Flight of the Destiny

Excerpt from Chapter 10:

Kyle knew it had not been long since the destructive entry Odey and his friends had made, but with the multiple assaults on his senses it felt like forever. His eyes began to clear and refocus from the flash grenade, and he decided to risk a look around. He raised his head slightly and looked over the desk only to find several motionless bodies on the floor. He slowly crawled to the first one, and checked it for a pulse. He found that the person was indeed alive and well, so he rolled him over and saw the face of one of the pirates.

"I thought I told you to stay down." Kyle spun around and saw Odey smiling down at him while sitting on the desk.

"What happened? Where is Terry? Is everyone alright?" Kyle was full of questions and was about to ask more when Terry walked up next to Odey and grinned.

"Did ya miss…" Terry didn't get a chance to finish asking the question, Kyle was up and had pulled Terry into his arms before he could blink. As he held him tightly Kyle kissed Terry as if he hadn't seen him in months.

"Yuck guys get a room!" Odey covered his eyes but was giggling and looking through his fingers.

"I hate to interrupt, but we don't have time for reunions right now, we need to get Michael and his family, and get out of here." One of the three hooded men in black walked up next to Odey and pulled his hood back. Kyle saw who it was and did a double take.

"How the heck did you get here?!?"

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Chapter 11

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"The same way you did, I assume, in a ship." Without his hood on there was no mistaking the man's identity. It was John, the shopkeeper they had met on the Tournian space station. He had helped them out with some fuel cells, and had also been kind to Odey while he was stuck there. Kyle was at a loss as to what he was doing here now, running around on a different station, in a very different way.

"But, you said you needed to stay on the Tournian station, why did you leave there to come here?" Kyle was still a bit bewildered. He looked at the other men who had also taken down their hoods but saw that they were not people he recognized.

"Well sometimes things change a bit more quickly than we would like. I will explain a lot of things to you, but now is not the time. While these cronies were easily dispatched, Captain Brackus will not be. We need to get everyone out of here before he gets wise to our diversion and comes back here to make things very unpleasant for the lot of us. Now we need to get you back to your ship, you and Michael and his family, and get you all out of here quickly. First though…" Kyle cut John off before he could continue.

"We can't get back to our ship, our ship was destroyed shortly after we got here, and we are stranded. We have to stay and fight it out." Kyle looked down as tears came to his eyes with all of the commotion he hadn't had time to think about the loss of his friends and his father. John looked down at him with a confused look on his face, and then he pulled the boy into a hug.

"Shh its okay, everything is fine I promise you. We got here not long ago and…" But John was interrupted again, this time not by a person, but by an explosion of metal as the door to the office ripped from its very foundation and shattered into thousands of pieces.

There was no fire, and no heat, it was not a normal explosion. The door was simply whole one second, and then completely obliterated the next. The force from whatever destroyed the door threw the pieces across the room. John pulled Kyle to the ground as metal shards whizzed over their heads and thudded into the wall behind them. Some fell down in a shower around Michael, who had sat up against the wall, but quickly threw himself back down when the metal sailed towards him. Other pieces stuck into the wall with the power of the impact.

"What the hell was that?" Terry had also dropped when he heard the sound, all of the boys had seen enough in their recent stay on the station to know when bad things happened, it was best to get down. Terry looked over where the door had stood and saw a man standing in the hole. It was a very unpleasant looking man, one Terry had hoped he wouldn't meet in person. John looked that way as well and then grimaced. He had wanted to get the boys out of there before Brackus figured things out, but it was too late now, they were going to have to fight.

John dropped something as he turned and stood. In his hand was a blaster pistol. He was about to fire when the pistol was wrenched from his hand. A look of surprise filled his face, and then quickly turned to a look of pain as an invisible fist slammed into his stomach. John flew backwards hard, slamming into the wall only an inch away from where a sharp fragment of the door had been waiting to impale him. John suddenly slammed against the wall again and again, and then he was lifted from the ground and slowly slid up the wall, pressed against it by some unseen force.

Brackus looked over the room and smiled. The two forms in front of him, still covered by the brown cloaks, shifted slightly and were focused on the other two men who had come with John. They both drew blasters, but they were dispatched the same way and were both soon plastered against the wall themselves. One of them was not as lucky as John had been and he slammed into the wall on top of one of the protruding metal pieces. It stuck through his shoulder and came out the front side. He let out a scream of pain and tried to reach for the shard. His hand was pulled back forcefully and slammed against the wall next to him. As he was lifted up the wall the shard in his shoulder ripped downward, causing him to scream even louder and Brackus to smile all the more.

Kyle was at a loss for what to do. He looked down at his feet and saw what John had dropped. It was a second blaster pistol. Kyle thought about grabbing it but decided to simply slide it under his butt with his foot in hopes of being ignored by Brackus. He got the pistol positioned and then slid his hand down to tuck it in his pants until he had a chance to use it. The motion caught Brackus' attention and Kyle felt himself lifted from the ground. He secured the pistol just in time as he was hurled backwards into the wall as well. Brackus looked across the rest of the room and saw Terry and Odey both together next to Michael trying to make sure he was okay. All three were lifted and secured on the wall just like the others. Only once everyone, with the exception of Michael's mother and sister, were secured to the wall, lifted high off the floor, did Brackus enter the office.

"Well, well, well. What have we here? A little rescue mission for poor little Michael? And John, you came yourself, how thoughtful of you to save me the trip to the Tournian system." Another look of surprise came over Johns face as Brackus came closer. "Oh yes I know all about who you are now you double crossing son of a bitch. Did you really think you could keep me in the dark forever? I know all about you and your friends and your plans. Why do you think I had that pitiful excuse for a planet destroyed? Did you honestly think you could contend with me? I am the power in this galaxy, and I do not take kindly to challengers!" John flew out from the wall until he was face to face with Brackus, so close their noses were touching. John's feet were still off the ground and he still could not move his body. "I could kill you now and no one would care, I could turn you inside out and use your guts to paint these walls, but I think instead I will let you suffer a while longer. You see, these boys here have annoyed me. They just so happen to have in their possession a few things I want. But you see they don't want to tell me where these things are. One of them is something you know quite well. Something I thought I destroyed along with its home planet, why they have it I don't know, but I'm going to torture them until they give it to me, I'm going to do things to them you can't imagine, terrible things, and I'm going to enjoy every second of it, and so will you. You're going to watch with me as I break them, and when I'm done with them, you're going to kill them." Brackus grinned.

"There is no way I will ever do anything so vile for you. Give me a blaster, and I'll put a hole strait between your eyes." John looked at Brackus, looked him right in the eyes which were not but a few inches from his face and saw that Brackus wasn't bluffing.

"Oh I know I can't make you do that, not with your heart, and not with your mind, but I can make you do it with your hand." As if to demonstrate, John's hand came up of its own accord and slapped John across the face. "I can make you hold a blaster, and I can make you squeeze the trigger. My new pets here," Brackus gestured to the two forms in the brown cloaks, "are just great for things like that. When you've killed everyone in this room, I'm going to have what I want, and we're going to leave this station, you and me, and then I'm going to do many, many terrible things to you, until you have no more will to live and you have told me where every last little member of your little coup is. When I'm finally finished with you, I'm going to let you live to know for the rest of your life that you should never have crossed me. Does that sound like a good plan to you? Cause it sure sounds fun for me!" Brackus turned and looked at Kyle with a grin and then John flew backwards at the wall. He flew so fast he was a blur and when he struck the wall there was a loud crack as something broke. He groaned in pain but he looked at Brackus with a hate and anger the likes of which Kyle had never seen. During Brackus' little speech Kyle had not been Idle. He had been talking to his team through Odey and had discovered a few things, the first of which was that whatever was under the bundles, they were telekinetics of amazing power. Odey had told him that he could feel their minds, but that the minds were blank, simply a source for the power, he could find where the power came from but it was shielded, he couldn't use his abilities on it at all. So that wasn't much help. Terry suggested he try to affect something else, and Odey was working on it, but so far had no luck. As there was no person in there to communicate with, he couldn't try to talk them into freeing them, and he had never tried to change something like this before. It was going to take him time. Kyle was afraid they didn't have much of that. The only wild card they still had was Sepi, Kyle wasn't sure where he was, but Odey said he was in the room, waiting for a good time to try and strike. Kyle felt a bit useless, but he tried giving suggestions to Odey. He was about to suggest Odey try going after Brackus' mind directly when he noticed Brackus was looking at him and smiling.

"What's the matter boy? Afraid to watch your friends get hurt?" Kyle realized he had been looking at the ground as he talked with Odey. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt the little one, he is worth a lot of money to the right people." As Brackus said that, Odey began to float away from the wall. Kyle watched and noticed another person standing at the entrance to the room. It was a silver man, with silver eyes. Odey floated right to him and the man had a pair of restraints in his hand. Before Odey was set down, the man had his hands and feet bound and a gag was forced into his mouth. Then the man sat Odey down in the corner and turned to Brackus.

"Thank you, you have returned our hope to us. The Gods will be pleased." The man took a large sack out from his pack and tossed it to Captain Brackus. "There is the payment we promised you. Now if you don't mind I think I will watch as the Gods cleanse these ungrateful sods through pain." And the man sat down next to Odey with a smile on his face and a relaxed set about his features.

"There is one of the things I wanted, too bad I got it so easily, I was hoping to hear some screams first. Oh well, plenty more where that came from I suppose." Brackus turned back to Kyle and smiled his wicked smile. "So Captain Barkley, which should I start with? Zeke or the ship?" Kyle looked at Brackus with a confused look which Brackus misinterpreted as fear. "Oh yes, I know all about the ship you took, and why it was built. More so, I imagine than your father cared to tell you. That is if he got a chance before he died. I want that ship. They built it for me, in a manner of speaking and it will be mine! Now where is it?"

"The Destiny will never serve you! Thousands will die before they let her fall into your rotten hands!" Kyle looked surprised as he looked over at John, who despite his injuries was still boldly standing up to Brackus. Brackus' attention snapped towards John and Kyle watched as John flew back out at Brackus.

"It's not polite to interrupt me when I'm having a discussion with someone." John flew back to the wall harder than before and another crack could be heard. Again John groaned, but refused to scream. "Interrupt me again, and I'm gonna kill someone just to prove to you I'm serious."

Kyle felt a sudden presence in his head and knew Odey was still working on their problem. Kyle felt a bit of a probing, and then he began to feel drowsy. He didn't want to sleep, he wanted to stay here where he could think and help. He suddenly snapped awake. He looked over at Odey and saw the man with the silver eyes was fast asleep.

"Sorry Kyle, I had to check something. I can't get into Brackus' mind cause of that thing he is wearing." Kyle looked back at Brackus who was still distracted and noticed for the first time a group of wires running up his neck and attaching to his temples. Whatever it was it kept out Odey's abilities "I might have a way to get us out of this, be ready to grab that blaster when I say go." Kyle felt a glare on him and he looked up at Brackus who was staring back at him.

"So as I was saying, where is your ship?" Brackus looked slightly amused and as though he was thoroughly enjoying himself as he asked his questions. Kyle wanted to wipe the smug look off of his face, but knew there was little he could do in his current state so he decided to cooperate for the time being, to keep everyone safe until Odey could get things figured out.

"It was destroyed, when we got here, you should know that already, your murdering men are the ones who blew it up!" Kyle looked strait into Brackus' eyes as he spat the words out, and Brackus could see that Kyle was telling him the truth, Brackus' amused look dropped off his face for a second, and then he plastered it right back.

"Your good kid, a Captain needs a good poker face and for one so young you have that part down, you had me worried for a second. I don't like to worry, you're going to pay for that one." Brackus turned his eyes and attention to Terry who began to fly out from the wall. Kyle started to fight the invisible bonds holding him. "I think I will torture this boy first, where should I begin?" Terry began to float over until he was level with one of the metal pieces protruding from the wall. Then he slowly began to back towards it.

"No!!! Let him go!" Kyle yelled but it did no good, Terry was still slowly gliding back at the sharp metal barb sticking out. Kyle was so intent on breaking free and saving Terry he almost didn't hear Odey.

"Kyle!" Odey's voice suddenly made it through into his thoughts Kyle relaxed for a second and listened. " I've found it! Our chance to get free, but we have to work quick before he hurts Terry, get ready and have that blaster out in about a second."

Kyle nodded and then turned back to watch Terry and the next second Terry stopped, no longer moving towards the wall, Brackus looked surprised for a second and then Kyle felt the pressure holding him up release. He tumbled to the ground and rolled to his feet, drawing the blaster and aiming it at Brackus as he came up.

Brackus' look of surprise didn't last long; as Kyle fired a shot at the large man he quickly turned and pulled out his own blaster, aiming it for Terry. Kyle's shot went wide and Brackus grinned.

"Looks like you need target practice boy, now he dies for your mistake." Brackus pulled the trigger but Terry wasn't there anymore, Brackus looked wild with surprise one more time and searched the room quickly. Brackus tried to turn around, but his pets were slumped over and refused to move with him, the leashes from his wrists wrapped around his legs and he almost tumbled. "What the hell is wrong with you???" He kicked at his pets and then felt a laser blast rip his side. He whirled around on Kyle. "This is your fault you little whelp! Now you die!"

Kyle had taken cover once more behind the desk and he had to move as blaster fire began to tear the desk apart. He rolled to the end of the desk and took a shot at Brackus, it went wide, and he rolled to another spot for cover. He fired again and nicked Brackus on the leg, but the big man did not seem to feel the blasters sting at all, Kyle rolled again as the chair he was using for cover was obliterated. He had no where else to go, he rolled to his feet and opened fire on Brackus, knowing he was in the open when the man shot back. Most of his shots went wide, but one struck Brackus on the cheek, ripping a mean hole in the side of his face. Brackus felt that and roared in anger. He put a hand to his face and then he brought his blaster down to bear on Kyle one more time, he smiled and pulled the trigger, but Kyle jumped out of the way just in time, Brackus trailed him with the blaster and was just about to fire again when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Hiya Cap, I hear you're looking for me." Brackus spun with his blaster and saw a boy smiling at him. That little shit of a slave he had gotten from those no good Greys. The one person he hated even more than Captain Barkley, Ezekiel.

"You son of a bitch," Brackus fired a shot that went well wide as he tried to bring the gun to bear on Zeke, then a sudden pain ripped through his leg and up his side, as if something were tearing into him he looked down and saw the shifting nothingness of a cloaked spangler and saw the blood flying from where it's claws and teeth were digging in. Before he could do anything about it, he felt another blaster shot tear through his other side, Brackus knew nothing but pain and rage, he turned his blaster and was going to kill Zeke, but he wasn't where he was supposed to be, Brackus turned the other way, throwing off the spangler as he did, and saw Zeke at last, with one of his swords in hand. Before Brackus could bring his blaster up, Zeke swung the blade down, and severed the leashes going to Brackus' pets.

Brackus' mind exploded with pain, a backlash from the mind link he had with his telekinetic pets he grabbed his head and fell to his knees and an inhuman scream tore loose from his throat as his brain felt as if it were on fire. Zeke moved to strike at Brackus and finish him, as the man tore at the electrodes attached to his head and neck. Kyle moved to cover him, but Zeke was lifted from his feet and thrown across the room, Kyle dove behind what little was left of the desk, as a surge of energy unlike anything he had ever felt surged through the room. He was slid back against the wall again, but not held there. He looked at Brackus who was still screaming in agony, then looked at the door where Brackus' troops were beginning to line up to storm the room, then he looked at the brown cloaked figures, which were hovering above the ground now.

Whatever was under those cloaks was putting out a light so strong the cloaks could barely contain it. The men who were about to storm the room stopped and looked in awe as the cloaks fell from the figures and bright light filled every crevice and crack in the room, the men outside covered their eyes and yelled in pain, but Kyle couldn't look away, the light was warm and inviting and he stared at the two figures as they emerged from the cloaks. They were the most perfect things he had ever seen.

Zeke was against the wall and looked up from his recent flight just in time to see the cloaks fall from the boys. He had heard rumors of what was truly behind the power under Brackus' cloaks, but nothing prepared him for this, he fell down on his knees immediately and began to pray as he had never prayed before, for surely these two were God's own Angels.

Terry had activated his shadow suit when Brackus had thought to kill him, and he had run over by Odey. He had taken the keys from the sleeping Mishi man and freed Odey just as the cloaks slid off the two boys in the middle of the room. Odey and Terry both stared at the boys Odey thought they were beautiful. The boys hovering in the middle of the room, looked identical in every aspect they each had long blond hair, and dazzling golden eyes. Odey had never met another being with golden eyes before, he had heard legends of other godchildren, but never had he seen one. The most impressive things on the boys were either their lack of clothes, they were both nude as the day they were born, or their impressive wing span, for both boys had an enormous set of wings stretched out now that the cloaks were gone. It must have been the wings that made them look larger under the cloaks, the boys were not big, they looked really rather young, no older than Odey in fact, maybe 9 at the oldest. The light coming from them was dazzling but it was as warm as a summer's day and felt good to bask in. Odey reached for their minds and felt them there now, the leashes must have suppressed them, but they had minds now as warm as the light they spread. Odey smiled up at Terry and then at the boys, in this light he knew everything was going to be alright.

Brackus looked up as the gnawing pain began to recede in his head and saw at once that all was lost, his prisoners were free, and Zeke had freed his pets from their controls. He began to shuffle backwards but he was stopped by an invisible force. He felt himself lift from the ground and he looked into that horrible light. He reached for his blaster and aimed it at the terrible creatures in front of him, the creatures he had controlled for so long that were now free, he pulled the trigger over and over, but nothing came out of the gun, and then it exploded in his hand, burning him with it's built up pressure. He felt his hand go limp and looked down to see several of the fingers missing. It didn't hurt though, nothing could burn worse than that infernal light, it burned his fingers and his eyes and his wounds, everything it touched burned. He looked up into the golden eyes of the boys before him, and did something he had never done before, he cried.

"Captain Alvin Brackus," A voice, well two voices really intertwined in Kyle's mind. He looked around and could see everyone else could hear it as well, "we know of your evil heart, we know of the many people you have hurt and killed, we know everything about you. Judgment has been passed on you and you have been sentenced to death, we were sent to carry out that sentence and you have delayed us, for that you shall suffer even more. You have used us and made even more people suffer. We are now charged to return you to the high council so that a suitable death may be determined, now sleep." Brackus instantly fell into a deep slumber and collapsed on the deck. The boys in front of him slowly floated to the ground and the light around them vanished. They walked forward towards the body of Brackus and a sudden blast of laser light tore through the one on the left. Kyle looked up and saw the troops begin to move into the room, he leveled his blaster and returned fire as he made his way to the wounded boy who was falling to the ground. He saw two men grab Brackus and drag him out of the room. He tried to fire on them, but more lasers were flying his way and it was all he could do to cover himself and the strange winged boys. The winged boy on the right blazed up again, but his light was not as strong alone, he deflected all of the incoming laser fire and threw it back at the men who began to flee the room immediately now that they had their captain. Kyle looked down at the injured boy and began to pull out his med bot.

"There is no need for that," said a voice in his head, "I will see to him" Kyle looked up at the boy from the right and he quickly moved out of his way, the boy went to his knees and put his hands over his brother's wound and began to sing in the clearest, sweetest voice Kyle had ever heard. Kyle left the boy to heal his brother and made his way over to check the other people in the room, keeping an eye on the door. He went to John first and set his medbot to work, then he yelled over to Terry and Odey and told them to bring theirs and get them started trying to patch up the other two men who came with him. The one that had landed on the metal shard was injured pretty badly. He needed a doctor right away. The medbots could get him stable enough to get back to his ship, but Kyle was hoping they had a good doctor on board. Then he realized what he hadn't before, Zeke was here. He hadn't thought about it when the boy arrived in the nick of time, but if Zeke was alive then maybe there was hope for the ship and his dad. He spun around and saw the boy still down on his knees and ran over to him and pulled him up and into a huge hug.

"Zeke!!!! How? I thought the ship was destroyed!! How did you get out in time??? Is the Doc Okay?" Kyle was spouting questions at a mile a minute and Zeke had to smack him to get him to quiet down so he could answer.

"The ship is fine, well not fine, it is going to need some work, and a lot of parts, but it is still in one piece, Doc is fine, so is your dad, we think, but we need to move now, they could come back any time now, as soon as those people are prepped to move we need to get to a different part of the station. We don't want to be where they know we are. I'll tell you everything when we get somewhere else." Kyle hugged Zeke one more time and then went to check the patients. John was patched up, but was still unconscious, as were the other two men that came with him. Michael was up and around, but barely, his mother and sister were also able to move and Kyle helped them up, then he turned back to the boys in the middle of the room, the one had stopped singing and his brother pulled himself up off the floor. Kyle heard a giggle and looked over to see Michael's little sister noticing the naked state of the boys. The boys noticed as well and wrapped themselves in their wings. Kyle didn't believe his eyes as the wings melted away and formed beautiful white robes for the boys.

"How did you do that?" Kyle looked shocked and amazed, "That was incredible! Everything has been incredible! Who are you?" Kyle looked back and forth between the two boys. They really were identical in every aspect.

The boys looked at Kyle and then the one on the left began to speak, with his mouth instead of his mind. "I am Tobias, and this is my brother Thomas, we…" the boys looked at each other and then back at Kyle, "we don't remember much else." The boys looked at each other again and then began to cry.

Kyle pulled them both into a hug and then told them, "Its okay guys, we can try to help you remember later, right now we need to go before those other guys come back, are you guys okay to walk for a bit? We have to relocate." Kyle let the boys go and stepped back enough to look them in the eyes. The boys nodded to him and then they smiled at him, Kyle smiled back and then turned to everyone else. "Okay, we need to move, we need someplace where we can defend if they come back, but someplace we can lay out the injured people until we can get them back to their ships. Michael, any ideas?"

"Well they trashed our store pretty well, but my dad had an office in the back that was hidden. He showed me how to get into it once in case there was ever an emergency, I tried to get to it before they captured us, but they got Molly and I had to try and save her, that’s when they caught me. If you guys will follow me, we can head there. There are a couple couches we can lay the other guys out on."

"That sounds like a plan to me, lead the way and we will follow, the medbots can lift the injured people on stretchers, take your mom and your sister, and have them stay with the medbots. Zeke, take point and make sure no one attacks us from the front, Terry, take one of those blasters in the corner and we will bring up the rear. Odey, Sepi, you guys do what you do best and give us some stealth scouting up front, don't let us run into an ambush. Tobias, Thomas, if you two will stay in the middle with the medbots too, we will protect you and make sure nothing else bad happens to you. Okay everyone move out and be careful."

Kyle and Terry took their blasters and handed one to Zeke as well, then everyone began to move. They didn't see any signs of the pirate troops that had been storming the station earlier. Zeke laughed up front and Kyle slid up front to ask him what was up.

"Well I guess our diversion worked, they all seem to have run back to their ships." He grinned and looked at Kyle.

"What diversion?" Kyle was still in the dark about what happened on the Destiny after they had left.

"I'll explain all of that when we get where we are going, be patient, Captain." Zeke grinned at him again and Kyle fell back to the rear again.

"I really am gonna smack him when we get back to the ship, maybe I should take away his food privileges for a week; after all he did defy a direct order." Kyle looked at Terry with a smile. Zeke yelled, “I heard that!” from the front of the line and they all burst out laughing. Michael put his hands on Zeke's shoulders and steered him into the shop.

"Okay guys it is right back here be careful not to hurt yourselves on any of the junk they threw on the floor." Zeke made Michael stand by the door as he checked out the shop to make sure it was safe, then he told them all it was clear and to come on in. Michel went to the back wall of the shop, to a shelf that had a lot of old parts on it and he picked up a small data pad, he punched about 10 keys on it and there was a popping sound as the wall the shelf was on popped out from the rest of the wall, making a door. Michael grabbed the wall and pulled it open the rest of the way.

"Right through here guys," Michael held the door until everyone was through and then he pulled it shut and they heard another pop as it sealed. "There it will take them a lot to get through there, and they sure won't surprise us." Michael pointed to the two couches and Kyle moved over and signaled the medbots to set the first two injured people on them. Michael went over to the desk and carefully picked up the few papers and data pads that were still lingering there and placed them in the drawer of the desk, then he signaled the other medbot over there and placed John on the desk.

"Okay guys, I think we are safe here until we have some more information," Kyle had everyone sit where they could, mostly on the floor as the couches were in use. "Michael, does this office have a COM?"

"Ya It is built into that wall over there." Michael pointed to the wall then walked over and touched it and a screen flipped out. "There ya go. It should still be working, no one has been in here since dad…" Michael started to tear up a bit and Zeke walked up to him and pulled him in tight.

"It's okay buddy, we've all lost people you can let it out." He held Michael as he began to cry a bit harder on his shoulder. Zeke took Michael over to the corner and Kyle went over to Terry, Odey, and Sepi.

"We need to contact the Destiny and get her here to pick us up and we need to get these guys fixed up and back to their ship," Kyle walked over to the COM and the screen lit up bright. He keyed in the Destiny and after a short delay Doc's smiling face filled the screen. He looked a bit wilder eyed than normal, and he definitely had been through some interesting stuff, but he was alive and safe. "Doc!!!" Kyle would have hugged the screen if he could have.

"It's about time you guys called; an old man like me will begin to worry. How is everyone, did everything turn out okay?" Doc scanned the room and saw all of the people in there, "Looks like you picked up a few stragglers, those three laying down need some medical attention, I've docked with the station, and I am in hanger 375 if you guys want to bring them over."

"How did you get passed the pirates? And how did you guys survive the wreck anyway?" Kyle had still not gotten any answers and he didn't like it.

"Oh getting passed the pirates was easy, they are scattering to the winds as fast as they can. They got a bit more than they bargained for I suppose. Did Zeke not fill you in on what has been going on, on our side?" Doc looked over in the corner and saw Zeke hugging Michael who was starting to calm down considerably. "Oh I guess he has been a bit busy."

"So are you going to tell us or just leave us hanging some more Doc?" Terry looked at the Doc and then back at Kyle, "Sorry, Kyle, didn't mean to interrupt, but the suspense is killing me!"

Kyle grinned at Terry and leaned over to kiss him quickly, " No worries, I was wondering that very thing myself."

"Well if you two would stop playing kissey face and let me, I will tell you our side of the story. Let's see where to start, I guess with the crash. We were on a crash course with the station, and I thought for sure we were going to hit it, Zeke tried to get our controls back and failed, and just before we hit a sudden shock racked the ship and shoved us just enough that all we did was skim her belly on the deck. Zeke had apparently run to the cargo bays and opened them without depressurizing them so that the escaping air shoved us up, just like when I let you guys go and accidentally did that. He saved the ship and our lives. The long range COM relay shorted out so I couldn't make contact with you guys. The ship that was on our tail wasn't quick enough and he slammed into the deck and the explosion pushed us well clear of the station. We were still sitting ducks, but at least we were not dead. Zeke really was handy, he replaced the conduit your dad had told him about and that boosted our back-up power. We still didn't have helm controls, but our cloak worked again and we engaged it quickly and with another well timed cargo bay blast, Zeke got us on a different course so they couldn't track us as easily. Then the ships all broke off from pursuing us and started attacking these other ships that were starting to show up, suddenly there were lots of ships there fighting the pirate ships. It gave us the time we needed for Zeke to replace the helm control console and that got us at least basic controls back.

"Zeke took over from there and got some more power back to the ship and got all of our systems back on-line, the emitter ship had done some damage and the AI's are still off-line, but he discovered they are stored in a magnetically sealed drive that shuts down when any kind of pulse hits the ship. It takes the AI's offline, but it protects them from damage, so once we figure out how to access it we can bring them back online.

"When the pirate ships began to attack the newcomers, I got us close enough to beam Zeke to your location and I took over one of the landing bays. I had a little trouble with some of the pirates, but I convinced them to leave. It's amazing what a little bluffing with an ion cannon and some plasma grenades can do."

"The ships that came to help are with me." John had sat up on the desk at some point while Kyle was talking to the Doc and he got their attention now, "They are a part of a fleet which has sworn to help defeat the pirate threat in this galaxy. You all have a part to play in that, I'm sorry to say. I'll explain all that later when we are off of this station. For right now, I need to talk with Michael, and then we need to get these men back to my ship. After that, if it is alright with you Captain Barkley, I would like to travel on the Destiny for a short while, to help you guys get your repairs done and to do some explaining I should have done the first time we met."

"Of course John, you are welcome aboard the Destiny anytime you like. What do you need to talk to Michael about?"

"His father." With that said, John got up, a bit wearily and obviously still hurting from the breaks the medbots had so recently healed, and he hobbled over to Michael. "Kyle, My ship is in bay 259 if you will please escort my men there my Doctor will help finish what the med bots have started. If you don't mind I think this is something Michael needs to help me with on his own, his mother and sister can stay though, what I have to say is for them as well."

Kyle turned to everyone else and they grouped together and began to move for the bay. Kyle didn't like the idea of leaving Michael behind again, but he trusted John and knew he would take care of him. They made their way to bay 259 and met the Doctor of John's ship.

"Ahh, thank you for bringing Will and Tommy back. I've talked to Admiral Grant and he told me you were coming. Please come aboard and make yourselves at home in the conference room, he will be here with Michael and his family, shortly."

"Who is Admiral Grant?" Kyle looked At the Doctor, not sure who he was referring to.

"Admiral John Grant, your friend from the Tournian Station. You boys have made quite an impression on him. He will meet you here shortly." With that the Doctor took the two men from the Medbots and put them on hover stretchers and moved them to the med bay. Kyle and the others sat around the conference room, waiting for Michael and his family to join them.

"We're hungry!" Odey had turned from where he was and looked at Kyle. "Feed us!!! Or we might start eating the desk!"

Kyle laughed and looked at Odey in wonder, "When are you not hungry squirt? I suppose everyone feels the same?" Kyle's question was met by nodding heads all around and with a quick chuckle he and Terry set to work at the food synthesizer built into the conference room. It wasn't made for making whole meals but Kyle whipped up enough snack food to quiet everyone's stomachs. They all sat back and rested while waiting for John and Michael's family to get there.

Back in the office John had begun to explain things to Michael and his family. Michael didn't believe all of it, but at the same time, he knew it had to be true. Too many things had shown him recently that things were not as they seemed on this station and everywhere else in the galaxy, for that matter.

"Michael, did your dad ever show you a safe or another secret room here? A lab perhaps?" John was trying to ensure that Michael's father had not died in vain by securing the secrets he had been working on when he died.

"He showed me this room, but he told me there was another room and that Admiral Grant would know what to do when he found it. But this Admiral has never shown up so I don't know how to get in. I know where the access pad is though." Michael pointed over towards the desk.

"Michael, My name is Admiral John Grant. Your father must have known I'd end up here eventually, to get his work! He really was a genius, but he never told me an access code or anything, show me the pad." John walked over to the desk, as Michael came over and pulled out one of the drawers and flipped it over, spilling the contents and exposing a hidden console. The keys on the pad weren't standard keys. Instead there were four pieces each piece was a different color. They fit together to make a circle. The display on the pad asked a simple question. Begin?

John laughed suddenly and Michael jumped when he did dropping the pad. The pieces that formed the circle broke into four and scattered. John turned to Michael to apologize.

"It's okay Michael, don't worry about that, sorry I scared you. Your dad is so smart it surprises me sometimes. Your father and I grew up together. I didn't tell you that before, but it's true. We were best friends all through school. One day he bought this stupid game from one of the junk dealers in town. It was a set of lights, just like this. When you turned it on the lights began to flash and then it would give you a series of lights. You had to keep up with the series and then repeat it. A simple enough game, but it got really hard after a while to remember the series as it grew. I don't know where the junk dealer got the game but it ran off these weird power cells that went dead after a while and we never could find any more. Your dad loved tinkering with junk it was a hobby of his and after we played the thing dead, he designed a new and improved version. One that would not ever run out of power and that we could take with us easily cause the pieces came apart. This is the game your dad made. He made one for himself and one for me, " John bent down and picked up all of the pieces, fitting them together back into a circle. He laid the pieces flat in the desk and sat the pad next to it. " This must be the one your dad made for himself. I still have mine, I keep it on the ship it reminds me of the good times before the pirates took over everything. I'm guessing I have to play my way into the lab." John then pressed the button on the pad that agreed to begin the game. Michael watched as a light flashed. John pressed the light and then two lights flashed he pressed them in order and continued until to follow the series until long after Michael had lost it. After a series that had to be fifty lights long the console beeped and all the lights flashed. Michael heard a hiss and a pop as the wall behind the desk opened into a darkened room. Michael's family looked at John as he smiled. "Come on guys. Let's see what's behind door number one."

Michael followed John into the room as the lights flashed on and he gasped. He was inside a lab like nothing he had ever seen before. There were jars all over and in them were creatures he had never imagined. They were all dead and preserved. Michael's mother and sister decided not to go in and John led Michael over to a safe that was on the wall.
"I think the information we are looking for is in here. Any chance your dad told you a password for the safe?" John looked at Michael and Michael just shrugged. John looked down at the pad in his hand and grinned. He put his hand on the safe door and waited until it let out a small beep. Then he said one word. "Simon." The door to the safe popped open and John looked down at Michael. "The original game your dad bought from the junk dealer was called a Simon. We never knew what it meant, but I figured that he might have used it as the password." John grabbed the side of the door and swung the panel open. Inside were four boxes. They were addressed to Admiral Grant, Michael, Michael's mother Susan, and his sister Jules. John pulled down the boxes and handed the boxes addressed to Michael's family to Michael. John took the box addressed to himself and opened it quickly, finding the datapad inside and he flipped through some of the pages of data.

"Amazing! Your father was simply amazing! If we can complete his work, we might just turn things around!" John had a huge grin on his face until he heard the sound of a transporter in the other room. John and Michael spun just in time to see two men. One grabbed Michael's mother and the other grabbed his sister. Michael ran at the men, and John was right behind him when a third man appeared in the doorway and grinned at them as he dropped something and shoved the door closed. Michael looked down at the thermal grenade in surprise as John suddenly grabbed him from behind and threw him over the lab table. John dove over it himself and covered Michael up and pressed a small button on his wrist. The explosion ripped through the lab and Michael watched as everything in front of him melted in the heat of the blast. He expected to feel the fire any second, but it never got to him. The explosion ripped back in on itself and ended. The fire suppression system sent a chemical foam all over the room. Michael noticed the foam stopped in a circle all around them. Then suddenly whatever was stopping it quit and foam began to land on them as well.

"Good thing I had that shield or we would be toast now!" John groaned and pulled himself off of Michael. "It only lasts a couple seconds but it is a lifesaver." John pulled out the datapads he had and checked them to ensure they were still working. "Good we still have the data. Those guys must have just been scavenging, had they been sent by Brackus, they would have tried to take this before trying to kill us."

Michael suddenly sat up, "Mom!!!" He yelled and ran for where the door was and started beating on it.

"There is no way they are still out there Michael, Quick come here and I'll get us beamed to my ship, then we can track them." Michael wasn't listening so John walked over and grabbed the boy, pulling him to himself despite the struggle he put up. Then John pressed another button on his wrist and activated his COM. "This is Admiral Grant I need an emergency transport to the ship now! And start tracking whoever was in the adjoining room a minute ago. I need to know where they teleported from and where they went." Suddenly John and Michael vanished from the lab and appeared on John's ship. There was a blur of activity. Michael sat down on the floor and began to sob. He had worked so hard to protect them and they were gone now!

"What the hell is going on? How were they able to beam into a secure area? Where the hell are they from and where did they go?" John had marched over to a man at a console and was barking orders to anyone in range.

"Sir apparently the security center on the station had a failure caused by damage during the attack. The whole security perimeter went down about two minutes ago. The pirates must have figured it out because they started beaming in and out of areas all over the station. Any of them left on the station or a ship in transport range began looting all over. We tried to get men to your location, and they showed up just after the pirates. They got one of them just as he shut the door to your location the other two transported out with the boy's family. We have tracked them to a ship that just accelerated out of the system. I have three ships in pursuit. They are keeping us informed of the location."

"Thats all we can do for now, tell the captains not to lose those ships or they will answer to me personally! Get on the COM to the Destiny and tell her to take off. I will transport her crew back to her in a safer location, get the fleet regrouped and ready for a meeting, I want to discuss some new information I have and to get people prepped for a counter attack that may be eminent. Tell the fleet to assemble at outpost gamma and relay the coordinates to the Destiny so it can make its way there. Get us out of here immediately." John then turned and saw Michael on the floor of the bridge and he went and picked him up and pulled him into a hug. "It's going to be okay, we're going to get them back. I promise." Michael clung to John as he began to lead the boy to the conference room his friends were in.

As they walked in the door, Kyle stood and began asking John what was going on. John gave him a quick report and sat Michael down in a chair. The boys immediately ran to him and held him, trying to calm and console him. As they held him he calmed down some, but he appeared to be in a fog through everything, like nothing was reaching him. John led them all down to the transport area and they crossed over to the Destiny. Everything after that was a blur to Michael. Someone led him to a room and a bed. He fell down on it, clinging to the boxes in his arms.

Michael awoke with things poking him, he didn't know where he was, or what was going on. The events of the last few days suddenly came back to him and he began to cry again. Everything he had worked to protect was gone. He sat up and looked at the boxes he was lying on and then he threw them across the room in his anger. They slammed into the wall and hit the floor but never opened. He hugged his pillow and let the anger pass. He sat up after a few minutes and then he got out of bed and picked up the box addressed to him. He looked down at the one thing he had left in this world, something his father had left him. He had no idea what it was, but it was all he had. He walked back over to the bed and touched the top of the box. It responded to his finger as it read his DNA and the top unlatched with a small pop. Michael jumped a bit as it opened. He felt a warm tingling in his hand. He took the lid of the small box in his hand and lifted the lid.

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To Be Continued...

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Authors Notes:

Well guys, I guess I will be continuing the story, It might be slow in coming, but you should be used to that I guess, I haven't exactly had a reliable release time in the past. The crew all made it through, so I guess that's a good thing, and they have made some new friends. I swear this is the end of my AAKD for this story though. I think I have all the players together for this little game. I believe you can Blame MultiMapper for the convenient box ending, We were discussing them the other day and I thought it would work nicely, now If his writing skills and timely delivery would just rub off on me as well. Thanks for waiting for it, sorry it has taken so long to show up. Life throws you unexpected things sometimes and life has to be prioritized. Along with everything else, my computer had to be wiped and reinstalled, and I forgot to back up my contact list in my mail program. I lost all the e-mails of people who sent me e-mails about the story, so you can send me a message if you want on the contact list for the story. To all my faithful readers, thanks and as always,...

Thanks for Playing,

Taron Webster

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Odey's Notes:

Help!!!! He's got duct tape and he's after me!!!!!! He's already got Kyle and Terry, and Sepi is in a kitty sized strait jacket!!!! He's crazy I tell you!!! He says he is kidnapping us and holding us hostage for feedback!!! Please oh please send him mail, I don't know what will happen if..... no mpfh mpfh mpfh hmmp!!!!

Author's P.S.:

I'm sorry, Odey isn't in right now. If you would like to leave a message, or maybe give him escape ideas please leave a message at odey@jeffsfort.us or you can send release requests to me at taronw@jeffsfort.us Now I need to go warm up the jumper cables and the hot tar and such. MUHAHAHAHAHAHA

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Editor's Notes:

Well, I was going to comment on the box ending, but that has already been done, so I will leave it. I certainly hope they can rescue Michael's family.

Thank you Taron for continuing the story, and I promise to wait for a while before I ask you when the next chapter will be ready, and not to get too pushy about how often the chapters appear.

I wonder if I have waited long enough before I ask him. Yeah, that's long enough.

Is twelve ready yet? Where is twelve and thirteen? I wonder when he will have twelve ready? What is keeping him from finishing chapter twelve. God I hope he hurries up I can't wait much longer.

Thank you again Taron for the chapter. It was really a good one.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

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The Other Editor's Notes:

When I said we should have the next chapter before Christmas I didn't state a year and I see the error of my ways. So a chapter before next Christmas would be nice, Thanksgiving better, Halloween even better and Labor Day would be absolutely fabulous!
I figured the Destiny had survived and depressurizing the cargo bays was a cool idea. I certainly hope they didn't loose any valuable cargo in the process. I think John still has some explaining to do and the Destiny needs to get all her repairs so they can go after Michael's family and kick some pirate a$$.
Angel brothers with amnesia? Now that is interesting. I'm interested in finding out much more about them. Taron that is not AAKD (Add A Kid Disease) it is more like AASD (Add A Species Disease) or possibly AAAD (Add An Alien Disease) and as long as they are developed and become a part of the story we don't mind.

Str8mayb

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Editor to the Editor's Notes:

You read that right, for this posting I actually had to edit the editor's notes. A job I normally would silently do and slip in, but I just thought it was hilarious that the story itself is so well written and edited more than once... Until it comes to the editor's notes which looked as if they hadn't even been proofread. Hehehe... Exaggeration? Well... Only for the comedic value. There are tons of notes up there though ;)

Jeff P.