Chapter 18

Jon stood slightly behind the commander of his guard. The situation didn't look very good, they were cut off for their section of the palace. Banging from the other side of the doors leading into his section told him that the doors were locked. The planetary gun were still firing, letting Jon know that the siege of the Marudas was still underway. He knew action was needed and soon or they would loose everything.

Jon stepped forward as he spoke, "Captain, what is the meaning of this?"

A large marine covered in battle armor stepped forward from the other group of marines. He bowed slightly before speaking, "Prince Hunter, I have been ordered to escort you the audience chambers."

Jon raised an eyebrow, "If the King wishes to see me all he has to do is ask."

"I'm asking you to come with us, please my Prince," the Captain replied.

Jon nodded as he turned to Deatra, "Take half the guards and go into our section of the palace."

"Sire, I'm sorry but I must request that the Princess escort you and all of you guards return to you section," the Captain said.

Jon looked back at him, "I'm not going anywhere with out some guards, at least my personal guards. The Princess will return to our section until I find out what is happening here. Once I'm sure everything is ok I'll be more than happy to bring her to the King and Queen."

As Jon was speaking his com unit crackled and Rick's voice filtered into his ear. "Admiral Hunter this is the Atlantis." Jon had to hide the small smile that was forming on his face.

"Sire I have orders I must follow, and one of them is to bring the Princess with you to the audience chambers," the Captain replied firmly.

"So, once again we find ourselves in an impasse. You can't act and I'm not willing to just do as you wish," Jon said, he stared hard at the Captain.

The Captain shook his head, "This discussion was already expected, I have been order to inform you we will stun you and drag you if you refuse. This is from the King, and I quote, "The time for childish games is over, he will do as asked or be forced to do it." So please my Prince come quietly and for once don't cause a stir."

Every gun around Jon and Deatra cycled as they were leveled at the Eutharan marines, the Captain blanched visibly. Jon glared at the Captain, "Do not threaten me Captain. Trust me when I say you will loose this battle. My people are under attack, from who; I have a good idea. I will not go anywhere without my guards and I will not put my future wife in danger. You want me to go see the King, fine I'll go see the King. But, I will be taking my guards and the Princess will be safe behind the doors of our section. The choice is yours, how many deaths do you want on your hands? Because I guarantee when the fighting breaks out on this side, my people from the other side will break through the doors."

The Captain looked around; the several large marines dressed in black battle armor worried him the most. They were the ADF's elite and he had seen them sparing. The royal guards surrounding Jon and Deatra were just as deadly. This situation wouldn't go well for his troops. Sure, they might take down some of the ADF soldiers, but his losses would be high. Then there was the possibility the Prince or Princess would be hurt. That would not go over well at all, stunning was one thing, wounding a completely other matter. He would have to make a choice and make it soon or this situation would get out of control. He watch Jon, he was speaking quietly into his comm.

Several large fires dotted the surface of the Marudas, breeches in her hull allow the atmosphere to escape and the fires to burn. Constant barrages from the planet had buckled several bulkheads and had their shields almost depleted. Carla sat in the command chair trying to decide what to do, they had lost communication with the Atlantis an hour ago. Her options were limited and time was running out, she had to figure out how to get out of this situation.

"Captain," the Comm Officer said. "I have an incoming communication from the Atlantis."

Carla bolted up from the chair she was sitting in, "Put it through on the main viewer."

Rick's face appeared on the main viewer, lines and noise distorted the view. "Marudas what is you status?" his garbled voice said.

Carla turned to her communications officer, "Can you clear the signal up?"

Shortly after the question was asked the officer shook his head, "No sir, there's still massive interference coming from the surface and surrounding ships. I'm amazed we're getting anything at all."

Carla turned back to the garbled screen, "Commander, this is Captain Taldage. We have taken damage to several decks and several systems are offline. This includes our damage control systems, we're unable to seal the current hull breeches and put out the fires that are burning on multiple decks."

"We copy that, we're about to engage the ships holding you in orbit. When we attack break and make for a higher orbit. We have been in contact with some people on the surface. They're having their own problems, I have been ordered to get you out of danger and to help assist repairs until our back up arrives. We will make our way to the abandoned shipyard in orbit and make that our base of operations until this little coup is put down," Rick said.

"You're back up is already here Commander. We stand ready to assist you as needed," Olissua's voice said.

Grins broke out on both Calra's and Rick's face, time to pay some people back.

Opellissa hesitated as she realized that Terri was her sister-in-law and what was being asked of her she couldn't proceed with. Terri sensing the momentary lapse made her move, elbowing Opellissa in the gut and spinning out of her grip. Opellissa gasped as the air rushed from her lungs and tried to take in a breath just as Terri's armored hand closed on her throat. Opellissa looked up into the shiny visor of her sister-in-law as she dropped her hands at her side in surrender.

Terri stared at the defeated assassin through her visor, expecting at any moment to have the fight resume. That's when she heard the howl and a shape fly past her, Terri kept her attention on the woman in front of her. The battle was now raging around them, as the Eutharan marines had closed the distance. The ADF was holding their ground, but it wouldn't be long before they started being overwhelmed.

"My sister," Opellissa gasped. "Forgive me, I had no idea who you were and that my sister was alive and well."

"Sister? You're Deatra's sister?" the surprise showed in Terri's voice. She relaxed her grip, allowing Opellissa to breathe normally once again.

"Protect the Princess and her allies," Opellissa gasped to one of her assassins who had been standing ready to make a move the moment that Terri made a mistake.

"As you wish," the woman bowed and touched her finger tips to her forehead. She then turned and motioned the rest of the assassin's to disperse and carry out their leaders command.

Opellissa nodded, "Yes, I'm a princess too. Though, I gave it up to train to prepare for the arrival of 'He who brings Chaos'. You brother is that person and a lot of people are afraid of what he brings with him."

Terri's visor rose, exposing her face, "Why would people be afraid? My brother wants nothing more than to live in peace."

"Your brother will upset everything my people know. But, the prophecy states our savior will be wed to a missing princess," Opellissa said. She slowly rose to her feet once Terri released her grip.

Terri gave a little hrump as she said, "That's my brother wrecker of dreams, builder of hopes."

One of Terri's guards ran up and saluted, "Captain, the Eutharan marines are withdrawing."

Terri nodded, "Ok prepare to load up. We're going to drop in on the palace, I have a feeling my brother will need us."

The guard nodded and moved off to carry out Terri's orders.

Terri was about to ask Opellissa another question when bloods curdling scream cut the air. Terri and Opellissa spun around towards the sound and saw Sam running towards them the dogs and Kayla close on her heals. Tears covered the little girls face and Kayla's was wet as well.

Guns hummed as the Atlantis flew past one of the ship that had the Marudas pinned into low orbit. Hunks of metal flew off and small explosions rocked the ship. Two of the unknown ships had already fled, the third and fourth were nothing more than scrap metal in a twisted heap. The only ships left were the Eutharan Home Guard Fleet.

Rick watched was the guns lanced out again and tore into the ship, "Cease fire on that ship, send a general transmission demanding their unconditional surrender. Have the William Hawkins escort the Marudas to the shipyard. Have her dispatch SAR teams a head of them to work on getting it online."

"Sir, I have a General Iafase, asking to speak to you," Coms reported.

"Put him through," Rick said.

The image on the main viewer shimmered and changed to show an older Eutharan who saluted when he saw Rick. Rick returned the gesture, "What can I do for you General?" Though he already knew what the call was about.

The older man stared at Rick for a second before speaking, "Me and my fleet unconditionally surrender."

Rick nodded, "All of your ships are ordered to power down all weapons and to await a detachment of marines. Once that is done we will access the situation and move those ships that need major repairs to the shipyard first. Any deviation or if I even think you're planning anything, I'll not hesitate to open fire and turn your ships to dust."

"You will have no problems from us; we await the arrival of your marines," Iafase replied.

Rick nodded, "If you don't mind General, I need to issue orders and then I'll call you back."

The image faded and the General nodded, "I'll await your call."

"Ops put priority on those ship damaged the worse. If needed dispatch additional SAR and engineering team to the shipyard, I want it up in running in two hours max. Dispatch system patrols and set up listening posts on the second and fifth planets. I don't want anyone sneaking up on us. I want the William Hawkins placed on a short range patrol, they're not to engage any enemies by themselves. We will do planetary and shipyard defense, setup all fighter patrols for defense of those two objects," Rick said.

Rick sat down in the command chair, he was thinking about the outcome of the battle. Jon had told him not to send help, just to secure the space around the planet. Now if things were going good on the surface they just might be able to pull Jon's plan off.

Jon walked in the center of his marines. Eutharan marines and Royal House Guards surrounded them as they made their way to the Main chambers. The Captain of the guard had made some good choices and had saved many lives. After a little more debating and rattling of weapons, he conceded to allow the Princess to enter her section. Jon agreed to accompany them to the main chambers without any more problems. The only stipulation was his guards would accompany him.

Jon had received word that the Atlantis had rescued the Marudas and that the William Hawkins had arrived and was on patrol. They were now making their way to the old shipyard to effect repairs. It had been a plan of theirs ever since they had arrived. Jon had Atlantis contact the computer on the old shipyard and get a diagnostic run down. It would require a major overhaul to be an effective shipyard, but it would do as a repair station. The shipyard couldn't do any major repairs but it would be able to effect simple repairs and manufacture replacement parts.

There was still no word from Terri and the troops at the air station. He had hoped to hear from them before entering the King's Council Chambers. However, as they approached the doors it looked as though that wouldn't happen.

The Eutharan Captain walked up to the double doors and ordered the two guards stationed there to open the doors. Beyond the doors was blackness, no lights shown in the room. This was unusual; the chambers had always been brightly lit. Jon glanced over at the Captain standing at the doors, concern was on the mans face.

"Enter," a voice boomed from the darkness.

Jon stepped through the doorway, his guard in a tight ring around him. Several of them turned on the external lights on their suits. The illumination from these lights barely cut through the blackness.

Slowly Jon moved towards where the raised dais was. The doors shut slowly the Eutharan marines had stationed themselves in various positions outside the doors. Jon and his guards were effectively cut off and alone. He slowed his steps almost stopping in hesitation.

"I ordered the marines to station themselves outside the chambers so we could conduct our matters in private," a voice said.

Jon peered into the darkness, "You're not the King, who are you?"

"My Prince, you're very perceptive. Where is your soon to be wife?" the voice said.

"Safe," Jon replied.

Lights flared and lit up the darkness. Jon had to blink several times before his vision cleared. Then gasped at what he saw before him.

Lying in a large pool of blood at the foot of the dais was the King and Queen. Seated on the throne was Duke Nadeo. Jon had knew the man was treacherous, but this was far beyond the boundaries of reason. Jon knew immediately what the Duke had wanted Deatra present, she's is now the Queen of the empire and he is soon to be King. Nadeo would rather have had them both in on place to eliminate them. Jon stared at the Duke, hated filled his mind. Thoughts of what Nadeo would do if he got his hands on Deatra. None of the thoughts was pretty and they only helped to enrage Jon even more.

The final battle was at hand it could only end two ways for everyone here. That was what Jon was thinking when the Duke's marines entered the room and leveled their weapons.