After several hours, Will adjusted the ship’s heading to Thadeus Seven. He looked up at the star chart. “The Ormecrans took us a bit out of our way. It’ll take a full day to get there.”
Debra leaned back and stretched her arms over her head. “Well I’m just glad to be out of there. They should’ve given you a medal or something for alerting them to Grandle’s plan to destroy their weapon.”
“Got a drawer full of those,” laughed Will. “Maybe it would be worth more than five or ten credits,” he continued, remembering her assessment of the medal Grandle had given him.
Debra burst out laughing. Will had missed that over the last few days. “Well at least they repaired the ship,” he said.
“Well, I should hope so,” she replied. “They’re the ones who damaged it.”
“Do you really think they might come after us again?” asked Debra, turning serious.
Will was quiet for a moment. “It’s possible. Grandle’s upset allies before and has always been able to smooth things over. That might be more difficult this time, but you never know. However, they certainly don’t want to cross King Raphul, so I don’t think they’d openly attack us.”
Debra nodded. “Maybe just point someone else in the right direction.”
“Yeah,” agreed Will. “And hopefully that direction will be the heading they saw us take when we left their ship.”
“Why don’t you go get some sleep,” offered Will. “I can handle things here.”
Debra didn’t argue, she hadn’t slept well while they were on the Ormecran ship and was tired. “Thanks,” she said as she unstrapped herself. Getting up, she gave Will’s shoulder a squeeze and climbed down the ladder to the crew quarters.
The trip to Thadeus Seven progressed without incident. As they entered orbit, the radio crackled to life. “Lord Lestron welcomes you,” said a woman’s voice. “He is currently off-world, but will return tomorrow. I will meet you at the landing site.”
Will brought the ship into the atmosphere, heading for the landing site near Lord Lestron’s home. As on their last visit, thick clouds obscured their view of the surface until they were within a few thousand feet of it.
As the landing site came into view, they saw that it contained no other ships. Upon landing, Will shut down the engines. Unstrapping themselves, Will and Debra headed to the ship’s door. Opening it, a wave of heat and humidity hit them. As they stepped out onto the gantry, they saw the same vehicle which had met them on the previous visit coming out of the forest. It was similar to a car, but the wheels extended the entire with width giving them the appearance of tank threads.
As the gantry descended to the ground, Braith, the same young red-haired woman who met them last time got out of the vehicle and walked towards the ship. As before she wore a plain white dress and her red hair fell down her back to her waist. She bowed before Will and Debra as they stepped off the gantry. “Welcome,” she said. “Lord Lestron sends his apologies, but was called away on unexpected business. He’s asked me to make your wait comfortable.”
“Thank you, Braith” answered Will as she led them towards the vehicle.
Although, they’d made this journey a number of times on their last visit, it was still a bit disconcerting to be zooming through a forest with trees only a few feet away on either side. In front of them, the way was illuminated by the vehicle’s lights, but behind them was only darkness.
They came to a stop after a half hour of driving. The young woman got out and opened the back door for the Will and Debra to get out. “Follow me,” called Braith as she held up a light and led them into the dense forest. Having spent time at Lord Lestron’s home, the way was now familiar to Will and Debra. Not even the loud noises coming from the forest bothered them anymore.
Reaching the clearing in which Lord Lestron’s house was located, Braith placed her hand on the door and it slid open. “Please enter,” she said. Will and Debra stepped inside and she followed. A large stone staircase dominated the room they stood in. “Your rooms are this way,” she said leading them upstairs to the same bedrooms they’d used on their last visit.
“I will have your things brought up from the ship,” she said as she opened the doors to each bedroom. “If there is anything you need, please do not hesitate to summon me.” With a final bow, she turned around and headed back down the hallway to the stairs.
“So which bedroom shall we use?” asked Debra, giving Will a smile.
“Um, whichever you prefer,” he answered in an awkward tone.
“Nice big bed in here,” she observed looking in one of the bedrooms. “But, the couch in here does look a lot more comfortable,” she noted looking in the other room.
She slipped an arm around Will’s waist a thoughtful look on her face. “Let’s take this one,” she said, leading him into the room with the comfortable couch.
It wasn’t long before one of the other servants, a young man named Grelth, brought their belongings to the bedroom. “You can leave everything in here,” Debra told him when he knocked on the door.
He bowed, “Yes ma’am.”
It was late afternoon, when Braith knocked on the door. “Dinner will be served shortly in the dining room,” she said. Noticing that both Will’s and Debra’s belongings were in the room, she gave a perplexed expression. “Is there a problem with the other room?” she asked.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Not at all,” answered Debra with a smile. “We just prefer being together.”
“I understand,” answered Braith, trying her best to suppress a smile. Will was certain he heard a giggle as Braith closed the door behind her.
Will just shook his head while Debra smiled.
Lord Lestron returned to Thadeus Seven late in the morning on the following day. He was so excited to see the Amulet of Hrytrin, he immediately send for Will and Debra to join him in his library. Since their last visit, there were several more artifacts on the shelves in the room. The Strelian Crystal sat in a glass case on the desk glowing with a dull green light.
“King Raphul informed me of your encounter with the Ormecrans,” he said as they entered the room. “I’m relieved that he was able to engineer your release.”
“As are we,” answered Will. “Although I can’t help but think there may be others looking for us.”
Lord Lestron nodded. “I would think there are. I would think your president has contacted other Earth allies to search for you.”
“That sounds like him,” agreed Debra.
“Fortunately, you’ll be safe here,” declared Lord Lestron. “Considering the artifacts I own,” he said gesturing at the room around them, “I’ve taken every possible security measure.”
Lord Lestron sat at his desk. “However, we are here to discuss happier topics. Might I see the Amulet of Hrytrin?”
Debra brought out the pouch holding it and handed it to him. He eagerly brought it out and held the gem up to the light. “Exquisite,” he exclaimed as sparkles of red light flashed around the room.
“And yet,” he continued, his eyes shining, “even beyond its beauty is the history it represents. This was worn by the Empress Hrytrin who with her husband Krell the Cruel ruled over the greatest space empire in history. Fabulous.”
He looked at Will and Debra a little sheepishly. “I do apologize for getting carried away.”
“Not at all,” said Debra. “We’re quite pleased it’s met your expectations.”
“And indeed it has.” He pushed a button on his desk. “Braith,” he said, “please bring in the satchel I left downstairs.”
In a few minutes there was a knock at the door and the young redheaded woman entered the room. Placing the satchel she carried on the desk, she bowed and left.
Opening the satchel, Lord Lestron tilted it towards Will and Debra. Their eyes lit up at a sizable pile of credits. “I think five hundred thousand credits is a fair price. Do you agree?”
Will gave Debra a questioning look which she answered with a small nod. “Yes,” answered Will.
“Excellent,” cried Lord Lestron getting up and going over to an empty case near the knife used to kill Krell the Cruel. Opening the case, he placed the amulet inside. He stood there a moment admiring it before returning to the desk.
“Thank you,” he said. “I knew you two could be counted on to get it for me.”
“Our pleasure,” said Debra, holding the satchel in her lap. “If there’s anything else you need to be acquired, just let us know.”
Lord Lestron smiled. “Oh, I most certainly will. In the meantime, I do hope you can stay for a while. There’s still so much I don’t know about your exploits after you left Celentus.”
“That’s most generous of you,” answered Debra. “We’d be happy to stay over.”
The next few days went by quickly with Lord Lestron showing them more of his artifacts and Will and Debra sharing what happened to them after leaving Celentus. For a little while at least they were able to forget about what might await them back in space.
At night, Will and Debra sat on the couch talking for hours and usually ended up falling asleep there. And each night, Will would awaken and carry Debra to the bed and then sleep on the couch.
It was while they were asleep on the couch that alarms began blaring.
“What’s going on!” cried Will as he and Debra ran into the hallway.
Lord Lestron rushed from his bedroom at the end of the hallway staring at the tablet he was holding. He hurried over to Will and Debra. “We’ve got two Earth cruisers in orbit,” he shouted to be heard over the alarm. He pressed a button on the tablet and the alarm stopped.
“Two Earth cruisers in orbit,” he repeated. He looked at the tablet again. “They’re sending four, no five shuttles down.”
“How long till they land?” demanded Will.
“I’ve activated the protective shielding around the area,” explained Lord Lestron. “They’ll have to get through that first. Could be a half hour, maybe less.”
“How could they have found us?” wondered Debra.
“Don’t know,” answered Will, “but we’ll have to worry about that later. Right now we need to get out of here.”
Lord Lestron, put a hand on Will’s shoulder. "You don’t have to go. We’ll fight them off together.”
Will looked over at Debra and shook his head. “We appreciate the offer, but as long as we’re here no one will be safe. We have to leave.”
Lord Lestron appeared ready to argue, but finally nodded. “What can I do to help?”
“Can your yacht be flown remotely?”
“Yes, I’ll give you the control frequency.”
“Good.” Will pointed at the tablet. “Does that control the shielding?”
“Right, there’s five sectors which can be controlled separately.”
“That’ll work,” said Will. “Can I have it?”
“Of course,” replied Lord Lestron handing him the tablet.
“Any faster way of getting to the ships than driving?” asked Debra.
Lord Lestron thought for a moment. “Yes, there are some emergency jet packs in the armory. I’ll take you there.”
The three of them ran down the main stairs and then down another set of stairs to the lower level where the armory was located. Lord Lestron touched the door and it slid open. “Over there,” he called pointing at several jet packs hanging on a rack mounted to a wall.
Will and Debra sprinted over and each quickly strapped one on. “Here,” called Will, tossing Debra a blaster which she stuck in her belt. Heading back upstairs, they ran out the front door and away from the building. Flashes of light could now be seen in the sky above.
“They’re firing on the shields,” called Will. “We’ve got to hurry.”
Lord Lestron stood back as they activated the jetpacks. “Good luck,” he shouted as they rose into the air and flew out of the clearing.
It the distance they could see the lights of the landing field and immediately jetted towards them. In a few minutes they reached the ship. Landing on the gantry, they went inside. As they strapped themselves in, Will looked at the tablet. “Shields are still holding, but I don’t know for how much longer.”
Debra was busy inputting the control frequency for the yacht. There were several beeps. “I’ve got control of the yacht,” said Debra.
“Good,” replied Will. “Once the yacht is in the air transfer all available power to its shields.”
Debra looked over the yacht controls. “What about weapons?”
“I doubt those blasters on the yacht would do anything to the cruisers,” said Will. “We want to keep if flying as long as possible.”
“Okay. So, what’s the plan?”
Will flipped several switches and the tactical display activated. Two larger blips were almost above them, while five smaller blips sat a small distance away. “Okay,” instructed Will. “We’ll head for the shield sector furthest from the cruisers. Follow close behind me because I don’t want to leave the protective shield down for more than thirty seconds.”
“Got it,” said Debra. “Then what?”
Will looked over at her and smiled. “I have no idea. We’ll just have to wait and see how they respond.”
“Ready?” he asked.
“Always,” replied Debra.
Will and Debra both began flipping switches. They each flipped the final switch with a flourish and jointly announced, “Initiating ignition sequence.” The engines on the yacht and Will’s ship fired and the two ships left the ground. Will sent his ship heading out over the trees with the yacht in close pursuit.
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