Oz shakes his head in disgust, asking, “Do you think they will help us?’
Abe grins briefly, answering, “From what I can gather from my brief time with them is that they will serve what interests them best. They could help us or they could become a more dangerous enemy joining with the Meli. It will all depend on what they decide is in their best interest.”
CHAPTER FIVE
REFLECTIONS
Abe returns to the citadel with Oz. He races to the main chamber where he sees Eldridge, Zeta Seven, Marianne and Ulysses. Paladin is no longer present. Abe walks directly to Marianne and says very sarcastically, “Carla I know you’re watching everything as you sit there waiting ever so patiently with Ronin so I won’t keep you waiting any longer, we have cleared all access for you to bring Ronin here.”
Marianne looks confused and replies, asking, “Momma says you’re not funny Papa. Papa, where you trying to be funny?”
Abe grins.
Eldridge is abruptly approached by a security guard who whispers something to him and passes him a holopad. Eldridge studies the pad for a moment, announcing, “The Ronin ship has uncloaked by our galactic gateway and is making its way to us now. The vessel is quite a magnificent sight. It is almost three times larger than the original Ronin. I will alert our defense forces to prepare for its arrival.”
Ulysses walks over to Abe and places his hand on his shoulder stating, “It appears my friend Abe that your hope of you and your family staying out of the spotlight will not happen this day.”
Abe smiles briefly and quickly turns towards Oz, asking, “Where is Carla’s family.”
Oz exhales loudly, answering, “We have them all in stasis within this very building but Master Abraham it was Caleb himself who requested that we keep them safe within stasis until he has defeated the Meli. It was his fear that freeing them from stasis would expose them to possible attack by the Meli.”
Abe grumbles as he looks over towards the device and exclaims, “Well than let’s get that cleared up now.” Abe picks up his daughter and brings her over to the device. Marianne sees it and touches it just as she had done before but nothing happens.
Oz disturbed at Paladin not appearing again asks, “Perhaps Paladin is busy?”
Abe equally concerned shakes his head, stating, “Paladin is capable of doing multiple tasks all simultaneously, I’m thinking something more is happening.”
Back on Ronin, Carla focuses her power into the ships engines as the new and improved version of Ronin speeds up to unbelievable speeds.
Admiral Frasier alarmed at the power surge asks, “Carla you got this under control?”
Ronin answers in her stead, “Admiral Frasier, Mistress Carla is currently searching the universe for her Father and is unable to speak with you. However, I am monitoring the current power distribution levels and we are within our safety limits.”
Ismail exhales, asking Ronin, “What makes Carla think she can find her Father now?”
Ronin responds, “Carla was made aware of his possible location and is now scouring the outer most sections of our universe where he could be.”
Deep within the psychic plane Carla is moving across the entire plane like never before, searching for any signs of her Father. All along moving at the speed of thought as she covers entire galaxies for any strong psychic power sources. Although it appears to the crew of Ronin that she has been searching for almost ten minutes that time is far different within the psychic realm as for Carla it is more like hours.
Suddenly Carla senses a very powerful psychic force far away. Carla refocuses herself and powers up her defenses as she instantly transports herself there. Cautiously she searches the area where she finds a small child sobbing. Carla very vigilant as to what this creature may be uses her power to mask herself as she looks closer but is stunned to see that the child is her younger self. Carla concerned at this may be a trap carefully prepares herself, strengthening her shields further.
The younger version suddenly stops sobbing as it senses the power build up and states, “I will never succumb to your power. I would rather die than let you control me.”
Carla alarmed at this statement reveals herself with her shields at full power asking, “And just who do you think I am?”
The younger version stares at Carla in awe for a moment, finally stating, “You’re her and you are whole, you’re complete. I can sense you have joined us together. Your Father has made right what was wrong.” The younger version smiles briefly.
Carla concerned that this may still be a trap asks, “Just exactly who or what are you?”
“I am all that remains of who you were in the previous time line. I am you and I am Ronin.” The younger image of Carla stares at Carla and smiles once more, saying, “I am all that’s left of who you were when you separated us in your infancy. I am all that remains of your soul from a previous time line. A time line I hope your Father has destroyed forever.”
Carla aware of the fact that her symbiot had split in two separate beings is still skeptical of this psychic image and asks, “I don’t really understand. This doesn’t make sense.”
The younger image exhales in anguish, lowering her head defeated, stating, “You are still learning to deal with your powers. You are not yet strong enough to fight the Meli from my time line and our time grows ever so short. Everyday the Meli is growing stronger and should it finally force me to join with her you will never be able to stop it. I did not expect this. Your Father should have better prepared you for this day.”
Carla becoming more confused at this version of herself states, “I have learned much in the past years about my power and I know how to defend myself. I have already defeated the Meli of this time line and I shall do so again.”
The younger image of Carla shakes her head as it knows there is only one chance to stop the Meli. It stands up and says, “You will need to destroy me. You must kill me.”
Carla in shock at this statement wrenches backwards from the image, stating, “If you are truly a part of me you know that I cannot harm you.”
The younger image of Carla begins to sob, stating, “The Meli is still regaining its power and very soon I will not be able to suppress it growth. The Meli has unimaginable power at its beck and call but without me to help regulate that power it will diminish quickly. For now, you have an advantage as the Meli was gravely wounded when it was pulled into this new time line but it is repairing itself quickly. When it finally returns to the psychic plane the beast will be too powerful and I will not be able to stop it. Nevertheless, without me the Meli will not be able to maintain control of so much power for very long, if you destroy me now you may still have a chance.”
Carla overwhelmed by her statement pauses briefly as it asks, “Destroy you, my god no! I don’t want to hurt you, isn’t there another way?”
The younger version moans, answering, “No there is no other way. Now try and listen to me, if I live you and everything you love will die. Even now the Meli is preparing to find you. The beast will be looking for you as its body was so severely damaged when it was pulled through the time stream that it barely survived.” The younger version suddenly creates a psychic image as it continues, “The Beast tried to take control of the space station Skull back when your Father was escaping from my time line and this station was virtually ripped apart, which caused the Meli’s body to be permanently disfigured as the beast was merging its power with the space station Skull. Now with the Skull station being so severely damaged the Meli had to figure another way to find you so it has been rebuilding the remains of the Skull station into a massive fleet of Super Carriers, making them far larger and more powerful than any ever built before. I have been able to keep the beast trapped within the physical world for now as it is still struggling with the damage it has suffered. Regrettably, the beast’s temporary weakness is quickly coming to pass. The Meli will once more refocus its attention back here in the psychic plane as it will begin to seek you out to replace her damaged
and dying body with yours. If you don’t destroy me here and now then when it finally returns to the psychic plane it will force me to merge with it and then nothing can stop it.”
Carla begins to sob as she lowers her head, asking, “There must be another way?”
The younger version exhales in frustration as it finally screams, “Don’t you understand! I don’t want to live with what I’ve seen! Over the past millennia’s I have witnessed atrocities so vile that I can’t bear to revisit them.” The Younger version strikes out at Carla with a massive psionic blast, pushing hard against her shields, knocking her down.
Carla quickly strengthens her shields as she tries to contain the younger version of herself, saying, “There has to be another way. I don’t want to hurt you, let alone kill you.”
The younger version screams out, “I have witnessed every evil abominable act the Meli has ever committed while in control of your powers. I have seen evil that cannot be described let alone forgotten. The longer I live the more pain I will endure and should the Meli finally possess me it will not only have the power but the control it will need to defeat you. You must destroy me or I will be forced to destroy you.” The younger version shatters Carla’s shield, knocking her to the ground as it begins to create a massive psionic whirlwind with energy so powerful even Carla is in awe as the psychic winds power is preventing Carla’s escape.”
Carla looks towards the younger version of herself and she sees that it has focused all its energy into the vortex as her raw psychic energy rips all throughout the psychic plane, destroying everything while leaving herself completely exposed. Carla realizes that she has little choice as she focuses all her power into single psionic blast, pulling out as much energy as she dares from Ronin.
Ronin responds, “Mistress Carla the recoil of so much energy will even overload this new ship’s power conduits and may even damage the secondaries that Master Abraham has installed.”
Carla clearly upset says, “I don’t have a choice. If I don’t stop her she will kill me.” Carla launches her psionic blast directly at the younger image as it shatters its feeble defenses and pierces through its chest. The younger version of Carla collapses as the energy vortex dissipates instantly.
Carla races to its side, crying she asks, “Why did you make me kill you? Why?”
The younger version of Carla, dying, reaches out its hand and touches Carla’s face as it transfers as much knowledge as it dares to her before it fades away into nothing.
Ronin alarmed at the power backlash warns Carla, “Mistress you need to return to the ship at once. The power feedback is at near critical levels.”
Carla returns instantly to Ronin where she sees Ismail racing towards the helm, yelling, “Divert all power to the engines and shields! Power the weapons!”
Carla, still processing the information from her alternate self concentrates as she pulls back the excess power within herself, saying, “I have it under control Ismail.”
The power levels immediately drop back down as Frasier quickly announces, “She’s got us back in safe operating levels but we’re still moving at a pretty good clip. We’ll be at this Avalon world in just a few hours now.”
Ismail extremely annoyed yells, asking, “Carla that was incredibly stupid! Just what did you do that required so much power?”
Carla lowers her head as she pauses for a moment to reflect on what she has just learned. Finally, after a minute she answers, “The Meli from the alternate time line is here and she is coming for me and she is far more powerful than I could have imagined.”
Frasier concerned asks, “I thought that we killed that thing already?”
Carla frowns, answering, “This is the one from the alternate time line that took over my body and my powers.” Carla pauses and after a moment and says, “The one you and the Paladonians called the Demon Queen. It somehow made its way into the time stream when my Father escaped from its time.”
Ismail alarmed at Carla’s account asks, “Carla tell me you were not foolish enough to try and fight this version of the Meli?”
Carla shakes her head as she looks at Frasier and Ismail, stating, “No Ismail I didn’t fight her exactly but if you remember when I first manifested Ronin I had separated my symbiot into two pieces. Well this was one of those pieces from the alternate time line. I found this piece of Ronin in the psychic plane and it forced me to destroy it so that I would have a chance of defeating the Demon Queen.” Carla pauses, recalling its sacrifice and she becomes dejected, continuing, “Before it died it gave me a small glimpse of what the Demon Queen is doing.”
Carla pauses as she sighs in despair. Finally, she speaks, “My Father is nearby the Demon Queen and is preparing to attack it in hopes of destroying the Noskcaj space station and stranding the Meli out there.”
Ismail alarmed states, “We need to head out to help him at once.”
Ronin interrupts, stating, “That would not be possible Ambassador Ismail. At least not for you and every human on this vessel. The journey would take us over four hundred years.”
Carla huffs loudly, stating, “I think its best we meet in the conference room attached to my quarters, I’ll explain everything there.”
A few minutes later Carla, Ismail, Frasier, Kalen and Raphael sit around the conference table as Ronin creates a holo image of the devastated Skull space station.
Carla begins to speak, “To bring everyone up to speed on what I have learned, my Father has been in stasis while he traveled across the universe. His journey has taken just over four hundred and sixty years. His mission was to intercept the Skull space station and the Demon Queen who somehow successfully escaped from the alternate time line before its destruction. My fathers plan was to intercept it in the hopes of destroying it. I found this out through my psychic bond with Marianne when Paladin appeared to Abraham a few hours ago. I then took it upon myself to search out the area of space where he could be and discovered this psychic variation of me. This variation was just like the one that I created in my infancy when I split my power into two separate beings. My Father learned about this in the alternate time line and made sure to correct that flaw within me in this current time line. Fortunately, for us in the alternate time line that correction never took place. Anyways this piece of Ronin has been battling the Meli ever since it arrived, keeping in it check. I guess the Meli’s wounds from traveling through the time stream severely injured it.”
Raphael confused asks, “Mistress Carla if this psychic piece of you was helping us why would you destroy it?”
Carla exhales, explaining, “It didn’t give me a choice. It wanted to die. It told me that if it was destroyed the Meli would not have complete control over its power, which I guess is quite substantial.”
Ismail’s eyes go wide as he repeats Carla’s last statement, questioning, “So you just simply destroyed this psychic piece of you that has been helping us?”
Carla breathes out heavily as the emotion of everything weights on her, saying, “Yeah, I know how it sounds Ismail but it really didn’t give me much of choice it forced me into killing it.” Carla lowers her head as she tries to shake off what she had to do. After a moment passes she continues, “Remember when I first manifested Ronin how I was screwing up everything as I was trying to control my powers.”
Frasier eyes go wide, declaring, “I still have nightmares about it.”
Carla scowls at Frasier, continuing, “Well I’m guessing that without this piece of Ronin it won’t be able to control its power any better than I was. Trust me, I didn’t want to do it but I didn’t have much of a choice as its almost killed me.”
Ismail still alarmed at this says, “Carla you could have been killed that was incredibly stupid. Your Father obviously has a plan. We need to let him try it his way.”
Carla sighs, replying, “Ismail my Father has no idea what he is walking into. Before this piece of Ronin died it passed a lot of information to me. the Demon Queen is far beyond my Father’s ability to fight alone
and even with my power it would be a fight that we could still lose.” Carla looks over everyone as she hesitates to continue. She looks towards Frasier and Kalen, knowing of there deep-seated fear of her. She considers holding back the remaining information she posses, finally she concedes, continuing, “The Demon Queen was trying to take control over this massive space station from the alternate time line called Skull. It was in the middle of absorbing it in the same way I absorbed the Vengeance but when my Father escaped into the time stream the station was ripped apart as the Meli was still in the act of transforming it and dragged into the time stream. From what I’ve learned this permanently disfigured the Demons Queens body, ripping off its legs and burning most of its body. Those injuries and its battle to maintain control over the station allowed this psychic piece of Ronin to keep the Demon Queen in check for the past several months.”
Kalen curious asks, “What do you mean trying to take control over this station? Do we have other allies or did you kill them as well?”
Ismail stands up as he prepares to pummel Kalen but Carla grabs his arm and holds him back. She angrily glares at Kalen and replies, “The Skull station had an A.I. that was fighting her along with some race of scavengers so she had to focus her power on that instead of trying to find us.”
Frasier shakes his head in confusion, asking, “Carla you keep saying this Demon Queen is far to powerful yet by the tale you have told us it appears it is weak enough to be destroyed.”
Carla huffs, “It was for a time vulnerable but that was months ago and since then a lot has all changed. It has been modified with cybernetic implants and it has since constructed a massive fleet of Super Carriers out of what was left of the Skull station. With its injuries under control it will have full use of its augmented powers and my Father will be destroyed.”
Ismail still trying to comprehend everything asks, “What do you mean by augmented powers? The Demon Queen should still possess similar powers as you?”
Enemy Myself Page 6