Lost Empire

Chapter 3

Derrick had gone numb, from all that he'd seen when he was formulating this plan; NOTHING could survive that plasma blast. A voice was talking to him but he was so numb, he couldn't move, couldn't speak, nothing. As Derrick continued to stare, he felt a chair behind him bump the back of his legs, he don't know if he sat, or didn't know if he fell or was pushed. Several hours later he opened my eyes, finding him sitting in front of a view screen, at first he thought he was on E but as the memories flooded back he sadly shook his head.

Derrick caught a movement out of the corner of his eye, shifting his glance the visage of 0999's hologram came into view. "Ah Good, Primary! I thought that the loss of 0101, had caused a serious overload of your cerebral circuits."

Derrick could only nod, still somewhat in shock he still wasn't too sure what he felt.

Derrick could feel the chair moving but really didn't care at the moment as it took him to nearby crew quarters. Laying in the bed Derrick went over and over the plan trying to figure out just what went wrong, so far he'd come up with nothing. It was possibly a day later when several alarms went off on board 0999, running out Derrick wasn't sure what was going on.

"0999 report," ordered Derrick.

"It appears that the thermic missiles took well over sixty percent of the fleet, they appeared to halt for two days but are on the move again." 0999 replied.

"Status of 0098," Derrick asked.

"All repairs are completed, all systems are ready, would you like to link, Prime Derrick?" 0098 asked.

Derrick thought about it, it had supplied a tactical advantage last time, and with 0098 it might even be more.

"Yes 0098, initiate cerebral link, we need to eliminate this threat before they reach this galaxy." Derrick said. Donning the head gear he had a better heads up display with both ships enabling him to use both as one during the battle.

"Estimated time till they are past the point?" Derrick asked.

"I estimate it will be twenty two hours 'til they breach the galaxy's edge." informed 0999.

"Alright move us into position, prepare all batteries, set shields to full, charge all weapons, I want everything on full standby." Derrick ordered.

"Yes Prime Derrick," both ships answered at once.

Derrick wasn't really feeling up for this not without E, but as E had told him the galaxy needed to be protected and that was what they'd been created for all those centuries ago. Derrick had both ships run full diagnostics he wanted nothing to go wrong, he might have lost E but he'd be damned if he'd lose one of her brothers or sisters. A full twenty hours later they were well in position, looking out Derrick could see that what was left of the alien fleet was substantially less than he first thought it was, hell it was about the size of the last fleet they'd defeated.

The enemy fleet was almost to the galactic edge when the two ships attacked, several ships at the rear exploded, but it appeared there was no other ship there. Just as suddenly 0999 and 0098 appeared at the head of the fleet just as they had turned to attack who was hitting them from behind. Smiling it was happening just as he hoped; only this time they took out far more than a few ships. Flashing in and out the battle took almost an hour, then as suddenly as it started it was over. Neither ship had sustained even minor damage, though the enemy fleet was now just a debris field on the galactic rim.

Derrick breathed a sigh of relief, that was finally done, now he could look for E. Setting a course they emerged near the last point E had been, Derrick had found that not only had E transported him but his ship as well.