Jinks shouted, “Chris, where are you going!?” Chris was silent and continued walking through the blown out opening. “Chris…!” Chris walked out of the building in silence.
Allison felt her eyes moisten and she turned to the Leaders still lying on the floor. She took a long breath and said out loud, “You can hear my thoughts?”
The Leader closest to her thought where everyone could hear, “We can.”
Allison said, “Two things; first, you will not build another warship. Second, you will never leave this galaxy. Do you understand!?”
“We do.”
“Don’t be confused by what just happened. I didn’t do this for you, I did it for him. I am sending probes out to keep watch over you. If you violate either of these sanctions,” She nodded toward the opening, “He will come back and finish what he started today.” The Leader’s glanced toward the opening and the Leader thought, “We will do as you order. However, how will we defend ourselves against an invader?”
Allison lowered her eyes, “You won’t. That’s part of the price of your stupidity.” Allison pushed a button on her arm and said, “All ground forces will stand down, board your transports, and report back in formation at the coordinates where we launched our attacks.”
A moment later, Eve appeared on her unit, “Where is First Commander Stone? I’m unable to reach him.”
“He is unavailable and has left me in command.”
“You can’t be serious about stopping the attacks!”
Allison’s face turned hard and she said, “Admiral Axel, you will follow your orders immediately or I will have you arrested!”
Eve’s face turned ugly and she forced herself to say, “Yes Sir.”
Allison looked at the Leaders and then turned and walked out of the room. Jinks and the Heavy Warriors followed her. They arrived outside the building and they saw Chris’s bodyguards standing in a group. Lt. Bigler looked at Jinks and said, “He ordered us to stay here.” Jinks and Allison climbed into their Pods and lifted off the planet. They arrive at the recall coordinates and found the fleets already in formation waiting for their arrival. Allison thanked the crews and warriors for their bravery and issued orders on where each fleet would go to rearm. It took three hours to finish the assignments and then Allison pressed her communicator and saw Jinks appear, “Admiral Jekins. Would you take over and get the fleets back.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to find Chris.”
Jinks nodded and said, “Admiral, what you did in there today was either the bravest or the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. Which one was it?”
Allison sighed and shook her head, “It was a little bit of both, Sir.” Allison grabbed the flight controls and her pod went to maximum speed. Jinks watched her go and contacted Lukas.
Alley said, “Where did he go?” Allison felt her tears start and she put her head into her hands. “What’s wrong, Allison?”
“I stopped the only man I truly respect from getting closure today. I possibly harmed him more than he can bear and it’s all my fault.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“The only place he could go.” Allison switched all four reactors to power the thrusters and hoped she wasn’t too late.
Chapter Eight
Allison screamed through the void and entered normal space just outside the gravity limit. She slowed and entered Earth’s atmosphere and began the spiral down to the surface. Her display illuminated and Lukas appeared, “I’ve just spoken to Jinks and he told me what happened. I’ve been attempting to contact Chris since the call but he’s not responding.”
“Lukas, please wait and give him some room. You’ll only push him over the edge if you try to reach him now!”
Lukas stared at Allison and after a moment he said, “I need to talk to you as well, Admiral.”
“And I’ll meet with you later.”
Lukas stared at her and then the display went dark. Allison sighed and knew she would lose her stars over this but she didn’t care. She continued her flight to the surface and went to her quarters. She changed out of her sweaty uniform and hastily walked out the front door. She walked past the dune and down to the sand and saw the beach recliners ahead of her. She didn’t see anyone on them and she stopped and shook her head. She was wrong. She sighed and started to turn around and then she saw an arm reach over and take a glass off the sand. She blew out a breath, composed herself and went over to another recliner. She grabbed the end of it and dragged it over beside the other recliner and sat down on it. She didn’t look at him. She simply stared out at the ocean.
He didn’t look at her. He stared at the ocean in silence. They stayed that way for several hours. Finally, she heard Chris say, “Thank you.” She still didn’t look at him but she nodded. He remained silent for another hour and she said, “Have you gone to see Michael?”
“No, not yet.” She looked back out at the ocean and soon the sun was just a sliver above the horizon. “I would have killed them all.” Allison nodded again. He looked at her with those intense blue eyes and said, “If I had done that, I would have lost my soul.”
“I know.”
“That’s why you said what you did.”
“It is. I couldn’t let you do that to yourself,” she paused and finished, “or to Audrey’s memory.”
“I came close to killing you.”
“It was a risk I had to take.”
Chris nodded and looked back out at the ocean. They sat there in silence through the night until the first rays of the sun broke the horizon. Chris sighed and stood up. He looked at Allison and glanced back out at the sea, “I’ve asked her to forgive me.”
“She already has, Chris.”
Chris lowered his head and nodded. He turned and said, “I need to go and see Michael. Thank you Allison.” He walked up the beach, crested the dune and disappeared. She felt her tears start in earnest and she wept for what he had endured. She remained on the beach until noon and then went to her quarters and fell on the bed. It just wasn’t fair. She cried until her fatigue took her.
Chris activated his wrist unit and it immediately began alarming. He scrolled through the messages until he saw Lukas’s code numerous times; he pressed the button. Lukas appeared and before he could speak Chris said, “I’m going to see Michael. I’ll come to Fleet Operations in two days, if you’re ok with waiting until then?”
Lukas saw Chris’s expression and leaned back in his chair, “I’ll see you at ten in the morning.” Chris nodded and ended the call.
Lukas immediately called Salud and told her Chris was on his way to pick up Michael.
“Is he alright?”
“I don’t think he’s ready to discuss what happened so don’t pressure him.” Salud nodded and Lukas contacted Eve, “Chris is ok.”
“WHERE IS HE?!”
“Eve, he’s going to see Michael and he’s meeting with me in two days. Give him some space.”
“What happened to him?”
“I don’t know but I am not going to risk pushing him over an edge. Do not try to see him until after we talk.”
Eve’s expression showed her reluctance but then she nodded. Lukas contacted Jinks, “He’s coming in the day after tomorrow.”
“How did he sound?”
“Different.”
Jinks shook his head, “Let me know what happens.”
“I will.” Lukas leaned back in his chair and read the Fleet Reports on the attack. More than fifty thousand planets had been destroyed and nine thousand more heavily damaged. Lukas shook his head and blew out a breath. The cold hard reality of conquest was hard to bear. He began to understand what Chris might be going through.