Lost Empire Ch. 101

0001 - Tempro

0003 - Conner- Thomas

0004 - Norice

0011 - Adam

0097 - Ace - Zimmel

0098 - Lucy

0100 - Derry (father ship)

0101 - Shelby (mother ship) - Derrick

0122 - Maleen

0125 - Lars

0130 - Gillese

0200 - Ellen

0201 - Jake

0222 - Helena

0250 - Tendra

0280 - Frela

0301 - Rodrick

0321 - Hardy

0403 - Johnathon - Hartwell

0501 - Henry

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

0996 - Tesal

1000 - Sherry - Lucie

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Ungrown - unnumbered

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Rescued from Tendraxians

so far

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2 on Shelby in re-gen

2 on Derry in re-gen

4 on Ellen

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Known and OR numbered

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0501 - Thaddeus

???? - Lena

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missing

0667 - Marco

0999 - Zan - still lost

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"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.

It was a few hours later when Kondo jerked awake. He looked around, staring at the strange room. He shook his head as he was starting to become concerned.

He remembered being on the ship, then there was that woman that he could see through. She had said that she was a holo-gram?

That was the last thing he remembered, before he woke up here. A shimmering appeared next to him, showing the same woman.

"Ah, good you're awake. The Emperor wanted to know as soon as you awoke. I have already alerted him, and he is on his way here," Mary said.

Kondo's mouth dropped open, he was coming here? "I am nobody, why would he come here?"

"You have shown the ability to hear me and the EIG's thoughts in mind mode. This allows you to communicate with them far faster than talking," Mary said.

Kondo's mouth dropped open again, "You mean like the ship I came here on?" Mary nodded as Kondo sat hard at this news. "So, I am far behind all of you with my ability to do this, even if it has been a dream."

"There are ways to enter the knowledge into your mind that won't hurt you," Mary said.

Kondo shook his head as fear started to grip him. "I am afraid mam, very afraid. If this doesn't work, then I am a vegetable," Kondo said as he started to shake.

A moment later there was a knock on his door and he got up to open it. Kondo's mouth dropped open and eyes flew wide when he saw that it was Derrick.

Kondo bowed all the way to the floor, "supreme leader," he said. "I am honored to meet you. Miss, uh, I never learned her name. She was telling me a great many things, things I am unsure of."

"It is Mary, prime candidate," Mary said Kondo, not noticing, for now.

Derrick sighed as he sat in a chair in the room. "Please Kondo, please get off the floor. It is so difficult to talk to you down there. Sit beside me, I will try to help you with all your questions," Derrick said, patting the chair beside him.

Kondo sat as Derrick spent the next hour answering all the questions that Kondo had. Kondo himself was far more confused than he thought.

"Perhaps we can put a bit of the knowledge into you so it will be easier?" Derrick asked.

Kondo looked at Derrick and quietly asked, "Sir? Will it hurt? I don't want to lose who I am or my family, which is my main fear."

Derrick looked at Mary as she held a slightly shocked look. She quickly scanned Kondo, finding that the older teen was exactly what they needed.

Mary's demeanor and face softened, "No young prime, from all I see, it shouldn't hurt at all. As a matter of fact, it might tickle a bit."

Kondo thought about it for a few moments, then nodded. "What are you putting in me?" Kondo asked.

"We are starting with the knowledge to run the EIG. We don't want to put in too much to start, it shouldn't take more than a few days," Mary said with a smile.

Mary told Kondo to lay down, then a thin light at the end of an arm extended from the wall. It passed over Kondo's head three times, then stopped. Then it passed three times again, with that, it was retracted back into the wall.

Kondo lay there for a moment, then his eyes went wide. "Trans-warp technology I see though it could be improved, I don't have the knowledge."

Derrick looked at Mary as they had a conversation in his head. Immediately, another light on an arm came out and scanned all of Kondo. Mary's head shook no with Derrick releasing a sigh.

Kondo sat up a new look of clarity in his eyes. "What do we need to do next?" Kondo asked.

"I think you need to rest and allow your mind to assimilate the information you just gained," Derrick said, to which Kondo nodded, then laid back, closing his eyes.

"I will monitor him sire," Mary said. Derrick nodded as he left to check on the others.

Derrick knocked at the first door he came to, then was asked to enter. In the room, he saw that Kimon was in the bio-bed. Oni was standing guard over him, not allowing him to sit up, as if he could.

Derrick smiled a moment, then frowned, he remembered Oni destroying two bio-beds. It was possible, but Kimon would have to be at full health.

"Brigadier General," Derrick said as he entered the room. He then looked at Oni. "I take it you are maintaining that he stays here and heals?"

"I am Sire," she said as she slightly bowed. "With the mental shock that he and the other two received, we are watching."

"Sir," Kimon started, then was quiet when Derrick held up a hand.

"When you are cleared, then you'll be released. Don't think you can break free. After Oni destroyed two bio-beds, they have been re-engineered. They are a hell of a lot stronger."

Derrick almost laughed when Dempsy grimaced, then laid back down. "Thank you Sire," Oni said as she bowed low.

"I'll check later," Derrick said as he left the room.

He went a short distance to another room nearby, knocking before a voice said come in.

Derrick stuck his head in the door hearing Greeson complaining. "I am fine, I need to get out of here!"

"I really don't think that will be possible. You are as bad as your master, so I'll tell you as I did him. Do not attempt to escape the bio-bed after Oni broke two, they have been reinforced. You like him, have to be cleared before you can return to duty," Derrick said.

"Cleared? What are you talking about? I am feeling fine," Greeson said.

Derrick looked at Greeson's readings that were similar to Kimon's. "I see that you have forgotten the high amount of energy that your body absorbed like your masters. "Til we know that the both of you are mentally well, you're not going anywhere!" Dedrrick said.

Greeson sighed, then looked at his wife. "You have to return soon, don't you?" Greeson sadly said.

"No, not for a while, I know that you are in contact with your ship," Derrick said, answering for Mara. "You need to be ready at a moment's notice though."

Mara nodded as she hugged Greeson closer, "Thank you Sire," Mara said.

"Alright Major, stay here and heal," Derrick said as he left the room.

The next room Derrick came to; he had to wait a moment before he was asked to enter.

Kimison looked up as Derrick entered the room, Kimison's wife, Medalina, standing guard by his bed. "Sire," she said as soon as she saw him.

Derrick nodded to her, "Medalina, how is he?"

"He is healing very well, I am growing impatient for him to be whole," she said with a sigh.

"I am getting better though the bio-bed seems slow. I might need to look at them," Kimison said.

Derrick nodded then asked, "status of patient?"

A voice came from the air, "At present the patient is seventy-five percent healed. Most injuries that remain are internal. The heart organ has sustained the most damage, though it is now operating at sixty-five percent. Perhaps another three or four days for release.

Kimison nodded as he said, "Good, I can get some work done," as he pulled out a drawing/writing tablet.

"Alright Commander, get better," Derrick said as Medalina nodded. Before he could leave, Rayburn and Cetalina entered the room. "Cetalina, Commander," he said, then left.

He had one more room to go to, this one he'd also kept a close eye on, especially since the attack by Risen. He approached the fourth room knocking, at least 'til Derrick entered.

At the vocal enter, he moved in seeing Admiral Shiloh, his daughter Shelly and his wife and her mother Mita. Much like Kimon and Greeson, Gunter was complaining 'til he saw Derrick.

"Like I told the other two, you need to heal. These bio-beds have been re-enforced. I wouldn't try to escape. After Oni destroyed two, we upgraded even she shudders at them now," Derrick said as he looked at the readings. "You, like the rest, have at least four days, enjoy it."

Derrick left the room feeling better that they were almost back to full duty. Though he was still worried about Dempsy and Greeson.

With a sigh, he walked further on, he entered the residence wing. Stopping before a very thick door, it opened immediately.

"Derrick, I'm in here," a female voice said. "Are you alright?" the voice asked.

Derrick sighed, then sat heavily on a chair in the common room. A blond, green-eyed slender woman came from the back room.

Shelby came up behind Derrick and started to massage his shoulders. "Anything I can help you with?" she said.

Derrick started to shake his head no then stopped remembering a discussion like this not long ago. "It's just so much going on, the same things. Then there is the new prime that Mary discovered, something is tickling my mind just can't remember."

It had to do with a very old legend about a powerful weapon. Then there was the fact that it also dealt with three planets. Derrick shook his head as it slipped away from his mind.

Derrick conveyed all this to Shelby, but she was at an even larger loss. "The only reason I remember is, it was in a military history class."

Shelby nodded her head as she thought that she would do research for him. "I'll look up what I can, Derrick. Um Derrick, I hate to ask, but Mary has mentioned about an heir again."

"I know Shelby, as I told her, there really isn't the time. This newest enemy has sent more than two million ships our way," Derrick said.

Shelby sat with Derrick as she grabbed a tablet to research for Derrick.

A moment later Shelby appeared, "Derrick? The improvements have safely decreased Re-gen to less than a week."

Derry appeared next, "Sire, it appears that we have four more ready."

This had Derrick sitting up quickly. "This is wonderful news, having more ships will aid greatly in destroying the invaders."

A moment later several scratchy vocal signals were heard. "Hello?" said one.

"Mother," two more said.

"Father? You feel different," a fourth said.

"The Emperor wishes to talk to you," Shelby said.

There were several gasps as Derrick spoke up. "As I always do, I ask for your names."

Suddenly, four weak holo-grams appeared, a blond male, a dark-haired female. Then a red-haired female and a light brown-haired male.

"Sire," they all said, then bowed.

"I am EIG - 0011, I was called Adam," the blond-haired male said.

"I am EIG - 0280, I was known as Frela," the dark-haired female said.

"Good names and you two? What may I call you?" Derrick said.

"I am EIG - 501, I did not receive a name, sire," the light brown-haired male said.

"Would you like the name Henry?" Derrick asked, to which the male nodded vigorously. Then Derrick turned to a red-haired female. "What was your name?"

"I am EIG - 0996, I was called," the red head started when there was a shout.

"Tesal!" Kyle was saying.

"Kyle? You're still here! My wing mate! I have missed you," the red-headed man said as the two embraced.

Derrick nodded as he watched the two A. I.'s rejoice. "The four of you should rest before you begin your renewed service."

All four of them nodded, then bowed to Derrick, then faded. Well, Derrick thought, that's thirty-three, with one a lab ship and another as his flagship.

A small smile came to his features, let them come, he thought they had the firepower now.

Far beyond the edge of the Empire's Galaxy, the huge mass of ships was steadily moving forward. The alpha Queen watched as the number of ships increased. They had started with two, they were almost at three now.

With pride, she watched as the birth ships spit out a hundred ships every few hours. At this rate, they should have an overwhelming force when they arrive.

The Queen's eyes glowed as she thought of her people's full thoraxes. The thrilling screams of the humanoids as they were swallowed whole and crushed alive within them.

Ah, the Queen thought, a return to the old days when they fought their prey. It made their inevitable victory that much sweeter when they finally feasted on them.

The humanoid had no more than twelve at the most ships. They might resist for a bit, but the Cregon Empire had a grand advantage. Again, the Queen smiled as she knew that they would crush the humanoid once and for all.

She was nearing her lifecycle of over a thousand years. This was the one black mark on her reign as supreme Queen that she had to rectify.

The Queen noted that they were now at two million, nine hundred, fifty thousand. This would be her and the empire's greatest triumph.

Her thoughts turned toward the human emperor that had defeated four of her minor sub-queens. Though it was good to weed out the weakest of their race. The one that was responsible needed to have the wrath of her entire race fall upon him.

She would consume him for herself, absorbing all the knowledge that it contained. As easily as the queens had been defeated, his knowledge would finally make the Cregon race undefeatable.

A high-pitched laugh escaped her mouth, ah, the meal that she would make of O'Toma! She would enjoy it for many years to come as she swallowed parts of it.

A moment later an underling rushed into her royal chamber. "My Queen," his excited clicks started. "We are approaching the edge of the humanoid galaxy. We have also detected several million detection devices."

The Queen looked scathingly down at the underling; she was about to remove the head from the body. She was hit with an idea. "I assume that the devices will alert them to our presence?" She asked with something like a sneer.

"Yes my Queen," the underling said, bowing all the way to the floor. "Our scientists have confirmed that they will."

The Queen almost smiled when she saw that the underling had realized his mistake. This one, she thought, was by far smarter than any male she had ever seen. She stayed her claw as she allowed the underling male to leave.

She nodded her insect head as she thought, this is a new era. We are going to have to be far smarter than our prey if we are to survive.

Many of the attacks and tactics of this humanoid Emperor mirrored those of the one they first fought. Yes, she thought, this one seemed more military than any other than the first humanoid that they had fought.

Hmmm, she thought further it was obvious that she was going to have to study more. The other campaigns that the humanoid emperor had against the other races.

The Queen immediately called for all the recording of the fights that the humanoids had been through. She sat back reaching for a humanoid that screamed more as she tossed it in her maw and crunched it in delight.

Ummmm she thought this was going to be a thrilling and delicious time.

Risen had slowed coming out of trans-warp, figuring that the bitch of an A. I. knew he was coming. A very wide smile came to his features when he saw that there were a great amount of those huge ships in orbit.

Risen nodded as he figured that the bastard fake to the throne, was hiding behind these behemoths. He laughed almost maniacally; They knew, and they hadn't a chance to stop him. He had already proved that he was unstoppable.

He checked that the ship was indeed repaired before he dared to come out of the chamber. Seeing that all was indeed better, the chamber opened with a pneumatic hiss.

Risen sat to start to program with the few meager cyber skills he had. He almost had the A. I. that was in his ship, to the point that it could program itself.

He hated that he hadn't listened more in computer class, though he did have a family to kill. It had taken his every waking thought to figure out how to kill them all. Plus, he had deflected the evidence that it was him.

This hadn't been as easy as he had thought. All the years that he had, had to wait to implement it, even the first two had been maddening.

That old bastard of a grandfather had been the hardest. Plus there was the fact that the old bastard had locked him out of most of the family fortune.

True, the bastard was by far smarter than the rest of them. Even now, he was still having problems with the old goat gone. The day he had killed him, strange things had happened.

The cryptic message that had appeared that day: "Well boy, it seems you killed me. In a way, I'm glad I don't have to see just how much of an evil bastard you are. You are clever, I give you that though, not really that clever. You have no support system and you never will. One day you will know true defeat as you have given me. This is my legacy that you will die slowly, painfully and no one will care nor miss you." With that the old bastard had laughed.

Risen had found the message far more insulting than he should have. Of all the ass ever said, this was the trigger that set Risen off on a tangent of terror.

All the schemes that he'd pulled to amass the gigantic fortune did nothing to quell the hatred in him. He had thought all were below him, that all should bow to him as he felt he was the true emperor.

He had tried for years to get past the A. I. in the palace. He had sent hundreds to try and gain entry only to be disappointed and those he sent killed.

Then that ass of a fake had accomplished in an hour, what he'd tried for years to do. He had more than a vendetta against O'Toma, the ass had denied him his destiny.

He felt deep within his soul that he was the true emperor. He felt it so strongly that he'd kill O'Toma and take the throne. First though, he'd have to rid the palace of that ridiculous excuse of an A. I.

That was going to be harder than it at first appeared to be. He'd had an exorbitant amount of programmers writing for him to prepare for this moment.

He sighed because it was going to take longer to do this as he had to replicate more computer memory to do this. Then there was the fact that he'd have to add it also.

He started to have the ship and grow another twenty feet to accommodate the extra computer. It was a slow, boring wait though he had finally learned a little patience after all his plans got screwed.

He shook his head as he watched the ship start to glow in that section as a shield came up. He then turned away because this part would be slow.

He sat as he started to plan; this new inconvenience was going to merit it. He nodded his head, this new ass was smart, but he wasn't smarter than the great Duke Risen.

Mary was keeping a close eye on the three enemy planets that were within the empire. As of yet, they had gotten space worthy though they were moving in that direction.

She had her attention divided to the crisis with the three. Also, the four injured officers, the news from the Delcons. Then there was the invading Cregons and the hew ships.

She was still having to override her programming because the emperor was far too busy to procreate. It seemed that this war was drawing all his attention.

Then there was the former Duke Risen and his attempts to take the imperial planet. Lastly, there was the prime candidate that she was watching. He had already gone through the first process and was almost ready for the next.

She appeared in the older teens' room watching as the teen jumped up in surprise. "I apologize young prime it was not my intention to scare you."

Kondo put a hand to his chest as he said, "not scared as much as surprised. Are you here to dispatch the second treatment?"

Mary blinked a moment, "It appears that your language has advanced greatly."

"I noticed that myself when I woke up, I was actually surprised," Kondo said.

Mary nodded as Kondo laid down, preparing for the second treatment. Mary had the arm with the light on the end of it appear, then she passed it over Kondo's head three times.

A moment later, an almost golden glow appeared around Kondo. He held up a hand as the glow started to intensify.

"Uh, Miss Mary? Is this supposed to happen?" Kondo asked, with a bit of panic in his voice.

Mary immediately had several arms with scanners monitoring and taking readings.

"Are you feeling any adverse effects?" Mary asked as the readings were starting to worry her. She immediately called Derrick. "Sire? It appears that we have a situation," as she showed a live feed of Kondo glowing.

"I'll be right there!" Derrick said as he left the room with Shelby in tow.

Derrick and Shelby ran the whole way, forgetting that they could have IMTed there. Derrick held Shelby back as he accessed the room.

"Mary? Is the room safe to enter?" Derrick asked as he stood at the door.

"I am not detecting any radiation or a biological agent. I am scanning for any other dangers at," Mary was saying before a voice interrupted her.

"Where is the Emperor? I must see him immediately!" the voice said as Mary tried to sedate the older teen. The arm was snapped off as soon as it got close to the teen. "Stop it, you infernal vision. Call him, I must talk to him immediately."

"Sire, I advise against this," Mary said with Shelby nodding her agreement.

"I don't really think that you can hold him here, Mary. As long as there is no danger to me, then I think I should talk to him. Otherwise, we'll have to rebuild this section also," Derrick said as he pressed a button on his chest.

The door opened as he, then a tentative Shelby entered the room. The brightness of the teen started to dim 'til it was tolerable.

The teen started at Derrick, then shook his head. "You are not the emperor, if you were, then I could feel you. I feel nothing from you."

The teen got up to push Derrick out of the way, then was amazed when he couldn't touch Derrick. He felt around Derrick, then his eyes lit up.

"Ah, I see, a personal, force field. I am sorry, I must confirm that you are the Emperor before I can swear fealty unto you," the teen said.

"I am afraid that I can not allow that under the mandates set down by the first Emperor Gregor," Mary said. The teens head whipping around to stare at Mary. Then he turned to stare at Derrick. "You were there," he whispered. "I apologize Sire, I did not recognize you!"

OK, Derrick thought this was getting even stranger than usual. "I am a bit confused," Derrick said.

"Sire, the teen started. "I was there when you stopped the beam, well almost stopped the beam that she shot. It was you who then discovered the plan of the main programmer," the teen said.

Derrick stared at the teen, his eyes huge, no one but the three other people in the room knew. "No, there was no one else there. How?" Derrick said as he backed away. "No one else knows of my shame that day."

The teen lowered his head, "I was hiding behind the rows of the computer. I am or rather was Grather, Gregor's son."

Behind them, they heard the gasp of Mary, "No!"