CHAPTER SIXTEEN

When Charlie’s ship was in range, Chambers contacted her.

 “It appears that you have the authority to allow us past those guarding the entrance. I would recommend that we inform them that our ships are here for the purpose of research and that there will be a great deal of power being transferred from each of our ships into the center of Wingate itself, For their own safety, it would be wise to back off their patrol of the area to a safer distance.” Mr. Chambers suggested.

Charlie laughed.

“Good old safety minded Chambers. I will pass that on, but they have their orders, Besides as much as I intend to fry you, a few hundred yards will not save them from the fall out.” She said, with another laugh.

“I am all set on my end, I will meet you in the arena ten minutes.

Charlie signed off and the contacted the Captain.

“Get a trace on that last transmission and get a lock on it. Then have my portable equipment sent to the transfer room. I will be leaving in five. I don’t have to remind you on the importance of you following my plans, and my orders when I am in the arena. I need no distractions, is that clear!” Charlie Barked

“Perfectly,” the Captain replied.

The Captain was confident in what he had to do if necessary, but he was beginning to get an understanding of some of what was going on. He was not sure if the fact that he was near Wingate that triggered some of this understanding, or just his growing dislike of Charlie.

“Could this thing be activating that part of my heritage?” he mumbled.

One thing he knew for sure was that he would have to hide any insight that he might gain from being near Wingate from Charlie. He commanded Rita to take charge of running Charlie’s, However he added,

“Do not forget prodical S.A.H.22”

“Yes sir, but I thought you would want to be in charge of that operation.”

“Believe me I will be working on something that is much larger.”

The Captain then asked to speak to the communications officer in his preparation room.

“I need you to do your best to try to get a message to that fleet that is heading this way. I believe it is the ships that refused to finish carrying out the mission on earth.” The Captain stated.

“Sir, if that is true, would they even answer us, or worse perhaps open fire?”

“Under normal circumstances, I would agree, but I have a feeling that they are interested in seeing if this Mr. Chambers has the “Magic Power” to defeat Charlie. This battle will have long lasting effects on all species throughout the universe.”

 Ten minutes later the transmission was ready to go. The Captain would have to choose his words well in order to help the Commander of the warrior ship to see that he had both species best interests in mind, in what he was proposing. He doubted the Commander would respond by words. He would carefully have to monitor the oncoming fleets actions, in order to tell if he had won over the Commander.

Charlie was transferred to the second level of the arena from her ship, She materialized on one of the platforms that Mr. Chambers had created, She carried little equipment with her, Basically a Fen generator that would provide her enough personal shielding to protect her from the most powerful onslaught of weapons known at that time, a communicator with the ship, and one small box of unknown contents. With her shields on full, she told her ship to proceed with phase one A of her plan. This sent inviso-bots into the arena. This was basically to see if Chambers was already there. When the bots had done their sweep and detected nothing, Charlie was feeling surprisingly good, thinking she may have the upper hand. She then had the ship transfer in yhe rest of what she was going to use.

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“Commander, we have a message coming in from the Captain of Charlie’s lead ship.”

“Does he know our location?”

“It was a general signal message, but given the J.J.M. factors, it appears the signal was narrowed down quite a bit. It is possible that a fleet our size, even cloaked would emit a roto wave.”

“Agreed. Send the message to my quarters.”

“Commander, Charlie’s fleet has stopped and have formed a perimeter defense position," another officer stated.

“Around what? There is nothing out there.” The Commander stated.

She then looked at the young officer that had been doing all the research,

“You! Come with me!” The Commander ordered and head off to her quarters.

After they entered and the Commander locked the door, the Commander looked at the officer.

“What are they protecting?”

“Commander, I am sure you are aware of the phenomenon known as Wingate.”

“Of course, but there are patrols already station there to protect anyone from investigating.”

“My research has shown that some of the rumors about how, and why it was built, are not as crazy as some believe.”

“Go on,” the Commander ordered.

“There once was a whole species that had the ability to use special powers, such as we saw a brief demonstration of back on earth. This species could do far greater things and were the self-proclaimed protectors of balance and peace. They created Wingate as a training ground for the ones they taught in the practices of the arts.”

The officer paused to let the Commander process that for a moment.

“My research is incomplete after that. What I put together is there appeared to be contests between the Masters of these Arts, and somehow, something happened, They either destroyed each other, or were stripped of their powers. It is quite possible that Charlie, and this Chambers are the last two.” The officer concluded.

“They are going to battle in there? Why?” The Commander mumbled.

“Very well, back to your station.” The Commander ordered.

She then contacted the Captain of Charlies fleet on a private channel.

“Are you on a secured channel?” The Commander asked the Captain.

“Yes,” was his reply.

“Captain is Charlie aboard your ship?” 

“Commander, I think you know the answer to that question, but the answer is no.”

“Captain, we have no desire to battle with you. We are a species that is interested in learning all we can about all others that have the potential of becoming a threat to us. We, as you are aware was misinformed about this Chambers. We have little information on him, and it now appears that Charlie posses at least some of the same abilities.”

“Commander, we don’t know much more than you. I will share this much, I do not believe that Charlie has any of the powers she once did. From what I have seen, she has hired out, or controls, those to do with advanced technology, what she could have done on her own, if she possessed the ability.” The Captain paused a moment, then continued.

“I also do not wish to battle with you either, however at this moment, if Charlie does manage to defeat this Mr. Chambers, she will full on go after all who apposed her. Therefore, I recommend that you keep a safe distance. I am willing to work with you if either of us can produce a way of making sure Charlie does not win.”

“Captain, what make you so sure that this Chambers will not be a threat. If he is, as our research shows, to be a Master of the Arts, he could be a bigger threat,” the Commander stated.

“That is true, however, if he indeed is a Master, that means, according to our research, he has lived many generations. If it were his intent to rule over other species, he would have started that a long time ago.” The Captain stated.

“That is logical, but why has he allowed Charlie to rule and cause such destruction, if he could have prevented it?”

“I do not know, but I would certainly like to ask him if the opportunity presents itself,” the Captain replied.

“Very well Captain, we will take a position within 400 J.B.L.’s to your ships and be willing to share anything we think might be helpful.”

The Commander ended her transmission.

“Well, at least we will not have to be battling on two fronts," the Captain mumbled.

He then called Rita in and explained his conversation with the Commander of the Warrior ships.

“Do you believe we can trust her not to attack?” Rita asked.

“They are a logic-based species. They understand that if Charlie comes out victorious, they want no quarrel with her,”

“What if Chambers wins?”

"At this point, none of us know for sure what will happen. Now, you have your orders as to protecting our ship, and fleet. Any commands or demands that Charlie makes, must not compromise our commitment to all our crews.” The Captain ordered and dismissed Rita.