Bad Seed Ch. 15

A mere minute later, Wren's ship exited Trans-warp space a few trillion miles from the imperial fleet. Several alarms started to go off on her ship as well as the fleet.

Esmerelda smiled, "now we have the bitch. Fire all we have as soon as she is in range.

"How long?" Wren asked.

"Two minutes at the most," Trigon said.

"More than enough time," Wren smiled.

A more sinister smile crossed Wren's lips. Little did her bitch of a mother-in-law know, her range was a lot further than the Imperial fleets.

"Alright Trigon," Wren started. "Launch a salvo of missiles, 'bout fifty should do."

"Compliance master Wren," Trigon said, as there was a massive launch at the same time.

On board the fleet command ship, several alarms were starting to scream. "What the hell is going on? Esmerelda shouted to get above the noise.

"Enemy has launched missiles, they each appear to have warp capabilities. Shit! They are of a thermic nature!" the tech cried.

"Activate all new shields!" Esmerelda yelled.

"New shields are only showing a fifty percent effectiveness, evasive action," the tech said as the ship started to turn at a hard angle.

The command ship almost got out of the way, though the last two missiles impacted the rear of the ship. Much of the forty or fifty ships passed it didn't fare as well. A huge plume of fire and destruction blossomed out behind the command ship.

Esmerelda was screaming out orders, a limp, lifeless body in her hands. Dropping the body, she stared at the many that were dead on the deck. Moments later, the power started to flicker out.

"Get us off this piece of shit!" Esmerelda was almost screaming into a com. "Now, before all of your family is dead!"

Another ship was besides hers in moments, evacuating her. "Should we get any of the others?" A command officer asked.

"What others?" Esmerelda asked. "I only see those that failed me. There are no others." With that, the doors closed, sealing up, a moment later, the power failed, killing all left.

Wren laughed as she saw that at least two of her missiles hit her bitch mother-in-laws ship. Her smile, though, was short-lived as she saw that the female got off the ship.

"Get us inside the shields," Wren said as the ship entered a portal.

On Ceti-5, the masters were adjusting the shields and weapons for further action by the Empire. A moment later, several alarms went off causing them to tense, then relax when Wren's ship appeared.

"It appears that she has returned," Flugret said as her ship moved to land.

"Good, perhaps she can release more of us, so we can stand better," Rena said, a slightly worried look on her face.

It was true that the Chrysalis was stable for the first time in hundreds of years. The thing was that if it started to de-stabilize again, it might go down faster.

A few minutes later, Wren walked into the command building the seven females meeting her. "How bad are things now?" Rena asked.

"Hmmm better, we have about forty-five fewer ships to worry about. Esmerelda is far madder than she was, considering I destroyed two command ships. They think they have better weapons when they don't. So, not that bad after all," Wren laughed.

Rena and the other female's mouths were hanging open," perhaps we should test you again. Your levels seem to be higher than we at first thought," Rena said.

Wren nodded her head as they went before the first master, Rena's mate. After explaining, the master nodded as he started to scan Wren. His mouth dropped open a few moments later. "You were at twenty the last we tested, now? I'd say that you are almost twenty-six."

"That is higher than half of us now," the fifth master said.

"I know that you want to study me, I have to release more. Oh yeah, I absorbed more trans-warp energy. I just hope that I can handle it," Wren said as she walked up the Chrysalis.

"Just how much more?" The first master asked.

"At least another fifteen minutes, not that much," Wren said, to the astonishment of all present.

Rena and her mate could only stare at Wren, "you should have expired after so many doses," the first master said.

Wren just shrugged her shoulders as she approached the Chrysalis. She then put both hands on it she and the entire Chrysalis started to glow. Then, it grew even brighter, three spots started to break away from it.

"Wren!" Rena started to shout, "even with the higher levels, this has to be too much!"

"I am fine," Wren said as the spots broke away, then elongated. All three light areas fell to the floor pulsing and throbbing. They were almost solid when one, then all of them started to scream. "Damnit!" Wren said through clenched "More damnit, more!"

Wren started to glow brighter as the glow around the three spots were starting to grow dimmer. "Wren! This is going to kill you, you have to pull back."

"NO!" Wren tried to shout, pouring as much as she could into three spots. "I am almost there," Wren said in a whisper.

Just as suddenly as it started, the glow faded with two females and a male lying at Wren's feet. Wren looked at the three, nodding her head, then falling to the floor, her body starting to convulse.

"I was afraid of this!" Rena said as she and the other six females started to pour energy into Wren. "We need more, we're going to lose her!"

Flugret's eyes were wide as he added his power to theirs. A moment later, Wren started to barely breathe easier. "I feel she is stronger, though we barely have enough to keep her alive," Flugret said.

One by one, the females started to fall away 'til it was only Rena and Flugret. A moment later, Rena fell to the ground drained. Flugret kept at it a few more minutes 'til he also fell.

Wren awoke a moment, looking at all of the eight, the females and Flugret exhausted on the ground. "Did it work?" Wren whispered.

The first master nodded his head, amazed to see three of his people he hadn't seen in hundreds of years. As a matter of fact, this was the first new male that was out in a very long time.

The very air was feeling different, this was the most that had been out in even longer. A look at the Chrysalis, showed that it was indeed stronger, more stable than he'd seen it in almost a thousand years.

"Let's get Wren and the others into a recovery room. I want all three of the new arrivals to be checked over. Make sure that they are as stable as they appear to be," the first master said.

Even as all twelve of them were taken to a long dis-used room, the first master smiled. He never thought he would ever see more than the twenty of them that were out. The simple fact that there were twenty-one males and nine females was promising.

He walked into the recovery room a moment later. His mate, Rena, was trying to get off the table too soon.

"Mate, you know that your energy is far too weak to arise yet," the first master said.

Rena looked around a moment, her eyes falling on the two new females and the male. "She got three, there are thirty of us now?" Rena asked.

"Yes," the first master said. "The Chrysalis is the most stable I have seen it since we created it. Finally, there is hope for us."

"If," Rena stated weakly, "we can keep her alive."

"We are doing all that we can. I believe that she also recharged the Chrysalis, though I am unsure just how," the first master said.

Rena's eyes grew large as part of the prophecy came to her. The part about the Savior recharging the Chrysalis.

Rena turned to stare at her mate, "the prophecy, this is another part of it."

"Another part? What are you speaking of? I don't remember this in the prophecy," the first master said.

"It was the second prophecy, the one most dismissed as nonsense," Rena said, her energy slowly returning.

A look at the others showed that their energy was also as slow to recover. At least they had saved Wren, though they had to watch her from now on. She had expended more than she ever had, extremely dangerous.

"I am unfamiliar with it," Rena's mate said.

"It said that the one who would release all of us would also recharge the Chrysalis. It would last long beyond the final release of the last of us. It also said that there was a chance to save the Savior. The master died after that, so it was never revealed just how we could save her.

The first master's head nodded as he took in all that she said. "As you said, if we can keep her alive, she seems to want to push as hard as she can. Somehow, we have to get her to slow a bit, even as high as she is, she is not invincible."

Rena nodded her head, "the only problem I see with that? She hardly listens to anyone if it doesn't concern the art or her use of it. Perhaps Master Flugret can convince her somehow?"

The first master thought about it for a few minutes, then nodded. A few moments later, Flugret walked into the room.

"You wished to see me first, master?" Flugret said as he bowed in respect.

"Yes," the first master said. "We know that you seem to have more influence over Little Wren. We both wish to know to what extent that influence might be to? It has come to our attention that Wren has been pushing herself far beyond her abilities."

"Yes, first master, I have noticed as well. Though I do have more influence over her thinking, I am more of a guide than anything else. She will listen though, as for acting on what I say? There sir, I am afraid that she is her own person with a strong will," Flugret said.

The first master and his mate both sighed in frustration, "I had a feeling that she was like this. Do you think you might be able to get her to slow down somewhat? This last time she put herself and many of us in peril," Rena said.

Flugret thought for a few moments, then drew a deep breath. "All I can do is talk to her first master. As I said before, she is very strong-willed. I know that changing her mind is difficult."

"All we ask is that you try," the first master said.

Master Flugret looked at both of them before him, giving a slight nod. He then moved across the room to the bed that Wren was in. Looking at the unconscious form, he could only hope that whatever he said to her would save her life.

Wren herself was in somewhat of a nightmare, her entire family was before her. She had been given a choice of saving them or herself. She had been through this several times with the same ending. No matter what she did, no matter how she did it or who she saved first, they all died. There was the laughing voice of her stepmother and stepbrother.

All the masters and the females were watching her as her body began to glow brighter. Flugret had tried to enter her mind only to be rebuffed like a bad dream. Not one to ever give up on her, Flugret kept trying almost to the point of exhaustion.

Finally, about to collapse, he made it within, knowing immediately that this was bad. With not much time, he fought to reach Wren, he had to help her. This he thought was some type of mental attack.

"Wren!" He shouted, finally gaining her attention. "Do not trust what you are seeing, it is all false!"

A shocked look came over Wren's features as she looked harder at what she was seeing. She then smiled toward Flugret, her features twisting into a look of extreme anger. "I don't know who or what you are, you will not win!" Wren shouted out, blowing almost all the images away.

"So," a female voice said deep within the darkness. "Again, one of you simpletons is interfering in my plans. I am on the verge of destroying all of you, especially with everything as unbalanced as it is."

Flugret started to laugh, "there you are wrong, all those that created you are out plus another. We now number more than we started with. The planet has started to regrow and purify itself, unlike you!"

"WHAT! YOU!" The voice said, indicating Wren. "This is your fault as always, we will not allow you to continue on this course. Soon the means to destroy you will be at hand!"

Flugret made a few motions of his hands that Wren quickly followed. Immediately, the voice started to scream as it grew further and further away. As soon as the voice was gone, Flugret fell to his knees.

"There," he said, "you shouldn't have any more trouble with it."

"What in the hell was it?" Wren asked.

"An experiment that went terribly wrong, one that almost all the females you have released, hope to correct. I just hope as they do, that they will have the power to accomplish it," Flugret said.

"What is wro..." Wren started.

"I am weaker at this than I had thought. I need to go; you need to heal as fast as you can. You can heal the others far faster. We are now at thirty thanks to you though, you have tried to go faster than you are ready to," Flugret said as he started to fade.

Beside Wren's body, Flugret fell to his knees then slowly slid to the floor. This, of course, started a bit of confusion among the others.

Thomas blinked in surprise when he saw that his ship was on the edge of the empire. He'd had the engineers look over what had happened. What they had found was a slightly faster travel stream. They now just had to figure out how to reopen it.

Thomas was pushing them as hard as he could. A few days later, they managed to open a portal, though they couldn't keep it open for more than two minutes. Those two minutes he found that they had moved almost a week's distance at hyperdrive. The only thing was they could only use it for two minutes once a day.

Nowhere near as fast as that bitch sister-in-law, but a definite improvement. No way in hell was he going to give it to his damn mother. Knowing her? She'd lord it over him forever. No, she wasn't getting it, even if he had to kill the whole crew to keep it quiet.

Alright, turn us around," Thomas said, hoping his mother hadn't detected them. "Let's go!" A moment later, a weak portal opened in front of them as they vanished.

At a minute, the tunnel started to blink. At a minute and a half, they could see space passing at a rapid rate. At almost two minutes, the tunnel was starting to collapse, the ships shaking rather violently. At two minutes, they were spit out back in regular space.

"Hyper drive now, full drive!" Thomas shouted as he looked at their position. He nodded they were at least a week away from the empire boundary. Now he just had to hope that they hadn't been detected.

The ship leapt into hyperdrive, moving far slower than it had. At least they were further away from her now though, was it far enough?

"I want all the engineers working on this new drive. I want the downtime reduced as much as possible," Thomas shouted at all of them.

On board the new command ship, an engineer noticed something on the edge of empire space for a moment. He had started to say something then, whatever it was, vanished, almost like a door opening and closing.

The man was afraid that if he reported it, it would mean his quick death and the slow death of his family if he was wrong. No, he thought, better to err on the side of life rather than death.

Esmerelda was still mad enough to kill her entire bridge crew. Though this crew hadn't betrayed her trust by failing, she still wanted to take it out on someone.

She looked over all that were there, wondering if any should be killed. She had to do something as her anger wasn't abating. Damnit, no one was making mistakes, he needed release or some damn good news.

Ha! She thought she didn't think that was going to happen anytime soon. A flashing on the console grabbed her attention.

"Empress it is the senior engineer," a shaking tech told her.

"This had better be good news, at the moment, killing a few engineers wouldn't hurt me," Esmerelda growled.

"All improvements are finished with this ship. Shields are at twenty percent higher. Particle weapons have been increased twenty-five percent. We are far more deadly, we continue to upgrade as fast as we can, Empress," the senior engineer said.

Esmerelda smiled for the first time in days, though it was a devious, evil smile. "Yes, keep increasing, we have to overcome whatever that little bitch has."

"Yes, Empress, we are continuing the work to increase everything," the man replied.

"Good, at least there are a few that aren't completely stupid! There may be several rewards coming your way if you keep this up," Esmerelda said.

The man watched as the Empress clicked off breathing a sigh of relief. He knew he'd dodged a bullet this time.

Wren's eyes opened, she then saw that Flugret had indeed passed out on the floor. Try as hard as she could, she wasn't able to rise off the table she was on.

She got a little upset, she didn't notice that her body was slightly glowing. She was suddenly feeling a little stronger, though she knew her legs wouldn't support her just yet.

Trigon, Wren thought. I need you to start the new growth program I finished yesterday.

I am starting to now master Wren. Estimation of time to completion: no less than twenty-four to twenty-five hours. Returned Trigon's thoughts to her.

So, no need to hurry back to you? Wren thought.

I would say that is indeed true, Trigon's thought replied.

Wren took a deep breath then relaxed, something she wasn't really used to doing. Grabbing a data pad, she thought a moment, then started to type, her fingers a blur.

It was almost a day later that Wren was starting to feel a lot better. She'd completed the system upgrade she'd started yesterday. She just had to go over it again, true it was only two million lines of code.

She shook her head, she hoped that this would keep her bitch of a mother-in-law from hurting Trigon. A smile came to her lips, considering a fourth of Trigon was her, why not call the whole ship Trigon?

It seemed that everyone was out of the makeshift infirmary but her. Getting up, she slowly made her way to the Chrysalis. Her movements didn't go unnoticed, as no less than ten were following her,

Wren turned as soon as she was in the Chrysalis room. "I do not intend to weaken myself again like before. I do appreciate everyone looking after me, Wren said, then turned back to the Chrysalis.

Those there watched closely as she laid a hand on the crystal surface. As the glow started on Wren and the crystal, those there held their breath.

This time, only one spot started to separate from the Chrysalis. Wren nodded as she watched the glow elongate then start to solidify. It happened far faster than it ever had.

"There, well, that was far faster than I have ever seen. Maybe I am finally getting stronger," Wren said.

Wren walked to the female that had appeared from the light, making sure she was alright. A few moments later, Wren nodded, then bid all there goodbye. Going to her ship she could see that the improvements were indeed finished.

A quick check showed that her weapons were twice as strong, her shields stronger with a few more energy settings. She could now resist several more types of energy weapons. This would help greatly when she went against the last race.

Wren again went over the six races that had attacked the earth; Pescules, the Begules her father had destroyed, The third, the Eloagones she had enjoyed destroying. The fourth, the Jutrocs, who followed the fifth race, the Zetcrons, like they were gods. Yes, the Jutrocs had begged she couldn't care less, though she had also destroyed many of the Zetcrons.

A smile lit up her features, the Zetcrons were the most arrogant of the six races. She imagined that they and the worse race, the Meltry, would be hunting her now. She was closing in on the Zetcrons soon, she thought.

She took off as soon as the doorway closed. "Alright Trigon, take us out. Last position we were near before we came back."

"Compliance," Trigon said as a portal opened, then the ship vanished.