CHAPTER 68

Deep in the underground safe hold of the Taiolan, the leader had yet to make a sound, still blocking all the excruciating pain that was trying to rack his body. Even as good as he was, the many years of training, still some of it was leaking through. Enough to the point that he'd already passed out a number of times. Motioning the second in command he asked for an update. An hour later the leader, though not happy, was nonetheless pleased that they still had as many ships and people that they did. Laying there a plan started to form, a plan the leader hoped would eliminate the last of the royal line. Then and only then the leader felt would all be free.

The second in command left to begin carrying out the leaders orders; this was a most perilous mission to say the least. Since their mind implanted agents were of no further use he guessed they would have to go with the old way of actual agents infiltrating the ranks. This was harder, but with the skills of many here it shouldn't be all that hard.

Derrick looked hard at all the data he'd received, the recyclers had detected something and gone to investigate. They had found the abandoned pod with a fair amount of blood all over the inside. Upon further analysis Mary could find no one in the database that matched the blood though she had expanded her search to other systems that might hold the answers that she required. Mary herself was worried she hadn't detected any movement or anything getting close to the pod. She felt that she had failed the Emperor even though he was not upset with her.

She had done extensive scans of the pod after the recyclers had found it. Then she started to replay all of her records for the last few hours, sighing she was worried. There had obviously been someone in it even though she hadn't detected a single life reading. The more she scanned the pod the more she was worried, though with the new energy detection system the emperor had her install she was starting to get disturbing readings.

"Sire," she called him a few minutes later when she started to get something.

"Yes Mary, anything," Derrick asked, he was hoping the information they had gotten from the first agent was starting to help Mary's scans.

"Yes Sire, with the new readings I am starting to get readings of a ship that was cloaked. It appears to be a variation of the light screen that the EIG'S use but it is attuned with a huge difference." Mary finally advised Derrick.

"Still no way to actually determine just who was in the escape pod?" Derrick asked her.

"Not as of yet Sire, it is obvious that we are dealing with someone who was either removed from the system or has never been scanned into the system. I find it hard to believe Sire, everyone is scanned no matter where they are. There are systems set up all over the empire. I should be getting a reading of at least once or twice of him being scanned. It is almost as if the man does not exist." A frustrated Mary finally told him.

Derrick nodded he'd heard of something like this before back when he was still in the military but didn't think it had actually been a reality. Thinking harder a few minutes he thought that he'd heard of a store house of personal information on the old Republic world, hmmm he thought the answer might lie there. That bastard might have been a really bad leader and a real shit head of a human being but Derrick had to admit the man had something on a lot of people to wield the power he had.

"Mary, I need Hartwell." Derrick said. Mary nodded then a moment later Hartwell appeared. After Derrick had told the man of his suspicions Hartwell nodded his agreement, the president might have been the crud of the galaxy but the man had to have something on a lot of people like Derrick thought to have the authority that he'd had. "Mary, we are going to the Republic planet. I want you to keep a lock on them at all times. If you see a problem notify me at once we'll transmit all we find as fast as we can. If the sects find out what we are up to they might try to interfere."

"Yes Sire, you shouldn't be disturbed. I will keep all away as long as I can." Mary said with a smile on her face that she might get a chance to pay that cesspool of a planet back for the slights they had made and done to the emperor all those years ago. Actually she had been prepared to blast the shit out of the planet as long as she could maintain power. Good thing the Emperor had stopped her!

Derrick was about to call Shelby when an idea hit him, "Mary I need Thomas, please connect me."

"Yes Sire," Mary replied with a faint smile on her features. "I have him, Sire."

"Yes your lordship," Thomas said as soon as he saw Derrick.

"I've a few suspicions about these rumors of a vast storehouse of information on the republic world. What is your present position?" Derrick questioned.

"At present we are manning a presence near the National's new safe haven planet. Conner, Celeste and newly active duty Ace are all scanning as deep into the planet as we can, as of yet we haven't detected anything new Sire." Thomas reported proud of how efficient all three ships had been so far.

"Alright maintain a safe distance, we are still unsure of just how advanced their tech is. The energy dampening field was proof enough that we need to be more cautious. Still though, I am taking some of the fleet to the republic world, the plan is..." Derrick told Thomas.

It was a few hours later when Derrick and Hartwell appeared near a large building on the Republic world. Looking around, both Hartwell and Derrick pulled strange looking devices and began to pass them over the building's door. Nodding Hartwell pulled another device that made a warbling sound before the door popped open.

"Ok it's disarmed, it should be safe but knowing how much of a bastard the man was, I expect at least a dozen more personnel explosive devices." Hartwell warned Derrick.

Nodding Derrick started to scan with more and more frequency, stopping every few minutes to point out another device to Hartwell. Derrick and Hartwell were more and more convinced that there was something here, especially after they had already removed more than 50 devices that they were on to something big.

A sudden beeping alerted Derrick, "Yes Shelby?"

"Derrick I have several ships approaching, they are of the same configuration as those that left the first Taiolan planet." Shelby informed him.

Sighing Derrick had expected this but by far not this soon, "Give me Thomas." A moment later Thomas's voice could be heard,

"Yes Sire, we are tracking them now. The new upgrade you gave us has worked wonders. I'd estimate that you have about one hour, if none of them got past us."

"Alright Thomas keep close, we may have to take action to protect what we find, if we find anything." Derrick advised the man.

Switching off Derrick looked at Hartwell who was smiling, "Just like old times my friend."

Derrick had to smile. It was like old times, both of them at the end of a long mission with barely any time to complete it. Looking back they were finally past the final barrier to the interior, nodding Hartwell started to set up the recording and transmitting equipment.

Moments later Derrick got a call from Thomas, "Sire we've managed to stop or send most of them back but I am afraid that one may have gotten by. The ship has a strange configuration of a light shield, I had it for a moment, and then it was gone. Reminds me of the rotating shield harmonics when we faced the Occlusions."

Derrick's eyes opened wide and he alerted Shelby to the possibility she might have borders. "Do you have any specifics you can give me, Derrick?" Shelby asked.

"All we have so far is that they may have a way to rotate their shield frequencies. I suggest you start a multi- level scan to detect anything of that nature." Derrick instructed her.

"I have started already Derrick as of y..., I have something bearing 45 degrees off starboard side. All ships have made adjustments based on the data you have supplied. It appears that the object has turned and is beginning descent." Shelby advised Derrick and Hartwell.