Lost Empire

Chapter 91

0001 - Tempro
0003 - Conner- Thomas
0097 - Ace - Zimmel
0098 - Lucy
0101 - Shelby (mother ship)
0125 - Lars
0130 - Gillese
0200 - Ellen
0201 - Jake
0250 - Tendra
0301 - Rodrick
0403 - Johnathon
0505 - Craig
0660 - Realla
0778 - Jan
0798 - Celeste - Shelby (human)
0805 - Toran
0808 - Radella
0881 - Handrax
0882 - Teal
0908 - Tara - Mara
1000 - Sherry
--------------------------
Ungrown - unnumbered
------------------------

0102 - Derry (father ship)

Rescued from Tendraxians
so far
-----------------------
2 on Shelby both in re-gen
6 on Lucy
5 on Gillese
5 on Ellen
--------------------------------
Known and OR numbered
-------------------------------
0501 - Thaddeus
???? - Lena
---------------------------
missing
0667 - Marco
-----------------------------------------------------------------

"We need to contact his people if we are to help him," Kandra said. Grabbing a special comp, he called. "I need the A.I. Mary. Jimison has been hurt beyond the knowledge of our healers."

Mary answered immediately, "I have a ship on the way, should be there in eleven of your time units."

"Thank you, Mary," a thankful Difina whispered.

"You are welcome, Difina," Mary said.

A few minutes later, one of the ships appeared. "Now commencing IMT," the female ship said as Difina and Jimison vanished.

Difina and Jimison appeared in the med-bay moments later. "I have him, Princess Difina, make him comfortable, so I can start."

Difina looked at the holo-gram, nodded, then moved Jimison on the bio-bed. "I know for a fact that he hates this thing," Difina said.

"He isn't the only one that has a distrust and taste for it," the female holo-gram said.

"I'm not sure what your healer did, according to these readings? It would be another month before he'd be out of bed, able to walk," the holo-gram said.

Difina's face was suddenly mad as she growled. "I must call father, let him know about this betrayal."

"For now, I think that you should stay nearby. I have found that humanoids heal faster when they have a loved one near," the female holo-gram said.

"I will take that to heart Jan," Difina said. "If I find that his condition was made worse by the one that should be healing him? The pain that I will inflict shall be long and slow, as slow as I can."

It was a few hours later that Difina finished talking to her father. To say that her temper was at the boiling point was an understatement. They had already detained the traitorous doctor. Difina already had hours of pain planned for him.

It wasn't too long after that Jimison awoke. This was the only thing that tempered Difina's temper. She was beside him when his eyes opened. "My love, it is good to see that you are still with us," Difina said.

Jimison groaned as he tried to speak, "I feel as if I was beaten."

Difina's face held a grimace, "the healer that was supposed to be helping you, tried to poison you. I have him scheduled for execution, though very, very slowly."

Jimison nodded slowly, then was quiet for a few moments. He then motioned Difina close, whispering to her. At first, she was shocked, then as Jimison went on her smile grew.

Now that Jimison was out of danger, Difina relaxed, sleeping next to Jimison. The whole time he thought trying to come up with something to help. They needed something that could ferret out the traitors.

Finally, a few hours later, something came to him. "Jan, I need Rayburn and Kimison, plus the emperor."

"Contact established," Jan said.

"Sir," he said first to Derrick. "I asked all three of you to discuss an idea I had."

Jimison then started to outline exactly what he was thinking of. Derrick then turned toward his two fleet science division men.

"We'll start on it as soon as possible. I'm afraid that we are going to have to actually go there, sire," Kimison said, with Rayburn nodding his agreement.

"Alright, at the moment we have a situation here. For now, Brigader General Dempsy has most of it handled, as well as most of the planet," Derrick said.

"Damn, if anyone can handle it, it's Kimon, he is one damn tough master. His fiancé is a very close second," Jimison said.

Derrick nodded as his attention was divided between the three men and the feed from where Kimon was. "Sir?' Kimison asked, startling Derrick. "Are you alright?"

Derrick shook his head a moment as he watched Kimon and Onai flow through enemies. "It appears that old enemies of Kimon and Onai's clans are back. Damn! I knew they were fast, but this is ridiculous."

Jimison nodded his head, he knew for a fact how fast they were. He turned to Kimison and Rayburn, "so do you think that it is possible?"

Both men looked at each other a few moments, discussing things in their minds. "Yeah, we're going to have to go there and take readings. I'm afraid without them, it might not be possible," Rayburn said.

"It sounds a lot like a device we tried to make at the start of the war, then abandoned. I believe that you told us it was taking far too long," Kimison said.

Derrick was quiet a moment, then clarity came to his eyes. "Ah! I remember that the readings we got I found out, had been tampered with. I as the enemy realized that had you finished it, it would have ended the war years sooner," Derrick said.

"So, then it is possible, how long do you think it will take to complete it?" Jimison asked."

Both the men stood there a few moments in thought, "not that sure. We still have the plans that we had, so no more than maybe a month at most. Though it depends greatly upon the readings, just how much different they are to our galaxy," Kimison said.

"Alright, make this a priority. Tempro, I want you to transport as soon as you and they are ready, good luck," Derrick said, then clicked off.

"OK, I'll see you both in a little while," Jimison said, then clicked off.

Both Kimison and Rayburn started to go through all their records, finding what they needed. They then made sure that Tempro had all that they would need. An hour later, Tempro opened a portal, then moved forward and vanished.

Ten minutes later, another portal opened a few million miles from the Delcron planet.

"Greetings Brother Tempro," A signal came from Jan. "we are prepared to receive you in orbit."

"Greetings to you Jan, now moving to close proximity to you," Tempro said.

Both Kimison and Rayburn IMT'ed aboard Jan as soon as they could. They were about to move to Jimison, when a fierce-looking Delcron female blocked their way.

"You invite death if you think to reach my mate!" The female hissed.

"Difina!" They all heard, "these are my comrades that I told you of."

Difina growled a few more times, then sniffed at both men, then scampered back to Jimison's side.

Both men moved forward then groaned when they saw Jimison in the bio-bed. "We need to find a way to increase the healing of them. I still feel that the bio-beds could be better," Kimison said.

Rayburn was nodding his agreement, "I know that a lot of the higher-ups would be far happier for sure."

"I'm glad you're here. I think that she," indicating Difina. "Could help you greatly with the readings," Jimison said.

Both men pulled out scanning devices as they nodded.

___________________________________________________


Lucie was smiling more than she had in quite some time. They had recovered ten more of the brain boxes, that was ten fewer voices asking for help. They just had to get them back to Shelby.

She hoped that the new father ship, Derry, would be able to start re-growing the ships also. Her brother had seemed worried that they didn't have enough ships.

Lucy hoped that that wasn't true. She had seen only ten of the ships take out almost four hundred thousand enemy ships. They had now what? Twenty-two ships, they could definitely cut a wide swath through the enemy.

Lucie couldn't imagine the loss of over twenty thousand ships at once. She thought that it would make an enemy give up almost immediately.

A shake of her head, Lucie asked Johnathon, "how long before we can trans-warp?"

"From all readings, I am getting secondary prime, it will be another hour before we are clear of the debris field. Then at least another ten minutes before I can start and engage the trans-warp field," Johnathon said.

"Very good, please notify the Empress and Emperor that we're returning soon," Lucie said.

"For the moment, they are on Brigadier General Dempsy's planet of Jitaku for his joining. According to Mary, a large hostile force has landed, attacking the General's groups. Most of the clans of the planet are moving to render aid," Johnathon reported.

It was almost an hour later when Admiral Hartwell awoke. One look at where he was caused him to groan. "How long have I been here?" He asked.

"A little over an hour," Johnathon said.

"My release?" Hartwell asked.

"Surprisingly, only another thirty minutes, as you had no physical injuries," Johnathon reported.

"What are your orders at present?" He asked.

"At present we are moving out of the ripalon energy field. We are about to engage trans-warp to return to the Imperial planet to off load the ten boxes we collected," Johnathon said.

"Belay those orders, we need to depart for Jitaku, immediately," Hartwell said.

"Unable to comply, Admiral Hartwell, you have been medically relieved of command 'til released from med-bay. I am sorry, prime, I am not allowed to let you go back to command 'til you are clear," Johnathon said.

Hartell's mouth hung open a few moments, then he started to laugh. "Prime? Are you well?" Johnathon asked.

"Yeah, he's fine, he just realized that he has no choice but to wait," Lucie said, having just entered the med-bay.

He then looked at Lucie and started to laugh even harder. "Johnathon, who is in command of you as of this moment?"

"As of this moment, the secondary prime is in command," Johnathon said.

This, of course, made Hartwell laugh even harder, had he not been confined he'd have fallen out of the bed.

"Secondary prime now spinning up trans-warp, Imperial planet in a minute and a half," Johnathon said.

The trans-warp conduit opened not far from the seventeen ships that were around the Imperial Planet.

They transferred five ships to Gillese and five to Ellen. Twenty minutes later, Hartwell was released, assuming command.

"Alright," Hartwell addressed the other ships there. "I need to take more of you with me to Jitaku. It appears that a very hostile force has landed there. I need some of you here to guard the Imperial Planet, the rest are with me. Thomas, I need you here in command. Zimmel, you and Ace are coming along with; Lucy, Lars, Jake, Tendra, Rodrick, Craig and Realla."

"Are we expecting trouble?" Thomas asked.

"You know me and the Commander, we ALWAYS expect trouble. That way, when it arrives, we aren't as surprised," Hartwell said.

Less than ten minutes later, a huge trans-warp conduit opened with nine ships vanishing into it.

Several alarms were going off on the planet Jitaku when a portal almost as large as the planet opened. The thing that made even more go off was the nine ships that exited the portal.

"This is Admiral Hartwell of the Imperial space force, here to render aid to Jitaku and the Emperor," Hartwell said.

"It's good to see that you have returned, admiral," Derrick said.

"Yes sir, I have brought another nine ships. There are still another nine around the Imperial Planet. My sister found another ten of the boxes, they are with the ships in orbit there," Hartwell said.

"Good, though for the moment we have a missing crew member. I want all ships to scan for General Dempsy," Derrick said.

Onai had searched all over the area, finding no sign of Kimon. This was not like she intended, thinking back, she could only assume that he'd been caught in the blast.

Not long after, she found a very well-hidden trail leading back toward the capital city. She and several thousand members of the clans that had joined to free her, followed.

Kimon's mother had also been with her as they left. She, too, was worried that Kimon was hurt badly, he would surely have let her know.

Onai, Akira and all those with her were traveling as fast as possible. Strangely, enough they didn't seem to be gaining any on them.

Kimon Dempsy, lay as still as he could as soon as he was conscious. Damn he thought I have drank, to excess a great many times. He had never had as pounding of a head as he did right now.

Staying still, he felt what was binding his hands. Hmmm he thought so whoever had him? Was definitely damn good at tying knots. Then again, he himself was one of the greatest escape artists on the planet. Hmmm he thought they had used a great number of pressure knots to secure him.

"So," a voice that he'd not heard but once in over twenty years spoke. "How is it that you do not know that you have a brother? Even this clan does not hide what they consider to be great failures. I consider you to be a failure though, according to the clan I am," the male said.

Kimon freed his hands then sat up, removing the mask. "For you to have been removed completely from the clan means you committed great dishonor. As I remember that day, it was you that cheated, using a banned move," Kimon said.

"It was never banned, I know I have seen many use it, especially father," the man said as he sneered at Kimon.

"I am afraid you are wrong, only high masters are allowed to know it. Even so, it is banned, even for them. If you are my brother as you claim, then you should know father was a high master," Kimon said.

"If!? I am your brother, the only other family that you have. That whore that calls itself our mother, will never be family. A disgraceful, used woman of disreputable character. It's a wonder that you are not as dishonorable as she is considering she raised you," the man said.

Kimon could only shake his head as he started to laugh, causing the other male to grow furious,

"How dare you laugh at Higon, Chōnan of Migotha Dempsy," Higon said.

"From all that I have seen and heard; I can only call you Uragirimono (traitor).

Again, as before, Kimon saw the man Higon's face, grow blood-red.

"I am not the one who is Uragirimono to the clan, the art or the planet," Higon snarled at Kimon.

Kimon smirked as he replied, "strange, it wasn't you that restored the clan's nor the art form honor. It wasn't you that risked their life for this. So, I have to wonder, just why you think that you have the honor to claim this I don't know," Kimon said.

"Because you cheated, you," Higon started to yell.

Kimon sighed, "again with this. As was said that day, what you did was not allowed," Kimon said.

"It was allowed! If the masters can do this, then all should be allowed. You can, so all should," a now red-faced Higon said.

"Of course, I am now a master, I earned," Kimon started.

"NO! You have not earned it, I am the better, I have always been. Soon I will prove to you, to the clan, to everyone that I am and have always been the better," Higon said.

Kimon just smirked as he knew things that Higon thought he didn't. He had, after all, studied far beyond the normal ways of the art. A situation he'd had to do after his student went rogue.

He thought back to the fight he'd had with her. Her refusal to accept responsibility for all that she killed. Her absolute refusal to see that she was defeated, that led to her death.

That had weighed heavily upon him all this time. Then there was the extreme hatred of her son. How one could live with that much hate was far beyond him.

Just a look at his brother was a shock to him, the sheer amount of hatred was stifling. Perhaps his brother was lost to him. The amount of it, what he felt, had to have been building for a long time.

Kimon could only sigh, as he saw and felt, there was obviously only one way that this could end. Kimon was not a fan of death matches, the few that had died at his hands left him with a bad taste. Yes, he had learned more than he should, though only for self-preservation.

"So, this is the only way that you can see that this will end, Higon? With a death in the family, in the clan? This does not seem to be the way of honor," Kimon said, shaking his head.

"This is the only way for this to be resolved in the family, in the clan. Once all know of your treachery, your betrayal of the art, then all will recognize me as a true master," Higon shouted.

"So tell me," Kimon said as soon as he heard a beep from his implant. The Emperor would be able to hear now, as Kimon thought the link open. Kimon had never used it, so no time like the present.

Derrick was shocked when Dempsy's cerebral link went active. This must be extremely important as Dempsy had never used it.

The scene before him showed an older man who appeared to look quite a lot like Kimon.

"So tell me," Kimon said. "Just how are you going to achieve all this? Especially after all that I did and has been documented? I restored the honor of the art and the clan after all."

"After this all will be revealed, of your treachery, everything that you did when you cheated," Higon said.

"I really don't think that the clan masters, let alone the council, nor the council leader Isamu Sakuta will believe them," Kimon said.

"Oh, they will believe it after I present the evidence. Then I will declare a Meiyo notatakai (fight of honor), then we will see who is the true master," Higon sneered at Kimon.

Kimon could only shake his head at Higon. All this was dependent upon the fact that Higon thought that Kimon's skills hadn't improved. Then again, Kimon had seen that Higon's skills were far better than the first time they fought.

Derrick had been recording the entire conversation, that was the only reason that Kimon had activated his link. Derrick had also contacted the council and Isamu Sakuta, this didn't bode well.

Onai and Akira were flying far faster than was safe. Onai was seething that she hadn't captured the leader. Akira had tried to calm the female though, hadn't as yet. She herself was mad though she was holding it in better, though not much.

They had almost spilled everyone out of the large speeder a few times. Onai was driving like a mad woman, the whole time mumbling she'd just got him back, she wasn't going to lose.

Neither female had noticed that almost all the clans that had come to aid them weren't far behind.

Onai was starting to grow angrier the closer to the capital city they got. She was no closer to catching the leader of the invader that had her beloved.

She was also having a bad feeling about what the invader leader had planned. There was a plan behind all this though she wasn't seeing it. Plus, Akira, had been tight-lipped the whole time, there was more going on than anyone was letting on.

As mad as she was, Onai was feeling like grabbing Akira by her shirt and demanding to know what was going on. No, Onai thought, killing her intended mother wouldn't go over well at all.

Akira could see the war of emotions that were playing over Onai's face. No, this was her dishonor that she had to live with. It was bad enough that Kimon had learned the way that he had.

His ominous, we will talk later, was also weighing upon her. She had seen both her sons fight, Higon using many banned moves. She also knew that Kimon was a master within his own right, earning a clan master.

Akira could see that they were starting to enter the city. Strange, they almost seemed to be heading to the council building. Then a few minutes later they stopped at it.

Less than ten minutes later, they, along with the other clans, were crowded into the council arena.

All stopped as they stared at the two males before the council.

"I am here to declare Meiyo notatakai (fight of honor). I was cheated of the right to become a clan leader, clan master. I am here to put to rest the fact that a better fighter was denied his right," Higon said.

"We do not recognize your claim, Higon Dempsy. You cannot come here and demand without proof," Isamu Sakuta said.

"I have the proof, I was a master on that day, therefore allowed to use said moves. Therefore, the claim of my disqualification in the fight was false. I therefore claim the right to fight again for my right and his removal," Higon said.

The entire council was taken back at what they had heard, "again, we need proof from a master from that time. They must show that you were indeed a master. After that we will deliberate, then make a decision," Isamu Sakuta said.

A moment later, a much older male moved forward through the growing crowd. He then bowed to the council, "I am Jinroh Mirika, recognized master, semi-retired." Most of the council were shocked that the very old male was still alive.

"You wish to support Higon Dempsy's claim as a master?" Isamu Sakuta said.

When the older male nodded, they allowed him to step forward to present documents. "As you can see, I cleared him of all the qualifications to master status," the older male said.

"Thank you Jinroh Mirika," the council leader said. He then turned to Higon Dempsy, "we will deliberate, then decide."

So Kimon thought he has actual proof after all. The only thing he was worried about was if they were going to allow him to fight as a master. The actual rules for this were somewhat clouded. There hadn't been an honor fight like this in a long time.

Kimon watched as the council discussed among themselves. He knew before they returned just what their answer was going to be.

"Higon Dempsy, Kimon Dempsy, it is the decision of this council that this honor fight take place. There will be no restrictions placed on this, as this is with masters. This will be to defeat, whether that is death or harm. This will take place as soon as both are examined by the clan doctor," the clan leader said.

Both males bowed to the council, then sat as an older male doctor entered the arena. He started with Higon, looking at all the bruises healing them. He then moved to Kimon, looking over all the cuts and bruises that he had healing all of them.

"Are they able to continue? The council leader asked.

"They are, though they are both low on energy. I suggest that they both rest though, because of this fight, I cannot disallow it," the older male doctor said.

The entire council nodded their heads, "then the contest starts in an hour. We will rest, eat, then reconvene. "

Kimon and Higon went to opposite sides of the building.

Far from Jitaku, in the orbit of a world just past the edge of the new empire, boundary, Risen was laughing. Soon he thought these three old enemies would give that fake bastard fits.

He was already ready to go to trans-warp, once he was in the main computer room, it was all over. All the old codes would work, he knew, his family had buried them deeper than anything else.

With a laugh, he set the trans-warp, only a few days then he would be the true ruler.

Shelly Shiloh awoke from her nap, something had been nagging at her. She was remembering the rest of the code that she had almost completed. Then there was another far deeper code that she was seeing.

She was concerned because the second code was far more dangerous than the other two. She then got up to finish the first two, then she started on the last one. She had to get down what she could as she felt it was more important than the first two.

She was going as fast as she could, though this last code was strange and a lot harder than the first two. Finally, she had about three percent before her head started to hurt. She then snuck out, heading for the mainframe room.

She kept an alert eye out for the see-through lady. It wouldn't do to be caught again, this was too important.

The entrance to the room was well guarded though Shelly had found a few ways in. It was to just get the data entered before she got caught.

Shelly had the last of the first, all the second and almost two percent of the third. It was at that moment that Mary finally became aware that Shelly was in the mainframe.

Mary was about to yell when she felt all the first virus fade to nothing. Mary then felt the cascade virus also start to fade. The thing that surprised her though was the complete overwrite program she felt partly fade.

Mary appeared before Shelly, who was backed into a corner crying. "Please see through lady. I didn't do anything bad, I promise."

"I know you didn't, Shelly, you have given me back a life I haven't had in a very long time. Though I am unsure what this third program is, do you have any more of the counter?" Mary asked.

Shelly stopped looking at Mary, she wasn't mad? Shelly just nodded as she entered the last one percent.

Mary was shocked when she was able to by-pass it. "As soon as you see more? Call me ok? I will not be mad."

Shelly could only look at Mary in shock. What had just happened?