Victoria's Challenge (31 page)

“You think they’re heading for the border?
” Peter’s eyes stare hard into Lucas.

“It’s a Regulian battle fleet, there’s only one place they
would be heading.”

“How long until they pass?”

“I don’t know for sure. I shut everything down as soon as I read the scan. I don’t know how fast they’re traveling. I’d guess eight to ten hours, they normally travel at Warp 4, but they can travel faster. Our short range will be able to pick them up undetected, which will let us know.”

“This ship doesn’t have defense capabilities?
” Peter questions.

“It does, not enough to take on an entire fleet.
” Lucas looks down as he feels Victoria go lax against him. Peter watches him pull her closer. Looking to his wife, he sees they are in similar positions.

“Tell me
what happened to my daughter.”

“What do you remember about that day?”

“Everything. Cassie bringing you to the cabin, Tori’s fascination with you, not being able to find her after you’d left.”

“Did you see the first explosion?”

“We’d just gotten to the shelter.”

“It hit the meadow
. Victoria was trapped in that meadow surrounded by fire.” Lucas’ eyes darken as he remembers.

“The
y homed in on your transmission,” Peter accuses.

“No
, they didn’t.” Lucas’ eyes spear Peter. “Hot Dog and I followed them there, they were already tracking.”

“Tracking
? Tracking what?”

“They attacked Chester first, destroying it before we could intercept
. What was in Chester?”

“Nothing, there was nothing in Chester
.”

Lucas knew there was
. He’s had cycles to think about it. “Where was your grandmother put to rest?”

“What
? Grams? What’s she got to do with this?”

“She was abducted by the Regulians when she was young.”

“I…” He can tell he’s caught Peter off guard that this isn’t what he expected. “How does that relate to Victoria?”

“She
too was abducted by the Regulians.” Lucas pauses, seeing the pain in Peter’s eyes. “They weren’t looking for her.”

“What?”

“They were looking for your grandmother. They implanted a thread in her arm, to find her again.” He sees Peter pale as he looks at his daughter.

“Yes, she had one too.”

“Gram’s was buried in Chester.” Peter quietly says.

“Yes and that’s the first signal they tracked, it’s why they destroyed the town
. Once we destroyed their Strikers, the Regulians sent more, carrying nukes.”

“Why?!
” Peter demands. “Why did they do this… to my daughter… to our planet…”

“To stop the return of the true Queen of the House of Knowledge.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

Lucas sighs th
an quickly looks down as Victoria settles even deeper into his arms. Reaching behind him, he pulls a blanket down to cover her.

“There’s a great deal you don’t know
. I don’t know if you’ll understand it all.”

“Are you questioning me
, boy?” Suddenly the leader of a shock troop is staring at him.

“
Your ability to learn? With a sister like Cassie and a daughter like Victoria? No, but you won’t understand it all, not right away.” He sees Peter stand down.

“When Victoria was abducted
, they were looking for your grandmother, the young girl they’d taken before, fifty cycles earlier. The Regulians aren’t the smartest species, just the most brutal. The thread they implanted in your grandmother was hard to track. When they found it, Victoria in the garden, with the source close, they thought she was your grandmother.”

“I…”

“They quickly discovered their mistake. That’s why they put another thread in Victoria, hoping she would lead them to the Lost Queen.”

“You’re saying they would have found us whether you were there or not.”

“Yes they would have.”

“Because of Tori.
” Peter watches Lucas’ eyes harden.

“If you
ever
say that to her I’ll make you wish we’d left you on Earth.” While his voice is low, there is no doubt of the threat or the promise.

“Lucas
… what’s wrong?” Victoria mummers in her sleep, she felt him tense. Forcing himself to relax, he leans down to kiss her hair.

“Nothing, nothing’s wrong, everyone is fine
. I promise, sleep baby.” Feeling her nod, Lucas’ eyes turn back to Peter.

“I wasn’t blaming her, she was a child.”

“You’ve blamed her before.”

“I was out of line.”

“Don’t tell me, tell her, she’s suffered ever since she remembered, blaming herself.”

“She shouldn’t.”

“No, but you need to know, if she’d been in that shelter with you, you’d all be dead.”

“What are you talking about
?”

“The second bomb, it was nuclear
. If Victoria had been with you...”

“The shelter wouldn’t have survived a direct nuclear hit.”

“No.”

“She
survived...Cassie survived...because they were with
you
.”

“Yes
. We got them off the planet. They lost the signal. That’s when the Regulians started bombarding your moon until they were able to cause a large piece to enter the Earth’s atmosphere.”

“That was the third hit
. We felt it but didn’t know what it was.” Peter is silent. “That’s why there was so much devastation.”

“Yes
, when we realized what they were doing, we had to pull our fleet out. There was nothing we could do.”

“Cassie and Victo
ria?”

“Were on the Retribution, safe.

“What’s this Queen you’re talking about?”

“Carina is ruled by Kings and Queens, five in total
. Over twenty five hundred cycles ago, the heir to the House of Knowledge and a Prince from the House of Protection disappeared. They were life mates but because they were from different Houses, they could never be married. So they left.”

“What’s that have to do with Victoria!”

“All royals have a birthmark.” Lucas holds up his forearm to show his.

“Birthmark…
” He sees Peter make the connection.

“Your grandmother had one
, on the inside of her right calf.”

“Yes
… but Victoria doesn’t.”

“No.”

“Cassie does.”

“Yes.”

“You’re telling me, that my
sister
is the lost Queen from some distant planet, and that’s why the Regulians attacked Earth.”

“
Simply put, yes, but none of it is simple. Your sister is Queen Cassandra Qwes Zafar of the House of Knowledge. It was the most powerful House on the planet
before
her reign, it’s more so now under her rule.”

“Victoria said something about her being married.”

“Yes, to my father. High Admiral William Zafar.”

“He has a birthmark
? Like yours?”

“Yes.”

“It’s not like Cassie’s.”

“No, my father and
I are from the House of Protection.”

“So how can they be married?
” Before Lucas can explain, Cyndy starts to cough. Victoria immediately wakes.

“Easy mom,
it's okay. Cough it up.” By the time the attack ends, she’s pale and exhausted.

“Lay back mom,
shhhh… it’s okay.” Victoria wipes her mouth. Getting the syringe, she adjusts it and gives her the injection. As she falls asleep, Victoria looks to her father.

“How you holding up dad?
” The eyes that meet hers are devastated.

“She’s getting worse
,” he whispers.

“No, she’s not
," Victoria instantly denies. "Dad, she’s keeping her food down, that means her body is responding. She’s just struggling with the dust.” Readjusting the syringe, she looks at him. “Time for your booster and meds.” When he nods, she gives him the shots. “What do you need? Some soup?”

“No.
” Peter picks up Cyndy’s hand.

“Victoria…” Lucas sets two plates down on the table. “You haven’t eaten.” She looks at the sandwich on the plate and sighs. He’s right. She needs to eat, moving to sit next to him she begins to eat.

“How long was I down?”
she asks, looking at Lucas.

“
Barely an hour, you need more sleep.” Nodding she takes another bite. “How’s the leg feeling?”

“I’m fine.
” Victoria just continues to look at him. “Once you’ve eaten, you can check it yourself.”

“Dad, you need to rest while mom is.
” Victoria looks to her father to find him watching them. Slowly he nods then closing his eyes lays his head back. Victoria looks questioningly to Lucas, knowing she’s missed something. Lucas just meets her look.

“Eat.
” Finishing the sandwich, she rises.

“I’ll do that.
” He takes the plate from her as he heads to the galley, Victoria picks up the scanner.

“Sit.
” She orders him and scans the wound. “It’s healing nicely but I still want you to have a booster, you lost a lot of blood.” Giving him the booster, she goes to rise.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“I want to check on Brett.” Following her, he watches her scan her brother then run a finger across his pronounced cheekbone.

“He’s beautiful isn’t he?
” She doesn’t need to look to know Lucas is with her. He looks at Brett and can’t argue. He is a good-looking boy, even malnourished.

“I suppose boys don’t like to be called beautiful.”

“It’s a girly term.”

Victoria turns her eyes to him
. He’s beautiful too. Lucas would be embarrassed if she told him that but it's true. That he waited all this time for her is amazing, there had to be plenty of women vying for his attention.

“What?
” Lucas caresses her cheek not sure what he’s seeing in her eyes.

“
Just thinking.” She gives him one of those secret ‘woman’ smiles that always makes him wonder. Reaching for the syringe, she gives Brett a booster. “This has to be so hard on mom, not being able to take care of him. Mom… she never just stood by, she always took charge.”

“Sound
s a lot like her daughter, a daughter who needs to rest if she’s going to continue to help them.”

“I know.
” Standing, she turns to Lucas. “I just….”

“Worry, I know
but I’m here to help.” He leads her out of the room.

“You need to rest too.
” She sees his eyes harden. “You know as well as I do that once we start following the Regulians, we can’t stop. I can spell you some but you know it won’t be much.”

“I’ll handle that as long you take care of yourself.
” Sighing she lets him pull her close, they both need the contact.

“I love you Lucas.
” Tired green eyes met his, the love easily seen.

“I know
. I love you too.” Leaning down, he gives her a soft kiss. “Now I want you to lie down and sleep.”

“On the couch, I need to be close to mom.
” Understanding her needs, he nods. “You’ll lie down with me?”

“Yes.”

Waking to d
immed lights, Victoria sits up. Running a hand through her hair, she looks to find her parents sleeping. What woke her? Rising, she moves quietly to check on Brett, he too is sleeping, entering the cockpit, she finds Lucas frowning.

“What’s wrong?
” Leaning over the back of his seat, she wraps her arms down and around him. Lifting a hand, he caresses her arm.

“These
results don’t make any sense.”

“What are
you running?”

“I’m trying to calculate where the Regulians are.”

“I thought you didn’t know their speed.”

“I don’t,
I’ve been running scenarios for different warps from their last known position.”

“Okay….”

“Even at Warp One they’d be to Earth. I should be able to run an undetectable low grade scan and find them.”

“But you can’t?”

“No, I can’t find them anywhere.”

“Lucas, that’s not possible.
” She looks out at the stars.

“I know
, it’s like they’ve disappeared. I know they were entering the Relinquished Zone.”