Lost Empire Ch. 100

Chapter 100

0001 - Tempro

0003 - Conner- Thomas

0004 - Norice

0097 - Ace - Zimmel

0098 - Lucy

0100 - Derry (father ship)

0101 - Shelby (mother ship)

0122 - Maleen

0125 - Lars

0130 - Gillese

0200 - Ellen

0201 - Jake

0222 - Helena

0250 - Tendra

0301 - Rodrick

0321 - Hardy

0403 - Johnathon - Hartwell

0505 - Craig

0660 - Realla

0778 - Jan

0798 - Celeste - Shelby (human)

0805 - Toran

0808 - Radella

0881 - Handrax

0882 - Teal

0908 - Tara - Mara

0921 - Tomack

0995 - Kyle

1000 - Sherry - Lucie

--------------------------

Ungrown - unnumbered

------------------------

Rescued from Tendraxians

so far

-----------------------

2 on Shelby in re-gen

2 on Derry in re-gen

3 on Gillese

5 on Ellen

--------------------------------

Known and OR numbered

-------------------------------

0501 - Thaddeus

???? - Lena

---------------------------

missing

0667 - Marco

0999 - Zan - still lost

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Medalina smirked, "I may have to keep this one in bed healing longer than anything."

This caused Cetalina, Rayburn, Greeson, Mara and even Onai and Kimon to slightly chuckle.

"That's not really funny," Kimison gruffly said. "Even as a joke, it's not funny."

Soon they were all at the reception, though the three males had to sit and rest.

"I hope that this is the start of good luck. God knows that we need it after this year," Derrick said.

Several of the Rangers nodded in agreement with him. Now he thought we just needed for things to calm down after the invasion.

Derrick decided that he needed to return to the Imperial planet. He advised the other three ships that they were to remain to attend the others.

"I'm ready," Derrick said as the IMT took him to the ship. Derrick's eyes opened in surprise when he saw that he was on the bridge of Shelby.

"I thought that you were still in re-gen in orbit of the Imperial planet," Derrick sai

"I was, but I was eager to get back to you. As soon as I finished, I came here," Shelby said.

Derrick sat in the familiar command chair and sighed in relief. It had been too long since he was here.

"All right, Mary update me on all the calamities," I asked.

"Sire," Mary started, "the three enemy planets within the newer empire sections still haven't space travel yet. I have detected great activity in what appear to be their shipyards. I have detected older trans-warp technology on and near their planets. As of yet, I have not detected any still on the planet. At their present rate, they will be space able within a month."

Make sure that we can take them down if we have to. Have you continued the re-expansion of the Empire boundaries?" Derrick asked.

"Yes sire, as of today, not including the ten systems I garnered before discovering the three planets. I have added another three that have probe protection. I estimate that we now have twenty-five percent of what we had," Mary said.

"Status of the fleet?" Derrick asked.

"At present we have twenty-eight combat ships, including the mother and father ships. We also have one of the two lab ships. There are also two in re-gen, the schedule has been rearranged to get Zan in the next batch," Mary said.

Derrick nodded as he thought of the sacrifice that Zan had made. Worse than that, he'd lost one of only five captains he had and the ship. Well, six, though the mandates wouldn't allow him in combat.

The last words of Captain Brown still gave him shivers: "It was an honor to fight with all of you." Brown coughed, then looked at Mara, "you were the greatest friend I ever had, thank you." Then he'd gone after the world ship. "It's ok sir," Brown's holo-gram stated. "I am proud to do something worthwhile in my life, if only once. I gladly sacrifice myself for the empire."

Derrick's eyes closed tight as long unshed tears came from his eyes. Now the same race was attacking them in mass.

Derrick knew that he had twenty-eight ships. It was more than enough to take out the invading fleet. Two million ships he shook his head, how hated this empire was.

At least they'd gained allies from old enemies. That, plus the weddings was the real first positive he felt they had.

"Have the Rangers managed to update their ships?" Derrick asked.

"Sire we have managed to update seventy percent of their fleet. They are also patrolling the thirteen new systems as of yesterday. I am glad to report that the thirteen systems are recovering rather nicely," Mary said.

As Mary paused, Derrick asked, "Is there a new problem?"

"I'm not sure a problem as much as a possible help. In the last system, I have detected a candidate for a Captain position," Mary said.

"Really? Are you able to confirm? I am short enough as it is now that we are down to five," Derrick said.

"I have landed a probe to ascertain if he is or not. I should know soon," Mary said.

Derrick nodded this was as good news as he could get right now.

On a planet passed the three enemy planets, an older teen was drawing designs for spaceships. The planetary government had been notified that they were now part of the empire again.

Already things had started to get better, at least they were only starving for six days instead of all seven. Drawing a sigh, he swore that he heard a beeping outside his window. Each time he looked though, there was nothing.

With a shrug, he went to eat. A moment later a metal arm slipped in his window and took pictures. Back on the Imperial planet, Mary was more than impressed.

The first part of the evaluation, though, Mary had just informed the emperor of her findings so far. The next part might lose her the prospect though she had to do it this way so far away.

She had the probe arm leave a com. on his desk as she awaited him to return. It was perhaps an hour later, when he did.

At first, the male didn't notice the com. sitting to draw again. A sudden beeping drew his attention to a small box on the corner of his desk.

The male's eyes opened wide as he stared at the box. A gasp escaped his throat as he recognized the forbidden tech. He was about to take it to his father when a small voice startled him.

"I am sorry I startled you, it was not my intention," said Mary's voice. "I have to say that I am impressed with your designs."

The male had almost fled from the room as this was beyond his wildest dreams. "E'ta Hoda ta," the older teen male said.

"Hmm yes, a form of the old Bruska language," Mary said.

The older teen male jerked, he hadn't heard of the name of the old language used for hundreds of years.

"E'ta Hoda cara ta," the older teen said.

"I am afraid I am going to need more," Mary said. "Let's see, Ho ho tondo ka, sora ho ho cama ta."

Again, the older teen jerked as he only understood part of that. "Let me go, papa," the older teen in the proper language said.

The teen returned a few moments later with an older male. The older male had a smirk on his face 'til he saw the small mechanical box.

He started to back away 'til Mary said, "Please don't be afraid. You're Konda? He is needed by the Supreme leader who has returned."

The older male's mouth dropped open as he turned to his son. He then fell to his knees as he dragged his son to his also.

"You speak the old language, there are not many except for the leaders and the clerics that speak it. I shall take you to them so that we may understand more of what the Supreme leader wishes for us and my son.

The older male spoke to the older teen, then reverently lifted the com. He then walked into the house and told his wife and their other four children.

An hour later they were on their way to the capital, several hours away. The older male was afraid for his family and had them stay quiet about the box and what had been said.

Hours later they arrived in the rather large capital city. They quickly made their way to the royal castle. There at the gate they were more than rudely stopped and told to go home.

The older male and Mary had talked the entire time they had traveled. Mary, almost expecting this, suddenly spoke up.

"Unless all of you wish to be left asleep and in pain, I suggest that you take him to the king," Mary said.

They started to laugh 'til the first two dropped unconscious. This caused the rest to draw spears and swords.

For a moment they thought about killing the male and the others with him. One had wisely run for the Captain of the guard. A few minutes later a better-dressed male approached the gate.

"I was told that an agent of unknown origin advised my soldiers to open the gate. Take this male and the rest to the king," the male said as he stared at the unconscious males on the ground. "I am afraid that I can not just do that. I need the code that was left by the other agent."

Mary spoke up as she said, "The code was his Emperorship, Derrick O'toma. Now, unless I need to make the rest here sleep, we should make haste to the king."

The Captain was suddenly standing straighter. He then hurriedly opened the gate and moved all there to the castle with haste.

The king had been notified and was patiently awaiting them. All of them bowed to the king as they stopped at the foot of his throne.

"I was told that an agent of the Supreme leader was here. I do not see them, though I do not doubt the Captain of the guard," the king said.

"Sire," the said man said as he presented the com. to the king.

The king almost dropped the com. as he also recognized the almost forbidden tech. "Sire, I am the palace A. I. I serve Emperor O'Toma. I have found one that is of more interest to the Empire than a great many. I have already tested him, finding him to be one that we are searching for," Mary said, shocking the King.

"What would this do for us? What you have sent has barely helped to sustain our people. Would this cause more help to our world? Many saw you contact as a great hope for us," the king said.

"Already we have ten times what the last ship brought. These three ships should be there in a single of your time units. I have also sent a few mechanical men to aid you," Mary said.

All there mouth's dropped open ten times? The King was speechless for a moment, then asked. "All this just for him?"

"No sire, we will not allow the subjects of the empire to starve. We are trying to regain as much of the empire as we can," Mary said.

Suddenly, a holo-gram of Mary appeared, causing a great many to rush forward. "You are the one that sent the message to us?" The king asked.

"I am, I am Mary, the living artificial intelligence of the palace. We welcome you back into the Empire," she then turned to the older teen and his father. "I have been scanning for people with a brain like his."

The older teen could no longer remain quiet, "a brain like mine? What are you talking about? I am a living being, I am not even a little bit of a machine," he said upset.

"No you are not, but you have a brain that can detect the living ships that guard all of us," Mary said.

"You're talking about the Elite ships!" The teen was now whispering. "By all, that is holy! They are real; I have dreamed of seeing one."

"At present, the Emperor has returned twenty-eight to the fleet, we need pilots. We need you, it wouldn't take you long to learn. If it is agreeable to you, your family and the King, I could have you to the Imperial planet within one of your time units," Mary said.

All there were staring at her holo-gram with their mouths open. Then they all turned toward the teen waiting.

The teen's mother and father had a great sense of pride on their faces, the king's expectation. His three sisters and younger brother were looking at him like he was already gone.

"If I don't go, nothing bad will happen to them? To our world, you'll still help us to no longer starve," the teen asked.

"Well, we'd be disappointed, but as I said, you are part of the empire again. We won't allow the people of it to starve," Mary said. "If you wish, we will leave 'til you decide."

The teen stared at Mary, as if not believing her. A moment later a huge shadow appeared above the clouds, a few moments later so did another.

"Ah," said the voice of Mary. "The ships have arrived." She turned to the King, asking, "Where would you like the supplies and food?"

For the first time in his life, the King was speechless at the size of the ships. "Uh, there are a great many empty warehouses outside the city. If you could start putting it there," the shaking king said.

"Alright 0200, put them in the designated warehouses," Mary said.

"I have started Palace A. I. The first is full, as is the second. Third and fourth and fifth complete, one fourth deployed," Ellen said.

"I hope that you have enough room, we brought quite a bit," Mary said.

A moment later Ellen came back on, "all thirty warehouses are full, payload deployed."

"Very good, join 0250 on guard while your wing mate deploys," Mary said.

"Now moving to accommodate," Ellen said.

"Now moving to sync with the planet's rotation. Palace A. I. I have more than my wing mate did. I am afraid that we won't be able to deploy everything here," Jake said.

Mary turned to the King, "Are there any more places to put them?"

The king thought for a moment, the forty they were using covered several miles. Each was a mile in itself.

"We have several in other cities. Just how many do you need?" the king asked.

"Going by what we have already unloaded, I would say that we could fill approximately fifty point five more. I am detecting more holding buildings comparable to those we have filled," Jake said.

Mary turned back to the king, "May we deploy the rest of what we brought? It appears that you have the capacity to hold them over these ten cities on the planet." Mary projected the cities surprising all there.

The King, who had been shocked, immediately said, "Yes please, it will help far more with these in those cities. The distribution will go far faster."

"Please proceed with the deployment in all ten cities," Mary said, then turned toward the teen. "I have a second test that I need to run if it is alright. I also ask your family if they wish to stay or go with you."

"Go with me? You mean they can, but what would they do we are so primitive compared to the empire," the older teen said.

"You would be surprised what the empire needs even with our technology," Mary said to the teen.

"I have to talk things over with the family," the teen said, to which Mary's holo-gram nodded then vanished.

Mary appeared before Derrick in the throne room. He was slightly hung over, not wishing to get too wasted. He shook his head, he should have known better than to have Kimon monitor the alcohol.

Darrick cringed as soon as Mary appeared and said sire. "Not that loud please Mary, head feels as if it will split. The thing was, he was fine 'til half an hour ago then it had hit him very hard.

Mary was immediately concerned as several scanners started to go over Derrick. "Sire? I am not reading any maladies within your person." Mary had reports that the other males that had gotten married were in worse condition.

Derrick again cringed as the sound was far louder than he thought it was. "I imbided far more alcohol than I should have."

"Ah, so I see sire you have veisalgia. The collection of unpleasant physical and mental symptoms that occur after excessive alcohol consumption," Mary said.

"Yeah," Derrick stated. "I just wish that I could," Derrick started.

Suddenly, in front of Derrick, several glasses and plates appeared with water, toast and juice. Then a cup of coffee and tea appeared. Then a cup with pain reliever and vitamins appeared.

"I have information on this that these are the recommended remedies. There is also," Mary said as several glasses of alcohol appeared. "What is called the hair of the dog?"

Derrick's eyes got large as his stomach lurched, and he ran for the sink. He immediately evacuated his stomach, none too gently.

Mary started to ask Derrick if he was better, though she was quiet as Derrick held up a hand.

He returned to the table with all that Mary had placed there. Carefully nibbling the toast and sipping at the liquids.

He looked in the mirror to see if he looked as green as he felt. He sighed in relief as he saw that a bit of his color was returning.

Finally, an hour later, he'd had several people check on him. He hadn't appreciated the Empress Shelby snickering at his condition.

When he was finally ready, Mary started her report on the candidate she had found.

"Sire as I reported, I have found a candidate that has passed the first test. I was awaiting your permission to conduct the second test. After this I will bring him here for accelerated learning," Mary reported.

"If he does not pass? Can you still use him?" Derrick asked.

"Yes sire, he has a high learning capacity. I am already set to help him. Do you wish to observe?" Mary asked.

Mary paused a few moments as the throne room of the planet the teen was on appeared.

It had been a few hours since Mary had spoken to the teen, his family, and the king. The teen had signaled Mary as she had shown him a few hours later.

Mary and the vision of a tall commanding man appeared a few moments later. All there realized as soon as he appeared who he was.

"I was told that you have a brain that could greatly aid the empire. I am here to see that you have a chance to actually pass the test. I take it you have made a decision, Konda?" Derrick asked.

The teen could only stare at Derrick with his mouth open. Derrick was doing his best to not laugh as all there seemed to be frozen in shock.

Finally, unable to contain himself, Derrick started to smile then cleared his throat. "Konda," Derrick said, snapping Konda out of his shock.

Konda was shaking his head as he stared at Derrick, "I am sorry sir yes, I would love to come to the imperial planet.

Derrick continued to smile as the shock slowly faded from Konda's face. "So, there is one more test for you. It is to determine if you are a tech or a ship's Captain, are you ready?"

Konda stood up as tall as he could, took a breath, then nodded to Derrick. "I am as ready as I can be, Sir?" Kondo asked. "Will it hurt?"

A sympathetic look came to Derrick's face. "No, my friend," Derrick replied, "it shouldn't hurt at all."

Kondo immediately relaxed, took another deep breath, then nodded to Derrick. Derrick turned to Mary as he nodded to her.

Mary opened a direct line to all the ships with the cerebral waves of Kondo opened. Mary waited a moment, then turned to Kondo. "I want you to listen and tell me if you hear a voice."

Kondo nodded to Mary as he stood there for a few moments, then his eyes flew open. His head started to nod as he was answering questions from a voice only he could hear.

The com. that Kondo was holding suddenly emitted a green beam that moved over Kondo's head a few times. Mary's visage turned toward Derrick, then nodded.

Derrick nodded back, then turned toward the king and Kondo's family. "It appears that you are who we have been looking for. Do you have all that you need to take with you or do you need to collect anything?"

Kondo stood there a little in shock, then thought for a few moments. "About all I believe that I need are all the drawings that I made."

Mary nodded a moment, then a light shimmered in front of Kondo as he knelt to check them. "It appears that quite a few are missing," Kondo said as Mary nodded then concentrated.

This time it took a little longer then a stack almost as large as the first appeared. Kondo again knelt to go through them, then nodded to Mary.

Mary and Derrick turned toward the king, who bowed to Derrick. "I hope that we have pleased you supreme leader."

Derrick nodded, making the king truly smile. "We will not forget our citizens, we'll be back soon," He then turned to Kondo and his family. "I hope that you are ready to change your life," Derrick said to Kondo. He then turned toward Kondo's family. "If you do not wish to come you may remain here."

None of Kondo's family wanted to stay. Mary explained that they might be disorientated for a few moments, to which they all nodded.

A large light enveloped the family as a moment later all six of them vanished. The king nodded his head as he had several advisors help to start to distribute the food they now had.

On board Ellen, both were female were screaming as the whole family appeared on the bridge. Kondo's eyes went wide as he saw things that he had only dreamed of.

Though they were all shocked, that compared nothing to their reaction as they all turned and saw Bruskacan. They could also see that a great amount of the planet had no water.

"I have always suspected that we were low on surface water," Kondo said as he studied the scene. "I had an idea that might help, though not the power," Kondo said.

A young blonde holo-gram of a female teen appeared, scaring all but Kondo. "You must be a holographic representation of the A. I. of this ship."

The female visage blinked, then smiled, "I am, you must be the new untrained prime. I am Ellen, EIG 200." She pointed to a huge ship that was beside them. "That is my wing mate, EIG 20, Jake."

Kondo looked at Jake, then turned back to the holo-gram of Ellen, a look of confusion on his face. "EIG, I am unfamiliar with that term."

"It was a term that we were called when we were first created. It stands for Elite Imperial Guardian. It was far too long for many, so it was shortened to EIG," Ellen explained.

Another holo-gram of an older female that Kondo knew was Mary appeared. "Might I suggest that all of your family sit or go to a room? We are about to enter trans-warp, many don't react well to it."

The holo-gram of Ellen led all but Kondo off the bridge to a nearby room. A moment later Kondo sat in the sole seat that was on the bridge.

Ellen reappeared, "now moving into position," she said as a white portal opened in front of the ship. The ship accelerated into the portal, then was suddenly in a tunnel of twisting light.

Less than two minutes later they exited before a blue planet that was a few million miles away.

"Welcome to the Imperial Planet, prime candidate," Ellen said as soon as he stood staring at the view. It wasn't the planet itself, it was the several huge ships that were orbiting the planet.

Kondo had to reseat himself as it was starting to become a bit much for him.

"Prime candidate, the emperor, is expecting you in the throne room in an hour," Ellen said, then noticed that Kondo was swaying a bit.

"The Emperor?" Kondo asked.

"Yes, that is what most of the population of the empire call him. The one you call supreme leader," Ellen tried to explain as Kondo started to sway again.

"Uh huh," Kondo said as he started to feel very light-headed. Mechanical arms shot out of the walls of the bridge as Kondo finally went down.

Mary appeared a moment later as a syringe came out also and was injected into Kondo's arm. A worried Derrick appeared a moment later.

"At least he made it here, was he overstimulated?" Derrick asked.

"I believe so sire, he was very excited to see the ship. He was a lot like the commanders were when they first came aboard. He wanted to touch everything," Ellen said.

Derrick nodded as he remembered how in love with everything they saw when they were first aboard. Derrick sighed, he'd been afraid that the youth would become unglued when he saw everything.

"Alright, brief him and transport him as soon as possible. We need to have him trained as soon as possible. At the moment we only have four primes we need more," Derrick said.