Lost Empire

Chapter 64

0001 - Tempro

0003 - Conner- Thomas

0097 - Ace - Zimmel

0098 - Lucy

0101 - Shelby (mother ship) - Lucie

0125 - Lars

0200 - Ellen

0301 - Rodrick

0403 - Johnathon

0667 - Marco - Brown

0778 - Jan

0798 - Celeste - Shelby (human)

0908 - Tara - Mara

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Ungrown - unnumbered

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4 - onboard Shelby 0805, 0808 in re-gen

1000 - Sherry , 0205 Tendra

0999 - Zan - also lost

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Known and OR numbered

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0501 - Thaddeus

???? - Lena

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Hartwell was still sitting there with his mouth open. They had a prisoner sure,  though a naked female? What in the hell were they going to do with a naked female. A wry smile came to his lips then he slapped his face. Damn it Johnathon, now isn't the time to think about that!

Getting up he walked his way slowly to the med bay. Maybe Lucie could get her covered up before he got there.

Finally reaching the med bay, Hartwell was about to walk in then stopped at the threshold. Damnit! The female was still naked.

"I thought you'd put something on her by now." Hartwell told Lucie.

"Why? She's a female, I'm a female, we've got pretty much the same equipment. I figured since you weren't here I thought, why bother with it. Since you're here though, you can handle it." She then turned to go, stopping at the door to smirk at her brother. "After all you're a man, I know you can handle it." Then she walked out her laughter echoing off the walls.

Hartwell again shook his head as he looked at the female on the bio-bed. "Johnathon report!"

Johnathon appeared a moment later, "She was severely oxygen deprived. She was also at the beginning of the sterilization that the Tendrax people are experiencing. I should be able to cure that within a few days. I am still scanning her for any damage that the oxygen deprivation might have caused."

"Good, also Johnathon?" Hartwell asked.

"Yes, Admiral prime?" Johnathon replied.

"Do something about her not wearing clothes." Hartwell said with a lump in his throat. Again he shook his head, he and the team had been through hell, horrors men shouldn't see and have survived. Yet here he was shaking like a new recruit on the battle field, pissing his pants. All because of a naked female? Face it Hartwell, he thought, you really have gotten soft like the commander said.

Derrick was about to take a drink when his wrist comm. went off. Looking at the code he saw that it was Hartwell. "You alright Admiral?" he asked.

"I am sorry to disturb you Commander." Hartwell told him. "Just returned with the prisoner." Here Hartwell sighed.

Derrick screwed his face up puzzled. "What's wrong, did you have to kill them?"

"No sir. It was a female, a NAKED female. What in the hell do you expect me to do with a naked... On second thought don't answer that." Hartwell said with a look of chagrin on his face.

"Bring her here as soon as possible." Derrick told him.

"I will sir, though that might be a bit. She was unconscious in a life capsule with a brain box attached to it." Hartwell explained.

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Derrick nodded as he disconnected from Hartwell. He was suddenly watching, as a small girl and boy began to run circles around him and Shelby chasing each other.

Derrick bent down to separate the obviously fighting duo. "Give it back to me!" The little girl was yelling at the boy. Derrick could only shake his head.

"I think it would be best if you do, also." Derrick said making a face at the boy who immediately withdrew, handing something to the girl.

The little girl turned to hug Derrick tight. "Thank you, mister nice man!" Then she surprised him and Shelby by kissing his cheek. Mary appeared a moment later waving a finger at the girl, she leaned into Derrick whispering. "I think I'm in trouble, here comes the see through lady."

"I heard that!" Mary said.

Derrick couldn't hold back any longer, he then started to chuckle then laugh loudly. "Ah! My dear Shelly, it is always a pleasure to see you."

A moment later Mika walked up to take Shelly from Derrick. "I'm sorry sire, if she bothered you. They find it boring staying in the lab with me."

Derrick gave Mika a huge smile as he replied. "They were no problem at all. I am grateful to have all of you here."

Mika's face dropped a moment as she asked quietly, "Still no word on when Gunter gets back?"

Derrick smiled as he told her, "No, not yet, though I am hoping to have another message from him soon. If I recall he is nearing the end of the assignment I gave him."

"I really hope so sire. The boys and Shelly miss him fiercely, as does his wife." Mika told him.

"I know Mika, remember he has Grant and Jimison with him. I am hoping they are home soon." Derrick told the worried woman. 'They better make it back alive, I don't break my word and I don't want to start now.'

Mika was nodding her head, "I just wish that there wasn't all this secrecy."

Shelby turned to Derrick, then back to Mika. "As do I Mika. Though I do understand, with all the enemies we have unfortunately, it is necessary. I myself, as Empress am not privy to everything."

Derrick could only nod as he tried to hide an embarrassed look on his face. "At the present time, I am afraid that it is necessary."

"Ummmmmmm yes, though I hope that in the future that it isn't." Shelby stated with a determined look on her face.

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At the edge of the Galaxy three small craft suddenly appeared. One wasn't doing that well as they started in toward the Imperial world. Onboard the damaged ship, the occupant was doing all he could to stay on course.

"You know he's going to kill me if I can't get this back to him." The damaged ship's occupant told the other two.

"After what we found, I think he'll more than forgive you. Especially after that close call near the Tendrax home world." One of the other ship's occupants replied.

"Still they weren't as scary as the Cregons or those damn Delcrons! I thought that one, was going to rip my face off because I didn't attack him." The damaged ship man said.

"I thought you read the briefing. You know they only respect you if you attack them. Then again when you nearly killed it, I think you made a real impression. The way it was looking at you, I was afraid it would want to mate with you!" The other ship occupant said.

"Ha, ha, be an ass, it was a male I'm telling you." The damaged ship man stated.

"I'm not so sure," the first ship man said. "It sure was gyrating toward you an awful lot."

"Christ! You're getting more and more gross the closer to home we get. Look, just let it drop and we'll forget that you almost wrecked us on that Tendraxian cruiser." The damaged ship man replied.

"Still not going to let up on that are you? I told you I was having control board problems!" The first ship man said.

The second and damaged ship men were now laughing almost uncontrollably. All this was suddenly cut short by a series of ear piercing, shrieking alarms that started to go off.

The first ship man started to curse when he saw the readings. "Damn it! Apparently, you made a bigger impression than you at first thought."

"Son of a bitch!" The damaged ship man stated. "Computer, I need distance of the approaching fleet. Give me a time frame for their penetration of the galactic boundary."

"Compliance," the simple A.I. of the small damaged ship replied. "At present speed they will penetrate the boundary of the galaxy within two weeks, six days. At present scans unable to determine the number of ships."

"Can you, with information provided, extrapolate the possible size of the fleet?" The damaged ship man asked.

"Now attempting to extrapolate an answer. At present, scans have only indicated a thousand ships. There are three, unknown factors to consider with current data. If this is a marriage challenge party than the number could be as high as fifty to seventy thousand. If this is a diplomatic party, then it could be as few as forty thousand." The A.I. droned.

"You said there were three unknown factors, what of the third?" The first shipman asked.

"Now working on that. According to data that was supplied for the third factor. If this is a war party then the number could be as high as, one hundred thousand." The A.I. answered.

"Shit! Damn it! All you had to do was make nice, maybe hit it a little. No, you had to go and damn near kill it!" The first ship man said.

"We're going to have to break communication silence. I don't want to be the one that royally pisses him off." The first ship man said.

"Neither do I." The second ship man stated.

"What!? You want me to face his wrath? I'm not doing this alone, if I have to tell him, then the both of you do also." The damaged ship man said.

With a sigh the other two nodded as the first opened a comm. "Like it really matters, he'd know they were coming in about a week anyway, if he doesn't already."

For half an hour he tried to send a signal to no avail. Picking up what appeared to be a large fleet of ships ahead. That's when the three ships came upon the massive debris field. Here at the back end of it there were actual recognizable sections of ships. The thing was though, there were absolutely no life signs at all.

All three of the males could only stare with their mouths open. The field had to be thousands of kilometers long and wide. Just what in the hell had been going on while they had been away?

"Scan the present debris field. Can you determine what type of ships those were? What destroyed them?" The first ship man asked of his A.I.

"Scanning now, scans confirming identity of ship wreckage. All sections that are intact indicate that they are remnants of a very large Tendraxian fleet. Damage was induced by high temperatures and thermic radiation." The A.I. informed the male.

"Thermic? Are there any remains of EIG ships present within the wreckage?" The male asked.

"Affirmative, at present, I am detecting the presence of one hundred EIG life capsules. Though none are active, they are all giving off indications that they are still functioning." The A.I. reported.

"I wondered why so many berths were empty when we went by there. They must have come after the EIGs hard if the EIGs used thermic weapons. Yeah, I think we ALL have to call him. Mad or not if he doesn't know he'll be glad to get a count." The first ship man said.

"As soon as we get ahold of him." The second ship man said.

Another alarm started to go off as all three turned to look at the readings. "Warning! Warning! Residual ripalon energy detected. Do not activate trans-warp, repeat do not activate trans-warp. Ripalon energy will cause a degenerative effect to the Criteria particles causing failure within the system."

All three of the males looked at each other shaking their heads. No wonder they couldn't communicate.

"Will the shielding effectively guard the trans-warp system?" The first ship man asked.

"Affirmative, as long as trans-warp system is not activated." The A.I. replied.

"How long before we can safely engage the system?" The first ship man asked.

"At present speed, six hours, twenty three minutes to traverse the debris field. Then another fifteen minutes to be at a distance to safely engage." The A.I. informed them.

This of course drew a groan from all three of the males. Damn, here they thought they'd be home in less than an hour. Sighing all three started to settle in when they heard another set of alarms go off.

Looking over the readings all three were stunned to see that they were picking up life signs. They were faint, though they were there.

"You know. we really don't have time for this." The second ship man said.

Sighing the first ship man nodded, "Yeah, I know, though if we don't try, I don't think I could live with myself."

The other two groaned but agreed as they veered off toward the signals.

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Hartwell was at his wits end, the female was still unconscious, though all med scans said she was fine. Leaving her there he started for the bridge, then was standing there. Smirking he thought, damn A.I.

Hartwell was about to sit when he got an excited call from Thomas. "Admiral!" The man was yelling almost to the point of irritation.

"WHAT!!?" " Hartwell snapped causing Thomas to back away a moment.

"Sorry sir, didn't mean to piss in your breakfast, sir." Thomas said with a smile.

"Whatever, what do you have to report?" Hartwell said starting to cool off.

"I wanted to let you know, we have heavy activity within that area where the shield is." Thomas said. "Heavy as in machinery."

Hartwell nodded as he thought a moment. "I'll be right there." Hartwell said, then nodded to Johnathon. A moment later they were near the orbit of the Duke's planet. "Alright show me."

Thomas nodded as a topographical map appeared between them. Pointing Thomas stated, "all indications are, that heavy machinery is being located just outside this clearing. Unfortunately, the shield is making taking readings within, nearly impossible. This was one of the two areas that you wished me to watch."

Hartwell nodded as he looked at the area closer. Damn, if he didn't know, that area, looked a lot like the place near an old abandoned bunker. He and William used to play there as children. Suddenly, a thought came to him, drawing up another set of plans of the same area. Plans that were below the surface well within a cave system.

"Does the shield extend through the ground? If so, to what depth?" Hartwell asked.

Confused a few seconds Thomas stared a moment, then a wide smile broke over his features. "Pulling that up now Admiral." Thomas was at it for a minute then his smile returned. "It appears to only be confined to the surface."

Hartwell was nodding as he started to go through several more maps. Suddenly he stopped pointing to the side of a hill. "That's it, if I remember right that goes through to the inside of the shield."

Thomas excited was looking over the plans as he suddenly looked up. "Not really big enough to get anything useful through is it?"