“I want them to follow us.”
“What? Are you crazy?”
“I just don’t want them too close, drop some 150s on our way out of the twins. If they follow us to close, it’ll blind them long enough to get away.”
“Let’s roll…” The ship fires the maneuvering thrusters and begins moving out of the cloudy atmosphere of the twins. As the stars began to be seen Jeremy ordered, “Drop 3 250s!” Sure enough the Meeran battleship was pulling in behind them for the kill.
The Mark 150 charges exploded sending the Meeran ship off course. In the time they bought, Jeremy’s ship makes a Quantum jump. Once finished they were surrounded by Frontier Battleship rushing to return home for the defense of their home world.
Jeremy click the radio, “General Parker, We’re coming in hot. I recommend you get your guns ready.”
The Meeran battleship jumped in. They never had a chance to return fire.
Chapter 13
Earth
Hannah rushed to the kitchen table for breakfast, Mom made something special this morning. Pancakes and strawberries. It’s not often she can do this, they live far from the city in her Papa’s cabin. . It was a simple life, but a good one. There’s no electricity, running water or TV. Hidden deep into the woods, everyone leaves them alone.
She sat down and ate them as if there was no tomorrow, with honey to sweeten it. Her mom smiled at while she pulled Hanna’s long red hair into a pigtail so no food would get into it.
“Next week you’ll be 11 years old, any Idea what you’d like to do?” asked mom
“I’d like to go to the city, and see Uncle Tommy.” she said, hoping for Mother’s approval.
“That’s about over 20 miles away! You’d have to wake up really early to get there, and avoid the Warren patrol… Wake up Hannah!”
***
“Hannah, wake up, we only have 10 miles to go…” said the shadowed voice.
Hannah woke up and looked around the room. After not seeing anything she concluded it was the voice in her head again. She spent the night in an old school while Warren patrols went by. This was Earth. The Warren’s homeworld was a much darker place, so they mostly come out at night.
Hannah got up and put her things together in her backpack. As she walked through the school she saw an old piano. She stood still staring at it, her mind flooded with memories.
“Hannah” said the voice, “I got you up late, we have to go!”
She ignored him, walked over and sat at the bench. She laid her fingers out on the ivory keys to measure them off. Then she began to play. The music echoed through the halls.
“It’s beautiful, who taught you how to play?” asked the voice
“My Papa.” she responded without missing a note. She needed this, to get her mind off what happened she need to sooth her mind before leaving.
The easiest way to Atlanta was just to follow the highway signs, her shadow couldn’t help seeing all the painted barns.“See Rock City” he said out loud.
“Some sort of tourist thing,” Said Hannah, “You can see far away from there.”
“You’ve been there?”
“No, the Warren have their base up their, Papa said don’t even go near it.” she said skipping a long. She looked up to see the street sign, it was painted with a phrase in a different language. “What is that? She asked herself.”
The voice spoke up, "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate. From an ancient book called Dante’s Inferno."
“How do you know this?”
“I used to live on this planet a long time ago. So long ago...”
“And you don’t know what rock city is?”
“I haven’t been here in a long time either. These cities are a strange new wonder.”
Hannah zig-zagged through to rusting cars and started to go over the bridge.
“Warren patrol! Get under the bridge.” the voice commanded.
“I don’t see it..” she replied.
“Get under the bridge now!”
She jump over the side and laid down on the steel support beam in the corner. A large shadow came in from one side of the bridge and went to the other. It buzzed with the sound of shorting electricity and she could feel the static in the air. After a few minutes the voice told her it was all clear.
For a couple more hours she walked and finally reached her uncle’s underground home.
“This is a strange place.” remarked the voice.
“It was an underground shopping mall. The street is above us.” She said pulling a gate up to a store.
Two little lights flicked on and a squeaky voice yelled out “Hannah!” A dozen more little lights turned and a half dozen little robots come out of the dark, each one proclaiming their joy of seeing Hannah.
“Hi Hector, Robo, Robby… I missed you all!” She sat on the floor and began to hug each one of them. After she finished she looked around with a confusing look. “Where’s Uncle?”
Hector’s head looked down, he looked up and grabbed her hand, “I think we need to show you.”
They went back out to the street and walked around the corner. In the street stood a hundred mannequins all dressed up in military fatigues. They all looked like they were ready for battle. In the center was an old Tank, her uncle laid silent behind the machine gun on the top.
“Is he did?” She cried out.
“Yes. He thought he could take on the Warren himself.” replied hector.
“I’m sorry Hannah.” Said the voice. “Looks like he went mad.”
Hector looked up, “I think you need to go back home with your Mother.”
She fell to the ground, “She’s gone.” A dog came around the corner and ran straight into her arms, “Simon!” she yelled with joy. She held on to him as if she would never let go.
Later that night Hector and the other robots wanted to cheer her up so they threw a party. They began to play music and dance, the dog ran around a barked. Hannah had the biggest smile she had in years. Suddenly all the robots eyes turned red. The music turned off and hector whispered, “Warren patrol, hide in the back. We’ll put out the candles.”
“Strange that I haven’t sensed this.” Commented the voice as Hannah walked quickly into the back room.
After an hour the Robot said it was clear and they restarted the party. They played on until Hannah fell asleep.
The Next morning the Robots woke her up to go looking for food. Uncle would can food and hide them in different places around town just in case the mall became unsafe. He also had small gardens on the rooftops of several buildings. The best way to get around town was by horses, but since they all ran off, she had to use a bicycle. The robots road in a basket towed behind.
Safe areas were painted with a small triangle just in case a patrol was around. But the warren rarely came out in the day. Hannah stopped at one of them and the robots got out and helped her pull her bike inside. She started to look through all the cabinets to see what looked good, it was almost noon and she was starved. She quickly found what she wanted, popped it open and began to eat.
The robots eyes all flashed red and they all began to hide in the cabinets below. “But no one is here.” said the shadow. Hannah ignored him and hid anyways. A long time passed, and Hannah grew impatient. She cracked open the cabinet to see what was going on in the street. In the door she saw a creature that was barely taller than she was, peeking from around the side. Both of them were startled and hid. Hannah realized this was not a warren, this was different being all together.
She slowly got out of the cabinet and the alien slowly came out from the around the door. It smiled and extended wings. It was a beautiful creature. Others came around and joined him, hector was alarmed, he came out and stood between them. This startled them again.
“Stop Hector! They’re friendly.” She yelled.
“We cannot be sure!” said hector standing as tall as he can. “If you are truly the last of your kind, we cannot take these chances!”
<
br /> “Maybe they’re my last hope.” she responded and walked around hector to greet the creator.
“I doubt it.” Said the voice.
“Greetings, we are Satroo. My name is Elannerrow, we are scientists sent here to study your worked.” it said.
“By the warren.”
“The warren permit us to do our research. Please worry not. But we come in peace. No harm will come to you.” He gently grabs her hand. “Come outside, the warren won’t be back for months.”
They walked outside into the street. The Santroo have a large ship there, all the creatures around it to see the small human. Many of them spent their lives studying them but never seen one. This was very exciting to them.
.”Stay here.” Elannerrow said to her. He walked over to his to discuss the situation with his colleagues. “She is the last of her kind, if we leave her here, she will die or worse, the warren will kill her.”
“But if we get boarded, we will forfeit our lives!” said the captain.
“This is our life’s work, can you say it’s not worth the risk?”
The captain thought for a moment, “I think I have a way.”
Elannerrow returned to her and spoke, “There are no more humans on earth. We invite you to come with us. There is no more need to be alone, we have much to learn from you.”
“No Hannah, don’t do this!” Said the voice.
Hannah turned to Hector, “What about Simon?”
“Our power cells will last long after his expected lifetime.” responded Hector. “We’ve survived this long so far.” the little display screen showed a smile.
The Voice pleaded with her, “Hannah, I don’t trust them, and if you leave. I may not be able to talk to you again.”
She looked back at the ship and said, “It time I outgrew my invisible friends.”
***
Jacob’s battleship was a juggernaut. Bigger than all the rest. He waited for preparations while looking out the view port. He liked watching the waves of red and orange. The ship was neither here nor there. It was in the other place in subspace.
Bianca walked up behind his chair, wrapped her arm around him and whispered in his ear, “We are ready.”
He took a deep breath and commanded with one word, “Begin.” He continued to stare out, while tapping his dagger in his hand.
They all had something they did to get ready; Terrence stood in front of the mirror in his Quarters and admired his uniform and crown. Bianca took inventory of her weapons and sword. Olivia read Hamlet. General Carlos checked and re-checked the battle plan down to the second.
But Gorkey was not so eager. He worried for his daughter's safety. To him, this was insane! A moment passed and the General walked down the hall to him, placed a small object in his hand and walked away. Gorkey turned around and entered the room marked, UFA.
***
The Santroo ship also entered subspace on its jump. Elannerrow was late to his meeting in the holograph room. This room was designed so that many attendees can come together virtually from all over the space.
Elannerrow opened and closed the door quickly. Walked to the table, bowed, and said, “We have the girl, soon we will begin the transformation”
A holographic figure comes to the table, her face looks very much like Abby, “Good, she must never know that humans still exist.” She turned to the other side, “What is your status General?”
General Carlos’ face appears, “We’re well underway, we’ll be in Frontier space within the hour. All preparations have been made. “
“Eni?” Abby turned again, “How is the Chancellor?”
An Adlit woman appeared and said, “My Husband and I are alive, he will recover from his injuries.”
The General was shocked, he asked, “What about your child?”
The Adlit woman touch her stomach, “He is fine.”
Abby smiled, “Good, soon we shall fulfill the prophecy!”
###
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