The Empire Book 3Chapter 6 Return to the Empire
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0003 - Conner 0667 - Marco --------
0097 - Ace 0778 - Jan 0098(Lucy)
0101 - Shelby (mother ship) 0798 - Celeste
0125 - Lars 0908 - Tara
0200 - Ellen 0999 - Zan
0301 - Rodrick 1000 - Sherry
Derrick looked up from the floor at Shelby rubbing the side of his face that felt real! Not like a solid hologram but real flesh and blood! Gaining his feet he slowly backed away from Shelby who as of yet hadn't moved.
"I don't know who or what you are but there is no way that you can be Shelby." Derrick stated.
With a huge sigh Shelby advanced upon Derrick who was still slowly backing from her. "If I have to hit you again Derrick I'm afraid that I might injure you!"
"Injure me? You, and what army? I think that..." Derrick started.
"Derrick shut the hell up and listen to me. I am real, as real as you are. I am human just as my counter-part Shelby is a living A.I. Really Derrick as brilliant as you are you can really be stupid at times!" Shelby said having stopped seeing that Derrick was looking for an avenue of escape.
"A human? I don't see how, the cloning and transfer projects were abandoned centuries ago. There hasn't been anyone smart enough to..." Snapping his fingers Derrick's eyes went wide. "Kimison and Rayburn! That was why! I'll be damned!" Walking to Shelby he slowly and gently touched her arm. "Soft and warm, reactions to touch excellent. Now the only question is why?"
Shaking her head with a smirk Shelby could only stare at him a moment. "Uh hello? You aren't going to live forever, and an heir or more will benefit both you and the empire." With a wry smile she continued, "Besides I find you a hell of lot more than attractive."
Derrick's eyes flew wide as he stared at Shelby. "An heir? What!? But you... and I... a child? I..." was all that Derrick was able to get out.
"As I seem to remember you telling Admiral Hartwell, Derrick close your mouth, it's undignified." Shelby told him as she gently reached up and closed Derrick's open mouth with a giggle.
Derrick nodded as he could only stare at the human Shelby in front of him. Again he reached out to touch her face and arms tentatively. Then suddenly, unexpectedly Derrick grabbed her and crushed her to him as he kissed her long and deep. Coming up for air a minute later when someone cleared their throat, Shelby was reeling as was Derrick.
"I have wanted to do that again since the last time I kissed Shelby in the neuro-link." Derrick said as a soft giggle came from behind them.
"I'm glad that you enjoyed it as much as it you appeared you did," came the holographic Shelby. "I'm also glad that you are more back to normal."
"I don't know how they kept it from me but I will have to thank them when I see them again." Derrick told both the Shelbys.
"Actually you're welcome." Kimison said as he and Rayburn's holo-forms appeared beside Shelby.
Derrick nodded then perked up a bit when it appeared that Kimison was waiting for something. "Alright what did you two do now?"
A wide smile appeared on Rayburn's face as Kimison's again held shock.
"Well... uh." Started Kimison, "Well actually I did... uh."
"Good god man, just get it out!" Derrick almost yelled.
"I remembered that you had mentioned finding bits of metal that the brain boxes were made from." Derrick nodded as Kimison continued. "I thought of the other outfit that does salvage like the one you worked for. What if they had found one or more and they were just sitting there in their yards."
Derrick was still nodding when his eyes went wide, "You found one?!"
Kimison nodded though when his face fell, Derrick was expecting the worst. "Yes I did, I managed to uh... acquire it?"
Derrick started to smile, "So you stole it. I take it Mary helped?"
Mary appeared a moment later, "Yes sire I did. I thought it was paramount that we re-acquire it."
Derrick's elation suddenly feel when he saw that both Kimison and Mary's faces had dropped. "What happened? Was the box destroyed?"
"No sir." Kimison said between tight lips. "The box it's self was intact. I am afraid the..." Kimison stopped as he turned away from all that were there. "There was no cerebral activity from the box. The son of a bitches starved the ship to death! The boxes survive from solar energy; this one was locked in an air tight, completely light free air lock!" Finally turning back Derrick could see the tears falling from Kimison's eyes.
Rayburn took over a look of extreme anger on his face. "We tried everything we could sir, nothing worked. It was a shame; he was Shelby's wing mate!"
Suddenly from behind them all they heard a gasp then a sob as they saw that Shelby was starting to cry. "Gregor didn't make it? It is indeed a sad day, without mother's personality creator he is gone forever!"
Both Kimison and Rayburn nodded then Kimison spoke up. "Rayburn and I have been studying the brain box. We believe we have come up with a way to bring it back. Though with a different personality that has been chosen. We'll get back to it, if we have success we will contact you so Shelby can re-gen it."
Derrick nodded as they both clicked off. Derrick was rubbing his chin he was surprised he'd forgotten all the wonderful equipment that Tempro had. The A.I. personality transfer program being one of them. Looking at both the Mary and the Shelby holograms he nodded.
"So the both of you knew all this time?" Derrick asked.
"No, I didn't Derrick. Mother just revealed it to me a few days ago." Shelby replied.
Turning to look directly at Mary, a slow smile crept onto her features. "Yes sire I knew. It has always been the plan to procure a mate and Empress for you and the empire. As I stated before I am here to keep the laws, and enforce them, while protecting you and the Empire."
A wide smile also crept onto Derrick's features, "I have to say this is the furthest out of the loop I have been in a very long time." Suddenly Derrick's face got serious, "I do expect that this will be the last time!" Then Derrick smiled at Mary and the Shelby hologram. "Thank you both."
Both of them smiled then bowed to Derrick as they disappeared, Derrick and his Empress had much to discuss after all.
Derrick and Shelby had been talking for an hour when there was a knock at the door. Shaking his head Derrick opened it surprised to see Lucie Hartwell standing there with a worried look on her face.
"What's wrong Lucie? You seemed very perplexed." A now worried Derrick asked.
Suddenly tears were flowing from her eyes, "It's the voice, and it’s so sad, so lonely sounding. I feel it is almost begging for someone to talk to. I've tried to answer it but it can't seem to hear me. It sounds so weak I feel so powerless to help it! Please help me sir! I can't take much more of this!"
Derrick's eyes flew wide; she was far more sensitive to the ship's A.I.s than he was! "Shelby!" Derrick was yelling.
The Shelby hologram appeared immediately. "Is everything alright Derrick?" A worried sounding Shelby said.
"Lucie is hearing a ship that I cannot. She has tried to answer it but obviously hasn't developed her mental strength enough yet. Is there a way that you can boost her in that area 'til such time as she can on her own?" Derrick asked.
Shelby was quiet a moment, then Mary appeared next to her. "There is a way sire though I am afraid that there is a bit of pain involved." Mary stated.
Lucie's eyes were wide when Mary mentioned pain, then her features steeled up. "I... I am willing to take the pain; it can't be worse than listening to the voice pleading anymore."
Derrick nodded then looked to the door at a worried Johnathon Hartwell. "When you say pain Mary just how intense are you talking?" Johnathon asked.
Mary was silent for a few moments then stated. "I have searched through the records. There is an old pain
index rating from one to four. Estimating the amount of stress mental and physical, I would say that it ranks about a 2.5." When Lucie only showed confusion Mary sighed. "In comparison it's somewhat like having several small flames barely brushing your skin all over. An odd, distressing pain, instantaneous and excruciating."
For a moment Derrick thought Lucie was going to bolt from the room when her bottom lip started quivering. Silent a few more moments Lucie finally stepped up, "I'll do it. It can't be worse than what that sick bastard of a Duke tried to do to me. If I can withstand that, this will be nothing!"
Johnathon Hartwell started to growl, "If it's the last thing I ever do, I am going to kill that son of a bitch!"
Derrick's eyes were narrowed as he looked over at Johnathon. "As long as I know about it and you aren't planning to go alone then I am in agreement with you."
Johnathon smirked as he looked at Derrick. "As long as you let me kill his ass then we'll have no problem. I owe him a hell of a lot of death for what he did to my family!"
Derrick smiled as he told Johnathon, "Now that I have no problem with!" Walking to a console Derrick stood there a moment reading something on the screen. Then with almost inhuman speed he was typing in improvements. "There I think that will reduce the pain down quite a bit. Nothing as bad as what Mary was describing."
"It won't take us more than a few minutes to prepare the apparatus," Holo-Shelby told all of them.
A few moments later Mary looked up motioning for Lucie. "Please sit here it should not take more than two minutes."
Lucie nodded her head as she tentatively sat in the chair that Mary had indicated. A skinny tube came out of the wall that had a flattened end. Moving back and forth next to her head it emitted an eerie green light. Lucie sat there with a grimace on her face at first though after it started she began to smile them giggle a bit. Finally as it finished and shut off Lucie was about to fall out of the chair she was laughing so hard.
Johnathon, standing next to Derrick indicated Lucie with a nod of his head toward her, said, "Thank you for that. As much hell as I know she has been through she deserved it."
"If she is as sensitive as I think she is, she'll deserve far more than this." Derrick said as he slapped Johnathon on the shoulder.
Finally over her fit of laughter, Lucie's eyes suddenly flew wide as she once again cocked her head to one side.
"Hello? Yes I can hear you. You sound so far away! Are you the one I heard before? Yes I am with him, I will tell him, ok." Startled Lucie turned toward Derrick her mouth hanging open. "She is so far away! She has been alone for so long. She also feels weak but far weaker than the one I heard earlier tod..." Lucie stopped as she cocked her head in the other direction. "Yes I can hear you! Yes he is here. I will tell him as soon as I can!"
Derrick's eyes were wide in disbelief, he'd heard nor felt nothing! Here she had heard two ships that were in their brain boxes! Damn Shelby was the only one that he'd ever heard still in her box! Lucie walked to Derrick then bowed to him her eyes a little glazed over a strange look on her face.
"Sire, I bring you two messages. The first is from an A.I. near where your recent battle was. She said that the energy from the battle enabled her to recharge far more than solar energy had. Her re-gen started for a few minutes then shut down. The few extra yards of ship have allowed her to reach out. She is weak though and this exercise didn't help. She said she felt me or she wouldn't have tried." Lucie said still in a trance.
Derrick nodded accepting anything now, it appeared that a hell of a lot more was possible than he'd thought. "We will embark as soon as possible to find her. The second message?"
Turning toward Derrick tears started to stream from Lucie's eyes. "She said I was to tell you she felt so ashamed for failing you sire. She says that you made her so proud to serve you. She also said that she knows the others will mock her for her failure." Now the tears were falling harder as she turned toward holo-Shelby. "She said to tell you she is sorry that she was the shame of your children. She says that you should let her go, she has accepted that she will die alone, a failure."
Derrick's eyes went wide as he whispered, "Lucy!" Walking to Lucie, Derrick started to whisper in her ear. Holo-Shelby also had tears falling from her eyes. How could her daughter give up? After all the wonderful things she had done. NO! She wouldn't release her ever!
Lucie was nodding the whole time Derrick was whispering in her ear. Derrick had wondered why it was taking so long for Lucy's re-gen, now he knew. "Yes Sire," Lucie said. "I am relaying your message now. Yes! He did say that. You can see all that I am; you know that I do not lie! Only if you promise, no! You have to promise and keep it! Good, remember what he said, now then hurry!"
Turning toward Derrick she wiped her eyes, nodded yes to him as the trance like look passed, then passed out with a deep sigh into his arms!
Shelby walked to Derrick and helped him to put the unconscious young woman on a couch. "I am feeling a strong pulse, sister Shelby? Are you detecting any adverse effects of the cerebral wave beam?"
Holo-Shelby scanned Lucie, "No, though I am reading that she is very weak. From what I am reading she hasn't eaten in almost two days!"
Shelby looked at Johnathon and almost growled at him, "Two days! She was with you almost one of those days and you didn't think to feed her?! I should have you punished for that! Though it would hurt her, therefore, you have lucked out. Johnathon Joseph Hartwell! If you do something like this again I might forget who your sister is and have you taken to the royal execution/punishment yard. I will then have you punished! Consider yourself warned." Johnathon was backing away as Shelby's eyes were flashing.
His head dropping, Shelby could hear him mumble, "Maybe you should anyway I am not the best bro..." Faster than anyone but Derrick could follow, Shelby arose, crossed the room then proceeded to knock Johnathon flat on his ass!
Her eyes still flashing Shelby pointed a finger at him. "If I ever hear garbage like that from your mouth again." Here she looked at the young woman on the couch then turned back to him. "I will do far worse than Derrick did to you. I may be the Empress but I am no helpless woman, as I hope you just learned!"
Derrick had a huge grin on his face as he watched Hartwell rub the side of his face. Holy crap Hartwell thought!
What in the hell had she hit him with? It felt like he'd just been run over. Shakily gaining his feet Hartwell bowed to her.
"You will not hear that from me again, not whilst in your presence, Empress." Johnathon said.
Shelby's eyes narrowed as she stared at Johnathon. Something about the way he'd said that was suspicious.
Derrick nodded at Johnathon's words then turned to Holo-Shelby. "How long..."
"At least another four days Derrick. It appears that whatever just transpired has helped." Holo-Shelby told him.
Derrick was nodding, "Transfer Lucie to med-bay one, start her on nutrients 'til she awakens then make sure she eats. If she won't ask Shelby to get her to. I think that she will listen to her far better than me."
"I don't believe so Derrick," came Shelby's voice. "She has far more respect toward you than me. I believe she will do more for you than me. After all she has known you for far longer than me. By the way how is your face?"
"I'll live; I did need it after all, to knock some sense back into me. Though I think it might be far longer for Johnathon to recover." This last part whispered in Shelby's ear causing her to giggle.
"You don't think I was far too harsh do you Derrick?" Shelby whispered.
"No," Derrick whispered back. If anything after he recovers he might be a hell of a lot better officer."
_________________________________________________
Kimison was cursing and raging around the deck inside Tempro. Why in the hell were he and Rayburn having such a hard time reverse engineering the transfer process? Smashing his hand into the wall he yelp then screamed when he felt several bones in his hand snap!
"Really prime!" Tempro said as soon as Kimison was secure in the bio-bed located in the med-bay. "If you continue to injury yourself this way you may never get anything done! This is the fifth instance that you have broken the interior skeletal part of one of your hands. Please prime if this continues I will have to report it to the Emperor!"
Kimison's head snapped around to stare at Tempro. "You do that and he might remove me for good from you. Then I truly won't get anything done!"
Sighing Tempro responded, "I am sorry prime but it is the rules that he set down. Now please lay still it will be a few days 'til the bio-bed is finished."
Rayburn could only shake his head after the exchange Tempro and Kimison had. He'd been tempted to do almost the same thing. Shaking his head his eyes opened wide a moment as he thought, or was it Kimison? They did have that damnable link still, it was quite possible.
Looking over what Kimison had been working on Rayburn's noticed that the man had been on to something. "Tempro?" Rayburn called after a few minutes of reading.
"Yes prime?" Tempro said as soon as he appeared.
"I thought I asked you not to call me that. I have not been elevated to that status by evaluation nor the emperor. Besides neither Kimison nor myself have a true mental link to you." Rayburn told the hologram.
Sighing, Tempro nodded, he had missed having a prime. Both of these brilliant humans were as close to a prime as he thought he would get. "I apologize Sergeant Rayburn; I have also been alone for a long time. The both of you are very stimulating to my circuits. I would miss the both of you extremely if one or both of you departed me."
Rayburn was nodding not really paying that much attention to Tempro. He'd continued reading and was starting to become immersed in what Kimison had been on. From what he could see Kimison had solved almost all the problems that they had encountered with the reverse engineering. The transfer program had taken quite a bit of time to re-write as the older program had a huge myriad of problems.
Looking over everything again Kimison began to change a few lines checking with Tempro every few minutes. Stopping a few hours later Rayburn went to see how Kimison was. "Came to see how you are." Rayburn said with a smile.
Groaning Kimison pointed a finger at him. "Don't patronize me! I know you have been working on what I was. Well?" Kimison snapped out.
"I can see where you were going. Considering that you eliminated almost all of the blocks that were stopping us, not bad." Rayburn said.
"Not bad?! If I could get up I'd kick your ass! I spent weeks on that! Even well before we had finished with the Empress!" Kimison growled.
"I think that's why you made a few mistakes at the end. You were trying to do everything at once. Even as intelligent as we are it happens when one is tired." Rayburn replied
"Tired!? I ought to... wait a minute!" Kimison said shock apparent in his voice. "You said I eliminated almost ALL the blocks? Was that actually a compliment?"
Rayburn could only nod, he'd found that he was tired of arguing. He and Kimison had been at it for years, now with the added intelligence he found that only it got in the way. "I added on to what you did, to clarify the effect more. There are at least four more that we need to overcome, and then I think we can run simulations."
Kimison's mouth was hanging open this was about as civil as Rayburn had ever been. Thinking a moment Kimison thought I best watch him though I like this Rayburn a hell of a lot more.
Rayburn noticed the look of shock, concern, and then suspicion on Kimison's face. "Look, I am tired of the verbal fighting. You and I have been at this for a long time. When we were younger yeah, it was fun to argue with you, not now. I really don't want to anymore. It feels like a waste of time when we could be solving bigger problems. Think about it if it's too much then I'll leave, at the end of it. As I said I am tired." With that Rayburn walked out leaving a startled Kimison in his wake.
After that there was an uneasy peace within Tempro. Neither man really wanting to talk about what had happened, nor had been said in the med-bay. Tempro himself was almost afraid to bring attention to anything, upsetting the fragile peace.
____________________________________________
It was several days later as Derrick and Shelby were working on all the backlog of decrees. They were finally within a few years of the present. Derrick was more than impressed with Shelby's knowledge. He had to admit she was as fast and as smart as he was, well, to a point. He was sure though that she would learn quickly as it seemed she was.
They both had just taken a break and were walking discussing future plans when a now familiar alarm went off. Shelby appeared a moment later in front of them.
"Derrick, Shelby?" Holo-Shelby stated.
A wide smile appeared on the faces of both Derrick and Shelby. "It is finally time!" An ecstatic Derrick nearly shouted. Nodding at Holo-Shelby both of them winked out, appearing in the command center.
There was static coming out of the speakers then Derrick smiled hugely when Lucy's slowly building voice came out of the speakers. "Mother? I can feel you, can you hear me?"
"Yes I can my daughter!" An excited Holo-Shelby stated.
"Is the emperor there? I wish to thank him for the message he gave me." Lucy replied.
"Yes, he is here, as is the Empress!" Holo-Shelby stated.
"The...the Empress?" They heard Lucy stutter. "It appears that I have been gone for quite a while."
"Any amount of time one of you are gone, is far too long." Holo-Shelby almost whispered.
Derrick motioned to Holo-Shelby who nodded then said. "Derrick wishes to speak to you, I suggest you let him finish before you speak."
"Yes mother, I will attempt to." A quivering voice Lucy said.
A knock came at the open door as Derrick motioned Lucie in. "Hello Lucy, I have waited for quite some time for you to be whole again. What you did for me, for the galaxy and the empire can never be fully repaid to you." Derrick started.
Behind him all the holograms of the other thirteen ships appeared listening intensely to what was being said. Holo-Shelby as well as Shelby had tears in their eyes as it appeared the rest of the ship holograms did. A huge sense of pride flowing through the room.
"The bravery that you showed was nothing short of heroic." Here Derrick hung his head, "I... I am sorry that I failed you Lucy, no. I failed you as I did all of the ships. I was in too damn big of a hurry; there are fifteen of you
now; that will not happen again. You are the pride of the empire and I am no prouder of all of you ships than I am today. Today a hero has returned; a hero that we will honor forever!"
There was a gasp from the speakers then a slight sniffling. "I am no hero Sire; I did what I had to, to protect you. I was proud that you chose me for the mission, that I could do my duty to you. I was destroyed but I was proud to sacrifice myself for you." A shaky sounding Lucy said.
"I think I speak for all of my children and my brother." Holo-Shelby stated. "We are all proud of you. To do what you did all alone, takes more than courage and dedication. I am so proud to call you my daughter!"
Again there was a gasp from the speakers. "I was such a failure before? How?"
Conner and Zan both spoke up. "Sister just shut up and except that you did a simply heroic thing. We are ALL proud that you are our sister!" Zan stated.
"Yes get better, hurry up and join us! It is not the same without you!" Conner said.
Amid happy gasps they all told her they were proud of her; Lucy finally replied. "I will hurry."
"I am also proud of you Lucy as your Empress, I also want you to hurry and return we need you." Shelby said.
"Mother?" A startled Lucy asked.
"Yes and no, you'll see. Rest and we'll talk more later," Shelby said with a smile. -->
0097 - Ace 0778 - Jan 0098(Lucy)
0101 - Shelby (mother ship) 0798 - Celeste
0125 - Lars 0908 - Tara
0200 - Ellen 0999 - Zan
0301 - Rodrick 1000 - Sherry
Derrick looked up from the floor at Shelby rubbing the side of his face that felt real! Not like a solid hologram but real flesh and blood! Gaining his feet he slowly backed away from Shelby who as of yet hadn't moved.
"I don't know who or what you are but there is no way that you can be Shelby." Derrick stated.
With a huge sigh Shelby advanced upon Derrick who was still slowly backing from her. "If I have to hit you again Derrick I'm afraid that I might injure you!"
"Injure me? You, and what army? I think that..." Derrick started.
"Derrick shut the hell up and listen to me. I am real, as real as you are. I am human just as my counter-part Shelby is a living A.I. Really Derrick as brilliant as you are you can really be stupid at times!" Shelby said having stopped seeing that Derrick was looking for an avenue of escape.
"A human? I don't see how, the cloning and transfer projects were abandoned centuries ago. There hasn't been anyone smart enough to..." Snapping his fingers Derrick's eyes went wide. "Kimison and Rayburn! That was why! I'll be damned!" Walking to Shelby he slowly and gently touched her arm. "Soft and warm, reactions to touch excellent. Now the only question is why?"
Shaking her head with a smirk Shelby could only stare at him a moment. "Uh hello? You aren't going to live forever, and an heir or more will benefit both you and the empire." With a wry smile she continued, "Besides I find you a hell of lot more than attractive."
Derrick's eyes flew wide as he stared at Shelby. "An heir? What!? But you... and I... a child? I..." was all that Derrick was able to get out.
"As I seem to remember you telling Admiral Hartwell, Derrick close your mouth, it's undignified." Shelby told him as she gently reached up and closed Derrick's open mouth with a giggle.
Derrick nodded as he could only stare at the human Shelby in front of him. Again he reached out to touch her face and arms tentatively. Then suddenly, unexpectedly Derrick grabbed her and crushed her to him as he kissed her long and deep. Coming up for air a minute later when someone cleared their throat, Shelby was reeling as was Derrick.
"I have wanted to do that again since the last time I kissed Shelby in the neuro-link." Derrick said as a soft giggle came from behind them.
"I'm glad that you enjoyed it as much as it you appeared you did," came the holographic Shelby. "I'm also glad that you are more back to normal."
"I don't know how they kept it from me but I will have to thank them when I see them again." Derrick told both the Shelbys.
"Actually you're welcome." Kimison said as he and Rayburn's holo-forms appeared beside Shelby.
Derrick nodded then perked up a bit when it appeared that Kimison was waiting for something. "Alright what did you two do now?"
A wide smile appeared on Rayburn's face as Kimison's again held shock.
"Well... uh." Started Kimison, "Well actually I did... uh."
"Good god man, just get it out!" Derrick almost yelled.
"I remembered that you had mentioned finding bits of metal that the brain boxes were made from." Derrick nodded as Kimison continued. "I thought of the other outfit that does salvage like the one you worked for. What if they had found one or more and they were just sitting there in their yards."
Derrick was still nodding when his eyes went wide, "You found one?!"
Kimison nodded though when his face fell, Derrick was expecting the worst. "Yes I did, I managed to uh... acquire it?"
Derrick started to smile, "So you stole it. I take it Mary helped?"
Mary appeared a moment later, "Yes sire I did. I thought it was paramount that we re-acquire it."
Derrick's elation suddenly feel when he saw that both Kimison and Mary's faces had dropped. "What happened? Was the box destroyed?"
"No sir." Kimison said between tight lips. "The box it's self was intact. I am afraid the..." Kimison stopped as he turned away from all that were there. "There was no cerebral activity from the box. The son of a bitches starved the ship to death! The boxes survive from solar energy; this one was locked in an air tight, completely light free air lock!" Finally turning back Derrick could see the tears falling from Kimison's eyes.
Rayburn took over a look of extreme anger on his face. "We tried everything we could sir, nothing worked. It was a shame; he was Shelby's wing mate!"
Suddenly from behind them all they heard a gasp then a sob as they saw that Shelby was starting to cry. "Gregor didn't make it? It is indeed a sad day, without mother's personality creator he is gone forever!"
Both Kimison and Rayburn nodded then Kimison spoke up. "Rayburn and I have been studying the brain box. We believe we have come up with a way to bring it back. Though with a different personality that has been chosen. We'll get back to it, if we have success we will contact you so Shelby can re-gen it."
Derrick nodded as they both clicked off. Derrick was rubbing his chin he was surprised he'd forgotten all the wonderful equipment that Tempro had. The A.I. personality transfer program being one of them. Looking at both the Mary and the Shelby holograms he nodded.
"So the both of you knew all this time?" Derrick asked.
"No, I didn't Derrick. Mother just revealed it to me a few days ago." Shelby replied.
Turning to look directly at Mary, a slow smile crept onto her features. "Yes sire I knew. It has always been the plan to procure a mate and Empress for you and the empire. As I stated before I am here to keep the laws, and enforce them, while protecting you and the Empire."
A wide smile also crept onto Derrick's features, "I have to say this is the furthest out of the loop I have been in a very long time." Suddenly Derrick's face got serious, "I do expect that this will be the last time!" Then Derrick smiled at Mary and the Shelby hologram. "Thank you both."
Both of them smiled then bowed to Derrick as they disappeared, Derrick and his Empress had much to discuss after all.
Derrick and Shelby had been talking for an hour when there was a knock at the door. Shaking his head Derrick opened it surprised to see Lucie Hartwell standing there with a worried look on her face.
"What's wrong Lucie? You seemed very perplexed." A now worried Derrick asked.
Suddenly tears were flowing from her eyes, "It's the voice, and it’s so sad, so lonely sounding. I feel it is almost begging for someone to talk to. I've tried to answer it but it can't seem to hear me. It sounds so weak I feel so powerless to help it! Please help me sir! I can't take much more of this!"
Derrick's eyes flew wide; she was far more sensitive to the ship's A.I.s than he was! "Shelby!" Derrick was yelling.
The Shelby hologram appeared immediately. "Is everything alright Derrick?" A worried sounding Shelby said.
"Lucie is hearing a ship that I cannot. She has tried to answer it but obviously hasn't developed her mental strength enough yet. Is there a way that you can boost her in that area 'til such time as she can on her own?" Derrick asked.
Shelby was quiet a moment, then Mary appeared next to her. "There is a way sire though I am afraid that there is a bit of pain involved." Mary stated.
Lucie's eyes were wide when Mary mentioned pain, then her features steeled up. "I... I am willing to take the pain; it can't be worse than listening to the voice pleading anymore."
Derrick nodded then looked to the door at a worried Johnathon Hartwell. "When you say pain Mary just how intense are you talking?" Johnathon asked.
Mary was silent for a few moments then stated. "I have searched through the records. There is an old pain
index rating from one to four. Estimating the amount of stress mental and physical, I would say that it ranks about a 2.5." When Lucie only showed confusion Mary sighed. "In comparison it's somewhat like having several small flames barely brushing your skin all over. An odd, distressing pain, instantaneous and excruciating."
For a moment Derrick thought Lucie was going to bolt from the room when her bottom lip started quivering. Silent a few more moments Lucie finally stepped up, "I'll do it. It can't be worse than what that sick bastard of a Duke tried to do to me. If I can withstand that, this will be nothing!"
Johnathon Hartwell started to growl, "If it's the last thing I ever do, I am going to kill that son of a bitch!"
Derrick's eyes were narrowed as he looked over at Johnathon. "As long as I know about it and you aren't planning to go alone then I am in agreement with you."
Johnathon smirked as he looked at Derrick. "As long as you let me kill his ass then we'll have no problem. I owe him a hell of a lot of death for what he did to my family!"
Derrick smiled as he told Johnathon, "Now that I have no problem with!" Walking to a console Derrick stood there a moment reading something on the screen. Then with almost inhuman speed he was typing in improvements. "There I think that will reduce the pain down quite a bit. Nothing as bad as what Mary was describing."
"It won't take us more than a few minutes to prepare the apparatus," Holo-Shelby told all of them.
A few moments later Mary looked up motioning for Lucie. "Please sit here it should not take more than two minutes."
Lucie nodded her head as she tentatively sat in the chair that Mary had indicated. A skinny tube came out of the wall that had a flattened end. Moving back and forth next to her head it emitted an eerie green light. Lucie sat there with a grimace on her face at first though after it started she began to smile them giggle a bit. Finally as it finished and shut off Lucie was about to fall out of the chair she was laughing so hard.
Johnathon, standing next to Derrick indicated Lucie with a nod of his head toward her, said, "Thank you for that. As much hell as I know she has been through she deserved it."
"If she is as sensitive as I think she is, she'll deserve far more than this." Derrick said as he slapped Johnathon on the shoulder.
Finally over her fit of laughter, Lucie's eyes suddenly flew wide as she once again cocked her head to one side.
"Hello? Yes I can hear you. You sound so far away! Are you the one I heard before? Yes I am with him, I will tell him, ok." Startled Lucie turned toward Derrick her mouth hanging open. "She is so far away! She has been alone for so long. She also feels weak but far weaker than the one I heard earlier tod..." Lucie stopped as she cocked her head in the other direction. "Yes I can hear you! Yes he is here. I will tell him as soon as I can!"
Derrick's eyes were wide in disbelief, he'd heard nor felt nothing! Here she had heard two ships that were in their brain boxes! Damn Shelby was the only one that he'd ever heard still in her box! Lucie walked to Derrick then bowed to him her eyes a little glazed over a strange look on her face.
"Sire, I bring you two messages. The first is from an A.I. near where your recent battle was. She said that the energy from the battle enabled her to recharge far more than solar energy had. Her re-gen started for a few minutes then shut down. The few extra yards of ship have allowed her to reach out. She is weak though and this exercise didn't help. She said she felt me or she wouldn't have tried." Lucie said still in a trance.
Derrick nodded accepting anything now, it appeared that a hell of a lot more was possible than he'd thought. "We will embark as soon as possible to find her. The second message?"
Turning toward Derrick tears started to stream from Lucie's eyes. "She said I was to tell you she felt so ashamed for failing you sire. She says that you made her so proud to serve you. She also said that she knows the others will mock her for her failure." Now the tears were falling harder as she turned toward holo-Shelby. "She said to tell you she is sorry that she was the shame of your children. She says that you should let her go, she has accepted that she will die alone, a failure."
Derrick's eyes went wide as he whispered, "Lucy!" Walking to Lucie, Derrick started to whisper in her ear. Holo-Shelby also had tears falling from her eyes. How could her daughter give up? After all the wonderful things she had done. NO! She wouldn't release her ever!
Lucie was nodding the whole time Derrick was whispering in her ear. Derrick had wondered why it was taking so long for Lucy's re-gen, now he knew. "Yes Sire," Lucie said. "I am relaying your message now. Yes! He did say that. You can see all that I am; you know that I do not lie! Only if you promise, no! You have to promise and keep it! Good, remember what he said, now then hurry!"
Turning toward Derrick she wiped her eyes, nodded yes to him as the trance like look passed, then passed out with a deep sigh into his arms!
Shelby walked to Derrick and helped him to put the unconscious young woman on a couch. "I am feeling a strong pulse, sister Shelby? Are you detecting any adverse effects of the cerebral wave beam?"
Holo-Shelby scanned Lucie, "No, though I am reading that she is very weak. From what I am reading she hasn't eaten in almost two days!"
Shelby looked at Johnathon and almost growled at him, "Two days! She was with you almost one of those days and you didn't think to feed her?! I should have you punished for that! Though it would hurt her, therefore, you have lucked out. Johnathon Joseph Hartwell! If you do something like this again I might forget who your sister is and have you taken to the royal execution/punishment yard. I will then have you punished! Consider yourself warned." Johnathon was backing away as Shelby's eyes were flashing.
His head dropping, Shelby could hear him mumble, "Maybe you should anyway I am not the best bro..." Faster than anyone but Derrick could follow, Shelby arose, crossed the room then proceeded to knock Johnathon flat on his ass!
Her eyes still flashing Shelby pointed a finger at him. "If I ever hear garbage like that from your mouth again." Here she looked at the young woman on the couch then turned back to him. "I will do far worse than Derrick did to you. I may be the Empress but I am no helpless woman, as I hope you just learned!"
Derrick had a huge grin on his face as he watched Hartwell rub the side of his face. Holy crap Hartwell thought!
What in the hell had she hit him with? It felt like he'd just been run over. Shakily gaining his feet Hartwell bowed to her.
"You will not hear that from me again, not whilst in your presence, Empress." Johnathon said.
Shelby's eyes narrowed as she stared at Johnathon. Something about the way he'd said that was suspicious.
Derrick nodded at Johnathon's words then turned to Holo-Shelby. "How long..."
"At least another four days Derrick. It appears that whatever just transpired has helped." Holo-Shelby told him.
Derrick was nodding, "Transfer Lucie to med-bay one, start her on nutrients 'til she awakens then make sure she eats. If she won't ask Shelby to get her to. I think that she will listen to her far better than me."
"I don't believe so Derrick," came Shelby's voice. "She has far more respect toward you than me. I believe she will do more for you than me. After all she has known you for far longer than me. By the way how is your face?"
"I'll live; I did need it after all, to knock some sense back into me. Though I think it might be far longer for Johnathon to recover." This last part whispered in Shelby's ear causing her to giggle.
"You don't think I was far too harsh do you Derrick?" Shelby whispered.
"No," Derrick whispered back. If anything after he recovers he might be a hell of a lot better officer."
_________________________________________________
Kimison was cursing and raging around the deck inside Tempro. Why in the hell were he and Rayburn having such a hard time reverse engineering the transfer process? Smashing his hand into the wall he yelp then screamed when he felt several bones in his hand snap!
"Really prime!" Tempro said as soon as Kimison was secure in the bio-bed located in the med-bay. "If you continue to injury yourself this way you may never get anything done! This is the fifth instance that you have broken the interior skeletal part of one of your hands. Please prime if this continues I will have to report it to the Emperor!"
Kimison's head snapped around to stare at Tempro. "You do that and he might remove me for good from you. Then I truly won't get anything done!"
Sighing Tempro responded, "I am sorry prime but it is the rules that he set down. Now please lay still it will be a few days 'til the bio-bed is finished."
Rayburn could only shake his head after the exchange Tempro and Kimison had. He'd been tempted to do almost the same thing. Shaking his head his eyes opened wide a moment as he thought, or was it Kimison? They did have that damnable link still, it was quite possible.
Looking over what Kimison had been working on Rayburn's noticed that the man had been on to something. "Tempro?" Rayburn called after a few minutes of reading.
"Yes prime?" Tempro said as soon as he appeared.
"I thought I asked you not to call me that. I have not been elevated to that status by evaluation nor the emperor. Besides neither Kimison nor myself have a true mental link to you." Rayburn told the hologram.
Sighing, Tempro nodded, he had missed having a prime. Both of these brilliant humans were as close to a prime as he thought he would get. "I apologize Sergeant Rayburn; I have also been alone for a long time. The both of you are very stimulating to my circuits. I would miss the both of you extremely if one or both of you departed me."
Rayburn was nodding not really paying that much attention to Tempro. He'd continued reading and was starting to become immersed in what Kimison had been on. From what he could see Kimison had solved almost all the problems that they had encountered with the reverse engineering. The transfer program had taken quite a bit of time to re-write as the older program had a huge myriad of problems.
Looking over everything again Kimison began to change a few lines checking with Tempro every few minutes. Stopping a few hours later Rayburn went to see how Kimison was. "Came to see how you are." Rayburn said with a smile.
Groaning Kimison pointed a finger at him. "Don't patronize me! I know you have been working on what I was. Well?" Kimison snapped out.
"I can see where you were going. Considering that you eliminated almost all of the blocks that were stopping us, not bad." Rayburn said.
"Not bad?! If I could get up I'd kick your ass! I spent weeks on that! Even well before we had finished with the Empress!" Kimison growled.
"I think that's why you made a few mistakes at the end. You were trying to do everything at once. Even as intelligent as we are it happens when one is tired." Rayburn replied
"Tired!? I ought to... wait a minute!" Kimison said shock apparent in his voice. "You said I eliminated almost ALL the blocks? Was that actually a compliment?"
Rayburn could only nod, he'd found that he was tired of arguing. He and Kimison had been at it for years, now with the added intelligence he found that only it got in the way. "I added on to what you did, to clarify the effect more. There are at least four more that we need to overcome, and then I think we can run simulations."
Kimison's mouth was hanging open this was about as civil as Rayburn had ever been. Thinking a moment Kimison thought I best watch him though I like this Rayburn a hell of a lot more.
Rayburn noticed the look of shock, concern, and then suspicion on Kimison's face. "Look, I am tired of the verbal fighting. You and I have been at this for a long time. When we were younger yeah, it was fun to argue with you, not now. I really don't want to anymore. It feels like a waste of time when we could be solving bigger problems. Think about it if it's too much then I'll leave, at the end of it. As I said I am tired." With that Rayburn walked out leaving a startled Kimison in his wake.
After that there was an uneasy peace within Tempro. Neither man really wanting to talk about what had happened, nor had been said in the med-bay. Tempro himself was almost afraid to bring attention to anything, upsetting the fragile peace.
____________________________________________
It was several days later as Derrick and Shelby were working on all the backlog of decrees. They were finally within a few years of the present. Derrick was more than impressed with Shelby's knowledge. He had to admit she was as fast and as smart as he was, well, to a point. He was sure though that she would learn quickly as it seemed she was.
They both had just taken a break and were walking discussing future plans when a now familiar alarm went off. Shelby appeared a moment later in front of them.
"Derrick, Shelby?" Holo-Shelby stated.
A wide smile appeared on the faces of both Derrick and Shelby. "It is finally time!" An ecstatic Derrick nearly shouted. Nodding at Holo-Shelby both of them winked out, appearing in the command center.
There was static coming out of the speakers then Derrick smiled hugely when Lucy's slowly building voice came out of the speakers. "Mother? I can feel you, can you hear me?"
"Yes I can my daughter!" An excited Holo-Shelby stated.
"Is the emperor there? I wish to thank him for the message he gave me." Lucy replied.
"Yes, he is here, as is the Empress!" Holo-Shelby stated.
"The...the Empress?" They heard Lucy stutter. "It appears that I have been gone for quite a while."
"Any amount of time one of you are gone, is far too long." Holo-Shelby almost whispered.
Derrick motioned to Holo-Shelby who nodded then said. "Derrick wishes to speak to you, I suggest you let him finish before you speak."
"Yes mother, I will attempt to." A quivering voice Lucy said.
A knock came at the open door as Derrick motioned Lucie in. "Hello Lucy, I have waited for quite some time for you to be whole again. What you did for me, for the galaxy and the empire can never be fully repaid to you." Derrick started.
Behind him all the holograms of the other thirteen ships appeared listening intensely to what was being said. Holo-Shelby as well as Shelby had tears in their eyes as it appeared the rest of the ship holograms did. A huge sense of pride flowing through the room.
"The bravery that you showed was nothing short of heroic." Here Derrick hung his head, "I... I am sorry that I failed you Lucy, no. I failed you as I did all of the ships. I was in too damn big of a hurry; there are fifteen of you
now; that will not happen again. You are the pride of the empire and I am no prouder of all of you ships than I am today. Today a hero has returned; a hero that we will honor forever!"
There was a gasp from the speakers then a slight sniffling. "I am no hero Sire; I did what I had to, to protect you. I was proud that you chose me for the mission, that I could do my duty to you. I was destroyed but I was proud to sacrifice myself for you." A shaky sounding Lucy said.
"I think I speak for all of my children and my brother." Holo-Shelby stated. "We are all proud of you. To do what you did all alone, takes more than courage and dedication. I am so proud to call you my daughter!"
Again there was a gasp from the speakers. "I was such a failure before? How?"
Conner and Zan both spoke up. "Sister just shut up and except that you did a simply heroic thing. We are ALL proud that you are our sister!" Zan stated.
"Yes get better, hurry up and join us! It is not the same without you!" Conner said.
Amid happy gasps they all told her they were proud of her; Lucy finally replied. "I will hurry."
"I am also proud of you Lucy as your Empress, I also want you to hurry and return we need you." Shelby said.
"Mother?" A startled Lucy asked.
"Yes and no, you'll see. Rest and we'll talk more later," Shelby said with a smile. -->
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