Erica Olafson, Voyages of the Tigershark 001a

Prelude

The United Stars of the Galaxy, commonly referred to simply as the Union is a multicultural society that started out, about three thousand years ago. It started with three human societies. The Sarans who acted and looked just like the ancient Egyptians that built the Pyramids ; their rebellious sons that adopted ancient Rome as their role model and the humans of Earth, now commonly known as Terrans came together, united under common laws and goals in the year 2220.

The very next day the young Union received its first member, the amphibious non-human Ult.

Now 2804 standard years later, in the year 5024 (Old Terran Time), there are almost 5000 member societies, with representatives gathering in the majestic and impressive building known as the Assembly Sphere on the Unions central planet, Pluribus Unum.

Representatives and members from as far as the M32 galaxy met here either in person or telepresent via the marvelous Avatar technology to discuss all those issues and problems a huge mega society might have.

Individuals of the smallest Union species were no bigger than a corn of rice, while the biggest one, a sentient galactic nebula measured several light minutes across. There were beings that lived inside stars and had nobody, others looking like giant pizzas crawling over the superdense metallic helium of a Jovian supergiant. The truly gigantic Bandrupo and the small fuzzy Holdians, the Petharians coming from a planet where liquid magma was as common as water on a garden world, the beautiful Delicates from the distant Large Magellan cloud were just a few examples of the diversity of this mega society.

Only recently the mighty Nul, a former enemy had been welcomed into the Union. The representatives of several Downward societies had traveled to Pluribus to apply for membership.

Most surprisingly perhaps the request from the grumpy and xenophobic Yotenen, who expressed their thankfulness for Union intervention preventing the Kermac from retaliating.

All this was watched by the official Kermac observer and on a field screen while he was sitting in the company of several other Kermac inside the Kermac enclave on N’Ger. Union GalNet services had just recently been extended to this independent planet, due to the Golden who maintained a Trading post on N’Ger.

The GalNet terminal used by the Kermac was Union technology and rented from the Golden.

Neuachfunf, the lead wizard of this compound looked over to the long-range telepath, reclined in his sender seat and wondered how much the overstrained talent was able to sent to Kermac Prime. Then he returned his attention to the crisp, real-time transmission from the far distant Union government planet.

“The Yotenen, the Dawn and now the representative of the Porsthir. With the Xandrao and the Golden down there, these cursed Union cretins gaining a substantial foothold in that region of the galaxy.

“He complained to no one in particular. I wonder how they did that, decades after decades they paid no attention to this region, while we prepared to expand this way. We lost those we wanted to assimilate for our needs and with the Union now active down there it will not be as easy to gain others.”

“It might have to do with the doomed project of High Wizard Seibsibac, who had been rewarded for his efforts by being tossed out of the High Wizard’s tower on Kermac Prime and if the reports are correct, by the hand of the Supreme Grand Wizard himself.

“One of the other Kermac said, also watching what was happening in the Assembly Dome.

Neuachfunf touched his artificial beard in an unconscious habit.

“It is known to very few and one must be careful, even mentioning Wizard Seibsibac is now considered subversive. Did he not set out to find that Celtest depot?”

“It is not Celtest, it is Seenian. The GalNet files have been updated on this subject. He might have set out to find it, but the Union has somehow managed to find what thousands have tried to find in vain before.”

“How do you come to this conclusion, Einsweifier?”

“Because of that!” The Kermac pointed on the screen. An unseen commentator spoke with unveiled awe and pride in his voice.

“ ... spatial Fleet is proud to announce the latest additions to our fleet. Nine Devastator class ships have been received from the hangars of the recently revealed USS Dominator.”

The Kermac said.

“Where do you think these monster ships come from, Stahl revealed just the other day?”

“Did he say hangars? There is a ship big enough to put nine Devastator ships in hangars?”

“Indeed he did. These ships alone are enough to wipe out all our fleets and none of our analysts can really wrap their minds around the dimensions and potential capabilities of the USS Dominator. According to our intelligence, they gave it under the direct command of the Eternal Warrior.”

“What word from the Grand Wizard?”

“All the Galactic Council is to be very careful not to agitate until the Call is answered.”

Almost 75,000 light years distant in the Spinward sector and on the surface of Carabis Green, the third planet in an only recently surveyed star system. Paula sat at the main table of the habitat module; Paula Curiosity was very proud of her very old Martian name. Her ancestors were among the very first colonists that came to the fourth planet of the Sol system.

Mars had been the very first planet humans colonized, true Luna came first, but Earth’s moon wasn’t a planet.

That Venus started its first colonies only a week later was insignificant of course, but not to Martians or Venusians even after almost three thousand years.

She was born less than a thousand meters from where her distant ancestors found the original Curiosity rover. This relic of the 21st was the reason the farm established nearby was called the Curiosity farm. The farm grew into a city and her family was only one of the many hundred with the same last name, but it still connected her with the distant past and gave her a sense of belonging.

She sipped her coffee and leaned forward to take a peek out the round viewport.

Beyond the viewport and the thick walls of this Union science habitat, a hellish environment of dark cracked and fissured volcanic rock and bright glowing magma flows.

The research outpost was located just five hundred meters distant to a cauldron of bubbling magma. This huge puddle of molten rock of was just one of many such volcanic craters dotting the entire surface of this planet.

This was planet Carabis Green. It had been discovered only five years ago by the UES Sorrom just past the fringes of established Union Space on this side of the galaxy and had been reported as a Class A Type one garden world with extensive forests and jungles, temperate climate and a biosphere compatible with most carbon-based NiOx breathers and no sentient life encountered.

Garden worlds of this character were rare gems and BoCA send an assessment team to confirm the findings and make a more detailed survey to clear the planet for colonization.

All they found was this hellish place.

At first, the Bureau of Colonist Affairs believed the survey branch of the Explorer corps made a mistake and perhaps reported the wrong coordinates, which would have been the very first such mistake in the

Explorer Corps history.

A rare and beautiful garden world turned into a shattered world with a destabilized crust, magma-spewing lava craters, clouds of poisonous gas and a sky darkened by ash clouds in less than five years from its initial discovery to the arrival of the BoCA team.

Several checks on data and the local stars unique signature, however, confirmed that this indeed was Carabis Green.

There was no apparent reason or clear scientific explanation why this happened.

The BoCA assessment team filed their report declared the planet suitable for Takkians, Elor and mining operations, reclassified it as Class X and went on to the next planet.

Now, this would be pretty much the end of this story but the BoCA team reported the same drastic change on three other worlds in the same region of space.

This was no longer a mildly interesting anomaly but a pattern. Given that the same thing happened on worlds in different solar systems light years apart natural reasons could almost be ruled out.

The matter was set on high priority and the Science Council of the Assembly decided to task the Science Corps to have a closer look

It found 11 such worlds so far. Four of them were known to have indigenous sentient life, on pre-industrial tech levels. For this reason, contact had not been made.

Eleven garden worlds, destroyed within twenty years and an area of about 50 light years, reduced the possibility of natural causes to almost nil.

Paula turned away from the viewport and the hellish vista it provided and gave her attention to Grorr the Takkian who just entered the common room of the outpost.

“Good morning Paula, the silicone being squeezed in the trumpet-like voice all Takkians had in common.

“You are up early today.”

“I haven’t really been to bed. I was up all night analyzing the samples you and Krio collected.”

Grorr opened a storage locker and retrieved a shiny box and poured a handful of copper pellets into a bowl and said to her while he popped a few into his nourishment mouth.

“And what did you find? I mean spending all night of them you should know those specimen on a first name basis.”

“Very funny Grorr,” she said with a slightly sarcastic tone. She actually could hear the faint hissing sound as the Copper pellets dissolved in the strong acid soup in Grorr’s digestive tract and saw a puff of greenish smoke escape through his nourishment mouth as he popped a few more. She held up one of the specimens.

“The pieces contain Amphibole structures.”

“So? Components of my body do and so are many rock types like granite for example. Nothing unexpected near a volcano.”

“Indeed they are not, but their composition and arrangement is almost exactly like yours and also comparable to Takian and even similar to Lyharms.”

Grorr forgot to consume the next Copper pellet and came closer to look over the results of her analysis.

“You are right.”

“What made me spend all night is me combining the pieces to reconstruct what the object looked like before it was broken.”

She activated a three-dimensional representation between them.

Grorr almost dropped its bowl.

“By the singing Conck, that looks almost like a Takk nodule, just a whole lot bigger and hollow like an egg.”

“I am sure there was something in that egg.”

Her Takkian friend and colleague said.

“No, that you mention it, I have seen hundreds of these fragment on every site.”

Chapter 1 »