Rawlon waited a moment. After a few moments he raised his right hand, signaling silence.

The throngs obeyed.

"This enemy will then make war with the Kraaqi..." Even as he uttered the last word, shouts and war cries filled the hall. A thousand challenges were issued to the heavens and this new enemy.

Rawlon shook his head and the gathered warriors slowly grew silent again. He turned and stepped up until he was midway to the Chieftains. Rawlon spoke directly to the seven.

"And the Kraaqi will be defeated."

From their seats, every warrior in the Great Hall rose as one, all of them shouting and waving their fists and rapiers until the sound became a deafening roar. The thousands of combined voices shook the very walls of the building, so great was their cries of rage and indignation. Rawlon continued upward until he was eye-level with the Chieftains. The other six had also risen at the outrage the First Captain had uttered. Now all seven gathered around him.

The shouts suddenly died away.

"Who is this great enemy, Rawlon? What is their name? Where are their fleets?"

Rawlon looked deep into the First Chieftain's eyes. "T'kaan."

"Are these the dread of T'kaan?" The Chieftain who had first addressed the throngs pointed at the three humans.

"No," Rawlon said. "These are hoo-mans. A race the T'kaan has already destroyed. But!" Rawlon shouted the last word as the throngs roared back. His single word silenced them. "But, these three are the only warriors to have ever defeated the T'kaan... and lived!"

Shouts and cheers echoed throughout the Hall now-cries for victory.

The First Chieftain raised his arm for silence, and the shouts subsided. "Then let us hear about these destroyers of life from ones who have fought them in battle. Is that the First Leader of the hoo-mans?"

He pointed at Jaric.

Jaric looked over at Kyle and whispered. "We need to show them that we do not judge each other by our skin, just because the Kraaqi do so. They think I am leader merely because I am dark skinned."

Kyle nodded. He felt Jaric's trust. Still, something pained him deep inside. But with a determined look, he marched to the lowest step, carefully following Rawlon's earlier lead. "Great Chieftain, we humans do not judge merely by the color of our skins. Our leaders are chosen because of their courage, their valor, and their skills. I am the appointed leader."

Jaric looked over at Becky standing next to him and briefly shared a smile. Becky's eyes sparkled in return as she smiled agreement.

The Chieftain looked uncertainly at Rawlon, who nodded his own agreement that Kyle was leader.

Shaking his head with disbelief, he spoke. "Well said. But a most strange thought to us who know our dark warriors as the bravest. But continue, tell us how we can defeat these T'kaan."

Kyle turned and slowly looked around at the gathered audience. He finished by facing the Chieftains again, a grim look on his face. He spoke, his voice deadly serious. "The T'kaan are not just destroyers of life. They are destroyers of entire races-of entire worlds."

Kyle now turned and faced opposite the raised dais so he could address the Kraaqi throngs.

"The T'kaan live their life in four cycles. The first cycle is war. But the T'kaan fight anunholy war. They make war for two reasons only. First, for the joy of killing. Second, for the propagation of their species.

Because, for the T'kaan to reproduce, they must destroy entire worlds." Kyle paused a moment, staring into the faces of the crowd. "They must destroy entire races."

The crowd erupted, roaring out their anger, a deafening wave of pure emotion. On the stage behind Kyle, Rawlon raised his arm for silence. Kyle nodded. "They are evil. The T'kaan are killers. After they have destroyed an entire race and feasted on its dead, they lay their eggs to hatch their maggot young. This is the second cycle."

"The last two cycles we know little about. They must mate during one of them, but which one we do not know. But there is one other thing we have learned-during the fourth and last cycle, each and every major warship will journey inside the Great Horned ship. For what purpose, we do not know. But of the three fleets we know about, each has this one, mysterious ship." Kyle crossed his arms and looked back to the Chieftains and Rawlon.

"You heard his strong words," Rawlon said to all. "This race called T'kaan love only two things-war and mating. With their never-ending war, they pollute every world in which they come into contact. So then, it is up to us to stop them."

Great cheers went up. Cries for victory roared throughout the great hall from ten thousand throats.

The First Chieftain raised his arm. "Your words confuse, Rawlon. First you say the Kraaqi will be defeated. Now you say we can prevail. Speak true words to us, once and for all."

Rawlon smiled, and knew the time had come. He turned. "We can defeat this great mult.i.tude of warships in one way, and one way only."

A hushed silence swept the room as everyone focused on Rawlon's next words.

"Only a combined fleet can destroy this terrible foe. A fleet the like of which the universe has never seen before. A fleet under the command of myself, the First Captain, leading every ship the Kraaqi can send.

And..." Rawlon paused. "One wing will be composed of the entire Mewiis warfleet."

The hushed silence turned to growing astonishment.

"The other wing will be comprised of the warships of the Hrono..."

Even as the last word came out of his mouth, the ferocity of the shouts came like a hammer blow from the heavens. The thundering of their voices deafened and pounded Rawlon and his companions almost as harshly as physical blows.

Trying to fend off the vocal a.s.sault, Rawlon shouted back, barely heard even by the Chieftain next to him. "They will be under my command! The Kraaqi will lead this great fleet!"

The wall of sound increased, a.s.saulting their senses in wave after wave of sonic aggression. Becky raised her hands protectively to her ears, as did Jaric and Kyle, for they seemed to be the focus of this living nightmare of sound.

Jaric fought against his growing panic, and suddenly turned to Kyle and shouted so his voice was audible in Kyle's ear, only inches away.

"I don't think they like our idea." Jaric paused, fighting his rising panic. "Or maybe they had some bad burritos for lunch."

"Don't be stupid with your jokes," Kyle shouted back. But he knew it was Jaric's way, his way of dealing with pressure. Kyle, too, fought the urge to scream back, to run-to do something. As he stared at the shouting Kraaqi warriors, Jaric's idiotic stab at humor echoed again. "Don't be stupid," Kyle whispered to them all.

Chapter Thirty-Four.

"We can't evacuateentire planets!"

Saris looked at Minstrel's flowing body with outrage. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "Over half of our fleet is either being refitted with the hybrid weapon, or they are in orbit around our shipyards to have it installed. The smaller Trade ships simply don't have the capacity for such ma.s.s evacuations. Nor the time before the impending attack!"

Minstrel brought its form together into a more compact design, but still floated near the edge of the ceiling above the newly promoted Mewiis admiral.

"Then we must accept the losses. We have not heard word from either Mother or the children. The a.s.signed time has pa.s.sed." Minstrel's form pulsated with emotion. "It must be a.s.sumed that the Kraaqi are not cooperating. Perhaps even the Hrono are balking?"

Saris' eyes flinched with pain. "In less than a week, the first Mewiis planet will be taken. Each week after that another Mewiis world will die, along with the children and parents who live there. We don't have time for this age-old bickering!" Saris shouted.

"One would think when faced with the same harsh reality, that the Hrono and Kraaqi would come to the same conclusion," Minstrel sighed.

"Old hatreds are hard to die. Silly things that make us hate each other- differences in culture, ethnic differences..." Saris turned in frustration, the rest of her thought unfinished.

"We Minstrels have always been troubled that life forms can hate another life form simply due to differences in body features. Even something as simple as different shades of skin."

Minstrel took its body and poured it onto the floor in a twinkling stream. As it touched the floor, Minstrel formed its plasma body into the shape of a Kraaqi warrior. The warrior laughed out loud, his feather-hair shaking with his great mirth. In that instant his body flashed, and there appeared in his place a Hrono Technologist, laughing still, his hands now on his hips.

"It is most troubling. These differences in beings, that this variety between life forms should cause such hatred." The Hrono/Minstrel said.

With a wave of motion, Minstrel transformed exactly half of its body. Saris stared wide-eyed at the visage before her.

The left half of the body was Hrono, the right was Kraaqi- exactly half.

Saris bent her head as she studied this surprising form before her. "It seems... familiar." She stammered.

Again the twinkling stream poured, but upwards this time, back to the ceiling.

Saris shook her head. "Sometimes I don't understand it either. The differences in culture, maybe I can.

The Hrono totally destroy their worlds in a way. Covering every inch with their planet-cities, completely destroying the natural environment with their technological powers."

The Mewiis female walked to the large window where bright rays of sunshine were streaming through.

"The Kraaqi are the opposite extreme, spending all of their lives either in their great warships in s.p.a.ce or in their underground cities, leaving each world's surface and its living cycles complete. No matter how dangerous they are."

"There should be a happy balance somewhere," Minstrel mused.

"But enough of philosophy." Saris' head-tail flicked from side to side decisively. "Our Recon ships have discovered the first T'kaan battle group bearing down on Zailia, the outermost world of the Mewiis kingdom. What can I do? I am the appointed admiral of the entire Mewiis fleet now. I command great warships." Her head-tail grew limp. "What can I do?"

"We must hope that Mother and the children can do the impossible," Minstrel said.

Chapter Thirty-Five.

"Even with imminentdanger, the Hrono are preoccupied with technology," Mother said with electronic calm.

"Technology obsession," Guardian added as Mother spoke through his speakers.

"Yes!" Jysar said enthusiastically. "And now I am consumed to understand living technology. What a dynamic concept." The Hrono began pacing energetically around the bridge. "We Hrono have a saying, 'Technology is the key to happiness-the key to life.'"

Guardian's red eyes glowed.

Jysar stared with a wide-eyed excitement at Mother's bridge. "Taking-state-of-the-art hardware andsoftware and integrating them into a powerful warship and then making it alive. What kind of a race created you?"

"The human race," Mother said. "But that is enough, order your people to stop. I must speak with Jasus, the Hrono leader."

"That is not for you to say. You are only a robot." Jysar laughed. "Besides, if we can determine what in your programming has made you sentient, we can possibly integrate that same technology into our own warships, even as we are integrating your hybrid super-weapon."

"Which I gave you. And which I gave to the Mewiss." Mother's visuals focused on the Hrono's face. "I will now give the same weapon to the Kraaqi. My schematics are complete to allow integration with their warships as well, according to the information the Mewiis provided. All I need to do now is to transmit the schematics to the Kraaqi for them to confirm its functionality with their shipboard systems."

Jysar smiled, slowly shaking his head. "We cannot allow our enemies this technology. Besides, you are our prisoner."

Mother reached out with her sensors, but found them effectively jammed by the Hrono, except for the immediate area around where she had landed. She tried sending a communication to Jasus, but realized this, too, was blocked. With the tractor beams holding her tight, she was a prisoner.

Or so the Hrono thought.

a.n.a.lyzing the jamming signals, Mother reconfigured her sensors, but this time on a narrow beam, searching for the source of the beams that held her fast. She found something even better-the power grid that fed each tractor beam.

Mother now focused her processing on escaping, a.n.a.lyzing the configuration and strength of the beams.

Her calculations showed she would need a fifteen second interruption to speed far enough away to escape from the range of the tractor beams. Almost three full seconds had elapsed since she initiated this line of processing.

"Tell your people to stop." Mother repeated.

Jysar placed his hands on his hips. "You must..."

Before he could finish speaking, Mother had transmitted her plan to Guardian.

Stepping forward, Guardian lifted the Hrono and held him firmly in his steel grasp. The Hrono looked around with a panicked glance at his companions.

"Put me down!" Jysar shouted.

Small doors opened from several points in the bridge and Mother raised and aimed the small defensive blasters from their hidden enclaves. In a brief flurry of blaster fire, the other Hrono figures fell limp.

"My weapons are set to stun. Unlike yourself, I have respect for other forms of life," Mother chided.

"What are you doing? You can't..." Jysar began. From her dark, purplish hull Mother opened the hatches for her twelve main guns. As Mother lifted them, she aimed; six toward a point to her starboard, six toward a spot at port. Mother's sensors registered the gathering Hrono response. She also detected no life-signs on the areas she targeted, but she could only hope there would be no casualties among the Hrono.

Huge geysers of concrete and steel erupted as the crackling of raw power from her guns electrified the air all around her hull. Twelve accurately timed bursts fired at the two targets located several levels below her position, effectively knocking out the Hrono power grid in one fell swoop.

In that same millisecond, her engines roared to life.

She slipped over the top of the planet-city and then banked straight up. Her shields shuddered under two direct hits, but with her engines screaming wide open she leapt out of range of the powerful tractor beams that began reaching for her once again as the secondary Hrono grid came on-line. Sixteen seconds had elapsed since she had fired her guns.

The Hrono fighters were already turning to block her way as Mother began her careful calculations. She had only studied the configurations of the largest warships of the Hrono fleets; this was her first study of their fighters.

Now rising above the atmosphere and into low orbit, Mother's sensors once again reached freely. She sensed the orbiting grid of defensive satellites that surrounded Hronosium, and felt their sensors come seeking for her as well. She a.n.a.lyzed them and their intercommunications as they came alive.

It was an impressive network.

Mother primed her super-weapon as she targeted the fighters with her twelve guns. Her sensors also informed her that any communications she tried now would still be futile; she had to get farther away from Hronosium to make her final bid work.