In a dark room no actual light escaping the recess of the place, a man was awaiting the part of his personality that was being returned today. With the knowledge they would gain they should be able to end this idiot that was claiming to be the rightful Emperor. The other man in the room though unhappy had followed the orders of the sect’s leader, shaking slightly the man thought to go against the leader was to invite death. They had received word that the agent had retrieved the information from their patsy, obviously she hadn’t been able to get close to the man. They’d have heard something by now or the woman would be dead either way they’d have the information soon.

The man was extremely eager to get part of his mind back he was their best and knew it. This had caused a severe rift with the rest of the sect; many had hoped that he would fail soon so many could advance in the ranks. A few minutes later the agent appeared at the door a huge smile on his shadowy face. Nodding the agent withdrew, he wanted no part of this the reintegrating of a piece of personality it was painful, more than his training included.

The first man put the strange device on the machine in the room. Scanning it he smiled it was all here good he’d missed that part of his self for a while now. Laying back the man looked to the second man and nodded, starting the machine the second man stood back to wait ’til all was done.

Within moments of the machine’s humming starting the first man began to scream. The second man had expected this and partly covered his ears, five minutes later the man was still screaming though this was an entirely different type of sound. Looking closer the second man saw that there was blood oozing from the first man’s ears and mouth. Shutting down the machine the man hit the alarm. Within seconds the leader and several others were in the room.

Giving his report of what he’d seen the leader was nodding. Turning to go, they all stopped short when the bleeding man on the cot sat up.

“I want to thank you for leading me to your sect. Attempting to assassinate the emperor carries a death penalty. I know that you are well within the planet, as yet my weapons can’t quite destroy a world, but I am working on it. Know that I will not allow you to carry out your plan; I know almost all except for who ordered it. I will have the name of the Noble soon though. Enjoy what time you have left I am coming for you.” Came the voice of Derrick, then the man started to gag, vomit then exhaled his last breath. So the second man thought this man was far more dangerous than they at first thought, good killing him would really be a pleasure now!

Several alarms were going off back on board Shelby, “Do we have a location Shelby?” Derrick asked.

“It appears that the signal stopped on an outer rim world, good place to hide actually. The plant was extracted and a human mind was accessed then they tried to download it into the human. I am no longer reading any activity in the human’s brain or body; I’d say they are affectively dead Derrick.” Shelby reported.

Derrick was looking over all the readings he was receiving as of yet they didn’t seem to be taking his threat seriously. “Shelby, trans-warp there now!” Within seconds they were in orbit of the afore mentioned world. “Connect me with the sect, this is the emperor you tried to kill me once I intend to make sure it doesn’t happen again. I’ll give you a day to disband then…”

Suddenly there was a crackle and a shrill voice was screaming at them, “This is a peaceful world you have no right to threaten us!”

Growling a moment Derrick replied, “I don’t have time to play games with you, you have a day to disband then I destroy everything on the surface. As I said attempting to assassinate the emperor is a death penalty, this world is harboring the sect but I am being merciful stay and die, leave and you might live to a ripe old age.”

Again there was screaming this time several voices.

“Shelby, I think they don’t believe me, target the closet power plant. I believe that is the one on the north side of the largest city, give them a few minutes to evacuate it then destroy it.” Derrick told a now smiling Shelby.

This time there was even more screaming then all was quiet, “I am reading massive evacuation from the plant, almost clear. Starting bombardment”

Inside the planet the sect leader cursed, the man moved extremely fast, at this rate those on the surface would give up the sect in no time. Behind the leader the other man from the room of the failed personality retrieval smiled, the leader was scared, pulling a knife he sliced the leader’s throat.

Staring into the dying mans eyes those present heard him say, “You are a disgrace to us all, we will never give up! This ass will die at our hands!” As the body hit the floor the man looked at those that were staring at him. “We are relocating! Get everything you can out! Go now or you’re next!” Smiling the man thought, we will see emperor we will see!

“Derrick I am detecting several trans-warp engines! It appears they have a type of light screen also!” Shelby advised Derrick.

Nodding Derrick pushed several buttons, “Conner! Sherry! Zan! I need all of you here!” Within seconds there were four ships around the planet. “I want all of the signatures stopped and captured! If they resist and you have no choice then you are free to blow them the hell out of existence!” All four of the holograms were grinning at Derrick.

The new leader spat when he saw three more of the ships appear, so the man wasn’t as stupid as he thought, good it’ll be that much better when he personally gutted the bastard! Directing all the ships at once he had them all jumping at the same time even with four times the ships the emperor couldn’t track all of them. “It is time NOW!” he ordered as all thirty-three ships left the planet and jumped at the same time, well half of them did, sixteen of them were suddenly without power.

As the rest jumped the new leader cursed they had gotten one of the better ships, sighing they had the plans making more wouldn’t be a problem. Looking at the readings he could see that for now they were outclassed but not for long if he had anything to say about it!

Mary smiled unknown to the new leader she’d heard almost all he’d said before they jumped. The emperor might not be able to but she had no such problem. Of the remaining ships she saw that sixteen of those headed to another outer rim world. The seventeenth seemed to be taking a different route hmm interesting she thought.

Tempro was extremely pleased with his self so far the experiments were proceeding with hardly any

problems. It was a good thing that mother had noticed the slight differences in the readings from all of the previous experiments. Sighing he had been afraid that he’d never succeed for her, just as it had been all of those centuries ago. Looking at the present subject this was the farthest that he’d ever gotten time and maturation wise. Now if the time exposure worked he might actually have a template to work with.

Mary appeared a few moments later behind Tempro, “you reported you are having very favorable results?” She asked.

“Yes mother, all indications are that the present subject has shown no rejection or tissue failure as of yet. I was about to start time exposure to test whether or not the subject can survive full maturation.” Tempro told Mary smiling when he saw that his mother was actually happy, he had to succeed if the emperor had changed her this much. He decided then and there he’d never stop ’til he finally had the answer to the problem.

Mary watched as Tempro started the time exposure, this would be a true test to see if the subject could be subjected to the time aging and survive. So far things were going good Mary could see that Tempro had worked nonstop at it trying to perfect the process. Mary was glad that she’d gotten the idea from the emperor about subtracting the personality then growing them. Finally after 10 centuries they were closer to finishing the process than they had ever been.

Derrick watched as each of the sixteen ships was brought into the bays, there they were locked down enough he knew that they weren’t going anywhere ’til he let them out. Already he had several ideas on how to extract the information he wanted, though it might take a little bit of time on Mary’s part to implement the machinery they needed. That and the fact that they were basically asleep ’til he let them up, they needed to increase the scans to different wave lengths before they even started to question them though.

“Mary we are heading back soon I need you to adjust several of your scans.” as Mary appeared before Derrick.

“Yes Sire, please input all data and I will commence on all upgrades.” Mary replied as she watched Derrick step to a console and begin to type at an almost blinding speed. Mary smiled as she began to implement the changes as fast as Derrick input them. Interesting she thought the wave length ranges were extreme to say the least but if the emperor wanted them then she had no doubt there was a good reason.

Several minutes later Derrick stepped back not sure if he’d gotten all of the ranges that he wanted but at least now they were more onto the sects energy areas than they were. “Mary were you…”

“Yes Sire I tracked all of the other ships to another outer rim world though one ship broke off and headed in another direction. I am afraid that it headed to abrir oculta; I still have several guardians there. They are equipped with the new light shield so I am more certain they will not be detected as easily as before.” Mary told him stopping his comment short.

Derrick was afraid of that those that had survived were trying to get whatever they could on him and his family. Too bad for them that he had all of them with him well except for Thomas and obviously Thomas was a master at hiding. Smirking and nodding Derrick remembered Thomas with all his camouflage. Smiling bigger a sudden thought hit Derrick camouflage! That had to be it! Thomas was hidden, “Mary I want you to access all records of the salvage company that I worked for. Look for any employee that seems out of place like they are older than they seem they should be; any anomalies like that should raise a red flag.” Derrick instructed her.

Mary nodded, “staring to reanalyze records now.” A few minutes later Mary replied, “I am detecting two such red flags as you put it Sire. The first is a very old man whose records indicate that he has been with the company for well over 20 years. The times that are in his records do not coincide with the information that is available. The other appears to be a young man but the pictures of him indicate a much older man.”

Derrick looked over the records still not able to tell if either might be Thomas. It was obvious that Thomas had damn near perfected his camouflage since he got out. “Alright Mary see if you can get a location on either of them, we need to find Thomas as soon as we can. I have a feeling that we aren’t the only ones who is looking for him right now.”

“Searching now, I have the first man on a return trip to the company from a near deep space run. The other appears to be not far from where you originally were found by Shelby.” Mary informed Derrick.

“Bring up all information you have on the second man,” Derrick told Mary. Looking over the records carefully yes, he could see that something wasn’t quite right; the records didn’t match up to what the readings were telling him. It had to be Thomas! Unless you looked very close, there really wasn’t any way to actually tell the difference in the records or that they might have been altered.

“Shelby, scan the area where we first met. See if you can still detect the ship like mine that we saved back then.” Derrick ordered of Shelby.

“Yes Derrick, scanning the area now, detecting a signal half a parsec away from the last position (a parsec is 19 trillion miles so half = 9.5 trillion miles) it appears as if the ship is still salvaging. You must have great patience Derrick this is a very slow job that you had.” Shelby stated.

“It wasn’t the patience; it was a chance to be alone it helped with the PTSD greatly.” Derrick informed her.

“I see; do you wish to communicate to this individual? I have the coordinates locked in we could be there in a matter of seconds.” Shelby said.

Derrick was nodding they could yes, but he had to make sure it was Thomas before they flew off to the other side of the galaxy. “Open a channel to the ship I have to make sure, no sense going if it isn’t him after all.”

“Channel open Derrick,” Shelby reported.

“To the salvage ship, aren’t you the one I saved from the pirates all those months ago?” Derrick asked.

There was a momentary pause then a voice Derrick was sure he recognized came back over the loud speakers. “Well hello pardner! Ya never did let me thank you fer savin’ my bacon back then! Got a question who in the heck are ya?”

Derrick smiled a moment now to find if this was Thomas or not, “I thought you’d have recognized my voice by now Tom T.” The more the man talked the more Derrick was sure it was Thomas. Looking over at Shelby she nodded then the engines whined.

“Recognize your voice now how in the … holy crap what in the hell is that!!??” Derrick had to smile as they pulled next to the salvage craft. “Hey whoever you are, alert the Rangers I need help! The biggest damn ship I’ve ever seen just appeared out of nowhere!” The panicked voice of the man replied.

“It’s ok that’s just us Tom T.,” Derrick told the man.

“You!!? Huh!? Where in the hell did you get a war ship like that? That appears to be … Tom T? Alright who in the hell is this?” Came the man’s voice.

“Uh huh I thought it was you Tom T. You always did hide real damn well. What say you come on board and we can talk?” Derrick told the man.

“Look buddy I don’t know you from Adam ok? Give me some time and…” the man was saying.

Derrick nodded to Shelby and the man was standing in front of Derrick and Hartwell who to this moment had been trying not to laugh. ” … then we … can … talk? What in the hell? Where am I?” Looking around the man spotted Hartwell, snapping off a salute. “Sorry Lieutenant didn’t know it was you.”

Smiling Hartwell nodded, then nodded toward Derrick, “It wasn’t me believe me it was the emperor who pulled you here Thomas.”

Nodding the man slowly turned his eyes wide then he spotted Derrick sitting in the command chair. “Com … Commander?! We all heard you were dead!” Running up Thomas threw his arms around Derrick after snapping off a quick salute. “When the office didn’t receive the update from you last week, we all feared that you were captured or worse! God it’s good to see you alive and well! So sir where did you find this … war … holy crap!”

Thomas had stopped short what he was saying and doing when a beautiful, blonde, green eyed, slender woman appeared standing in front of him. His mouth agape, it had to be the first time Derrick had ever seen the ensign unable to speak. “Derrick I have secured the other ship in bay one next to yours,” turning she looked Thomas. “I know that you are a lot like Derrick sir, if you wish I will let you inspect to make sure I have secured all that you wish.”

Thomas only nodded then vanished, Derrick smirked at Hartwell, “I expect he’ll be screaming when…”

“What the hell! Let me know before you do that!” Thomas was yelling.

“See told you,” Derrick smiled at Hartwell. “So I take it everything is ok?”

Shaking his head, the brown haired Thomas nodded then looked hard at Derrick. “It just hit me a moment ago, what the Lieutenant said, the emperor? You sir?” That started the widest smile on Thomas’s face that he’d ever seen. Then the man started to yell out in joy. “Holy crap! I am friends with the emperor! ALRIGHT!” Derrick and Hartwell both rolled their eyes as Thomas started to do a little dance.

Shelby giggled, “I take it that then that everything was to your satisfaction?”

Thomas ever a ladies’ man walked over to the vision of Shelby and stated, “Everything except a way to go out with you my dear.”

“I am afraid that is impossible sir, I cannot leave the ship” Shelby told Thomas.

Turning to Derrick Thomas said with a pain stricken face, “I am sure the emperor will allow you off one night.”

Giggling again Shelby told the man, “No sir you don’t understand I cannot leave the ship, I AM the ship.”

Hartwell was about to laugh himself off his feet, Derrick of course was smirking with a smile much the same way he had with Hartwell.

Thomas not to be put off pressed the issue, “Come on I know you’re just joking you’re afraid to go out with me?”

Shelby’s face was suddenly serious as she stated, “No sir as I said I am the ship more rather I am the A.I. of the ship. My designation is EIG – 101F.” With that Shelby vanished.

Derrick sighed this was going to be a long few days that was for sure. “Yes Thomas she is the living A.I. of this ship, she is one of a thousand living Elite Imperial Guardian ships. You might say that I have been with her for the last few months, when we saved you months ago I had only been on her for a day or two. Now then if you are through gawking, I am getting all of what is left of the unit back together.”

Thomas was staring at Derrick for a moment, “What of Kimison? I heard they stuck him in a hell hole, I’d do anything to get…”

“Not to worry,” came Kimison’s voice then a hologram of him appeared, “my god commander! I am in heaven the things I can do with this equipment! I looked over all the augments you did for Mary excellent work you even got a few that I hadn’t thought of. I have been working with Mary to upgrade the palace security it’s,” here the man sighed, “better but I feel it can go further. Also I have looked over the virus detail that you have managed to eradicate most of. It appears to be a self-replicating, extremely aggressive virus, appears to have been there over 1000 years. With the brilliant templates you provided I might be able to beat it soon.”

“Kimison? You’re alive? How? Where are you?” Thomas said startled to see the man not only healthy but whole also.

“Thanks to the commander and his highly advanced living machines I am. As to where I am, I’m in the palace on the imperial planet. I’d say you ought to get back soon sir, I feel the natives are getting restless,” Kimison said.

Derrick nodded then thought to Shelby there was a whine behind them all then a few seconds later they were near the imperial world. Thomas’s mouth dropped open “Is that the imperial planet?” Thomas asked as his eyes got huge as he started at the scene in front of him. “But that means … we traveled … in just seconds?!!!! Holy CRAP! You want me? I’m with you all the way!”

Derrick smiled finally they were all back together, well what was left of their group. Already Kimison was working out more of the bugs with the palace security. With any luck Rayburn with his trouble shooting skills could find more than even he and Kimison had missed. Smiling a moment he knew just the assignment for Thomas and he was pretty sure that Thomas would jump at the chance to do it.

A few hours later, Derrick and Hartwell were about to depart Shelby when Hartwell’s Ranger communicator went off. “What is the emergency Captain Multry?”

“Sir, we just received a report that part of abrir oculta is under attack from a superior enemy. None of their shields are effective against their weapons. High command wants us to go; they said we are the closest. With all respect sir, we are a lot further away than wing’s group two.” The man stopped when Hartwell held up a hand.

“Prepare the ship we can be there in less than a minute,” Hartwell told the man whose eyes opened wide then he nodded. He was shouting orders when they clicked off.

“Mary we’re going to abrir oculta; keep me apprised on what is going on there ’til we are there.” Derrick ordered.

“Sire, I am sensing a trap don’t you think it would be prudent to bring backup?” Hartwell asked a moment later.

Derrick nodded, “Of course but I feel they are expecting this so I think I have a surprise for them.”

Hartwell smiled he knew of the man’s surprises during the war, they had always been life savers that was for sure.

Above abrir oculta the new leader smiled as soon as they were in orbit they would have them and be able to take the ship then it would be no problem to disable the computer and use the ship to their own ends. It was the perfect plan. Laughing he was going to love slicing the throat of the fool of an emperor.

Moments later a huge rift opened as the ship slipped out of trans-warp space, ah magnificent! Just think soon it would be theirs! Moving into orbit the leader watched as the ship went dark, laughing the leader thought that the emperor was far smarter than that! As they started to move in closer several blasts erupted behind their ship WHAT!

Conner smiled as Thomas ordered another salvo, though not as strong as theirs, the enemy’s shields they were holding up to some pretty strong blasts from Conner’s guns. “Prime they are turning to run,” Conner told Thomas. “Damn it! Try to disable their engines before they get away! Full charge now!” Again Conner smiled as he powered up the guns and released a full charge blast.

The new leader’s eyes got huge they’d never survive a blast of that intensity! “Jump dam it JUMP NOW!” As the ship slipped into the portal the blast reached the edge of it and exploded. Cursing Thomas looked over the readings smiling, good the bastard was damaged if they made it out of the trans-warp portal they be in damn poor shape that was for sure.

“Conner I want you to keep an active scan on them as long as you can. I can’t believe the asses got away!” Thomas said more mad at his self than Conner.

“If it is any help prime, they are far too damaged to make it all that far that is if they can ever exit the trans-warp portal.” Conner told Thomas.

“I realize that Conner but I feel as if I failed the emperor, and that is unacceptable to me. If we didn’t have to get the emperor from orbit then I’d say we go after the bastards!” Thomas replied.

“You know I can still hear you Thomas, they only got our engines I was expecting something like this. We shut down all but those when we hit orbit. Don’t worry you two you WILL get another chance at then I guarantee it!” Derrick told them. “Now if you don’t mind pull us out of the nullifier field so we can restart the engines and assess the damage to abrir oculta. By the way Conner I think they copied your nullifier beam to do this quite effective I have to say.”

“Thank you sire, when you created it I thought it wasn’t that useful but now I see the merit of it.” Conner replied.

Mary appeared on board Shelby a moment later, “Sire! Again you are taking needless chances with your life! You are very close to me activating the retrieval system to keep you in the palace! I should…”

“Mary executive order Rho-11, Epsilon-21, Alpha-31, Sigma, Sigma-01 Epsilon-02, Sigma, Sigma-03 enact.” Derrick suddenly stated.

Mary was quiet for a few moments then spoke, “Executive order Rho-11, Epsilon-21, Alpha-31, Sigma, Sigma-01 Epsilon-02, Sigma, Sigma-03 enacted. Re-assessing dangers based on the emperor’s precautions and emergency measures. Awaiting orders Sire.”

Derrick sighed he’d hated to pull that command on Mary though it would only work for so long for now she would be constantly reassessing him. Therefore it was only a matter of time before her assessment of him would fall far shorter than he’d wish it to be.

Mary smiled she hadn’t expected the emperor to pull that old command out, for the present almost everything he was doing would be ok but only for now, she knew he would have to rescind it one day.

“Alright Thomas, Conner, we are almost ready. Go back to the imperial planet; we are going to be far more ready next time. This was just to see what they were capable of, now we know so they are at a disadvantage.” Derrick told both of them. Shit I hope we are ready next time that was a little close.

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