Lost Empire

Chapter 9

Laughing Derrick read all the reports that came in, the commander of the ship that had fired on them screaming that they were an ancient evil that needed to be destroyed. Leave it to be said that the man, was placed in a restrictive jacket and holding cell. After Shelby detected the change in scan designed to specifically to detect them, Derrick became very interested in the man responsible for it.

"Shelby," Derrick started, "can you link with the Ranger computer, obtain onboard video files?"

"Yes Derrick it shouldn't be too hard, considering it is just an advanced computer," she responded.

"Jump to hyper-space then I want all the feed during the time that we were scanned and the scan changed. I want to see just who we are dealing with." Derrick said, thinking it might be an older officer trying to make advancement.

A few moments later Derrick watched as a young officer discovered them, then notified his commander, was brushed off, then continued on. Hmmm Derrick thought I like his work ethic, much like mine had I not been like that I'd have never developed the living metal detection system. Then a thought hit Derrick, I do need more human operators for the ships, hmmm nice idea just needed a way to implement it.

Shelby interrupted his musings a moment later, "I also have his service record with the Rangers he is an exceptional young officer, he is ensign Mack Baron quite distinguished at the academy, very high marks, very intelligent," Shelby remarked.

"Good I want you to file his name away we need to keep an eye on this as he might prove a danger later on," Derrick told her. Really need to have Shelby go through all the files and see just who might be a danger to all of us. "Status of trans-warp, re-gen," Derrick asked after they had successfully jumped to hyper-space.

"All systems are reporting green at the moment I need five minutes twenty five seconds for restart then we should be able to jump," Shelby reported.

Derrick nodded he was more than anxious to get to the rest of the ships, as they had less than half their defensive capabilities. "Alright Shelby, just make sure you have no more circuits that need replacing before you do jump. I don't want to stall out half way there and possibly become unstable unable to reintegrate into normal space."

"Yes Derrick, I have been running diagnostics on all the systems for almost an hour, I encountered a few problems but have had sufficient time to correct them. Three minutes ten seconds 'til safe trans-warp, as of yet Conner hasn't reported detection by any outside source. Though he is seriously limited only able to detect a half light year distance from his position. I am afraid they might be attacked without me there to help defend them." Shelby sadly stated. "One minute thirty seconds to activation of trans-warp."

Derrick was still looking over the readings for several plans and systems that existed on the ships and a few he wanted to add that would make them far more defensible.

"Trans-warp ready Derrick, tri-angling their position, commencing." Shelby stated.

A now familiar whine started behind Derrick, hmm he thought still odd sounding, then they were across the galaxy within a few seconds. Derrick immediately recognized the old abandoned ship yard, as he'd been here on numerous occasions.

"Shelby stand down trans-warp, something isn't right. The wind up before transit sounds off, please check all your Critela particle emitters. I believe the problem may lie there." Derrick advised her.

"Yes Derrick, running diagnostic on that system now." She was silent for a few minutes then reported back to Derrick.

"Derrick!," she shouted excited, "I found that using the Critela particles to accelerate the re-gen of the generators has seriously weakened the containment of the particles. Almost all of the particles being released are somewhat tainted and cause an adverse amount of strain on the trans-warp engines. It would be advisable to wait at least a day before I attempt to use my trans-warp again. This should allow sufficient time for the system to flush and replenish."