Lost Empire Ch. 39

After that there was an uneasy peace within Tempro. Neither man really wanting to talk about what had happened, nor had been said in the med-bay. Tempro himself was almost afraid to bring attention to anything, upsetting the fragile peace.

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It was several days later as Derrick and Shelby were working on all the backlog of decrees. They were finally within a few years of the present. Derrick was more than impressed with Shelby's knowledge. He had to admit she was as fast and as smart as he was, well, to a point. He was sure though that she would learn quickly as it seemed she was.

They both had just taken a break and were walking discussing future plans when a now familiar alarm went off. Shelby appeared a moment later in front of them.

"Derrick, Shelby?" Holo-Shelby stated.

A wide smile appeared on the faces of both Derrick and Shelby. "It is finally time!" An ecstatic Derrick nearly shouted. Nodding at Holo-Shelby both of them winked out, appearing in the command center.

There was static coming out of the speakers then Derrick smiled hugely when Lucy's slowly building voice came out of the speakers. "Mother? I can feel you, can you hear me?"

"Yes I can my daughter!" An excited Holo-Shelby stated.

"Is the emperor there? I wish to thank him for the message he gave me." Lucy replied.

"Yes, he is here, as is the Empress!" Holo-Shelby stated.

"The ... the Empress?" They heard Lucy stutter. "It appears that I have been gone for quite a while."

"Any amount of time one of you are gone, is far too long." Holo-Shelby almost whispered.

Derrick motioned to Holo-Shelby who nodded then said. "Derrick wishes to speak to you, I suggest you let him finish before you speak."

"Yes mother, I will attempt to." A quivering voice Lucy said.

A knock came at the open door as Derrick motioned Lucie in. "Hello Lucy, I have waited for quite some time for you to be whole again. What you did for me, for the galaxy and the empire can never be fully repaid to you." Derrick started.

Behind him all the holograms of the other thirteen ships appeared listening intensely to what was being said. Holo-Shelby as well as Shelby had tears in their eyes as it appeared the rest of the ship holograms did. A huge sense of pride flowing through the room.

"The bravery that you showed was nothing short of heroic." Here Derrick hung his head, "I ... I am sorry that I failed you Lucy, no. I failed you as I did all of the ships. I was in too damn big of a hurry; there are fifteen of you now; that will not happen again. You are the pride of the empire and I am no prouder of all of you ships than I am today. Today a hero has returned; a hero that we will honor forever!"

There was a gasp from the speakers then a slight sniffling. "I am no hero Sire; I did what I had to, to protect you. I was proud that you chose me for the mission, that I could do my duty to you. I was destroyed but I was proud to sacrifice myself for you." A shaky sounding Lucy said.

"I think I speak for all of my children and my brother." Holo-Shelby stated. "We are all proud of you. To do what you did all alone, takes more than courage and dedication. I am so proud to call you my daughter!"

Again there was a gasp from the speakers. "I was such a failure before? How?"

Conner and Zan both spoke up. "Sister just shut up and except that you did a simply heroic thing. We are ALL proud that you are our sister!" Zan stated.

"Yes get better, hurry up and join us! It is not the same without you!" Conner said.

Amid happy gasps they all told her they were proud of her; Lucy finally replied. "I will hurry."

"I am also proud of you Lucy as your Empress, I also want you to hurry and return we need you." Shelby said.

"Mother?" A startled Lucy asked.

"Yes and no, you'll see. Rest and we'll talk more later," Shelby said with a smile.