Lost Empire Ch. 68

Nodding his head, it was as he thought, there was hardly anything recognizable of the tech thief fleet left. Well, as far as their scanners could reach.

He was going to have them wait longer 'til he got a response from this new empire. Then he saw that, nothing was getting past the debris field. He'd checked with all the scientists to make sure they could transverse the field.

Finally, he ordered them to move forward at a quarter speed. They had only advance a short time when there were two different energy signatures that suddenly left the area. They were fast, almost as fast as his ships. It shouldn't take long to catch them.

Watching the reading the Emperor's mouth dropped open at the immense size of the two ships. If he could capture them they would strike fear into all their enemies. Then a clear scan came through as the Emperor smiled even bigger.

So, he thought, two of the old harbinger of death ships were still around. A damn fine prize, though as he remembered his empire had lost a major battle to just ten of those ships. Though they might look weak, they had a lot of power.

"Follow them, advise all ships not to engage." The Emperor ordered.

"Sir?" His second asked perplexed. "There are only two of them, surely we have the numbers to..."

"Look closely at those ships, recognize anything about them? Anything in our history?" The Emperor asked the entire bridge crew.

An older crew member was almost off the bridge when they stopped and gasp at what they heard.

"Sire?" The crew man asked. "Weren't those ancient harbingers of death ships almost unstoppable?"

There was a myriad of gasps around the bridge, all heads snapped around to stare at the older crew member.

The Delcron emperor was nodding his head. "If I recount correctly, only ten of those took out well over half our old fleet. I expected them to not have been upgraded, it appears that they have. Just those two are a force to be reckoned with. If the old tales are true? Just those two could decimate most of this part of the fleet."

Again, there were gasps from most there on the bridge. A moment later a female gasp was added to the rest.

"Father are you afraid to go to battle with them?" His daughter stated.

"Afraid? Never, though cautious for the moment. It is one thing to enter a battle, for battle's sake. It is altogether another thing to act like a cub and blindly rush in. So, afraid no, cautious to engage with an enemy I know little of? Yes, if all holds true as the old tales say, we could lose a great deal if we rush in unprepared." The Delcron Emperor stated.

"But father! Surely we have the superior..." The emperor's daughter started.

"DIFINA!" The emperor roared at his daughter. "Do you wish to challenge for the throne? How dare you doubt my decisions! I can just as easily reduce you to a market vendor for a full planet time span. Remember how well both your brothers took to it. Your oldest brother should be released from imprisonment soon."

Difina's eyes went wide then she lowered her head. "I withdraw all that I said to insult your rule father. I am just so anxious to catch that male. Even now my emotions are pushing all my strength to pursue him."

The Emperor slowly nodded his head, the heat of mating. It was the only reason she wasn't incarcerated at the present moment. He remembered his last mate; her heat of mating had given her the strength to almost take his head off. Ah! Such fond memories!

He'd have them follow as closely as they dared. At their present speed they should clear the debris field in only a few time units. Perhaps they might get through this without the battle, though he hoped that they wouldn't. Nothing got the blood and emotions going more than a good battle.

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It was over two hours later onboard Tempro where both Kimison and Rayburn were about to add two gigabytes of data. They had gotten up after only another hour of sleep. They both had been going nonstop trying to get this new large packet ready.

Taking a deep breath Kimison nodded to Rayburn as he started the data integration. "Even as fast as we are going, it's still going to take at least an hour."

Rayburn nodded, "keep a close eye on the energy. I am ready at this end, with what you discovered we should have most of it by the end of the day."

Kimison smiled as he started to adjust energy levels faster and faster. "After the first thirty minutes it won't need to adjust as much. At least with this first packet, most of the personality should be set. Then it can help more with the uploads."

Rayburn was nodding as he also started to adjust faster and faster. Almost an hour later there was a steady beeping on the consoles. Both males smiled at each other when they saw the readout.

Well, the first part was done, now to get the rest integrated.

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On the Duke's planet Dempsy was finally through all of the men that were left to delay him. Forging ahead he saw that his prey didn't seem to be in a hurry, there was most certainly a trap not far ahead.

He had almost caught them when, he started to detect another strong presence approaching his position from behind. The blood lust that had taken over his mind, had his senses to their upmost.

A wry smile crossed his lips this would be over long before the other reached him. 'Til then he would have ample time to destroy this demon.

Speeding up he soon broke into a wide clearing. There on the far side he could sense his prey. As he moved closer he was slightly startled when a ship launched, leaving the same scared, younger man from before.

"Ah! I see that my peons slowed you to a pathetic crawl. Just enough for me to get the Duke away. Now, oh failed one, though you have restored your clan's honor, how will you yours?" The scared man laughed.

In a low guttural voice Dempsey replied. "I will not as I will destroy you 'til nothing is left. I have accepted that I will go to Jigoku, as will you when I am finished."

The scared man started to laugh pointing a finger at Kimon. "You make jokes even though you know that you are about to die. I was trained by the greatest martial artist. The absolute finest assassin, one that was far above your paltry skills. How one as dishonored as you beat her is a mystery. Today though, I will claim your head in revenge for her, for my mother!"

A slight shock came to Kimon's eyes then the blood lust returned. It figured that the bastard offspring had survived.