Date: Sun, 07 Dec 2008 13:24:18 -0500
From: Ron <wolfwalker2@verizon.net>
Subject: TEEP chapter 50 Cycle 2 Rise of the Dragon Lords

Catching himself on the bio-tube's frame, Fred glanced briefly at all the
blood on the floor before taking a deep breath and looking up at the
monitor. After logging in and activating the deep scans, he found to his
frustration he couldn't do most of them, the system kept reporting back no
sensors emplaced. Growling his frustration, he brought up the automated
report and sighed in relief, "Well, Aaron is going to be fine I think, or at
least this damn machine says he will be," tracing the initial scan with his
finger, "The bullet seemed to nick a small artery slightly, and most of his
problems stem from blood loss. Which the machine is fixing," Fred told them
as he noticed Pat in the other bio-tube being careful of the slick floor he
made his way over there and brought up the reports, noticing that there were
sensors on Pat, he looked at the deep scan reports, "This is not possible!"

Sighing in relief, Kevin moved from where he was holding Tim and Pete so he
could see what Fred was talking about, "What's not possible?" Tommy asked,
being the last to arrive, still very much shaken by witnessing Friedrich's
sudden collapse and recovery.

Fred looked back over his shoulder at Tommy in shock, "Pat is suffering from
usage overload and breakthrough fever, it shouldn't be possible as he very
clearly is not in puberty," Fred pointed at Pat's crotch as he finished
reading the report.

Everyone stopped as they heard a knocking from somewhere, Fred turning
around trying to find the source looked shocked as he saw Aaron wave from
inside the bio-tube. Rushing over he tried to start the release cycle and
failed at every attempt, the system just would not let him access the
controls.

"I don't have a lot of time before the Autodoc puts me back to sleep because
of elevated brain activity, so I need to tell you I will be fine after being
released. I won't soon forget the lesson of keeping control of my temper and
watching my surroundings." Aaron pathed, and even though they felt the
amusement they felt how tired he was. "Pat will be in the bio-tube at least
a week, until I get out of here in thirty hours or so, he had a traumatic
breakthrough, I'll have to talk to him when he wakes to find out why."
Everyone felt the primal fear of drowning come from Aaron and jumped, "the
down side of emergency activation," he got out as he controlled his fear.

Feeling himself slip away as the Autodoc changed the chemistry of the mix
being fed through the IV cuff, "Love..." Aaron sent before going limp as the
Autodoc took control once more.

Kevin looked around at the scared group, someone needed to take control,
"Fred set the cleansers to scrub the med bay so we can get rid of all this
blood, then we all need to shower and get cleaned up, or at least those of
us covered in blood." Glancing at Xon who looked like he had the most
control right now, "Xon, I need you to get dressed and go over to the
Asclepius and find out what the hell happened and to show our displeasure to
whoever shot Aaron," letting the hate he felt right then show in his stare
he nodded once Xon stood up straight and nodded in acceptance. "David, take
Kenny and the other youngsters to the hot springs, comfort them, I am going
to go to the Core with Pete and..." he trailed off as he looked for the best
person and Mark stepped forward at the same time Brian did. "Brian and Mark
will be going with us; we need to find out if and why a reset was not
ordered."

Seeing Tim frowning and looking put out, Kevin walked over, "Tim, I need you
to take control of the military, make sure they know Aaron will be fine,
just out of commission for the next thirty hours, if something comes up,
handle it with extreme prejudice."

Nervously clearing his throat, Richard got their attention, "I think I need
to go with Xon, after all if this happened on the Asclepius I might need to
get answers from my grandmother."

Kevin thought for a moment, this was not something he would normally ask as
retribution could occur to his family, or at least it was a very real
possibility until they found out what had happened. "Let him go, love," Tim
placed a hand on Kevin's chest as he sent that message privately one to one.

Nodding to Tim as he hugged him, "Alright Richard, find Xon and hurry, so
you don't miss him."

Orders given for now, Kevin placed a hand on the bio-tube with Aaron
floating in it and sighed, letting a brief tear fall before wiping it away,
he would be strong for the rest of the guys, later, when Aaron was awake and
out of the bio-tube, he could afford a meltdown. Last out he noticed the
bright red glow turning blue as the cleansing cycle started; walking out of
the med bay, he missed the half awake smile on Aaron's face.

Richard ran down the stairs and slid to a halt in Xon's room and saw he was
getting dressed in his battle armor and he gulped, "Kevin said, I could go
with you, to act as a link to my grandmother."

"I will provide an over cloak like mine, please get dressed," Xon fastened
his over cloak around his shoulders, as well as picking up his fang of honor
and sliding it into his belt, going over to the shelf he placed the circlet
on his head, the one that showed he was an adult of the Clan. He had no idea
how it happened just one morning he woke up and noticed the changed circlet
sitting on his shelf, it had changed showing his adult status, it had
secretly pleased him and he built a shelf to showcase it as a constant
reminder he was home.

Waiting for Richard to return, Xon logged into the Asclepius security system
and started a replay of the events from that morning. He was finding it very
hard to control the rage he was feeling as he watched the one guard shoot
Aaron. Hearing and indrawn breath behind him Xon glanced over his shoulder
to see Richard standing there pale and shaken, "Come here, Love," pulling
Richard tight as they watched the video replay he had to agree with
Richard's, "Oh my!" as they watched Pat port in and kinetically throw the
second set of onrushing guards into the bulkhead.

Watching Edward take a pistol and shoot one of the guards Xon straightened
as he realized that Edward was lost in Shyder, the fight to the death to all
challengers during the bloodlust of mating. Reaching over to the desk chair,
he quickly grabbed up his extra cloak and placed it on Richard's shoulders.
He had just secured it as his head shot up as he heard another gunshot and
saw the time stamp on the monitor, this happened two minutes ago. "We need
to go now before Edward loses himself to the bloodlust," was the only
warning he gave Richard before porting both of them to the triage deck of
the Asclepius in time to see Edward hand the gun over to Frank.

Colin waited until Frank had a good hold of the pistol before moving closer,
"Edward, let me help make sure you will not have any problems from this, let
me help you." He asked softly as he moved forward, making sure he radiated
he was not a threat.

Edward hesitated before shaking his head no, he could not take the chance
that what he had in his head would get out to anyone but Aaron or the Clan.

"Come to me Edward," Xon commanded as he held up his hand to stop Colin from
moving forward.  Turning so Colin could see his face, "No disrespect
intended, but Edward has knowledge of the Clan that he does not feel should
be available to others, that is why he refuses, I shall take this duty
myself." Smiling gently, Xon placed his hands on either side of Edward's
head and felt Edward place his hands over his, "My mind to your mind
Edward..." Xon told him as he trailed off and linked their minds together.

Richard looked around and sighed as he took in the half melted console,
pulled his P.A.D.D. out and tried to link it to the system. Not being able
to link in, he growled in frustration as the system was well and truly
fragged it seemed. "Pete, the Asclepius is locked down and Code 99 is
blaring over the speakers, what does that mean and how do I shut it up, the
triage deck console looks melted."

After some lightening fast conversation where they determined that there was
no way to stop the destruction, Richard frowned as he walked in circles
around the prisoners, it was on his second circuit that one of the prisoners
tried to trip him and he kicked the man in the temple that he said something
to the Marines, "There is a perfectly good brig on the shore why are they
still here?"

Sergeant Reynard looked around and shrugged, "Mainly because no one told us
what to do with them, so they are being kept here."

Frowning in disgust, Richard glanced up at the tall Marine, "Strip them then
lock them in the brig until someone gets around to draining their minds of
information. Then take your teams to that one's office and arrest everyone
there," Richard pointed to the man on the floor, the one responsible for the
whole mess. Seeing and sensing the Marine's confusion and hesitation Richard
pulled the chain around his neck and freed the medallion so it was displayed
on his shirt.

Reynard, wondering if he should follow orders from this young man was
shocked as he saw the Clan medallion being drawn from under his shirt and
snapped to attention ,"Sir...Yes, Sir, right away." Turning towards his men he
snapped out, "Alright you heard the young dragon, drag these sorry excuses
for humans to the brig and strip search them...Double Time, Move out," he
yelled as he grabbed one of the closest prisoners by the arm and ported out
with him.

Free to pace again, Richard looked at Xon and Edward and saw they were still
mind linked, and stopped when he heard back from Pete, "Richard we consulted
the Core, there is no way to stop the self destruct of the bio-tubes from
your location, there is a possible fix by offloading the bio-tubes to the
trauma center, but there is no guarantee that the self destruct would not
infect the hospital and cause the whole place to also have a meltdown."

"What a costly waste, all because of someone wanting to control our
technology, I ordered the marines to go to the health department and arrest
everyone there; we need to find out what or who is behind this power play."
Richard told them before asking, "is it normal to take this long as you work
through what you had to do, Xon and Edward are still not moving?" motioning
Thomas over, as Kevin told him it varied from person to person, there never
could be a standard timeframe.

"Thomas, I need to contact grandmother, do you have your cell phone on you?"
Richard asked as he moved over towards the door and looked out at the site
foreman and a bunch of heavy equipment attempting to haul out the
helicopters from the bay.

"Sorry Richard, the one I have is dead right now; I forgot to plug it in
last night. We are about to be invaded by the Royal Marines led by your
uncle and Andrew I think, they should have a satellite phone with them,"
Thomas stood behind Richard and was glad he was acting so calm and
thoughtful, he was still bothered by what he witnessed Edward do.

Bringing his P.A.D.D. up, Richard activated the search function and found
the link to Andrew and Edward's terminal back at the palace. Smiling as it
went live he tapped the side of his head after pulling the mic down, "Andrew
can you hear me?"

Holding a hand up to stop the increasingly outlandish scenario's, Andrew
pulled his mic down with every person now looking at him, "Go ahead Richard;
I hear you clearly what the bloody hell is going on."

Glancing back at Edward and Xon, Richard started down the gangway, "Well, it
is hard to figure out right now what really happened other than Aaron got
shot by some private security firm on the orders from someone from the
Health and Human services department. They arrived by helicopter this
morning and took over the Asclepius, held the residents and doctors hostage
by threatening to shoot kids if they ported out. Where are you and can you
relay to grandmother, the Queen needs to be informed what has happened and I
think she needs to take steps, quickly."

Covering the microphone Andrew looked at his father who was piloting their
helicopter, "Where are we and how far out from the Elswick docks are we,"
looking over the co-pilots chair at the communication officer he told him
before his dad had a chance to answer, "Patch me through to the palace I
need to talk to the Queen."

James glanced over at the GPS and replied, "Twenty miles out and
approaching..." hearing a warning over the radio he pulled up fast causing
Andrew to pitch forward  then back as he stopped the chopper. "Red Flight
halt forward and hold we have been warned off...I repeat hold this position."
Glancing over to the co-pilots seat with his younger son hanging off of it,
"Sorry Andrew I was just warned off by the commander of Eagle flight, I
thought it prudent to stop before getting shot down they don't sound too
friendly right now."

Nodding his head as he checked his seat belts again, "Richard we are holding
twenty miles out, we just received a verbal warn off from the commander of
Eagle flight, can you tell them to let us in."

"Tim...Can you recall the Screaming Eagles, Uncle James and Andrew just got
warned off and I think the situation is secure here for the moment anyways,"
Richard pathed as he looked around and stared at the partially completed
hospital.

"Okay, I'll recall them, but if it comes back to bite us in the ass, you
know what will happen," Tim mentally answered while he motioned for the CAG
to come over.

"Take a look at the security video, what Edward did after Aaron ported out
should be proof enough to anyone that the crown did not sanction this, for
heaven's sake Tim, Edward was shooting people in the head if they did not
answer his questions, Xon is still linked with him trying to help him deal
with it," Richard let some of his frustration creep into the mental
conversation.

"I trust you and your family Richard; I just had to warn you of what could
happen. I can't imagine what Edward was going through, if anyone other than
Aaron can help Edward it is Xon he has the years of control from his Kathat
upbringing to fall back on, he'll be alright." Tim told him as he turned to
the CAG, "Recall the Eagles, tell them to stand down."

"Thanks Tim, do you think Derrick can come over here, we need to know if we
can get the hospital functional, or part of it, the Asclepius is self
destructing and there is not anything we can do to stop it," Richard asked
as he made his way down the dock and waved at the site foreman to get his
attention.

"I can do better than just asking Derrick to come over," Tim smiled as he
appeared behind Richard, "I can come over too."

Hugging Tim, Richard heard the tell tale thumping of a helicopter
approaching and turned towards the front gate and saw several red
helicopters approaching, "Looks like Grandmother is sending the cavalry."
Tapping his communicator again he watched the helicopters land on the other
side of the fence, "Andrew can you relay to the Queen that on the surface it
appears that the health and human services bureau tried to do an armed
takeover, although where in the world they got the private guards with guns
of all things I would really like to know."

"Best warn her our marines are going to London to arrest the whole
department," Tim pathed Richard as he saw Derrick appear between the family
wing and the partially built hospital and glance their way before jogging
towards them.

Bryon seeing he was being waved at, walked towards the group, he picked up
the pace when he saw someone appear behind the lad in a shimmer.  "It will
be a little bit before we can fish out those helicopters I'm afraid, the
water is a harsh mistress toady and not wanting to give them up." He trailed
off as he noticed young Derrick jogging towards them.

Moving to the edge of the docks and looking down Tim pathed Pete, "Pete can
we get a collector array over here to clean up the three drowned choppers?
They're blocking part of the harbor."

Pete looked over at Kevin, "Well we can't use the ones assigned to Sol
Station, the building cycle for the Crèche is in progress and I don't want
to stop it for three measly choppers, I think we can use the one over in
Hawaii for a short trip if you can port it over for me."

"Go ahead Pete, I'll meet you in the replication suite in a few minutes, I
need to check in with David first to make sure the hunters are all okay,
they're taking this very hard," Kevin nodded his agreement and watched Pete
port out, turning the corner he smiled as the group he was going to checkup
on came around the corner. Giving each of them a hug and kiss he left Fred
until last and handed over a small dark blue chip with a red strip down the
middle as he hugged him close enough to whisper in his ear, "We picked this
up from the Core, it will give you override privileges to the bio-tube that
Aaron is in, if you think he can be released without harm this will give you
the authority to do so."

Clutching the chip to his chest Fred smiled as he kissed Kevin back,
"Thanks, I'll let you know before I do anything, so we all can decide
together, but this at least should let me know what the hell is going on."

Smiling as Fred walked towards the med bay, Kevin shook himself out of his
thoughts and ported to the replication center, he had a collector to move.

"Leave the choppers in the sea, we'll be sending over something to get rid
of them shortly," Tim told the site foreman as Derrick joined them.

"I got your message Richard, now what do you need to know about the hospital
again?" Derrick nodded at Bryon as he asked Richard to repeat himself, fully
this time.

"The Asclepius is dying, or self destructing, there is no way to save him.
As soon as each patient is released the equipment hooked up to them is going
to self destruct, those fools when they tripped the fail safes have doomed a
lot of people, unless we can get the hospital up and going relatively on the
quick side." Richard explained, as he watched the site foreman out of the
corner of his eye, "While we are talking about getting the hospital up and
running, Tim can we get a couple of WD758's to patrol the grounds, so this
doesn't happen again?"

Paling at hearing the young prince explain things, Bryon looked at the
hospital and was distracted when the large beach ball size object appeared
hovering above the downed helicopters. He was surprised as shimmering beams
of light shot down into the ocean and he watched in amazement as the
helicopters dissolved under those intense beams.

"Well Bryon, if you are going to amaze us with your skills at beating
schedules, now is the time to do it," Derrick broke into Bryon's thoughts as
the rest of the helicopters set down outside the fence line and started to
disgorge armed troops who set up their forward positions facing away from
the fence line.

Shaking his head as the large silver metallic beach ball disappeared after
taking care of the three helicopters Bryon rushed to catch up as the three
had started towards the hospital. "Um...well, we have finished the first
section to the plans specifications, so roughly half the hospital is ready
for your teams to come and fit the equipment and final cable runs of
whatever." Pulling his notebook out of his pocket, he smiled and gave the
first good news the three had heard all day, "As luck would have it, we are
ahead of schedule, the first half is ready for your lads right now and the
second half will be ready come Monday, a whole five days early," laughing,
Bryon put the notebook back in his pocket, "Well, more like a month and a
day early but, hey, we had a secure and on time supply line and incentive to
do the job fast. I'm actually going to miss working here with people who
know how to get the job done."

Richard relaxed and smiled as he saw Xon and Edward walk off the Asclepius,
he saw how twitchy Thomas looked and skimmed the man's mind and pointed him
out to Tim, whispering, "I think Thomas needs to have a mind to mind chat
with someone from the clan, he's awful twitchy right now and very
uncomfortable with what Edward did."

"I'll have Friedrich talk to him and help him out, one professional to
another," Tim glanced Thomas's way and saw what Richard meant, Thomas looked
shell shocked, like some of the homeless vets he had passed on the beach in
Florida what seemed a lifetime ago, their eyes and manor were the same as
Thomas's now.

Standing still, the two groups converged on their spot, Xon and Edward
reached Tim and Richard along with Derrick at the same time Andrew and his
dad reached their side. Richard was surprised and pleased when uncle James
pulled him into a hug and then he remembered, "Uncle James, you need to tell
grandmother that the Alteran Marines are on their way to seize control of
the health and human services branch, they are going to arrest everyone in
that office so we can find out who gave the order to seize control of the
Asclepius."

James looked at his nephew in surprise before nodding as he moved away to
call his mother over the satellite link and update her before Scotland Yard
took offence.

"So, if you could get rid of those helicopters so fast, why in the world did
you hire us to remove all those old buildings and pay out all that money?"
Mind still on the incredulous feat he had witnessed Bryon asked as they
entered the front half of the hospital, the section that was finished and
ready for the final interior work.

Deciding to be upfront about it Tim glanced back at Bryon, "Well, we could
have built this whole thing in two days, but Aaron is committed to investing
in your country, so we paid you to do the work." Going through the open
archway past where the information desk would be, Tim and the others
examined the empty rooms, set up in half circles and halfway down the
hallway he stopped and asked, "Xon how soon can you get a team of MRB's in
here to do the final finish work?"

Xon looked around, pulling his P.A.D.D. out of his pocket he brought up the
list of quantum signatures on file and saw Aaron had uploaded the signature
files for the medical equipment, "The Reliant should return around seventeen
hundred hours today. Once he is in orbit, I will be able to use the onboard
suite to initiate construction, do you by chance, have the final schematics
that list what treatment wards and equipment go to which pods?"

PADD

"Pete has the final draft, but I should have a copy here on my P.A.D.D.,"
Derrick told him as he pulled the device out of its pouch. Activating the
P.A.D.D. and looking through his notes he found the file he was looking for,
"Yes, I have it here, it looks like it is current to last week so it should
be the one you need," he copied the files onto one of the isolinear chips
before popping it out and handing it over.

Xon pulled one of the extra chips out of his backup supply and handed the
empty one to Derrick as he placed the chip with the project files in his
P.A.D.D., "This is satisfactory for my needs, once the Reliant returns, I
shall direct the completion of this section of the hospital. With Kevin's
help making the linkage connections in the morning the hospital shall be
ready for patients by nine am local time." Looking at Richard he asked,
"Will that be satisfactory for your purposes Richard, or do you need me to
expedite the process by recalling the Reliant early?"

"It should be, I don't think patients start to show up much before nine
anyway, the problem is that the Asclepius was acting as the local emergency
hospital for this area, and now that he is dead there might be problems if
people show up thinking that they can get help," Richard looked around to
see if anyone had any ideas.

"Blimey, how fast could ye lads have built this hospital then?" Bryon was
shocked and glanced around to the group of some of the most powerful young
men he had ever met.

Placing hand on Xon's arm as he started to answer Edward smiled at Bryon, "I
don't think that is something you really want answered, let's leave it that
Aaron and his people believed in us, to such a degree that they were willing
to let us build the hospital and pay us to do the work. And they are willing
to continue providing jobs for our people as they funnel some of their
wonderful technology into our country."

"Right you are your highness, jobs for the average man puts food on the
table for the wife and kids, I don't be needing to put my nose where it
don't belong," Bryon's face turned red for talking above his station, "I can
have my crews out of the building by Monday morning for the final walk
through. I'll keep the lads out of this half while we finish up the other
side." nodding and giving a wave Bryon walked out of the hall and made his
way to his crews, he had a building to finish and get weather tight.

"Right, there you lot are," James said as he walked into the room, "I just
got off the radio with mother, she ordered the MP's in charge of health and
services detained, she plans to hand them over to your troops so they can be
mind scanned." Leaning against the wall James sighed as he looked out into
the empty hallway, "To put it mildly she is pissed, even the stunt your
parents pulled Richard was minor to how mad she is right now."

Staring at Edward with concern written in his face James asked, "Any word on
Aaron and how he is doing, or what happened to him?"

"The original wound was not the problem, the problem was the bullet nicked
an artery. One of the smaller ones but he lost a lot of blood, that's what
put him in the bio-tube for repairs." Tim told him and looked over at
Edward, "He'll be fine and up and around soon, he told us telepathically it
was a good lesson for him to control his temper, he needs to make sure he
never gets so angry again and forgets his surroundings."

Edward sighed in relief, "So, he will be okay then, I wasn't sure when I saw
all that blood." Tremors hit Edward's body as he flashed back to a short
time ago, feeling a tight grip on his shoulder he looked up and smiled as
Xon stared intently back at him. It gave him the time to control his
emotions and pull himself back into the here and now. All further
conversation stopped as every one of the Alteran's including Richard stopped
and looked up as if listening to a conversation.

James looked at his sons and noticed they acted like this happened all the
time and this was normal, he thought it was rather spooky himself, though
come to think of it they probably were listening to a conversation being
telepaths and all.

Returning to here and now and looking at Andrew and Edward the group gave
one final look between themselves before Xon told Edward and his brother,
"the Reliant is back ahead of schedule, curious...I of course will go and
prepare the MRB's for deployment." He gave one last squeeze to Edward's
shoulder before porting out.

"The Reliant? Is that not the huge space ship Aaron showed us over our long
weekend away," James blinked back in surprise as something he had heard
finally clicked into place, "Wait one moment...Aaron's title, part of it says
something about leader of the Sixty four worlds of the empire! I assumed it
was just a title like the ancients used to give themselves, do you mean to
tell me there are actually sixty four different worlds out there under his
control, that he actually has an empire?"

Giggling, Richard looked over at his uncle James mischievously, "It's up to
sixty five now, and  another new world has passed its fifty years of testing
so it can be colonized now."

"How many people realize this, and why aren't you being hounded by people
wanting immigrate to one of these worlds," James asked as he walked into the
room and looked between Derrick and Tim.

"I don't know, I know the Emperor of Japan is going to have discussions with
Aaron over a colonization project and the King of Denmark I believe it was,
contacted Aaron soon after the UN meeting for the same thing." Tim glanced
at Derrick before pathing Kevin, "Kevin, Edward's father was asking a
question that got me wondering, why haven't we been snowed under with emails
requesting interviews to colonize one of the planets, I mean there are
millions of SCIFI nuts out there that should be, as Edward's father puts it,
pounding down our doors trying to get off world?"

Kevin sat back in the chair in the dining hall, not believing what he was
hearing, thinking about it, "I don't believe the world knows about it, only
a few of the world leaders picked up on what Aaron said that day, they have
been pretty tight lipped as emails have been sent back and forth, if I had
to guess Aaron has been putting them off until after our move."

"I'm sorry Kevin, it is harder than I thought it would be to keep up a solid
front to the world, but until Aaron gets out of the bio-tube the only thing
I can think of is to make sure the world at large does not realize what
happened. And we get to answer insane questions like this one, otherwise
people would start to get suspicious," Tim gave Kevin the mental equivalent
of a hug before glancing back towards the Royals. "The answer is pretty easy
on that one, Kevin just told me that what was said at the UN meeting really
did not go public and only two monarchs actually listened to what Aaron said
then and they are talking about setting up a final meeting sometime soon.
Afterwards I imagine that Aaron would make an announcement to the world at
large and we will be neck deep in requests."

"I think Edward," James looked at the confused look on his oldest son's face
and told himself he would talk to him on the way back to the palace. "Mother
and I need to sit down and discuss this in full then, it will change the
fabric of what we are trying to do drastically."

"We need to leave this section now," Tim interrupted them after getting a
message from Xon, "the MRB's will be arriving in a moment and we don't want
to be in their way as they finish this section." Ushering the others out of
the room he started towards the front doors, once outside he looked around
and saw the Marines patrolling the fence line in full body armor and sighed,
this was supposed to be a hospital not an armed camp.

Spotting a milling crowd of people near the entrance to the old naval
hospital, Derrick nudged Tim and started walking over to find out why they
were not visiting their family members on board the Asclepius. A short walk
later they entered the reception area to find it packed with worried parents
and loved ones, "Hello, why are you all hiding in here instead of visiting
up at the Asclepius?"

"Well Governor, we just weren't sure it was safe to be out and about, what
with all those government bastards ordering us around this morning at
gunpoint. Then with your lot swooping in...well we be standing here waiting
for the word to go on back up."

Tim frowned and glanced at the roving patrols, "Didn't one of the Marines
tell you everything was under control," he was thinking that there had been
another breakdown in communication and he was going to have to jump
someone's ass over it, maybe venting would relieve some of the stress he was
feeling right now.

"One of those right scary soldier boys did stop by and tell us it was safe
to be out and about, but we decided to wait for word from some one less
scary," a woman in the back told him.

Mimicking Xon, Tim raised an eyebrow and looked at Derrick who shrugged and
then he stared at Richard who just smiled and sent, "It's a British thing
really."

"Well it is very safe to go on up to the Asclepius and visit if you want to,
the people who tried to take control this morning are in prison and will be
tried quickly for their crimes and more than likely this time tomorrow they
will be begging mercy at the pearly gates, trying to keep from being sent
straight down for what they did," Tim told them with a smile. "So if you
want to go visit loved ones or let your children outside to play, feel free,
you are very safe right now. I doubt anyone else tries to do anything like
this again, especially after Aaron and your Queen get done with the whole
health and services department."

Moving to one side as the people started to walk past, smiling at them and
giving them their thanks and plenty of god blesses sent on their way Tim
tried very hard not to fidget while the royals took it all in stride and
Derrick just nodded and ignored it. He was starting to realize what Aaron
went through all the time and he was not going to tease him anymore over
being the King, not if this is what he always had to put up with, by the
gods the people were practically worshiping him, inside he was cringing and
finally as the last of them walked out of the building he sagged in relief.

"I hate to cut this short, but we need to return home, there are things that
need to be taken care of." Tim smiled as he motioned for Richard and Derrick
to come over to his side, while thinking yeah like hiding under the bed
until Aaron gets out, how the hell does he make this look so easy, he needed
a hug and a kiss badly. "Andrew, Edward, I believe Richard was going to stop
by tomorrow to pick the two of you up, let's keep it that way for now and I
look forward to hearing you explain your homework assignments tomorrow," he
laughed at their expressions.

"But...But, Aaron didn't mention any assignment to me," Edward looked
horrified as he looked at his brother in shock, "Did he mention an
assignment to you Andrew?"

Confused, Andrew shook his head no and looked at Tim who was smiling,
figuring he was being teased, Andrew's fist shot out and lightly smacked
Tim's arm, "You prat you had us worried."

Tim pouted before laughing, looked over at James, "Just so you know, I have
a feeling once Aaron wakes up, he will be doing as Richard suggested and
installing several WD758's here to patrol the grounds, it might be a good
idea to makes sure not a single one of the troops you brought with you are
here when they arrive." Eyes hardening in cold anger Tim gazed out of the
door, "Anyone who enters these grounds with a weapon...well the drones
patrolling have only one setting and the person will be dead before they
realize they were even spotted."

"Right, then I best have a word or two with the colonel, hadn't I," James
blanched as he walked out of the old naval hospital putting as much distance
as he could between the pissed of Clan member and himself.

Tim pulled Edward into a hug before releasing him and repeating it with
Andrew, "We'll see you guys tomorrow," smiling at the surprise that was
planned, "I think both of you will like the surprise Aaron has planned for
you this weekend."

Smiling as he left the two of them pleading to know what the surprise was,
he ported out followed by Derrick and Richard who waved at his cousins as he
smirked at them.

Arriving back at the Clan dining hall, Tim glanced around as he saw everyone
but Xon was sitting around comforting each other, on the second glance
through he realized that Fred was missing also and stared at the med bay as
he walked over to fall into the seat next to Kevin, "How are you holding
up?"

"I'm holding on barely, I never knew how much Aaron did to hold us together,
let alone the kingdom," Kevin sighed as he rubbed his eyes, "I think we've
had half the kingdom through the Clan Hall since you've left, everyone
wanting to know firsthand that Aaron will be okay."

"I know what you mean, I only had a small taste of what Aaron goes through
over at Elswick. I mean the people over there really made me uncomfortable
with the praise and hero worship they were giving me, the thing is, I didn't
do anything but talk to them." Tim sighed as he looked at Kenny who looked
like a lost puppy sitting on the ground near his brothers legs, "I'm never
going to make fun at Aaron over him not liking be treated like a King again,
my small taste left me feeling dirty in a way, I can't imagine how he feels
getting every day in and out just because he steps outside the kingdom."

"At least here at home the hero worship he gets is earned," Pete laughed as
he sat down on the other side of Kevin, "The youngsters are going to be very
upset when he misses morning hug duty, they are going to be upset this
afternoon just as much I think."

"Well hopefully Fred will have an update for us soon," Kevin glanced over
his shoulder at the entrance to the med bay, as if by looking that way he
could cause Fred to appear.

Fred was amazed and slightly overwhelmed with the options available to him
once he had inserted the chip into the bio-tube system, snorting as he
thought about it. It had taken him a good half hour just to find the slot
for the chip to be inserted into in the first place, he would have to have a
good long talk with Aaron over making things more difficult than they should
be. Sighing, he laid his hand on the top of the bio-tube, he wished he knew
what to do, the reports confirmed that Aaron was fully healed, but the cycle
timer would not allow anyone to release him until the timer hit zero, unless
he overrode the timer now that he had the ability. He just wished he knew
what to do, leaning his head against the top of the bio-tube he sobbed for a
moment before pathing in desperation, "Aaron...tell me what to do we're all
lost and need you! We're all trying desperately to hold it together and
Kevin is trying his hardest."

"Enter 76943AT34 into the touchpad," Fred heard in his mind and jumped back
when he saw Aaron move his arm towards his face. Quickly entering the
command into the terminal Fred heard a hissing along with a gurgle and
stared as large bubbles of air started to come up from under Aaron bouncing
his body around, soon the bio-tube was half empty of fluid and Aaron's face
was in the airspace and he opened his eyes.

Turning his head Aaron smiled to reassure his lover, "I hate this part,
whatever you see don't panic, I promise you Fred, it will be fine, you can
trust me," Aaron doubled over in pain as he thrashed about in the bio-tube,
hands and legs banging the side as his body started to relax slightly before
deep coughing wracked Aaron's frame.

Tears flowing freely Fred watched on in agony as Aaron went through his fit,
repeating to himself over and over, "he promised...he promised..."

Taking a deep breath that could be heard outside the bio-tube Aaron finally
settled down and floated on top of the metallic fluid, "Son of a Bitch that
hurt."

"You think," Fred sobbed as he heard Aaron talk to him.

"Sorry Fred, but I don't know if you noticed or not but I was not exactly
breathing and my system had to be kicked started and that hurts," Aaron
tried to smile and placed his hand on the side of the bio-tube.

"Not breathing..." Fred started to panic slightly as he placed his hand over
Aaron's, "how do I get you out of there?"

"Yeah the not breathing part was one of the last ditch protection protocols,
I only tripped this one once before, during the time I was alone learning
about my new gifts," Sighing Aaron laid back as the fluid he was floating in
started to flush out with regen fluid. "The release cycle has already
started the nanites are being flushed out of the bio-tube and replaced with
regen fluid, it will take a little bit before the cycle finishes, has it
been thirty hours already?"

Shaking his head no Fred laid the top half of his body against the top of
the bio-tube, "Kevin and several of the guys went into the Core and they
came back with an override chip, the system reported that you were healed
and for the most part it was blood loss that was the problem from the nicked
artery." Fred smacked the top of the bio-tube hard, "if you weren't inside
there I would smack you so hard for scaring us."

"I'm truly sorry Fred, I know better than to ignore people with guns, but it
just did not register that I had been shot, I never felt it and until I saw
all the blood I never realized I had been. If I had I could have kinetically
sealed the wound temporarily and slept off the effects of healing on a
bio-bed." Aaron sounded remorseful for the pain he inadvertently caused.
Turning his head he saw the clock and saw that it was almost five in the
afternoon, so he had only been in here several hours at most, resting his
eyes on Pat floating in the next bio-tube he sighed, "Fred can you tell me
what the system reports is wrong with Pat?"

Nodding his head as he wiped his face with his arm Fred stood and went
around to the other monitor interface, "Right, earlier it said something
about psychic overload and breakthrough fever. Right now it is reading
breakthrough shock and malnutrition along with...what the hell he was never
malnourished and what is this about recommending forced puberty?"

"Traumatic breakthrough," Aaron turned his head to the side and gazed at
Pat, "I've read reports that it is possible in times of life and death
stress for a natural born Alteran to undergo something like this, I never
expected to have to deal with something like this, so early." He groaned as
he shook his head and the fluid sloshed against the side of the bio-tube.

"Fred we need to do something about the malnutrition first, I want you to
bring up the procedure screen and the medication side, once there I want you
to tap this code into the search box," Aaron waited until Fred brought up
the section and glanced back at him and nodded. "Type in 'NUTR1BS' that will
start fueling his transformation, and hopefully stop his body from
cannibalizing the rest of his body mass to support the changes, it is the
liquid IV form of our energy donuts."

Tapping administer Fred faced Aaron, "Is he going to be alright? What is the
forced puberty part, it was not there earlier when we checked up on him?"

"Hopefully he will be, this is not something I've ever dealt with and I need
to do some serious research, I remember reading about it in the Clan
Archives about it, evidently some of the children in the other timeline
suffered from Traumatic Breakthrough. They were in a war at the time and I
did not read anything that would lead me to believe they did not survive,
but I do think being forced to undergo puberty early is not something he is
going to enjoy, not really," Aaron tried to explain what little he knew.
Hearing a slight beep he realized that the bio-tube had been flushed and he
was now floating in regen fluid and started to scrub his exposed face, the
splashing he was doing caught Fred's attention and he rushed over.

Rushing over thinking Aaron was having another fit Fred stared down at him
seeing that he was washing his face, "What the ..."

Looking up at Fred Aaron smiled, "I need to wash the nanites off my skin,
otherwise it will take weeks to get them off once they dry," wincing at the
memory he laughed, "that is the easy thing, the peeing silver for days is
going to be the hardest to get used to since the nanites replaced my blood
supply for now."

Finished just in time Aaron thought as the fluid started to drain away and
the floor of the bio-tube started to rise, once the floor stopped moving and
the fluid was gone he was hit by desert dry air and having forgotten how
desiccating the feeling was he swore mentally in shock before holding his
breath.

Hearing the cussing Fred giggled in relief when the lid hissed as it
unsealed and started to slide back. Not waiting for Aaron to get out, Fred
threw himself onto Aaron sobbing in relief once more.

"Shhh...it's going to be fine Fred, let it out love, let it all out," Aaron
pulled Fred towards him as he sat up. Pulling his legs out of the end of the
bio-tube he swung them around as he pulled Fred into his lap and let him
release all the pain and tension from being scared. After several minutes,
Fred settled down and Aaron lifted Fred's chin and kissed him gently, "I
truly am sorry for scaring you, and everyone else, Fred."

"Let me check on Pat one last time and then let's go tell everyone else
before they have a meltdown from the stress," Aaron kissed Fred gently once
more and when Fred nodded his head but refused to let go, Aaron smiled and
shifted so he was standing while holding Fred tight to his side, making his
way to the bio-tube terminal was an adventure he thought, finally at the
terminal he let his fingers fly over the touch pad and brought up screen
after screen in rapid order as he checked different scan reports. Sighing,
He hugged Fred close to his side, "Well let's go let everyone know I'm up
and around, there's really nothing I can do for Pat right now, not without
doing some research and right now he seems stable."

Glancing over towards the med bay once again, as was becoming habit Kevin
noticed movement and sat up rapidly and turned in this chair, he saw a
shadow moving towards the entrance, a moment later, he realized it was two
people, "Aaron..." Kevin got out before porting out of his chair and appearing
right in front of Aaron and threw himself into his arms sobbing in relief.

Tim, hearing Kevin turned around and smiled in relief as he saw Aaron
standing there holding onto a sobbing Kevin, "Guy's Aaron's up and about,"
he yelled as he stood up and quickly ran towards the med bay.

Finally resorting to sitting down on the ground instead of being pushed over
from over his enthusiastic and relieved lovers Aaron started to count heads
and came up three short, besides Pat that is, "Where are the Lee brothers
and Xon?"

"Xon took Ichiro with him, he was almost catatonic with worry, he's onboard
the Reliant right now directing the MRB's so the Elswick facility will be
ready in the morning, we've lost the Asclepius with the code 99." Tim
informed him, as Kevin was busy clutching Aaron soaking up his presence,
"Shoji on the other hand wanted something to take his mind off of the fact
you were hurt, so he went over to Altair Minor to work with Scott and John."

"I'm real sorry for screwing up like I did," Aaron told them as he pulled
Kevin close and sighed before kissing Kevin, looking into his eyes and
seeing the pain still there. "Tommy, first thing after dinner, I want you to
go back to your classes, you've been looking forward to them for a long time
now, so don't miss out on any more than you have to."

"I guess the time for going anywhere without armed guards is truly gone,"
Aaron sighed before growling out, "Dammit all to hell, why should I have to
change my life for those people." Sighing, Aaron held up a hand as Pete
started to say something, "I know Pete, it just bothers me that I have to
surround myself with guards because of the outsiders, actually it frosts me
to no end. That was supposed to be our embassy and if we're not safe on our
own turf within a friendly government's borders then what about when I
travel around the rest of the world?"

"Maybe you just need to make sure you don't ever go anywhere alone again,
maybe the guards are not needed as much if you had someone to watch your
back," Kevin mumbled from Aaron's chest, luckily loud enough for everyone to
hear and agree.

"I suppose the news of me getting shot is all over the kingdom?" Aaron
groaned when he saw fourteen heads nod yes. Coming to a quick decision,
"alright, time to make an announcement and then go to the youngsters section
of the city and eat dinner with them, that is the only way they will believe
I'm alright and keep them from getting frightened more than they are."
Nudging Kevin and Fred he got to his feet, brushing his fingers through his
hair he carefully made his way through his lovers, standing in his office
with his lovers behind him he logged into the terminal, looking into the
pickup as every monitor in the city and off world station activated.

Smiling at the pickup Aaron started to reassure his people, "Hello everyone,
I just wanted to make a quick announcement that I'm fine, I know a lot of
you were worried. But there is a reason we have the best medical facilities
in the universe, and truthfully, if it was not for bleeding a little too
much, I would not have even spent any time in the med bay. I'm going to
disconnect in a minute and make my way to the dining hall down in the city,
if you want to see that I'm alright with your own eyes, that is where I'll
be."

Waving at the pickup, Aaron disconnected before pathing as he looked at the
ceiling, "Xon, Love, time to place the controls of the replication center on
automatic or hand them over to another crew, you and Ichiro need to come
back home."

"Of course Aaron," Xon pathed back as he smiled form being contacted,
pulling Ichiro over Xon picked his chin up and looked into his eyes, "It is
time to go home, Aaron wants us there." Feeling the intense relief settle
into Ichiro, Xon pulled him tight against his body and ported the two of
them to Aaron's office and side.

Sobbing in relief, Ichiro threw himself into Aaron's arms and slid down his
body until he was kneeling in front of Aaron while hugging him tightly.

Giving him a moment, Aaron reached down and pulled Ichiro to his feet,
hugging him he turned and pulled Xon close and into the hug and kissed Xon
gently and felt the relief in his mind, "Alrighty guys, let's get down into
the city before a mob forms searching for me." Looking into Ichiro's eyes as
he held him away from his body, Aaron saw that he would be fine, mostly
unsettled from the drama as he had not settled into believing he was finally
part of them.

Reaching out and pulling Kenny and then Doug over, Aaron smiled as He leaned
over so Kenny could hug his neck for the port, "I was so scared," Kenny
whispered in Aaron's ear.

Pulling him tight against his body, Aaron stood up and pulled Doug tight
against him before smiling and looking around, "Right, let's go get
something to eat, well some of us anyway, as I have a feeling I'm about to
be hugged to death." Porting down to the park, Aaron heard his name being
screamed in relief as they were bombarded with upset and relieved teens and
youngsters.

Two and a half hours later, Aaron was smiling as he started to eat his
supper, it had taken a lot longer than he imagined calming down some of the
younger guys, but in the end, he did and they were all happy and full of
energy again so it was worth getting to his food late. "You all did a good
job under a lot of stress, I'm proud of each and every one of you," Aaron
pathed to the Clan and sent his love along for good measure, smiling
reassuringly to the two members who had not gotten his pathed message he
noticed Kenny looked worried still, leaning across the table Aaron
whispered, "What's wrong, Kenny?"

Kenny looked up from where he was pushing his food around in his plate into
Aaron's eyes, "Is Pat really going to be alright?"

"I won't lie to you Kenny, he's really sick right now because his body was
not ready for him to go through Breakthrough, on top of that, by undergoing
breakthrough early, he is being pushed into puberty way to early." Sighing,
Aaron glanced up at the high wall in the direction the Clan Hall was
located, looking back into Kenny's face, "I have no idea if his gifts were
damaged in any way, though even if he cannot have full use of his gifts, we
would still love him the same, as soon as we finish eating, I'm going to
head down into the Core and do some research, I do know this has happened
before to the others, so hopefully the answers are there in the Clan
records."

"Right this minute he is stable and doing okay, after I find the answers, I
will be able to tell you more," Aaron told Kenny who stared at him for a
while before nodding his head and starting to shovel the food into his
mouth, the quicker they finished eating, the quicker Aaron could find the
answers to fix things he decided.

Placing his dishes on the conveyor leading into the kitchen, Aaron smiled as
he was surrounded by eager youngsters intent on getting one last hug before
they took off for whatever they had planned for the night, but from what
Aaron had overheard he thought most of them were planning on packing up
their apartments, they planned to be the first in line to move starting
midnight Monday morning.

Laughing as he walked out of the dining hall, Brian smiled and asked Aaron
what was so funny, "Why the laughter, not that I'm not happy to hear it
after this afternoon let me tell you?"

"I swear those youngsters picked up more than Tommy's love of lists, there
was a group of them talking about being ready to show up to be ported up to
Sol Station and over to Altare Prime at midnight, staying up late Sunday
night so when midnight rolled around they would be ready to go." Aaron
continued to laugh as they entered the park so the older Alterans that did
not make it to the dining hall could see him.

Giggling, Mark looked at Brian, "They picked up Tommy's love of getting
around limitations, they are going to argue that at 12:01 it is officially
Monday and they should be able to go to their new home, after all, Aaron
promised them,"

Chuckling, Aaron shook his head in laughter, "Wait until they find out we
are going to ask for volunteers to move over early to help with chores once
the livestock is moved."

"Give it up Aaron, you might as well let the youngsters move over Saturday
night after the livestock gets there, you won't get a moment of peace
otherwise." Pete giggled, then turned serious, "Once the move is over, I
think we would all feel better if you set up your office onboard Sol Station
where you will be safer. What do you plan to do with the city and topside
when we all move away?"

Waving at a group across the stream, Aaron glanced back at Pete, "Part of
the city will go back into hibernation, a sort of stasis; some of it, mainly
around the med bay area will house those of us working around the hospital
and on secret missions here on Earth, topside will be left barren of all
structures and left as untouched land. We can use this place in the future
as a hidden enclave if needed; the Core will be merged with the one on
Altare Prime, hopefully making that one easier to deal with. After the merge
the system Core will be placed in hibernation, which reminds me I need to
empty and move the weapons locker before the Core goes into hibernation."

"Speaking of the Core, I think I need to go down and do my research, enough
people have had a chance to see me up and moving around now," Aaron smiled
as he pulled each of them into a hug, kissing them in a way that reminded
them that he loved them. Smirking at the several dazed looks from some of
his lovers, Aaron ported to the Core entry and after being identified walked
to the center recliner and lay down. "Corry...please show me all log entries
that mentions early breakthrough from the Clan Archives."

"Right away your Majesty."



Cursing his operatives for being fools and offspring of a bad mating with
camels he slammed the folder down on his desk and let his eyes take in the
glorious scene of the infidel being tortured outside his window, the scream
of pain was particularly enticing as the woman was slowly electrocuted for
her failure. His carefully crafted plan to get his hands on that advanced
technology failed, he blamed the hired mercenaries for revealing themselves
too soon.

"Achmed..." he bellowed as he made a decision.

"Yes your magnificence," Achmed bowed as he rushed through the door into the
opulent office.

"Have our programmers insert the virus as planned, we will go with the
original plan to remove the threat to our way of life, inform the holy ones
the Jihad is approved and our final solution shall happen in one weeks
time."

Editors' ramblings

RadioRanchers notes: Let's see, Bank note, Ransom note, Break note, Thank
you note, Love note, Promissory note, Noteworthy, Notebook, Note taker,
Notepad, Note tonight, I've got a headache, G#

I hope Aaron will always remember not to be so cock sure of himself from now
on.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

A/N" And thus begins cycle 2 Rise of the dragon Lords.

For the rest of the year updates will be once a week as I finish up some
other projects in-between the long hours at work. And I thought I would
mention national Writing Month was a blast, I won...but more importantly I
beat the stuffing out of my word count from last year J