Lost Empire

Chapter 25

Deep in the underground safe hold of the Taiolan, the leader had yet to make a sound, still blocking all the excruciating pain that was trying to rack his body. Even as good as he was the many years of training, still some of it was leaking through. Enough to the point that he'd already passed out a number of times. Motioning the second in command he asked for an update. An hour later the leader though not happy was none the less pleased that they still had as many ships and people that they did. Laying there a plan started to form, a plan the leader hoped would eliminate the last of the royal line. Then and only then the leader felt would all be free. 

The second in command left to begin carrying out the leaders orders; this was a most perilous mission to say the least. Since their mind implanted agents were of no further use he guessed they would have to go with the old way of actual agents infiltrating the ranks. This was harder, but with the skills of many here it shouldn't be all that hard.

Derrick looked hard at all the data he'd received, the recyclers had detected something and gone to investigate. They had found the abandoned pod with a fair amount of blood all over the inside. Upon further analysis Mary could find no one in the data base that matched the blood though she had expanded her search to other systems that might hold the answers that she required. Mary herself was worried she hadn't detected any movement or anything getting close to the pod. She felt that she had failed the Emperor even though he was not upset with her.

She had done extensive scans of the pod after the recyclers had found it. Then she started to replay all of her records for the last few hours, sighing she was worried. There had obviously been someone in it even though she hadn't detected a single life reading. The more she scanned the pod the more she was worried, through with the new energy detection system the emperor had her install she was starting to get disturbing readings.

"Sire," she called him a few minutes later when she started to get something.

"Yes Mary, anything," Derrick asked, he was hoping the information they had gotten from the first agent was staring to help Mary's scans.

"Yes Sire, with the new readings I am starting to get readings of a ship that was cloaked. It appears to be a variation of the light screen that the EIG'S use but it is attuned with a huge difference." Mary finally advised Derrick.

"Still no way to actually determine just who was in the escape pod?" Derrick asked of her.

"Not as of yet Sire, it is obvious that we are dealing with someone who was either removed from the system or has never been scanned into the system. I find that hard to believe Sire, everyone is scanned no matter where they are. There are systems set up all over the empire I should be getting a reading of at least once or twice of him being scanned. It is almost as if the man does not exist." A frustrated Mary finally told him.

Derrick nodded he'd heard of something like this before back when he was still in the military but didn't think it had actually been a reality. Thinking harder a few minutes he thought that he'd heard of a store house of personal information on the old Republic world, hmmm he thought the answer might lie there. That bastard might have been a really bad leader and a real shit head of a human being but Derrick had to admit the man had something on a lot of people to wield the power he had.

"Mary I need Hartwell." Derrick said. Mary nodded then a moment later Hartwell appeared. After Derrick had told the man of his suspicions Hartwell nodded his agreement, the president might have been the crud of the galaxy but the man had to have something on a lot of people like Derrick thought to have the authority that he'd had. "Mary we are going to the Republic planet I want you to keep a lock on them at all times. If you see a problem notify me at once we'll transmit all we find as fast as we can. If the sects find out what we are up to they might try to interfere."