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

“WHY IS IT TAKING SO LONG!?”

“We are manufacturing the systems to do it but we can only produce one system at a time. Our facilities are overwhelmed producing just one of the needed changes.”

“YOU ARE STUPID DOING THIS WAY!!”

“Greatest, you ordered they all be modified immediately. I’m following your orders exactly. Should I have done it differently!?”

“YOU WILL DO IT FASTER!!”

“I will do so to the best of my ability, Greatest.”

The Leader leaned back in his chair and the Fleet Leader smiled, “That is one unhappy Legend.”

“You think?” They looked at each other and tried not to laugh. The Legend may have still been watching.

The Goran Scout looked at Daphne, “He’s working against them.”

“What?”

“He’s deliberately making the changes at a slow pace. He doesn’t want to help them against your species.”

“Why?”

“Because our Father didn’t destroy his fleets when he could have done it. It’s good to know our Father is consistent in his mercy.”

Daphne Smiled, “Indeed it is. Contact your liaison in Fleet Operations and tell her what’s going on.” The Goran nodded and sent the message.

Jinks, Stoney, and Lukas looked at the star map. Jinks shook his head, “We missed a lot.”

Lukas nodded, “It appears we did.” The old map showed a triangle of red lights that extended away from the Virgo Cluster. The new map had a wide front of red lights that extended much further than before. The numbers were now in the tens of thousands.

“Are we going to change our plans because of this?”

Lukas slightly shook his head, “That is something Chris will decide.”

“If you were making the decision, what would you do?”

Lukas shrugged and waved his hand at the map, “All of that is superfluous to knowing if we can do anything against them. We have to see before we move to that map. I would move forward and attack the Monster Galaxy to see where we stand.”

Stoney nodded, “Then that is what he’ll do.”

Lukas looked at Jinks, “How long will it be before all of our forces are ready?”

“The Gorans are incredible on the simulators. Willow converted the verbal instructions to thought patterns and they pick it up three times faster than our students. They’ll be joining our crews on the Barrier Pods shortly.”

“Are we that far along in our construction efforts?”

Jinks nodded, “Joey was conservative in his estimates. We’re having about eight thousand of the new pods rolling off every week. The Gorans have taken possession of all of the older models and we’ll need them to help fly the new pods very quickly.”

“And Chris is certain they can be trusted?”

Lukas smiled and looked at Jinks, “Haven’t you listened to Averel?”

Jinks smiled, “You’re right. She’s really remarkable. If all of them are like her, we just might have a chance.”

“To answer your question, I trust them. There is no deception with telepaths. What you see is what you get.”

Jinks nodded, “The numbers we have to use is beyond anything I could control. I just don’t see how they can all be coordinated in an attack.”

“That’s why Chris is in command.”

Stoney smiled and said, “That’s my boy!”

Jinks looked at Stoney and patted him on the back. He looked at Lukas, “What about our landing forces?”

“Eve is commanding them. She’s been given enough Barrier Pods for every warrior in her command. Each new pod will deliver three warriors. The Welken have moved out of their battleships and will be learning how to pilot the new pods.”

Stoney looked at Lukas, “Explain why we’re doing it this way? I’m not clear on why we made the change.”

Lukas shrugged, “We have to thank Eve for that. She took one of the new pods and actually brought it out of the barrier a hundred feet above Mars’ surface.”

“I though the drives wouldn’t work in a planet’s gravity.”

“A standard stardrive won’t but the barrier drive isn’t affected by gravity. We just didn’t know that the barrier exists pretty much everywhere, even in the atmosphere of a planet. Once she found that out, it didn’t make sense trying to drop our warriors on a planet from orbit or high atmosphere. They drop out of the barrier next to the target planet’s surface and start doing what they do best.”

“What possessed her to even try that?”

Lukas sighed, “She’s my daughter and wasn’t satisfied with putting her warriors in so much danger.”

“And you approved her doing it?”

Lukas looked at Jinks, “What do you think?”

“She did it without asking?” Lukas shrugged, “I thought Salud was going to kill her. But after the fact, it worked, so she couldn’t take it too far.”

“Eve is a loose cannon.” Lukas nodded. Stoney smiled, “But she’s doing what she loves.” Lukas snickered. Stoney raised his nose and looked down it at Lukas, “That’s your girl!”

“Indeed she is.”

“Chris.”

“Yeah?”

“I notice you’ve not included M-86 in your plans.”

“They aren’t at the point where they can be trusted.”

Allison’s head tilted, “Why not?”

“They are consumed by vengeance and hatred of M-87. They have been occupied by the Progen for so many years that they have nothing in common except their hatred of their occupiers. Without a common enemy, they would fall on each other very much like the Fellowship.”

“That’s a shame.”

“It is, but it is what it is. I suspect we will have to confront them in the future if we happen to be successful against the Legends in M-87.”

“And if we’re not?”

“I suspect the Legends’ retaliation will include them.”

Allison shook her head. “It all seems like such a waste.”

“The product of hatred is often more hatred. They are not telepathic and are trapped with their thoughts and emotions without the means of seeing themselves. If your existence is filled with hatred, then you end up hating everything around you as well.”

“What makes us different?”

“Lukas loved the Welken. It was his love of his former species that colored all of our early actions. He tried desperately to get them to learn to care about others and they eventually did. It was love that made me stop killing the Gorans.”

“I don’t understand?”

“It was your pointing out what example I was setting for Michael that stopped me. I loved him too much to allow his heart to be shaped by hate. You said the only thing that would make me stop and think.”

“I’m glad it worked.”

“You have no idea.”

Allison smiled, “I think I do.”

Chris looked and her and smiled, “I suspect you do.” Chris looked at his panel, “I’ve been asked by Piper to meet him in orbit above Eden. Alley, take us there.”

The pod broke into normal space and they saw Piper in orbit above Eden, “Hello, Piper. How’s it going?”

“Pretty good. I have some questions.”

“Fire away.”

“I’ve been chosen to be the War Leader of our forces. Before I can organize, I need to know what role you see us doing in the coming attack.”

“Congratulations, I see your forces being the tip of our spear against the Legends’ fleets.”

“I suspected that. How do you see us matching up with them?”

“I need to know how you match up with our new pods. You’ve never really shared how powerful you are.”

“We’ve added the barrier drive as well as the DE Beams. We considered including a force field but we honestly don’t see our hulls being penetrated.”