problem was that the Empress was not known for her patience.

A smile came to her face as she backhanded a crewman that drew too close to her. Her smile grew even larger as she heard the satisfying crack when the man’s neck broke when he hit the bulkhead.

Esmeralda almost laughed as she watched the dying body as it started to twitch and convulse. Ah, she thought, that always seemed to cheer her up.

In a far better mood now, she watched the final missiles being loaded.

“How much longer? I am so ready to rid the universe of these pitiful asses,” Esmeralda said.

“I’d say an hour at the most. The payloads on them are highly unstable. This many could vaporize an entire solar system,” the lead scientist said.

“Um,” Esmeralda started, “we have waited this long, besides slow satisfaction is quite appealing right now.”

An hour later, Esmeralda received a call informing her that all was ready.

“Open a channel to the fleet,” she said.

“Channel open Empress,” a tech replied.

“To the fleet, all of you have been equipped with a new missile. This should help us to rid the universe of a parasite that lives on Ceti-5. With my blessing, fire destroy them and bring glory to the greatest Empire the galaxy has ever known.”

A very broad smile crossed her features as hundreds of missiles were launched. Her smile grew more as a second wave was launched a minute later, then a third.

Esmeralda was almost giddy about the coming destruction. She was almost dancing and twirling when the missiles phased out right before the multi-layered shielding.

Flugret looked at the other masters, then they all nodded as he started to flip several switches. Three things started to happen. First the missiles were tracked, their plots fed into a huge computer. As they came back in phase beyond the shields, a portal opened, making the missiles vanish a second time.

Flugret sighed as he started to adjust by inputting the coordinates for the Imperial fleet.

Esmeralda was actually starting to laugh. No longer would she have to fear the masters.

Her laughter and smile started to fade as several alarms started to go off. Then, to her horror, multiple portals opened in front of the fleet. Rabid panic started to run through the fleet, then the screams started.

A few of the front ships were able to raise shields, though most of those in front weren’t that lucky. Over ninety percent of the front line started to explode as the missiles decimated them. The second line lost forty percent, those past that were able to raise shields.

Esmeralda growled as she looked at the destruction, her once proud fleet more than half now floating wreckage.

“I want a casualty report, how many ships we lost. Found out if any of the missiles made it through.” Esmeralda said, though not really caring about those that were killed.

“Reports coming in,” a tech answered her. “Apparently we only lost forty percent. The front line was the only section where almost all were destroyed.”

The tech shrunk back when the Empress didn’t say a thing, though he could see her knuckles white. He also noticed that her grip on the bar before her was starting to bend it.

Esmeralda took a deep breath as she started to answer. She then shook her head in disbelief. She had calmed herself? True, the tech’s answer had not really upset her, she still could feel her anger growing.

“Good “ she gritted out. “We still have a good destructive force. Get me my lead scientist, now!”

The tech wasted no time contacting and putting the scientist on.

“Yes Empress?” The man started, then snapped his mouth shut when he saw the Empress’s tight-lipped visage.

As calm as she could, another thing that scared all present, she asked. “How in the hell were they able to evade our surprise attack? I suggest” here she looked right in the scientist’s eyes, “you consider what your answer is.”

“Yes Empress.” The man started. “It appears that the technology we just developed, the Cetians have had for some time. Though not impossible, we are having a bit of trouble analysing it. We should have an answer soon, we are also reverse engineering it.”

Esmeralda’s eyes were wide, so she actually had a subject with brains. “Can you tell just how far they are ahead of us?” She asked, not that sure she’d really like the answer.

“It appears that they are several hundred years ahead of us. Though, I find it hard to believe that they made no effort to hide this from us. I believe that they may have more that are more advanced than this.” The scientist calmly replied.

Esmeralda’s eyes were wide again as she nodded. “Any advantage we can gain is help sweeping the trash of Ceti-5 away.”

On the planet, Flugret was monitoring the communications of the Empress and her lead scientist. A look back at the rest of the masters, he saw them shaking their heads.

“One would think that as smart as they are, that they would consign themselves to the fact that they can’t win,” Flugret said.

The first master looked at the readings then shook his head. “As I have seen over many hundred year revolutions, the humanoid race does not surrender easily.”

“Even when the odds are so vastly against them?” The second master asked.

“I am afraid, it is one of their endearing, strong characteristics. I am also afraid that at times, it can also be one of their strongest failings. We must remember, they became an extremely strong empire, far faster than any other.” The first master said.

“Yes,” the second master said, “it was the deciding factor that swayed us to ally with them.”

The rest of the masters nodded ‘til the first master spoke again. “Yes, that was with the Emperor, a very wise and just humanoid. It is extremely rare to find one such as him as young of a race as humans are.” A sudden thought occurred to the first master. “I have always wondered why Wren and the others never went after him. Perhaps that is what has prompted our Wren to pursue her brother.”

One of the other younger masters suddenly broke in, “First master? When we were connected with our mind slivers, mine told me that they didn’t know he was still alive. Apparently, it was a shock to our Wren. I believe that was Wren declared that she was going to make sure he paid with his life.”

Flugret looked away from the readouts, “First master, you don’t think she will try to use her new abilities?”

Here the first master looked intensely at Flugret, he then passed his hand through his head for a moment. He removed it then looked at the others.

“From all that Flugret has seen of her, there is a good possibility. It is hoped that all you taught her, will help to disway her from that decision.” The first master said.

“If only we could make sure,” Flugret said, then his eyes opened wide. “Master, do you think that we also might be able to do as our Wren did? Use the Phasic energy to contact her as she did us?”

The other masters looked at Flugret as if he had lost his mind. All that is except for the First master.

“It is very possible, we need to deploy a shield exactly like our Wrens. Open a path to the radiation field, direct to the shield for a mere minute.” The First master said.

Flugret’s hands were flying over the controls, a mere few seconds later they were drawing in the Phasic radiation.

A minute later, all the masters started to glow, then Flugret closed the path. “I am afraid this won’t last too long, we need to be quick.”

The rest of the masters nodded as they started to concentrate.

Wren was about to move in to attack her brother’s ship when a glowing light appeared before her. What in the hell was she thinking? Then she was even more surprised when all the masters appeared before her. OK, this was starting to irritate her a bit.

The First master and Flugret bowed to her. “We don’t have much time,” the First master started. Wren nodded, then touched the glowing area. All the masters gasped as the area stabilized. “We had to warn you, do not use the new abilities that you have gained. Please do not regress to their level of barbarism. Plus,’til you are trained more, it might kill you.”

Wren’s eyes opened wide at these last words. She then looked on in shock as first one, then a second master, fell to the floor. An even bigger shock came when she could actually see Phasic energy starting to overwhelm two masters.