by Clark Graham
“I’m here,” Lee replied as he came out of his cabin. “I won’t be staying. I haven’t been home in a long time and I have had enough of pretending to be a hero.”
“Suit yourself,” the commander said. He then turned and left. The cargo hold was empty of personnel and then the cargo door opened and Jedin steered his craft out into space.
Chapter Forty Four
Delmark Sector
It was seven days going across the Delmark sector when they had to stop to pick up supplies at the planet Griffus. They could not help but notice the militarism around them when they landed. All of the inhabitants in Griffus seemed to be in uniform, including a lot of the women.
Everywhere they went they were stared at as they purchased supplies. Finally Zedra asked one of the locals what was going on.
“Prince Asat had demanded the whole able bodied population of the sector be in the navy,” the man answered. “We go about our normal lives, but we have to be trained and in uniform at all times.”
It was an eerily sad population. No one smiled or joked. The group hated being there and was happy to be leaving.
“Next stop, Keldar sector,” Jedin said.
When they started the engines up and did their preflight checks, everything was good, so they left the space port.
Jedin didn’t spare the fuel but went full speed toward the border. There were no large fleets in the area so he wanted to get there before a large fleet appeared. As he neared the border, they ran into more and more of the patrol craft that Prince Asat loved so much.
They did not stop Zedra’s transport because he had permission to cross through the sector into the next.
It took three days to get to the border at full speed, but when they did, Jedin did not slow down. “I tried to sneak across one border and all I accomplished was getting detained. This time I go with guns a- blazing.”
It was an intense feeling of being small and insignificant, when they did get to the border. For every small patrol craft in the area that Prince Asat had, Emor had three full sized destroyers.
When they did cross one of the destroyers hailed them right away. “Stop your engines and prepare to be boarded.”
“Here we go again,” Zedra said.
Jedin did as he was told and soon they heard the now familiar sound of another ship clamping on to theirs. The hatch opened and two men stepped through. They were not brandishing their weapons, but walked calmly up to the four of them.
“I am Commander Freslin. We were told that you were trying to make your way here. Emor is anxious to get production started at the shipyard on Andaria Major. I am to take all of you there in my destroyer. It will be a lot faster than this thing.” He looked at the transport like the small craft it was.
“I was to pick up my father on the way back home,” Zedra replied.
“And where is he?”
“He is stuck on Denoris.”
The commander laughed at that. “How horrible for him to be stuck on Denoris.”
“Also, what is going to happen to my ship? I paid a lot of money for this,” Zedra added.
“I will put your ship in my cargo hold. It will fit easily. As for your father, I will send a transport to rescue him from Denoris. He will get home long before you do as he is only a few planets away from Andaria Major.”
Zedra relaxed, “thank you.”
The four of them gathered their things and climbed through the top hatch of their transport. Zedra had never been through the top hatch before and even with his thin stature, it was a tight fit. He couldn’t imagine how the storm troopers of Prince Asat made it through there with all their gear. The door was so much easier to walk through, but currently the door led only out to deep space.
When they wrestled all of the gear through the hatch, they were led to their new quarters. It was a lot sparser than the nice cabins they had on the transport, and all four of them would have to share the same room. Zedra sighed when he saw the bunk was the same type as the one on the Lectar. He had a flashback of crawling into a sweaty bunk that another man had just vacated.
“At least we all get our own beds,” Landris said. It was like he was reading Zedra’s mind.
“At least,” Zedra replied. “How long will it take us to get there?”
“A month in the destroyer, it would have taken twice that in the transport.”
Lee was white and shaking, although he tried to hide it. Zedra looked at him and asked, “Are you okay?”
“This is just bringing back some bad memories. Do they have anything to drink on this tub?”
Zedra put his arm around him. “We will be all right.”
Chapter Forty Five
Denoris, Keldar Sector
Pethran woke up to see that there was fruit on his table again. He enjoyed the delicious local fruits for breakfast. As he ate he watched the news of the galaxy. He tried to stay informed but he was starting to notice that Emor was censoring all that was negative news about himself, so only positive things were said about him. This was one of his sectors so Pethran figured he could do that, but still he missed the objective news he used to get when the emperor was alive.
He then got dressed and was about to go out when he received a knock on the door. When he opened it, Mayor Belsher was at his door along with the two girls. “Good morning,” Pethran said.
“It is a good morning. You are dressed; are you going out?”
“I was just going to take my morning stroll. Do you care to join me?”
“Certainly, and maybe we can get some lunch too.”
“That would be excellent,” Pethran said.
As they walked along with the girls in tow the mayor asked, “ how do you know Emor?”
“I don’t know Emor,” Pethran said. He was surprised by the question.
“That is curious, because Emor is sending his private transport to take you back home.”
Pethran was stunned. “There must be some mistake. I have never had any dealings with Emor. Could it be someone with a similar name?”
“No, there is no one else from Andaria Major on the planet, and you are definitely the only one named Pethran.”
“I have no idea what is happening then.”
“Curious,” the mayor said.
When they arrived at the restaurant the girls sat down in the usual places at the sides of the table leaving Pethran and the mayor at the two ends.
After they ordered their food, the mayor commented, “You will be happy to know that the fence is fixed. It will now be safe to take evening strolls along the promenade.”
“That is good to know,” Pethran replied. Then he asked, “Do you know where I can get some uncensored news? It seems all of the stations on this planet are controlled by Emor.”
“I know what’s going on as I get my dispatches directly from the other planets. The war continues, the Twins have been defeated. It was just too tempting of a target for the grand duke and Prince Asat to pass up. After three large battles there were hundreds of ships that had been damaged and were undergoing repairs. The two of them joined forces to attack the twins. The twins did not have enough shipyards to repair all of the damaged ships quickly and after several battles their usable fleet was minimal. So now the grand duke and the prince have divided up the ships and towed them to their own shipyards for repairs.”
“Interesting, have there been any other developments?” Pethran asked.
“Prince Asat and the grand duke are already sparring again; that was only a temporary alliance. Everywhere else is stalemated currently. There are only four princes left in the war along with the grand duke and Emor. The Empire’s old enemies, the Trajons, are attacking border posts. They have realized what’s going on and are taken advantage of it. This has Prince Daserant worried because that is in his sector. If he has to fight the Trajons, then he will weaken his fleet and be susceptible to attack from one of the others. The pirate problem is increasing. Those sectors not properly patrolled are having issues with them. We had a sim
ilar problem around here until Emor took over the sector. He seems to have a massive fleet. He has chased the pirates away for now.”
“What is Emor like?” Pethran asked.
“I have never met the man personally, but I hear that he is a fancy dresser. He had clothes of lots of clashing colors all worn at once. He is also a very shrewd business man. Other than that, I don’t know.”
“Who is going to win this war?”
The mayor just shook his head. “I don’t know, but I hope they do it soon. Thousands, maybe even millions, of people have died already. It is just a huge bloodbath. There was talk of just splitting up the Empire among the warring parties that are left, but so far nothing has become of those talks.”
“When am I supposed to get picked up by Emor?”
“Not for another week. He sent a message ahead. Because this is a neutral planet, he has to ask for permission to land.”
“I see,” replied Pethran. “Maybe I will take you up on that nighttime stroll through the city.”
“If you tell me what time you are leaving for your stroll, I will make sure the ladies are available to escort you. They can show you the best spots for entertainment.”
“I will leave right at sundown,” Pethran replied.
“Sundown it is then.”
It was a whole different city that night. All the lights came on and the theaters and bars that were normally closed were open and active. Pethran and the girls took in a movie and then sat and chatted at the bar next door over some drinks.
The ladies were well educated and worked at the hotel on revolving shifts for tuition money to go to college. They would make enough during the three months they worked to pay for the rest of the year. Pethran had finally figured out what their purpose was. They were to make sure the penthouse guests were happy and not lonely. It was not a sexual assignment, but just be there so the single traveler would have someone to be with while on the planet. The penthouses were used by a lot of businessmen to unwind and they would enjoy their company.
Pethran was a little embarrassed he had not asked earlier. He had just assumed that they were there to bring him fruit in the mornings.
He had gotten used to the planet, even when it had scary looking creatures prowling the streets at night. He was almost sad to be leaving and he wondered why Zedra was not picking him up. He decided to try and contact Zedra that night.
Chapter Forty Six
Andaria Major
3rd Planet from the Sun Centarus Solar System
Country of Santeria
Zedra looked out of the transport window. “I’ve never seen my planet from space before. They had me locked up when they took me out of here. I thought it would be greener.”
The destroyer had stopped and opened up its cargo bay an hour earlier to let the four of them take the transport back to the planet. Lee came up and looked out the window too. “Home sweet home, I thought that I would never see this place again, especially during the battle when I saw so much death around me. Thanks for kidnapping me, Zedra, and making me come with you.”
“No problem,” Zedra responded with a smile.
“We were just kids, not having a worry in the world,” Landris said. “We were so innocent, not knowing there was a whole hostile galaxy out there that was about to come apart at the seams.”
“That is a very red moon,” Jedin said. “It is beautiful.”
“There is nothing more romantic than holding your girl looking up at the red moon,” Landris replied.
“It was from behind that moon that the Empire attacked us,” Zedra said to no one in particular.
“We are about to enter the atmosphere. You had better get to your seats,” Jedin said and they all did so.
“Home at last,” Zedra said right as the ship landed.
It was just before dawn that Greten heard knocking on the door. It didn’t matter to him because he would have to be up in a minute anyway. He stood up and pulled on some pants as he stumbled towards the front door. It was the start of harvest season and he had been working hard. Getting up was painful until he moved around enough to loosen his stiff joints. When he opened the door, he saw his father standing there.
“Dad, I am so happy to see you.” He hugged Pethran. A minute later Majory appeared at the door and she hugged him too.
“Why didn’t you tell us you were coming?” Majory asked.
“I wanted to surprise you. I figured you could use some help with the harvest.”
“Definitely,” Greten replied.
“We can move you into Zedra’s old bedroom. We took yours over when you left,” Majory said.
“No, you can’t; Zedra will be home in a few days. I can just sleep in Greten’s old room then.”
“Um,” Greten replied. “We have turned that into a nursery. We just found out that Majory was pregnant, and we were so excited that we decorated the room right away.”
“Congratulations. My Sara would have been so excited, had she lived.” Pethran had a sudden sadness come over him. Then shaking himself out of it he said, “I can just sleep on the couch for now and then get a house in town in a few weeks.” Pethran thought it was ironic that he had come from a penthouse suit overlooking a beautiful city with the jungle flowers blooming in the background, to sleeping on a couch. He sighed and then went in to put his bags down.
“I will have breakfast ready for you in a few minutes,” Majory said. “Go and clean up while I set the table. Then the two of you can start in the fields.”
“Suits me,” Pethran replied. He had been traveling, but he had slept on the very comfortable transport that Emor had sent for him.
When they all sat down for breakfast, Greten sheepishly said, “You said that Zedra is coming home but his enlistment isn’t up. Is Zedra in trouble? He’s not a deserter, is he?”
“No, nothing like that. He has been furloughed; the war is over for him. He happened across a wealthy industrialist in his journeys and he is going to be working in the shipyard here on the planet as soon as it is finished. He is supposed to be heading up the propulsion department, from what I understand.”
“Wow, that’s fantastic,” Majory said. “It will be wonderful to have him home.”
Greten wasn’t so sure. “He is going to be building ships for the Empire, the very people I fought against?”
Pethran looked concerned. His son was living in the past so he tried to reassure him. “There is no more Empire. The people who attacked this planet have fled or are all dead. Emor had nothing to do with what happened here and he has been gracious enough to let us live our lives in peace.”
“He recruits heavily here. Many of those I served with have joined his forces and are now in space. We have gone from a farming society to a space traveling society in one generation. What will become of us if Emor loses?”
“No matter what happens, it affects us. What we do is what we always have done. We live our lives as best that we can and deal with each situation as it arises. We are survivors. We will survive again.”
Greten relaxed, “I suppose that you are right. I just wonder what type of world we will bring our child into.”
“The type of world that we create for it,” Pethran replied.
Books by Clark Graham
Fantasy Fiction
Dwarves of Elvenshore
Lost Cities of Elvenshore
Elf's Bane
The Last of the Minotaur
Curse of the Druid King
War of the Druid King
Dwarves, Druids and Dragons
Short Stories
Unexpected Tales
Strange Kin
Fantasy Children's Book
Emily and the Shadow King
Mystery (Jack Warden Series)
Winning Numbers Deadly Numbers
In a Sea of Troubles
Murder on a Honeymoon
On Deadly Seas
Crime Books
Murder Beneath the Palms
Young Adult
Fantasy
Wizards and Heroes
Sci-Fi
A Loop in Time
Millennium Man
End of the Innocent
Sample Chapter
A Loop in Time
Chapter One
“We’re losing him!” came a frantic voice over the headset.
“I’m still here,” the pilot insisted.
“We’re losing--” the voice cut out and then there was silence.
“Control, do you read me? Control?” the pilot was panicking. All of his warning signals were going off.
There was no answer. Suddenly flames burst out all around him. The last thing he remembered was reaching for the eject switch, before his thoughts devolved into an inky black void.
Nurse Susan Phillips watched the man toss and turn in his bed. She had seen it all before. He was young with sandy brown hair, tall and well toned. All the men in the hospital were young. She had seen so many come and go. They had shattered arms, shattered legs, and shattered lives. They were the casualties of war. Vietnam War was still going strong.
The evacuation hospital was stateside. It handled the hard cases. It patched up the soldiers with the worst wounds as best as they could. Then they would send them home to an uncertain future.
This one was different. He had some burns here and there, but other than that there was no sign of real trauma. He had been brought in without dog tags, so his chart showed him as a John Doe. He had lingered for days on the edge of consciousness, tossing and turning and sweating, but he would settle back down after a few minutes. Nurse Susan wondered what horrible thing he had gone through that kept his mind from letting him wake up and face it.
He had crashed nearby; they had brought him here as it was the closest hospital. His craft had exploded but the pilot managed to get out before it crashed. The problem was no one knew who he was or what he was flying. What was left of the airplane, if that was indeed what it was, had advanced avionics and systems that no one had ever seen before. When the local Air Force base was notified of the crash, they had sent an investigator out. Lieutenant Granger was convinced that the craft was some super- secret Russian spy plane. He had posted two MPs to guard the patient until he could be questioned.
