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  The club was bubbling with business. That part of Planet Eniam 22 had six distinct seasons; Damp, Boil, Scorch, Blossoming, Emerald and Snowy in that order, and then it repeated without fail. It was Blossoming now, which meant a lot of showers and wind. Occurring right after Scorch, it was still quite warm but when the winds and showers came, that cooled it off considerably.

  No one noticed who was coming and going so much. Most of the customers looked like regular customers, except for a dark cloaked-hooded female who entered in the middle of the band playing and the dancers dancing on the dance floor, which was separate from the rest of the bar.

  Glasses were clicking as the best ale on the planet was being served along with exotic interplanetary wines, whiskeys, and liqueurs from all over the Deltanaff-Nizz Galaxy. The Deltanaff-Nizz was at the uttermost quadrant of the Twelve Galaxies Cluster. It was also the most ignored and neglected because of its distance and disreputable reputation.

  Planet Eniam 22 was in the solar system that had one gigantic orange sun. It was the sixth planet in that solar system of twelve planets. The planet Dvora had been sentenced to was the eighth planet from the sun and thus it was colder. Only two seasons prevailed on Gingat; Blossoming and Snowy.

  The vessel that was taking her and fifty other prisoners there had been attacked by the Xiattodians, which was their prerogative as keepers of the Yuhenia Star System. The prison transport spacecraft was on their way to Gingat, but was intercepted by a Xiattodian Bird of Prey.

  The Xiattodians themselves were a tall and strong species and totally indigenous. They hated the Kingdom of Twelve Galaxies Cluster and often tried to raid vessels on their way to and from the Cassiopeia. They were often not so successful due to the makeup of the vessels they were attacking being made of Platainium.

  The prison transport, however, was an older vessel and was not made of Platainium. It was an easy target for the Xiattodians, and when they boarded the vessel they killed all of the guards, and most of the prisoners too.

  During the ensuing battle, one of the guards who had been beguiled by Dvora’s charm and had favoured her could not bear to see her butchered by the barbarian attackers. He released her from her cell, unlocked her wrist cuffs and gave her a weapon in hopes that she would use her strength and influence to persuade the Xiattodians to leave.

  Dvora not only possessed seduction charm, but as the Queen that she had been, but also being a full-blooded Quewythian, she acquired the strength of ten warriors due to the orange sun. She not only out shot the Xiattodian intruders, but also wielded their own blades against them with outstanding skill and veracity. The guard who set her free had not been fortunate. He was beheaded by one of the attackers, who Dvora ran through with one of their own spears.

  She turned over the prison vessel to the leader of the prisoners, Shad-Arg-Thui. Since the Xiattodian vessel had docked and was locked onto the prison vessel, Dvora easily found the transfer exit and boarded the Xiattodian Bird of Prey. Once on board she made short work of the remaining alien crewmembers, disposing of their bodies through their own torpedo tubes.

  Shad-Arg-Thui took command of the prison vessel and along with thirty-three survivors took to the stars. They did not dare land on Planet Eniam 22; prison vessels were well known and would be attacked by anti-spacecraft weapons upon trying to land.

  The Xiattodian Bird of Prey, however, was welcome. Dvora was able to enter Planet Eniam 22 air space without incident, navigate to a remote clearing and land. From there she took one of the vessel’s hover shuttles to make her way into the city. Once in the city, she hid the shuttle in an old abandoned storehouse, and took public transportation to The Black Hole.

  She was seeking retribution and knew that she could find like-minded individuals who shared a common goal; bring down The Kingdom of the Twelve Galaxies Cluster.

  Chapter 8 Salocina Gasette

  Captain’s Chronicles: The search for Earth and Arthos was more intense than ever. We searched to the ends of Galaxies, followed the trails of comets and rogue asteroids. They traveled at common speed as well as Super Hyper Speed. Infinity could read and instantly record every bit of data on every planet to where we do not need to actually land anywhere to gather information.

  Cruise and Millennia searched together, commanding all who they came in contact with and following every lead. Many different races of beings had attacked Infinity and the vessels following. However, the superiority of Platainium coupled with their invisible force shields repelled any and all would be assassins and assailants. They were leaving behind a string of new additions to the kingdom.

  They skimmed through the universe galaxy to galaxy and star system to star system in search of the planet many had called “The Blue World”. Some said it was only a legend, and some said it was a real place; the world where everything began. Cruise and Millennia both had lived a long time. They had been thirty earth years in searching, now bound together by their eternal vows; no longer two people in goals, but one person in one heart. Cruise had found his soul mate and she hers.

  They kept in touch with “home” which they considered Cassiopeia and Dekkonia, by sending back vessels from time to time. The spacecraft would be full of messages and data from Cruise and Millennia, but it took years before they were within range of the Kingdom’s communication cyber matrix.

  They travelled far and fast. The original one hundred spacecraft had increased to one thousand after Daxu Korth sent them. Since then, three hundred had been ordered to stay on planets that had joined the kingdom to help them and to set up communication. The new communications system would connect Cruise and Millennia to their home bases. Many of the planets they visited had been without protection and had been overrun by pirates mostly sent by The Subjugator.

  Between sending the communication vessels back and stopping to help needy civilizations, they spent a great amount of time, energy and riches on others. Thanks to Infinity’s scanners, Cruise found productive and friendly planets where he could start leaving the data and information. He hoped that the Twelve Galaxies Cluster vessels would be able to come further now and find them to transport the data back to Cassiopeia and Dekkonia. Sending messages billions of light years through space just wasn’t happening yet. Cruise hoped to set up a Quantum Connection between Earth and The Twelve Galaxies Cluster after arriving on “The Blue Planet.” By his plan to add planets and their galaxies to the kingdom, he and Millennia hoped to make the Cyber Interstellar communications system truly interstellar, by bouncing Quantum frequencies off of neighboring stars.

  There was no Quantum Cyber Connection deep into space where they ventured. The only thing that mattered now was finding the Milky Way Galaxy, and the solar system that contained Earth, in hopes that Cruise’s brother would be there by some inexplicable miracle.

  Measuring time by Earth’s calendars, a hundred and seventy three Earth years had passed, which to Cruise and Millennia seemed like only a few years. By that time Dvora had rescued her daughters from the clutches of base and lewd fellows on Planet Eniam 22. The Black Hole nightclub was no more. The very unstable Xiattodians had retaliated for what Dvora did to their warriors and stealing their vessel by bringing devastation to the planet surface and all living things on it. Planet Enaim 22 was now a desert wasteland. The trickle of survivors that were left struggled to make their way.

  Dvora had rescued her daughters and was long gone and on her way in the Xiattodian bird of prey vessel to another star system, the Kreapis Empire and the prison planet that had no name but Planet-X. They went from planet to planet seeking refuge. Much time had passed for these who were now travellers and vagabonds in the Deltanaff-Nizz Galaxy.

  The technology aboard the vessel she commandeered guided her to Planet-X, as the location had been stored in the vessel’s computer database. Once within range of the planet she locked into orbit around it. The mining prison Planet-X had no spacecrafts and no need for many guards, only armed ones. There was virtually no escape. Those who attempted to
escape only ended up in the land of volcanoes, or the dark, dead swamplands, which bred giant snakes that swallowed them up whole. Escape only meant a horrible and tortuous death.

  Dvora now had her seven daughters, but her powers would not be complete unless she had the Great Sorceress Caratrah Shadowfire. With “The Bird of Prey” vessel, Dvora’s oldest daughter Vaneza locked onto Caratrah Shadowfire’s coordinates deep in one of the Xetronium Mines. A long and tedious life had taken a serious toll on her. Any normal being would have died down there in ten years just from the dust eating away at their lungs. But Caratrah’s magic only grew stronger with each task she was made to perform.

  With her sorcery she had been seducing guards and arranging for them to bring her certain herbs and roots difficult to find, but were common to that area of space. With the herbs and roots she conjured up potions that gave her more favour with the guards and freed her from having to work on the lowest levels. She found favour in their eyes as she bewitched them. However, her powers were weakening and she grew older. She was not the young vibrant woman that she used to be. The lifespan of her Fretharian race was much less than that of the Quewythians. Dvora knew she had to work faster if she was going to salvage what was left of the Great Sorceress.

  Having locked on to her coordinates, Caratrah Shadowfire was teleported from the planet’s inner caverns, to the one-man teleporting room. Dvora was there to greet her.

  “I am truly sorry for all the years you had to spend in the belly of that wretched planet, Caratrah.”

  “Why did you not just let me die down in that infernal place?” The old woman asks.

  “But you live, and the Queen of Twelve Galaxies Cluster needs your help to reclaim her throne. You shall be yet the greatest sorceress in the Quadrant,” replies Dvora.

  “But I am old and wretched. What could I do?” Caratrah replies.

  “I will take care of that. You shall be youthful once more.” Replies Dvora. She instructs Vaneza to land the Bird of Prey on the fourth planet of a two-sun solar system. The planet had three moons and was temperate in climate and atmosphere. Vegetation grew over much of the planet. Bodies of water were also detected by the Bird of Prey’s computer system.

  They let the vessel down next to a fresh water lake surrounded by mountains with mixed colors of purple, brown and grey trees. The landscape was decorated with fields of violets, lavender, roses of every kind, green grass with hills covered with a myriad of colored flowers.

  “A perfect hiding place so we can explore without fear of our vessel being violated,” Dvora said. Donning what female clothing they could find from what the former occupants left behind. Finding only uniforms, they changed into them. Taking what weapons they could gather up, the Quewythian fugitive women from Cassiopeia ventured outside the vessel in search of the herbs and roots they would need to restore Caratrah’s youth and health.

  They no sooner stepped into a nearby forest when Sarita, the fourth oldest, or quadra-aeon as they said, noticed something moving not far from them.

  “You always did have the eyes of an Evening Hawk, that searches its prey at twilight,” said her mother. “Be careful, Sarita; you may be nearly invincible on our planet and in the orange sun of Planet Enaim 22 you’d be ten times stronger, but here on this planet we are weak. It’s the two red dwarf suns. Large and hot as they are, the electromagnetic plasma radiation is weak.

  “I understand, Mother,” replied Sarita, holding her disintegrator pistol tighter. “I’ll be careful.”

  Dvora and the others keep searching for the herbs and roots. They scavenge what they could for Caratrah’s time was short.

  Sarita sees something else move. Moving closer in the thickness of the forest with trees higher and with thicker trunks than they had ever seen anywhere before, Sarita once again spots movement. She fires her pistol at a boulder fragmenting it to pieces. She sees pieces of rock fly in all directions, even straight at her. She ducks and puts up her arm to protect herself, but the rock debris seems to pass right through her leaving her unharmed.

  “Sarita,” calls Dvora, “Are you all right?”

  “Yes, Mother, but I think you should come here and see what I found,” responds Sarita.

  Rushing over to her daughter, Dvora also is awed by the size of the Fir trees, Pine trees, Oak trees and many more kinds she had never seen before and marvels at the massive width of their trunks.

  She stops next to Sarita and observes. Standing where the boulder was just an instant before is a short of stature blonde female dressed in a flowing purple dress hanging on her hips. A purple sheer scarf covers her breasts. Both are ornately decorated on the edges with tiny leaves made of silver and gold. The purple material is also speckled with small golden abstract sequins. The rest of the sisters also rush over and gather around.

  “I am Salocina Gasette,” she chirps, in a voice that sounds angelic. “What are your names?”

  After all the introductions are made, Salocina Gasette speaks again. “Where are you from? Why did you come here to our planet Shalaramya?

  Dvora steps a little closer, but bumps into a force field that knocks her back. She falls backwards and lands on the grass. The seven sisters are alarmed.

  “Do not worry, little ones,” smiles Salocina. “Your mother is not hurt. The grass is very soft here.”

  “She’s right, says Dvora, picking herself up. I’m fine.”

  “Let’s get acquainted shall we?” She moves her hand gesturing for Dvora and her daughters to follow her. “Tell me why are you here?” She motions for them to sit down on tree stumps that have been made into seats. They surround another much larger tree stump that is a table. The table is decorated with ornate tableware and eating utensils, cups and glasses. “You must be hungry and thirsty. Please eat and drink.” Salocina claps her hands and eight servants looking similar to Salocina, except for the arrangement of their hair and color, carry trays of food and drink and place them on the table in artistic fashion.

  There is no meat, only fruits, salads and herbs, and some cooked root plants. Dvora sees the herbs and root plants recognizing them; that they are exactly what she needs to restore Caratrah to her youth. “May I take some of these as medicine for someone on our vessel? She needs these desperately.”

  “Why, these are the youth giving herbs and roots Trilia and Formuya,” chuckled Salocina. “They only good for restoring the youth of someone very very old. How would you know about their powers? Did a sorcerer or sorceress tell you?”

  “The Great Sorceress Caratrah Shadowfire was at the prison planet working in the Xetronium Mines for many solar cycles. I rescued her and brought her here,” replied Dvora.

  Salocina and her maids looked terrified. “Why did you bring her here?”

  “To restore her youth,” was the reply. “But we have to work fast.”

  Using the weapons, Dvora, her daughters following her lead, all drew their blasters and pointed them at Salocina and her maids. Salocina raised her hand and the weapons were jerked out of their hands and up into the trees behind them.

  “W-what kind of power do you have?” Dvora asked, dumbfounded.

  Salocina’s tone of voice changed to a very stern one. “I am a shape-shifter. I am the Queen of all imps, pixies, fairies, elves, will o’ the wisps, dwarfs, and sprites; and also the creatures of darkness. Sorceress Caratrah Shadowfire is a creature of darkness and has done much harm to creatures like us. If you have her in your vessel, she should not be allowed to live.”

  This statement outraged Dvora. At once she lunged for the bowl containing the herbs and roots she needed and darted away, still master of her speed. Her daughters were stunned and when Salocina saw this. She took advantage of the instant to bind their hands and feet with living vines from the Dikol Tree. They tried to break the vines, but could not.

  Then the sisters witnessed an awesome sight. Salocina shape-shifted into a large bird and flew after Dvora. Just before Dvora was about to jump onto the Bird of Prey and administer
the herbs and roots to the dying Caratrah, Salocina, still in the form of a bird, dropped right in front of her and then morphed into a wolf in all of its fierceness and rage.

  Dvora backed up, still holding the bowl. “No...no...do not do this.”

  Salocina changed again, this time into a large strong warrior. She grabbed the bowl away from Dvora and ran fast as the wind back to the trees where the seven sisters were still bound. Dvora returned to the site and found her daughters bound by the living vines, but the table and seats were gone. “More shape shifters I imagine.”

  The vines loosened their grasp and the sisters were free. Dvora led them back to the vessel to see how Caratrah was. Her old body was even more shrivelled now and she opened her mouth, struggling to breathe, uttering words as she lay there grimacing.

  “Why must it end like this? I can't feel my legs or my arms. I can't feel anything anymore. Weak, I feel so weak, I feel so weak. So now what? I can't move, I'm too tired, too weak. Sleepy, I'm so sleepy. I just want to close my eyes and rest. I'm so tired, my eyes are like rocks.” And with that...The Sorceress Caratrah Shadowfire breathed her last. Dvora and her daughters watched as she then withered and became smaller and smaller. Screams and shudders from the sisters did not stop the process that turned Caratrah into a small pile of black dust.

  Kyn gathered up the dust using a small electronic sweeper. Dvora said they must keep it until they could find another sorcerer or sorceress who can bring her back again.

  Outside the Bird of Prey there was a rustling noise like that of the wind. Upon going out, Dvora and the sisters saw that an army of all types of armed creatures surrounded the Bird of Prey. Leading them was Salocina.

  “I must have the remains of the sorceress,” she demanded. “There is only one way to destroy it forever and ever, and I must have the remains.”