Michael bowed and looked around the room, “We have more than we can do and we’re behind at the moment. However, time is on our side. For the immediate future, we’ll work on defense satellites, ship building facilities in all four galaxies, expanding our simulators to all four galaxies, force fields and thought blockers around as many planets as possible and finally having a wedding.”
Jan jerked her head up and Michael smiled, “If that is agreeable with you?” Jan was out of her chair and in his arms in an instant. He took a ring out of his pocket and held it out, “This is an exact duplicate of Allison’s ring. Salud gave it to me when I told her what I was going to do.” He lifted her chin and looked in Jan’s eyes, “Will you marry me?” Jan couldn’t speak but she could nod. Michael slipped the ring on her finger and pulled her tight. The meeting ended with the others crowding around the two lovers congratulating them.
Katy took Jan’s hand and stared at her ring, “It’s really beautiful.”
“Katy, I’m sorry things didn’t work out for…”
Katy put a finger on Jan’s lips, “Don’t be. I learned the hard way that I’m not up to dealing with our First Commander. It took him scaring the living crap out me to see it. I no longer want that. I see that you have what it takes to meet him on a level playing field and that is what both of you need. I really am happy for both of you.”
Jan smiled and hugged Katy tightly, “You will always be my First Admiral, Katy. I love you.” Katy smiled and hugged her.
Audrey went over to Michael and watched Katy and Jan hugging. “I assume you discussed this with Mom and Dad?”
“I did.”
“Are they coming to the wedding?”
Michael’s eye’s narrowed, “Now that I think about it, they didn’t say.”
“Why are they avoiding us, Michael?” Michael stared at his half-sister and his eyes narrowed and he shook his head. “I think you need to find out.” Michael looked at Jan and nodded, “I will.”
“Chris.”
“Yes, Averel.”
“I’m about to take leave to have my baby but I thought you should know that Michael is coming to visit.”
“WHY!”
“Audrey has brought up the point that you appear to be avoiding them. They intend to find out why.”
“OH CRAP!”
“Chris, you have the answer.”
“What answer are you talking about and do you always meddle in everything?!”
“Of course. That’s who I am. However, what orders did Chris give to all of the Alliance’s Forces and said there will be no exceptions?”
Chris looked at Allison who was listening in and saw her smile. She walked over to the front office and brought a small box back with her. Averel saw her in Chris’s mind and smiled, “It’s about time you open your mail.”
Allison took out a small knife and began cutting through the packing tape, “What is that?”
Allison smiled, “We received this after Michael issued those orders.” She opened the box and took out two thin black headbands.
Chris looked at them, started smiling and shaking his head, “Averel, you are a genius!”
“Wear them well.”
“Someday, somebody is going to force you to keep one of these on all the time.”
Averel laughed, “Probably, but not today.”
Allison put the black band on and looked at Chris, “How do I look?”
“As beautiful as ever.”
“Then contact Michael and tell him we’re coming to meet his new fiancé.” Chris smiled and pressed his wrist unit.
Chapter Eighteen
Michael looked at the wall monitor and leaned back in his chair. Seven years had passed too quickly. It really seemed like the meeting had taken place just a few moments earlier but the Alliance had changed dramatically over the years. The first change was the most dramatic and he remembered when Budge, Nudge, Amanda, and Trevor had asked him to come see them in Hanger X.
“Hi, guys, what’s going on?”
Amanda looked at him and said, “We want you to take a look at a ship we’ve been working on.”
“Sure.” They led him across the gigantic hanger and they entered an Attackship. Budge went to the controls and the others took a seat in chairs that had been installed. One of them was empty, so Michael took a seat. “What’s going on?”
“Do you remember a place in M-87 that holds a special place in your heart?”
Michael looked at Amanda and smiled, “The destruction to the Legends’ Planet by my Father will always be a special place for me.”
Michael saw Budge turn around and activate a display above the panel. A gigantic list of codes began scrolling down at high speed and suddenly stop with one of the codes highlighted. Budge put his hand over a button on the console and turned around, “It’s always good to visit places you miss.” Michael’s head tilted as Budge pushed the button behind him.
Michael didn’t feel anything but saw light coming through the main viewport. He looked and saw the Legends’ Planet below the ship. His eyes went wide and his mouth fell open, “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”
Amanda smiled, “We found out how everything in the universe is connected. You and Jan were right. Space is an abstraction that doesn’t disconnect matter. Everything solid is still in touch.” Michael stood up and walked over to the viewport and stared at the planet below the ship. He started shaking his head and Amanda said, “Light is key.” Michael turned around. “Everything that is made of matter reflects it and that light has the unique properties of the object it reflects off. Once you have that object’s light frequency, you can travel that beam to it instantly. Light is the rails that take you to your destination.”
Michael was shaking his head, “But you couldn’t see the light from this planet? And you were inside a building that had to be blocking it.”
Amanda smiled, “Once you activate the drive, the ship it surrounds leaves on any light wave as it searches for the light with the proper frequency.”
Trevor nodded as he took Amanda under his arm, “And since all matter is still in touch with each other, the search takes no time at all.”
“But…there are galaxies more than ten billion light years away.”
“And we still see that light with our space telescopes. That light is here and everywhere else around that galaxy. We travel that light to the matter that reflected it or sent it out into the universe. You and Jan were also right that space, for all intents and purposes, does not exist when you want to travel to anything made of matter.”
Michael stared out of the viewport and shook his head, “How long will it take you to return to where you started?” In an instant, Michael saw the interior of the giant hanger outside the viewport. He shook his head and looked at them, “This is…is…I don’t have the words.”
Nudge smiled, “We’re still in the discovery phase of this drive but we’re working on making it usable by our ships. That’s going to take some extremely delicate maneuvering to keep the ship far enough away from the object it’s traveling toward without a collision.”
“How will you do that in a space battle?”
Amanda looked at the display and said, “Where are space battles fought?”
Michael shrugged, “Mostly in normal space.”
“And every object in normal space is reflecting light even if the light isn’t much more than a wave. The light waves traveling through space from distant galaxies, nebulas, stars, or anything else that gives off light will be hitting any ship in normal space as they pass. We can detect the light that reflects off an enemy ship and lock it in our sensor library.”
Michael nodded, “So, the pilot can then use this new drive to move in on that target?”