The Pilgrimage Ch. 05

Erica gasped then whispered, "oh no; not again. Please,Daddy; not now."

Although Morrigan's sharp ears had heard Erica's soft plea, she decided it was best not to show it. She took a step forward towards the man, having no doubt in her mind that that Erica was terrified of him. So was Morrigan for that matter, but she dared not let it show. Her instinctive need to protect Erica and her absolute trust in the Goddess Banba gave her the courage she desperately needed to face this monster. Trying to maintain her bravado, Morrigan sheathed her sword and placed her hands on her hips looking at the man, her eyes filled with scorn and a look of disgust on her face. "Who are you, and how dare you come in this room intoxicated and acting like an ass?"

The man just snorted and looked at Morrigan with disdain. ""who the fuck do you think you are? You trying to turn my son into some worthless whore like you?"

Morrigan realized there was something... off about the man and that this situation was far more dangerous than it appeared to be at first. Without taking her eyes off of him, she sent out a quick telepathic message. "Vanessa, Kelli, Aileen, I need you."

As the man turned and drunkenly stumbled towards Erica, Morrigan caught a glimpse of something metallic in his right hand. She leapt forward placing her body between him and the crowd. Morrigan grabbed his wrist keeping it between her body and the crowd just as Vanessa, Kelli and Aileen appeared. Vanessa realized instantly what was happening and grabbed the man's arm, twisting it up behind his back and forcing him to let go of the gun he had been hiding. Vanessa quickly hid the pistol in her breastplate so that no-one in the room could see it as Kelli grabbed his other arm twisting that one behind his back as well. Kelli slapped a pair of handcuffs over his wrists and breathed a sigh of relief.

Once Morrigan was sure the situation was under control and the man was restrained, she looked over her shoulder and saw Erica had her hands over her face, rocking back and forth sobbing. Morrigan turned back to Kelli and said "if that prick moves a muscle; cut off his cock and balls!"

Kelli placed her right fist over her heart then snapped her arm out straight as she said, "as you command, My Queen." As Morrigan walked away, Kelli whispered in the man's ear, "do it! Give me an excuse! I so want to turn you into a unic for what you've done to that poor girl."

Feeling the point of Kelli's sword poking at his balls from behind, the man didn't dare move or speak.

Morrigan weaved her way through the crowd and dropped to one knee in front of Erica. She placed a hand on Erica's shoulder letting some of the strength she had received from her goddess flow into Erica. Erica felt the warmth from Morrigan and looked up in surprise as Morrigan softly said, ""Is that worthless piece of shit the so called father you've had to deal with all these years?"

Erica spoke as the tears streamed down her beautiful face. "Yes, I'm soo sorry, My Queen. I never thought he'd come here and pull this shit in public. I should've known better though. He's been getting really bad ever since my mother died."

Morrigan gently wiped the tears from Erica's face. "don't blame yourself, Sweetie; it's not your fault he's an ass. He'll NEVER hurt you or anyone else EVER again, I promise."

As she stood and turned away from Erica, a righteous fury came over Morrigan. She had never been so angry before in her entire life. Her gorgeous emerald eyes were as hard as steel as she weaved her way back to where Vanessa and Kelli were holding Erica's father. When she got there, Morrigan turned back to the crowd and said, "I'd strongly suggest that those of you with children return to your quarters. I've got a few things to say to this... thing and they're not gonna be very nice."

Once all the mothers had left with their terrified children, the room got deathly quiet. Morrigan spoke in such a cold voice that it sent shivers up and down everyone's spine. "What's your name?"

He growled deep in his throat before replying, "now why would I tell some stuck up bitch, who's a wannabe tin plated dictator, with delusions of being a queen, what my name is? I didn't come here for that. I came to get my lazy, good for nothing son to..."

CRACK! Morrigan backhanded him so hard and so fast that it sounded like a pistol shot and caused his head to whip to the side with enough force to give him a bad case of whiplash. Morrigan's fury grew as she spoke. "Keep talking like that; sooner or later you'll get me angry enough to rip your tongue out of your mouth with my bare hands. Erica's not your son, she's your daughter; get over it, you homophobic little prick! I'll tell you something else. Erica's the bravest woman I've ever met. She's got more courage in her little finger than you have in your whole body. Erica's a woman; respect her as such, or there'll be hell to pay!"

He snickered as he stood straight. He was a few inches taller than Morrigan's five foot eleven inches but out weighed her by at least a hundred pounds. "God created man to rule over woman. it's been that way since the beginning and it'll stay that way until he decides to end us all. If you think he's gonna let some dumb slut rule the whole human race, you''ve got another think coming. I've let you play at being the queen bee long enough. Once I'm out of these cuffs I'm gonna turn this whole ship and everyone on it into rubble. SON, YOU'D BETTER GET YOUR USELESS ASS OVER HERE AND TELL THIS BITCH TO GET THESE FUCKING CUFFS OFF ME NOW," he yelled. The whites of his eyes turned red, and he began to foam a little at the mouth.

Could this crazy son of a bitch have a bomb planted somewhere? Could he actually destroy the Ark, killing everyone on board? Morrigan's faith in her goddess said no. But that didn't stop her from worrying that something might have slipped by. After all, there was that incident with Frank Rupo a while back.

Morrigan clenched and unclenched her fists as she took a few deep breaths trying to calm her rage and her fraying nerves. She slowly shook her head then locked eyes with Erica's father. "you stupid asshole. You have no idea what you've just done. Erica isn't just under my protection. She's also being protected by the goddess Aphrodite. If you had been smart enough to keep your drunken mouth shut; you would've only had to deal with the two of us. But by threatening to destroy the Arc; you're gonna have to face all the gods and goddesses now. I really pity your stupid ass."

"Protection? Don't make me laugh. I ain't afraid of no mythical gods and goddesses. My God is the only real God and he ain't no fucking pansy. Don't even try telling me that some goddess that doesn't even exist can stop me from beating the shit outta my useless son." He was really starting to slur his words and swaying back and forth.

Morrigan was so enraged that she was about to draw her sword and send his head rolling across the rec room floor. The only thing that stopped her was the appearance of Aphrodite and Banba, one on each side of Morrigan.

Banba laid her forearm on Morrigan's shoulder with a smile. "Relax, My Child. there aren't any bombs. He couldn't get access to the materials needed to make one. There's only a select few that have that kind of access."

Aphrodite spoke. "You were right Morrigan. This piece of crap WILL have to answer to all the gods and goddesses. But don't waste your pity on him. He's not worth it. He's a mean drunk and that makes him a danger. Rest easy; He's our problem now." With that, Erica's father, Banba, and Aphrodite disappeared.

Morrigan walked back over to where Erica was sitting. She knelt down on one knee again and said, "it's over, you're safe now, Erica.

Erica gave Morrigan a sad smile. "You don't honestly believe that do you? I've been through shit like this my whole life. My father, my mother, all the kids at school. Now everyone aboard this Ark knows too; it's never gonna end."

Morrigan's eyes teared up. She felt so bad for Erica. Morrigan knew Erica was right. No matter how good an example she set as queen; there were always gonna be homophobic assholes just waiting to bully Erica. A sudden thought came unbidden to Morrigan... what if...? In less than a minute Morrigan completed the thought and analyzed the pros and cons. Her decision made, Morrigan grasped Erica's hands in hers. "Do you trust me enough to put yourself in my hands?"

Although Erica was stunned by the question; she thought about it honestly. Did she really trust her queen? After everything Morrigan had done for her; the care, the kindness, and the compassionate understanding Morrigan had shown her; there was only one answer Erica could give. "Yes, unequivocally! I trust you with my life! There isn't a doubt in my mind about that, My Queen!"

Morrigan gently pulled Erica to her feet. "Good, come with me." Morrigan brought Erica over to where Vanessa and Kelli still stood while they watched Morrigan with curiosity. Morrigan placed one of Erica's hands in Kelli's "I expect you to train her well, Kelli."

Kelli grinned. "I'll work her sexy little ass off and teach her everything I know. By the time I'm finished, Erica will be powerful enough to be your personal bodyguard, My Queen!"

Erica's eyes were huge, her mouth hung open, and she was stunned beyond words. When Erica finally found her voice. She locked eyes with Morrigan and asked, "you wanna make me a Kelli? How will that change anything?"

Morrigan answered Erica's question with one of her own. "Would you EVER mess with a Kelli, Erica?"

"Okay, I get it. But do you really think I can do it? Become a Kelli I mean."

"Absolutely! But you have to want it. Do you really want it Erica?"

"OH MY GODS, YES! But don't I have to have my surgery first?"

"Yes. but if you go and get it done now, Aphrodite can heal you and do her thing to finish your transformation. You can be ready to begin your training first thing in the morning if you want."

Erica gave a surprised Morrigan a kiss on the cheek. "I'm on my way to deck five right now! I promise you I'll work my ass off. I may never exceed my teacher's skill; but I'm damn sure gonna give it my best shot!" Erica turned and jogged out of the rec room as everyone there clapped and wished her well.

Morrigan turned back to the remaining crowd. She smiled then said, "once again, thank you all for coming. May your gods and goddesses watch over you. May they always protect you and guide you along the path of righteousness." She walked out the door then ported back to her quarters.

Megan appeared a few seconds later her face beaming with pride and her eyes sparkling with happiness. She threw her arms around Morrigan hugging her fiercely and kissing Morrigan passionately; their tongues jousting sensuously like medieval knights of ancient Earth. Megan finally broke the kiss looking up at Morrigan as she gulped in huge breaths of air. Once Megan caught her breath she smiled and said, "well done, My Love. You handled Erica's father perfectly. Making Erica a Kelli was a stroke of pure genius! There's always gonna be a few assholes. But overall I'd say that your people are finally beginning to settle down. Their admiration, love, and trust in you is growing by leaps and bounds! You can't even begin to imagine just how proud I am of you right now!"

Morrigan leaned down, gently brushing her full lips across Megan's soft smile. "thanks Meg. I love you too. I couldn't do the things I do without your love and support. You make it all so much easier for me. I honestly don't know what I'd do without you in my life." She took Megan's hand bringing it to her lips kissing it softly then said, "you have no idea how bad I wanna just throw you on the bed and fuck you senseless right now. But duty calls again. It's time we found out what Kylie wants."

When they popped into the astrophysics observatory, Kylie pulled Morrigan in for a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She placed her hands on Morrigan's shoulders and said, "that open forum was great! You were fantastic! I'm really proud of you sweetie!" She tipped her head to the side and continued, "take a look at that tactical display." The display was focused on a solar system consisting of eleven planets. Two of which appeared to be in the habitable zone.

Morrigan studied the tactical map carefully but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. She gave Kylie a confused look and said, "all I see are a bunch of planets. I don't see anything special about them. What am I missing?"

Kylie smiled and said, "I'm gonna have to teach you how to read these displays sometime." She pointed to the fourth and fifth planets. "These two planets are about the same size and have roughly the same populations. My guess is that one's the homeworld and the other is a colony. I don't know why, but they're at war with each other. See these two yellow dots here and here? Those are spacedocks. Our sensor array is a hell of a lot better then theirs so I've been able to watch them attacking each other with destroyer class ships for the last few days. The strange part is that neither side is attacking the spacedocks, they're only attacking the other's planet. It's like both sides are trying to beat the other into submission. Their technology is about even so it's gonna be a long, brutal war for the both of them. Before it's over, the cost in lives will be in the billions.

We can't stop the Ark to directly intervene. But, we may be able to shock some sense into them and put a stop to it all. In about an hour or so we'll be within range of their long range sensor arrays. Right now we're still cloaked, so they won't be able to pick us up. I was thinking that if we dropped our cloak long enough for you to hail them and play a clip of Earth's final moments, you might be able to give them a glimpse of their future. It may, or may not, be one of those light bulb moments for them. But I'll feel better knowing we at least tried. Lugh and I built a universal translator into our COM systems so you won't have any problem understanding each other. Their ships are nowhere near fast enough to catch up with us, so there's absolutely no danger to the Arc or your people. Their communications systems are pretty good too. There'll only be a couple of seconds latency between transmitting and receiving messages if you decide to give it a try."

Morrigan thought for a few minutes then said, "I'm not sure how much good it'll do, but I realize this is really important to you. I'll give it my best shot. Do I have to make contact from here, or can I do it from the command deck?"

"Thanks Morrigan; I know you can't make any promises. But I appreciate the fact that you're trying. This station is a back-up tactical station so it has a built in communications terminal. But the command deck also has a fully functional communications station. You can use either terminal you want."

Morrigan closed her eyes for a few seconds then said, "I think I'll use the one on the command deck. Have my full battle crew meet me there in full battle gear. It'll be a little more imposing that way. I'll head up there now. Just let me know when we're in communications range. Okay?"

When Morrigan and Megan appeared on the command deck Aileen, Kelli, Ashling, and Vanessa were already there waiting for them. Morrigan gave everyone on the command deck a quick briefing then said, "Uncle Pete, can you turn up the amplification on the outgoing transmission? I want my voice to really boom through their communication systems."

Pete laughed then said, "that's a great idea! I can make your voice sound like it's coming from everywhere at once! That should definitely get their attention!"

Athena suddenly appeared on the control deck. She looked at Morrigan and asked, "Could I speak to you in private for a few minutes?"

Morrigan nodded, rising from her seat, leading Athena to her quarters. She sat in the easy chair waiving Athena to the sofa and asked, "What can I do for you Athena?"

Athena smiled and said, "nothing at the moment. This is more about what I can do for you. None of the Celtic gods and goddesses can help you with what you're about to face. But I can, at least a little bit. As you know, I'm the goddess of strategic warfare. So I have more than a little expertise with these kinds of situations. Banba's asked me to do what I can to prepare you now, because once you get started, even I won't be able to get involved.

First thing to remember is that you can't possibly make the situation any worse than it already is. This species is on a course for self-extinction and worse case is that they'll stay that way. You've been given all the skills and knowledge to pull this off but if you get stuck, seek Vanessa's help. She's an expert in strategies and tactics.

No matter how nervous or scared you get, don't let it show. Remain calm, bold and focused. Trust your instincts. Be fluid enough to shift your strategy as the situation changes. Watch for weaknesses, and exploit them if you can.

I'm gonna fortify your courage, resolve, and self-confidence. All you have to do is to have faith in yourself, and remember what I've told you. I know it's not much, but with the time we have, it's the best I can do. We still have a little time. Do you have any questions?"

Morrigan shook her head with a soft laugh. "Yeah about a million or so. But we don't have that kind of time. Are you sure I can't make things any worse? You said be bold what did you mean by that?"

"Worse case, they'll kill each other off, but they're already headed down that road; so don't worry about it. When I said be bold; I meant just that. Don't try to negotiate; order them around like you expect them to obey you without question. Make sure there's consequences if they fail to obey. You only have a little more than an hour and a half before you're out of their communications range, so you'll have to move fast and be forceful to pull it off in time."

"Okay; I get it. This isn't gonna be easy. But if I keep my head on straight, I can do it. Thank you for all your help, Athena. I mean it; I really do appreciate it."

"it's my pleasure. Glad I could help, Daughter of Erie."

Morrigan and Athena returned to the control deck where Morrigan took her seat. Morrigan waved Vanessa over to her and said, "I may need your help with this one, Sis. Can we link minds for the duration?"

"Of course we can! You know I'm always here for you. I'll always help you in anyway I can; that goes without saying, Sis."

Morrigan squeezed Vanessa's hand as they linked minds. She quickly ran through Vanessa's strategic and tactical knowledge and devised what she hoped was an appropriate plan then said, "put on your best poker face, and no matter how scared I get, keep it there. If we show the slightest sign of weakness, what I have in mind won't work."

"I see that. If you get stuck; I'll feed you my ideas telepathically."

A short time later, Kylie notified Morrigan that the Ark was now in communications range. Morrigan looked over at Vanessa. She showed Vanessa her two crossed fingers and gave her a slight nod. She took a deep breath letting it out slowly as she steeled her nerves. Then she ordered the cloak lowered and had Pete open a hailing frequency. "Attention warring planets! This is Queen Morrigan absolute ruler of this section of space! Reply to this hail and cease all hostilities immediately or face my wrath. Look and see what happened to the last species that tried to defy me." She had Pete play the last few minutes of Earth's destruction.

Almost immediately two huge aliens appeared on opposite sides of the view screen. They were about eight feet tall with a dusky brown fur. Their heads were slightly oval, tapering to a long pointy chin. They had big black eyes, two holes for a nose and several rows of small teeth. There were four arms on their short torso and two very long muscular legs balanced by a long thick tail. The alien on the right side of the view screen growled then said, "I am Talar, supreme leader of the planet Rastok. You are a puny little thing. We do not fear you. Go away and pester someone else, little mouse." His eyes widened with alarm as another alien pointed to the huge ship now clearly visible on their long range scanners.