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CHAPTER 01: Earth

It turned out we did not return to our homeport, Richter 4. We received new orders just as we returned to the M-0 galaxy. A Commodore of Fleet HQ and with all the necessary codes and credentials had appeared on our screen and transmitted new orders. According to him, the Admiral of the Fleet was busy and gave him the necessary instructions. The man was a tall Andorian and told me quite openly that he disagreed with the Admiral to contact a little destroyer himself anyway. His name was Commodore Haraka and he said."I have no idea where the USS Tigershark came from so suddenly, but you are assigned to the 124th fleet and will proceed to Christmas Base and stand by for new orders." He terminated the call, but not before saying: "Richter Base ? Ridiculous every one knows, there is nothing really there." We did manage to reach Cherubim and she laughed at our predicament, then she said."The transfer is temporary for sure and even an oversight perhaps, but the Admiral of the Fleet did indeed transfer the Tigershark to the 124th, God only knows why he thinks the Tigershark is going to be good as a regular fleet unit, but he is the highest authority in that regard. Nothing I can do and the 124th isn't the First." She still seemed amused."No worries Richard will ask about you soon enough."

Only a week had passed since we got these new orders. The Tigershark was traveling just a notch under red line towards the distant Spinward sector. I had just come off watch and leisurely proceeded to our Den for a bite to eat and a cup of fresh coffee. We just returned to Union space and there was nothing on the scanner horizon concerning us. As always there were people there. With a screech, Fafnir untangled himself from Alice who had apparently played with our mascot and it winged across the former hangar. The black dragon-like thing had again grown in size and it took quite some effort to hold it. After a few scratches and Alice complaining with a laugh about Fenris loyalties. Fenris flapped back and divebombed the pretty, big-eyed girl sitting on the floor. She said between peals of laughter of delight, as the thing tried to lick her with a long black tongue. "Everyone loves Fenris, but he is truly loyal to one person, and that is you." I grinned back while I made my way to my accustomed chair."Naturally, this is my SHIP and I am the captain." O'Connell did not fail. Not that I had any idea how she actually did it. She appeared right behind me with my ugly skull mug filled with steaming coffee. Moments later our Elly chef came in, carrying a big platter."Just on time captain. I have roast beef, just as good as Fangsnapper , I promise." "I am certain it is so, Mr. Eeeryt ." I began eating a few moments later and nodded."It is indeed so, delicious." Only now did our chef move and tooted."Thank you, captain, I have cherry cobbler in the oven. Old fashioned made from scratch and baked." "If I find some room, I have a slice." He left in a busy fashion, almost running into Har-Hi who came along with Krabbel. My XO and my navigator came to the table and helped themselves to food. I looked across the table."It is good to have you back, Mr.TheOther ." "There are plenty of Drones now, to replace me, captain. All of them eager to serve this ship and you." "You didn't just say that, right?" "Captain being lost in that construct, I never lost hope or confidence you would come for me. I am a Y'All, part of the fiercest foe the Union faced, but here aboard this ship I am TheOther and have friends.I..." "Oh shut up, TheOther and eat. That roast beef is excellent.Of course, we don't give up on friends. " Har-Hi scooped himself an extra  helping of mashed potato and said."What is still on my mind, do you remember that Pepino, Plostrak ? Wasn't he with you? Whatever happened to him?" TheOhter stopped piling meat on his plate. "I glued him to the deck plates of the Traa, his ship and..." Har-Hi ate a spoon of mashed."...and?" An arm-long worm, most of its head covered with gravy appeared over the rim of the table."Heeze forgoz...Pepinoz Plostraz, shipz and everyzin...boomz!" TheOther despite being a Y'All looked troubled and embarrassed."He was a criminal perhaps, but I talked to him. The Pepino didn't ask to be created and then declared waste." "Theyze noz evenz gooz to eaz, Meeze eatz everyvonz. Pepinoz bleeh." The worm sticking a big piece of meat in his teeth covered maw."Cookz ze meatz izz gooz!" Our chef came back, carrying a covered pan."That thing there spends all his time in the galley and eatz...danged no I start...I mean eats all the food waste. I don't know where he puts it." "Wanz Meeze to showz you. Ize notz gooz and stinz." I almost chocked on my food."Should I ask where he gets rid of stuff?" Wheeze spread his thin arms."Waz noz eazy zo finz darkz placez." Har-Hi just had mashed potato coming out of his nose as he turned even redder than he usually was."TheOther I think you need to get your worm friend toilet trained." Then he burst out laughing. "Lez hopez our Captain or anyone else steps into ... well dark corners." Circuit came in, and while he had a never changing face, he was not happy."Can someone tell me, who used Service crawl space 56-12 for a bathroom?" I burst out."Ize donz knowz." SHIP chimed in."Sorry to interrupt, but Fleet Command just hailed. We are to change course for Earth . It appears Admiral Stahl gets married and you are invited, Captain."

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It was never really loud in the Sphere of Assembly, but there was always a din of voices and always someone's voice amplified speaking about some issue. Right now, one could have heard a Condo-mouse sneeze, all up in the most distant alcove. It was dead quiet. A column of Y'All warrior drones was stomping in. Egill counted and whispered."There are at least 250 of them." "Incorrect there are 260 and there are 44,732 more outside." "They are all armed and in full armor! Why isn't First Guard doing something?" A Saran representative said. Egill answered."Because it is Admiral Stahl leading them in, and they are on the docket." The Saran pulled up his PDD and flipped through the list. "A delegation of Yahha Al is supposed to make a membership request...Yah-ha Al...Y'All?" The Saran turned as he wanted to say more to the old man from Nilfeheim, but Egill was gone. The Neo Viking reappeared in his Alcove along with the Narth. Alegar was already there. "What is going on?" Egill asked as he sat down. "The Eternal Warrior is about to speak," Alegar answered. The Speaker of the Assembly, the same size reduced Avatar of a Bandrupo had just given Stahl the permission to address the Assembly. The Admiral said."Citizens of the Union, I have just returned from the Leo II galaxy and while there are certainly more challenges and enemies beyond our horizons. I am here to report to all of you, the Y'All source has been found and eliminated. There will be no new invasion." The Y'All threat had been a looming one, and the very reason for so many projects trying to find the reason for the invasions and somehow stop the next one. While almost everyone was confident, the Union would be victorious. The cost of such a war was unimaginable. The Y'All created a terrible path of destruction before. The Wurgus rep rose from his seat, these gifted sun engineers sacrificed their own sun to stop the Y'All. "We were confident that it will be you, Eternal Warrior that finally ends this looming thread. These...these Y'All with you are war prisoners?" "It was not me, Patriarch Kurusun. The place, the Crucible that churned out the Y'All and their hardware has been destroyed. It has been found and destroyed by a great hero and her unequaled crew. Due to restrictions placed on me by my superiors and by necessity I can not reveal her identity at this point." He pointed at the wall of Y'All warriors behind him."These are not prisoners, these beings have assisted us to put an end to this terrible threat. These are not Y'All, as this is a name that has been given to them by others. They are here to ask to begin their PUMA process and I am their official Union citizen advocate and mentor." The first Y'All standing right behind Stahl now spoke."Yes, we have been your enemy, but not of our own free will and none of the drones standing before you have been made when the last war ended. It was a sentient machine who created us and it was the ones that built this machine that gave us orders. We were not allowed to feel, to think or to ask. Beings of this galaxy possess a device to issue a call. This call has been issued to summon us to do their bidding. The Call can no longer be answered. The Crucible and He-who-guards-the-Crucible have been destroyed. The receptors inside of us that made us fighting slaves have been eliminated. We are free beings without a home, as our place of origin no longer exists. There are 45,000 of us. All the others have also been destroyed. We are not the Y'All anymore, perhaps never were. We are Yehaa." The X101 representative said."We have been forced to fight against our will. If the Union rejects your application, you will find a home among us." The Blue representative asked."Who was it that issued that call?" The Yehaa said."The callers were a society known to us as the Kermac." That statement caused an uproar and the call request board before the speaker was lighting up with thousands of requests. Admiral Stahl made a gesture to calm down and it worked, the shouts ebbed away and the representatives sat down. The speaker gave Mothermachine the opportunity to speak. She had established herself as an avatar and she said."What our representative has said is the sentiment of the X101 indeed. I extend our invitation and welcome the Yehaa on any of our worlds as honored guests until the PUMA progress can be completed." The Wurgus still standing."We lost much by the hand of the Y'All. Yet this was before the Wurgus became Union. It is perhaps a new tradition, especially when compared to the history of this galaxy, a proud Union tradition is never the less. A society or an individual accepting our laws is welcome, whatever might be in the past is not a point of consideration in the Potential Union Member Assessment process. To us Wurgus, the word and the endorsement of the Eternal Warrior mean more than the recommendations of any commission. I hereby call for a vote right away, let these Yehaa become members. They are homeless, let us provide them one." The speaker's board lit up again with many requests and Utchat, the AI tallied them."The Assembly of all agrees with 92 percent and calls for an Imminent Union Wide." That meant a GalNet call went out over Channel one to summon Union citizens to cast a direct vote. A Union wide imminent was technically the highest form of law. The entrance of Y'All caused a large number of citizens to follow the events inside the Assembly dome anyway. The vote came in and it was decided right there and then to admit the Yehaa right away, with a vote tally of 93 to 7. The speaker officially welcomed the newest member, and just then, from the entrance to the inner sphere and across the hard light bridge to the FOCUS, a meter-long worm scurried in and its voice was amplified as it looked up to Stahl."Youze finized wiz zhe Yehaz? Wheeze waitz andz wheeze gez hungriz."

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We had arrived in the Sol system, like most Union citizens we had followed the proceedings at the Assembly. TheOther was quite emotional for a Y'All and kept thanking me, our self-elected passenger the Wheeze worm was also pleased that his kind had been accepted. "Wheeze veryz happiez. Attianz Zinol meatz, Porsthirz Glokurz anz Ericaz Surztrömmiz" the worm made a pleased sound."Anz ze pulze maggez iz zoo gooz." Narth said."They had their culinary welcome just yesterday. They cleared out thirty-eight percent of the Assembly and for entire different reasons than the marching Y'All." "You have culinary specialties?" I asked. "Nooz, Wheeze eaz everyzing. Wheeze noz cookz zings, buz Wheeze goez to Assembliez telz Meeze theiz samplez from ozer." Narth voice had a strange undertone."The Narth representative reported that the Wheeze mixed the most pungent dishes of several cultures together, creating an entire new odor. A smell that caused the Narth representative to experience a new corporeal reaction, the expulsion of previously consumed food called emesis." Shea laughed."He threw up?" "Yes, not a recommended activity while wearing a hood like this." I still felt very amused when I gave Shaka orders to follow Sol traffic control and land our boat on Armstrong port, Luna. There were no spaceports on Earth itself.

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We were still early for the big event, so I had given my crew a few days of shore leave. This was Sol system, it's third planet was without question one of the most beautiful worlds. Except for Shaka, none of our human crew-members called Earth home, neither did I. But like the first time I had been here, there was an unexplainable connection that trains descended all those generations of separation. Here, the atmosphere, gravitation and everything else felt simply perfect. There was no need to keep a watch on a military port on Earth's moon, but regulations required a manned bridge at all times for a ship I service regardless of where it was. So I remained aboard. It was eerie quiet. SHIP was still there, but her Ego center was gone along with her new Avatar body. The Computronic now acted much like any other AI system, impersonal and machine-like. SHIP was like a child that was never outside and enjoyed her freedom greatly and even though she could be at a hundred locations at the same time, she defined her Ego center just like any other being. As strange as it might sound for someone not acquainted with the setup of my truly unique ship, for a purpose the AI of the ship was currently not here. Stahl was still busy on Pluribus, and I was certain with things a man about to get married. Something I was about to do myself, but I wanted to do that once Eric had separated from me.

I had put up my legs and held a cup of coffee, while I kept an eye on the general board that combined the major duty readouts such as engine status, internal security, navigation, and helm systems. Helm was deactivated just as Navigation. There was virtually nothing to do. Har-Hi had taken Krabbel, Mao, Hans, TheOther, Xon the gray prince and the Golden on a tour of Earth following an invitation of Shaka. The main viewer showed the mostly empty landing field of this relatively small and little used port. I had selected traditional Nilfeheim ground music and was about to open a book on my PDD, Shea had recommended to me when I had a distinct feeling that something or someone was watching me. I turned to look around the bridge but I did not see anyone. Yet my back hair was standing up and as I could have sworn I saw something move just outside of my peripheral vision. I knew Orthbeer was not aboard. He had joined Ak Fective and Two-Three and went to the most famous zoo of them all, Venus-Zoo. "SHIP seal the bridge." The Computronic responded to my verbal command and the heavy Neutronium plated security shutters slid across the closed Bridge access points. The bridge was now hermetically sealed. Even though there was nothing I could see or hear, I was now convinced something shared the bridge with me. "Ship scan bridge for life forms." "Scan complete. One life form detected." I was about to relax and think that it had been my nerves that played a trick on me, something touched my shoulder…

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