CHAPTER 29

Derrick's mind was racing to come up with a plan to get that damn thing out of the galaxy. According to the data that Mary had supplied, the missile was loaded with an extremely powerful and unstable element. This whole thing was starting to remind Derrick of the Thermic missile incident. Not only would extreme heat be released but too would be a dangerous radiation. As if those two things weren't enough, was also the fact that the blast could destabilize a solar system. Derrick knew they had to get rid of it quickly.

The president came back on laughing at Derrick, "fine it is all yours! Once this goes off, what's left will be yours, good luck with that!" Laughing, Mary started to run for his ship. With luck, he'd be on the other side of the galaxy when it went off.

"Mary, I need the frequency specifications for the missile, Shelby, that new array you grew. How powerful can you boost the power without it failing?" Derrick asked.

"I am already at twice the power of a normal broadcast array, though for this I might have to increase at least half as much more." Shelby volunteered.

"Here are the specifications, Mary will get it as close to the galactic rim as she can then we are going to take over." Derrick explained.

"My Lord," Mary chimed in, "even though we are still under executive order Omega-Omega-1, you cannot risk your life like this."

"No Mary, I DO have to, I am the only one that can adjust the settings if we have to, this has to be dealt with before anything else can be, though I do wish you to keep a lock of Maury, it will be good to catch him later." Derrick replied.

"Yes my Lord I realize all of this but I must make plans to pull you in case there is any failure." Mary said sadness creeping into her voice. "You are the last emperor if you are lost then all of this is for naught."

Sighing Derrick realized that she was right but he had to go as he'd said he was the only one that could adjust the settings if he had to. An idea hit Derrick but he needed to talk to the fleet of Maury's before he acted on it.

"Captain of the Republic fleet, I have a proposition for you. Though I know that you are still loyal to that gutless leader, I ask if you plan to continue your hostilities toward the imperial planet?" Derrick asked.

"Sir, I take it you are a former military man, upon my pledge of support to that

man, and my honor there will be no more attacks." The Captain said.

"Good, I will hold you to that; your gutless leader had launched an extremely high yield missile that was headed for here. An extensive analysis of it has indicated that it has enough power to destabilize an entire solar system." Derrick started.

A gasp from the other man drew Derrick's attention. "We never thought he'd build it let alone use it." The man said.

"Build and use what?" Derrick asked. "He called it his bomb of last resort; it is loaded with an element that explodes if exposed to almost anything. Is there any way to disarm it?" The man asked several with him, Derrick heard several voices arguing then they all agreed there was no fail safe in it.

"Thank you Captain, we will remember you and your crew when the empire lives again." Derrick told the man before he clicked off.

"Mary?" Derrick said. The hologram of Mary appeared a moment later. "Have you pulled up anything on this bomb?"

"I have been looking through his records, computers, everything. It appears he had it set to explode when he felt he was far enough away. Should I target his engines so he can't? He just achieved orbit and is preparing to go to hyper-space."

"Yes carefully I don't want him injured... yet!" Derrick spat out thinking of the cowardly leader.

"Effecting order now," They watched as 2 beams shot from the planet streaking through space. In orbit around the Republic capital world the president laughed, let that asshole deal with the bomb. I'll be on the other side of the galaxy before they even realize I'm gone. Smiling he heard the hyper-drive start to whine, sitting back he started to sip his wine. Suddenly twin beams of light struck the little shuttle/ship; there was a grinding then nothing. Then the crew was running for the back of the ship, screaming about a fire? Oh ok he thought it was something..., A FIRE!!!!!!!!!! Screaming like a little girl, Maury's assistant looked at the man in a different light his little girl scream was turning him on, the next time Maury went to the bathroom he is mine the assistant smiled at his lewd thoughts.

Derrick watched as the beams struck the tiny ship effectively crippling it, good maybe if he has a failsafe he'll use it considering he isn't going anywhere. Derrick was thinking about it, I should just for good measure Derrick thought.

"Mary, open a channel to that ship," Derrick ordered.

"Yes my Lord, channel open," Mary responded.

"To the ship in orbit around the Republic capital world, put him on!" Derrick sternly said.

"Put who on?" came a voice.

"Stop with the crap; put that piece of filth on NOW! Or the next shot takes OFF the tail section!" Derrick said, starting to get a little pissed off at the stupidity of the crew. They heard the voice of the president running.

"Sir! It's the man claiming to be the emperor, he says you are to talk to him or he will take OFF the tail section!" They heard a door open then close,

"What do you want," Maury sneered.

"Keep that up and I might just destroy you on principle, you have no engines, neither will you have any. You are effectively stuck there 'til someone comes to get you, oh and your little bomb? We now have control of it; we've already turned it back towards you." Derrick said he could imagine the man was scared to death now.

"You can't do that! What of the people on the planet or in this system?" The man whined.

"Those are your people. I might be better off letting all of them die considering they are loyal to you, besides it gets rid of you in the process." Derrick said then laughed. "Since there is no fail safe, no one can stop it, just thought I'd tell you so you could kiss your ass good-bye. Well I got to go so...," Derrick said as he started to reach for the comp.

"NO! I can stop it! There is a failsafe!" Maury was screaming.

"No," Derrick calmly said, "There isn't, we scanned the entire missile there is nothing in it to stop it. Look, this was just a courtesy, so you could die with a clearer conscience. I'd say you have about 30 minutes, good-bye Maury."

"NO! NOOO! I HAVE IT, I HAVE IT!" Here I'll turn it off, see. There the bomb is off!" Maury was screaming.

"Uh huh, we'll see, Derrick said.

Suddenly they heard a door open, then they heard the assistant's voice, "I have been waiting for this you little ass, for a very long time!"

"What are you doing here? Where are your clothes! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Then the line went dead.

Derrick chuckled; he guessed every bad guy got it in the end in one way or another.

"Mary, what are you reading on the bomb now?" Derrick asked with a hint of hope in his voice.

"After whatever he did the bomb has disarmed itself, the only problem is it is still highly unstable. May I suggest that you evacuate it outside the galaxy, possibly detonate it there?" Derrick let out a whoosh of air he had hoped that the damn thing was inert now. Well chalk it up to my family's luck he thought.

"Alright, I need to read it. I want to see if there is any way that we can move it without it blowing up in our faces." Derrick said, issuing orders.

"Again, my Lord, though the bomb is now less dangerous, I must protest you going on this mission. I feel that you are placing yourself in the utmost amount of danger." Mary advised a look of worry and fear etched on her face.

"Mary," Derrick started, "I know you have my interests and those of the empire at the forefront of all your thoughts and actions. As I said before, I have to go; there are still adjustments that will need to be made that none of the ships or yourself can do. Look I realize you are trying to protect me but I am protecting all the people doing this." Derrick told her hoping that he could convince her and himself as well.

"Under imperial mandates, I could pull you from the ship, put you in the palace. Your points have merit, the logic is undeniable therefore I concede this time. In the future though if I feel you are putting your life in too extreme of danger, I will enact the mandates to protect your life as I am pledged to." Mary told him as much as she hated to admit it he was their only chance to get rid of the massive explosive device.

"Now then as to your former request, as I stated before though it is disarmed, it is still highly unstable. Upon further inspection, I have determined that anything touching the outer casing might be enough to bring about detonation. The only logical course I can see is to push it gently with energy beams set on a lower setting. The only other problem is it will take a bit of time to reach the rim let alone empty space beyond." Mary advised.

"Just how long are we talking?" Derrick asked.

"Taking the shortest route, possibly 4 days." Mary replied.

"No that's entirely too long," Derrick said as an idea started to form in his mind. Shelby and the others had seen this before and quietly waited for Derrick to come up with another brilliant idea.

"Mary query," Derrick said after a few minutes.

"Yes my Lord, I am ready," she said.

"If we wrapped the missile in a nullifying energy field, would it be possible to use trans-warp to move it?" Derrick asked.

"Calculating, at first look it would appear so but we would have to be sure, I am afraid that the fields generated by the trans-warp might unintentionally detonate the payload." Mary stated.

"Good then it might be possible, Shelby starts calculations on the payload of the missile wrapped in this type of nullifying field." Derrick said as he began to bring up several images. "Also let's see if we can increase the shield power for this, I don't want to lose one of you to this."

All the holograms smiled looking at Shelby before she nodded; Shelby looked at Mary who was nodding yes before she left. 'I need to get to the bottom of this but will they tell me the truth?' Derrick wondered if they would, they usually danced around the answer when he asked anything like it.