Michael looked at Allison, turned to Chris, and whispered, “She really loves you!”
“How do you know?”
“It’s in her mind.” Chris’s eyes went wide and his tears began. Allison looked at him, “What’s wrong?”
“Michael hasn’t shown any signs of being telepathic for a very long time.” Allison looked at Michael who said, “I’m sorry, Dad. I didn’t mean to make you sad.”
Chris took him out of Allison’s arms and smiled, “You have just made me happier than you can ever know. Look at my mind.” Michael squinted and smiled a huge grin. He hugged Chris as Allison went under his free arm.
Lukas and Salud were going over the building reports when Alice stuck her head in the door and said, “The First Commander wishes to speak to you.”
Lukas and Salud looked at each other and Lukas said, “Send him in.” Alice Gomez opened the door and stepped aside as Chris walked in with Allison in civilian clothes and Lukas said, “What’s going on?”
“I wanted to stop by and let you know that I’ve hired an engineer to fly on my ship.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because I think they’re very qualified to do it.”
Salud smiled, “And just who is this engineer?”
Chris looked at Allison, “Engineer Simmons.”
Lukas started laughing and said, “Why doesn’t she just accept her commission?”
“Because I am her employer, not Fleet. She can’t be assigned elsewhere without my approval.”
“She couldn’t anyway.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, who has the authority to move her?”
“You do.”
“No I don’t. You’ve been chosen to lead all our forces. I only control Earth’s military. No one outranks you.” Chris’s eyes narrowed and he looked at Allison. Lukas said, “If you choose to assign her permanently to your staff, she would also be above the control of all the others in our Alliance.” Lukas paused and then sealed the deal, “The retirement pay of a fleet admiral is much higher than what an engineer would get.”
Allison blew out a breath, “Then swear me back in, Sir.”
“It’s not necessary. I never accepted your resignation. Is there something else you want to tell me?”
Allison looked at Chris and he said, “I’ve asked her to marry me and she accepted.”
Lukas smiled, “Now that is the smartest thing either of you have ever done.” Salud and Lukas stood up, came around the large desk, and hugged them. Lukas looked at Allison and said, “Welcome to the family.”
Allison’s tears were immediate and Salud leaned in and whispered, “Your ring really looks good on your hand.”
Allison smiled, “You shouldn’t have.”
“This is exactly what my father would have wanted.” Allison smiled and hugged her again.
Alice slipped out of the door and squealed. She ran to personnel to tell everyone. They celebrated a happy ending and beginning. The loudest squeals came out of a Barrier Pod right after Allison entered wearing her Admiral’s uniform. She felt her heart swell with the joy of all that had happened. She had a family and it was incredible. She knew it couldn’t get any better but Stoney and Kathy showed her it could.
Chapter Seventeen
Lukas, Jinks, Chad and Stoney sat around the conference table and stared at the star map on the wall size monitor. They looked at it in silence and Jinks sighed, “Are the scouts pretty certain about this?” Lukas nodded. The Milky Way was centered on the map with the giant Virgo Cluster looking like a small ball to the northeast. There was one red light flashing in it. Spread out above the single red light were thousands of galaxies with flashing red lights. There were no red lights to the east, west, or south of the Milky Way.
Lukas stared at it and shrugged, “They are expanding in our direction.”
Stoney nodded, “That explains why there are so many of them in M-87.”
Lukas nodded, “Let’s designate that galaxy Monster One, and you’re right. Once they take total control of that giant galaxy, they will expand out into the cluster and conquer the surrounding galaxies. Each of the Legends will then build conduits and take control of the other galaxies.”
Chad exhaled softly, “Once they control that piece of our cluster, they’ll be coming this way toward us and Andromeda.”
Jinks slowly shook his head, “I think they would have, under normal circumstances, gone to Andromeda. It’s larger than the Milky Way.”
Lukas nodded, “Our attacks will probably put us ahead of it.”
Chad shook his head, “I’m not so sure about that.” The three looked away from the map at him. Lukas said, “Why not?”
“Is it possible they will scout the two galaxies before they invade?”
“I’m sure they’ll start that process before they finish with the Virgo Galaxies. Our Local Group will come next.”
“There are millions of Sentinels in Andromeda, aren’t there?”
Lukas’s expression showed his shock and he stood up shaking his head, “They’ll launch everything they have at Andromeda. There will be no way Eden can avoid discovery!”
Chad gave a quick nod, “They will leave no stone unturned.”
Lukas sat down, “They may even call in help from other galaxies if they see how many Sentinels are there.”
Jinks looked at Stoney shaking his head and blew out a hard breath, “This is beyond frustrating.” Everyone looked at him. “We lose Earth to their first invasion and then kick their backsides during the second invasion. Now we’re at a technological advantage and where we can finally go after them in Monster One and discover there’s more of them than we knew…a lot more. This Pandora’s box just keeps spilling out all kinds of monsters and demons.”
Lukas looked at Jinks and lifted his wrist unit, “Chris, I need you in the conference room in Fleet Operations.”
“Lukas, I’m on my honeymoon.”
“I really hate calling you in but we’ve discovered some things that you’re going to have to decide on how to confront.”
“Me?”
“You are the overall commander. This is really scary stuff and we can’t delay deciding what to do.”
Chris looked at Allison who was listening to the call on the wrist unit’s speaker. She nodded, “We’ll finish it in space.” Chris shook his head and Allison smiled, “Chris, there are some views out there that make this pale in comparison.”
Chris looked out at the sun setting on a beach in Tahiti and knew she was right. “We’ll be there within the hour.”
“Thanks, Chris.” Lukas looked at the war leaders and nodded toward the door, “Let’s get something to eat. I suspect we’re going to be busy for a long time.”
Chris and Allison met them in the cafeteria and picked up a tray before sitting down. The four Senior Members of the Leadership Team congratulated them on their union and asked questions about all that had happened to bring them together. Before they finished, Salud, Sarah, Julie, Kathy, and Joey joined them. After another hour, they all stood and left for the conference room.
Lukas led the presentation bringing everyone up to date on what had been discovered and what they expected to happen once the Legends sent out scouts to Andromeda and the Milky Way. Lukas saw the fear on all the women’s faces. He knew what they were feeling. At the end, Lukas looked at Chris, “We’re at a loss on what we have to do to meet this threat. There’s no way we can build the numbers we’ll need to meet what they can throw at us.”
Chris stared at the star map for a long time in silence. The group watched him waiting and after ten minutes he looked around the table, “You’re presented a rather scary nightmare here.”