Saxon Andrew - Escape to Earth-The Legacy of a Conqueror

Lukas shook his head, “I don’t want to do it but should we bring Michael to see if it brings him out of it?”

“I’ve never been in it.” Everyone jerked their heads toward Chris as he twisted his arms and broke restraints on his arm. He reached down and untied his leg restraints and tossed them to the hospital orderly standing close by, “Use this on someone that needs it.”

Kathy jumped up and ran over to hug Chris. “It’s OK Mom, I needed some time to say goodbye.”

Kathy leaned back, “Are you ok?”

Chris’s eyes narrowed, “What do you think?” He turned to Lukas, “How did they get through our defenses?”

Lukas heard Chris’s tone and didn’t recognize it. “Our investigation has determined that seven years ago when you killed those scouts and sent the sixth back with a message, they launched a special ship. It was little more than a thin non-ferrous hull with an engine and drive field. It had just enough room to carry a shielded nuclear bomb.”

“How did it get through our scans?”

“It skipped in outside the coverage of our void probes and continued the journey in normal space. The pilot appears to have the ability to go into a suspended animation state. It took more than six years for it to arrive here through normal space traveling close to the speed of light.”

Chris nodded slightly, “Our detection systems in normal space were inadequate to see it coming.” Lukas nodded. Chris looked at him, “Tell me again why the main force field was off.”

Stoney said, “It’s not his fault. You know the power to keep it running would be too high to make it effective when it might have to be used. You approved not keeping it on along with the rest of us.”

Chris winced and shook his head, “I think I forced myself to forget that little piece of information. So no one here is to blame for her death?”

Salud nodded, “No, it was a freak occurrence that the attack took place on just the day she went sailing.”

Chris snorted, “Sort of like it’s a part of my destiny.”

“I’M NOT SAYING THAT! ACCIDENTS HAPPEN!”

Chris looked at Salud with dead eyes, “This was no accident.”

Lukas sighed, “Chris, we can give you some time off…”

“The only time I’m going to need is to go and take my son back to that beach to tell his mother good-bye.”

Sarah said, “What are you going to do?”

Chris looked at her and then turned to Jinks, “I want the top 100 Pod Fleets assembled in orbit three days from now.”

Stoney looked at Chris, “Son, you should wait to do this. You need some time.”

Chris smiled for the first time and put his hand on Stoney’s shoulder, “Dad, I told them seven years ago that if they sent another ship here I was going to eradicate them. They didn’t wait a month before they launched that ship.” Chris looked at Lukas, “What good are consequences if you’re not willing to enforce them?” Lukas could only shake his head. Chris’s face turned grim, “They learned seven years ago that our leadership was on this island. I’ve spent the last four days thinking about what happened and I wanted to blame myself for what happened to Audrey. I shouldn’t have let her go so far out; but she had gone there many times. I should have stopped her from sailing; but I go out surfing more often and sometimes further out. I want to be able to blame myself but I know that is a wasted effort and she wouldn’t appreciate my hypocrisy if I did.” Chris looked at those gathered around him. “The only ones I can blame are the ones that launched that ship. I intend to do something about it.”

Chris stood up and Lukas tilted his head, “Tell us what you need to go and keep in mind that Earth and Eden need to be defended in your absence.”

Chris smiled, “Thank you, Lukas.”

Lukas nodded, “If I lost Salud under the same circumstances, I would want to tear whatever they use for a throat out.”

Chris looked at Jinks, “Will you request the Royal to send me one planetary drop fleet? I also want the First Drop Pod Fleet ready to go as well.”

“Why just one?”

Chris’s eyes narrowed, “I’m only going to drop on one of their planets.”

Sarah said, “Which one?”

Chris looked her in the eyes, “The one where the being that sent that ship here is located.” Everyone there saw something had changed in Chris and the menace in his words could almost be felt.

Chris stood on the beach holding Michael’s hand in his right hand and a bouquet of flowers in the other. Michael was also holding a smaller bouquet and they stood there saying nothing. But Chris was speaking to Michael through telepathy. He heard Michael think, “I really miss her so much.” Chris squeezed his hand lightly and Michael looked up at Chris and thought, “She told me many times how much she was proud of you.”

Chris fought back his tears and shook his head as he blew out a breath. “The last thing she told me before she went out was that you were at Junior’s playing. I heard in her thoughts how much she loved you and how she thought you were the greatest person ever. Her love was more than I can ever describe to you, son.”

“I know.” Chris’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve been hearing her thoughts for a while.” He looked up at Chris and said, “I want to be just like you when I grow up. I think that is how I can honor her best.”

Chris’s tears started and took he Michel down to the waves and tossed the flowers out on the waves. Michael threw his in and Chris bent down, “Son, I’m going to be gone for a while and you’re going to stay with Lukas and Salud.”

“Where are you going?”

Chris looked out at the waves, “To find the one that did this.”

Michael looked out at the waves with him as they both cried for the wife and mother they lost.

Salud picked up Michael and said, “We’ll take good care of him Chris.”

“I know you will.” He kissed Michael on the cheek as his son hugged his neck. “I’ll be back.”

Michael nodded and put his arms around Salud’s neck. Chris walked away and entered a ground car to go to the spaceport. His wrist communicator vibrated and he saw the Welken Royal on the display. He pressed the activate button and said, “Good morning, Great One.”

“I received a request from Admiral Jekins and I had a few questions about it. He said I should contact you.”

“What questions do you have?”

“You’ve only requested one fleet of Drop Ships. That leads to me to believe that you intend to only drop on one planet. Is that true.”

“It is.”

“What do you intend to do with the others?”

Chris stared at him with narrowed eyes, “I don’t intend to leave anything on them worth jumping on.”

“I thought as much. If that’s the case, you might think about using the new battleships to make that happen. It would take tens of thousands of beam strikes from your pods to accomplish what you want. The Battleships have sixty major disruptors and their beams are a thousand times wider than the pod’s beams. It will take entirely too long to do it with pods.”

Chris stared at the Royal, “What do you think about my intentions?”

“I’m Welken. What do you think I think about it? We can’t shy away from doing what needs to be done.”

“How many ships can you spare and still defend your planets.”

“I’ll send you a number equal to the number of Pods you’re taking.”

“A MILLION!?”

“I can spare more but that would mean having ships without pods to defend them. I suppose you’re planning to send a hundred pods to each of their planets?”

“That’s the idea.”

“Send ten battleships with them and you’ll finish your mission in one third of the time.”