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Marlena sat in the Captain's chair.
She was finally given a command and ship of her own. After they evacuated the Hive, they stripped the giant space station and used the materials to create several space craft, both large and small. They placed the Bastions on cargo ships to house their magic.
Her new ship was called the Sentinel II. It was named after her father's ship that was destroyed on Earth. It took them several long cycles to create all these new space craft, and every cycle Marlena wanted to get to Earth and help her friend, Lazarus, and the other Alpha Mages. She felt something must be wrong if the Vvong had finally made it to Earth and took it over.
During this time, the Elf Queen died. It happened all of a sudden, and nobody noticed she’d passed away until her father, General Grendel, came to visit. They held a remembrance and funeral for two solar cycles.
Marlena looked out the screen and saw the Fleet. She was thinking about her mom, who was part of her father's crew. Duke Grendel became commander of the flagship battle vessel, the Equinox, and was now the undisputed commander of the magical races and Council. After the funeral of the Elf Princess, General Grendel created several new commanders. Their next objective was to defend Earth against the Vvong invaders.
Today was the last day, when they would abandon the Hive and start their journey toward Earth.
Marlena said, "Commander, please move the ship away from the Hive."
"Yes, Captain."
Next to Marlena sat Yaddle. The scrappy dwarf wanted to be a part of Marlena's crew. She was happy to have him there.
"Captain, we have a correspondence from Duke Grendel," the communications officer said.
"Please read it," Marlena said.
"When you are finished, please get to your magical gate. We will be waiting for you," the communications officer said.
"Thanks. Are we far enough?"
"Yes, Captain."
Marlena wanted to pause and look at the now deserted and broken apart Hive that was once everyone’s home, but instead she said, "Fire the cannons."
Marlena watched the magical explosive missile coming from her ship. The projectile hit the Hive, and a bright explosion erupted before them on the screen.
The Hive was no more.
"Is everything destroyed?" Marlena asked.
"Yes, Captain."
"Good. Navigator Childs, get us to the gate," Marlena said.
The Sentinel II flew in a tight arc toward the left. They made it to the large fleet after several mini-cycles.
Her father's voice came through the speaker. "Captain Marlena, are you ready? We will be making a large hyper-jump through the gate. We will be close to Earth soon."
Duke Grendel knew she wanted to get to Earth as soon as possible. All the ships went into hyper-jump at the same time.
Marlena saw the screen suddenly change into a round, glowing tunnel. Then they were flying through one by one. The fleet of ships was suddenly at Earth's galaxy. And the scene she saw on her monitors made her gasp. They were still far away from Earth, but there were other things surrounding the planet; ships, hundreds, or maybe thousands of Vvong vessels. The enemy spaceships surrounded Earth like a tight vice.
Marlena knew they were too late. She felt her father would know what to do, and waited for his command decision.
Then she heard something she should have anticipated. It was an alarm noise. Then her ship was hit by a powerful blast.
Duke Grendel yelled orders. "Ship’s Captains, we're under attack. Get into attack formation. And pray to your Gods we would make it through this."
Captain Marlena saw a group of one-hundred Vvong ships waiting for them and was racing toward their position. It was an ambush. The Vvong knew they were coming to this location.
