Steven stood on the bridge as they exited the lionhearted secret star way.

"Wow. Seeing this massive circle of star ways rings is even more impressive than I ever thought it would be!" He exclaimed.

The others didn't respond and he looked back at them to see their eyes glazed over with pain and loss. His enthusiasm began to drain away but he shook himself. "Come on guys, I know it was where we lived most of our lives but it was just a building."

Daniel's shoulders sagged. "I know I know. And I thought I'd be okay but watching it be destroyed like that just really hit me that it was truly gone everything we had is now gone Steven. Everything!"

"No it's not! We still have each other. Mom and dad are still fine out there somewhere and we brought most of our personal items with us!"

Dan didn't answer and Catherine hugged him from the back.

Stephanie walked forward to the view screen and gazed out unseeingly. "It was our home our fortress of solitude."

"And our cage!" Steven announced. "Now we are free from it. We can go anywhere we want anywhere in the galaxy! Heck if we wanted to we could leave this galaxy."

Silence fell.

"Full view." Michael mumbled and the walls, floor and ceiling faded away as they seemingly became see-through.

Michael quietly began reading the sector names etched into the star way rings. After a few minutes of this he finally said, "You know there's something that we all forgot to think about."

"What's that?" Catherine asked.

"Food. We no longer have a source of food."

"I've already taken steps to procure nourishment for you from the female prison planet." Alf said as the dimensional door Steven had set up on the bridge opened and sun poured in from the prison planet.

They walked through to see a makeshift picnic table covered in hundreds of varieties of fruits and wild vegetables.

Stephanie took a deep breath and stretched her arms wide as she breathed in the beautiful smell on the air. "You know I always wanted to have my own garden on a real planet."

"I'll have to set up a perimeter just in case we ever put any female prisoners on this planet but I do believe such a thing is indeed possible." One of the droid standing by the picnic table said in Alf's voice.

Catherine walked over to the picnic table and picked up a dragon fruit. "Are we ever going to take prisoners again?"

It was a simple enough question but it implied a lot and they all stopped moving and looked down at the ground.

Stephanie was the first to speak. "I don't know if what we're doing or have done is right."

"And look what it's cost us." Daniel said.

"Freely you have received freely give." One of the droid said in David Kel's voice.

They all looked up towards the droid.

"Yes you all have lost your home and a lot of your time. Your life will never be the same again but look at all you have gained. You're giving of this to help others. To stop wickedness. Alf let me look over the records and even though I know I'm not real I fully believe everything you did was 'is' right. That alone is evident in the Godly fear you put in all the nations around your sector."

Michael stared fixedly on the droid that David Kel's ghost consciousness was currently inhabiting. He took a deep breath and let out what was on his heart. "What you say is true but I killed a man. Yes he was a wicked man and deserved to die but I acted as his judge and executioner all on my own. I don't believe I had the right to do that. My hands are stained with his blood and if we continue this many more lives could easily be on mine and my families hands."

The droid nodded. "I understand and I have already broken lionhearted protocol long enough so I must go but before I do I'll leave you with the one saying that kept me going through it all."

The droids shifted and its voice changed to a metallic tang as it said, "All the wicked need to succeed is for righteous men to do nothing."

**

Derrick along with all the other leaders of the combined fleets sat around a giant table were the black box to the mining station sat squarely in the middle projecting its images.

It was obvious that everything before the battle was a cover but just like before they had then spent over half an hour arguing whether or not that was possible until finally one of the commanders stood to his feet and shouted, "This is the lionhearted were talking about. They lived for over 300 years in secret and they had amazing technology before that how can any of you doubt that they have the ability to access our black boxes."

Thankfully that had put an abrupt end to the argument and now they were carefully analyzing the spotty and damaged battle section of the black box.

As they watch it was apparent to Derrick that there was a somberness to the crew as they prepared and fought but nonetheless they were perfectly in sync each one knowing exactly what to do and how to do it with almost a mechanical precision. Their quick gestures and precise words were beyond well-trained and he could easily see how they had managed to wipe out two whole fleets. It was a perfect and flawlessly executed plan.

But as he watched the seven fleets surround and begin to bombard the region his heart quivered remembering how he felt when he realized he was going to die.

He fully expected there to be some type of argument on board the space station when the decision was made to use their units to protect the crippled spaceships instead of their own lives but all that had happened was Zephyr and David Kel looking at each other for a few seconds then nodding. Intrinsically the rest of the crew seemed to understand and they maneuvered their fake asteroids where they needed to go.

Every part of him screamed for them to protect themselves as he watched the internal sensors of the mining station report hit after hit.

The second to last volley David Kel and Zephyr got up and walked to where the black box was stored in begin to do something with it.

Derrick expected them to do this but right before the mining station exploded Zephyr did something he couldn't have imagined.

She pulled one of the external cameras directly attached to it so that it was looking right at her and said, "We forgive you."

Then the mining station exploded and Derrick's stomach felt like it dropped out. Every part of him screamed in pain and hate of his own self. For what he had been a part of what he had done for what he had done to them. And for the unbelievable mercy and sacrifice they had shown.

Vilex slammed his hand down on the table. "This is a fake!"

Derrick couldn't stop himself but from responding. "Fake? How is that fake? They gave their lives to protect me and my man from you!"

Vilex stood up knocking his chair to the floor. "The mining station showed they had over 200,000 of those fake asteroids they could have lined them in perfect circles around them and use the guns on them to stop anything from coming in. Using such a strategy they could have easily lasted for days if not months against our long-range barrage. And instead they let us kill them. This is definitely a fake!"

The captain over one of the disabled battleships stood up and kicked his chair sending it flying backwards. "Their decision and actions will never make any sense to a murdering self pleasing arch spawn like you! But they were nothing like you, they were nothing like me..." The man's anger subsided and he looked down at the ground. "They were the lionhearted always giving of themselves always trying to make this galaxy better. And what we do?" His anger flared once again and he shouted "Kill them murdered every last one of them and still they forgive us. Every single one of us in this room deserves to die a horrible death for what we've done." The man turned and stomped out of the conference room.

**

They all sat and ate the wonderful fruit and uncooked wild vegetables in silence until at last Daniel stood up and proclaimed. "I'm continuing. I'm not going to let wicked man succeed while I sit idly by."

Catherine stood up and smiled at him. "Then I'll join you."

Michael took a deep breath and stood up as well. "And I." He reached out for Stephanie.

She hesitated for a moment then took his hand and he helped her stand.

Steven stretched his arm and put them behind his head. "Fine fine. But this time we need to build up a base before we do anything."

"Agreed." Michael laughed in agreement.

<<<<THE END>>>>