“Whose ship is it?”
“What?”
“Whose ship are we going out on? Do you think it’s your ship?”
“My two computers are being installed on it.”
“So?” Allison’s eyes widened and Chris nodded, “You see it now. Once Lukas determines that I don’t need someone with me, I will not be the one leaving. Of course, if you’re promoted over me, then you will keep the vessel.”
“I don’t see that happening.”
“It very well could, Admiral. You’ve demonstrated superior command talents and you’ve risen quickly in this navy.”
“I wouldn’t accept the position.”
“Pray tell why not?”
Allison blew out a quick breath and shook her head, “I could not make the decision on who lives and who dies. Someone else will have to do that. Give me a target, and I’ll remove it. Beyond that, I don’t want it.”
“No one does, Allison. It’s forced on you and you do the best you can with the information you’re given. I think you would do much better than you think. However, I pulled rank and forced Lukas to make Barbie the lead, not because of her telepathic ability, although that is reason enough to do it, but for the same reason you wanted it: control.”
Allison stared at him and looked out at the ocean for a moment. “I’m being stupid, aren’t I?” Chris smiled and nodded. “Not only is Barbie telepathic, you are as well. You also know more than I ever will because of that ability.” Chris tilted his head and nodded again. “You will also be making the decisions and I can only stop you; I won’t be deciding what we do.”
“And what do you glean from this realization?”
Allison shook her head, “I need to go put on a swimsuit and come back to discuss what we’re going to do.”
Chris laughed, “Take your time. I’m going to spend some time with Michael before we start prioritizing our goals.” Allison stood up, saluted, did an about face and headed toward the dune. Chris shook his head. He remembered when she first showed up to lead his bodyguard at sixteen years old. She looked so young! He chuckled and then it struck him. He was ten years old when that happened. She was six years older than him then as well as now. No wonder she balked at giving up the lead. She was twenty-three now and she probably saw him as a sixteen year old. He thought about it and wished he was ten again.
He looked out at the ocean and remembered a pink and blue sail. No trace was found of the small boat carrying Audrey. It was vaporized in the nuclear blast. He sighed and was thankful he could remember her the way she looked as he pushed her out into the waves. Her smile was radiant and she was so beautiful. The blast happened so fast that he didn’t even have time to connect telepathically. He nodded and knew he could always come here and see her traveling across the waves anytime he wanted.
Chapter Nine
The Greatest Leader had learned how to manipulate the Legends. They had contacted him to order him to resume the invasion of the spiral galaxy and all he had to do to stop them was to suggest, “Great Leader, if I send my warships to invade the spiral galaxy, the evil ones that attacked the Others along with the ships rebelling in the other galaxy will combine and attack us here. They will probably target your planet first.”
“HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS?!”
“It’s what you would do. Did you not have us invade the first time to kill that entity there that was leading our enemies?” The Progen waited a moment and then gave them a way to save face, “Besides, you’ve seen the power of their new vessels. I need time to modernize my fleets to a level where they can stand up to them.”
“Then we should go back and retake the other galaxy.”
“The same thing will happen if we do. The attackers of the Others will return along with the forces from the Spiral Galaxy. Until we can match their technology, I would not want to see you placed in danger.”
The Legend disappeared and didn’t contact him again…until after the attack on the galaxy that invaded. He was ordered to send his fleets to take possession and knew he had no choice but to do it. But he was saved by the spiral galaxy. As his ships organized outside the edge of the galaxy, a giant fleet of ships arrived and hung in space waiting. They didn’t attack; they just held their formation and waited. The Legend’s Leader contacted him and called off the invasion of the Elliptical Galaxy. He moved his ships back into the galaxy and the giant fleet of ships hanging in open space disappeared.
His fleets still outnumbered the fleets sent from the spiral galaxy and the Legends were still unaware of the new technology he was using to strengthen his warships. He was also building new warships at an incredible rate. He wondered if they could stand up to the Silver Ships that invaded the other galaxy. He didn’t know but he had his engineers continue to work on even newer technology to handle that issue.
He left his tub and flowed to the table and inserted an appendage into the receptacle at his station. He watched the recordings from the probes that were placed in the Elliptical Galaxy and didn’t like what he was seeing. He pressed a button on the table and flowed back to his tub. He informed the lead scientist that if he didn’t develop the technology to defeat the ships from the spiral galaxy, that he, along with all of his team, would be replaced by those that could. He didn’t have to say the scientists would not be alive to witness their replacement. He smiled at the fear of the scientist as he ended the call. Sometimes, a little motivation was needed to get things done.
Allison sat on the beach chair waiting for Chris to return from putting Michael to bed. He finally returned and smiled, “Michael took a little longer to settle down. He’s aware that I’ll be leaving again and he worries about me.”
“He’s a fine boy, Chris.”
Chris stared at her and said, “You mentioned before that you challenged me because of your concern about me. I could look at your thoughts but I thought we would start this mission with the understanding that your thoughts will be kept private. I won’t violate your privacy. Why did you say that?”
“Because you were about to cross a line that you would never be able to return from. I knew that once you cooled off and looked at what you did in cool reflection, you would never be the same. You’d know that Audrey would have never approved of your actions and that realization would drive you insane. Your only option would be to become a real monster hell bound to kill every intelligent being you saw as a danger to Earth. I had to stop that from happening.”
“How did you know that?”
“Because I know you. Those years protecting you and Audrey gave me the opportunity to learn who the two of you were. You were almost a single person and you lost half of your life when she died. You had to be given the time to bring her back into your psyche. You didn’t take the time to do it before you left to attack M-84.”
Chris nodded. He looked out at the ocean and said, “That night you found me here…I asked her to forgive me and I knew I had done something she would have never accepted. If she had been with me when I confronted those leaders, she would have seen that the High Leader was the only one responsible for what happened.” Chris looked at Allison, “She’s with me now and I’ll never lose what she taught me. Now I have to live with all those that were murdered because of my rage.”
Allison hesitated and then said, “After the fact, it’s better it happened the way it did.”
“How can you say that?”
“Because it would have to happen before enough fear could be generated in M-87. They take us seriously now. However, to have carried our attack further would have left our forces with a monster leading them. You also had to learn a lesson.”