The Fight for Creation: Book 01 - Life Warrior (24 page)

Sara waved her hand at her and said, “Strictly by accident. Here, take this Jon and you can take Molly out tomorrow and show her around.”

Jon took the tablet and said, “You’ve made some good choices.”

“Good. We’ll see you in the morning.” Robert and Sara stood and hugged them both and left the room.

Jon and Molly sat staring at the fire and Molly sighed heavily and said, “I’m sorry, Jon.”

“You should be.”

“I know. I just can’t help saying what I think. I’ll behave.”

Jon nodded and Molly stood up, “I’m calling it a day. I’ll see you in the morning. Jon stood and Molly came over and gave him a hug. “I am sorry.” She turned and left the room.

Jon sat back down and stared at the fire for two more hours before he went to his room. Molly saying he was no better than Juliette and James Dodd if he shirked his responsibility had hit him at his core. He didn’t want to agree with her but he couldn’t come up with a defense to prove her wrong. Ergo, she must be right. There had to be another way. He did not want the crown. He didn’t deserve it.

• • •

The next two days were a blur for Molly. The numerous places Jon showed her and the evenings spent with his parents were the most peaceful and happiest time she had since the death of her family. The final day before they were scheduled to leave, Jon took her to Colony Park. She saw the statues of the Cainth beaming the Ross settlers. She went to Dorg-Ross’s memorial and looked at the statue of the small Cainth. Jon watched her staring at the statue and said, “What are you thinking?”

Molly slowly shook her head and said, “The war with the Algeans was ended because of the bravery of this small admiral. He spent his life trying to make up for the deaths of the Ross colonists. He still never forgave himself for what happened.”

Jon said, “He died one of the Realm’s greatest heroes.”

“Where would the Realm be now if he had simply gone away and felt sorry for himself?”

“What are you saying, Molly?”

“You lost your parents and you don’t think you’re deserving of your title or the crown. Dorg-Ross didn’t think he deserved any of the honors he was given either.” Molly looked at Jon and said, “Why is it that the greatest of those among us never see how wonderful they are?” She turned and continued to stare at the statue. Jon stared at Molly.

Later that day, Jon landed the shuttle in the Creator’s Song’s landing bay and Molly stood and stepped out of the port while Jon turned off the shuttle’s systems. Jon exited and found Molly waiting. “Jon, this has been the happiest four days in my life. Thank you for sharing your home and family with me.” She stepped back and saluted him. Jon returned her salute and watched her leave the landing bay. He had been hoping for a hug. He felt the tingle and linked with Dern and Teg, “How was the trip home?”

Jon said, “I’ll tell you about it later.”

Teg said, “Was it that bad?”

“No, nothing like that. It was the best time I’ve ever had. I wish it didn’t have to end.”

Jon walked out of the landing bay and went to his office before he remembered that Molly could hear his thoughts when he linked to his brothers. He was surprised she hadn’t said anything.

Molly sat in her room and refused to allow her feelings to take her. She had lost one love to this war; she was not going to face that loss again.

T
he Supreme Spirit looked down on the planet being consumed. He shut off outside stimuli and searched for the psychic thread. He found it and saw that the consumption of the planet was not going to be interrupted. He activated his senses and looked at the planet again. This should be completed shortly. “One of our fleets is failing to respond to us.”

The Supreme Spirit looked over at the First Spirit controlling communications and showed his displeasure at being interrupted, “That’s happened in the past.” He turned back to viewing the planet.

“Supreme Spirit, eight other fleets have attempted contact and have failed. One has called and requested I attempt contact.”

The SS turned around again and looked at the First, “And?”

“They are not responding to your call.”

The SS turned and stared at the First. “How long have they been ignoring the calls?”

“Eight mini-flashes.”

“What do you know about that fleet?”

“It was a primary training fleet.”

The SS said, “Have all fleets send out a call for them.”

The First turned back to his station and began moving the grey mist in front of him. The SS went back into the psychic thread and looked for a clue on what had happened to the fleet. He queried the thread thousands of times and found that the thread also had no contact with that fleet. He activated his senses and turned to the First, “That fleet has been destroyed.”

The First stopped in midsentence and stared at the Supreme Spirit. He knew he was dead if he asked the obvious question, “Are you sure?” He stared at the Supreme Spirit and waited. “Do we know where they were located when they stopped responding?”

“We know the location of their last attack. They always report in once an attack is completed, but that was several flashes ago. They could have gone anywhere. They would have taken the best possible psychic trace and followed it. I’m certain that trace no longer exists.”

The SS felt his anger rising and he said, “I want scouts sent out to the last contact location. Have them fan out and search for the death residue. If that many of us were killed, there will be a large enough residue to be found. Tell the scouts to find it or don’t come back.”

The First focused on his station and issued the orders. More than a billion adolescent Dremor rushed through space to the last know location of the missing fleet and fanned out. They retrieved their tendrils from normal space and flew faster than light looking for the distinctive residue a Dremor always left behind when it died.

The SS knew that the missing fleet was something to be taken seriously. If an agency had killed that fleet, his other fleets were also in danger. He went back to the psychic thread but found nothing to help him. Something was operating outside the psychic thread. That worried him more than the missing fleet.

• • •

Jon, Dern, Teg, and Molly were on a planet training their Warriors on switching their armor from modern to Old Realm. They stood on a hill watching the training and Dern turned to Jon, “Why are you having them do this training?”

“The Dremor are not going to take the destruction of one of their fleets without some kind of response.”

Molly frowned, “What do you think they’ll do?”

“First, they’ll destroy that planet we saved and then they’ll come after us.”

Molly said, “Shouldn’t we go and protect that planet?”

“There’re not enough of us with the old armor to do it. I suspect they’ll be coming in a major offence and it won’t be with Dremor that just rush into our armor and die. These will be smart and they won’t die as easily.”

Teg looked at the Life Warriors training and said, “We’ve increased the charge capacity of the old armor.”

Jon looked at him, “How did you do that? I thought they were charged to the maximum level by exposure to the star.”

“They were, but we loaded the new armor with hundreds of power packs. They will take over the charging if the level drops below twenty percent.”

Dern said, “Those packs will also help with the new armor as well.”

Teg shook his head, “When have you ever seen the new armor run low on power?” Dern raised his eyebrows and shrugged. Teg said, “They don’t. The old armor is basically firing a high powered blaster continuously around the Warrior. That takes a tremendous amount of power.”

Molly said, “Can the field strength be reduced to conserve power?”

“You were there. How close did the Dremor come to breaking through?”

Molly tilted her head and nodded, “Too close in my opinion.”

“I ran a diagnostic after the battle and I’ve had the fields strengthened. If the Dremor time it right, they could break through if enough of them hit our Warriors simultaneously.”

Jon said, “That’s good planning, Teg. The next ones will be able to do that.”

Dern said, “How long do we have?”

Jon shrugged, “I left a stealth probe in the system we saved. I have it next to the fourth planet out from the sun, so we’ll be notified if life on the planet is suddenly reduced. It is totally passive and does not send out any radiation. I suspect it will still be found, but they may not know it’s one of ours.”

“Do you think they’ll be able to determine that it was us that killed that fleet?”

“I honestly don’t know, Molly. I think it’s safe to say they have psychic abilities, but they may not operate if we’re part of the attacking force. I believe our creative field extends around all our ships and warriors which would prevent them from seeing us, but I don’t know if we left enough evidence for them to draw conclusions.”

“What kind of evidence, Jon?”

“Teg, we used our blasters during stages of their attack and I’m sure some of our beams struck the sand around our Warriors. They may recognize the blast signature.”

Jon looked at the warriors below and said, “What is the time differential on the switch?”

Teg said, “They’re down to a tenth of a second.”

Jon said, “Molly, go down and stand in the middle of their formations.”

“Why do you want me to do that?”

“Just an idea I’ve thought about.”

Molly teleported into the formations and Teg said, “The time has gone down to a hundredth of a second.” Teg looked at Jon with a furrowed brow.

“They’re all on the same melody, Teg.” Teg shook his head and watched as the time went down to a thousandth of a second. Jon looked at Teg, “What’s the progress on the forts?”

“The twenty going around Ross are being charged and the weapons are ready for installation. The twenty at Bristone are active.”

“What about the ones that were sent from Earth?”

“They’ve been replaced with ten new forts.”

“Good.” Jon shook his head and said, “Teg, see if you can speed up the forts for Ross.”

Teg nodded and began speaking into his wrist unit.

• • •

“Mom, I don’t have time. We’re anticipating a Dremor attack in the Realm and I need to be here.”

“This is not an option, Son. It is your duty to be there.”

“I’ve not been required to attend before.”

“That was before you attained adult status, Jon. You are now required to attend. I won’t have your absence embarrassing your father.”

Jon blew out a breath and said, “I’ll come at the last minute. As soon as the reception is completed, I’m going to leave.”

“Your duty will be done if you do.” Jon started to turn back to his console when he heard, “You should bring an escort with you.”

“Mom, I don’t know anyone to bring.”

“Ask that nice woman who came here to go with you.”

“I don’t think she’ll do it.”

“Why not?”

“She’s still mourning the death of her fiancé. She’s not had much to do with me since we left.”

“Ask her anyway.”

• • •

Jon went up to Molly in the commissary and said, “Will you go with me to the Queen’s Reception on Bristone?”

Molly looked at Jon and said, “No.”

“Molly, I know how you feel and I respect your feelings; however, I am supposed to bring an escort with me. I need you to go.”

“So I’m the only one you know?”

Jon shrugged, “You’re the only one I’d want to take.”

“The answer is still no.”

Jon nodded and turned and left the commissary.

• • •

The day of the reception, the planet had still not been attacked by the Dremor and Jon decided that he could take the risk of going to Bristone. His wrist unit vibrated and he saw his mother, “Mom, I’ll be leaving momentarily.”

“You said I, not we.”

“Molly had declined my invitation.”

“Well, get moving. When you get here, Derek will meet you to get you properly dressed.”

“I love you, Mom.”

“I love you, too.”

• • •

Molly was sitting in her quarters when her wrist unit vibrated. She looked at the frequency of the incoming call and didn’t recognize it. She pressed the unit and she saw Sara Robbins on the display. “Good evening, Your Majesty.”

“Why are you letting Jon’s father be embarrassed?”

“I don’t know what you mean?”

“All Major Royalty Titles are supposed to come to the reception with an escort. Jon tells me you refused his invitation.”

Molly said, “I’m not ready to have a relationship with anyone, Your Majesty.”

“Did I say anything about a relationship? If you want to wallow in your misery, you’re welcome to it. This has to do with Royal Expectations. If Jon comes without an escort, his behavior will be frowned on by the members of the Realm’s Royalty. If he couldn’t find an escort, then he obviously doesn’t take his Royal responsibilities seriously. His upbringing will be questioned and his father will bear the embarrassment of not having prepared his son properly for his first Royal Reception. Did he not tell you he was expected to bring an escort?”

“He did, but he must know many others that would gladly go with him.”

Sara shook her head, “Molly, Jon has been fighting with the Life Warriors since he was eighteen. Did I not tell you that he has never brought anyone to our home? Tell me when he would have an opportunity to meet the many others you’re talking about.”

“You could find someone to go with him, Your Majesty.”

“I could, but they would tell someone that they were asked to attend by the Duchess and the embarrassment would be worse.”

Molly started shaking her head, “I don’t own a dress appropriate for something like the reception.”

“If you did, would you do it?”

“I don’t know?” Sara stared at Molly and Molly said, “I guess I would, but it’s supposed to start in a few hours. There’s no way for me to get one in time.”

“There is a ship waiting for you in your ship’s landing bay. Your dress will be waiting for your arrival.”

“How can you have a dress that will fit me?”

“We have recordings of you when you visited in our family albums. My tailor is pretty good at seeing someone and coming up with appropriate attire.”