CHAPTER 49

Mary was quite a moment as she went over all the data that she'd received in the last two hours concerning the man in question. "I believe it is possible, though I am unsure of how the man will react to no one being there on the ship I am afraid it is part of the paranoia complex that he has."

"I have to go Mary, I was his commander. I am one of the few people he might not react to violently. Besides I feel I owe him that much, contact the ship and tell them we'll be there to get him in an hour." Derrick told Mary.

"I am sorry sir but I cannot understand..." Mary started.

"Mary, input command code, Chi-01, Omega-01, Mu-01, Mu-01, Alpha-01, Nu=01, Delta-01 command transfer confirm." Derrick ordered.

Mary suddenly froze, "Chi-01, Omega-01, Mu-01, Mu-01, Alpha-01, Nu=01, Delta-01 command transfer confirmed," no one since the very first Emperor had given her the override code, every command she now had was his. Smiling Mary knew that finally there was someone actually worthy of being the Emperor. "Sire? Shall I go to the primary emergency? Given the nature of the next two days?"

Derrick thought only a moment, "For now stay at secondary, I may change that after I return. I want you to carry on as if you still have command, inform me when you have finished with the records, and are ready to begin transfers."

Mary bowed then a thought came to her.

"Yes Sir I will inform both of them of your departure and when you return." Mary told Derrick as he nodded.

"Shelby, we need to depart as soon as I am onboard." Derrick told her through the link on his wrist.

"I'm ready Derrick, Mary has already given me the coordinates for the pick-up." Shelby replied.

"Shelby transport," Derrick said then vanished.

Mary was left to stare a moment she was actually at a momentary loss then she went into action, 'til the emperor returned she was in charge. Plus she needed to finish going through the records of all the men on Rear Admiral Hartwell's ship. A moment later she watched as Shelby jumped to trans-warp, ah they shouldn't be long now.

Sherry O'Toma had fallen asleep. It had been a rough trip for her, not used to a lot of people as she was a solitary person not nearly as outgoing as Milley O'Toma. She awoke with a start. The room was strange, the odors were also or rather the absence of them. Looking around she sat up, "uh ... Mary is it?" She quietly said.

Mary appeared a moment later, "Yes Imperial Mother, how can I serve you?"

"Has Milley returned from her tour yet? I was thinking we needed to eat. We haven't had any real food since earlier today. Can you ask her?" Mary said feeling a little strange talking to a see through image it was almost like talking to a 3-d vid except this one actually answered you.

"Yes Imperial Mother she has returned to her room, I have connected you to her room. Just speak and she can hear you." Mary happily told her.

"Milley? Are you hungry? I think I can make us something to eat in the...," Sherry started.

"I am afraid the Imperial Mother and Grandmother have a chef. I will be retrieving her and her staff momentarily. Please just tell me what it is you would like prepared, and I will inform the chef." Mary told both of them with a wide smile, though she could see with Milley that they might have a slight problem.

"I have been cooking for well over 40 years and I'm not about to give that up to a youngster who has learned to cook in a school, no I trust no one else with my food any way." Milley said with a raised voice the anger apparent on her face.

Mary had been afraid of this, the woman was more opinionated than the first Imperial mother, shaking her head Mary remembered all that she'd gone through with that one. Sighing she'd have to try something different as she had with the very first Imperial mother. Though she wasn't sure what she'd find a solution to, she always did.

Onboard Shelby, Derrick watched as they entered trans-warp and emerged halfway across the galaxy. Not too far ahead of them a small transport was waiting. Derrick shook his head that the ship was in obvious need of repair. He could see that the engines were damaged, the astral fins either broken or missing. How in the hell did it manage to maneuver? "Shelby, open a channel, distortion. To the one commanding this piece of floating space junk, I want Kimison ready to transport in one minute and stand him in an open area."

Derrick watched as Kimison was moved to an open area then everyone back away. "Alright Shelby," A moment later a man almost as tall as Derrick blinked his eyes and looked around.

"Where in the hell am I," asked the bewildered man, looking around he saw a human shape in the darkness. "Who's there?" Derrick moved forward a slight smirk on his face, "Commander?" the man said, his mouth hanging open, "uh... is this yours?" He asked.

"Yes it is, corporal." Derrick said, trying to hide a smile when the man snapped to attention. "Relax, I have come to offer you a job, though," Derrick paused, looking the man up and down his dirty clothes, shabby hair and full beard. "It will depend upon three conditions."

"Hell! Only three?! Count me in I ... wait a minute what conditions?" The smiling man stated.

"Well...," Derrick started, "First off we get you cleaned up and looking more human."

"Ok that's no problem. The second?" The man said, eyeing Derrick closely.

"You accept the treatment for your PTSD that I can provide." Derrick said. Kimison stood there and started to laugh.

"Not sure if you know this commander but there is no treatment, though one day who knows?" Kimison said as he continued to laugh 'til he caught sight of Derrick's face. "Shit! You're serious aren't you? Look I know you think you are..."

"Shut up Kimison and give me a yes or no answer. I have a treatment that works and it's yours that's the deal. So yes or no? Simple." Derrick told the man a deadly serious look on his face the whole time.

"Christ, you're really serious! Hell YES! Plus if it gets me out of that hell hole, then I'm in!" Laughing, the man saluted Derrick then did a little dance. Well he was dancing 'til he saw Shelby. Dropping to his knees he could only stare, "Dear god in heaven, I'm not quite ready to go just yet but thank you for the lovely vision of heaven."

Shelby's eyes opened wide looking at the man, "I am not a part of heaven sir." she told the man.

"You sure?" Kimison said, causing Shelby to giggle, "Cause you look like I imagined the angels would!" Causing Shelby to giggle even harder and Derrick to roll his eyes.

"Derrick we are receiving a message from the transport. The captain seems to be using some very colorful words." Shelby reported.

"Oh yeah that would be old fuzzy face Benson. You remember him, don't you think? We beat his company every time we went against him." Kimison spit out. "He's been a real bastard the whole trip here."

Growling Derrick looked at Shelby, who nodded. "Hello Captain Benson, I suggest that you take your piece of junk out of here before I use it for target practice!" Shelby had brought up the onboard video on the other ship.

"Who the hell is this? I can't let you leave with the prisoner 'til..." Benson started.

"PRISONER!!!! Just for that I should blow the shit out of you AND your ship. This man was a war hero. You say another word other than that and you'll be limping home. In case you haven't noticed I have well over 2000 weapons trained on your ship. Wanna guess who'd win a firefight?" Derrick and Kimison both started to chuckle when they saw the man lose control of his bladder. "Good boy Benson, by the way this is the new emperor you have been talking to. I WILL remember this incident in the future." On the screen the man slowly nodded afraid to move from the yellow puddle he was sitting in.

"Bye Benson!" Kimison yelled to add insult to injury.

"Alright Shelby take us back." Derrick told her as the transport very slowly moved away.

Kimison watched with interest as there was a whining behind them and then the ship was in another place. "Holy shit!" He yelled when he realized where they were. "Half the galaxy in only a few seconds? Christ man where can I get one of these?"

A smile lit up Derrick's face, "well..."

"You have more than ONE!!!! Oh my god! Who are you? Where has the man I knew gone? You're not really him are you? I know! I'm still in that damn hospital bed! NO! Get away you bastards I'll kill you all!" Kimison shouted huddling in a corner looking every which way.

Sighing Derrick walked to him and yelled, "Stand up Corporal! Damn it! Stand up!" Kimison looked at Derrick and sighed out in relief, "I thought you all were dead sorry commander I freaked a bit." Derrick nodded to Shelby as he backed away and Shelby shocked the man, a curious look came into his eyes as he slumped in the chair. We need to get him fixed up and soon Derrick thought. Looking out he saw that they'd arrived at the Imperial planet. Smiling, he picked up Kimison and called Mary.