Book 10 - Chapter 19: Homebase-edited

Luurat’s troops had stormed the old Estrella compound, but could not prevent its destruction. The explosion that destroyed the hastily installed foreign technology. Luurat wasted no time thinking about the Tomradi troops lost.

That old set of buildings provided him with a convenient field post, where he had placed himself on the undamaged throne of the emperor.

The Tomradi had a close connection to Avondur for many thousand years. This world was unique. The Ancient Gate Network focused on this world. No less than thirty-six gates could be found within one light-year of this system. Each gate the starting point of long strings of gate connections linking millions of galaxies in every celestial direction. Including of course the many galaxies under Tomradi control.

Every living being of those galaxies knew about the vicious nature of these bio shell clad brutes. Everyone knowing the Tomradi feared them and knew of their single-issue focus on finding the shards that when assembled became the Key Cosmic.

That legendary device was able to point to the Vault of the Imperials' location and unlock all the secrets of the First Empire.

It was accepted knowledge that the Tomradi developed out of an ancient faction that remained after the Fiest Empire had ceased to exist.

When Invictus Rex suddenly vanished and the mighty Empire fell to warring factions. The Imperial Elders gathered all Imperial technology, which had gained the highest possible tech level in a vault and sealed it with a key. They then shattered the key into shards and spread them across the cosmos. Whoever was able to gather all shards and restore that key was made aware of the location of the vault and as its new owner able to open it. Gaining unrestricted access to tech without distinction between magic and technology.

Technological knowledge to create new galaxies and life itself.

For millions of years, it was the Tomradi who considered themselves the only legitimate inheritors of that legacy. Scouring the heavens for the shards and pursuing any and all leads that might lead them to complete their quest.

This quest had transcended all that defined the Tomradi. Religion, society, and culture focused on this alone.

That Avondur, with all its rifts and multi spatial connections on and around the planet, was central to this quest had always been clear to the Tomradi.

Countless expeditions had been sent through every known gate and connection to gather any information. Every sentient society encountered by these Gatherers was to be questioned, dragged back to Avondur if possible so they could be questioned by the Tomradi. If such a society did not know the shards or the First Empire, they were to be kept as samples to be studied for eventual submission by the Tomradi and their recreation of a universe-spanning new Empire.

Many thousands of these Gatherers never returned, others did come back with scores of captured samples of societies and cultures from all across the universe.

Since the original Imperials were humans or humanoids the focus was on humanoid societies.

The scores of captives eventually formed the core of the Avondur society.

Not even Luraat knew which part of this story was a legend and what was true. He also was not able to ascertain if there had been a presence of natives on Avondur before Tomradi focused much of their attention on this world.

He, like all the Tomradi leaders before him, acknowledged the special status of the Circle of Seven. Why this was significant had been lost to Tomradi lore.

It was quite recently when the Tomradi envoy to Avondur had been dismissed like a speck of insignificance from the court of the Red Knight, a self-righteous individual named Crimsor.

That haughty dismissal of the Tomradi envoy was the main reason for Luraat to come himself to Avondur.

Luurat had marched into the halls of the Red Knight and confronted that arrogant bastard and demanded answers.

Crimsor remained defiant and dismissed the Tomradi, despite the tremendous core fleet Luurat had brought along.

The Red Knight suggested that the Tomradi ask all questions to the newcomers that had purchased and reinforced an old collection of buildings located at the Eastern exit of the City of Sandakaar.

It was there where he killed Fetherars, the representative of the Circle of Seven and the chairholder of the Sandakaar Council. Where his advance was halted by a technology that could not overcome as easily as all tech the Tomradi encountered before.

The Tomradi then encountered representatives of the Seven Circles. Chief among them, the Yellow Robes.

Luurat did not know how the Yellow Wizard did this tremendous feat of unprecedented power as the apparently simple man pushed hundreds of Tomradi Battle Discs out of orbit. The gesture demonstrated control unknown to the Tomradi but did not damage or harm the ships.

Then suddenly all changed. The Yellow Wizard disappeared first, then a fight of great intensity begun in the Eastern mountains, where he suspected several so-called Nexus points to exist and add to the many trans spatial connections of this world.

More and more of the demonic hordes of Sata and Crimsor drawn to that fight.

The entity claiming to be the reborn Invictus breaking out of the Estrella Compound shortly thereafter with the apparent goal to join that fight clashed with Tomradi troops.

In short, the situation was anything but clear.

Luurat decided to take control and ordered all his troops to make planetfall and secure the world for the glory and purpose of the Tomradi.

No Yellow Wizard feature stopped the advance this time, yet the reports of victorious conquest did not reach him.

The Newcomers had been defeated. The Black Robes eradicated, but the one calling himself Invictus had not been captured.

Crimsors hordes had vanished, the Citadel of the Red Knights rendered into a pile of rubble just moments ago and the report of Crimsor’s demise by the hands of a sword-wielding human female added to the many reports of chaos and confusion all across this world.

Mere moments ago he was told the Sentinel of the Rifts had been found hacked to pieces just outside the Gateway Oasis, the same voices reported the collapse of rifts and passages all across Avondur system.

The ships and envoys of Old Gods simply vanished. Those individuals who were able to slide and traverse from realm to realm; no longer able to do so withered away, as evident in the dying remains of Balkus.

Luurat was not an entity, but he and his kind had kept a close watch on Avondur. Something had occurred that changed everything.

One of his scout troop leaders returned from the mountains in the West. The Stronghold of the Yellow Robes was to be found between its peaks.

The scout only found the ruins of a once-formidable fortress and the remains of many hundreds of Yellow Robes, hacked and slashed to death. Among the dead reportedly the Yellow Wizard himself with a broken neck.

Whatever governed this world for eons had been rendered impotent. All those who governed Avondur had been killed, destroyed or rendered to insignificance.

Yet the reports of victory against whoever his troops faced in the East remained forthcoming. Instead, he was told of the fiercest resistance his kind ever encountered, even more intense than the battles the Tomradi fought against the Forbidden Factions. Tomradi, that did not follow Tomradi doctrine and was therefore forbidden to be mentioned.

And now his troops had overrun the caves. There was nothing and no one. The Nexus point destroyed.

--“”—

In one instant they had fought with everything they had, and in the next moment they all found themselves back on N’Ger.

The crew of the Tigershark and the Steel Gauntlet were back in their respective ships and the core group that set out to journey to Avondur was back at the rooftop terrace of a small hotel overlooking one of the entrance alleys to the centrally located landing field of the Glaring Desert of Profit.

The transition was abrupt and sudden. Yet every wound, every blister and even the most minute damage to armor and equipment was gone.

Nothing but their collective memories told them that they had left at all.

Har-Hi blinked surprised as he slowly put his swords away. “Was it all a dream?”

Admiral Stahl rubbed his eyes and tried to remember where he just had been, he knew he had witnessed the Decision and was there when the Rule was restored, but his mind refused to yield anything but vague out of focus memories. He did notice the hand of the Narth Supreme on his shoulder. The mysterious leader spoke in his mind. “You have been there indeed. One has been there before and even for all that is Narth, the Plane of Eternity is a place that eludes the mind and senses of all but the true entities that exist beyond all understanding. One will offer you friendship and counsel even as the senses of Narth are equally inadequate.”

Shea was perhaps the first of the group recognizing Eric standing among them. He appeared just as he had during their gathering at Richter Base before he decided to become Erica. No, she corrected her observation, Eric had aged just as they all had. He looked an extremely handsome young man wearing the uniform of a Union Fleet officer with the rank of a Captain.

Gone was the artificial, inhuman looking body. Gone was the obscuring shroud.

He smiled at them all. “There was no reason for any of us to remain on Avondur. There was no need for you to fight and jeopardize your lives. The reason  for me to seek that the world has been fulfilled and all parts that needed to be played have been played.”

Stahl rubbed his chin. “You are Eric Olafson?”

“Yes, Admiral Sir, I am true.”

“And just to be clear, you are the Dark One. Fully restored and an entity beyond my understanding?”

“Neither human concepts nor labels are adequate, but for all sense and purpose I am what you say I am.”

“Well, I think we wasted enough time on this and I need to go back running things. As far as I know, you are also an officer and the captain of a Starship. Take your show on the proverbial road and back to Richter Base for further instructions.”

“Aye Sir.”

Luci Fera stepped forward. “Dark One, what about me?”

“You, like Oldest of the Coven put aside the restrictions of your origin. Refused to act upon the conventions and preconceptions that came with you. Instead, you embraced individual choice and decision. These are the hallmarks of the Third Way that is now the RULE.”

“I will continue on this path, Dark One. I will seek citizenship.”

--“”—

Rex ran for his life. The richest man in the Galaxy, the one seeing himself the next Emperor of the very Universe, had escaped a mob of unsavory scavengers in the last moment and technically he was still trying to escape.

His bare feet bleeding from small cuts, as he staggered across the hot dry ground. The relentless sun had baked his pale white, never really exposed, skin into an unhealthy shade of bright red while his thighs rubbed the skin sore. He was dirty, thirsty and miserable as can be. He would have given all his wealth for a drink of water.

Being a naked, unarmed human running between the tents and stalls of a Non-Union galactic market was anything but safe. The scavengers had not given up on him and he realized they were playing with him.

In his naked state, without his wrist com, the simple shuttle had been as inaccessible to him as it would have been for anyone unauthorized. This wasn’t his Black Sirius able to recognize his voice or brainwave pattern.

What would have been a laughable small spaceport, turned out to be a glaring field of tremendous dimensions for a man on foot.

One of his tormentors dashed close, a tall muscle clad Jooltar, cackling with amusement taking a swing at him, numbing his shoulder with a bone-cracking painful blow of a weighted club.

The Jooltar mocked him. “Hey, Hooman you don’t run as fast anymore. You know the Togar still buy human flesh. So I think we end this now.”

Rex Schwartz, the mighty CEO and president of SII  saw himself already torn between the claws of Togar cats. While he was immortal in terms of being ageless, he was certain he could be killed in a million ways.

While looking over his other still uninjured shoulder to see if the Jooltars friends were near as well, he overlooked the tall blonde he almost ran into.

“Dad?”

Shea his youngest and most recently adopted daughter drew a simple looking sword and swiped its blade across the chest of the Jooltar, cutting the maroon pelted savage in Gorey halves.

He blinked and also noticed the towering shape of an old Katharian armed Trader. The ship mostly black with silvery highlights was known to many as the Silverstreak.

Shea was joined by a towering Saturnian. “Lieber Gott, it is your father. SHIP was right she saw Rex Schwartz running across the landing field.”

The Saturnian scooped him up like a weightless toy. “We will get you to sickbay.”

Shea asked.”What happened Dad?”

--“”—

I was certain I had fired my old Springfield Colt many more times than there were bullets in the magazine. The slugs as deadly as they were, could not harm a shielded and armored target, yet the slugs tore through shields and armor as if the most powerful TKU blast. I knew my brother most likely affected that old gun.

The mountain hideout of the Angels of Sandakaar had been overrun by these winged Ice breath Demons, by brutish looking ghoulish creatures and pulse weapon armed shock troops of what the angels called the enforcers od the Sandakaar lords oppressing a large section of the planet's population. At least that is how it was explained to me.

While I had learned to wait with my judgment until I heard both sides. These oppressors made it difficult for me to see them in any kind of favorable light.

What the angels called their hideout was a collection of natural cliffside caves, partially enlarged and adapted for living purposes.

The nature of the hideout made an open and wide attack impossible, but it also thinned defenses as the place had more access entrances than a Tyranno steep mountain. The attack was nor very well coordinated and carried out with a mix of weapons, but for a society claiming to call this hideout their headquarters, the defenses were equally bad organized. That dilemma was compounded by the fact that the secret of its location was shared with pretty much everyone that escaped the oppressors. A fact that became quite apparent and made the initial reaction to me, by that young woman even more idiotic as it already was.

I knew the Oppressors could have attacked at any time and most likely didn’t take the angels as a serious enough threat.

If I understood the situation correctly, the planet was in turmoil and the old power structure had been destroyed or were shifting. Having control over the factions that did the work and tended the fields was a necessary element of control and the basis for any emerging power faction. Especially those who rather oppressed than worked the fields, factories, and farms themselves.

But when a group of these oppressors attacked a group of fleeing kids and killed children just as I came on the scene... I lost it. While I no longer harbored a Dark God inside, that old Viking anger was very much part of mine. The old Olafson rage part of my innermost heritage.

This time I did not lose consciousness or was able to summon Bereaver, but I wore a Seenian Battlesuit with all its offensive capabilities and I let loose.

In all my rage, I did notice just how formidable little Meeze was. I remember he assaulted the Togar stronghold on Kaliment with nothing but a little knife, now he carried a QNP rifle made for his size. If anyone ever told me that these Genolax were useless and weak, I would be tempted to toss that individual right in Meeze’s way.

Meeze stemmed one of his thin arms into his side and said. ”You showz them. Not manies remain and they are running.”

“You are quite the fighter Mr. Meeze. I don’t think Neo Vikings had a problem recognizing you as a real warrior.”

“Neo Vikinz? I don’t think I eaz one yet.”

“No, probably not, and I would not try to eat a piece of that Ice breath thing you are about to sample.”

Meeze lifted an arm of the ground. ”You do not have too, Meeze lez you know.”

“No, I mean I was told they are something artificial.”

Meeze shrugged. ”Meeze triez it.”

He tried to spit out whatever he had just put down his ring mouth. ”The Captinz is right, that is baaz.”

My brother was suddenly there and said. ”It seems you didn’t get bored.”

“No, I wasn’t but I know how to pass time without fighting.”

“I have sent them back, Sister. There is no reason for them to linger on. Avondur is now just another planet. Its sun will now age and this world will join the progression of all that exists within the stream of time.”

--“”—

McElligott behind his desk aboard the USS Zeno looked up as one of his aides entered. “Sir, signal report received. The USS Devastator and the rest of the First Fleet have returned to the M-0 Galaxy and is heading for Arsenal.”

“Alright, let me know when she arrives there, I guess it will be up to me officially retiring Captain Harris.”

“No Sir, I believe not. Admiral Stahl is requesting your presence when he installs her new captain.”

The old Highlander got up. “Stahl is back on duty?”

“Apparently so.”

“Get him on the horn.”

Moments later the avatar projection of the Eternal Warrior blinked into existence. Appearing as usual in his immaculate black uniform. “You wanted to talk to me?”

It took a moment before McElligott was calm enough to speak coherently. “Quit that shit and tell me what happened!”

Stahl did.

It was several hours later, the old Highlander was sitting behind his desk nursing a glass of whiskey. The Eternal Warrior smoking one of his cigarettes and also turning a glass of whiskey between his hands.

McElligott’s voice was dry as he said. “So, Eric has become a god of sorts. He completed a task and repaired reality itself. Our task, the task of the Immortals is now complete.”

Stahl nodded slowly. “That is the gist of it, not that I understand most of it, but the Narth Supreme confirms that the age of the Old Entities has ended and the future is whatever we make of it.”

McElligott nodded and dismissed the other immortal Admiral. He never doubted the other man, but he felt cheated. He too was an immortal. Should he not have played a more prominent role in all this? It seemed all the others did, Deepa, Lichfangh, Narth Supreme and according to the very latest even Rex Schwartz had been part of this event. Yet he had been left out.

The Tigershark was on her way back to Richter 4 and then she was his again and it would be her last journey. He intended to send her crew on vacation and then put a few things in motion to assure the Union Fleet and everyone else remembered who was in charge.