by Saxon Andrew
Nicole said, “I’m King Gardner’s oldest daughter.” Ping’s face showed his shock. “Do you believe me?” Ping tried to gather his wits and looked at his sense of right and wrong; he slowly nodded. “You sense I’m telling the truth?” Ping could only nod. Nicole blew out a breath and shook her head.
Ping said, “What are you thinking?”
“You’re telling the truth as well and I promised not to reveal your secret.”
Ping stared at her with those intense eyes of his and softly said, “How can you not tell the King?”
“Because I promised not to do it and my word is the most important thing I possess.”
Ping stared at her, “You mean it.”
“I do.”
“Nicole, tell me what you know about the one the Cats are seeking to find.”
“I really don’t know much, but I heard them tell my father that you have been predicted by the Creator and you are critical to Creation’s survival.”
Something clicked in Ping’s mind, “Our Creation?”
Nicole was surprised by the question and thought intently about the conversation she overheard, “I’m really not sure about that.”
Ping stared at Nicole and finally said, “I’ve avoided being found because I want freedom to become whatever I choose to be. The talents I have are changing radically over time and I know I’m not fully developed…yet. However, I will make this promise to you; if you will keep my secret and if you find out in the future that your Father needs me; I’ll turn myself in.” Nicole stared into Ping’s eyes and he said, “I keep my promises as well.” Ping smiled, “Your secret is also safe with me.”
Nicole sighed, “You have a deal.” She put out her hand to shake on it and, as Ping reached for it, he was violently pushed into the air over the back of the booth he was sitting in and slammed hard against the far wall. Nicole rushed up and forced her way through the people surrounding Ping and heard him say, “Don’t touch me.” The hurt in her eyes was instant. Ping looked up at her and said through gritted teeth, “It’s not because I don’t want to, it’s because it’s too dangerous.” Several students knelt and helped Ping stand up. He was stunned and had difficulty keeping his feet under him; they helped him walk out of the center. Nicole watched him go and kept hearing, “It’s too dangerous,” playing over and over in her mind.
Chapter Six
Jodie waited in the cafeteria for Nicole to show up. She had taken a seat at a table close to the entrance and began to wonder if she was coming to dinner. Finally, ten minutes before the serving line closed, Jodie saw her enter the doorway. Nicole instantly saw her and Jodie nodded toward the chow line for her to go and pickup her dinner. Nicole picked up her tray, moved across the cafeteria, and took a seat across from Jodie, “How’s Ping?”
“I don’t know what you did to him but he was in bad shape when he arrived at the dorm.”
“I didn’t do anything! I swear; he just flew away from me like a leaf in a gale!”
Jodie stared at Nicole, leaned forward, and said in a lowered voice, “He told you who he is?” Nicole nodded. “Mios tells me you have promised to keep that information secret.”
“I have.”
“Good.”
Nicole said quietly, “You appear to have a close attachment to Ping.”
Jodie smirked, “I chased him for six years during our middle school years.”
“Oh?”
“Don’t get your pants in a wrinkle; he was nice to me but he never gave me a chance. It was during the effort of trying to get him to take me as his girlfriend that I came to know Mios. I love, Mios. Ping’s like a big brother.”
Nicole nodded, “I suspect Ping was chased a lot.”
Jodie smirked, “You have no idea; but no one ever won his heart. Mios says no one has ever touched his heart.” Jodie looked around and said quietly, “He’s asked me to tell you something.”
“What is that?”
“Before I start, you need to understand that this is his message. It makes no sense to me…but he says you will understand it. I really doubt you will.” Nicole tilted her head and Jodie looked up remembering Ping’s words. “He says to tell you that you and he will not see each other again and if you stumble upon each other, both of you should leave.” Jodie saw the hurt in Nicole’s eyes as she suddenly stood up, “Wait a minute; there’s more.”
“What more could there be?”
“Just sit down and listen. You’re as hard headed as he is. Besides, you need to finish your dinner.” Nicole sat down and Jodie said, “He said that you would understand why.”
“Well, I don’t!”
“Hang on; this is the part that really confuses me.” Nicole nodded for her to continue. “He says you should look up the history of the two humans who founded the Stars Realm. He also said you should look at their children closely and then think about what happened last night. Now doesn’t that sound crazy?”
Nicole squinted and said, “Give me a moment.” She didn’t need to look up the Gardner’s history; she had been forced to memorize it as a little girl. She knew every detail, chapter and verse. She looked at Thomas and Danielle’s history in her mind and didn’t see anything that clarified what Ping was saying. She looked at Rose, their first born daughter, and again came up empty handed. Then, she thought about Tommy Gardner and you couldn’t look at him without seeing Cassandra. Suddenly, her mind rushed out an incredible speed; pieces began falling into place and she fell back in her seat with a stunned expression. She started shaking her head from side to side as Jodie said, “What!?!”
“This can’t be true! It just can’t!”
“What can’t be true?”
Nicole looked at Jodie, “He doesn’t want anyone to know, Jodie. I can’t tell you.”
Jodie stared at Nicole and finally said, “I’m surprised you didn’t just take the information from my mind.”
Nicole sighed, “Something happened to me as well last night. I’m now able to control my telepathy and I chose not to violate your privacy by looking at your mind.”
“You’re kidding me.” Nicole shook her head. “You understand his message?”
“I do; but I don’t know if I believe it.”
“Nicole, I’m lost here. I have no idea what the two of you see.”
Nicole replayed everything that happened the night before and she started shaking her head again. She looked at Jodie, “What we see is each other and how we’ve arrived at this place in time.” Jodie looked confused. “Tell him I understand but just don’t believe it. Tell him I’ll stay away.”
“You want to avoid him?”
“No; I want to confirm what he’s told me…but…he might be right.”
“May I assume you’re not going to tell me what he’s right about?”
Nicole smiled, “You may.”
“Drat, I was hoping you would. This is going to drive me crazy.”
Nicole laughed, “Ahhh, we women just can’t leave things alone.”
“Amen to that, sister.”
Nicole knew that she, and Jodie, weren’t going to find out what was going on…at least not anytime soon.
• • • • •
Rider looked at the young Cat and saw his fear. “Relax, it’s decreasing in magnitude.”
“What caused the pressures to build up to that level? I’m shocked they managed to hold.”
“The vibrations are starting to atrophy; in another month they should be back to normal.”
You haven’t told me what caused them to start vibrating that violently?” The elder Cat shrugged. “You must have some idea. Creation could have fallen apart if the vibration continued at the highest level.”
“Some of us think it has something to do with the one we’re looking for; but there is no evidence to support that. It’s pure conjecture.”
“I want to live long enough to have a family.”
“Then perhaps you should start that process now.”
“Are you serious!?!”<
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Rider looked up at the sky, “One never knows what will happen next.” The huge elder turned to the young Cat, “Tory, you shouldn’t delay any longer.”
The Cat nodded and contacted the young female he had been courting telepathically for ten years, “Grabby, will you…”
“Come now and let’s be joined.”
Rider saw the youngster disappear. He looked back up at the sky and saw the violent vibrations running through the pressures that held Creation together.
• • • • •
Teg-Lar looked at his display and saw the star’s instability had now grown since the last reading. It was going to go nova but it appeared it was going to not happen soon. He started the scans of the inner core of the star and waited for them to arrive.
• • • • •
“Alright, we start moving in now. Keep your field at maximum power and go in at one tenth of our maximum speed; notify the attack wing we’re going in.”
• • • • •
Teg-Lar saw the scan was complete and he looked at the star one last time. Suddenly, his alarms went off and he saw two small ships on his display less than ten miles from his location. How did they manage to get that close without being detected? He hit his panel and his force field activated and a feed of what was happening immediately went out to fleet operations.
• • • • •
“He sees them; jump in and fire.”
Six small ships appeared surrounding the Searcher and opened fire. The small red ship held their beams at bay for several seconds and managed to get off three shots before its force field failed and the Searcher blew up in a massive explosion. One of the attackers was hit by two of the Searcher’s beams and had the rear end vaporized. The five survivors turned their weapons on the damaged comrade and blew it into tiny molecules. “Get out of here!”
The seven small ships disappeared just before fifty Searchers arrived on the scene. They began scanning for jump tracks but nothing appeared in their scans. Greg Hamil contacted Admiral Kosiev, “We’ve lost a ship, Sir. It appears one of the attackers was killed as well but there’s not enough material remaining to determine what did it.”
“Scan the residue of those two ships and get the results to the Algeans.”
“Yes Sir.”
Lex pulled up the mission the Searcher had been sent to perform and knew that whoever attacked him was determining their capabilities against a ship of the Realm. It wasn’t going to be long before hostilities started. The Realm was vulnerable.
• • • • •
“Hey Ping.”
Ping looked up from his computer, “Yeah?”
“I think the upperclassmen you beat in the war game exercise today are somewhat hostile about their loss.”
“Why do you say that?”
“One of my Cainth buddies overheard them complaining about your tactics.”
“I didn’t do anything against the rules!”
“I know that but it appears they feel using teleportation to jump backwards to take your shots was not something that should be allowed.”
“They’re just mad they didn’t think about it first.”
Mios shrugged, “Actually, no one has ever used that maneuver.”
Ping stared at Mios, “How do you know that?”
“Because one of them complained that the Academy Instructors had not prepared them for it and their failure was due, in large part, to the failure of their trainers to adequately prepare them.”
“Call the Waaaaambulance.”
“That’s what the Fleet Coordinator basically told them.”
“What exactly did he say?”
“He told them to go pick up a pacifier from the commissary and keep it in their mouths for four days.” Ping tried not to laugh but couldn’t prevent it. Mios smiled and shook his head, “Hey, they’re being made to walk around campus with those things in their mouths. They are not very happy campers at the moment.”
“Do you think they might retaliate?”
“We’re not plebes anymore so they can’t go after us that way; however, I don’t think this is over.”
“Why are they so upset? It’s not like I’m the only one to ever beat them in a war game.” Ping saw Mios tilt his head and shake it. “What?”
“They have been undefeated as a team since their first exercise. You are the only one to put a blemish on their record.”
Ping shook his head and sighed, “Will you bring me dinner tonight?”
“Why?”
“I’m going to lay low until this blows over.”
“I think that’s a good idea.”
• • • • •
Three days later, Ping received a message on his terminal. He read it and shook his head. Mios came running in the room and said Ping said, “I’ve just received the message.”
“This is outside the normal training regimen.”
Ping’s wrist unit buzzed and he saw the Fleet Controller on it. “Yes Sir?”
“I assume you’ve received my message.”
“I have, Sir.”
“It appears the faculty advisor of our four bloated egos has gotten the Commandant to approve a war game because of lack of training for the big babies. It will be their four ships against your team.”
“I don’t have a team, Sir! I’ve never had the same cadets fly with me two times.”
“Well, you can select the ones you want to fly with you for this exercise.”
Ping sighed, “Should I have just let them win?”
“No, and, if you lay down on this one, I’ll be all over you like white on rice.”
Ping looked at Mios and knew that if he brought him and Jodie in on the exercise, they would be the object of frustration for the four seniors. “Sir, I’ll take them on alone.”
“That is not acceptable.”
“That’s how I want to do it, Sir.”
“Why?”
“It’s the only way to shut them up.”
“Do you think you can win?”
“It will be easier to fly alone than have to work together with others that I know little or nothing about.”
The Fleet Controller pursed his lips and slowly started nodding, “If you take one of them out, it will be a victory for you.”
“That will put the pressure on them to have to cover each other and slow down their pursuit.”
“You’re going to make them chase you?”
“That’s the plan.”
“I’ll see you in the morning at the space port.”
Mios was angry, “Ping, you shouldn’t have left me out of this!”
“I won’t in the future; we’ll be flying together from now on. If they can do it, we can as well.”
“You don’t stand much of a chance against four ships that have worked together for three years.”
Ping shrugged, “Probably, but this is making me angry. They need an ego adjustment.”
Mios shrugged, “Are you going to use any of your talents?”
“Only those that can’t be seen.”
Mios smiled, “I need to place a wager.”
Pardon me?”
“Oh yes, the odds are three to one in favor of the four. This should raise them considerably.”
“Mios, I don’t really have a good chance of winning this.”
“The odds will make the bet worthwhile. As I understand it, the exercise is going to be sent to the main display in the student center. It’s breaking down to the senior class against ours. This should be fun.” Ping shrugged and closed his eyes.
• • • • •
“Alright, you gentlemen have the boundaries of the exercise locked into your navigation systems. If any of you leave the proscribed area, you will be considered hit and out of the exercise.”
Avery Smith was looking around, “Where are the others?”
The Fleet Controller said, “There are no others. You will be taking on Mr. Kendal.”
“That’s ridiculous. Ther
e’s no reason for this exercise if we only have to defeat him.”
Ping said, “I agree; I’ll see you in class.”
Ping started walking away and Avery yelled, “Wait just a minute; I didn’t say we wouldn’t do it.”
Ping stopped and looked at the four seniors. They put their heads together and discussed the issue quietly and Avery said, “What’s the matter, no one will fly with you?”
“Nope.”
Jon Collin snorted, “That’s a lie; your roommate would do it.”
“No, he’s placing bets against the four of you at the moment and is too busy.”
The four showed their rage at the remark and Avery turned to the Fleet Controller, “This will be over before it starts.”
The Fleet Controller smiled, “Whatever, you four babies report to your ships and jump out to your starting coordinates. Mr. Kendal, you need to jump to yours as well.”
Ping saluted the Controller and walked to his ship. He had thirty minutes before the exercise began and he needed the time to activate his ship’s systems and strap in.
• • • • •
Jodie looked at the feed from the space port. The Fleet Controller had set up recorders so that everything being said was played over the PA in the student center. The arrogance being shown by the four seniors embarrassed the members of their class and inflamed the anger of the second year cadets. “This is not good, Mios.”
Mios shrugged, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
“What?”
“I heard that somewhere.”
“Where?”
“I think it was in a cartoon or something.”
Jodie smiled and turned back to the giant display on the wall.
• • • • •
Ping activated his systems and brought up the scanners. He saw the icons for the four ships across the exercise zone and watched them move into the classic diamond formation. He sighed; that was a tough nut to crack with just one ship. He stared at his display and couldn’t see who was at the point of the diamond. He tried to bring the view in closer but couldn’t make the determination. He looked up from his display and closed his eyes. He immediately saw that Jon Collins was at the point and Avery was at the rear. He was shocked at what he was seeing. He could see them perfectly and he also saw the coordinates of each ship in his mind. His enhanced vision had changed. He could see everything in his ship but he could also see the four as if there was nothing between him and them. He smiled and decided he was not going to depend on the scanners to direct his movements. He would watch them with his eyes. He looked at his teleport system and thought about entering the coordinates of the four ships; suddenly, all four coordinates appeared on his console. The four ships were moving and Ping saw the numbers changing on his panel. Wherever they went, their location would be locked into his guidance. Something had happened to him. He saw the countdown was approaching thirty seconds and he took the ship’s controls and closed his eyes. He still saw them perfectly. The countdown hit zero and Ping smiled.