They were interrupted by a sudden burst of radio static and what sounded like words, but too low to hear. Will increased the volume. “Captain Power … attack …shields” came through then the signal died. There was too much static to allow them to identify the voice. Will and Debra looked at each other.

“That had to be Lord Lestron,” said Will shaking his head “I was certain the Earth forces would leave Thadeus Seven once we left. Guess I was wrong.”

“Or it could be a trap,” cautioned Debra. “What better way to get us to go back.”

“It could be,” he said, “but can we take the risk that it isn’t?”

“No,” agreed Debra.

Will set course for Thadeus Seven. “We’ll be there in two hours. Keep a close eye on sensors for any other ships.”

“Right,” replied Debra. “I’ll also see if the computer can clean up that transmission so we can see if it really was Lord Lestron.”

“Good idea, he said as he engaged the autopilot and unstrapped himself from his chair. “In the meantime, I’ll go see if I can do anything to increase our shield strength.” He started climbing down the ladder. “Let me know what you find or if any ships show up on sensors.

“Right.”

Will had been working down in weapons and shield control for nearly half an hour when Debra’s voice came over the intercom. “Will.”

Getting up from the control panel he was working on, he went over to the intercom. “What’d you find?”

“The computer confirmed that it was Lord Lestron’s voice. It was also able to decipher more of the message from the recording. I’ll play it back.”

There were a few clicks then Lord Lestron’s voice came over the intercom. “Captain Power, one of the Earth cruisers has resumed its attack on the shields. I’m not sure how long it will be before …” and then it stopped.

Will slammed his hand on the wall. It made no sense for the cruiser to continue attacking after they’d left. What’d they hope to accomplish?

“Any ships on sensors?”

“No.”

He went back to work on the shields even more fervently than before. That cruiser was going to pay if anything happened to Lord Lestron or his servants. He only wished he could make the ship go faster.

It took Will another forty-five minutes to finish and climb back up to the control section. “We should have eighty percent shields now,” he reported, his exhaustion taking the edge off his anger for the moment.

“We’ll be in sensor range of Thadeus Seven in thirty minutes. Still haven’t seen any other ships.”

Will strapped himself into his chair. “Hopefully they won’t be expecting us,” he said, “since we got rid of the transmitter.”

They flew on.

“Getting sensor readings for Thadeus Seven,” called Debra. “Not seeing any ships in orbit, but there is a debris field near the planet.” She paused and took a closer look at the sensors. “Looks like they destroyed the cruiser we disabled.”

“Any ships on the surface?”

“Won’t be able to tell until we’re in orbit.”

As soon as they were in orbit, Debra began scanning the surface in the vicinity of Lord Lestron’s estate. “The estate’s defensive shields are down, but sensors don’t show any ships on the surface,” she reported. Her voice grew angry as she continued. “Sensors are showing fires and craters on the surface.”

“Life signs?” demanded Will.

She was quiet for a moment. “Yes,” she said excitedly. “Three life signs located in Lord Lestron’s home. All look strong.”

Will breathed a sigh of relief. That accounted for Lord Lestron and his two servants. “I’m taking us down.”

It wasn’t until they broke through the cloud cover that they saw the full extent of the damage. Craters filled the landing field. Smoke rose from large sections of the surrounding forest, although there didn’t seem to be any active fires. There was too much smoke to see the condition of the house.

Will landed the ship in the small section of the landing field that was still useable. As soon as the engines stopped firing, Will and Debra unstrapped themselves from their seats and rushed to the door. As the door opened they weren’t only hit by the usual heat and humidity, but smoke as well.

Putting on their jetpacks, Will and Debra took off for the house. They had to take a roundabout route to the house to avoid the worst of the billowing clouds of smoke. Even so, they were coughing and their eyes were watering as they flew.

As the house came into sight, Will’s blood boiled. A number of walls and a portion of the roof had collapsed due to plasma blaster fire. Where the front door once stood, there was only a large hole with blackened edges.

Will and Debra landed in the clearing near the front door. Will gestured over at a section of nearby grass. “Those indentations are from a shuttle’s landing gear so someone was here.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

They pulled out their blasters. Even though sensors only showed three life signs, other people could be inside, shielded from sensors. They carefully walked up to the door, stepping over the large chunks of stone lying on the ground around it. Throwing themselves flat against the wall on either side of the opening, Debra took out the scanner.

“The life signs are coming from the lower level,” she called out.

“Anything else?”

“No, everything looks clear.”

“Let’s go.”

Holding their blasters in front of them, Will and Debra spun into the opening. Light poured into the room from a hole in the ceiling and rubble covered much of the grand staircase. They headed to the door which led to the lower section of the house.

Debra pulled out the scanner and moved it around the exterior of the door. “It’s safe.”

Opening the door, they saw light, but it was dimmer than it had been earlier. “Must be on backup power,” noted Will.

The stairs looked undamaged so they started down with Debra occasionally glancing at the scanner. Reaching the bottom of the stairs they looked around the area and everything looked just as it had when they’d been there earlier. Debra held the scanner in front of her and spun around slowly. “This way,” she said in a low voice, gesturing with the scanner.

They walked past the armory and continued until they came to a narrow hallway. It led to a single large metal door. The two of them headed down the hallway. “They’re definitely in there,” reported Debra as they approached the door.

Reaching the door, she carefully scanned it. “Looks okay.”

Will pounded on the door. “Hello,” he shouted. “It’s Will and Debra.”

“Thank goodness,” came a cry which they recognized as coming from Lord Lestron.

“Stand back,” shouted Will pulling out his blaster. Debra took a step back as he aimed it at the lock and fired. In about a minute the lock melted away and he pulled the door open. Before them they saw a medium sized room without windows. It was lit by a dull overhead light. Except for a small table and several chairs, the room was empty.

Lord Lestron, Braith, and Grelth stood against one of the walls away from the door. They were covered in dirt and dust. On Briath’s face were lines in the dirt which showed that she’d been crying.

“Are any of you injured?” asked Debra.

“No,” answered Lord Lestron. “The Earth troops seemed more interested in destroying than hurting us.”

“It was terrible,” said Braith. “I felt certain that the house would collapse on us.”

“What happened?” asked Will.

Lord Lestron looked over at his servants. “Could we discuss that once we get out of here?”

“Of course.”

Will and Debra led the way out. They soon reached the entrance area. Lord Lestron looked around and shook his head sadly. He looked over at Braith and Grelth. “Please check the library.” They bowed and slowly began to make their way up the stairs.

“I’m very sorry,” apologized Will. “I expected them to leave here once Debra and I had gotten away.”

“As did I,” replied Lord Lestron. “Unfortunately we were both wrong.”

“So what happened?” asked Debra.

Lord Lestron sat down on one of the few undamaged chairs in the room and looked down at his hands while shaking his head. “After you and Will left orbit, the cruiser retrieved the shuttles and moved away. I thought that was the end of it, but decided to keep the shields up just in case. About an hour later, the cruiser returned and began firing on the shields.”

He looked up at Will and Debra. “They radioed and ordered us to surrender, but I refused.” He looked around at the damage around him. “In hindsight that was probably a mistake,” he said with a sigh.

“Well they finally got through the shield and immediately began firing on the landing field and the forest. I tried radioing them to surrender, but they just kept firing. Then they flew over the house…” He paused for a moment as he tried to collect himself. “Well you see what they did.”

He got up and began pacing. “They radioed again and ordered us to walk outside and lie face down on the ground. We had no choice but to do what they wanted. About ten minutes later a shuttle landed. Four soldiers got out, three with blast rifles.”

He gestured at the opening in the wall where the door used to be. “Without warning they started firing at the door until that was all that was left. One of them then went inside while the other two remained by the doorway. Lieutenant Winslow, that's what one of the soldier called him, walked over and had the three of us stand up. I’ll never forget the smile on his face as he looked over the damage done to the house.”

“He ordered the soldiers to take us downstairs. The other soldier led them to the storeroom where you found us. However, before they locked us in, Lieutenant Winslow came down. ‘You should do a better job of picking your friends,’ he said then handed me this,” Lord Lestron pulled out a small tablet. “’Give this to Power,’ he said. ‘President Grandle has a message for him.’”

Will took the tablet and slipped it into a pocket.

Braith and Grelth were now slowly coming down the stairs. “Yes?” asked Lord Lestron anxiously.

Braith gave a slight smile and bowed. “Only broken windows and none of your artifacts appear to have been damaged, Lord Lestron”

For the first time since they’d returned to Thadeus Seven, Will and Debra saw him smile.

“We were planning on going to Celentus,” said Will. “You’re welcome to come with us if you’d like.”

“A very kind offer,” answered Lord Lestron. “However, I intend to make arrangements for repairing the damage to the house immediately and need to be here to oversee the work. There’s sufficient undamaged areas in the house for us to be quite comfortable until the repairs are complete.”

Lord Lestron started heading for the stairs, but stopped and turned around. “There is one favor I might ask of you.”

“Of course,” answered Will.

“Might you and Debra remain here until I can make arrangements for King Raphul to send a ship for protection and get the shields repaired?”

“It would be our pleasure,” replied Debra.

“Certainly,” agreed Will. “However, I think it would be best for us to sleep on the ship just in case there’s trouble.”

Lord Lestron considered Will’s suggestion for a moment. “Yes, that seems quite reasonable. Now if you will excuse me.” He headed upstairs as quickly as he could.

Will pulled the tablet out of his pocket and started walking outside. “Let’s see what Grandle has to say.”

After finding a spot where they could sit, Will pressed the button on the tablet. President Grandle appeared on the screen. He had a long thin face with a slightly balding head of grey hair. His eyes were set close together and were topped by a thick grey set of eye brows. Those eyes were now glaring at Will.

“Power,” he snarled, “up to now I’ve been willing to put up with your idealistic naivety because it was of use to me.” He leaned closer to the screen. “But no more. You’ve caused me a lot of trouble and I plan to do the same for you.” A smile played across his face revealing a set of perfect white teeth.

“You saw what happened to your friend Lord Lestron today. Well that was just a preview. Anyone who helps or harbors you in the future will suffer far worse. And it will all be you fault.” He continued speaking in an almost fatherly tone. “So do yourself and your friends a favor, Will. Surrender before anyone else gets hurt.” The screen went blank.

Will hurled the tablet to the ground and jumped to his feet. “You were right, Debra,” he shouted furiously. “We’ll never know any peace while that man is Earth’s president.” He paused, his eyes blazing. “By threatening my friends, Grandle’s now made it personal.”

Will stared up at the damaged building. “And I plan on personally making sure that he’ll never do anything like this ever again.”