Wren was working with Trigon on the trans-warp, they had already managed to reduce the time to activation an hour. Though this was good Wren wanted to make sure they could jump if they needed to.
She kept tabs on her brother’s ship and the small horde that was with him. After an hour they had almost half the trans-warp functioning, though not enough to jump.
Wren shifted several energy levels yelling to Trigon, “has that started the self-repair?”
“I have it at half power now though not enough to…” Trigon started then Wren was blown out of the conduit.
“Oh shit!” Wren yelled as a massive amount of energy was flowing through her.
“Master Wren!” Trigon shouted with almost the sound of concern in its voice. Quickly the A.I. was scanning Wren for lifesigns. “Master Wren? How is this possible? The extreme amount of current should have canceled your lifesigns.”
Wren shook her head as she tried to rise from the floor. It wasn’t ’til she looked ather arms and legs seeing the glow that she actually got worried.
“Uh, Trigon what the hell is this?” She asked indicating the glow.
“Master Wren, from what little I can see, your body absorbed the trans-warp energy. From everything I have seen this, should not be possible with a living entity. I will have to study it much more before i can give you an answer,” A baffled Trigon said.
Wren’s eyes were wide at this, “how…how much?” Wren asked.
“All readings indicate almost a half hours’ worth,” Trigon said.
A half hours’ worth! My God Wren thought, I should have been dead as soon as I got hit. Sitting there a few more moments Wren felt inside, something else that surprised her. To her shock not only was she ok, her body had no ill effects from it.
Wren ran the scannings three times to try and convince herself. “Trigon, I’m not understanding, a mere thrty seconds dissolves humanoid tissue.”
“I am at a loss at the moment, master Wren. Perhaps it has something to do with your near conversion to energy recently,” Trigon proposed.
Wren could only shake her head as she stepped to the input console. She immediately started to enter data at a frightening speed. “That’s all the data I have on the effect of Tran-warp energy upon living tissue, and most types of energy.”
“Correlating all data now,” Trigon said.
“How badly did I screw up the Trans-warp?” Wren asked.
“Up until you were hit by the energy, it was at only fifty percent. Now, analysis shows that it is at eighty percent,” Trigon said.
“Do we have enough control to move?” Wren asked. “If we can is it safe for a sustained amount of time?”
“Calculating now,” Trigon said then was silent a minute. “We can move though I am afraid that, we can’t sustain it for more than a minute. That should gain us almost an hour and a half. The trip will be rather shaky as the internal dampeners are partly offline. Perhaps you should strap in, gravity feed is also weak at the moment.”
“Damnit!” Wren growled. “Wish I could just open a portal and go.”
“Master! I am detecting a Trans-Warp conduit in front of us, but how?” Trigon said.
Wren looked out seeing the glowing ring as it opened. What the hell she thought as the color and shape were completely wrong. Suddenly they were moving into it, smoother than any time she’d ever gone in to a conduit.
“Are you detecting where the energy came from to open it?” Wren asked.
“Not as of yet, I am tracing the energy now,” Trigon said as beeping tone sounded.
Wren looked at the tunnel they were in, damn she thought, they are moving really fast. Hell, it appeared that they were going a hell of a lot faster than she ever gone.
Less than a minute later they came out of the conduit not too far from Ceti-5. Wren’s mouth dropped open. What in the hell was going on? It usually took five or six minutes to cover this distance.
Wren scanned the area almost a parsec in front of her. Again, she thought, almost half the fleet her family had built up was gone. Then she saw that the fleet had decoded the first of the seven shields. She nodded she knew who was at the front of that besides her stepmom.
The bad thing was as fast as they changed the frequency, the fleet caught on moments later. An almost evil smile came to her lips, if she could d what she just did, perhaps.
Onboard the flag ship Esmeralda was smiling a rare thing lately. Well, she was ’til several alarms started to go off. “What the hell is going on?” Esmeralda demanded.
“Mam, the make-up and energy of the first three shields has completely changed. I do not recognize the energy that is powering it,” a shaking technician said.
“WHAT!!?” Esmeralda shouted as she was beside the Tech in a second.
“I started analyzing the moment it changed. It almost appears to be a type of psychic energy,” the tech said. Might as well give her all that I got he thought it would save many of the others.
Esmeralda was starting to growl when the ship was hit, rocking to the side as the gravity flickered.
Righting the ship everyone looked terrified. “What in the hell,…” Esmeralda was shouting when she was cut off.
“Hello bitch Queen, usurper, fake ruler. You are not the legal ruler; father is still alive. I will enjoy watching you head leave your boy,” Wren said as she started another run.
“Where is that traitress bitch!” Esmeralda was almost screaming, when Wren hit them again, knocking out the power.
“I hope you enjoy the present I left, have fun getting through the shields now, Ha, Ha, Ha.” Wren laughed as her ship appeared then entered a portal and was gone.
A second later the ship appeared above the planet, just beyond the shields. “Ceti-5 I have returned I need the help of the masters,” Wren said.
“Land where you always do little Wren,” A shocked Flugret said.
Flugret was waiting when Wren opened the hatch. “Master I am afraid to approach you. There was an accident, I absorbed a half an hour of Trans-Warp energy. Though it has not affected me, I am afraid that it might destroy you and the others.”
Within a minute all the masters were standing before her. They were all scanning her then all their mouths were dropping open.
“Can these readings really be trusted,” the third master asked.
“I will see, nothing can fool the Kobieton scan,” The first master said. A strange, flat, round device appeared in his hand. As it activated, there was an odd warbling sound, then blue, green then red light came out of it bathing Wren in the lights.
The more the first master passed it over her, the larger his eyes got. “This is almost unbelievable. I have never in over ten centuries, seen any pass this many levels and survive. Brothers! According to this she has passed through ten levels.”
“What?! We must see proof of this!” Several of the lower masters said as they attacked in mass.
Wren wondered what the hell was going on as she saw several masters move toward her. That’s when the weird thing happened, all of them seemed to be moving slow. Shrugging Wren walked to each on punching them in the chest. She was shocked when they not only didn’t stop her, they were propelled back. Then, just as suddenly everything was moving at regular speed.
Flugret and the first master only shook their heads as fifteen of the masters hit the wall none too gently.
All of them had a look of complete shock on their faces. Wren of course was looking at her hands.
Those that hit the wall were preparing to attack again when the first master held up a hand.
“Litte Wren, please describe to me what you saw and did,” the first master said.
“Yes master, I saw them start toward me, suddenly they were barely moving at all. I walked to each, knowing that they were attacking me. I hit each in the chest moving to the next. After the last, I stood still then time moved normal again,” Wren explained.
The first master nodded, “You have achieved the master fleetness.”
The first master was about to say more when, a soft ball of energy floated from the hall. It ignored all, floating to right in front of Wren. For a moment Wren only looked at it, then started to nod. “I am not sure if I can, but I will try since you asked so nicely.”
The energy ball backed up; all the master’s mouths were hanging open. They stared even more when, Wren, started to glow an aquamarine blue. There was a moment when nothing happened, then the ball started to elongate. They could see that Wren was starting to sweat a little though she kept going.
“Almost there,” Wren said through clenched teeth. All the masters were holding their breath as the ball, now was appearing to be a person.
A slight scream came from the person that was becoming clearer and clearer. Wren was gritting her teeth as the glow from here grew brighter.
Wren grunted one last time pushing power to the now female appearing shape. The glow around the female and Wren finally started to fade. The female at up looking at Wren with startled eyes.
Wren nodded to her then dropped to the floor, “I think I did too m…,” Wren said as she started to topple to the floor. The female was across the room in a flash lowering Wren to the floor.
“We need to get her to a bed, if we lose her, we lose for good,” The female demanded making all the males in the room moving far faster than they had been.
It was a few hours later that Wren awoke with the largest headache she’d ever had. A soft hand bathed her head, “thank you Mama,” Wren said, then shot up in the bed, a mistake her head felt as if it was being splint in two. “Mama? Is that you?”
“I am sorry little Wren; I am a poor excuse for the brave female that born you. I am Rena, the mate of the First master,” Rena said. Wren, started to nod her head then fell back as the pain started to shoot through her head again. “You might want to refrain from doing that for a bit.”
“Yeah, I think I ought to do that also,” Wren said. “Was that you? The soft ball of energy?”
“Yes, I have been in that form for a long time, actually longer than the rest. My leaving the Chrysalis ball, will enable the rest to last longer,” Rena said.
Wren was barely nodding her head, “wait you said leaving, can you not return to it?” Wren asked.
“Oh yes, I can though I no longer depend on it to survive. You, solidified me, enabling me to now support myself. I am the first in over two hundred years that is able to, of the females,” Rena explained.
“I’m afraid I am confused. There are more females trapped in the what did you call it? The Chrysalis ball?” Wren asked. “I think you need to explain to me, just how many are in it?”
Rena sighed then nodded as she launched into the tale of Ceti-5. It seemed that a thousand years ago, the people discovered how to transmute to energy. Unfortunately, only two hundred were able to. Two had barely been able to but existed outside the Chrysalis ’til two hundred years ago.
“You mean Flugret, I thought that being out, your people would die,” Wren said.
“Normally yes, though not in this case, amazingly they survived. Though In am afraid that neither has any memory of each other, especially Flugret. He almost ceased to exist keeping his mate alive. Two hundred years ago my mate and the other eighteen, get them both integrated into the Chrysalis,” Rena said.
“So, even though she is in it, she still has no memory?” Wren asked.
“Mostly no, even when he is in the Chrysalis, he has no recollection of her or them. I am hoping when you can finally bring them all out, you can repair them,” Rena said.
“Then I need to go and get them out,” Wren said as she again tried to rise, the dizziness took over as she fell back to the bed. “Oh, crap not good.”
“Perhaps you can rest before you attempt that again,” Rena said. Bathing Wren’s face again, as the sweat from the exertion Rena put a hand on Wren’s chest.
Wren finally asleep, Rena left the room. Meeting her mate, she shook her head as they moved further away. “Tell me about what happened to propel her this far forward,” Rena said.
“She said that she was working on her Trans-Warp engine when she was exposed to half an hour of the energy in a few moments. She was surprised when nothing happened to her,” the first master said.
“I need to see this: it may be the key to all of this. I seem to remember something like this long ago, though the energy like she said was deadly. Was she able to open a conduit without the engine,” Rena asked. When her mate nodded Rena thought a moment. “Let’s see if we can see it.”
Rena walked to the ship with her mate. “Ship? May I be allowed to enter?”
“I am sorry, I do not recognize you, I cannot allow entry at this time,” Trigon said.
Rena nodded as Flugret appeared. “Can I help?” He asked.
“I need to check what this Trans-Warp energy is, it may be the key to all this,” Rena said.
“I see,” Flugret said. “Trigon? May I have entry with this master’s mate?”
“It is allowed though access to much of the ship is restricted due to a Trans-Warp leak. I have it ninety percent contained, though there is still a danger,” Trigon said.
“Is the energy dangerous to the Ceti lifeforms?” Flugret asked.
“Insufficient data at this time to be able to answer,” Trigon said.
“I will scan with our equipment to add another dimension of safety,”Flugret said. When the hatch opened, Flugret and rena were both scanning as they moved forward slowly.
“Hatch chamber clear, moving inside. I am detecting a slight residual energy, well within parameters,” Flugret said. “Now going deeper, approaching energy containment chamber.”
“Raise the chamber door very slowly,” Rena said in warning.
The door slowly began to rise, both devices in their hands started to beep a warning. It was only an inch up when Rena yelled for Trigon to close it, Flugret was starting to sway then fall. Rena felt nothing though, almost immediately Flugret reverted to an energy state.
“You need to get to the Chrysalis, NOW. You have had no exposure to this, you need to rest before the energy harms you,” Rena said as Flugret’s energy form left heading for the Chrysalis. “What should I call you?”
“I am called Trigon, where is master Wren?” Trigon asked.
“She weakened herself saving me. I have felt bad that this accrued while she was helping me” Rena said as her head hung low.
“You should not feel bad, if she did this then, she obviously felt that you were worthy of her concern. Master Wren only holds a very few in this high of regard. I am honored to meet one that she has honored so,” Trigon said.
“Did you by chance, get any readings as to what happened when Flugret opened the chamber? Also, did I display the same readings?” Rena asked.
“Yes I did. Master Wren said that I should always scan in here. Master Flugret was rapidly overcome by the energy. ou on the other hand, have a very high resistance to it,” Trigon said.
“Can you help me to repair the system, so that it will be safer when Wren recovers?” Rena said.
“I only need you to repair one part then I can start the auto repair. Unfortunately, it will require a lot of exposure,” Trigon said.
Trigon outlined what she had to do, showed her pictures, then the actual arera on the view screen.
Rena opened the hatch moving to the panel doing the repair as fast as possible. Fifteen minutes later, Rena stumbled out the hatch panting. “I hope that did it,” Rena said.
“Yes, systems are starting already have five percent done. I am flushing the energy out, Miss Rena, I am detecting your lifesigns are growing weaker you need to go,” Trigon said sounding worried.
Rena was panting even harder her head and vision blurry, “afraid I waited a little longer than I should. I can’t transmute, can barely move. Tell Wren, I am sorry.”
“No,” a voice at the ship hatch behind Rena said. Rena’s face held great surprise when she felt a flood of energy surround. “I did not save you for you to do something as stupid as I usually do. They need you as much as they do me. Next time? Wait on me, ok?”
“I’ll try to remember that if there is a next time,” Rena said as she turned to look at Wren.
“Trigon? I need a status report,” Wren said as she sat in the pilot’s seat.
A much-revived Rena sat in the seat next to her.
“The Trans-Warp energy container is repaired I have also taken steps to prevent it happening again. I also wish to report that you absorbed all the Trans-Warp from Miss Rena. Your levels are again as high as they were,” Trigon said.
Wren smiled, “yeah I know.”
__________________________________________________
“Get the damn power back on!” Esmeralda was screaming at everyone on the bridge. She needed to get her head scientist on this as fast as possible.
Her face and her temper blood red, she was about to kill a tech, when half power came up. “It’s about damn time!” Esmeralda started screaming again. “I want the chief scientist NOW!” She screamed even louder.
“Yes, Empress,” The man said, then noticed the Empress face blood red, oh shit a few are gonna die for sure.
“You stupid son of a bitch! What in the hell are you doing to prevent this again. I’m letting you know if it does? I will most certainly enjoy torturing you as long as I can. No one, does this to the Imperial Empress!” Esmeralda raged on.
“I have developed shields that are twice as strong as what you have now. Also I have energy weapons far stronger than we have ever had,” The scientist said.
“Good, get your nearly useless ass over here, install them. This ship more than any other needs to be a hell of a lot stronger than it is,” Esmeralda said an evil smile creeping on her lips.
A look at the bridge crew showed that all of them were shaking in their seats. Well, all but one usually they were all shaking about to piss themselves. Perhaps she had another fearless minion.
She stopped behind the male leaning over she whispered, “You aren’t afraid to die are you. Answer quietly.”
“No mam, figure we all have to, no need to be afraid,” the male whispered without moving.
“Good answer, you are now promoted to commander. This man is now a commander, get him a new uniform,” Esmeralda told all on the bridge, then turned to go meet the scientist.
Less than a few minutes later, the scientist was on board starting to install new equipment. The Empress was at his shoulder the whole time intencely watchng him.
“There,” he said two hours later. “This should be the heaviest shielded ship in the empire.”
“Good,” the Empress said, “this should help us to kill that bitch daughter of mine.”
“It will not allow her to destroy you as easily,” the scientist said. “Wd are still trying to duplicate her shields. It shouldn’t be too long now.”
Esmeralda had been staring at the male when he said that. “You mean she could still destroy us?! I thought you had increased us.”
“I have, though her shielding is stronger than ours. As I said we are still studying it to reverse engineer it. That’s where we got the idea for what I just installed. Except for her, no one or any race can penetrate these,” the scientist said.
Esmeralda’s face held an angry look, “you need to get this done soon. As Empress I should be protected far better than any other.”
A look of fear passed of the scientist’s face, ‘yes Empress,” the man said as he turned to finish his work.