After escaping the Tigris attack at the theatre Andrew left to retrieve a ship from his old storage hangar.
The ship was a dark triangular shaped craft that was designed to travel in the air and hover silently.
It took an hour for the engineers to get it flight worthy so Andrew spent the time selecting a crew and making preparations to head north to the main stellar command operations base.
Once airborne Andrew sat in the co pilots seat next to Sergeant Holland. It was already the early morning hours and it did not take long for them to reach their destination.
As the sun rose over the mountains Andrew gazed upon a tall pyramidal structure.
"What is this? This was not here before?" Andrew said as he looked at the tall black spire.
"It's one of Vult Ravik's big weapons projects," Holland explained. "He's built them all over the planet sir. Things really ramped up since you've been gone."
"Weapons project? The war is over I will have to order its demolition!" Andrew replied.
"Demolition sir?" Holland asked.
"I will have all evidence of criminal activities erased! Shred all of the documents and remove every trace of our people's collusion with the Virillians on this planet. You do not want to incur the wrath of the Galactic Council's Judges!" Andrew stated.
"Are you serious Admiral?" Holland asked. Andrew looked at Sergeant Holland and became angry. "Yes you idiot are you capable of this?" He shouted.
"We do have asset destruction protocols in place that we can initiate, But Vult Ravik would be most displeased!" Holland replied.
"You take your orders from from me now!"
"I want those asset destruction protocols started as soon as we land!" Andrew shouted as he walked out of his seat and headed to the back of the Airship.
"Dad! Check out these cool hover bikes I just found in the cargo hold, I gotta have them!" Kenneth screamed excitedly pointing at white coloured tear drop shaped personal scout craft lined up against the wall. There was also a suit of white armour for a scout uniform that nobody had worn.
"Those are highly advanced Stellar Overseer scout craft and armour. All prototypes and NO! I can't just give them to you!" Andrew scolded.
"But I want them and look I found these drones too Dad! I can program them to play Droneflag! They can record me when I beat Sam!" Kenneth replied.
"Where is your cousin Sam?" Andrew asked, he looked around the room at the soldiers who appeared defeated and frightened. These soldiers were not as young as they were when they saw active duty many years ago. Sam was not among them as Andrew thought.
"Freak boy? He wasn't up there with you? Hey it's still around his neck the Tal. . . " Kenneth said but Andrew yelled.
"Keep your mouth shut about that. Sam must have ran off looking for his friends!"
"You gotta go back and get him Dad! I'm supposed to beat him at Droneflag! It has to be him he's on the Sports Foundations roster!" Kenneth said.
"The Sports Foundation? On Earth? That is very far away from us now boy!" Andrew said and then laughed at him.
"Where exactly are we?" Kenneth asked.
"I will show you come with me!" Andrew commanded and they walked up some stairs toward an observation deck.
"If you look to the east you should see a blue star!" Andrew told Kenneth.
"I don't see anything?" Kenneth said as he shrugged and walked away.
Andrew turned to look east and squinted thinking perhaps a cloud could have covered it but there was not a cloud in sight.
"Attention passengers we have arrived at our destination," Sergeant Holland announced over the speakers, Andrew rushed outside to try and find the location of the blue star in the sky.
"Where is it?" Andrew said as he stood at the edge of the cliff peering off to the distance.
"YEEHA!"
Kenneth yelled as he flew past the cliff flying the scout craft and wearing the white armour that his father had just told him he could not have.
Andrew then heard some loud foot steps behind him.
It was Vult Ravik approaching Andrew with Lurkis by his side.
"Master come with me," Vult Ravik said directly to Andrews mind.
They walked through a quarry site where Grotesques oversaw Tigris slaves cutting stone into blocks for the structures that Vult Ravik had ordered to be built.
"I did not have enough Growtex to overthrow all of the Tigris kingdoms on this planet. But once I drugged their water supply it became all too easy to make them my slaves!" Vult Ravik laughed as he spoke with telepathy.
"Much like what modern Humans on planet Earth call Pyramids. I have built these great Merkabolisks throughout the planet and in much the same way," Vult Ravik bragged and walked Andrew over to a table where a device sat. Lurkis placed a crane device over a stone slab and a pulsing sound was emitted that caused the brick to float.
"Lurkis have that young one there send this brick to the top of the tower," Vult Ravik asked the large Grotesque warrior. Lurkis reached into a line up of Tigris slaves and picked up the young one that Vult Ravik pointed to and placed him under the floating brick. He began to carry it from underneath but it was difficult for the little Tigris as the block was still not entirely weightless.
"The Brick will only float for a short period of time he must be quick to bring it to the top!" Vult Ravik said and began to laugh hysterically.
"Smuuush!" Lurkis said with a smile as he clapped his hands together.
"Yes we have lost many slaves that way," Vult Ravik said enthusiastically.
"You should not have done this! As an admiral of the E.S.F. I cannot allow this to continue!" Andrew scolded. He always feared that this installation would be found. He wished that it did not take him so long to find the address to the only working gate on the planet.
"These methods are necessary for the global leech mine operations, the drugs in the water allow for the Merkabolisks to gather the leech from the Tigris," Vult Ravik stated.
"They're going to find out about this I. . . I. . . I can't be seen as an accomplice. You did not witness the sentence given to those who were caught carrying out such deeds on Earth!" Andrew said as he felt his own neck at the thought of the punishment he had seen dealt to the criminals many years ago. Although most Virillians escaped Earth there were many that were caught, some Humans were also tried for colluding with the Virillians on Earth, they were brought before both Earth and Galactic judges when it was learned that the suffering of many of the people on Earth for thousands of years, was primarily allowed to harness their negative energy and convert it to leech far below the surface.
Vult Ravik did not seem to be phased by what Andrew was suggesting and began to walk toward a large steel door. Andrew was frustrated by this and turned once more to try and find Earth in the sky which should have still been visible as the sun was beginning to rise.
Andrew was worried about what could have happened to Earth.
"Where is the blue star Ravik?" He asked. But Vult Ravik was busy opening the door,
the steel door swung open revealing a stairway that went deep into the underground.
"Follow me and we shall learn," Vult Ravik said and Andrew turned around to follow him inside. The three walked down the dark stair way. Vult Ravik led Andrew and Lurkis walked behind them. He was so large that he blocked much of the light coming from the sunrise as the doors closed.
They walked down many levels until Andrew spotted two Underlings meet on the stair way, he listened as they spoke to each other.
"You hear what happen?" One Underling spoke to the other.
"Ya blue star go poof! Gone!" The other Underling replied.
"I plan go for walk under the stars tonight wanna come?" The first Underling said.
"Sure meet you here when burny sun goes down heeehee!" The other Underling replied and they both ran past Andrew who was listening to every word they said with great concern.
They reached the bottom of the stairs and entered a large cavern hallway with many Underlings that all had their eyes glued to several television screens. There was a news broadcasts covering the story of the disappearance of the blue star but the top story was the rebellious beasty attack on the theatre the night before. The reports showed that the area was evacuated and empty when the authorities arrived with reinforcements.
Andrew quickly called Sergeant Holland on his communicator.
"Do you know where Sam and Reegan are?" He spoke in a frustrated manner as he was still suffering from a headache and a remnant of the cold chill he felt the night before. He shrugged this off as a result of summoning his power to hold back the Tigris.
"No sign of either of them Admiral," Holland responded.
"I want you to report to me in person when you have new information," Andrew ordered and ended the call before Holland could respond.
Andrew was not watching where he was walking and felt some strange webbing get in his face. "What is this? It's like a spider bots web!" Andrew yelled as he brushed it off of his head.
"I ordered more spider bots to be built after you left," Vult Ravik stated. Andrew looked up ahead towards where the cavern became much larger, they were now deep below the Merkabolisk. There was webbing all over the walls and Andrew could see that the webbing was filled with thousands of spider bots. They were all working to catch a strange vapour in their webs.
Andrew looked down to see a very large Orb. It was connected to piping that was all twisted and leading in every direction. The vapour appeared to be a sort of excess steam that was exhausted from the Orb.
"What is all of this about Ravik?" Andrew demanded to know.
"Leech is harvested from the suffering inflicted over this entire planet. The Merkabolisks transfer it here and it is collected within this Orb," Vult Ravik explained.
"But why Ravik? Why do you need so much of it?" Andrew asked in disbelief.
Vult Ravik smiled but did not answer, he continued walking until they entered what looked like a war strategy room. Andrew recognized it because it was originally built to monitor Stellar Overseer operations all over the planet but he could see that things had progressed much further. He saw screens that showed the tunnels and underground cities as well as their status. He also saw that they now monitored the entire surface of the world and many Tigris cities all over the planet that were under Virillian control.
His heart sank deeply. He walked to the closest globe shaped screen and looked for the one spot on the map that he believed was the most important.
He typed in the words Catlinburg.
The screen referred to it as enemy territory and lacking sufficient data.
He looked around to see that there were many Humans stationed at this base still. They had remained for years following the only orders they were given by Stellar Overseer which was to obey Vult Ravik.
"Vult Ravik sir we have the warhead ready to launch towards the approaching ships," one of the soldiers said to Vult Ravik. It was a notification about an impending launch.
"What! A warhead? Are you all insane?" Andrew yelled.
"That is the most advanced ship in the star nations fleet followed by who knows how many more advanced craft! Trust me! Believe Me! you will not get that warhead anywhere close enough before they scan it and shoot it down!" Andrew scolded all of them.
"Perhaps my lord you could grace us with your strategic genius that we all remember?" Vult Ravik asked. Andrew looked directly at Vult Ravik he pulled out his sceptre. The red jewel glowed as he pointed it at Vult Ravik.
"If you launch that they will find us here and it's all over. Get that thing taken down! Dismantle it and hide it right this instant Ravik!" Andrew commanded.
Vult Ravik stood still and did not argue with the Admiral, instead he bowed.
"It shall be done. . . Now I will take you somewhere that you can make yourself comfortable. Come with me!" Vult Ravik told Andrew and turned around to lead the way.
"Fine! But you had better get started taking that thing down!"
A smile came upon Vult Ravik's small slit of a mouth that Andrew could not see as he followed him. The room was just down the hall from the war room. Vult Ravik opened a tall set of doors and allowed Andrew to enter first. The first thing that caught Andrew's attention was a large roaring fire burning in a fireplace at the other side of the room with a chair in front of it. There was much more to the room but once Andrew had seen the comfortable looking chair in front of the fireplace all he could think of was sitting down and resting.
"Why don't you wait in here my lord. While I tend to your commands," Vult Ravik said with a smile and closed the door. Andrew walked over to the chair in front of the fire place and sat down.
His mind raced with thoughts about having to face judgment for his involvement in the operations on this planet many years ago and what might happen to him if these Judges determined he was responsible for the atrocities that had occurred in his absence. He thought mostly of saving himself but he justified it with thoughts of saving the people of Earth from this same judgment. Andrew began to list everything that had been achieved over the past decade on Earth and how it could all be undone. He would do whatever was necessary to protect them. It was starting to dawn on him that perhaps he had arrived just in time to undo whatever incriminating actions Vult Ravik thought was necessary to achieve. After all those who were left on this planet when the program was cancelled did not know they had lost the war in this solar system.
Andrew was very tired and the fire was so warm he began to feel his worries melt away. His eyes began to close as he watched the fire, he began to slip into the dreamworld.
But the fire remained in his dream sight and in the fire two large eyes were staring back at him. He heard horrifying screams in the fire and it was loud as it echoed through the large room.
The fire jumped out of the fireplace and surrounded Andrew but instead of burning him it felt cold. This intense feeling of cold forced him to awaken from his sleep. He looked in front of him as his eyes opened. The fire was still in the fireplace where it was when he fell asleep but he still felt the cold from his dream and the screaming voice inside the dream lingered.
He looked around him and began to take note of his surroundings he watched the tall mirrors that stood on shelves midway towards the ceiling. For a brief moment he thought he caught a glimpse of fast moving shadows in the mirrors but he dismissed it as perhaps he was just much too tired and was merely hallucinating.
He looked down and over towards the middle of the room, there was an altar with a small mirror placed upon it and there was something about it that he thought looked familiar.
"It can't be!" Andrew said with disbelief as he stood up from his chair to investigate.
"The seal of authenticity is here it must be the real thing," Andrew said as he felt the symbol that looked like an Egyptian cat's face symbol carved into the frame around the glass.
"How can this be here?" Andrew questioned out loud.
Andrew watched as his reflection in the glass faded and began to show an event from the past. A very large and powerful Tigris who was captured by an army of the Grotesque warriors that Vult Ravik had created.
"Huh! It is LyrAndal!"
"You can never destroy my spirit you Grotesques creatures!" The large Tigris man shouted defiantly at the Grotesques as hundreds swarmed upon him, when they apprehended him they took the glass from him and the image faded.
Andrew believed that this must have meant that LyrAndal was dead and if that were true then it was really terrible what it meant for everyone's future.