Creation's Guardian Ch. 13A

When Destiny and Life appeared on the beach, Destiny spoke quickly. "Hey, Little Brother. We're really sorry. We didn't realize that Lyssa and her group had escaped all that carnage. We assumed that she had died on Atlantia with the rest of her family. On top of that she's managed to keep such a low profile with her empire that we never even knew the Atlantian Empire still existed until this morning. At the time, Mother was so focused on protecting the planet and the humans from that antimatter explosion that she just assumed the Atlantian race was extinct other than the thirty five half Atlantians created by that wacky doctor. Mother may be very powerful, but creation's just so damn big that even she can't be EVERYWHERE at once. Mother sends her apologies as well. She wants you to know that she wasn't holding any information back from you.

The three of us were really shocked to learn that Lyssa, Sue, Amy, and Kendra were still alive and well after all these millennia. It was never intended for them to be immortal but somehow their DNA has been modified to make that happen. Jacobia's DNA has changed as well. She will never look one day older than she does right now. Excluding you and your women, Lyssa, Sue, Amy, Kendra, and now Jacobia are five of the most powerful women in this universe.

There's one other woman just as powerful as they are and her base DNA indicates that she may have been born Atlantian too. The problem is that her DNA has been so radically modified that it's impossible to be certain. Mother says to warn you that this one's truly evil. She calls herself the Queen of the Dragons and she's been running amok in the Saquira Galaxy for about thirty five hundred years. Mother now thinks this woman's somehow connected to Lyssa."

Bob held up his hand and said, "slow down a bit, Sis. It feels like you're trying to make up for a lack of intel by giving us too much too fast. Let's take a couple of minutes to introduce you two to Lyssa and Jacobia. That'll give us all some time to absorb what you've already told us."

Destiny laughed softly then said, "sorry bro, I didn't want you getting upset with us so I was just spitting out information as fast as I could. Go ahead and make your introductions. We can get back to the Queen of Dragons thing afterwards."

Once the introductions were complete Lyssa said, "I think you're right, Destiny. This 'Queen of Dragons' sounds an awful lot like Carol Thomasin. She was hired by my mother to be Amy's embryonic host. What you'd call a surrogate mother. It appears that the umbilical cord acted like a feed back loop giving Carol some but not all of Amy's abilities. Just before the Battle of Sylkar, Carol was involved in an attempted coup that went horribly wrong. After that, she broke into our psionic lab killing everyone and stealing every serum sample that she could find. We think she mixed them all together then injected herself with the resulting solution. Then she stole my father's private yacht and tried to intervene in the battle on the side of the Groms. She fought against Amy and got her ass handed to her. When she realized that she couldn't defeat Amy she ported out of the battlefield and disappeared. We haven't seen or heard of her since.

If that Saquira Galaxy is the same one she was originally headed for though, I'm surprised that she made it there. That galaxy is twenty five hundred years from the Sylkar system at warp six. She should've run out of fuel, food and other supplies long before she even put a small dent in that distance."

"I'm pretty sure we're talking about the same galaxy and you're right; any normal being would've run out of supplies within a year or maybe two if they went on half rations and kept power usage to a bare minimum reserving most of the energy for the ship's main engines," Destiny replied. "The problem is that we're not talking about a normal being. Hell we're not even talking about a regular psychic. We're talking about a super psychic. Someone with who knows what abilities. For all we know, she could've ported herself there and dragged that yacht along in her wake."

Jacobia shook her head with a soft laugh then said, "you're forgetting some things, Nanna. At our psionic level, food and drink aren't really necessary. We can live off of our psionic energy for extended periods of time. Though I don't think anyone knows exactly how long we can do that. My gut feeling is that sooner or later we'd have to replenish that pool of energy. But I think I have a pretty good idea of how the dragon lady did it." She turned to Destiny and asked, "were there any passengers aboard that yacht? She'd only need one or two for what I have in mind."

"Yeah we think so," Destiny replied. "There's four bodies floating in space just outside of the very first system this Thomasin woman would've encountered. The bodies are definitely Atlantian. Two males and two females. They're perfectly preserved by the vacuum of space and as naked as the day they were born."

"That's exactly what I thought," Jacobia said. "High level psychics can't use a caloric intake to replenish our psionic energy. We have to use the enzymes in pussy juice or male cum. That's why she had the passengers. The last engineering specs for the H.M.S Queen Isabella showed that someone had ordered the installation of stasis fields in every stateroom though it's unclear exactly who ordered it. The stasis fields were highly experimental. They were designed to act similar to cryonic sleeper cells, but without the potential frost damage to body tissue. They showed a lot of promise in beta testing but they were never approved for general use. Which is why I remember it so clearly. My best guess is that the passengers were already in stasis when the dragon lady went nuts tearing up the psionic lab, stealing the serum samples, and injecting herself. She probably woke them up one at at time and with her abilities, dominated their minds and bodies. She wouldn't need to milk them all at once. She'd only need a couple of tablespoons of enzymes to refill her pool of energy. I'm betting she milked each of them one at a time as she needed to then put them back in stasis again. Once she didn't need them anymore; she simply tossed them out a docking port."

"I'd say that's probably a pretty good guess, Jacobia. It definitely fits in with what little information we have at the moment," Life replied. She turned to Bob and continued, "the Queen of Dragons doesn't present any immediate danger to anyone outside of the Saquira Galaxy right now. However, we suspect that'll change as time goes on and her enslaved civilizations build their technological abilities. Mother's bought you more time by removing all the antimatter from the section of the Saquira Galaxy that the Queen of Dragons currently occupies and the remaining antimatter in the reactor aboard the Queen Isabella will be depleted in a year maybe two depending on how much the yacht gets used. After that happens, she'll probably have to pick which star system she wants to hold on to because she won't have the yacht's plasma cannons to threaten people with. The best starships that any civilization that she currently controls will be able to build are nuclear powered cryogenic sleeper ships because the nuclear reactors they'd be equipped with won't have enough energy to power the stasis fields aboard the Queen Isabella even if her scientists could figure out how to duplicate them.

However, there are three species with interstellar capabilities colonizing star systems and moving in her general direction. What will happen when they finally meet up, how that'll turn out, right now is anybody's guess. All three species have natural psionic based abilities. Though none of them have anywhere near the level of power that the Queen of Dragons has. It'll be a very long time before any of them run into her though. The total lack of antimatter anywhere in the sector of space she currently occupies is gonna make it one hell of a challenge for any species to colonize."

"Hmm, well in that case I'll let the bitch sit on the back burner for now," Bob replied. I've got far too much on my plate at the moment to worry about what some tin plated dictator may or may not do a few thousand years from now. In the meantime, I've got a steak and seafood buffet that's waiting to be eaten. Destiny, Life, why don't you two show me how truly sorry you are by joining us for a change?"

"We'll join you at the table, Little Brother. But you know damn well that we never eat or drink anything," Destiny replied.

Bob chuckled softly then said, "the only reason you don't eat or drink is because you view it as a waste of time and that's one thing we seem to have plenty of right now. I think the two of you should use a little of it to savor a few of Nature's many gifts. It's the least you can do. After all your mother went through all the trouble of creating them for us to enjoy." He grinned then said, "Are you gonna join us or do I have to ask The Boss to make it an order?"

Life rolled her eyes as she shook her head then said, "you're too late, you little pain in the ass. Mother's already said we have to do it." She turned to Destiny and said, "come on, Sis. Let's get this over with."

Destiny and Life were shocked to discover that they truly loved the variety of flavors that assaulted their senses as they enjoyed their first meal. Destiny especially loved the hot apple cider laced with rum and a cinnamon stick that Bob provided instead of his usual white or red wine. Life couldn't decide what she liked best. She absolutely adored everything. She was still picking at all the different items as the meal wound down.

Destiny noticed Life still picking at the food. She laughed then said, "it's a good thing we can't get fat, Sis. You'd be as big as a castle right about now if we could."

Life giggled then said, "yeah I know, right." She turned to Bob and continued, "all right, Little Brother, you win. You're right, we should join your meals more often. That was delicious! I've never experienced anything quite like it before. You may have just spoiled me forever."

Lyssa sat back with a groan then said, "Life's right that was fantastic! Thank you Bob, I can't remember ever enjoying a meal so much!" she turned to Cassandra and said, "you're a lucky woman, Cassandra. You're Queen of Creation. You've got a very handsome husband, and he actually cooks too! What more can a girl ask for? Don't worry, I plan on keeping my legs closed. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't love to be you."

"You have my blessing to take him for a test drive if you ever change your mind, Lyssa," Cassandra said with a smile. I'm not the jealous type and I'm sure Bob would love it."

"Thanks but no thanks, Cassandra. Not that I wouldn't love a good fucking. But I value being an independent woman far too much to let my wet pussy do the thinking for me. The last thing I want or need is to be bound and bonded to someone no matter how delicious their dick may look. Don't take that the wrong way. All I'm saying is that it wouldn't work for me. I've ruled an empire for thousands of years and I'm too used to giving people a good kick in the ass when they've needed it."

"Don't worry about it, Lyssa. I understand what you're trying to say, and in your particular case, I tend to agree with you. I think the binding and bonding process would break your spirit. Neither Bob nor I would ever let that happen to you. The same goes for Jacobia as well. She's just as strong minded and independent as you are. Neither one of you would ever be comfortable being submissive," Cassandra said with a smile.

After he sent the governors and their teams back to their assigned planets Bob turned to Lyssa and asked, "why'd you choose this particular time to give up your crown?"

"There really isn't any simple answer to that question, Bob," Lyssa replied. She took a sip of her cider as she tried to think of a way to explain her reasons. She set her glass on the table, folded her hands under her chin and continued, "I've been working up to this for a very long time. I realize that what happened today wasn't exactly my fault. But my orders set a chain of events in motion that could've brought about the deaths of nine billion people. My orders, my actions, my responsibility. So yeah, all of that did play a small part in my decision making process. I had planned on abdicating my crown to Jacobia sooner or later anyway though. So all today's events did was to move up my timetable some. I've ruled the Atlantian empire for more than six thousand years and I'm tired, Bob."

She paused to gather her thoughts again then laughed softly and continued, "I'm no different than anyone else. In the beginning, I didn't want the damn job. But as the only surviving member of the royal family, I really didn't have a whole lot of choice in the matter. The truth is I was terrified of all that responsibility. My dad and my mom taught me everything I needed to know to rule the empire and I knew that sooner or later I'd have to assume the crown.

However nothing in the universe could've prepared me for the disaster that dumped the crown in my lap. The way that war ended was horrific; untold billions of lives ended in a nano second. That doesn't include the countless billions who died on both sides when whole planets were destroyed during the hundred years the war lasted. All those lives lost because of greedy and xenophobic people on both sides. It was all so senseless. Now you know why I've kept my empire hidden all these millennia. My people will never again be a party to that kind of death and destruction. Not as long as I have any say about it anyway.

Unfortunately, the two planets we currently hold can't support my empire forever. Resources are beginning to be consumed a bit too fast which means it's time to find another world to colonize. That'll expose the empire to the rest of the galaxy. I have no idea what kind of problems doing that will cause. It's been more than six thousand years of peace and tranquility. My people have grown complacent. They're too set in their ways. They need new leadership to inspire them." She held her hand out palm up toward Jacobia and continued, "what could possibly be more inspiring than a beautiful, intelligent, young queen full of fresh ideas, and new ways of doing things? The older generations may not be interested in colonizing new worlds. But the ones that are really important for the task, the younger ones; they'll see her as THEIR new queen. They'll follow her to the ends of the universe if she asks them to.

Beyond all that is the fact that I've achieved everything I originally set out to do. The Atlantian Empire of today is actually stronger than it was when my grandfather stepped out of a shuttle and on to Meridia, the first colony world outside of the original Atlantian star system thousands of years ago. We have a fleet of battle cruisers, heavy and light cruisers, destroyers, and transports with fully trained crews that's more than adequate to defend the home worlds and a colony. Add to that the armies of Imperial Marines and Atlantian Special Forces we have available and I believe we should be able to fend off any attack.

My grandfather and my father made the mistake of allowing the first Atlantian Empire to expand faster than they should've. They didn't have enough starships and trained personnel to protect every colony world. The Groms saw that for the weakness that it was and exploited it. At first they just used captured colonists as slave labor. Then when my dad built up the fleet enough to begin taking back the colonies, the Groms began slaughtering colonists in retribution. As the war went on, the Groms became less interested in taking colonies intact and began using planetary bombardment to wipe out the colonists and seize the planet. My father responded in kind hoping to teach the Groms a lesson.

It didn't work. The Groms escalated to using antimatter missiles which made a planet useless for colonizing. My dad just built sealed radiation proof habitats underground which allowed him to continue using them for military bases. Then came the planet killers. Special high yield antimatter missiles designed to burrow deep into a planet's core before exploding and causing a planet to shatter into asteroids.

You know the rest. A small group of us survived that carnage and rebuilt the Atlantian Empire of today. We're at the point where we need to expand again. But the last thing we need is to make that same mistake. The current plan is to colonize a single planet. Then build it up until it's able to support and defend itself before moving on to the next one. The biggest problem is that our military technology hasn't advanced all that much over the millennia. We've spent most of our resources on technologies to make life easier and better for people."

Bob nodded his head and said, "I wouldn't change your budgetary priorities just yet,Lyssa. I may be able to help you out a bit with some new military technologies. But right now, it's getting late. We can talk more about this another time." He turned to Cassandra and continued, "Sweetie would you please see to it that Lyssa and Jacobia get settled into the suite across from ours? I'm gonna spend some time at the hospital visiting my kids and their mothers."

"Don't worry, Master, I'll see to it that they're comfortable. But I think you should take Artemis, Hestia, Demeter, and Asimah with you. The four of them have been in labor for the last hour."

Artemis smiled and said, "we've been ready to deliver our babies for a while now, Master. We've been drawing on our magic to hold them off until you were ready for us."

Bob frowned as he said, "why didn't you...oh never mind. We'll talk about that later. Let's just get you four to the hospital."

to be continued...