“Katy at it again?”
“I don’t want to shut out all the others just to stop her. She reports to you, can you do anything?”
“Maybe you should give her a chance.”
“Maybe you should kiss an eel!”
Audrey laughed out loud. “I’ll call her in to my office and make it clear that she hasn’t learned proper protocol. I’ll tell her that all of her inquires will go through my desk first and that if she contacts one of my superiors without going through me, it had better be because I’m not available and someone is about to die.”
“Do you think that will do it?”
“She is ingenious.”
“Give it a shot. Let me know if you have any problems.”
“I’ve about had my fill of her. I should have battered her ears in when we were in school.”
“She’s pretty good in hand-to-hand.”
“Does she have our father’s reflexes?”
“No, but she will resort to dirty tactics.”
Audrey smiled, “I wrote the book on that. Besides, in her case, I will look at her mind.”
“If it comes to that, kick her…”
“Be nice.”
“Thanks, Sis.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Michael didn’t receive any more calls from Katy. She wondered how Audrey did it. He found out when Averel sent him a thought recording of the personal one-on-one hand-to-hand training Audrey ordered Katy to go through to ensure she was up to fleet standards. He watched the recording and winced several times. Now he understood.
“Hengel, it’s good to see you. Are you here to relieve me?”
“I am.”
“Congratulations on your union. Was the time off fun?”
“You better believe it. I’ve struck it lucky with my mate. How are things going here?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary.”
Hengel looked at the distant speck of light and furrowed his brow, “Why are you so far out from the planet?”
“If I moved any closer their ships would start moving toward me.”
“Have they improved their detection of the barrier this much in my absence?”
“If we move in five miles, they’ll start moving toward us.”
Hengel shook his head, focused on the Legends’ Planet, and then turned his attention to the monster ship being built. He listened closely and shouted, “They’re already installed the bulk of the reactors!!”
“But…how! I’ve not heard any orders to start the installation!”
“Jeeren, focus on workers complaining about working too hard.”
“They all complain.”
“Look for the ones complaining about having to work in heavy suits!”
Jeeren focused and a moment later said, “You’re right. There’s only ten reactors left to install. How did I miss this!?”
Hengel thought, “AVEREL!! THE GIANT SHIP HAS MOST OF ITS REACTORS INSTALLED!!”
“WHAT!?”
“Jeeren missed it. Notify Michael immediately. If he doesn’t take it out quickly, it will be fully operational in six days!”
The klaxons were blaring at full blast in fleet operations as Michael ran into the building, “Averel, where are we?”
“All of the wings that have been practicing for the assault are being assembled as we speak. The six Heavies are being armed with their rounds and should be ready to go within four hours.”
“What about the Sentinels?” Michael focused and thought, “Pat!”
“I’ve contacted nine of my brothers and they are being taken there on Silver Ships. Piper is coming to pick me up and we’ll be ready to go before the Heavies are loaded.”
“Thanks Pat. Averel, how did we miss this?”
“It’s not Jeeren’s fault, Commander. He did everything by the book but the Legend did not issue any orders to install the reactors. The builders just followed a blue print without being issued orders.”
“Then how did we find out about this?”
Averel sighed mentally, “Hengel showed up to relieve him and none of us are as good as he is at seeing things. He ignored the Legend and focused on the ones building that ship. He listened for complaints about having to work in heavy, bulky radiation suits. He found them and learned they’re going to complete the installation in six days. The ship will then be fully operational.”
“Hengel will not be scouting anymore!”
“But Commander! He didn’t make this mistake.”
“He will come here and teach scouts how to do what he does! We can’t depend on him to do it all. He has to teach others what he knows.”
“Did you say come here?”
“I did.”
“Oh, by all means he should be made a teacher.”
“Averel, are you being selfish?”
“I already miss him. Having him here will be a dream come true.”
“Who’s in command of the assault ships?”
“Audrey has selected the top pilots from her fleets to participate. Laney will be in direct command of the assault.”
“Then I know they’ll be up to the task. I’m skipping out to take a look at what’s going on.”
“I’ll notify Admiral Stone of your departure.”
“Have she and Laney contact me when everyone is ready to go.”
“Yes Sir.”
Michael took the elevator to the top of the building and saw Angelo hovering three feet of the landing pad. He sprinted into the open port and it slammed shut behind him. He ran to the bridge and went to the command chair, “Get us to that planet!” The Two hundred yard long Battle Pod shot off the top of the building and moved through the atmosphere at slightly less than the speed of sound. It went into the barrier while still in the atmosphere and the sound of air rushing into the place it disappeared from caused a massive thunderclap. Michael looked at the monitor and saw the Virgo Cluster pass in an instant. In another twenty seconds, the glowing ship slowed and stopped half a million miles from the Legends’ Planet where the monster ship was being built. “Show me what you’ve got, Angelo.”
An image of the planet appeared on the tactical monitor and it was still too far away to see details…but…it was easy to see the millions of Black ships around the planet even from that distance. “Do you have the status of the assault force?”
“The ships are completing their formations now. We still have a few hours before the Heavies are armed.”
“Michael!”
“Yes Luke.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m at the Legends’ Planet.”
“Alone?”
“The others will arrive in a few hours.”
“I can’t order you to do anything now but I am going to insist that you assign a bodyguard to your ship before any other attack. I’m asking you to do this because I love you.” Michael sighed. “Your father didn’t want one either but you know accepting one turned out to be one of the best things he did. Please do this for me.”
“I’ll talk with you about it when I get back.”
“But…”
“I’m not saying no. I just want to discuss it, ok?”
“Plan to see me as quick as you get back.”
“Luke, there’ll be some things I have to do after the smoke clears on this operation but I promise I’ll meet with you before I go out again.”
“That’s good enough.”
“Commander.”
“Fleet Admiral, are your warships ready to launch?”
“They are. The Heavies are having their cannons loaded and will be ready to go shortly.”
“Audrey, we have got to develop a faster way to get them ready!”
“The only safe place to do it is out in open space beyond the Solar System. Those rounds are temperamental and it’s a slow process getting them into the barrels.”
“I know, but if we intend to use them, we need to have them ready.”