Akrins said, 'Weren't they all damaged?'
'A little bent and dented, but maybe some can still fly,' said Krilltok.
Patrick said, 'Only one way to find out.'
As the seconds ticked away, the fighters with the least damage were crewed up with a pilot and a co-pilot. One by one the four fighters carefully fired up and gentle use of thrusters had them out through the hole made by Carver. The other two fighters were too banged up to even try.
'Nine minutes,' said Danders. 'I want all you fighters landing next to the Romulus, facing the same way. Now would be good.'
One by one each fighter lined up either side of the Romulus. They now had three minutes to avoid crashing into the moon which seemed close enough to touch.
'Together or not at all,' said Danders. 'From ten.'
Danders counted them down and on her call the fighters fired up their engines to full power. Watching it all from Gosdore's screen, the humans joined the aliens and hardly a breath could be heard. Akrins held April in his arms. If they were about to die, they would do so together.
'Nothing,' said Patrick.
'Come on, damn it,' said Akrins. 'Come on.'
'One minute,' said Krilltok. 'Not going to make it.'
'Liz,' said Patrick. 'It's not working. Get you and the others away to save a few of you.'
'Like that's going to happen. Come on, people. Put some effort into it.'
Akrins kissed April. 'You know I love you, right?'
'Yeah. And I love you.'
'It's working,' yelled Patrick. 'Liz. It's working. We just need more.'
Danders said, 'Nice knowing you all. Now move you piece of crap!'
It was only seventy yards of clearance, but it was enough. Clouds of moon-dust churned up as the ships engines hit maximum red zones and the mother-ship was out of danger.
'That was interesting,' said Danders.
Chapter 119
It was a small party of carefully selected guests. His Excellency had his most trusted staff prepare the food before sending them all home. He delighted on serving his guests himself.
'My apologies for the rather subdued welcome, Captain Gosdore,' has he poured fruit juice for his one alien guest. It was wine and beer all round for both Patricks, Danders, Matlock, Akrins and April. Belle was content with iced water. Muffin and Peaches were ignoring the humans and grabbing any food in sight.
'With the regrettable damage our drones caused, I'm probably not too popular,' said Gosdore. 'My people will stay on the ship until it is repaired.'
Prince Patrick said, 'Once things have calmed down, I intend to make a formal statement to all our people explaining that the drones attacking Earth was down to the damage to your ship caused by Carver. Our peoples worked well together in the end.'
Paul said, 'I'm not saying it will be easy and I'm sure many humans will never accept your people. But our own history is full of enemies who became friends so I'm hopeful that in time we'll be the same.'
'I intend to work on the rulers of my world to say much the same,' said Gosdore. 'Captain Patrick's offer to show us how his F T L drives work will be welcomed as a willingness by humans to work with us.'
Patrick still had reservations about his offer, but was determined to stand by it. 'We'll help you with the plans and the science but you will have to build it all yourselves. I for one won't be going on any maiden voyages with you.'
Gosdore grinned in his own peculiar way and said, 'I suspect that deep down you think about using your ship to explore other universes. To have more adventures.'
'Not if I have any say in it,' said Belle. 'Patrick and I will find a little slice of heaven and raise our children.'
'We will?' said Patrick.
Her eyes twinkled as she said, 'Perhaps sooner than you think.'
Patrick's jaw dropped almost to the floor. 'Are you saying...?'
'Yes.'
'My God,' said Paul. 'That's why you declined the wine. Forgive me for now cracking open the champagne.'
Matlock squeezed Danders' hand and said, 'We intend to do our bit to add to the population.'
Akrins said, 'It'll fun trying.'
'I already feel blessed with finding not one, but two sons,' said Paul. 'I'm already the most fortunate man on the planet.'
They talked and planned and found new hope for the future. Before retiring to bed, Belle and Patrick strolled outside in the cool evening air. The night sky was a little different now, with the unblemished full-moon and not too far away from it, a much smaller "moon" shone brightly like a beacon of hope, the mother-ship.
'Happy?' asked Belle.
'Madly happy. I've a father I can now look up to, love and respect. I've a brother. A new home. A woman I love more than life itself and a baby on the way. I have everything a man could possibly want.'
Belle looked up at the two moons and wondered. 'We are so lucky. But I know you, Patrick. I suspect for you the universe is not enough.'
Patrick just smiled.
From Gary.
Well, that was fun. Thanks for reading this. I hope you enjoyed this new Davron serial as much as I did. This pretty much wraps it up for now. I have plenty of other books to write. Will there be new Davron adventures?
That's as much up to you as it is me. Only you can tell me if you would like more. If the response is good, I see new adventures coming up in 2016. So you decide. More Davron? I promise you this, though. If a new Davron adventure gets done, you will NOT want to miss it.
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