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  *Universal was a mixture of some of the languages of Earth, English being the dominant one, and Quewythian. Dialects had evolved which were in use on various planets throughout the kingdom. Most of the planets, however, preferred to use their own native languages and local dialects. Although Universal was the official language of Cassiopeia and the rest of the galaxy, it was the official language of communication, literature and was taught in al the schools throughout the kingdom.

  The galaxy they were in was still tens of millions of light years from the Citadel. It was the Lursa Cymopoleia Galaxy, on the outskirts of the Twelve Galaxies Cluster. There were tens of billions of stars and planet systems in the galaxy. There were, however, roughly a million of those planet systems that had planets that were in the habitable zone of their star or sun. Many of the planets that were not habitable were used for underground mining where they could create conditions for breathing, though the surface was too cold, too hot, or had no atmosphere. Most of the galaxy had not been explored or colonized.

  News travelled from other parts of the kingdom, it was slow getting to Jadu. Dvora didn’t mind. That meant news traveling from the planet was also slow. She would be safe for a while she thought, and possibly even work her way into the government faking identification for her and her daughters. Sertis and his crew already had credentials as transporters, and they would continue their business of picking up and delivering people and cargo that needed to go somewhere. Dvora and her daughters, the three sorcerers were their passengers, and the Gyspy space cruiser also there to do business. Their usual line of work was fortune telling, selling of their women’s bodies for pleasure, trading, picking up cargo and providing a makeshift gambling service where there were no casinos.

  “Mother, where is that sorceress?” Asks Kathara. “I’m trying to get a boyfriend and I need her to make a potion for me.”

  “That’s not what she’s for, Kathara,” replied Dvora, who was beginning to regret bringing the sorceress Makalai along with them to the planet. The wizards Gothor and Nasarth are going to help us rise in the ranks of the government. They’re not for our personal love lives.”

  “What if in all their bewitching they bewitch us, mother?” asks Sarita.

  “They wouldn’t do that. The Gypsy King would have them executed if they betrayed us. He is still in our debt, remember.”

  “Yes, that’s right, Sarita,” adds Kyn; we need them to help us take over this dusty planet. I can’t believe all the dust there is here, can you?” Kyn sneezes.

  “Well, we just have to keep sweeping it up,” replies Dvora. “I Just hope I don’t develop an allergy here.”

  Just then the door chime rings. “It’s the gypsy sorcerers,” says Sarita.

  “Oh, be a darling and let them in, will you?” Dvora sighs.

  “Good morning our illustrious Queen of tomorrow,” says Gothor, standing there seven feet tall, black hood and cloak covering him from head to toe. The other two sorcerers come walking in behind him. Nasarth is all dressed in brown and Makalai is in purple.

  “Let’s make plans,” says Dvora. “What kid of root medicine or herbs do you use to manipulate people with?”

  “Oh, my lady,” says Gothor. “We do not need such ancient methods. They are obsolete to us.”

  “Then please explain to me how you work your sorcery.” Dvora and her daughters gather around and listen as Gothor, Nasarth and Makalai explain their methods; that they do not have the powers of magic or sorcery. They are illusionists; magicians. They use the old and ancient tricks of all the great magicians in the past naming quite a few planets including Earth. Apparently their ancestor Space Gypsies had travelled to Earth eons before and kept data of all their performances, but they had no records or data of Earth’s location.

  Dvora had thought that if she could locate Earth, she could escape there, knowing that her stepson Arthos would receive her. But alas, the location of Earth had been lost.

  She had no idea what an illusionist was. “Well, you all had better come up with something that helps me become ruler of this planet; otherwise your friends and family may be kept here indefinitely by the current ruler. He is a despot and will take all your women for himself and your children as slaves.”

  “We will help you and your daughters,” said Gothor. “But we will need some time to devise a fool proof plan.”

  While the three gypsy sorcerers conspire, Dvora and her daughters see the news on a local broadcast viewer. The news says that a sudden impulse of power had boosted their Cyber Interstellar to include all of the rest of the Twelve Galaxies Cluster. Jadu, as well as the rest of the solar system, in fact the whole Lursa Cymopoleia Galaxy was now connected with the rest of the kingdom.

  They listened as the news reporter explained that the Cyber Communications satellites had picked up the energy surge and events from Jadu have been transmitting since several days before, just when they arrived. That included all spacecraft leaving and landing on the planet, all audial and visuals of people leaving and coming, and images that have been transmit to the Kingdom’s leading planet Cassiopeia.

  Shock filled their faces. “Do you know what this means?” said Dvora. “Daxu Korth knows we’re here.”

  Not only did Daxu Korth know their whereabouts, but Cruise also had received the transmissions through the Quantum Cyber Space Interstellar Network.

  “We’re not safe here anymore,” says Dvora. “We must escape. We need to find Sertis and the Gypsies. They’re our only allies now and we must flee this world.”

  But it was too late already. The Gypsies had been taken into custody. The authorities had been notified by the Citadel to take Dvora and her daughters captive. They threatened the Gypsy men with life in the mines and woman and children to be slaves if they did not tell where Dvora was. They were on their way to arrest Dvora and her daughters when Sertis arrived.

  “Quick, come with us,” he said and hurried them out, all of them dressed in hooded cloaks so they would seem like others running to get out of the rain. Down the wet and muddy streets they scurried. Down the cobblestone steps and through narrow alleyways they dashed, sometimes looking back to see if anyone was following them.

  Sertis didn’t care much for Dvora, but he was in love with Valenza and was willing to risk life and limb for her. They made it to the space cruiser Blue Steel, boarded and shut the hatches. Sertis gave the take off order and away they flew, Dvora looking back down at the planet being saturated with the monsoon rains until they lifted up above the clouds and rocketed out of the planet’s gravitational pull.

  “Where will we go, Mother?” Asks Sarita.

  “I’m not sure, but far away from here, I hope,” was her reply.

  Sertis came to where they were sitting in the passenger section and sat down. “This is a military cruiser. We have anti-radar so they can’t pick us up. We’re headed for a planet that doesn’t record landings of spacecraft.”

  “How do you know we’ll be safe there?” asks Valenza.

  “My uncle is the leader of the planet. It’s my home; where I was born,” he replies. “It will be tough there, but you’ll survive.”

  Chapter 15: Subjugator’s Revenge

  Captain’s Chronicles: The New Quantum Cyber Interstellar is up and running. From Earth II to the Citadel and every galaxy in between, we have full communication. Earth II is being colonized and is growing. Stellar, Celesta, and Bella and the other newly born vessels keep coming back for more programing and are sent to the areas we have designated as being habitable, and fertile. Fortitude makes regular flights but is not enough. I have sent for more space vessels to come bringing shuttles, long term food supplies, vehicles of all sorts, and fossil fuels to get the ball rolling. Atomic fuel is being shipped in and will be used as an energy source. Hyper Flonium energy is being produced in the mega city now to run everything. This world will not need us and Infinity much longer. We are charting a course to cross this quadrant. We will follow the trail leading back to Earth, the plan
et of our ancestors, the Pure Scriptures of Light and my brother Arthos.

  On Cassiopeia, the mega city Shovaya was rejoicing over the news that Cruise was half way to Earth. He sent a visual message that was transmitted to his planet and was seen in every city on public screens. The message was an inspiration and encouragement to all the good people, and a warning to all bad people.

  He was angry that in his absence war broke out with The Subjugator, whose pirates he had routed at Dekkonia. He told how he faced sorcerers, and hostile aliens. He spoke of the disappointment of the betrayal of his stepmother and her daughters against their father. He warned that Dvora and her daughters had escaped their jails and prisons and also escaped capture. They were still at large.

  “I also want to tell you of Earth II. It was colonized by Earthlings eons ago but needs help. We are helping by colonizing areas that are sparsely populated, and spreading out to help our neighbors who have been there a long time.”

  Cruise continued his message about his wife Queen Millennia and their children and grandchildren. All the people on Dekkonia were also able to view the visual and see their Queen again.

  Then they received the sad news that Queen Millennia was dying. She had made the decision to return to Dekkonia before her death and to be buried there. After much persuasion by Millennia, Cruise decided to go ahead with his plans to keep searching for Earth and the holy relic. The Queen’s seven oldest daughters would be returning with her to care for her until she passes away. It is the way of their people.

  She told the masses that her life’s quest had been fulfilled. She had found her soul mate and together they made it as far as they did. They were blessed with fifty children and three hundred and fifty three grandchildren. The crowds cheered as they said farewell.

  Unknown to Daxu Korth there were mortal enemies of his also watching the transmissions. The new Cyber Interstellar not only connected the good people, but also the bad. The down side of the Interstellar was that criminals could now have more communication that ever.

  The Subjugator, who was really Daxu Korth’s younger brother, had been banished from the kingdom since he was convicted of attempting to murder his brother the king. He still ran his pirate kingdom outside the Twelve Galaxies Cluster, but now had more help than ever. He now commanded a team of thirty-five dangerous wanted criminals and they were headed straight for the Citadel.

  “This will be my last stand against my brother. I may die, but then again, I may beat him and win. “I’m going for the latter,” spoke a vengeful bitter soul.

  “I wanted his wife, his daughters and his crown. I have nothing,” Lamented Subjugator. “That’s why I asked you all to come with me and I will pay you well. After we complete this mission you will all be the leaders of your own planets and maybe even some of you will own galaxies. This is the pay day we all have been waiting for.”

  He buttered the bread really well. His speech set the other cutthroats on fire. The Subjugator knew how to verbally move people in his direction and get them to follow him. He recruited Nase Yennock, one of the most feared pirate leaders in the Dark Galaxies. No one knew where he was from. His tall and large frame overlooked most men. But he was getting old and wanted this to be his last spoils of war before he retired. His age, though unknown, did not take away from his fierceness. He brought one hundred of his best pirates, fierce cutthroats who were gaining infamy and a reputation for themselves. They were all at each other’s throats; fighting over who would take over after Nase retired.

  Then there was the notorious and insane leader of Planet Eniam 22, Wathesan-Fla-Fla. He would do anything for the right price and has no morals, no conscious. After his planet was virtually destroyed, he fled to Togaran, where he quickly rose to power.

  Wood Knilk is a freelance trader who drifts from planet to planet in the Mexonian Galaxy. He had the look of a tough, hardened killer, and he was. He didn't play games and if he smelled a rat he wasted it.

  All of the rest were the same old cronies that had always set things up for The Subjugator to come in with his pirate crew and clean up. Hyukitron Hoxenyth would have his revenge on his brother the king, or die trying. His survival on hostile planets with extreme conditions gave him the stamina he needed to make the trip back to the Rakudean Galaxy and the planet Cassiopeia posing as a trader and transporter. He had changed his appearance eons before with intense laser surgery. His aging did the rest. He would only be recognized by those who knew him best.

  Normally he would have pretty much stayed the same and would not have had to age just by staying in his own galaxy on a planet much like Cassiopeia. It had twin suns and gave off the same radiation as Cassiopeia’s solar system. But he became a pirate and over the eons weakened and aged more than he should have.

  This is what Cruise found out had happened to his Queen, Millennia. The three pink suns she was born under kept her young looking, though she was actually three thousand years old. That long she had waited for her soul mate and to have children. Leaving her star system weakened her, and mothering fifty children took its toll. Being part Earthling had its advantages, as the human part of her DNA protected her from most alien diseases. But she was not able to withstand the constant barrage of non-Cassiopeia suns ultra violet rays. It was literally tearing her collagen apart and ripping her cells to shreds.

  Cruise found out too late. Having a human mother protected him from the same harmful UV rays and cosmic rays and radiation that was killing Millennia. In her case, her father was human, and a great deal of his DNA had been passed to her. There was nothing he could do, save call on sorcerers and wizards to try and save her. He scrapped that idea when Millennia said she’d have nothing to do with magic. Being cured or healed by a witch’s magic or a sorcerer’s concoction or a wizard’s spell could even bring someone back from the dead, she had said, but they would never again be the same person. She felt it would be like selling your soul to the underworld or forces of darkness.

  Now Hyukitron Hoxenyth was on his way to kill Daxu Korth. Little did he know what was approaching him; his brother, even worse than before, many times over. That night after the three pink suns had set, Subjugator would take his revenge.

  Subjugator and his thirty-five space mercenaries made their way through the streets of the luminous city of Shovaya at nightfall. Even the darkness could not quench the brightness of the beautiful city as it shone from the natural light of its radiant structures. Guards surrounded the Citadel. They saw the threat and took action. They didn’t need to ask any questions. They were neither naïve nor ignorant. But two of Subjugator’s colleagues were Ibiza, the evil wizard from the Mountains of Geshtinanna on the planet Krani and R’Darik, also known as The Warlock of Meneng-Pou Caverns on Planet Avalonia of the irregular galaxy Crazetrox.

  Ibiza raised his thorny staff and his hands bled. Lightning formed in circles around the knob and then spread out further and further moving in a circular motion until it consumed all the guards around the Citadel. R’Darik made little work of the tall steel gate that kept them out. The faction of rogues marched right through as more guards charged them, but were cut down in their place by the ingenious weaponry of the Haridian Skinwalkers, who lashed out at the helpless guards with their razor sharp electromagnetic tentacle whips leaving a trail of carnage behind.

  The procession of evildoers was then met with weapons of destruction set up at the top of the stairs. These weapons were soon put out of commission by the electromagnetic pulse produced by Wood Knilk’s launcher pistol. Subjugator had breached the Citadel’s defenses and was inside with his band of renegades.

  “At least my brother didn’t forget to guard the outside, but the inside he leaves completely empty. No guards,” exclaims Subjugator with glee. “This is going to be easier than taking a toy away from a child.”

  With Subjugator leading them, the wild bunch of reprobate degenerates storms the central courtyard, but there is still no sign of life. They move through conference rooms, and then to the main
hall where sits the throne of the king. They force open the doors that had been electronically locked from the inside. After Jimca Ryou’s Universal Key destroys the lock’s electronic sequence codes, they enter the King’s Hall. Across the large hall one hundred earth meters on the other side and up on the top of a staircase of thirty nice steps made of marble intertwined with gold and silver is the great Platainium throne.

  The banner of The Twelve Kingdoms covers the wall from the ceiling to the floor; three colored stripes, red, blue and purple, with a golden lion in the middle grasping a spear. On either side of the throne are two more banners on poles. One of the banners represents Cassiopeia with its two bright blue stars on top and a blue, white and brown sphere on the bottom.

  The other side has the banner of Shovaya city showing three glowing yellow stars, three blue and three white vertical stripes. Sitting on the throne, but not looking the least bit surprised is Daxu Korth, Koupiton Hoxenyth, king of The Twelve Galaxies Cluster. Hyukitron Hoxenyth, The Subjugator, stops in his tracks bringing all of his cronies to a halt also as they glower at the majestic monarch sitting on his throne seeming not to have a care in the world.

  “Who are you and what do you want?” asks the king.

  Subjugator glares at his brother with squinted eyes and raised eyebrows. The black hair and beard, typical of Quewythian men, is gone. Now gray and partly balding, smooth tan color gone and replaced by wrinkles and small patches of white, the pirate leader speaks.

  “You don’t recognize me, brother, because the galaxies and suns have not been kind to me. But surrender now because as you see you are outnumbered. We killed your guards outside and on the steps. The ones inside have fled I suppose.”

  Daxu Korth leans forward. “And I suppose you want to take the kingdom and,” he pauses, “let me guess...rule it?”

  Subjugator replies with sarcasm. “I suppose your rule has been very good for the people.”