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Captain Marlena was learning a valuable lesson from her dad. Yet, it still nagged her.
She said, “Dad, we need to be careful with our meetings.”
“Yes, I also believe the same thing,” Duke Grendel said, “we had seen how many people the Vvong Queen had corrupted and we should be wary.”
They were silent for a while.
Duke Grendel said, “Your mom is fine. She is now taking care of the wounded. I will let her call you if she wants to talk.”
She nodded and finally sighed a relief. “So, what do you propose?”
“Getting to earth is only the first part of the plan,” he said, “we also need a fleet of ships in space as well. I will spend time for our meeting on this. But we need to fix our ships first.”
“Thank you dad,” she said.
Duke Grendel looked at her sternly, “Captain Marlena, you have to learn how to take orders. You should have told General Romo your plan to release your Bastion.”
Marlena nodded.
Duke Grendel shook her head. “Though, I like your initiative. Besides myself, General Romo is your superior officer. He was already going to the release the Bastions when I was going to confront the Vvong battleship.”
It finally dawned on Marlena. “So, that was the original plan. And you also thought there was a spy in our midst.”
“No, that was the original plan. We always have contingency plans if we faced dire situations. I want you not to panic.”
Captain Marlena also wondered how he knew that she was panicking.
Duke Grendel continued. “Captain Marlena, I know this is your first command, and you learnt a lot when you were on my crew. But your real lessens will be learned when you're a Captain.”
“Yes, Duke Grendel.”
She nodded to him. Captain Marlena knew she was being scolded and didn't want to say any more.
“Good, I needed to do that. But I want to commend you on using your magical power to teleport the Bastion close to my ship. It helped. If you waited any longer, I'm might not be here,” Duke Grendel said.
“Thank you,” she said.
“I will see you in our meeting.”
Her holo-screen went blank. Captain Marlena sat back in her seat and looked out toward her office portal.
***
CAPTAIN MALENA HAD been busy after she had talked to her dad. The flagship, the Equinox, used its large sensor array to do a deep scan of Earth’s solar system. Her dad was correct. The Vvong enemy ships completed covered Earth’s system. She was shocked how many ships the Vvong creatures had. And she was also surprised how the Vvong didn’t attack them again.
She sat on her Captain’s chair and was reading the number of the dead on her ship and also the whole fleet. She shook her head. They even lost one of the non-military frigates which house the administrators and the general magical population members. Her ship was better off than most of the battle ships.
“Commander Giles,” she said, “we were lucky that the Vvong didn’t destroy us.”
“Yes, Captain, but the creatures didn’t want to kill us. They wanted to feed.”
“Yes, this could be the reason why they hadn’t attacked us,” Captain Marlena said. She thought the Vvong view them like cattle to be slaughtered.
She said, “how are we doing on our repairs?”
“We are almost done,” Captain Giles said, “we are receiving help from the engineering ships.”
Captain Marlena nodded. She wondered what would happen when they finally get to Earth. She hoped the Alpha Mages were fine, and this was not an elaborate trap. The Vvong could have destroyed them if they wanted too without any problems.
“Captain, you had just received a correspondence from High Command. All the Captains will meet at the end of the Solar cycle.”
“Good,” she said. She had a few things she wanted to add.
Yet, she felt there was something she was missing something. She stood and walked toward Commander Giles seat.
She said, “Can you show me where the positions of all the Vvong ships in the solar galaxy?”
On his screen, it showed the position of all the Vvong ships and the planets of the Solar system. As she saw before, the enemy casted a wide net over all over the system. She shook her head. Their fleet where inside the Solar System and the enemy didn't care. Yet, she knew that could change at any moment. The Vvong ships seemed to be waiting for something.
“Aha!” Captain Marlena said.
“Captain? What do you see?” Commander Giles said.
“I think I understand. They are waiting for her. She has not arrived yet. We have time,” she said.
Commander Giles looked at her confused then he suddenly understood.
He said, “What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing yet. And honestly, I don't know what to do,” she said and then looked around her bridge and crew. She didn’t want to tell Commander Giles about her suspicions about a spy in their midst.
“I’m going to my ready room. I have to prepare. Keep me posted if anything changes,” Captain Marlena said. She wanted to tell her dad about her new discovery. The Vvong were waiting for their Queen and would not move until she was here.
