Escape to Earth-The Legacy of a Conqueror (12 page)

• • •

Alley said, “Where did he go?” Allison felt her tears start and she put her head into her hands. “What’s wrong, Allison?”

“I stopped the only man I truly respect from getting closure today. I possibly harmed him more than he can bear and it’s all my fault.”

“Do you know where he is?”

“The only place he could go.” Allison switched all four reactors to power the thrusters and hoped she wasn’t too late.

A
llison screamed through the void and entered normal space just outside the gravity limit. She slowed and entered Earth’s atmosphere and began the spiral down to the surface. Her display illuminated and Lukas appeared, “I’ve just spoken to Jinks and he told me what happened. I’ve been attempting to contact Chris since the call but he’s not responding.”

“Lukas, please wait and give him some room. You’ll only push him over the edge if you try to reach him now!”

Lukas stared at Allison and after a moment he said, “I need to talk to you as well, Admiral.”

“And I’ll meet with you later.”

Lukas stared at her and then the display went dark. Allison sighed and knew she would lose her stars over this but she didn’t care. She continued her flight to the surface and went to her quarters. She changed out of her sweaty uniform and hastily walked out the front door. She walked past the dune and down to the sand and saw the beach recliners ahead of her. She didn’t see anyone on them and she stopped and shook her head. She was wrong. She sighed and started to turn around and then she saw an arm reach over and take a glass off the sand. She blew out a breath, composed herself and went over to another recliner. She grabbed the end of it and dragged it over beside the other recliner and sat down on it. She didn’t look at him. She simply stared out at the ocean.

He didn’t look at her. He stared at the ocean in silence. They stayed that way for several hours. Finally, she heard Chris say, “Thank you.” She still didn’t look at him but she nodded. He remained silent for another hour and she said, “Have you gone to see Michael?”

“No, not yet.” She looked back out at the ocean and soon the sun was just a sliver above the horizon. “I would have killed them all.” Allison nodded again. He looked at her with those intense blue eyes and said, “If I had done that, I would have lost my soul.”

“I know.”

“That’s why you said what you did.”

“It is. I couldn’t let you do that to yourself,” she paused and finished, “or to Audrey’s memory.”

“I came close to killing you.”

“It was a risk I had to take.”

Chris nodded and looked back out at the ocean. They sat there in silence through the night until the first rays of the sun broke the horizon. Chris sighed and stood up. He looked at Allison and glanced back out at the sea, “I’ve asked her to forgive me.”

“She already has, Chris.”

Chris lowered his head and nodded. He turned and said, “I need to go and see Michael. Thank you Allison.” He walked up the beach, crested the dune and disappeared. She felt her tears start in earnest and she wept for what he had endured. She remained on the beach until noon and then went to her quarters and fell on the bed. It just wasn’t fair. She cried until her fatigue took her.

Chris activated his wrist unit and it immediately began alarming. He scrolled through the messages until he saw Lukas’s code numerous times; he pressed the button. Lukas appeared and before he could speak Chris said, “I’m going to see Michael. I’ll come to Fleet Operations in two days, if you’re ok with waiting until then?”

Lukas saw Chris’s expression and leaned back in his chair, “I’ll see you at ten in the morning.” Chris nodded and ended the call.

Lukas immediately called Salud and told her Chris was on his way to pick up Michael.

“Is he alright?”

“I don’t think he’s ready to discuss what happened so don’t pressure him.” Salud nodded and Lukas contacted Eve, “Chris is ok.”

“WHERE IS HE?!”

“Eve, he’s going to see Michael and he’s meeting with me in two days. Give him some space.”

“What happened to him?”

“I don’t know but I am not going to risk pushing him over an edge. Do not try to see him until after we talk.”

Eve’s expression showed her reluctance but then she nodded. Lukas contacted Jinks, “He’s coming in the day after tomorrow.”

“How did he sound?”

“Different.”

Jinks shook his head, “Let me know what happens.”

“I will.” Lukas leaned back in his chair and read the Fleet Reports on the attack. More than fifty thousand planets had been destroyed and nine thousand more heavily damaged. Lukas shook his head and blew out a breath. The cold hard reality of conquest was hard to bear. He began to understand what Chris might be going through.

• • •

Chris entered Fleet Operations at 9:55 and everyone who saw him grew silent. He took the lift to the top floor and walked down the hall to Lukas’s office. He pressed the button outside the door and the door slid up into the wall. He walked in and the door came back down. He saw Lukas and Salud sitting behind his desk and she jumped up and ran around the desk. She put her arms around his neck and hugged him, “Are you alright?”

“All things considered, I guess I am.”

Lukas smiled and said, “Please, sit down.” Chris walked to the chair in front of his desk and sat down. “What’s going on?”

Chris looked at them and said, “We were wrong.”

“About what?”

Chris looked at them and exhaled. “We decided that we would not continue to have all of our mothers live in constant fear of their children being killed by aliens. We decided to use that as a justification to go out and conquer them.”

Salud’s eyes narrowed and she said, “What do you mean we were wrong?!”

Chris looked at Salud and slowly shook his head, “If mothers weren’t afraid of Aliens invading, they would be afraid their children might be injured in an accident. They might fear their child will get sick and possibly die from a freak disease. The number of fears that mothers have for their children have no end. I’m a parent now and I constantly worry about Michael. Will he grow up and be a good person. Will he find love? Is he going to be a warrior like his father? There are so many things that make me worry about him and his future. Worrying about aliens attacking us is just one of the many things we have fears about. It is not a good enough reason to go out and kill any civilization that represents a threat to us. I suspect, matter of fact, I know I killed more children in a day than live on both Earth and Eden.”

Salud’s expression began to grow angry, “That civilization killed your wife!”

Chris looked at her and nodded, “That’s what I thought as well, but that wasn’t true either.” Salud’s mouth fell open and Chris said, “The first thing I learned when I confronted that civilization’s Leaders was that their Highest Leader was begged by the others not to send that ship.”

“They were lying.”

Chris smiled slightly, “Salud, I’m telepathic. I saw them trying in their thoughts. He was arrogant and would not listen to them. He killed Audrey, not the billions of children that burned on the worlds I destroyed.”

Lukas said, “What are you saying, Chris?”

“Our intentions are all wrong. I went out with the intention to eradicate every last person in that civilization. There was no other intention, only extinction. I didn’t even look for anything that might change my mind.”

“They are an enemy of ours, Chris.”

“I won’t argue that point. But the intention shouldn’t be to just go out and exterminate them. The intention should be to find a way to avoid it if at all possible.”

The chime rung and Lukas looked at the small monitor on his desk. He saw Allison standing outside his door with a strange being. He looked at Salud and saw her confusion. Chris looked at them wondering what was going on as Lukas raised the door.

Allison walked in with the alien and said, “I apologize for this interruption but this is a Leader of the Civilization we just attacked. She contacted me and asked to speak to Chris. I feel her request should be granted.”

Chris turned around and tilted his head. Allison nodded at the alien and she thought where all could hear. “When you pointed your blaster at me and my baby, I could see your thoughts. I knew for certain that we were both going to die. How you managed to not fire on us is beyond my understanding…but you didn’t. Now after it’s all over, I can’t find peace until I found you and thanked you.”

Chris recognized her and Lukas saw the anguish on his face.

“I understand you lost your mate to the ship our Highest Leader sent. I am so sorry for your loss. My mate was killed on a warship attempting to defend us from your forces. I miss him more than I can tell you and all I have left is my child. I feel your pain. I know what you’re going through. I’m living it. But I must say thank you for allowing us to live. I will remember him each day in his child’s smile.”

The female lowered her head and Allison said, “Thank you for granting her wish to speak.” Allison took the alien’s hand to lead her out of the room.

Chris said, “Before you go!” Allison and the Alien female turned around. “I thank you for coming here and sharing your thoughts with me. I know what it took to do it. I have some thoughts I want you to share with your other leaders. Tell them that if your worlds are attacked, I will come and defend them.”

The alien began shedding tears and the four humans in the room learned there was another species that cried like them. She nodded and said, “From what I’ve seen, you can do a better job of that than we could. My people thank you.” Allison looked at Chris and shook her head. She turned and led the Alien out of the conference room.

Lukas and Salud felt the alien’s sorrow and they saw what happened in her thoughts. Salud stared at the door she walked out of and Chris said, “I had my blaster out and was going to burn all of them. Then, I saw her trying to hide her child from me. She saw me look at them and I could feel her panic and fear. She curled up around her baby and closed her eyes expecting to die.” Chris looked at Salud, “No mother of any species should ever have to experience that if it can be avoided. It was her fear that showed me I had become a monster.”

Salud couldn’t get the image of Chris pointing a blaster at the alien mother with a mask of rage on his face. She lowered her head and Lukas said, “He’s right.” Salud nodded through her tears. Lukas looked at Chris, “So what does this mean?”

“If you’re looking for a conqueror to go out and exterminate all of our enemies, then I’m not your man.”

“This only proves to me you are. You’re right. We were selfish and got it wrong. So how does this change things? I’m also wondering how you’re going to send our fleets to M-84 to defend them?”

“We have to go out with the right intentions. Don’t get me wrong on this. I know that these are not the last planets that I’ll order to be destroyed. But in the future, any destruction will be done to prevent more carnage. You don’t have to worry about sending our fleets to defend them just yet.”

“Chris, I’m sure M-87 had probes in that galaxy and know that they can walk in and take control of that galaxy.”

“I’m sure they do know but they won’t invade.”

Lukas and Salud looked at each other and Salud said, “Why not?”

“Because they had probes watching our attack.” Lukas and Salud looked confused and Chris said, “Put yourselves in their place. An enemy of yours has just attacked and mauled a civilization in another galaxy. Would you send forces there to take possession of that galaxy?”

Lukas started nodding, “You’re right. Before I go anywhere, I’d do everything to remove the ones that attacked and barring that, I’d build up my defenses. I wouldn’t weaken them by sending my forces elsewhere.”

“That’s how I see it. They think that if they invade M-84, we’ll fall on them and start wholesale destruction of their planets. They’ll stay home until they can remove us as a threat.” Chris looked out the picture window and said, “I want one fleet of Pods sent to M-84 to keep the peace. We’ll relieve them after sixty days with another fleet.” Chris looked at Lukas, “Does that meet with your approval?”

Lukas nodded. Salud said, “What are you going to do now?”

“We need to collect some information before we do anything rash.”

“Such as?”

“I need to determine whether M-86 is a threat to us or not. Then I need to find out just how powerful those Black Ships around the Legends’ Planet are. Once we’ve made that determination, I can start planning our next move.”

“Chris, Eve is furious you allowed Allison to call off the attack on their government planet.”

“She didn’t call it off. I did before I left.” Chris looked up, “Willow, have you been listening in?”

“Of course.”

Lukas smiled, “You are one nosey space ship.”

“Hey, I need something to occupy my time. Why do you ask, Chris?”

“I want you to share the thoughts of the alien that came and spoke to us with Eve.”

“Sure, I’ll do that now.”

Chris looked at Lukas and Salud and shook his head, “She’ll still be angry and the alien’s thoughts won’t really have an impact on her right now. But later she’ll remember and they will.”

Lukas’s eyes narrowed, “Just when will that happen?”

Chris smiled softly as Salud said, “When she has a child of her own.”

He nodded and smiled, “Eve is one of our most dangerous weapons. We’re lucky to have her.”

“The enthusiasm of youth is hard to restrain.”

“Exactly right, Lukas. I’m giving the fleets a break while I go out and take a look around.”

“You probably aren’t going to like this but you will not be allowed to go out alone for a while.” Chris’s eyes narrowed. “Your loss is still too close and you’ve demonstrated that your judgment might be impaired.”

“So who is going with me?”

“The only one that can possibly restrain you, Admiral Simmons.”

“Have you told her about this?”

“We have and she’s not at all happy about it.”

Chris snorted, “It appears no one ever likes going out with me.”

“You married the last one that did. However, I really think Admiral Simmons is immune to your charms and will be what you need to make sure you don’t take any foolish chances.”