Return of the Guardian King

by John E Bujanowski Jr

  “Phia,” he said. “I need you up here. With me.”

  Phia was shocked by his request. She assumed she was no longer needed since Boone was now surrounded by friends and family. Mace didn’t mind taking a back seat at all. He and Clay sat behind the two forward cockpit seats.

  The Night Star lifted from the dusty dirt courtyard and hovered off into the night with Jess flying off his port wing.

  Boone was taking his time, ascending higher into the night sky. A bright moon shed light into the now dimly lit cockpit. Finn noticed Boone’s flying and became concerned.

  “So, Boone,” Finn said. “You’re not worried someone will see you? You’re climbing?”

  Clay replied, “Finn, now, let him do it. He doesn’t need you to tell him. Right, Boone? You do know what you’re doing?”

  Boone smiled. “Mace? Tell him.”

  Mace laughed and Finn glared, smiling though. “Sir,” he said as he always called him, Sir. “This is not the Night Star, right now!” He chuckled again. “Your son! Uh! He… this is a cargo ship called the Kenos Verisian! Understand?” He smiled at Finn and Clay.

  “What?” Finn laughed. “Are you kidding me? Boone? Where’s the device for the Night Star? Tell me you didn’t lose it.”

  Boone adjusted his course and headed toward a fixed point and proceeded to orbit the planet. “Dad, I still have it. But, I bought a cargo ship and reshaped the designation device and right now, they’re swapped out.”

  Clay slapped Finn on the shoulder and said, “Unbelievable! Finn, he’s just like you!” They all laughed. Finn thought, “Yeah, that’s his problem. He’s just like me!”

  “Boone?” Finn asked. “And ‘why’ did you swap them out? Just curious.”

  Mace answered, “Because the evil High Guard was after us and we wanted to go visit the, well, Sir, I mean, uh…”

  “Mace,” Finn said sternly. He glared at Mace and Boone. “You two went to Abdom Center? Knowing the Guard was after you? Are you kidding me?” Finn shook his head in disgust. “You idiots! I can’t believe you two! Boone, too risky!”

  “Sir?” Phia asked. “Was Abdom Center off limits back then?”

  Boone answered, “Yes! But the games, the food, the atmosphere.”

  Finn asked, “The girls?”

  “No! We just missed going there so we… look! That’s the past.”

  Finn chuckled then his mind turned to the many questions he had for his son. “Son, I can’t believe what I’ve heard about you and the ‘Night Star’ and that Axeon rebel, Cumi Bak Suna! You really did that?”

  “Yeah, well, my team, Dad.”

  “Son, I also can’t believe you came back. You know? I was mad at you for that. Very stupid, Son. But…”

  Boone interrupted, “Dad, if I told you, you wouldn’t believe me. It’s a long story but I’m back and it’s all happening like they told me. Uh! Don’t say that! Now, he’s gonna ask!”

  “Wait. What? I’ll believe you! But, who told you? They told you to come back?”

  Boone nodded. “You won’t get mad? Dad? Because now, I’ve got anger issues!”

  Boone laughed but Finn felt a tear coming on. He was ashamed of what he had done to his son and felt responsible for his eight-year estrangement.

  “Boone, I’m sorry I get angry. Please? Tell me. I need to know.”

  Boone turned his seat around and saw his father in a way he had never known, repentant and with a tear in his eye.

  “Dad, I’m here because mom has been praying. Also, I have a few other friends that showed me how to trust the Father of the Heavens.”

  Finn was cut to the heart. His belief, a belief in himself, his anger, his hatred toward the High Guard, and his animosity toward his wife may have caused all the trouble his son had gone through. He became convicted.

  “Dad, I would never push it on anyone. It’s a choice. I turned it away! I did! I didn’t want to listen. But, Dad, I was wrong.”

  Boone turned his seat around and monitored his position. They were getting close. Finn gaped and wondered as Clay nodded his head to him. Clay wanted Finn to listen and believe.

  Once in orbit, their minds returned to the day everything changed for them. Mace stood next to Boone remembering the events from eight years ago. While in orbit, they opened a secure channel with Jess. They discussed where their ships were that day and where they entered the atmosphere. The two ships slowly re-entered the atmosphere and set down on the edge of the Tahonic Ocean.

  Chapter 23

  Jess’ flyer and the Night Star were parked side-by-side on a grassy knoll overlooking the ocean. A faint light was seen on the horizon. From their location, daybreak was beginning as the bright Kovan sun, Ko’as, started to slowly rise. Jess boarded the Night Star. She and Boone removed the black vinyl duffle bag from the small compartment of Finn’s flyer which was parked inside the Night Star’ cargo bay. They knelt down and gazed at it. Everyone watched as Boone unzipped the bag and saw a large round disc, eight inches thick and fourteen inches in diameter. It had a small placard mounted on one side with an inscription that read, ‘Zenith Class 2 Gunship TX7013.’ Scribbled in black marker were the words, ‘Guardian King.’

  Boone covered his mouth as tears flowed. He wiped his face. While gazing at the device, the memories of that day, the many mistakes he recalled, and the emotions from it all overwhelmed him. Jess put her arm around him, to comfort him.

  Finn shed a tear and folded his hands across his chest. He had no words as he too was caught up in the memories and mistakes they as a family made. He thought, “What have I done? I did this. My son is paying for my foolishness. My anger, my disgust toward Liana, and the Lord.”

  Phia knelt down and slid her arm around Boone’s back. She was definitely competing with Jess. She said, “Boone, I’m sorry. We all know you made mistakes. We all make mistakes but the lying, Boone, the lying is what caused all this heartache. Not just your mistakes. So, we’re going to get to work. Right?”

  He looked at her and nodded. He quickly hugged her; she was very surprised by it. Boone attached a small device to the designation device and it lit up. Then Clay and his father were shocked at what Boone said next.

  “Lila, open NAV, link to COM, initiate.”

  Finn thought, “Lila! Oh, my!”

  The little device Boone attached to the designation device began to glow and blink. It was linking to the NAV panel in the cockpit. Finn’s arms fell to his side, his mouth dropped open wide, and he gazed at Boone.

  Finn asked, “What? She’s automated? Boone! Really? You did that?”

  “Dad, you taught me to tinker. So, I’ve been tinkering.”

  “Lila? Boone? You named your automated system, Lila?”

  Father and son locked eyes on one another and reminisced. Boone nodded. “Yeah, Dad. I’ve had the automated system for a long time, now. Can you think of a better name?”

  Boone remembered Lila as a spunky average-sized black and white German Shepherd. Lila was without a doubt, Boone’s best childhood friend. Lila died of old age shortly before Boone’s seventeenth birthday. Finn nodded and agreed with his son, concerning the excellent name for the automated system installed in the Night Star.

  “Boone?” Phia asked. “Who is Lila? An old girlfriend?”

  Everyone laughed. Finn answered, “No, Phia, Lila was our beloved pet dog. And that dog loved to fly!”

  Boone chuckled, “She’d sit by dad’s ship, the Night Star, I mean the Guardian King and wait for him to go to work. She’d climb that circular stairwell with no problem.” Boone smirked. “She was special. So, I think of her as part of the ship, still.”

  Clay said, “I’d love to see what kind of system you installed. I already see the COM system linked. What else? Security? Weapons?”

  Finn smiled as he admired his son’s craftiness and ingenuity. Mace patted Finn on the shoulder.

  Mace said, “You wouldn’t believe what this ship has been doing, Sir. On Isoter he was out in some field and he ha
d the Night Star fly over to him and blast an Axeon to pieces. Then…”

  “Mace!” Boone exclaimed. Finn and Clay were shaking their heads from side to side in amazement.

  Everyone followed Boone to the cockpit and he accessed the NAV control. Phia sat down and started following orders.

  “Phia, access the time stamp for six hours before Emancipation Day.”

  “Got it,” she replied.

  Phia started to sift through lines of holographic data which appeared above the cockpit console. Everyone listened as she read each data point including the conversation between the Guardian King, the Amity, and the Taurus 7. Included in the data streams were the communiqués between the Guardian King and the Kovan Defense Force moments before Boone and Mace destroyed the Amity. When she reached the specific timestamp for when the Amity was destroyed, she stopped. She opened the link for the specific data stream she needed and read its position with respect to the planet. Clay, Finn, and Jess were amazed by Phia’s navigation abilities.

  “Phia?” Finn asked. “Where did you learn all of that? You’re amazing!”

  “Yeah, Phia,” Jess added.

  Boone said, “Uh, Dad, she’s a High Guard investigator. She’s also a lieutenant and she’s training for battlecruiser deployment.”

  Finn gasped. “What?” he asked. “Are you kidding?”

  Mace said, “Sir, not kidding. And that is a very, very, long story but Phia is on our side. A hundred percent.”

  As Phia listened to them talk about her, she worried. She also continued to work and keep her mind on what she was doing.

  Boone added, “Look, Dad, if it weren’t for this, this woman, this investigator, I wouldn’t be here. I would be locked up somewhere or maybe even dead. She saved my life, Dad. More than once and I owe her a lot.”

  Phia’s emotions rose. She could not contain her joy as Boone praised her. Tears filled her eyes, yet she hid them from the others. She continued to work, quickly dry tears, and keep her mind on the data.

  “Got it!” she exclaimed. “Latitude: S 8° 46.9917'. Longitude: W 124° 30.5114'. Boone!”

  With joy, she quickly turned to look at him. He saw her tear-stained eyes but didn’t mention it to the others.

  Boone asked, “Jess? Mace? Want to suit up?”

  Jess and Mace ran to the cargo bay. Everyone followed except Phia. She would keep a close eye on the NAV panel and watch for trouble. Boone returned alone to maneuver the Night Star above the ocean as Finn and Clay helped Jess and Mace into the water.

  “Phia,” Boone said.

  He gazed at her as the Night Star glided above the ocean waves, closing in on Phia’s coordinates. Phia kept her eyes on the NAV, trying to ignore him. He reached over and grabbed her arm. She quickly turned and looked at him. She wiped her face again.

  “Why are you crying? Did I do something wrong?”

  “No, Boone. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Then tell me. We both said ‘no more lying.’ So, what’s going on?”

  “Boone, you said some very nice things about me.”

  Boone sunk into his chair and gazed at the distant sun breaking over the horizon. He sighed then he smiled.

  “I don’t do that often, huh?” he chuckled as did she. “I’m sorry I’ve been so mean. I am a mean person. You know?” She nodded and checked their distance from the coordinates.

  “I was very jealous of Jess,” she admitted. “I’m sorry. I am trying to listen to Lorin and do my job and help you and protect you but…”

  “Jess is married, Phia.” She gaped as he looked at her. He smiled. “I love Jess, I love Lorin, I love everybody,” he chuckled again. “Except you!” Then he smiled at her and she understood he was kidding. “Truthfully, Phia, I believe those things I said about you. I owe you and after this is all over, if it ever ends, I want to make it up to you, somehow.”

  “I know how you could!” she exclaimed as joy and hope sprung up inside her. “I was thinking…”

  Boone pointed to the NAV panel and Phia got back to work, with a smirk on her face. He understood her desire, though. A nice vacation at a nice warm beach with friends and family would satisfy her.

  Boone stopped the Night Star and Mace and Jess stepped off the cargo ramp as it hovered a few feet above the waves. They landed on the ocean floor and started scanning. The sun rose above the horizon and Finn and Clay waited with great anticipation as they listened to Boone communicate with Mace and Jess. Phia directed them where to search and she was quite accurate in her directions.

  They saw a large section of the Amity. It was in several pieces scattered over a very large area but the cockpit was exactly where Phia expected it to be. Mace and Jess swam inside the large ship and reached the cockpit. Pulling the data chips was an easy task. The designation device required more work. Finn and Clay had to lower a cable to Mace and Jess so they could flip the fragmented ship over. Once the ship was flipped over, they accessed the panel and removed the designation device. Jess and Mace were pulled back into the Night Star with the data chips and the Amity’s designation device.

  From a cockpit monitor, Boone and Phia watched the joyous scene taking place in the cargo bay. Boone and Phia could not stop their tears. They shed tears in front of each other, unashamedly. Then Boone stood up and took Phia’s hand. She was surprised. He pulled her to her feet and wiped more tears.

  “Phia,” he softly said. She was gazing at him, wiping her tears, and smiling. “I’m about to be exonerated,” he muttered. “None of this would have been possible if you hadn’t,” he paused.

  He bowed his head and pulled her closer. He hugged her and she, in turn, hugged him tighter. She didn’t want to let go. She was infatuated with him the first time she saw him and now, after all the anguish she suffered, she was falling deeper in love with him. It was a mystery to her. He let go as the others entered the cockpit.

  Boone brought Jess back to her ship and they prepared to execute their plan.

  …

  The Oberis was a Galaxy Class 2 Starliner, slightly larger than the renowned High Guard intergalactic runners. It was a fast sleek renovated and modified luxury starliner. It contained an assortment of weaponry. Weaponry that Rena enjoyed using. The Oberis’ forward laser turret was hidden to those that scanned her yet could easily be deployed. Her missile launchers lay tucked away inside an easily accessible hatch that could open at a moment’s notice. The Oberis appeared to be an innocent luxury liner but she was far from that.

  The Oberis slowly made her way through the massive network of tunnels. The slow trek through the tall and wide corridors of the underground lair was painstakingly slow for Rena and a flood of emotions rose up within her. She would not be returning to Kurros. She wiped the tears and frustration from her face and fixed her eyes on the forward progress of the Oberis. The network of tunnels had served as the perfect hiding place for her base of operations. She fumed and wondered what mistakes she made to cause her network to crumble.

  The Oberis emerged from a large rock face which lay deep inside a massive crevice, the largest canyon the planet offered. It was a crevice she greatly admired as it hid her lair from the entire Abdomanon Constellation. She set the ship down on the edge of the crevice and waited for her precious battlecruiser, the Ambulas, to make its emergence from the rocky tunnels. She was worried about their untimely emergence and hoped they were still hidden from the views of the High Guard and the four battlecruisers that had suddenly disappeared. Rena and her crew scanned the constellation and waited for the Ambulas.

  The Ambulas crept through the carved out tunnels of the OPS base, slowly making its way through the dark and rocky corridor and emerged from a large rock face on the floor of the crevice. It was mid-morning when it drifted up and out of the canyon.

  Jona, Adere, Gunner, Chopak, and tech specialist Marshal Donaker stood on the bridge of the Sim-Sa Gale watching Captain Eisen and his crew study the large crevice. Adere was confined with the standard metal magnetic handcuff
s. They had been watching the crevice for over a day. The Sim-Sa Gale was perched on a small dead moon which orbited a large dead planet near Kurros. They had teleported to the Adjelon system and had an excellent view of the crevice.

  Nearby, on several other moons, the battlecruisers Kensington Storm, the Dorian Surge, and the Ellis Rise were also perched, scanning and watching the crevice on Kurros.

  While debriefing Jona, Captain Eisen discovered what the tricky Boone Nova had done. Jona explained it was possible to teleport a second smaller ship if it was attached with a tow cable. Jona assumed Captain Eisen might also be able to tow another ship using the teleportation device. The Gale then teleported to Obipherion where the Dorian Surge attached to the Sim-Sa Gale by means of a tow cable. The endeavor was successful and within a few hours, all four battlecruisers were sitting on specific moons inside the Adjelon system. Their plan was simple. Fire their newly mounted forward lasers into the crevice the moment the Ambulas made its appearance.

  While they waited, a data burst was sent to the Sim-Sa Gale from the 5th prime on Obipherion. Captain Eisen studied the personal message with a host of officers looking on. They were all surprised. They were all surprised to discover revealing information concerning the Pirate Queen. Then the Ambulas slowly rose from the floor of the crevice.

  As all eyes were on Kurros, Adere instructed Captain Eisen. “The Ambulas has about a hundred decks. It will take her ten minutes to rise out of the crevice. It’s a tight fit. I know that ship right there is Rena. It’s called the Oberis. It also has a laser. She will sit there and wait for the Ambulas to rise out of the crevice, then she will go for Kwelling; the Ambulas will go, I’m not sure. Maybe some dead planet or system outside the constellation.”

  Captain Eisen studied Adere. He seemed sincere and willing to turn on his friends. The disgust Captain Eisen had seen in him concerning the destruction and killing Rena had done was real.

  “Mr. Jameson, open COM’s.”

  “COM’s open, Sir.”

  “This is Captain Eisen. We will wait for her to rise considerably. I will give the order. Standby.”