Rose stepped forward and handed them their medals. Wes was amazed. Sprig was also stunned. Twig and Linda Kay ran up to their mates and held them tightly. The crowds went crazy. Rose then turned to the crowds and raised her hand. After silence was restored, Rose looked at the monitor and said, “We will be going to confront the Captors soon. The Stars Realm’s fleet is getting ready as we speak and I want you to tell all of those you know in the fleet how much they mean to you and how much you appreciate their sacrifice. However, today is a day for celebration. Let the festivities begin.”
The speakers erupted into music and the crowd roared and moved to the music. Tommy looked at Cassandra and said, “I love you. I’ll always love you.”
Cassandra just moved close and held him tight.
Atlas watched the proceedings from high orbit above Ross and thought about all that he had seen. He could still hear his brothers talking among themselves and he wondered if he was like them before he came to know this race called human. Now they sounded petty and small and he actually found no pleasure in hearing them. The female who was the lone dissenting voice among them was shouted down by the mass of voices. Atlas thought about the Gardners and their place in the universe. Something was operating to bring those super psychics together. Tommy and Cassandra coming together was unavoidable. He could see that they were driven together. He just could not understand the power that made it happen. Tag and Danielle were of the opinion that it was their DNA that forced them together. What they did not think about was that their DNA came partially from him and not one of the members of his race throughout their long history had shown the psychic power of these Gardners. Perhaps if his race had kept their physical forms and had not moved into the silver ships they might have eventually become what these humans are. Well, that can’t be it either; his race was more than a million years older than the humans when they moved into the ships. Nothing like this happened before the metamorphosis. Atlas thought about the eight legs and knew they were going to return eventually to harvest this universe again. His race survived because they were able to hide; simply power down and wait for them to leave. There was no way the Stars Realm could do that. He looked down at Tommy and Cassandra dancing and thought about the strength of their minds. He didn’t want to lose his favorite child and humans had such short life spans. Tag and Danielle had their life spans changed when he gave them their force fields and weapons but that had been eliminated when Rose removed all that he had done. Now he thought about who was more important to the survival of the Stars Realm and he had to admit that although Rose was important, it was the weapon of Tommy and Cassandra that was needed more. Should he discuss it with them? Nooooo, it would only get complicated. The next time Tommy came on board he was going to extend his life. Once Tommy was done, he could do the same to Cassandra when Tommy made physical contact with her. Atlas paused and thought about the two adolescents but he had no worries there; their normal life span was hundreds of thousands of years. The Eldest was more than three million years old. He still heard his brothers and sisters talking about conquest. He turned off the frequency they were using to communicate; he tired of their self importance. He tasted his disappointment and thought about what their reaction was going to be if the Captors were eliminated and they were not released. That was not a moment to look forward to seeing. Atlas turned his attention back to the wedding and listened to the music. Sometimes he wished he had a body to join in on the dancing. He gave a mental sigh and continued to watch the celebration on the planet below.
Chapter 16
The Captor warrior jumped into a system with a planet that obviously had advanced intelligent life. He was looking for the strange white ship that had attacked the home planet and had found nothing. He scanned the planet and noticed a white ship keeping station above it. He matched it to the ship he was looking for and it did not match. He started to jump away but then matched the ship to the other smaller ships involved in the last attack and discovered that the shape was very similar. The energy reading was completely different but it did physically look like those other ships. He thought about what he should do for a moment then contacted the First Male and sent him a recording of the scan he had just completed. The First Male received the scan and said, “Just a moment. I’m setting up the First Mother’s defense. I’ll contact you momentarily.”
The Warrior held his position and waited for the First Male.
Admiral Mikado contacted Tommy on his emergency frequency, “Duke Gardner, a Captor ship had entered the Crengren system and is sitting stationary at the moment. One of our Megaships is holding station above the planet.”
Tommy punched the control panel on his chair and the ship’s internal alarms went full blast, “Battle stations, all hands to battle stations.”
Tommy linked Cassandra to his com and said, “Admiral, give me the megaships frequency now.” Mikado punched it in and sent it to Tommy’s com. Tommy cut the connection and commed the SR Megaship Phelagend. Captain Gidhu appeared on his com. “Captain, what is your status?”
“Your Highness, the Captor ship is holding its position in the outer system and is not moving. The ship is approximately eighteen hundred miles in diameter and is glowing bright red.”
“Captain, there’s not much time; you are going to have to draw that ship away from the planet. You stand no chance against it in combat and I think it is your ship that has caused the Captor to stop. Order your jump officer to program in five hundred random jumps immediately and if that ships moves, jump out of the system and don’t stop jumping. I am giving you a coordinate for the final jump. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Tommy then thought to Sprig, “Where are you right now?”
“I’m in the library at Castle Gardner.”
“I need you and Twig on the Kosiev immediately.”
Sprig and Twig appeared one second later on the Kosievs’ bridge.”
“Duchess Gardner, update them on what’s happening.” Cassandra linked with the two adolescents and gave them the situation.
Tommy then pressed his com and said, “Wes, what is the status of your ship?”
Wes appeared on the display and said, “We are currently holding station above Sten’s Planet with four of the converted pulse ships. The Rossville is at one hundred percent efficiency.” Wes was given the command of the Rossville which was Admiral Dorg’s flag ship during the Algean War. It was another Megaship that bore a strong history.
“Go to battle stations and take the four ships to the coordinates I’m sending you and expect a megaship to arrive being chased by the Captors. Do not allow your ships to be caught in energy blasts; I expect multiple Captors to take up the chase. Have one of your ships place a teleport screen in front of the coordinates set to one transfer and send the megaship to a safe location. Kill as many Captors as possible then have your squadron escape in different directions away from the Realm; teleport to safety when you must.”
Wes looked at his screen and said, “We’re on our way.”
Tommy commed Captain Gidhu and said, “Captain, if you make it to the final coordinates there will be a silver field in space directly in front of your ship. Take your ship through that field immediately on entering normal space; do not delay.”