Chapter 22; The Light at the End of the Tunnel
Turning away from the comm link, the General snorted to himself. He looked at his rooms, "My Lab-module," he thought wryly, "it’s nothing but a rat infested storage locker with no dust protection, poor lighting and barely breathable air. It's a wonder we can get anything done at all. Thank God my daughters have proper lab space. But now, to have finally completed this weapon at just this moment in time is almost beyond belief.
He spoke to himself as he waited to meet Baraz and his daughters, “I only wish we would have tested the weapon one more time.”
Just then a comm-bot came barreling into the room from the hall way saying, "General Z! General Z! The damned thing works! The damned thing works!"
"I wish my daughters would watch what messages they put in these things," the General said to no on in particular. In a rush, he headed for Lab B. They entered to find the Blue Team dancing, singing and throwing papers into the air.
"Ahem," said the General.
All eyes turned to the door. Pedra, his youngest daughter and Chief of the Blue ream, threw her arms around his neck and howled in a not lady-like fashion, "It works, it works!"
As he looked at another corner at a viddy screen, he checked the satellite monitors just once again, and as usual, they saw nothing. "They are up there all right," he said to the tek, "I can smell 'em. They must have some new cloaking device. Oh well, I can’t think about that now. Where is my grand son? I am anxious to get this demonstration on the road."
The men just looked at him and smiled to themselves. Some of them had spent more than fifteen months in the caves under this hell hole. None of them would have stayed a day if it weren't for the crusty old curmudgeon pacing back and forth before them.
They were happy today. Rumors were rampant about hoe all of the long months of mind numbing toil had finally paid off. Pedra’s latest invention, that some were calling the Beam Scrambler, was working like a charm. They could not have timed it better either. Millions of men and women had spent the best part of two decades chasing one Royal heir after another through out the reaches of space.
Now, Keeth’s forces were gathered somewhere nearby to bring this civil war to its conclusion. Now we have bought some time to perfect some of the other surprises that old General Z's team have been trying to perfect for the last ten years.
Baraz stopped at the port of the lab module, taking in the whole scene. He saw ten good souls, all in white coveralls, watching every move of the women who was our last hope. At the hissing of the portal, all eyes turned to the door. They received so few visitors because of the tight security.
It made them glad to see any face that does not belong to that old General. Hell, they hadn't even been allowed to the social barracks for the last six months. The food-robs were starting to look good to them. As it dawned on them just who was coming in, they all dropped to one knee in salute. Except General Z, of course, who had rocked this boy. He had changed his diapers, taught him astral physics and taught him to fly when he was only six years old.
They clasped arms in the salute of two comrades of many battles. "Poppy, why have you summoned me here from the fighting bridge?"
He stepped through the door. The general and his daughters turned to greet him. His aunts shook hands with him gravely. He looked at Pedra, "What new toy have you come up with this time?
Pedra stepped away from her nephew to a set of viddy screens, “It’s the break through we have been needing.
“Good! We desperately need a ray of hope if we are ever going to break out of this trap. So many times I warned my dear departed brother that we were too close to the galactic edge and could too easily be surrounded.”
They all nodded as he continued, “And now, we appear to be completely sealed off since our command base was discovered.”
“We don’t know that for sure, Sire.”
“I think that all the activity on the screens has answered that for us. I fear that we have been found and the end may be near.”
Baraz turned to his Guardians, "Will you wait here, Marx?" The Chief of Palace Guard caused his group to form their usual half-circle facing out in preparation to defend the port to their collective deaths.
"Look here, Sire. This is called a Beam Scrambler. It sets up a field of energy that cannot be beamed through without the reassembly data being scrambled. The problem has been on how to distribute the deflector screens. This was solved only yesterday when we put the beams into the sensor satellite system. Now, we are surrounded by this system, so we are safe in here for awhile."
Baraz beamed at his favorite aunt. She had always been his favorite aunt. Only six years older than him, in better days they had terrorized the Palace halls on many a rainy afternoon. As gifted as her father, she had flown through her studies at the Royal Academy. She had graduated far ahead of her peers. She had been the perfect choice as her father's secret weapon in these dark times.
She had her mother’s personality, and her father’s drive. She had the political savvy to make the best use of her sister’s ability to get people to do things they didn’t want to do. The two of performed miracles before the team could discover how they had been out maneuvered. Production had more than doubled for the formation of a second team to work on more projects.
"Alright, you both sent for me.” The general now turned to Lea’s team, “What damned thing works, dear Lea?".
"The time jump, Sire. We have perfected a way to jump through time and space. Instead of days or weeks, we can jump some where else in the galaxy within mere seconds of real time. We can move without the use of motors throughout space. Those cruisers out there can be boarded and taken within a matter of minutes if we knew their exact location. The new sensor grid that Pedra’s team has just upgraded shows all of the ships around us right here on this monitor.
Lea continued, “I was working off Pedra’s virtual jump gates. The advantage she created over standard beam technology was that we no longer had to have two matched gates at either end of the jump. In the last week, we have discovered that we only need to know the coordinates. At that place in space, we can jump beam an entire ship anywhere in the galaxy instantaneously."
"That is all well and good, but how long before it is operational?"
"I have a prototype ready for your inspection now, Sire."
"Well, let us have a look at it, please."
At that, the members of the Blue Team sprang into action. They took a book off a shelf and placed it on a shiny square in the middle of the floor.
"Hold out your hand, father," she said.
Flipping a switch and adjusting a few dials, a hum was heard in the room. The book disappeared and reappeared instantaneously in her father's hand.
"Books!?! You said troops! How does your process work on humans?" her father asked darkly.
"Care to give it a try, Sire?"
"You are not funny, madam. We are pressed for time. Have you tested humans or not?"
Yes, father," she replied in a soft voice usually reserved for doddering loved ones, "it was the return of Lady Pedra that you saw us celebrating when you first entered."
Baraz was almost as excited as her crew. He walked over to where his Aunt Pedra was standing awkwardly. She seems stunned by all the attention, especially her Royal nephew. She had been sequestered at the Tek Body for nineteen straight months as of yesterday. She and her sister had been fighting over who would test the new weapon. Lea had finally folded her cards when Pedra explained that she could not go on this mission herself. Besides, she had pointed out that Lea was too valuable to the Empire. And, for such a mission as this, Pedra wanted the best hand at the controls. Lea agreed that she truly needed someone she could trust, so, Pedra was her first and only choice.
For herself, Pedra had jumped at the chance to do something, anything that got her out of that damned lab. As a member of the Royal Family, she had been coddled with meaningful phrases regarding her importance and the Empi
re’s need to protect her genius.
"Tell us, dear Auntie, what was it like? What did you feel?" Baraz asked excitedly.
She blushed profusely and replied, "I felt nothing, Sire. At one moment, I was standing next to my sister dressed for a space walk, and the next I was around the other side of Darius, the fourth moon of this planet. I stood there a moment, as I was told to do, and all at once I was standing back here among my teammates.”
“Fascinating…”
“I must say, Sire, there was something that I recall now from that trip that puzzles me greatly. Standing on the moon while my sister was planning my return, I saw the strangest thing. There were huge patches of sky where no stars showed. I know that out here at the fringe, there are such patches, but not in these locations or at this time of day. You see, I have been to Darium on patrol many times while we were installing the satellite network.
"I knew it!" exclaimed the old General. "I could smell those rats."
Saying this, he reached over and hit the “red alert” button on the wall. Immediately, red lights came on all over the planet and the White Team scrambled to their places at their consoles to energize the Scrambler Net.
The Emperor turned to go, "To the fighting bridge, me hearties. You, Pedra, what is your rank?" just before he dashed topside.
"E-6, Sire."
"For this valiant service today, you are elevated to the rank of ensign-2 in my personal guard."
“No, Sire…I must stay with Blue Team. We have more projects to complete.”
“Yes of course…Keep the rank!” As he said this he glanced over to where Marx stood deferentially pretending to not listen. Marx bowed his ascent, and they continued on their way.
Her father took her arm, “Have you adapted any ships?”
“Yes, Father…the Mara has been on one successful tour.”
The General watched his sovereign make his way topside. He looked back at his daughter. “If your sister’s magic does its work, I will have need of Both Blue and White squadrons already loaded on my wife’s ship. ” He looked at the comm. Screen as the robot ships began to drop from the darkness of space.
"Aye, aye, Sir," she said and give him a kiss. "For luck, Father." she added.
The General wiped the lip color off his check. "Women," he spat out exasperatedly. He rushed off knowing she would organize some volunteers for a plan that was just germinating in his brain.
He hugged his daughters, “Well, here we go,” and he left at a jog trot for the Battle Bridge.
Pedra turned to her sister, “Lea, my heroine, I think Father will want us to prepare more surprises for those criminals from the Admiralty after they discover what happens to the first wave and stop beaming down personnel.”
“Right… Checking my screens I see that they cannot use their energy for both masking once they start beaming. We can get the locations mapped out for all ships while they are visible and prepare coordinates for the boarding teams."