Tag, Danielle, Rose, Tommy, Cassandra, Sprig, and Twig were sitting in the map room of Castle Gardner. Sprig had explained how there was a possibility of Kosiev and the bridge crew having been blown into the skin of the Moscow. He had shown the recording of the Moscow’s destruction and pointed out that it was the top section of the ship that had been blown away by the first blast that had hit the lower levels of the doomed ship. When the video was slowed to one ten thousandth speed it was clear that the blast had pushed the bottom of the ship upward. Sprig stopped the recording and said, “You can see here that the lower decks were not blown out of existence but were pushed into the ship. If this push forced the decks above it upward, then the bridge could have been pressed into the skin on the top of the ship where it had undergone the metamorphosis of what it is today. That skin could have absorbed all of the contents of the bridge including the personnel.”
Tommy looked at Sprig and said, “It could have also killed the crew before they entered the skin.”
Sprig shrugged and said, “That is true, too.”
“So you really don’t know if Kosiev is in the skin or not?”
Twig interrupted saying, “We have said all along that it was only a possibility, although it is more than just a remote possibility. The possibilities are not so far reaching as to be impractical. I ran several simulations and in four of twenty the bridge was pushed into the skin.”
Tommy looked at his father and said, “That is still an eighty percent probability of it not happening.”
Tag looked at Tommy and said, “If there was a twenty percent possibility of Cassandra being inside that skin, what would you do?”
Tommy looked at his father and then at Cassandra and then sighed heavily. “I would go and look, but that would be an emotional decision not one made logically.”
Danielle looked at Tommy and said, “The best decisions are emotional; that is what makes us who we are. I would hope we would make this decision if there was a possibility of anyone being in that wall. The fact that it is Alexander Kosiev only makes this decision easier. He is an asset that we can use in our current situation.” She paused, looked at Tag, and then said, “I don’t want my husband going into that skin looking for him. I fear that I might lose him but I know who he is and know I cannot stop him.”
Rose was shaking her head and said, “Don’t you remember when I pushed you into that skin to remove the links Atlas had placed in you? You said then that it was an awful experience.”
Tag leaned back in his chair and said, “It was; but that won’t stop me.”
Cassandra looked at the group and said, “I hope you realize that the Kosiev is due to fight the Captors in a couple of months. When are you going to do this?”
Tag said, “Time inside the skin is basically non-existent. Once I go in it could take a while to search for him.”
Cassandra said, “Mr. Gardner, I cannot take the Kosiev into battle with you inside its skin. If the Kosiev is hit, we could lose you.”
“I appreciate your concern, Cassandra, but I can’t allow you to take the Kosiev into battle for the same reason; we might lose Alexander.”
Danielle stood up and looked at Tag and said, “What chance do you think we have against the Captors if Cassandra and the Kosiev are not leading us in the next battle?”
Tag tilted his head and said, “Then she must take the Kosiev into battle even if I’m still in the skin.”
Danielle’s brow furrowed and she said, “Then she’ll be going into battle with both of us in there because I will not allow you to go without me.”
Tag said, “This is my burden, Danielle, not yours.”
Danielle looked Tag in the eye and said, “Can you sit there and look me in the eye and say that?”
Tag took a deep breath and said nothing.
Tommy looked at Rose and saw her fear for their parents.
Cassandra looked at the Gardners and said, “If we are going to do this, then we have to try and make sure we have the best chance of success. Twig, have you thought about how we go about finding him?”
Twig said, “There is literally room for a galaxy inside that skin. We can’t just jump in and expect to run across him. There is also the possibility that he might not be there. I have talked with Sprig and we think that we should enter the skin at the area that was directly above the Moscow’s bridge.”
Tommy thought a moment and said, “That original skin has miles of new surface melded into it since it was brought back by Cade McAllister. How can we possibly know where that section might be?”
Sprig said, “Sten recorded every step of the Kosievs’ construction. We made close-ups of the skin as it was blown away from the Moscow and we know that it extended from just behind the nose to the elevators behind the conference room. We also know that the bridge was approximately seventy feet from the leading edge of the part that was blown away. The leading edge was also narrower than the rear section. We have to look at the construction recordings and see how the subsequent hull was added and mark very closely where it was located. We should have an answer on that in another two days. If the group doesn’t mind, we would like to go continue that process.”
Rose said, “Go ahead and continue your work. We will discuss what we will do once that determination is made.” The two Algeans ran from the room. Rose then looked at her parents and said, “I don’t suppose as Queen of the Stars Realm that I could order both of you to stop what you’re planning?”
Tag smiled at Rose and said, “Only if you tell me honestly that you wouldn’t go in there looking for Tommy if it was him that was lost.”
Rose sighed and said, “Do you always have the answer to those types of questions?” Rose then looked at Danielle and said, “Have you tried to talk some sense into him?”
Danielle shrugged, looked at Tag, and then back at Rose and shrugged again.
Tommy broke the silence by asking, “How long are you going to look before you decide that he’s not in there?”
Tag smiled and said, “As long as it takes.”
Cassandra shook her head and said, “Time is not what you have; how many worlds have to be destroyed before you give up.”
Tag looked at her with a furrowed brow and said, “How do you come up with that?”
“I can’t go back in to the nerve centers of energy space without exploding the particle into a new universe and I know that now is not the time for that to happen. In less than four months those centers will have cooled off enough for the Captors to look into them and see every part of our civilization. Each of their ships can destroy a planet and there are four million of those ships. The Kosiev must lead the attack against them before then and I know that neither Tommy nor Rose will allow this ship anywhere near a battle with you in the outer skin. So I ask you again, Mr. Gardner; how many planets will need to be destroyed before you give up your chase?” Tag said nothing and after a few long moments Cassandra said, “It was my understanding that you took an oath to protect the Realm and that oath should be the main priority here. I don’t want to be the one to point this out but your family appears unwilling to say the things that must be said.”
Tag looked and saw Tommy, Rose, and Danielle looking miserable. He stood and said, “Ok, you’re right but I am not giving up without trying. I will search until the last minute and hopefully it won’t take that long. I refuse to wait until after the battle because the Kosiev might be damaged and we would lose the chance to find him. However,” and Tag looked at Danielle, “I am the only one going in.” Danielle stood and started a protest but Tag said first. “I need you outside to help me find my way back.”
Danielle was stopped mid word; then she said, “Tag, if you don’t come back to me, I promise you that I will come in looking for you battle or no battle.” She then turned to Rose and Tommy and said, “And you two will take this ship into battle whether we are back or not. Your sworn duty is to the Realm, not your parents; do you understand!”
Rose and Tommy looked at each other and said nothing. “I said; “Do you understand,”” Danielle said in a stern voice!
Rose squared her shoulders and said, “Yes, I do; and if I lose the two of you as a result of this decision you’re making, I want you to think about what effect it will have on Tommy and I.”
Cassandra watched the Gardners confronting each other. She then asked, “So how do you do it?”
Rose said, “We will put electronic gloves on Dad and a matching pair on Mom. He will enter the wall and begin his search. Mom will maintain contact with him through the gloves. The main problem is that we do not know the glove’s range. If Dad goes outside the broadcasting range, we may lose him. If that happens, Mom will go in the wall and I will put on gloves to keep track of her.”
“No you won’t, Rose,” Tommy said. “You are Queen of the Realm; you will be the last one to be put at risk.”
Tag said, “He’s right, Rose.” Rose frowned and Tag said, “Part of the price for your chosen profession. Tommy will track Danielle. If she goes outside the range, Tommy will come in and then Cassandra will track Tommy. Tommy, you will not lose contact with Cassandra at any cost; we need you to lead the battle against the Captors. Do you agree to these conditions?”
Tommy looked at Rose and wondered if he could say no to look for his parents if it came to that. Cassandra listened to him in her mind and said, “I will not help you unless you promise to do as he says. I will not lose you!” Tommy looked at Cassandra and she thought to him, “I mean it.”
Tommy hung his head and said, “I agree.”
Rose stood and said, “Well, we have two days; let’s make the most of them.” She then stood and walked over and hugged her parents.
Tag thought, “Are you in there Alex? Please be in there.”
The First Male was overseeing the reconstruction of the construct around the gas giant when he received a call from the Old Watcher. “Do you have a few moments?”
“I always have time for you. What do you want?”
“I have been keeping track of the nexus and it appears the temperature is coming down. If the trend continues, I should be able to use it again within a hesp.”
“That is good news. We should be able to go after the strangers and not wait on them to attack us.”
“I have thought about that and it occurs to me that there is a possibility that they can see the nexus and realize the same thing. It may be that they will attack before the time is up.”
The First Male thought about what the watcher said and replied, “I suspect you’re right. We will go on high readiness immediately and cease looking for the strangers. I’m certain we will need all our resources to defend our home.”
The Old Watcher paused then said, “I know that the strangers attempted to work out a means to stop this conflict. Is there no way to come to an agreement?”
The First Male thought and then said, “Can you allow another ship to enter our system without attacking?”
The Old Watcher paused and said, “No, you know my instincts would take over and drive me to attack. I think that even with our intelligence we are still basically mindless on issues like this. Could we possibly look at our construction and see if there is a way to modify our responses?”
The First Male did not respond. Here was a novel thought. “I don’t know. I’ll mention it to the First Mother and see what she thinks about the idea.”
“Thank you for your time,” and the Old Watcher went back to his task.
The First Male thought about what the old watcher had said and thought, “No, thank you.”
Twig stood in front of the main monitor in the control room of the Kosiev. All of the Gardners were gathered around the monitor watching as Twig rolled the recording of the construction of the Kosiev in high speed. “I have marked the section that McAllister brought back for Sten to work on. I have colored that section that was directly above the control room red so that no matter where it goes during the construction it will keep that color. Now I will run the construction at high speed and follow the section. I think it might surprise you where it ends up.”
The recording began and the red spot moved up and down the length of the Kosiev and then went under the bottom of the ship only to emerge again at the top of the ship next to the rear engine mounts at the conclusion of construction. Then everyone saw the section move slowly forward until it stopped directly above the bridge and there it remained.
Twig pointed to it and said, “Those particular Coronado Power Cells seemed to be able to move around the surface of this ship as if they had a mind of their own. It’s almost like they were looking for the place where they would be most comfortable.”
Sprig pointed straight overhead with one of his branches and said, “It is directly above us.”
Everyone looked at the ceiling and then at each other; finally Cassandra said, “Do you have a way to explain how this happened?”
Twig and Sprig turned toward each other and both said simultaneously, “No.”
Tommy looked at them and said, “Would you care to speculate how this happened?”
Sprig looked at Twig and both of them said simultaneously, “No.”
Rose said, “Why not?”
Twig looked at Sprig again and after a long pause said, “We know that inanimate objects do not have intelligence. This purposeful movement by those cells opens possibilities that are quite disturbing. If they did what we’ve observed, then it tips all the laws of the universe out of whack.”
Cassandra was silent while the group questioned the adolescents and after ten minutes she said, “Alexander Kosiev is in there.”
The Adolescents were in mid argument with Tag and Danielle when Cassandra made her announcement. Everyone stopped and stared at her. “Those cells were not most comfortable in that place, Kosiev was.”
Sprig and Twig stared at Cassandra and Twig said, “That would explain why they moved over the bridge; the bridge is where the Admiral was most at home.”
Tag stood and said, “I think you’re right, Cassandra. His consciousness was locked in that hull and I suspect he wandered around until he found a place that felt best to him.”
Cassandra said, “I have to tell you that I’ve thought this was all a wild escape into some kind of fantasy until I watched those power cells move through the other cells until they found the bridge. I agree that inanimate objects do not have intelligence; therefore, there had to be some kind of intelligence directing it.”
Tag looked around and said, “Ok, how do we do this?”
Cassandra looked at the bridge crew and said, “Everyone off the bridge. You are relieved of your duties until I issue other orders.”
The bridge crew stared at her and then she said, “Right now, unless you want to see what the inside of the brig looks like.”
The Crew rushed for the door and the three engineers standing by began removing the roof and insulation from the ceiling. Sprig said, “We should be ready to begin within the hour.”
Tag looked at Danielle and thought to her, “I love you. No matter what happens, I’ve loved you from the moment I took you hand and I’ll love you until my life is over; and if the creator has a place for us after death, I’ll love you there, too.”
Danielle said, “Shut up; you’re scaring me. You sound like this is the end; it’s not. I will not leave you in there. We will go together or not at all.” Tag embraced his wife and felt his love for her just as strong as it had always been.
Tommy and Cassandra watched Tag and Danielle and felt what they were feeling. Cassandra thought to Tommy, “That is us, Tommy. See what we have to look forward to as we grow older.”
“Tag, go slow when you go in; make sure you maintain contact with Danielle.”
“Hi, Atlas, have you been listening in on what we’re doing,” Tag asked?
“Yes, I have. I must say that I agreed with Cassandra about this until I saw those cells moving purposefully on the hull. Just be careful, old friend.”
“Thanks, Atlas; I will.”
Cassandra sat in the command chair and watched as the engineers removed the insulation from the ceiling. She could actually feel the materials as they were removed. “This ship is a part of me,” she thought. “And I am a part of this ship.” She looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes. Her mind could feel the space above the skin and she sensed how vast that space was. Then she knew what had to be done. She looked at the Gardners sitting and waiting for Tag to enter the skin and she said, “There is going to be a change in plans.”
Everyone stopped what they were doing and Tag said, “What do you mean?”
“You will not be going into the skin; I will.”
Tag, Tommy, Danielle, and Rose all began speaking at once objecting to her idea. She waited for them to run down and finally Danielle asked, “Why do you think you have to go?”
Cassandra looked up at the ceiling and said, “I know this ship like my own body. It is a part of me and I feel everything in this ship. I’ve just discovered that I can even feel things inside the skin. I can see where the negative matter is located and where the stars matter was stored when the ship absorbed it. I can feel all of the space inside the skin and it is vast beyond your wildest imagination. The section above us contains space larger than a galaxy and when someone enters that space it is probable that they could move a distance of more than a light year is less time than a micro second.” She then looked at Tag and said, “You have absolutely no chance of finding your way around in there.”
Tag looked at Cassandra and the silence was deafening. “And you think you can.”
“I am not going to look for him, Mr. Gardner. I am going to have him find me.”
“How are you going to do that, Cassie,” Tommy asked?
“By letting my thoughts find him and directing him to my location. That space has grown since you and Danielle entered the skin at the end of the Algean conflict. It is nothing like what you experienced and I’m certain that the gloves will not have the range to keep track of you.”
Rose thought about what Cassandra was saying and said, “Then how are we going to keep track of you if you go in?”
“Tommy will hold my hands with a set of gloves as I enter and will not let go of me while I’m in there. If he gets tired he will pull me out and rest until he can continue. I suspect that if this works, then it will happen immediately. Time doesn’t exist inside that skin and what may seem like weeks to me in there will be less than a second here in the control room. If I need to come out, I will pull myself out.” She looked at Tommy and saw his concern. “I want you anchored on this side of the wall so I don’t pull you in.”
Tag interjected, “Cassandra, we can’t risk you; you’re too important to our fight against the Captors.”
Cassandra smiled and said, “Then tell me how your plan is safer than mine and I’ll back off.”
Tag struggled with what she was saying but after a minute said, “I guess I’m not the only one to ask difficult questions.”
Cassandra looked at the engineers and said, “I want a chair elevated next to the ceiling and anchored to the floor. Tommy, I want you belted into the chair and I want our gloves locked together.”
The engineers continued working on the ceiling while two of them left and returned with a high strength alloy pole and welded it to a chair and then to the floor. After forty five more minutes Rose handed Cassandra a pair of electronic gloves and a matching pair for Tommy. They looked at each other and Tommy embraced Cassandra and said, “You know I will never let go.”
“I know, my love.” Cassandra put on her gloves and Tommy put his on with a small struggle with the left hand.
Rose said, “Those are the same gloves that Mom and Dad wore. Maybe they will bring us good luck.”
An engineer took a vial of silver liquid and said, “Join hands and try to get a comfortable grip.” Tommy and Cassandra joined hands and Tommy nodded at the engineer. He poured the liquid over their hands and the gloves melted into each other. “Try to pull apart,” the engineer said. Tommy and Cassandra leaned back and pulled against each other.
Tommy shook his head and said, “Well Darling, looks like I’m stuck on you.”
Cassandra smiled said, “Let’s get this over with.”
Tommy and Cassandra stepped onto a lift and rose to the level of the chair that was suspended just below the ceiling. Tommy leaned backward and sat down in the chair and then an engineer reclined it and strapped him in. Cassandra followed him onto the chair on her knees and waited for the engineers to complete their task. The engineer nodded to Tommy and Tommy looked at Cassandra and said, “Be home in time for supper.”
Cassandra smiled and then stood up and jumped into the ceiling and disappeared. Tommy leaned back on the chair with his arms extended up into the ceiling watching and waiting for Cassandra to come back.
Cassandra looked around and saw that everything was a uniform cream color. She immediately noticed that her sense of balance was off and she felt dizzy. She closed her eyes and focused on her closed eyelids. She noticed that she was not breathing and her heart felt like it was not beating; however she didn’t feel the need to breathe. She then turned her mind to the area around her and began letting her senses expand out ward. She then sent out a thought, “Admiral Kosiev, can you hear me?”
She waited for an answer and then it occurred to her that since time did not exist, it might take longer than she thought for her question to move through that vast space. After what seemed to her to be a long time she thought again, “Admiral Kosiev, can you hear me?” She kept her eyes closed and relaxed. She waited for a response and after a while she fell asleep.
She was jerked awake by a thought, “Who is calling me?”
“My name is Cassandra Gardner and I’m trying to find you.”
“Are you related to Thomas Gardner?”
“I’m married to his son.”
“I didn’t know he had a son. How long have I been in here?”
“Almost twenty seven years, Sir.”
There was a long pause and then Cassandra heard, “I just entered this space a few moments ago. Do you know what happened to my ship?”
“It was destroyed, Sir. However, I’m here to try and get you out of here and back into normal space. Did any of your crew make in here with you?”
“Yes, there are eight of us and we’ve managed to stay together.”
Cassandra could actually see the thoughts as Kosiev thought them. She focused on the direction and the cream colored space moved away from the path the thoughts were traveling. “Sir, can you see the break in the surrounding mist?”
There was a pause and she heard, “Yes, I can.”
“Sir, I need you to move through the break in the mist and bring your crew members with you.”
“We are moving now but it looks like the break in the mist extends a tremendous distance in front of us.”
“Just start moving; time doesn’t exist in here and distance is another thing that gets wacky.”
“We’re on our way.”
Cassandra continued to focus her thoughts toward Kosiev. She knew that if she stopped the mist would close in and she would lose him. She continued to focus and wondered how much time was passing back in normal space.
After what seemed like a month, Cassandra knew that her time was growing short. Kosiev was still too far away to be seen and she knew that she was going to grow too weary shortly to keep up the focus necessary to keep the mist parted. Then she had a thought, “I wonder if psychic skills still operate in here. She was able to move objects with her mind; could she do it here? She focused on Admiral Kosiev again and thought, “Move here now.” Suddenly, there he was along with the other seven crew members.
Kosiev smiled at her and said, “Whatever you did; you moved us here pretty quickly.”
“I wish I had done it sooner, Sir. I need each of you to come to me and grab my arms and push yourselves toward my hands.”
Kosiev looked at her arms that appeared to disappear into a solid cream colored wall. “Well, Ensign Orton, you go first.” A young sailor moved forward and started to move with his head toward the wall.
Cassandra said, “Go feet first. You’ll be coming out of the ceiling of a ship. There should be someone there to help you but I don’t want you to fall on your head.”
Cassandra had just entered the ceiling when a pair of feet emerged and a body began following the feet through the ceiling. The engineers moved the lift under the emerging body and helped the young sailor onto the lift’s floor. Immediately another set of feet emerged and everyone in the room felt tremendous excitement. Tag looked at the sailor that had just emerged and asked, “Who are you, son.”
“Ensign Orton, Sir, sensor officer SR Megaship Moscow.”
Everyone in the room felt a shiver as they looked at one of the Stars Realm’s historic heroes. Here was one of the sailors that had given their life to save the fleet at the Pydres planet. Six other sailors emerged from the ceiling and then the eighth came through and Tag saw his friend that he had mourned for years. Alexander Kosiev looked exactly as he did those twenty seven years ago when he attacked the frequency ships to save the trapped Stars Realm Fleet. Kosiev turned and saw Tag and reached forward and hugged him.
“I’ve missed you Alexander. I can’t tell you how good it is to see you.”
Kosiev smiled and said, “We have a lot to talk about. You look older than I do.” He then turned to Danielle and said, “It’s good to see you Your Majesty. I trust you’ve taken care of the Realm.”
Danielle rushed forward and hugged Kosiev and said, “I haven’t been queen for more than twelve years. My daughter Rose is Queen now.”
Rose walked up and smiled and said, “I’ve learned so much about you from our history books. It is a real delight to meet you.”
Kosiev and the other Moscow crew members were stunned. Then Twig and Sprig entered the bridge and Tommy said as he helped Cassandra onto the lift, “Admiral, this is Sprig and Twig. They are two Algean adolescents that are responsible for us finding you.”
Kosiev looked at the two plants with wide eyes and then said to Tag, “They don’t look anything like the Algeans I remember.”
Tag smiled and said, “That war is over. The Algeans are our allies now.”
Kosiev looked back at the two plants and said, “Do tell.”
Tag pointed at Tommy and said, “Alex, this is my son Tommy and his wife whom you’ve already met. They are leading us in our current fight against the Captors.”
Kosiev looked at Tag and said, “We’re in another war?”
Tag smiled ruefully and said, “Yes, and some of the ships we’re fighting are more than three thousand miles in diameter.”
Kosiev sat down and looked around the room. Then he said, “Will you take me to the library so I can see what I’ve missed. It feels like I’ve only been gone a few moments but obviously a lot has taken place. I hope I have a place in this new world.”
Twig said, “If you don’t mind Admiral, I can transfer all the history files directly to your Mind and help you organize them. It should only take two days and you’ll be completely up to date.”
Kosiev looked at the young Algean and then said to Tag, “Can she do that?”
“Absolutely, Alex; I think you will be amazed at the things we can do now.”
Sprig said, “Wait until he finds out that this ship bears his name along with the Fleet Academy.”
Kosiev looked at Tag and said, “Say it isn’t so.”
Tag started laughing and said, “Someone fetch us a bag of popcorn. Now it feels like home to me.”
Cassandra and Tommy watched Tag and they could tell that a huge weight had been removed as soon as Admiral Kosiev emerged from the ceiling. They looked at each other and Cassandra thought to Tommy, “I like him.”
“So do I, Cassie.”
Rose added, “That makes three of us. Now, let’s repair this ship and let the Realm know that its greatest hero is alive.”
Tag said, “First, Alex needs to make a call to another friend that misses him.” Kosiev looked at Tag with a furrowed brow and Tag said, “Fleet Admiral Len Mikado should get a call before anyone else.”
Kosiev smiled and said, “Fleet Admiral Mikado; by all means let’s contact him.”
Admiral Mikado was on board the Rising Sun when his communications office commed him, “Admiral, I have a fleet priority call for you that asks you to stop and make contact immediately.”
Mikado jumped from his command chair and said, “Send it to the conference room immediately.” Len left the bridge and went to the conference room and punched the comm., “Mikado here, go ahead with your call.”
The display on the com came on and a face he knew from the past said, “Admiral, I leave you in charge for a few moments and you have the Realm right back into another war. I expected better of you.”
Len stared at the screen with his mouth open for a long moment and said, “Is this someone’s idea of a sick joke.”
Kosiev looked at his former captain and said, “It’s no joke, Lin. I just got back and I wanted you to be one of the first to know. I’m proud of you and all you’ve accomplished. It’s good to see you again.”
Mikado stared at the screen and Kosiev could see the emotions welling up in his face. “Is it really you, sir?”
Kosiev smiled and said, “Yes it is. Tag has managed to find me in the skin of the old Moscow and bring me back home. I’ll give you the details later, but I’m back and for me no time has passed at all since the Moscow’s destruction.”
Mikado looked at the screen and said, “Thank the Creator; I’ve thought of you every day since we lost you. Please come see me as soon as you can. This is a gift greater than any I’ve ever received.”
Kosiev looked at Mikado and said, “I’ll do that, Lin. It’s good to see you.”
Tag came on the call and said, “Admiral, the Queen wishes to tell the Realm of Admiral Kosievs’ return but as soon as we can we’ll get together.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty. Thank you for finding my mentor.” The screen went dark and Mikado left the conference room and returned to the bridge. The crew immediately saw that something had happened and that the Admiral was in a high state of emotion. They all looked at him and he said to them, “Pass the word to the entire crew; Admiral Kosiev has been raised from the dead and is back among the living. By the Creator, he’s back.”
The crew looked at each other wondering if their commander had lost his mind but they announced the news over the general ship frequency. Every one of the crewmen on board had seen the destruction of the Moscow during their academy training and the entire ship was wondering about Mikado’s sanity until the announcement came in from Castle Gardner that the news was true; Kosiev was back. The entire Stars Realm was stunned but then the celebrations began. The Realm’s greatest hero was alive and in this time of fear, it brought a new sense of courage and belief that the Realm would prevail. Kosiev was back.