Escape to Earth-The Legacy of a Conqueror (13 page)

Chris stared at them and then shook his head, “You’re doing this because I grabbed her neck?”

“Among other things, yes.”

“I guess I should be happy you’re allowing me to go out at all. Would it help if I told you I’m ok and have found peace with what happened?”

Both of them chuckled and Salud said, “No. We’d know it’s not true.”

Chris shrugged and Lukas said, “You are still our First Commander but on any scouting mission, Admiral Simmons can veto any decision you make.”

“Guy’s, I’m not going to rush into danger to lose my life!”

“Good, then you shouldn’t have a problem with this.”

Chris waved a hand and said, “Have it your way.”

“We’re building a special Pod for you.”

“Oh?”

“It’s larger so both of you will have your own quarters and all three of the computers in your ships are being installed on board.”

“Barbie will be the lead computer.” Chris stared at them and then said, “When you promote her over me then she can have her computers in charge. Until that happens, my computer will be the lead.”

Lukas looked at Salud and shrugged. She lifted her eyebrows and Lukas said, “We’ll make it happen.”

“Good.” Chris stood up and shook hands with Lukas and hugged Salud, “Tell Eve to come see me after she sees the recording Willow has made.” They nodded and Chris walked out of their office.

Salud looked at Lukas, “Allison is not going to like this. We promised her the lead computer would be hers.”

“Then she’s going to have to deal with it. If she refuses, I’ll order her to go or turn in her resignation.”

“She might call you on it.”

“If she does, then so be it. Chris is needed more than any other leader we have outside of Jinks and Stoney. She’ll just have to accept it.” Salud nodded and wondered if they were going to lose a good commander over this.

• • •

Allison was hot! She left Lukas’s office and went directly to the beach where she found Chris and Michael. She stormed up and forced herself to gain control of her emotions. Chris saw her walking over the dune toward him still wearing her uniform. He then saw her expression and looked at Michael, “Why don’t you go and play with your toys in the sand?”

Michael looked over his shoulder and saw Allison walking toward them. “Adult stuff?”

“I think you could appreciate it but I don’t think she’d appreciate you listening.”

Michael shrugged and walked over to his sand fort building buckets and shovels. Allison saw Michael walk away and she picked up her pace. “You are going to do something about this!!”

Chris looked up at her from his chair, raised his sunglasses, and said, “Do you no longer salute a superior officer when you are in uniform?”

Allison almost lost it but quickly realized that Chris could have her tossed out of the service just as quickly as Lucas. She took a breath and came to attention and saluted. Chris returned her salute and said, “Sit down, Admiral. What’s got you cooking?”

“I was made promises and then they were broken. When I complained, I was offered the door to my commission.”

“They promised you one of your computers would be the lead.”

“They did!!”

Chris lowered his sunglasses and said, “After you kept your cool when I grabbed your neck, it surprises me that you’ve lost it now. You’re not really thinking this through.” Allison was ready to grab his neck. His cool, calm demeanor only infuriated her more. Chris took a small breath and blew it out, “Sit there and listen quietly, Admiral! Nod if you understand.” Allison’s face turned bright red with her anger but she forced herself to nod. “Whichever computer is chosen to be the lead computer, it should be the one that would offer us the best chance of survival. Nod if you agree.” Allison hesitated but then nodded. “The main two reasons of your having two computers on your ship is to first, collect data, process it, and then provide you with information to make good decisions.” Allison stared at him without nodding and Chris said, “I know. You also use them to fight your ship to free you up to keep a view of the big picture. Am I right?” Allison nodded.

“Is either of your computers telepathic?” Allison’s eyes narrowed and her head tilted. “Are they?”

Allison said, “No.”

“Barbie is telepathic and has saved me numerous times when she heard the thoughts of the crews on enemy ships. She has reacted fast enough to save us from ambushes and she has also been able to home in on the thoughts of our enemies. If one of your computers were the lead computer, she would have to tell it when to run and give detailed instructions on how to steer toward the thoughts of another ship. Does either of your computers possess a skill that would trump her telepathic ability?”

Allison stared at him and then took a deep breath, “No, they don’t. You’re right, your computer should be the lead.”

“The real problem with your accepting this is one of control.”

Allison’s eyes narrowed as she tilted her head, “What?”

“You’ve always had control of your ship from the moment you became a pilot. Even when you were leading my bodyguard, you made all the decisions about when to defend, when to attack, you controlled their actions. Sure, you followed my orders but you determined how to make them happen. By not having one of your computers in the lead position, you would not be in control and that is something that frightens you. You trust your own judgment more than anyone else. You can’t accept the role of being a passenger on our ship.”

Allison had regained her composure and thought about what Chris said. Chris looked at her and smiled, “You are still missing the obvious.”

Allison looked up, “What is that?”

“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.

T
he 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.”

Chris sighed and nodded, “I never knew you were this wise.”

“Me either.”

“Huh?”

“I wish I could describe what was going on in my mind when I was watching you kill that Leader but I could see where you were headed. I had to stop you for your sake and for selfish reasons.”

“Selfish?”

“I didn’t want to lose the best warrior in our fleets. I had to try and save the conqueror we were all going to follow. I didn’t want to lose my soul with yours.”

Chris stared at her for a long moment and said, “I have to confess that I did not want you going out with me!”

“I felt the same.”

“But now I think you will be an asset. You’ll see things I miss.”

“Thank you, Sir. Coming from you, that means a lot.”

“I think I can convince Lukas to relieve you of this burden.”

“No, I think I want to see what a telepathic ship can do and you’ve tickled my curiosity. I need to see what we’re up against to plan an effective counter. Thank you for helping me see the situation. You did it nicely and I don’t know if I would have showed your patience.”