Lost Empire

Chapter 23

Cold, it was deadly cold, shivering the man tried to move but found that almost every bone in his body was broken or fractured. Reaching in he began to use his training to deaden almost all the pain, then began to painstakingly drag his body to the escape capsule. A small smile briefly crossed his lips, that bastard was going to pay dearly for what he'd done. It might not be all that soon but he would pay that was for sure. Finally in the capsule he looked back at the destruction, they were all dead, the ship was lost and would be forever as would he, if he didn't evacuate.

The capsule detached still moving with the ship, barely able to reach out the man flipped several switches as the ship flashed away then back into trans-warp space. Going through the star charts he saw that he was several parsecs outside the galaxy. Starting the limited trans-warp, the man knew that this would take a few days; looking at his oxygen he reduced his breathing and the O2 usage. Smiling this would gain him several days, enough to make it to the galactic rim.

Derrick, Hartwell, and Thomas appeared in the throne room, several of those present bowed, and saluted. "Mary, were you able to keep a lock on the ship?" Derrick asked hoping that she knew where it was.

"For a short time sire, it has been in and out of trans-warp for the last hour though the time out of it is decreasing more and more. I estimate it will appear one more time then, it won't be able to re-enter regular space again." Mary advised them. There was a sudden beeping as Mary turned her attention to it. "I am detecting an escape pod though at this distance I am not reading any life signs."

"Alright try to keep an eye on it and we'll see what develops, let me know if you pick up anything. We need to start planning an assault on the new sect's world; they can't be allowed to try again. Nor can I allow them to re-establish themselves." Derrick told Mary and Hartwell.

"Sire I believe that Conner and I could make short work of the planet," Thomas suggested.

"No, as of yet we don't know just how far their tech is advanced, they might have other weapons like the nullifier ray that they hit us with." Derrick advised Thomas who was nodding at the decision that Derrick had made. "I've had Mary doing scans as deep as she can on the world the rest escaped to, we should have more conclusive details soon."

A few moments later Kimison's image appeared before them, "I am afraid that the energy that they are utilizing blocks more than forty percent of all scans. It has both I and Mary perplexed, I have attempted to adjust and have only gained an additional one percent."

Suddenly another hologram appeared, "It's alright sire, they are just worry warts, and I should be able to gain at least another ten percent in an hour or two."

"You're still doing it I swear, nothing I do is good enough you have to tinker it up." Kimison spit out.

"It's not my fault that you can't see..." started Rayburn.

"Alright you two enough," Derrick said to both of them. "I really need you two to work together like you did in the unit. We don't have time for either of your useless fights." Derrick raised his hand to keep the two quiet. "I need both of you ok? Not a pair of badgering old women!"

Both men lowered their heads and answered, "Yes Sire."

"I am depending on both of you to solve this problem the way you two used to. That's why I went after both of you, no one was better at it than the both of you together." Derrick told them hoping that the little pep talk caused them to bond better. "Now then if you two are through bickering we have a lot of work to do."

"Yes Sire," They both replied trying to not look at Derrick or each other.

"Find a way into the damn place! I want the end of that sect before they can try again." Derrick instructed them.