55_An Ancient Power Revealed

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55_An Ancient Power Revealed

Post by Diaho »

An Ancient Power Revealed






“Illusion, Orion here awaiting your orders mistress.”


Lafiel stood just in front of the center seat looking over my shoulder at the newly activated display. The data being displayed, while in a foreign language, was still discernable to us. We had finished what Discovery had inadvertently started, the complete activation of this ship, a ship which seems completely automated and autonomous. A secondary display has activated at Kenesh’s station it is showing the precise location of the other two ships. When Orion encountered Discovery, thinking it was this ship, it took Discovery in tow for the purpose of activating the other two ships as well as itself. Somewhere in the equation, Orion figured out Dai’s ships wasn’t this one and was about to release it when Dai cut power. Partially regenerated, it continued on its original course to intercept the other two ships. Lafiel had a decision to make, to retrieve the other two ships and leave Defiance and Discovery on their own, or to escort them back to Shahrazad then come back here after those ships. In my mind the choice was simple, we’d come this far why not finish what we started, but then again I’m not Lafiel.

“Kenesh plot a course to intercept the other two ships, Scholar are we still linked with Defiance?”

“We are, Defiance reports they are fully operational once again however there seems to be a problem with Discovery I’ll put the report on audio for you.”

“It would seem we weren’t as stealthy as we should have been. Discovery had a small energy leak that wasn’t discovered until after we arrived. It is my opinion that we probably left enough of a trail to be followed if those we left behind decided to.”

“KO time to intercept the other two ships and estimate a time for those we left behind to find Defiance and Discovery?”

“Lafiel the ship has already calculated the time required to intercept and reenergize the other two ships estimated at a little over ten hours, taking the best speed we saw from the ships we encountered and doubling it, if they were to leave that system right now, it would take them fifteen hours to the system where our ships are. I suggest Defiance moves deeper into the disturbance and leave a probe at their present location. If they are being followed it’ll give them some time to respond.”

Lafiel examined the data and was about to contact Defiance when Scholar chimed in.

“I have an incoming message from Defiance putting it on speaker.”

“After careful review we’re taking the following actions. There is an area within this disturbance which will offer us a defensive advantage. I’m moving us to that position now, the co ordinates will follow. I’m also leaving a proximity probe at our current location. If someone comes nosing about, we’ll have sufficient warning. Lafiel we’ll be okay, you continue on your way and good luck.”

*********
Zachary had been sleeping for maybe an hour but not much longer when Targa’s communication brought him to consciousness. Raising the light in the room he moved to the console it was then he noticed the link bore an emergency code and opened it.

“Zachary thank goodness your awake, you’re the one with problems not I. I have all the information you requested and first thing I’d recommend is that you exit that ship as soon as possible. I’ll have the Abh get you, but you need off that ship now.”

Still half awake Zachary was slow on the uptake and Targa could see that, he made the plea in a more direct fashion.

“Zachary those you are with I believe were sent to kill the former empress, you, and the government of Shahrazad in an attempt to secure their technology, Zachary you must get off that ship. I’ve informed Admiral Bebaus there should be a shuttle docked at the airlock down the corridor from your cabin, now get off Mr. President.”

Zachary grabbed the case of important papers, slipped on his shoes and opened the cabin door. Peering out, the corridor looked clear. He exited the room and headed for the airlock, about three meters from the door several security officers started to approach him weapons drawn. Punching the airlock override he exited the ship and entered the shuttle as a hail of fire bounced off the door. The shuttle disconnected and made its way to Admiral Bebaus flagship, once retrieved the dock pressurized the shuttle opened and the Admiral faced him. Raising his creunoc he said.

“Targa he’s aboard the shuttle has a few laser hits on it, you were correct; I’ll have my fleet take charge of the situation and promise as few casualties as possible.”

“Admiral, four ships are trying to leave the area.”

Admiral Bebaus moved to the comm. link activated it and said.

“Stop them with minimal damage and report your progress.”

Returning to his creunoc he continued his conversation with Targa by saying.

“Four ships are trying to break the blockade. We’re stopping them now. Have you anything to say to Zachary?

“Zachary the Admiral has been briefed as has the government of Shahrazad, relax, once this is all sorted out I’ll send a secure transport to retrieve you.”

Zachary stood stunned his mind slowly piecing everything together. It was then Admiral Bebaus offered transport.

“Targa save your resources, when the time comes I’ll transport Zachary back to you. No one in their proper mind will attempt to interfere with us.”

“Thank you Admiral, you’ll notify us of your departure and the outcome of the ships you’re stopping then?”

“Yes Targa and I’ll let your President get some well deserved sleep too.”

Closing the creunoc link the Admiral opened an already active link and said.

“You heard everything, have you anything to add?”

Sobbash’s voice exited the unit her statement clamed an already jittery Zachary.

“Zachary I’m sorry we didn’t figure this out sooner accept my apology for that. As for those on the surface we’re rounding them up now. I’ll be direct about this part the former empress is not expected to survive I’m sorry about that but we’ve done everything we could to treat her yet-”

“An unfortunate set of circumstances Sobbash, there was nothing we could have done. They held their plan secret till it was executed. As far as my safety is concerned, I still want to visit with you before I leave, in person that is, but for now I’ve not slept in a while and the Admiral is offering a secure environment so.”

“Rest well Zachary we’ll speak again when you’ve done so.”

The link closed and the Admiral escorted Zachary to his quarters then returned to the bridge.

*********
“Chief engineers log: Jinto Lynn recording. Orion’s appearance has activated portions of this ship that we wondered what their purpose was. Robert and I have studied this new data and now this ship makes perfect sense. Our six appendages which we thought were only for the laser arrays serve a primary and much more important purpose. Orion has docked with this ship via two of the arms once connected the engineering panels came to life. The combined power of this ship, Orion, Leo and Lyra, the other two ships, is astronomical. We can fight as a unit or independently. Robert is studying Orion’s specifications and the data is impressive. At this moment we are enroute to the location of the other two ships. I’m waiting because if what we’re seeing down here turns out to be even seventy percent correct. We’ll have fire power equal to at least three full Abh fleets. Lafiel is aware of these facts and seems quite reserved in her opinion regarding our discovery. Half of me is thinking, she’s like a kid in a candy store but I’ll have to wait till the ship is complete then see what she has to say about that.”

*********
“Ships log Plakia Lexshu recording: Discovery is positioned deep with in the disturbance surrounded by gas, dust, pieces of what I figured once were a small planetoid or moon. We’ve left them momentarily to get in the clear I have a couple of things I’d like to do before Lafiel arrives back. One is do a thorough scan of the area and update our star charts. I wonder how Lafiel knew this was here in the first place. I think her ship must have been here once before and recently but. Putting that aside we’ve located the approximate position of Discovery’s distress beacon. Its time to send a report home I know it’s going to be a day or better before they receive it but I have a duty to report so I shall.”

“Captain, the report is encrypted and ready for transmission I have a steady lock on the beacon’s location, this time there’ll be no doubts.”

“Transmit the report, tactical progress report.”

“Captain we’re about sixty percent complete, scanning in passive mode, I’d like to call your attention to a disturbance, port one ninety, azimuth two ten. If I didn’t know better I’d say it was a discarded Sord.”

Calling up the co ordinates Plakia brought the area up on the long range scanner. While past the scanners detail range it did resemble a Sord of sorts. She logged its location for further investigation, scanning in passive mode gave her enough information for the moment they didn’t want to tip their hand by actively scanning the area.

“Captain, I’ve got energy readings on the edge of the scan, they seem to be coming from the system we just left.”

“Communications open a scrambled link to the rest of the fleet, tactical best guess on when they’ll get here.”

“This reading’s really shaky but I’d say another ten to twelve hours. As far as how many, speed and direction, we’d have to stay here another hour or so to make sure.”

“That’s not happening, we can see them I don’t want them to be able to see us. Tell Lafiel our present situation and retreat back into the gas disturbance; we still have a link open to Discovery?”

“Plakia we heard every word, ten hours, Lafiel should be back by then, then it’ll be two against-”

“Settle down Dai I’m not up for combat either and who knows it might be a freighter on a voyage.”

“Dream on Defiance, see you in a little bit.”

*********
“Arisa you heard?”

“Yeah I heard, you want a status report correct?”

“Why not go ahead with it.”

“Star Drive is offline, mains will only produce eighty percent for limited amounts of time, and I’ve got all the laser battery’s charged. However they’re good for maybe two discharges each then we suffer without the reserves from the Star Drive. Combat recommendation? When confronted we fire, cloak, and then run like hell. Outcome of anything more than a one on one, take a guess.”

Arisa always painted such a rosy picture yet she was correct without the Star Drive and its reserves any kind of combat was out of the question. Without transporters we could not leave the ship if it became disabled. Our partially polarized hull meant we couldn’t be rescued as well, a fact all on the bridge were well aware of and my thinking is so was the rest of the crew. I’ve never kept things like this from them before but in this case I’ll hold off on the ship wide address until we know if we’re going to have unexpected guests or not.

*********
“Admiral the Dorian’s are refusing communications and have placed the station between us and them, if we fire.”

“I’m well aware of that, tactical how many mines do we have aboard?”

“We have fifty, Jorash has another fifty.”

“Very well have Jorash target the outer two ships twenty five mines each. We’ll take the inner two, proximity fuses and manual triggering. We’ll surround them with mines if they decide to continue there’ll be no damage to the station. Launch mines.”

Much to the Dorian’s surprise their ships wound up surrounded by very vicious Abh mines. Something the Dorian commander failed to take into consideration. They surrendered before all the mines had reached their assigned location. Admiral Bebaus recalled the mines and took control of the ships. All of this occurred while Zachary slept quite soundly.

*********
I awoke when Donald shook me. I had been asleep longer than I wanted to be, but the view we had from space dock was quite impressive. It would seem while I slept something went awry in the Dorian fleet, what I saw was four Dorian ships surrounded by a hundred or so Abh mines. While we had no communications I could only assume Zachary found the source of the surface incursion. I had Donald beam me to the Island found Seelnay and reported what I saw.

“Admiral Bebaus took custody of Zachary about three hours ago and there was a fire fight when Zachary fled. So four of the seven ships were in on the attack, I wonder what the other three are doing.”

I told Seelnay that while the four were surrounded I could see the other three showing the surrender signal. I’ll assume they decided to give up without a fight then I asked about the force, if we had them all.

“Lala’s still scouring the area we’re missing four or five Dorian’s, one of them is command grade. Assume they’re armed and extremely dangerous. KO’s rifle is in her quarters, she’ll not be upset if you ‘borrow’ it.”

“Have we heard from them?’

“No not a peep we’re assuming they’re fine until we know something otherwise.”

I left Seelnay, stopped by our quarters, and grabbed the rifle plus my sidearm. I hope I didn’t have to use them.”

*********
“Mistress I have an update to deliver.”

Lafiel was off the bridge when Orion made its announcement, it didn’t take long for her to return though, taking her seat and connecting to the ship Orion made several unusual statements.

“I’ve made contact with Leo, he has Lyra in tow and they are on and intercept course, expected arrival in four hours. Lyra is suffering from energy exhaustion we’ll need to fully activate her upon arrival. To that end I need your permission to bring reactors four thru six on line. Once we are connected, each one of us needs about a half hour to re familiarize ourselves then we can proceed with – Mistress what is the mission?”

Orion I’ll explain the mission once we are whole. What is your present condition?”

“Operational, auto repairs in progress, at eighty percent combat readiness.”

“Very well, continue with repairs and notify us upon arrival at the rendezvous point.”

“Understood Mistress continuing as stated.”

Lafiel disconnected from the ship stood up and approached Kenesh and me. Scholar made her way to where we were, it was then Lafiel said.

“Jinto and I had an idea of what we were to encounter, while at this moment I don’t want to jump to any conclusions. I do believe once this ship is whole and up to date you’ll find it interesting to say the least.”

Lafiel left us, once out of sight Scholar said.

“I’ve done some research on these ship names and they return us to the Sol system. They were constellations visible from the third planet.”

Kenesh, who was unaware that we had traveled to the Sol system, had a blank expression upon her face. I on the other hand knew what Scholar was referring to; it was time to bring Kenesh up to date. I started and Scholar, who had a front row seat for the entire expedition, sat listening to me explaining their endeavor, waiting to add any information that I might have overlooked.

It took an hour to explain fully. When we got to the part that included time travel, Scholar produced the appropriate data from her memory and infused it into Kenesh. In a way Scholar could have linked with Kenesh and explained it in a shorter time, but having had Scholar in my mind I guarantee it was in Kenesh’s better interest that Scholar only linked for a short period.

Stunned would explained Kenesh after we talked with her. She sat for about five minutes staring at the main display watching space pass us by yet you could sense the activity with in her. I wanted to link with her in an attempt to help her understand. Since my link would be passive, unlike Scholar who takes control explains in a student teacher relationship. I want to be the friend yet it would seem that Kenesh was doing alright on her own. She looked at me and then at Scholar smiled and said.

“Then that is Plakia Lexshu, Lafiel’s mother, in command of Defiance. And you say she physically twenty years younger than her actual age would indicate?”

“That is correct Kenesh, she and those members of the crew that were rescued are that way. Is there something we missed?”

“No. You see I was always the youngest of the group and now she is – so who else knows about this. I know the information never made it to the Capital.”

“And it never will, Kenesh. We altered the time line as long as the Abh never know the time line remains intact. You must never ever divulge what you’ve learned here. It’s as simple as that. You know and you must not tell because, well search your feelings Kenesh and you’ll understand.”

Kenesh sat with a puzzled look on her face; I on the other hand knew exactly what Scholar was getting at. While linked with her she had planted a suggestion with in Kenesh and was now testing to see if it took. Tears streaming down her face told me Scholar had accomplished her mission. Something, that to this day, disturbs me greatly. Yet we’ve all, one way or the other, have had suggestions planted in us, some unknowingly, like Kenesh, others deliberately to prevent information escaping this world. One wonders what we’ll do once Scholar is gone, however Mia has shown some of her mothers powers so -.

“You’re right such knowledge need not be shared. Those who perished should remain that and nothing more. But I’m looking forward to laying my eyes on an old friend once this episode is over. By the way, weren’t you going to explain those ship names Scholar?”

Scholar’s amazing and so is Kenesh, even after having Scholar rummage through her mind, she’s kept order to her self. Now I understand why Sobbash and Noel hold her in such esteem she is quite an individual. I do believe she just impressed Scholar as well.

“Those names; Orion, the hunter, Leo, the lion, and Lyra, the harp, the first two I believe need no explanation however I wonder what Lyra’s harp has to do with this combination.”

We were less than three hours from finding out, a grain of sand in the sea of time. We decided to wait and we were also curious about Lafiel’s earlier statement as well.

*********
“Chief surgeon’s log Saio recording: The former Dorian Empress passed away shortly after sunrise from injuries sustained in the attack two days ago. She never regained consciousness I’ve notified my mother of this fact and she in turn has notified the Dorian government. My other patient lays in an induced coma. Cassie brain activity has improved but the damage I repaired I wonder just who will greet us when the time comes to awaken her. Dawn Dorin left her bed for the first time today. While her steps were a bit uncertain at times she’s made remarkable progress. Plakia Pratt has been at dividing her time between Dawn and Cassandra. Dawn’s brother Donald just left my office he’s recovering nicely from his injuries as are those still here from Independence incident. I look to space and wonder how the rest of them are fairing and hope they all return safely.”

*********
Lyra, I sense your confusion I suggest you wait till you’re fully operational before you try to compile the data Orion has sent.”

“Easy for you to say Leo you never were detail oriented but, Orion said two centuries has passed, are those in command of the Illusion really descendents of those we knew?

“Conserver your energy Lyra and be patience, in less than three hours you’ll know everything can you accept that?”

“I’ll accept, but I’ll not merge till I’m convinced, our power in the wrong hands -”

“Understood Lyra, rendezvous in two and a half hours you should rest for now.”

Lyra went into a stand by mode it was then Leo contacted Orion.

Lyra has strong concerns over those who posses Illusion do some discrete investigation and have the results ready when we arrive.”

“Acknowledged but I must admit what I’ve seen leads me to believe they should be trusted. I’ll see you soon; it’ll be a joyful reunion.”

Orion, I truly hope so, if Lyra is not convinced, you know the handful she’ll become.”

*********
Evening has arrived. Greta and I man the communications center while everyone else is off dining or resting. It’s been hectic and I’m hoping nightfall brings some closure to this day but-.

“Comm. link active Lala on scrambled, switching to main viewer.”

The viewer became active; the scene was not her office, she was out in the field somewhere and the tone of her voice when she saw the two of us was-.

“Where’s Sobbash? I need her approval for what I’m about to do. You two don’t want the responsibility, not for this.”

When flustered Lala tends to communicate in this fashion, Greta summonsed Sobbash to the center while I tried to make sense of what Lala was thinking.

“Seelnay stop it, once Sobbash arrives you’ll know just be patient okay?”

As if it was scripted; Sobbash entered the room and faced Lala. Before a word was said Lala explained the reason for this link.

“We’ve found them. They’re hold up in an old storage building just southwest of the council chambers. I want to get this straight. You want them alive? Please tell me there was an error in communications, because I could level the building and be done with them in a moment-”

“Alive and conscious; Lala there are many question that need to be answered. Those are the only remaining living conspirators. With their deaths nothing is solved. If what is rumored is in fact true this may be just the first of many incursions. I want to stop it here and now and to the end I must stress do everything in your power to successfully capture them ALIVE.”

Lala acknowledged the request and the link went dark. Thinking for a moment, she then gave her squad new orders.

“Surround the building, once everyone’s in position we’ll attack. Set weapons to heavy stun, command wants them alive. If for some reason they try to flee take them down with non lethal means. But most of all I want no heroes; I’ve communicated enough bad news lately. Signal me when you’re in position and I’ll light up the area. That will be the signal to attack. Good luck.”

*********
Lafiel lay in her bunk, her mind reviewing the past weeks that have lead to where she was today. Something puzzled her, the fact she was with child and not remembering the circumstances of how, when or where it occurred were just the tip of the puzzle. She had feelings she had been here before had done what she was doing and yet in her years she knew better. Something, someone was-. The door opened and Jinto entered.

“I could sense your confusion from the end of the corridor. Is it the child that has you so upset?”

“Hardly Jinto, search your feelings, does any of this seem familiar to you? Don’t you feel like you’ve been here and done all of this once before?”

Jinto sat on the end of the bunk and looked Lafiel in the eye, he relaxed and in a fleeting moment it did strike him, everything was comfortable, too comfortable, his interactions with this ship and with Orion left him agreeing with Lafiel’s assessment that they had done all of this before, but how, when, where-

“I see Jinto; it just struck you as well. I have a hunch and someone we know very well I believe is at the center of this mystery. A mystery I believe will unravel itself once we rendezvous with the other two ships. If what I’m thinking comes to pass- I’m glad Kenesh and KO came along because you and I may become, how should I say this? A hindrance to the competition of this mission maybe even hostile as well.”

*********
Lily and Robert were on the bridge, reviewing the latest data download from Orion when the comm. link became active.

“KO, Kenesh and Scholar could you come to my cabin at once?”

KO glanced at them and said.

“Take over. We’ll be back shortly, I hope”

As Lily and Robert took over the positions the three of them left the bridge and headed below.

*********
“So how did it go?”

Seelnay asked as Greta sat next to her.

“My opinion, Targa was not happy that we captured them, if I didn’t know better he was hoping we would have killed them. But that’s my opinion; it and a pretty day, will get you a pretty day. eh?”

The communications board went active it would seem that Sobbash was looking for a second opinion as well.

“She’s hailing Admiral Bebaus I wonder what that conversation entails.”

*********
“Sobbash interesting that you called I was about to contact you in fact.”

“I’ll get to the point has Targa or any of the Dorian council contacted Zachary in say the last hour or so?”

“No it’s been strangely quite and that was the reason I was about to call you. You have in fact captured the rest of those rogues, haven’t you?”

“We did and without any loss of life I’m happy to say. However Minister Targa seemed how should I say this? SURPRISED that we captured them, if I didn’t know better I’d say he was hoping we’d save him the trouble of a trial and be judge, jury and executioner. My call to you is to inform you of those facts and for you to arrange transport to bring Zachary here as soon as possible.”

“Not possible Sobbash I’ve been given orders that Zachary remains in Abh custody until I deliver him to Targa in three days. If you want to see him you’re going to have to come here and soon. We’ll be departing for Doras in twelve hours.”

“See you soon Admiral.”

The link closed and Sobbash contacted Noel, her request was a simple one, escort her to Admiral Bebaus flagship so she might speak with Zachary. The response was typical Noel.

“So you’ve forgotten how to fly? Or are you seeking a thrill ride? It matters not to me I’ll take you there but I’m not stepping foot aboard that ship okay?”

“I understand; I want someone I trust docked there just in case- well it should be a good trip. See you at the dock in two hours.”

The link closed Noel donned a space suit, grabbed a sidearm, told Risch where she was going, and left.

*********
The twenty minutes KO, Kenesh and Scholar were gone seemed like twenty hours. There was a sigh of relief when they reappeared on the bridge. After taking their stations and doing a quick update KO said.

“Do we still have a secure link with Defiance?”

“It’s on stand by should I make it active?

“Bring them on line what I’ve got to say I only want to say once.”

“Link activated you’re on KO.”

“Dai, Plakia are you listening?”

“We are, Discovery is unable to transmit at this moment but they are receiving your signal.”

“I’ll make this brief, in less than a half hour we are going to rendezvous with the other two ships. I’ve just left a meeting in which Lafiel surrendered command of this vessel and put myself in charge. The reasons are complicated and may not have any bearing on the balance of this mission but for safety’s sake I’m issuing the following instructions. Should we in any way lose control of this ship your orders are to make best speed home warning everyone of our allies of the situation. You are not to engage this vessel or try any rescue attempt. I want to be clear on this I know it’s going to take you a long time as well but-”

“Following my daughters order to the letter will get you in trouble, while a brilliant commander her common sense needs a bit of adjustment. I offer the following suggestion; since the space between us is full of seemingly hostile craft and Discovery is not one hundred percent it’s my opinion that we stick together as one. I don’t think you’re going to have the problem Lafiel fears, but as a good commander she has to explore every possibility. Leave this link active and IF you do lose complete control we’ll take her suggestion to heart; maybe.”

I was warned this might happen and it was left to my discretion on how to proceed. For the moment I’ll accept what Plakia has said and go on from here.

*********
The boss has been sitting at the comm. console ever since Sobbash and Admiral Bebaus had their little chat. Notice of the shuttles departure didn’t seem to faze her in the least, yet -.

“So Sobbash’s is heading to the flagship and Noel’s driving? I wonder why that is?”

“Greta some things are best left alone and this is one of those. Do me a favor; pull the comm. logs for the last four hours, ship to ship, ship to relay station and ship to shore. Some things bothering me, and I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s happened in the past four hours that I’m certain of.”

“Seelnay, should I include the secure logs as well?”

“Yes all of them I’ll have the codes if you need them.”

It’s amazing how much communication transpires around here. The secure relay station log raises a flag that I pass on to Seelnay. She takes note of the time and length of the communication then says.

“When did Lala signal the capture?”

I pull the surface log up and say.

“Nineteen hundred thirty hours and fifty-four to be exact.”

“That’s interesting, forty-five minutes before that there was a secure signal sent from -”

Seelnay stared at the co-ordinates, brought up a surface map, overlaid the signal trace on the map and said.

“Where is the shuttle?”

“They’re passing the space dock, time to Admiral Bebaus flagship twenty-five minutes.”

“Raise the shuttle now.”

“I can’t, there’s some sort of sub space interference it’s not natural that I’m sure of.”

Seelnay moved to the orbital platform controls and took it from auto to manual. Scanning the captured Dorian ships she said.

“That communications came from the location of the conspirators just before Lala captured them and the signal was beamed to one of those Dorian ships. Damn I’ll bet they knew we were going to capture them. Then, oh nuts-”

Two of the Dorian ships were powering up their reactors in violation of their surrender agreement. The local interference was such that no one close would notice till.

“I’m targeting those ships; Greta broadcast a general alarm, thirty seconds to sync lock.”

I broadcast the alarm which some ships in the area heard; the shuttle was approaching optimal firing range of the two Dorian ships. I estimated another twenty seconds. Seelnay heard me thinking aloud although not targeted she fired blindly at those ships.

*********
“Unable to raise the Admiral’s ship what ever this interference is it’s not natural Sobbash.”

“Noel, raise shields-”

The shields had just stabilized when the platform opened fire. The barrage missed us and struck a Dorian cruiser amidships. At that moment another cruiser opened up on us missing us by the narrowest margin. Before we could do anything the platform fired once again seriously damaging that cruiser as well. The interference subsided and-

“Trap… alter course immediately at least two cruisers are under power maybe more you’re a sitting duck out there. Altering course will acknowledge this message.”

The second firing of the platform was all the encouragement Noel needed. We were already evasive and heading for the protection of the platform.

*********
Zachary was lying in his bunk aboard the flagship when the battle alarm sounded. Finding a guard outside his door he managed to convince them to escort him to the bridge the door opened to-.

“Shahrazad’s platform is firing again another Dorian cruiser is disabled the interference is subsiding I’m receiving communications from the planet placing it on audio.”

“It’s a trap… alter course immediately at least two cruisers are under power maybe more you’re a sitting duck out there. Altering course will acknowledge this message.”

Admiral Bebaus acknowledged Zachary’s presence on the bridge with a glance over his shoulder while he issued the following orders.

“Division three; completely surround those remaining ships, offer assistance as necessary but at the first indication of any further transgression you’re allow to use deadly force.”

“Open a link to the planet and secure it.”

The link was opened and Seelnay’s face appeared on the display Admiral Bebaus request was brief and to the point.

“Stand down the platform and notify Sobbash we’ll pick her up there shuttle and all.”

“As you wish Admiral, platform is in auto mode, we’ve notified Sobbash, approach from these co ordinates.”

A set of co ordinates appeared on the navigational display. Moving to that location they found an opening in the platforms shield and there sitting about ten thousand kilometers inside was the shuttle. Taking them aboard, they returned to their past location.

*********
Admiral Bebaus flagship had just picked us up. Figuring we were relatively safe I decided to continue the conversation we were having aboard the shuttle.

“Shields are not enough any more, we need to be able to defend ourselves. I know we’ve had this discussion before but this time-”

“Noel it’s a shuttle, size limitations dictate what its capabilities are. The shields were quite a feat on there own and now you want to arm it? What type of armament? Laser cannons? Mines? Sling shot? Just what do you think we could cram into that already cramp craft?”

“Maybe we need to design a third generation of craft and allow for those upgrades-.”

“Just remember one thing Noel they can not be of a size that they no longer fit in a standard docking bay. When we return you’ll notice our present design takes up quite a bit of the docking bay.”

The door to the bridge opened and a relieved Zachary greeted us.

*********
Leo and Lyra docked with this ship while Leo took energy at a constant rate, Lyra; for lack of better words was a little piggy. Energy from the reactors ebbed and flowed I decided to reverse course and head back to where Defiance and Discovery were. It proved to be a fateful decision.

*********
“I feel better. It has been a long time since I’ve felt this way. They’ve not limited the energy in anyway have they?”

“No Lyra and I don’t think they will. Now it will be incumbent on you to refrain from doing what you did the last time we were whole, lest you want to wander space for centuries again.”

“Orion you’re such a killjoy do you think I’ve not learned my lesson? Trust me I’ll behave.”

“Prove it by reducing to Leo’s level of consumption. You do realize all of the reactors are on line at over one hundred percent capacity?”

Lyra reduced her levels to match Leo’s. It was then Orion wondered if she could really be trusted.


To be continued in: When Three plus One Does Not Equal Four

"Ah! You don't know my name?
Its very simple, Lafiel you shall say.
In return I'd like to call you Jinto."


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