VotTS Chapter 18: New Horizons

Chapter 18: New Horizons

Lia and her crew of outcasts, dropped out of Quasi-space at a star system eighteen light-years from the trans-spatial gate. According to her admittingly outdated information, this was the homeworld of the Farnok.

They were hailed almost immediately and after a few moments, Squack language communications were established, confirming the fact, that this was not the first trans-galactic contact.

The being appearing on the viewer was covered with short brown fur and had general similarities with a Togar cat, but was much more massive and bulging with muscles. The being wore nothing in the form of any clothing. The first words of greeting were a question.

"You are visitors of the distant star spiral, are you not?"

"Yes, we came from another galaxy, using the old gate. We are seeking new shores and a new life here."

"We are the Farnok, we are the Guardians of the Ancient Gates . It is a holy and blessed duty to welcome travelers that use these sacred gates . Honor and respect the Holy Gates and you shall find a friendly reception. Come then and land your vessel, we will prepare a welcome and see if we can help you."

Lia felt relieved, especially after the hostile encounter at the gate.

She had just given the command to follow the guide signal to the Farnok port when another of these advanced vessels dropped into real space. It was quite similar to the one they encountered at the gate. It was under shields and weapons charged.

The muscle building cat-like being still on the viewer loudly complained."Plostrak, these travelers are under Farnok protection now. Your vessel is targeted by our defenses and we will engage you should you commence violent action."

A gruff voice that sounded amused answered."Ah, the distant people language . The Farnok should have killed me when they had the chance. You still need to be punished for what you did."

--""--

We dropped out of quasi about ten light minutes distant from the coordinates Sobody was able to obtain. The thing was in deep space and if you didn't know the exact location, you'd never find it. "I wonder just how many of these gate things there are. There might be thousands within Union space, and I am not talking about those small ones, but these humongous ones."

Shea responded first."There are several known ones, and none are made by the same civilization. The best-known one is, of course, the Ring of Algorm. It is inactive and partially broken."

SHIP chimed in."It was damaged by the Devastator, or more precisely Centron, the big ship's artificial intelligence and long before it was found by Admiral Richard Stahl."

"And you know that?" Shea said with big eyes.

"Centron shared some of his history with me, we both have a special bond to our Captains and I wanted to learn as much as I can to be a good AI."

"You are the best AI, I would not want to swap you for Mothermachine. No offense Circuit."

"None taken, Captain. SHIP is my friend too."

I raised my hand to interrupt the banter because I knew SHIP would now get all mushy and we'd spend twenty minutes on reaffirming our affection."Back to the subject at hand. Shea please scan and examine the one ahead of us in great detail."

"We are already using any distance analytical tool we have, but I would recommend a physical examination of the artificial structure part of that gate. It appears to be quite large and has internal compartments, perhaps even quarters, control rooms and remnants or remains of whoever built it."

"I am contemplating that, actually. I am not all too comfortable to simply pass through it. Can we assume Lia went this way?"

Narth answered."With a probability of over eighty-eight percent, Captain. There is a very recent engine trail, with the characteristics of late ISAH pods. The probability of ship coming this way with ISAH pods is very low, except the Togar ship of Lia which was upgraded with Union tech and ISAH propulsion."

Har-Hi, as usual with his arms crossed said. "Are we going after her?"

I nodded. "That is the general idea of us being here."

"No I mean, are we going to follow her to another galaxy? Is that within the scope of our task? According to General Cherubim, we do have official business 75,000 light years from here."

Mehdi who occupied a secondary bridge station behind the Nav-Tank said."It is unlikely she knows who orchestrated the escape. Neither she nor anyone with her apparently made any attempts to contact anyone. This would be a logical step if any of the escapees would be of interest to whoever financed the escape."

"Are we still in GalNet range?" I asked.

Elfi said."Sorry, Captain, we are not. But we could pick it up, by traveling just 110 light-years further. We then could link into the Tinkeheel GalNet cone."

"Krabbel, plot a course to the closest GalNet connection and Shaka please take us there with all haste. I need to talk to command about all this before we jump to wherever that gate leads."

Har-Hi gave me a mockingly impressed look."What? Us not jumping into the unknown and then figure things out, but instead doing the sensible thing, Captain you are surprising me."

"Oh shut up, Mr. Hi," I said with a grin. "We are still going unless they tell us not to. I hate leaving things unfinished."

--""--

Lia took the opportunity and said."Why are you attacking us?"

"I am a big bad villain and take what I want and your vessel, as outdated it seems has some impressive teeth, I want them."

"We are fugitives and have no home and seek a new future here. We were in a similar business as you. Maybe we can come to some sort of agreement. We are not opposed to sharing our tech in return for perhaps a chance of employment?"

The Farnok objected."If you associate with this criminal then you are criminals and will not be welcome here."

Plostrak was more than interested to replace the doomed commandant of the Strarr, whoever was in control of that ugly ship knew what they were doing. They outfought a ship with superior technology.

And if things didn't work out, he still could torture them just for fun.

"Hear this, travelers, follow us to Quarva and we talk. The Farnok, as big as they look, are cowards, but they might decide to send warships after all."

"We will follow you."

--""--

It was Admiral McElligott who took our call. I had told him what happened so far. He was sitting in his office at Annapolis Tower on Earth and had stuffed himself a pipe while I had told him all that happened so far.

After puffing a blue cloud of smoke he said."So she has left the M-0 galaxy and you discovered an active Trans-Spatial gate."

"Yes, Sir. I am prepared to go through, and attempt to recapture the criminals, but I am not sure if the gate will work in reverse. Thus I decided to consult with Command before I make the step."

He raised one of his bushy eyebrows."Normally I get your reports after you did something outrageous and unusual, so you deciding to ask us beforehand is a big improvement, at least in my book."

I frowned."My XO was pointing that out as well, but going after a criminal via an alien trans spatial conduit to another galaxy is somewhat different sir."

He nodded."I am glad you called, and officially the case of Lia Bassett and the escaped prisoners is closed. The Justice Department delivered an official report before the Assembly. According to the official version, it was Kirku Bassett financing it, the brother of Nick Harlequin doing the work and the actual deed. There is a bounty on the escapees and that satisfied everyone, it is a Justice Department and Union Police matter and Union Fleet involvement has officially ended."

"So we are not going after her, but return to Richter 4?"

His demeanor changed and he sat up straight."I know you have been recently upgraded to RED-RED-RED, please secure your ready-room accordingly."

"I have received a sealed order chip telling me that I am, but I have received no instructions so far."

"SHIP will know how to secure your premises. You complete the Blue-Blue-Red routine and use the new day cipher and key sequence that was part of that order chip."

After I had completed the long-winded process, we switched from the official military GalCom connection to a new telecommunication technology, I did not even know we had. It was called the BosFerCom. McElligott explained it only with very few words, speaking about Bosons and Fermions. Their integer spin and a trans-spatial connection. What I understood was that only the BFC device aboard and the BFC device in his office shared the same conditions and thus there was no possible way of any third party listening in.

He was all serious now. His office was darkened and all the windows shaded. He said."Captain Olafson, this device was installed by Mothermachine herself, as she and I are members of a group called the Grey Ghosts. I do not have the time to go into great detail, but we developed this special communication technology because we do not trust GalNet or GalCom enough with RED-RED-RED classified information. The Narth Supreme retrieved this technology from Nnnth storage and only your ship is so equipped."

I only nodded.

"You must go after Lia or more precisely after Lt. Commander Harold Julkus and he must be terminated and anyone he might have had contact with, including Lia and everyone aboard her ship. This is an Alpha order of the Security Council and ratified by the Assembly."

His voice became coarse."Erica, if he came in contact with an alien civilization, you have the full authority to use any and all means at your disposal to terminate anyone he might have talked to."

I knew this was not something Admiral Stahl would ever order or condone."Sir, may I ask the reason?"

"He is a Translocator Master Technician and was stationed on Vault One, with access and knowledge about Trans Dim Shielding, the Armageddon Answer, Loki torpedoes, and Shiva Mines."

His eyes took on a burning quality. "The Translocator Canon Security Act allows the use of deadly force inside and outside of Union territory in order to prevent the transfer of this weapon, components or the knowledge how to create one, to non-authorized entities. That is Union law and even your hero Stahl would have to do what is necessary to keep and protect those secrets."

My mouth had become dry."Sir, how did he end up as a prisoner on a low-security transport? Was he the target of the whole thing and why is he going along with Lia to a different galaxy?"

"We don't know most of the answers to your questions. Because of his high-security clearance, he was specially conditioned against brain dumps, psionic probing and his status were kept so secret that it was never put in his case file."

"If he even holds detailed knowledge to just one of these secrets, the Kermac and pretty much every enemy of the Union would take him or will be after him."

"That is a possibility, as I said we don't know many details yet ourselves. Nelson II uncovered the high classified personnel records and verified that he was at Vault 1 and that he received full Translocator Master tech training. We also think he used a Saresii Genetic code writer, a device of the First Age of Knowledge to imprint the technical specs in genetic code onto his own cells. Captain Olafson, he must be completely destroyed. You are acting under full Union authority but this part of your mission must remain secret. You are not to share this with Admiral Stahl or anyone else for that matter."

"My XO, Narth and Shea should be informed."

"There is a chance that there might be a spy or operative aboard your ship. Shea is the daughter of Rex Schwartz. Narth will be separately informed by the Narth Supreme about this, keep it secret until you see no other way to complete the mission. SHIP received RED-RED-RED clearance and I am uploading all details, as far as I know them, into her Captain's Eyes only file section. I am also authorizing Tyron Suit to be informed."

I sighed."It never stays simple, doesn't it? I will do my best."

"Captain, you are not the same kid I sent out to play pirate. You have become an adult and you are growing into the role of a Union Captain more every day. I trust you will do just that. You do know that this mission is more important than the safety of the ship or anyone aboard. This is not just my direct orders to you, but the core of the Translocator Canon Security Act and you and every Union officer is oath-bound to uphold Union law and Assembly directives."

"Yes Sir, I understand the gravity of the situation, even though some of the details seem to make little sense, at least based on the information  I have now."

"At least, due to your new clearance, I can reveal to you that your grandfather Egill Skalagrimmson is a member of the Grey Ghosts and he is aware of this situation as well."

"He came far for a simple hermit and representative of a small unimportant world."

"So have you, Captain Olafson, not that there is anything simple about him or you. Now go and protect our most important secrets. I will send assets to secure the Trans Spatial Gate, so nothing slips back into M-0 without us knowing."

--""--

I returned to the bridge, deep in thought about my conversation with the Admiral. What disturbed me more than the idea of a man who had the Union's most guarded secrets encoded onto his cells, was the possibility that there was someone aboard who might have ears and eyes for someone else. I wanted to trust my crew from Narth on to the last Starman, I always had.

Would Shea of all persons share things with her father, a civilian with questionable motives? Even perhaps without thinking? No, she would not, she was a level 12 intellect and if she shared secrets with her stepfather, she would do it knowingly.

I decided to keep the details of our new mission for myself for now.

"Mr. Krabbel we need to go back to that gate and Mr. Nbdele get us there fast."

Both of them responded with a crisp 'Aye Captain'.

My bridge crew was also my closest friends and I could tell they knew I received grave orders. By now I could even read Circuit's body language.

The usually carefree banter that prevailed on our bridge had subsided and everyone was concentrating on their tasks.

The Tigershark was eating the light years and we soon reached the gate again.

I said."Guys, I talked to command and we got new orders. I am unable to share them with you at this point because I was ordered to do so, but I am not very comfortable keeping secrets from all of you. For now, I must comply."

There were smiles and Har-Hi said."This is the career we chose, this isn't a private company but the Union military."

I pointed at the main viewer."As it may be guys we are about to make a long trip. Mr. Hi sound General quarters and Mr. Nbdele center on that bluish energy and go for it."

--""--

Quarva, so it turned out was a planetoid drifting in deep space, expelled from its original system by some cosmic event. Union astrographers called these things, dark objects or wanderers. It was heavily modified and basically a supersized Brhama Port. For this reason, Lia almost felt like coming home. There was quite some traffic around that thing.

Plostrak kept close guard on them. His ship the Traa had been joined by two similar ships, one of them had to be towed and was obviously damaged.

Both the MALS and the Loki had done a number on the Strarr.

The planetoid was many times bigger than Brhama and featured a gigantic cavernous hangar type spaceport.

Lia and most of her crew had left the New Horizon and met Plostrak and twenty beings of apparently the same species face to face.

He was a giant and of similar size to a Petharian. He and his men were more or less humanoid shaped. Meaning he had two arms, two legs and a head with two, eyes and a nose. His skin, however, had a slick greenish grey character and his bald head was covered with small purplish raised spots.

The local pirate apparently had no distinguishable neck. He and his men wore tough looking battle armor. Plostrak did not have any traditional weapons, but his left hand was replaced by a cybernetic implant with dozens of metallic, worm-like tentacles centered around what seemed some kind of arm cannon.

He has piercing purple eyes and a wide, evil grin.

Along with his similar equipped crew members was an almost man-sized hovering cylinder with a single glowing circle at its center.

He glanced over Lia's crew and made a mocking laughing sound."With the exception of that thin Farnok looking being and the green one, you all look weak and pathetic."

Without respecting Lia's position as the leader of the group, the former Union officer and Terran stepped forward and said."Strength and size mean little if you have superior intellect and weapons."

"That ugly excuse for a spaceship has some teeth, but it still stands no chance against my Traa."

"Yet if you know how to use these teeth, they tear that fancy crap you call a ship to scrap. That ugly excuse is the product of an inferior species, some of the weapon it carries come from my society and is nothing compared to the weapons I can build."

Lia wanted to scold the human and remind him of his place, but Plostrak silenced her with a resolute gesture. "I do not speak to you, inferior female. I do like the spunk and the defiant attitude of this pink boy. You are alive and here, because of that."

The former Togar captain growled in anger."Inferior? I ate plenty of you humans. We Togar are strong and we are not afraid of anything or any species!

The Spindlar laughed."Yet when you saw Black Velvet's Y'All you wanted to hide and run."

The mention of the word Y'All stopped every being's movement within hearing distance and all pretended friendliness left the massive pirate. Plostrak grabbed the Spindlar by its flexible neck extending the metallic tentacles of his left arm and yelled with a commanding voice."Do you speak of the Y'All? None has been seen by any living being. Where have you seen one?"

The Spindlar, although much weaker looking, had just like the Terran Union Academy training and his reaction was quick. One of his telescopic arms snapped forward like a striking reptile, holding a Kermac Line Blaster, muzzle almost touching Plostrak's left eye."I can squeeze that trigger faster than you can establish a forcefield. Want to see if your ugly skull can withstand a line blast?"

The brutish pirate also had nerves of steel and motioned his men and the floating robot to stand down.

Still looking in the blaster, he said."I misjudged you, there are at least two in this group of travelers that truly impress me. Now be quick to tell me all you know about the Y'All."

"Unhand me and I might."

The floating thing spoke for the first time, it was not just a machine but by the way, it talked sentient. "Plostrak is a Pepiro, a genetically designed life form, created from various base genetics by the Crucible that also originated the Y'All. The Pepiro are an unsuccessful attempt to recreate the Y'All. The original genetic map to create true Y'All battle drones has been lost. There is much reward to anyone able to restore that map because the Call has been made."

Lia wanted to restore lost ground and restore her role as the leader. "A pirate with the name of Black Velvet has a live Y'All in her crew."

"Liar! You do not know what a Y'All is, no battle drone would ever accept the commands of a Non-Roont."

--""--

I expected something spectacular to happen, but all that did happen was the bluish energy filling the entire view screen. For a moment I believed to see dark flames and light streaks, then there was the black of space again.

I had my seat raised into Battle dome and saw the gate behind us. The tactical sensors showed no artificial contacts.

"Do we have to activate the gate somehow?" I asked no one in particular."We passed through the blue energies without any effects?"

SHIP and Narth almost answered simultaneously. "We did traverse a distance of 690,427 Standard Union Light-years, Captain."

I lowered myself back down.

This dual answer, timing slightly off made me smile and I said."Just one of you will be fine. If I am correct SHIP was a little faster, so go ahead SHIP what happened and where are we?

"The Ancient Gate is indeed the entrance to a transpatial conduit and we bypassed 690,427 standard light years. Four point eight seconds passed in real time and real space while we were removed from real space. How much relative time passed in the other medium I am unable to say. We arrived at a dwarf spheroidal galaxy, known to Union Astrographers as Leo II. It once also was known as Leo B."

"Stand down from General Quarters but remain on Condition Yellow," I said.

Narth mimicked Har-Hi's favorite arm position by crossing them rather than having them inside the sleeves of his shroud as usual. "Because the base time constant of the hyperspatial continuum used for the conduit is not Omni linear, but Omni circular, a distinct difference. Object originating in this reality are unable to sense this time condition."

"And you can?" I asked.

"Naturally, I am Narth after all." He turned his shrouded head."And so do you, you began to feel it."

I frowned."And I still don't like all these psionics and what not."

Hoping I was successful glaring a dismissive no in Narth's direction to stop him to make another comment and said."Shea, what do we know about the Leo II galaxy?"

I knew it pleased her inner geek to participate and she said. "Leo II or Leo B is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy about 690,000 light-years from Pluribus in the Earth visible constellation Leo.

It is one of the satellite galaxies of our Milky Way.

Leo II has a core radius of 178 parsecs give or take about 13 parsecs and a tidal radius of 632 parsecs. It was discovered for Terra in 1950 by Robert G. Harrington and Albert George Wilson. The galaxy was also discovered by numerous other Union member societies. However, the Astrographical society decided to retain the Terran designation.

It consists largely of metal-poor older stars, a sign that it has survived the galactic cannibalism under which massive galaxies like the Milky Way consume smaller galaxies to attain their extensive size."

"And now I do need a drink of water or something. It was interesting for sure but dry as Alvor's Cove. Anything else, Union specific?"

Krabbel chimed in."As a member of the local group, Leo II was targeted for a physical survey as part of the of the Local Group Survey Project, first conceived in 4956 OTT during the 2736th Astro Graphical Society Conference at Midway Station. Due to its distance, it was decided to conduct a physical survey at another later time.

The way he moved his upper legs, I knew he was quite proud of himself giving me that info without consulting his console."

Shaka said."He consumes every Astrographical report. Besides ice cream, he takes his Navigation job very seriously."

"I know I have the best navigator. So if I understand this right, we are the first Union vessel here?"

"Indeed, Captain," Shea confirmed.

"Anything on the sensors at all. Tactical showed nothing in range."

Shea nodded to Mao and he said."Nothing artificial in range, Captain but we do have a strong trail of ISAH engines, by the density of it running past red line. There are other trails and there are debris and the dissipating energies consistent with a Loki torpedo exploding in Armageddon mode."

"Enough debris for a destroyed spaceship?"

"Unless it was a very small ship, no Captain."

I got up."Maintain condition yellow. Elfi, see if there is any communication activity. Har-Hi would you mind and take our Bison out there and collect some of that debris for Shea's department to analyze?"

Har-Hi also got up."Shea, want to come along?"

She immediately agreed and they both left the bridge to get down to the hangar deck.

Elfi said."Yes, there is Myon type communications, TheOther and I are currently working with SHIP to analyze the languages, without the benefit of First contact data."

Fivcheer now had a secondary bridge position, controlling our Psi lab equipment."There is significant sentient mind activity at a star system eighteen light years from here."

--""--

It had taken a while, but Plostrak and his sentient remote were finally convinced that there was indeed alive Y'All.

The former Union Fleet Lt.Commander said."Almost everyone in our galaxy remembers the Y'All. They came several times and after a terrible and costly war they were finally defeated."

"But how?" Plostrak asked. "There were so many and they had the same shields, the Traa has!"

"A big hero of ours returned from exile with a then-new weapon. A weapon that ignores shields an armor by sending a bomb at the moment of explosion via hyperspace directly inside the enemy ship. This weapon is the core reason, the Union has grown and became so big. It has been a guarantor of victory ever since."

The Spindlar said."We call it the Translocator cannon. It is the most tightly guarded secret."

Julkus said."I was framed by my own twin brother, and no one wanted to even hear me out, but that is neither here or now. Mr. Plostrak I am Harold Julkus, former Lieutenant Commander of the United Stars Spatial Navy and I am a Translocator Master Technician. I know this weapon and can build it for anyone who meets my price."

"What is your price, Julkus?"

"A position of considerable power and a ship like yours of my own. I know many secrets and after being sold out like that, I want revenge and I will get it."

"Help me find that Y'All and the entity I answer to, will give you power like you never had before and you can command an armada of new Y'All and destroy that Union of yours."

--""--