Bad Seed

Chapter 22

Ah, she thought that took her back years when she saw them all fighting the invaders. They had fought to the last, destroying over half of those that came. She had wished she could have been there.

"No Wren, had you been there you would have been destroyed or worse caught. Thanks to that, you are free to gain the freedom of as many as you have," Trigon said.

"How the hell did you know what I was thinking?" Wren asked.

"Thinking?" Trigon asked. "I had thought you were speaking."

Wren could only look at Trigon as if her A.I. had lost all its logic circuits. "No, I was thinking that. Huh, perhaps I am evolving more? I'm really not sure."

Wren had Trigon hold the ship a few million miles from Decacon-one. Looking inward, she saw nothing, opening a portal, she appeared on the master's planet.

I just hope that they can help me, she thought. She was then shocked when Rena and the first master nodded to her. It was even stranger when the first master said in her head, I see you have learned thought talk.

"I think we need to measure you again; it is obvious that you have advanced more," the first master said.

Wren's eyes were wide as she nodded her assent. "I think that perhaps, that is a damn good idea," Wren said.

The first master nodded as he led Wren to the room next to the Chrysalis room. As before, the first ten masters started to scan her. A few moments later, the first master's mouth dropped open.

"It appears that you are now beyond level forty. There are only a few that are that high, indeed you are powerful," the first master said. "I am afraid that this next adjustment will severely hamper you going much higher."

"Really, first master, if I have as bad problems as I am, then I may welcome it. Especially if it gets in the way of bringing the masters back," Wren said.

The ten masters there were nodding their heads slowly. The main thing at the moment was the restoration of the Ceti-5 people. True, they had fifty-nine now, though they needed more.

"I think I should release more while I am here," Wren said as she went next door.

As before, the large crystalline, Chrysalis, was glowing a mid-blue color. As of yet there still weren't any problems with it. Many of the masters, though, were afraid it might still fail.

Wren relayed the fears of the masters to her mother, who was nodding the whole time. Wren then put her hand on the Chrysalis, watching as it and her hand started to glow. This time two large balls of light came off the Chrysalis.

Both balls of light broke off, then started to divide. At first Wren was fine, then she started to shake a little, damnit what was happening? That's when the light balls divided into four each. Oh, shit Wren thought, as the strain started to grow more.

Thankfully, the strain was just starting to grow heavy when all the divisions of light started to become shapes. "Wren!" She heard her mother yell. Though she held up a hand as she thought her mother was about to run to her.

A minute later, there were four males and four females on the floor next to Wren. She let a sigh out as she started to feel a bit of exhaustion.

"Well," Wren said, "that's thirty-four and thirty-three. Now sixty-seven, thank god."

Wren's mother and sister ran to her as she started to wabble a bit.

"Are you trying to kill yourself?" Her mother said as they helped Wren to sit for a few minutes.

"No mother, those, as I said before, I am feeling a sense of urgency. I feel that I need to get as many as I can as fast as I can. I don't even have a fourth of them yet, I have to do better," Wren said.

"As I and the masters have said," a worried Rena said as she walked up. "If you expire then all of this will be for naught. You have to take care of yourself if you are to help us."

Wren realized all this though, the sense of doom if she didn't hurry, was still there. "I am still feeling that something isn't right with the Chrysalis, though I can find nothing wrong. Even with the eight today, it isn't feeling any better."

Rena looked at her mate, an even more worried look on her face. "Perhaps we should look into this further if she has such a foreboding feeling."

Her mate, the first master, was also concerned at what Wren had said. He gathered as many of the masters as he could an hour later, scanning the Chrysalis.

He and the others exited the Chrysalis room with grave looks on their faces. "It is far worse than we thought it was. Plus, there is an entity missing from the central energy chamber. This has unbalanced the Chrysalis, far worse than we thought."

"One missing? Is there any way to tell who it is and how they escaped?" Rena asked of her mate.

The first master was quiet a moment thinking, then he turned to Rena with a look of concern. "I'm beginning to think that it might have something to do with the experiment."

A gasp arose from Rena and the other seven mates that had been involved. "We had done all that we could to isolate everything from the experiment. How could this have happened?" Rena asked.

"As of yet, we are unsure, it may take all of us to correct all of this. At the moment, we are far below the total power that we need. Only Wren can save us and the one that is missing," the first master said with a heavy sigh.

Wren had been resting the whole time, wanting to bring more again. The urgent feeling was starting to grow severe. She waited an hour, then, against anything anyone said, she went to the Chrysalis room.

"Wren," Rena said as soon as she entered. "I don't think that is a good idea."

"I'm sorry, Rena, I have to, I feel that if I don't, then all may be lost," Wren said as she laid her hand on the Chrysalis.

At first, all seemed to be OK as the two balls of light separated. Then, as they started to divide, Wren started to shake. That's when the screams started. Damnit Wren thought as she reached deeper for energy.

"NO WREN! You can't use that, it's your life energy! Stop before it's too late," Rena was yelling as she bounced off Wren across the room unconscious.

Luckily, Wren's mother had just entered as Rena fell to the floor. She grabbed Wren, trying to pull her lose as the screaming stopped.

Wren shook her head, she couldn't fail, they were depending on her. The lights were again divided into eight, though much slower; four males and four females.

Wren looked at her mother at her feet out cold. A small smile came to her lips as she also dropped next to her mother. As the darkness took her, she thought, I thought that I wasn't going to do this again.

The masters were shaking their heads, as were their mates. This was starting to be a reoccurring theme with Wren and her family, though, Rena was a new twist.

The med room was indeed full as they had sixteen Cetians recovering. Along with those Wren had brought back was Wren, her mother and the first master's mate.

Rena was the first to recover, as well as the first eight that had been brought back. Rena watched at the others were improving a lot faster than they had before. She shook her head, the sense of urgency that Wren felt was a worry. Yes, though Wren pushed almost too far.

Rena didn't know what she could do to get Wren to not go as far as she was. Rena shivered as she thought of losing Wren, without her, it was hopeless.

An hour later, the Empress awoke, almost no worse for wear. "How much longer do you think?" Ophelia asked as she watched Wren.

"We aren't that sure, your majesty," Rena said, then was surprised when Ophelia waved that away.

"You, almost more than anyone else, can call me Ophelia. I see that she got sixteen more, a good number though, she should have waited at least another hour. I hate that she feels she has to rush, there are now what? Seventy-five?

That's almost nineteen percent? That's a lot more of you than ever before," Ophelia said.

"I agree, though the thought of leaving any of them alone in that emptiness is unthinkable. I am so hoping that is not the fate of so many of our people," Rena sadly said.

"I'm sure that Wren isn't about to let that happen," Ophelia said.

"I so hope that you are correct, your uh Ophelia," Rena said.

Ophelia smiled, she was sure that the others would be shocked when they heard Rena, call her by her name.

Another two hours saw Wren awakening in the med room. She shook her head as she thought with a sigh, damn did it again.

"Yes you did," a familiar voice said beside her.

"Mother! Are you alright? I felt you go down almost as soon as I felt you touch me," Wren said.

"I am fine dear, I," Ophelia said, then noticed that the first master was there waiting to talk to them both. "Yes, first master, may I help you?"

"I need to advise you that you have moved through the seventh level. You are only the second corporeal being to ever achieve this. Your family is quite astounding, your other daughter might achieve this also," the first master said.

"Just where is she at now," Ophelia asked.

"The last test we did on her, she was almost at five, very close to what you and Wren are," the first master said.

Wren's mouth was hanging open, what the hell was up with her family? "Wait, is it possible that my father might also be like this?" Wren asked.

"We aren't sure, as he is a male, we will have to wait and see," the first master said.

Wren was about to ask more when she 'heard' Trigon. "Master Wren, I have a commaque from Decacon-one," Trigon said.

"Alright, I'll be right there," she said as a portal opened. "I'll be back soon," then stepped through.

"Let's hear it," she said as soon as the portal closed.

"Channel is now open," Trigon said.

"Princess Wren, this is the earth council. We have a new piece of technology that could aid you greatly in th recovery of our people," came the first councilor's voice.

Wren's eyes were3 surprised as she said," I'll be right there."

A portal opened as they entered, then were in orbit. Landing, Wren exited before any could enter. She was shown a new digitizing system that they had developed for her storage problems.

She had Trigon run several tests on it before she integrated it into her ship. Thanking all the councilors, she then left as soon as possible, she had, of course, created another forty, earth star-defenders. True, they only had eighty ships, four squadrons, but they could kick ass now!

She then had Trigon open a trans-warp conduit arriving a few minutes later near the third Meltry colony world. Almost as she had expected, they were armed to the teeth waiting for her.

"I am counting two light and two heavy battleships," Trigon reported.

"Stealth, then fire fifty energy torpedoes, target all the vital areas of the heavy battleships," Wren said as she started to scan the planet.

Even as the torpedoes streaked away, Wren's eyes got large. There was no way that what she was seeing could be true.

"All torpedoes on track, impact in ten seconds," Trigon said. A moment later, there were several large explosions in each heavy battleship. "Reading severe damage to the nearest battleship, the second is almost completely dead."

Wren nodded, glad that she had doubled the yield on each torpedo. "Fire another twenty-five at the first, then target the two light battleships."

Wren was still not believing her eyes as she went through the readings again. She was about to ask Trigon to check the system when the second heavy and the two light battleships exploded.

Less than a minute later, the first followed suit. "Alright, take out the rest of the fleet. Am I reading this correctly?" Wren asked.

"Now checking readings, readings confirmed," Trigon reported.

Wren could only shake her head, this was quite a lot, though the more, the better. In less than an hour, they had destroyed all the fleet and retrieved all the people. "Drop all four Trigon," Wren said, then smiled as it shuttered, then broke apart.

"Let's go to the next, what is the capacity of the digital system?" Wren asked.

"All parameters indicate we can take ten thousand," Trigon said.

"What!? So we've only used fifteen percent? Hopefully we can get a few more before we go back," Wren said.

"We should, we only have a thousand five hundred, we have room. Now opening portal," Trigon reported.

Less than a minute later, they arrived at another Meltry colony, hardly guarded at all. This they had finished in less than a half hour. Wren was again surprised at the thousand five hundred.

Wren was glad that they were almost half done with the Meltry. She was actually starting to tire of killing all the time. Though, as she knew, it was a necessary evil, and she had a promise to keep.

The fifth colony was as easy also. Wren was shaking her head, here she thought that they would be waiting for her. This time she was shocked when there were two thousand people there.

Shit she thought, they had five thousand people now and six more planets to go. The system was half full, she had a bad feeling about this. The next few were a lot closer to the home planet. Yeah, she thought, then opened a portal.

Less than nine minutes, they were in orbit of Decacon-one. Wren followed the two squadrons of forty earth star-defenders. That was more impressive to Wren than almost anything else.

Upon landing, Wren explained that she had a hell of a lot of people. She noticed that there were two small cities as she had come in. Almost two hours later, she had all the people out, two being the eighth and ninth councilors.

She also made another forty earth star-defenders. There she thought that was six squadrons. One hundred twenty of the ships. Now they had a star force, though she made another forty, yeah eight squadrons.

She also started to make even more buildings, though she only got twenty before she felt a little fatigued.

"You have helped more than you know, Princess. We now number six thousand eight hundred fifty. We are well on our way back to being a power in the universe again." All of the councilors bowed to Wren, then she left.

"I think I need to get back to Ceti-5," Wren said.

"Compliance master Wren," Trigon said, then opened a portal, appearing not far from what was left of the earth fleet.

Wren laughed with glee as she started to take out those of th fleet that fired on her. A moment later, Esmerelda appeared on her view screen.

"Soon you and that false bitch of a mother of yours will be just a bad memory," Esmerelda laughed.

"Oh, you think so? Here is a sample of Meltry technology. Considering that they are half dead now," Wren laughed as she had Trigon launch two of the energy torpedoes.

All the techs on the bridge of Esmerelda's ship were screaming that they had no defense for what was approaching. They had tried to turn the ship, barely getting the bridge out of the line of fire, though not much else.

Wren laughed as she watched almost all of the lumbering ship dissolve after the torpedoes exploded.

A portal opened, then she was in orbit of Ceti-5. "Ceti control, permission to land," Wren asked.

"Permission granted," came Flugret's voice. "Welcome home little Wren."

"Thank you, Master Flugret," she said, then set down.

"It is good that you have come the way you have. I am always afraid that using the portals as much as you do, could be dangerous," Flugret said.

"I don't think so, master, as it comes from me and I don't think I want to hurt myself," Wren said with a chuckle.

"That may be true though, there are a lot about ourselves that we don't know," Flugret said.

Wren just nodded as she made her way to the Chrysalis room. Without a second thought, she walked to the large crystal, laying a hand upon it. As before, two large balls of light broke from the Chrysalis.

Wren sighed as she nodded her head, then the two became four, then eight. Her mother and sister were keeping a close eye on her, as was Rena.

When all eight divided into four males and four females, Wren dropped her hand. "I was hoping that this went without a problem," Wren said.

Her mother was nodding as she walked to Wren. "I was notified that there are now over six thousand on Decacon-one now. Still no sign of your father though," Ophelia sighed. "I am hoping beyond hope that you find him soon. We need his mind to take back the empire."

"I am doing all I can to make that a possibility, mother. I miss him badly also," Wren said, the sadness evident on her face.

"I heard that we also have a hundred and sixty earth star-defenders. I am also told that we have pilots for all of them. Eight squadrons are a decent start to the earth star force. At least now they have protection. I was also advised that you found two more of the councilors, excellent," Ophelia said, hugging Wren close.

Wren almost melted into her mother, as much as she wanted to stay there, she had a job to finish. Actually, she had a lot to do, first her damn stepbrother, then the Meltry threat.

Then there was the fact that there were still over three hundred Cetians trapped. Last but not least, there was that bitch of a stepmother that she had to topple while there was time. Thanks to her actual mother, that time had grown greatly.

"I wish I had time to do more, though we now have eighty-three, almost a fourth of them. I am still feeling urgency though it has backed off a bit, not much but a bit," Wren said.

Her mother and her sister both hugged Wren again, shocked when all three of them were blown to the walls. Wren looked at her mom and sister as they were glowing.

Her mother looked at her a moment, then got up, walking to the huge crystal in the room. She nodded to a voice as Wren's eyes went large. Ophelia laid a hand on it as two lights broke from it.

Ophelia started to smile, then her eyes went wide as she started to convulse. "MOTHER no!" Wren yelled as she ran to her mother, wrapping her arms around her.

Wren wasn't blown away, but she had a large current that was running through her body. So that's what they felt only a lot worse, Wren thought. A moment later, the male and female shapes appeared on the floor.

Her sister ran to their mom, forgetting it was too soon. Her shocked face was almost comical as she was again, blown across the floor.

She shook her head with a silly smile, "well that'll wake you up!" This, of course, had both Wren and her mother giggling.

Rena and the masters present could only shake their heads, these humans were stranger than they thought.

Wren finally stopped as she turned to her mother. "I'm sorry that I have to go, mother. I am almost finished with this. Most of the last races are gone, I have to eliminate the rest or no race is safe."

"I know, Wren, believe me, I know as I am sure that your father did. Be careful, Thomas, is still out there looking for you. Perhaps you can get him first?" Ophelia said.

They all saw her off as her ship took off. She decided to portal out to where Esmerelda's fleet was. Coming out near where the blasted ship was, she saw that a piece of it was still whole.

Wren sighed she was almost as hard to kill as Thomas was. Entering the portal, she came out a few million miles from the sixth colony world. A wicked smile came to her lips, "stealth Trigon!"

In a line in front of her ship, she saw that the Meltry were starting to get serious. There were five heavy battleships that started to fire as soon as she appeared.

"Fire fifty at each one Trigon," Wren said, then fell as the ship was rocked by a blast from her brother's ship.

"Son of a bitch, fire energy torpedoes!" Wren yelled.

"We're out," Trigon replied.

"Then use the regular missiles." she yelled, she needed to end this.