GC 35 Vol 9 Journeys of the USS Tigershark

When I read story offerings, I justify format them; set to Times New Roman 12 pitch, line spacing to 12pt before & 0pt after the line. All this to help my tired old eyes to read them better.

As I go through them I “edit or proof read” them to fix typing, grammatical & spelling errors that often occur because the author can get so caught up in the writing that they can miss words that the mind has put there, also wrong letters can be added by accident. I have done this.

All that being said; if you find a story with these problems don’t bitch about them, do something. But also read the story for what it is – the content. This why I do my proofing, not only for myself, but also for some writers who have asked for another set of eyes to pick up things. They can then adjust the story for themselves.

The Rev.

This is my take on this story for Vanessa's consideration.

Journeys of the USS Tigershark

by Vanessa Ravencroft

'''Copyright© 2019 by Vanessa Ravencroft'''

An Erica Olafson tale in the Galactic Chronicles Universe

(Volume 9, GC 34 )

Foreword
The Year is 5026 (Old Terran Time). The Milky Way Galaxy is teeming with life and sentient species. Earth is now known as Terra and part of the United Stars of the Galaxies, a multicultural mega civilization that by now stretches across two-quarters of the Milky Way Galaxy and has a foothold in the Andromeda Galaxy. There are over 5030 distinctive member civilizations calling themselves members of the Union. The United Stars Space fleet protects this mega civilization against external threats.

Erica Olafson, born as Eric on a cold world called Nilfeheim raised under harsh conditions of a very traditional inward-looking society of Neo Vikings left her planet to fulfill his dream to become a Starship captain.

Erica stands 199 cm tall and weighs almost exactly 90 kilos and some say she moves with the same purpose and grace as a Nubhir Wolf.

Like everyone from Nilfeheim she has a greater tolerance to freezing temperatures and is able to stay submerged underwater for a very long time because of gills and eyes that are adapted to see well underwater thanks to a second set of clear eyelids. His muscles are denser than that of a standard human, allowing her to swim longer and deeper. Due to those abilities, she has great endurance and is much stronger than she looks.

She loves fish, has a very clear sense of honor and hates unfair situations. Even though she doesn’t like to admit it, she carries the same short temper of her father and is more often than not ready to face a challenge with fists or weapons.

She now is aware of the entity inside her, a dark god that grows in power and independence.

Pursuing escaped pirates and criminals she and her truly unusual crew of individuals, she ends up in the Leo II dwarf galaxy and manages to end a terrible threat to the civilizations of the Milky Way galaxy.

While doing this, a network of ancient gates was activated.

Together with her truly unusual crew she once again added new members to her crew and to the Union.

Now Captain Erica Olafson, the USS Tigershark, and its crew are returning to the Milky Way galaxy and a new mission.

Prelude
The United Stars of the Galaxy, commonly referred to simply as the Union is a multicultural society that started out, a little over three thousand years ago.

It all began 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 2806 standard years later, in the year 5026 (Old Terran Time), there are almost 5000 member societies, with representatives gathering in the majestic and impressive construct 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 tele-present 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 no physical body; others resembling giant pizzas crawling over the super-dense metallic helium of a Jovian supergiant.

The truly gigantic Bandrupo and the small fuzzy Holdians; the Pertharians, native to a planet where liquid magma was as common as water on a garden world.

The beautiful Delicates from the distant Large Magellan cloud, resembling a skilled artists dream who tried to combine the most beautiful woman with butterflies, chiffon veils and colorful paradise birds and somehow succeeded. All these and many more were just examples of the diversity of this mega society.

Here on Pluribus Unum, the heart of this mighty and diverse Union. The representatives of Union members and Union citizens came together in a place known far beyond the Union as the Assembly Sphere.

From the outside it represented itself as a majestic hemisphere, it’s apex at 6,400 meters.

The Assembly, however, was a perfect sphere, meeting the ground at its equator and extending another 6,400 meters below the ground.

Seven trillion cubic meters of internal volume, the walls lined with alcoves, almost 19 million. Of which a little over two million were occupied.

The United Stars of the Galaxies had done away with presidents and ministries. With politicians and political parties. It was governed instead by its citizens.

It was a bold idea and it kept evolving and changing, as galaxy-spanning mega civilizations went. The Union was still young.

When ministries faded away, councils took their place. When leaders and presidents were abolished, new institutions developed.

While everyone agreed, the Union had no official leadership. Some individuals had percolated to the top.

There was Mothermachine, the largest sentient AI in the known universe. She was the originator and leader of the X101 Sentmacs.

There was the Klack Queen, unchallenged ruler over all that was Klack. Trillions of ant-like insectoids with advanced technology and a vast empire.

The voice of the Pan Saran emperor had great influence over the voting results, and so it was the case of Saran Queen.

While Terrans had no prominent leader, the immortal Admiral of the Fleet McElligott was a prominent figure.

Of course, there was Admiral Stahl, also an Immortal and also of Earth, and while he was among the most beloved individuals, he was not a member of the Assembly.

Chief above all was the Narth Supreme. The vast majority of all Union citizens considered him to be the unofficial leader.

While this entity firmly rejected this and insisted to be nothing more than a Union citizen. When the Narth Supreme suggested something, it always received nearly one hundred percent of Union-wide votes.

Other institutions developed, like the Grey Ghosts. Chosen guardians of the Union’s secrets.

The friendship of a representative of a small and unimportant world called Nilfeheim, a Saresii leader and the Narth representative created another one of these organically developed Assembly institutions. These three became known as the Wisemen of the Assembly, as their counsel and opinion on all kind of issues were often requested and almost always applied.

Egill Skallagrimmson, the representative of Nilfeheim disliked that prominent role. He resented the fact that the suggestion of the Ult, making the Wisemen a real institution was overwhelmingly agreed upon and even received a Union-wide vote of over ninety-eight percent.

The former hermit of Nilfeheim had just entered the Ring corridor through the President Enroe door, the East entrance to the sphere. Each door of the sphere had a name, this one had been named after the first president of the Union and was used to officially open the sphere after its construction had been completed.

There wasn’t an office of president anymore of course.

It was still early in the day. Union clocks showed the beginning of Five Hour, early. Which translated to 8:33 am in Old Terran time, but he was a true child of Nilfeheim, rising early was a cultural habit. To him, this was already halfway into the day.

Not that there was any set time he had to be at the Assembly. The institution was in session around the clock. Many representatives chose to attend when the docket list of issues discussed and voted on, were important to them.

Egill, however, liked settled routines. He arrived at the Assembly in the morning and stayed there for a full workday.

He did not have to commute very far either, not that the idea of a far commute was the same on Pluribus than it was on Nilfeheim. He knew people who traveled over 1000 lightyears twice a day to work here. Transmatter Tunnels and space trains shrunk these unimaginable distances to trips that lasted minutes.

His elaborate and very luxurious apartment, located on the top floor of the Erik Ragnarsson tower in the old Saresii district about twenty klicks from the Sphere.

That a once small company founded by Eric’s grandfather on Nilfeheim had grown into a company that could afford to purchase an entire building standing on the most expensive real estate ground in the known Universe, gave testament to the business acumen of the late Erik Ragnarsson. While Elena was not his granddaughter by blood, she had taken the reins of that company and did so with the same tenacity and talent for business.

Egill’s usually grumpy face displayed a fine smile as he thought about that most beautiful young woman. That he held a keep-warm carryout bag filled with Nilfeheim style fast food was of course part of the reason he was thinking about that gorgeous, raven-haired sister of Eric. He instantly corrected his thoughts. Eric was no more. She was Erica.

A deeply shrouded being was stepping out of thin air and joined him entering the Assembly Sphere.

Egill held the bag close to his chest. “Your timing is impeccable, probably smelling my food.”

“One cannot smell food telepathically and one has been to the ‘Hungry Viking’ and obtained an ample supply of Fin Stew. One is particularly fond of Fin Stew.”

“You turning more Neo Viking every day.”

“Then one succeeds in this endeavor. One’s godchild is on his way to Pluribus.”

Egill fished for a Bacon roll in his bag. “Hogun is coming?”

“No, Freydis has decided to visit. Eric-Narth wishes to see Narth Prime.”

The Nilfeheim representative found what he was looking for, unwrapped the bacon bread and took a bite. “Why come here then, this is Pluribus.”

“Freydis cannot visit Narth Prime, she will stay with you while the Narth Supreme takes Eric-Narth to Narth Prime.”

“Odin’s beard. Do you have anything that does not require the word Narth?”

“One has this container of Fin stew.”

Egill rolled his eyes. “Smartass.” Then he said. “The Narth Supreme himself will take the little Olafson to that place of yours?”

“Yes, Eric-Narth will receive an increase of his psionic abilities and instructions.”

“Well, no better place to do all this.”

“One thinks so too. And Eric is not gone.”

“Were you snooping in my mind again?”

“One merely checked if you purchased Fin Stew and noticed.”

“I know it makes little sense to a Narth, but Eric has decided to be a woman. That’s a huge change in human terms. I am still proud of her, but I can’t help missing the old Eric. I know Tyr did something to make him feel that way.”

“Our friend Alegar feels this way and so do many, but the white Tyranno did more than that and Eric is not female. He will eventually separate from Erica.”

“What?”

“The essence, the mind of Erica was placed in Eric’s body at birth. Tyr is an agent of the Rule if you will, aiming to restore the Rule to the strict division of duality.”

“I think you need to explain this in more detail.”

“The Narth Supreme will be here to give you this explanation in a more adequate detail than one is capable of.”

Egill sighed. “Fair enough.”

Just then they both were almost stampeded by a crowd running away from something.

Alarmed the Nilfeheim man stopped a Saran. “What is it? Some kind of attack?”

“Isis help! The Y’All are here in force!”

Chapter 1: 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 everyone 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 the not so little beast’s loyalties. Fafnir wormed himself out of her embrace and flapped back and dive-bombed the pretty, big-eyed girl sitting on the floor. She said between pearling laughter of delight, as the thing tried to lick her with its long black tongue. “Everyone loves Fafnir, 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. EEeeryt.”

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 Pepiro, Plostrak? Wasn’t he with you? Whatever happened to him?”

TheOther 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 ... Pepiroz 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 Pepiro didn’t ask to be created and then declared waste.”

“Theyze noz evenz gooz to eaz, Meeze eatz everyvonz. Pepiroz 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 choked 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.”

Cirruitcame 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 is getting married and you are invited, Captain.”

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 threat. These ... these Y’All with you, are prisoners of war?”

“It was not me, Patriarch Khurusun. 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 cannot 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 it 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.”

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 entirely 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.

We were still early for the big event, so I had given my crew a few days of shore leave.

This was the Sol system, its 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 in 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 Ortbeer was not aboard. He had joined Ak Fectiv 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...

Chapter 2: The Robe
I jumped out of my seat. I was, except for the .45 I always carried unarmed. I pulled my old gun and swept the room. There was nothing.

I commanded. “Show yourself!”

There was nothing out of the ordinary.

“SHIP mute all equipment.”

Now it became so quiet I could hear my own breath. There, by the science console something insubstantial distorted the duty station for a mere moment. Something or someone cloaked shared the bridge with me. “Last chance whoever you are show yourself.” The pistol flew halfway across the bridge and my right arm stung with pain.

I jumped forward and ducked behind the seat of the tactical station. Simply not to remain on one spot, something whooshed through the air and hammered with force into the side of my seat, whatever it was dented the armor plating that encased the outer layers of the command seat.

“SHIP connect me to...”

Something hit me hard against the left cheek, I could hear the cracking of a tooth and pain exploded into my mind, then the entire Communications console was ripped out and tossed into my direction.

I noticed an egg-shaped, fist-sized metallic object rolling from apparently nowhere across the floor, Assuming it was some sort of explosive device. I mustered all my strength and jumped over the navigational console, the device emitted a deafening sound and the exposed skin of my face felt as if a thousand needles hit me at the same time.

The lights went out and every indicator light and screen went dark. It was some sort of Tech Stop grenade and it had neutralized every system on the bridge. Now I had no chance to call for robots or help.

The strangest thing was that I could feel Narth, yet I was unable to reach his mind. Whoever was here had Psionic powers. Oh, how I hated these!

The right thing to do would have been to reach the Command seat and activate the emergency evacuation. The seat could be placed under strong shields and could be ejected, but this was my ship and I would not run and abandon my ship, not that there was a big chance the seat systems would still work. I was kicked again, and so hard into the side, I was lifted off the ground; it was the fact that my apparently thin leather suit was lined with Ultronit mesh that saved my life.

This could not go on like this. I closed my eyes in pain, but as I did it my almost forgotten new sense kicked in. I could feel the environment and now I could detect two human shapes and this time I was able to evade another kick and grabbed the kicking leg to pull at it with all force I could muster. I screamed as whatever made these attackers invisible also burned my hands, luckily my hands were covered with the thin leather gloves that were part of my outfit and that saved them from being more seriously injured and for the first time I heard one of them speak.

“Yes fight us that will make this even more fun!”

I was hurt badly but if they thought I would roll over and die they had picked the wrong girl. Whoever these attackers were, they were sophisticated enough to circumvent all security measures of both the Tigershark and the Union spaceport.

They were shielded and armed and had tech that was at least as sophisticated as the latest Union tech. The voice sounded distorted but the language was Union. One of them grabbed me by the hair and knelt before me.

“Now that we have your undivided attention, we have questions for you and you will answer them. Since it seems you are able to resist our psionic probing we must use more primitive methods. Frankly, I prefer those anyway.”

Now the other one came close and said. “Your tech is impressive, but what is it compared to the achievements of the UNI?”

I said nothing, but my mind reeled. The UNI were supposedly extinct even before the Saresii ascended. It was they who created the AI that infiltrated the Crucible. It was them who gave the Kermac that calling device and the means to control the Y’All.

I remembered the Dualix mentioning the UNI while I was in the Cave of Things.

The one holding me by the hair said.” We know a lot about you, my dear. We know you have been Eric Olafson and you were born on Nilfeheim.”

They pulled me to my feet and he threw his hand across my face both with force and with the stinging heat of a force field that singed and burned my skin.

The force of the blow must have broken my jaw as the pain of it was even greater than the burning sensation.

Then one of them held up a little device. “I am the First Son of Darkness. I am the chosen one to inherit the Power of the Dark One. Not some nitwit of a planet of nitwits.

He played with the thing and said, snickering in an utmost arrogant and evil way. “This is an ancient Saresii device, so much more refined than the crude Neuro rippers.

It causes the purest form of pain both physically and mentally.”

I spat blood towards the shimmering shape I could see while I kept my eyes closed and said.

“Take a number then, you are just another clown claiming the Dark One.”

“You won’t be so cocky in a moment. Let me demonstrate what the Othmor does to a human.”

I instantly experienced the same sorrow and helpless agony, I did the day my mother died. At the same time, it felt as if I was doused with boiling oil. Before my inner eyes, I saw in vivid clarity father whipping mother to death.

I could hear her cries and I could see her bloody hands reach out for me, her lips forming my name while the steel cable tore the skin of her beautiful face.

Somehow through my tears and pain, I saw the outline of my tormentor and he laughed. “Now my dear, you see what this thing can do. There is no getting used to it. It magnifies your greatest sorrows and your deepest pains.”

The other shape said. “After we are done with you we will go to Nilfeheim and kill the infant and everyone on that planet. We know why the Narth representative takes so much interest in that child. He is the real one, the promised one. Not you, you are just sick and demented.

Your little nephew won’t live to come into his own and you have been used by these cursed hooded interlopers to collect the tokens of power for him.

Now tell me what did you take from the Cave of Things and where is it?”

I was out of my mind thinking that beings like this were out to get my nephew. Uncle Hogun with all his strength would stand no chance.

If they could infiltrate the Tigershark while sitting on a Union military port, they would have no problem reaching Nilfeheim.

This fear for my nephew knotted my stomach, but through all this amplified pain and sorrow I remembered my ring...

A new voice spoke. “You have been banished from Narth Prime, now you are agonizing a force that is beyond your masters. No shield of Saresii or UNI design can keep out the one that is the Narth Supreme.” I opened my tear and blood blurred eyes, noticing that my eyelids were burned, despite the darkness a black-robed figure hovering a few centimeters above the deck plates, outlined by an aura of yellowish light and two glowing eyes.

The shimmering outline, the one who called himself First Son of Darkness laughed.

“Splendid now I have you in my hands as well. I was your equal when I was on Narth Prime so long ago and that is why you sent me away. Now I am many times as strong as I was back then and I uncovered these UNI cocoons at the bottom of the Shafts of Knowledge. Surrender Narth Supreme surrender. I am Supreme now.” The shape held up the Saresii Device and pointed it at the Narth Supreme.

“Take me to the Center of Narth Prime or suffer as no being has suffered. I desire what you keep from me there.”

“One is no longer as distant from the motivations of corporal beings as one has been when your visit was granted. You are but the copy of a mistake that one should have corrected long ago. You are nothing; your so-called powers are the same to Narth as a single photon is to the light of a sun. Yet in your foolish quest, you have stirred what should have slept much longer.

So I will obey your command and take you where you want to go.”

The Narth Supreme ignored the two beings and it looked as if they were suddenly frozen and said to me, holding out his held his gloved hand. “You too must come as well, your true self stirs much too early.” I was still hurting and why I suddenly had the Axe in my other hand I could not tell, but as soon as I touched his hand, the pain subsided.

With the easing of the pain, I heard my brother’s voice. “The body we share is still mortal, sister. The Narth Supreme will be punished like they all will be tormented.”

“I trust him. He came to help and save my life.”

The Narth Supreme did not hear my inner voices. “No time shall pass for the world, so you do not disobey your rules and leave your ship unguarded. No force can make you do these things anymore, you must want to come with me freely. Do you trust the Narth Supreme?”

“I shared the Hugavh with Narth and through it, I know that you are trust incarnate. I am not yet separated from what Eric will become, but the Dark One will not be the same he was.”

He sounded pleased. “There is yet hope that the third way will prevail. Come then with me to Narth Prime, suspend all human limitations and thoughts and simply follow my step.”

Narth Prime was over 890 light-years from where we were, but what was space or distance to the Narth Supreme?

I simply followed him and the bridge of the Tigershark was gone.

I found myself in a perfectly spherical chamber of perhaps 200 kilometers diameter, the walls were smooth and gray and there was no visible light source anywhere and yet I could see’

Two men floated in the air about ten meters in front of me.

They both were inside pale shimmering blue fields of Energy.

The Narth Supreme was right beside me and he said. “This is the very heart of Narth Prime and the reason this world was made is right there before us.

One of the men inside those blue energy cocoons yelled elated and said. “Fear of pain and fear of my retribution has made him obey. He floated towards the center. Now witness the birth of a God and bow before your new master.”

The Narth Supreme ignored the man and said to me. “Here in the very heart of Narth Prime is what we keep for many eons. Entities of great power, beings with a hunger for godlike powers like this mad man, the ones that created the Y’All and those who sent them they all have searched for what is here.”

He pointed at a black shroud, very much like the ones the Narth wore. Unlike the robes worn by the Narth however, this one had the hood attached. It was not a mask with eyeholes, but an open cowl. The garment was utterly black with a faint shine. It had long voluminous sleeves.

The Narth Supreme said. “Because of this robe, we Narth chose to wear garments of similar style. This is how many civilizations envision a personified death might appear. This image is subconsciously associated with death and the very anti-force of life by almost every sentient beings.

This is how the Guardian of Earth appeared to the humans of Earth, but all are only copies and approximations. This, my child is the shroud, the garment of the Dark One.”

To me, it was just a piece of clothing, nothing particularly fashionable. Nothing Erica would want to wear. Something I associated with Narth, not with me. Yet all the pain I had felt before, all the sorrow of this nightmarish experience dissipated and Eric inside me cheered in a triumphant way.

It looked so familiar, it was not for anyone else to keep or search for. It was not for the Y’All or the Uni. It most certainly did not belong to this buffoon, this creature, who caused me so much pain. It did not belong to anyone but me. It was mine!

Without knowing how I bridged the distance and reached the garment before the Blue shielded man did. I knew it was mine as I knew my right arm belonged to me. I clearly saw and felt my ring. I shed the female garments with a mere thought.

It belonged to me and it engulfed me like liquid, like thick smoke and it felt as if I stepped into my own skin. What need did I have of blasters and space ships?

My belt girded the shroud and my boots were on my feet.

This time Crea, her impotent minions, the Lords of Light would not face servants and shadows but Darkness Supreme, the anti-force of life. Creation and life caused chaos and uncertainty. Death was peace and order.

The shielded man yelled. “It is mine, you cretin. Feel the agony”.

He held out the device and activated it while his companion released some sort of weapon beam. Neither had any effect on me.

With a mere thought and a fraction of my will, I drained all the energies out of their primitive devices and the two men floated now fully visible and recognizable in the air.

Claw-like hands formed out of thin air before them. No more substantial than smoke or fog, and they penetrated the chests of these men like ghostly whisps.

I could feel their fluttering hearts, touched their frightened minds.

The First Son of Darkness looked like a fish on dry land as he tried in utter panic to get a hold of the smoky nothingness that penetrated his chest.

I said, not recognizing my own voice. “Those who dwell in the deepest Nether regions shall lament thy fate, thou hast raised my anger like nothing that lived in all the Omniverse. Tormented till all times end shall be thy fate.”

The men screamed and begged. “I have raised a church in your name. Have mercy.”

“I have no need for the meaningless utterings of meaningless creatures. Thy agony, however, will amuse me.”

“The black flames, please keep them away, do not cast me down there, please. I will worship...”

The men withered away and while their bodies crumbled to dust, their tormented voices could still be heard as they slowly faded away and fell silent.

The Narth Supreme said. “There is no doubt; there is no one else coming after you. The Prophecy is true, the Nnnth predicted it and the Arth feared your coming. You are the Dark One and that is your garment.”

“This is so.”

“You have not yet united all the tokens that are needed for your ultimate resurrection. I know the day you will make the decision is soon at hand, the decision all creation waits for untold ages to be made.” I raised my axe and said. “Silence, the Narth are formidable and noteworthy yet all that is Narth combined in you is nothing to me. You too must perish as all that denied my coming must succumb to my vengeance.”

“What about Shea? Will you kill her too?” I wanted to brush that question aside, she was just an insignificant life form, nothing more than a minuscule spark but I could not.

I said. “I love Shea.”

“What about Har-Hi?”

“He is but a speck. Yet, he is my friend.”

“Would you slay the one you admire most? Would you kill Richard Stahl?”

“He may live.”

What was I saying? “Brother, will you kill me?”

“Of course not. You are human but you are so much more. We are two, but we are also one.”

To the Narth Supreme, I said. “Admiral Stahl is the Eternal Warrior. He is our admiral. “What about your friend Narth?”

I looked at the Narth Supreme. “I do not understand it all, but what is the Dark One is Eric. I am Erica and until Eric finds all his things, we are stuck together. I am the unborn twin sister, my own body has been buried.” I shuddered. “Odin help, that sounds even creepier spoken out loud.”

I lowered the cowl. “What I am trying to say is that Eric the Dark One and I are not the same, but we will never be completely separated.”

With a gesture, I returned my axe into its alternate cylindrical form. “As for your question, Narth is beyond friendship he is my brother.

We shared the Hugavh. I have not figured out exactly who he shared it with, but I am certain there may be a spark of the Dark One.”

“Your answers to one’s questions show that there is hope.”

“There is.”

He actually put his hand on my shoulder. “You are the Dark One, Eric. You are the devourer of worlds and your final incarnation has such omnipotent powers that even Narth cannot comprehend. You are the vessel of a God, a dark and angry God, who seeks revenge on those who tricked him and divided his power into twelve pieces Even the combined might of all the powers that opposed you, could not truly destroy you. Why the authorities that decide such things had you reincarnate as an easy to anger Neo Viking is a question one was unable to ascertain. The decision that you would be reincarnated on your world called Nilfeheim was made many eons before you were born.

“For this, an Old spirit descended upon Nilfeheim and became one with a native life form there. He became Tyr the white Tyranno Fin.

“He watched over your family and made sure all pre-requisites were in place when you were born, he also placed Erica’s essence in the same mind.

“Tyr planted Erica in you, to temper your anger and hoping it would give you the love for life only a woman can experience because every woman has the potential of becoming a mother.”

“Tyr is a friend, but he is an agent of the Rule. The rule that is broken, wants to be restored. Restored to the strict division of duality.

“But there are other prime concepts and entities that want different outcomes.

“There had to be guides and teachers so Egill and the Ancient Keeper were given long lives, to play the roles they did.

“That your mother perished by the hand of your father was perhaps not foreseen.”

“Who gave Tyr the right to implant anything?”

He still had his hand on my shoulder. “The term God is often used lightly, usually by those who do not understand the motivations and ways of entities on levels above their own. One who is Narth is older than most and yet Narth is still a life form and is far from knowing the answers to all your questions. No entity Narth is aware of knows what will happen in the future. The Arth that is now part of the Nnnth, made the prophecy by overhearing god-like entities, understanding very little of it. One has a much better understanding of time than humans, yet one does not fully understand it.

“There are certain waypoints that must be reached and can be predicted, but what happens in between and how they are reached is unknown. There are no such waypoints predicted for the time after you made your decision.”

“Can I not simply make this decision now and get it over with?”

“Do you know what decision it is you have to make?”

“No.”

“See.”

“I have to ask, if Eric is going to be such an evil force, should I kill myself?”

“You have a fragile human body, as it just has been demonstrated, and it can die before you come into your own, but the Entity known as the Dark One cannot be killed or destroyed, and without you, as a vessel, there would be no decision and all that is will end. Narth would prefer you remain right here, safe and untouched by the dangers you face, however it cannot be, you must go your way. Your friends, their friendship and love; experiencing the life of both male and female will be the factors what one believes will shape you and will all influence your decision.”

“I don’t feel very dark and I never pictured myself, well Eric as a villain.”

The Narth Supreme sounded amused as he said. “That is why there is hope and a chance the Rule will be restored.”

“How long do I have, as a human I mean?”

“Time has different meanings to entities like you; maybe tomorrow, maybe ten or a hundred human lifetimes, maybe in a Universe yet to be born. Humans of Earth have an old saying one finds very useful: Live by the day as tomorrow is promised to no one.”

I sighed and said. “What about the damaged bridge? How I can prevent any other UNI to simply appear on my bridge. If you aren’t around the next time I mean.”

“One will rearrange the molecules and matter and restore what has been damaged to the state it was before.

“While Uni-Technology is formidable, the Tigershark’s TransDim shields cannot be penetrated by it. These agents of the Church of Darkness had infiltrated Lunar base because they had friends there.

“The energy cocoons and weapons they recovered from the Shafts of Knowledge”

“I am also a Grey Ghost and will initiate measures to improve security in that regard. I will also inform the necessary authorities, to make sure this incident stays classified. That you are the Dark One must remain hidden from all. There are entities that seek to prevent your resurrection.”

The Narth Supreme had restored my bridge and bade me farewell.

I made a Log entry regarding that incident and sealed it with RED-RED-RED protocol.

The Auto-Dresser restored my suit and I returned to the bridge, resuming my watch duty. This time, however, I kept my belt. Narth Supreme’s re-assurance was comforting, but having my axe and sword within reach was even more so.

I was just about to activate the PDD to read the book Shea recommended when the Narth Supreme appeared out of thin air.

“I understand it is custom to ask for permission to come aboard.” I got up and said. “Permission granted, are there any more intruders?”

“No, Erica. One is here to officiate the matrimonial ceremony. One has been asked to seal the bond between Richard Stahl and she who is known as Alycia Lichfangh.”

“Isn’t that still a few days off? I was under the impression, the Admiral is still at Pluribus.”

“This is the Sol system. Pluribus is minutes away utilizing the fastest travel options. He insisted on working until the last moment.”

The Narth-Supreme added, clearly amused. “One of these amazing Terran aphorisms, perhaps states it best. The Eternal Warrior has a case of Cold Feet.”

I could not help but smile. “He has been single for a very long time. Despite all his reputation, he appears to be quite human indeed.”

“That he does.” Changing the subject he said. “I am here because it was mentioned that one guest of honor was still missing and so one has offered to fetch you.”

“You know I cannot leave the ship.”

An alarm tone came of the Communications panel and I said to the Narth Supreme. “Please excuse me as I must attend to this.”

“By all means, Erica one was expecting this.”

I opened the channel and Stahl appeared on the main viewer.

He wore his finest Dress Uniform and he said. “I guess the Narth Supreme is already there. McElligott assigned a trustworthy Officer, temporarily to the Tigershark to stand Bridge watch while you are gone, so there is no excuse.”

I had to unseal the bridge for an access request and Lieutenant Marcus stepped off the left I.S.T.

He saluted me and handed me his order chip. Lieutenant Marcus reporting Captain Olafson. I have orders to take bridge watch of this vessel.”

I greeted him, inserted his order chip and checked his MITI so the Computronic would accept him and then I gave him the Conn.”

He took a seat in the command chair and said.

“I knew you would end up with your own Command faster than anyone I ever knew. I am quite proud of the fact you went through your final Midshipman year under me.”

I thanked him and said. “I am surprised you recognize me like this.”

“Not a day goes by either Captain Harris or the Old man himself speaks about you, and your change was expected, it was part of your personnel file, I had access too as your instructor.”

The Narth Supreme stepped next to me and said. “Open your mind as there is a big step ahead of us. I cannot teleport us if you don’t want it.”

He took me by the hand and the bridge vanished It was replaced by a green meadow and a picturesque village surrounded by majestic looking mountains. The air smelled fresh and the single yellow sun in the sky had a particularly pleasant light and warmth. The gravitation felt perfect and I knew I was on Earth again.

We stood on a paved lot before a wood and stone house that had the word Hotel written on the façade itself. The rest of the words I could not read.

The Narth Supreme said. “Even though you are three thousand years and many light years removed from this world it is fascinating to see how this world affects humans. Your metabolism, your inner clock, your very DNA has been shaped here.”

I have been on Earth for a short time before and I can only agree. This is the planet our ancestors left to settle on Nilfeheim.”

“To us Narth, just another world yet it brought forth a sentient species that is perhaps the most fascinating of them all.”

“Where are we exactly?”

“The bride insisted on celebrating this memorable moment at the place where the Admiral was born and one was told, that in matters of matrimony the wishes of the bride are to be obeyed.”

Shea came out of the door. She wore a peach-colored gown and her blond hair shone like pure gold in the war sunlight.

Her angel-like face wearing a smile and she said. “Come, so we can get you ready as well.”

I turned to thank the Narth Supreme but he was gone. Shea took me by the hand and pulled me along. I had never seen her acting so uninhibited and girlish.

“Oh, Erica isn’t it all so romantic. I had no idea we would take part in this.”

“I am surprised as well.” Was all I could think of saying.

The doors of the house were all of the kind we had on Nilfeheim. The manual ones, there was no high tech in sight anywhere.

She led me into a sunlit room. Elfi was already there as well, wearing an identical dress to Shea and she too looked simply gorgeous.

Alycia Lichfangh the exotic-looking beauty stood in the middle of the room in a dreamy bridal gown with much lace.

The woman that stood next to her doing something to the dress was Deepa. She too wore the same gown as Elfi and Shea.

The bride said. “I am glad you came, Erica. My future husband and I wanted you to do us the honors and be the ring bearer.”

I said. “I am privileged and fortunate to be asked to participate in such a manner in this momentous event, but I am still new to all these female things and I have no idea what a ring bearer does.”

She smiled and said. “I know and no worries you will do fine.”

Shea said. “This place has no Auto Dressers so we better get you ready. The Ceremony is scheduled to take place in only two hours from now.”

As the girls fussed about me and I dressed into one of these peach colored gowns that, the rustle of dresses, the scents of lotions, perfumes. The giggles and innuendos, the chatter about hair and jewelry and the cooing about flowers, jewelry, and fashion accessories; was of so little substance.

Yet I began to understand it all, the separation from Eric was no longer just a feeling but a fact. I felt amused by his puzzlement.

As I pulled the long silky gloves up over my elbows and looked at myself in the looking glass, I said silently to him. “I have been confused and suppressed for a long time, brother. Maybe there is something about being female, that cannot be understood by even a Dark God.”

His silent response amused me for some reason as he said. “It appears so indeed.”

Shea clipped jewelry to my ear lobes and whispered in my ears. “You look ravishing and dead gorgeous, and yet you have been so quiet. Is something the matter?”

I said to her. “No not really, it is a profound occasion and I am thinking about us too.”

She kissed me with incredible tenderness on the cheek. “You think too much about these things. I haven’t heard you really laugh like you did when we were midshipmen.

I know you going to say you are responsible and a Captain and all that. Right now however you are not, you are just a very beautiful female in a nice dress about to witness the wedding of someone you respect and love.”

Elfi said. “She is right you know. Remember how you laughed at Krabbel’s jokes when we first met? You haven’t done any of that lately.”

“That is not true. I laughed at Wheeze’s antics.”

Silently however I had to admit they had a point. That still terrifying aspect of my sudden realization that I was indeed two persons; that one of me was destined to be something dark and evil, beyond human understanding; was something quite sobering.

Right now however I decided to take their advice.

And before any more could be said it knocked and Deepa who was known to the others just as a friend of the bride opened the door.

McElligott entered. He did not just wear his kilt but from the looks of it, the entire costume of his ethnic background. Complete with a matching sash and beret like hat. His chest was decorated with real medals, not the ribbon display kind.

He said with a dreamy smile. “I realized just now, that I never get too old to enjoy such a lovely sight. You all look terrific and you, my dear General Lichfangh transformed from a commanding woman into a truly lovely bride.”

She curtsied in a demure way and thanked him.

He then clapped his hands. “I came to fetch the bridesmaids. They need to go right now. The ceremonies are about to start.”

Shea and Elfi left. He held out his arm and the bride took it and as he escorted her out the door, he turned and said. “Deepa, Erica. You two need to hurry, your flier is waiting outside.” Deepa instructed me one more time what to do and then we too went outside.

I asked Deepa. “Should I not rather been here in Uniform?”

“No sorry, you are a maid of honor.”

I saw the bride and McElligott climb into an open animal-drawn wheeled contraption as we entered a flier.

After a very short flight, we entered a temple-like building with beautiful colored windows that depicted some sort of story about a man, a white bird, and crosses.

There were rows of wooden benches and before them a raised platform with a table and a big cross symbol. For some reason, they had also attached a man on that cross.

I found it very strange to see the image of a man who seemed to be tortured in such a central position. Deepa guided me to the first row and we sat down. There she explained to me that the bride wanted a wedding in the traditions of Stahl’s old home country and that we were in a church.

I noticed Krabbel hanging from a thread in the back and he was silently talking to the gray Nul prince who was here as well. They had brought in special chairs so Hans and TheOther could sit as well and still they towered over everyone. I noticed TheOther wore something like a tux and was actually kneeling and had both of his hand pairs folded in a particular fashion.

Har-Hi sat right behind me and leaned forward. “I had not expected to be part of this. This is quite a historic event and that the Eternal Soldier invited us here is truly an honor.”

I whispered back. “It is indeed. I had no idea we would until a few hours ago.”

He said. “My father is supposed to come as well to the banquet later and Shaka’s father is here.”

Cirruit leaned over a balcony above us and waved and then pointed to a contraption with metallic pipes and talked to another X101, I recognized as the Avatar body of Mother Machine.

SHIP was also up there and listened to whatever Cirruit was talking about. The Machine behind them looked like some sort of multi-barrel rocket launcher.

A tough-looking bunch of Marines sat across the aisle. I was certain they were members of the Steel Gauntlet.

Captain Harris was there and many more beings I did not know.

I did, however, recognize Gwen Hallow the JAG prosecutor who was also a member of the Coven. The empty seat next to Har-Hi was suddenly occupied by Narth and he said.

“It will begin soon. This is the first time the Narth Supreme is doing something like that, but then he is very fond of the Admiral.”

Har-Hi hissed at Narth. “Where have you been?”

Narth held up a leather-bound black book and said. “They have provided reading material in the back of these seats and I never read anything more illogical, thus I visited a human called Pope but he fainted as I appeared and wanted to ask him about a pamphlet in the back praises him as a subject matter expert.

I was told he never saw a Narth before.”

Har-Hi snickered. “I think you should call before you make such unexpected visits, besides I read some of this and it is quite funny. There is one guy who stuffs all sorts of animals into a boat because it rains.”

Whatever Har-Hi said to Narth next I did not hear as the rocket launcher in the back suddenly made music. I had to admit it wasn’t bad at all and sounded somewhat like Ult harmonics without the gong beats.

Even I was surprised as I saw the Narth Supreme appear on that raised platform, he did not wear his usual black but a completely white robe and there was a faint glow emitting from him. Now I saw the Admiral getting up and stepping up before the Narth Supreme. He was not wearing Navy black, but a dark blue uniform with a white belt and golden buttons. His ribbon display appeared to be analog and made of real ribbons. He looked every inch like a Marine.

Now the music changed and it was a beautiful melody. From the back of the temple, the bride appeared chaperoned by McElligott who glowed with pride and a big smile on his old face. Elfi and Shea walked behind the bride.

While Alice and Warner marched ahead spilling some kind of white and red pieces of something on the red carpet that lined the center aisle.

Alycia then went alone up to Richard Stahl and joined him before the Narth Supreme.

Deepa poked me and whispered take the pillow with the rings and get up there and do as we told you.”

I had almost forgotten and tried to remember what it was I had to do. I was quite nervous and didn’t want to do anything embarrassing, but Deepa gave me the thumbs up and it seemed to be alright.

The Narth Supreme said. “Through the young Narth that found friendship with Eric, one has learned many things about emotions and values such as friendship, honor, and love. We Narth are revered by many as wise, as beings full of powers and answers to the mysteries of the Universe. We found solace in observing a star being born and we have seen the very center of the galaxy. Yet we have forgotten that affection and love are also powers of incredible magnitude, now we are re-discovering what we have lost. Before us stands a human man caught up in forces and events that made him see more, experience more and live through more hours of hardship, sorrow and the ugliness of war than perhaps anyone, yet the Narth Supreme recognizes the steady foundation and the love for truth and living a righteous life by example. Admiral Stahl has earned the respect of friend and foe and also of all that is Narth.

Before me also stands a woman who lived in another universe, played with forces she did not understand and was punished to live as a monster in the nether worlds.

Shen, an entity of great might abandoned her ways to rescue a wounded man and follows him ever since. They could not be more different.

Yet the unexplainable power of true love united them and through this symbolic act, this customary human event, they bind themselves to each other.

In doing so, they share each other’s essence to become a new symbiotic unity, two distinctive individuals yet also one. So he who is the Narth Supreme asks thee...”

The entire affair went on a little while longer and both Richard and Alycia answered his questions with ‘I do’ and were declared husband and wife.

They took the rings from the pillow I was carrying and I noticed that unshakeable Admiral Stahl was ever so slightly trembling as he lifted her veil and they kissed.”

The banquet that was planned did not happen. Just after the happy couple walked out into the sunshine to meet the few reporters and newsagents who were informed about this otherwise privately kept affair, a Commander with a serious expression on his face rushed up to McElligott. The Old Admiral talked to Stahl and then the newlyweds talked to each other and Stahl addressed their guests and us. “Sorry to cut these festivities short, but yet another Ancient gate has been discovered and it is spewing unknowns attacking the Union Klack Corridor. Several well-established Colonies are destroyed and more are in imminent danger. It apparently involves an alliance with the Shiss, we must assume full-scale conflict. Due to the gravity of this situation, I have to cut short and postpone these festivities for my bride and me. The civilians among you are welcome to eat and drink. All fleet and military personnel please report for duty, it looks  like the Shiss and Unknowns gave us a war for a wedding gift.

Someone near me said. “Boy did they pick the wrong day, Stahl looked pissed.”

Chapter 3: Christmas Base
Lord Lummis sat brooding on his throne as he listened to the latest report Mircael delivered standing below the golden steps that led to the Seat of the Righteous, occupied by the chosen of Crea.

“Champion of light, it is I Mircael the Brilliant who must again be the bearer of news that might not be well received.”

The man, who existed in spite of the will of the One behind it all, removed his gauntlet covered fist from his chin and straightened in his golden seat. “Speak then, Mircael. It is about Lathrop my rival, is it not?”

“Yes, mighty stalwart it is. The self-proclaimed Son of Darkness, the one called Lathrop has been slain.

It is a gene clone copy of his that tries to become the Dark One.”

“Foolish of course, the Dark One will not incarnate in a clone copy. Therefore you wasted much time, chasing the wrong leads. We know the Dark One has already chosen a vessel and reunited six of the Tokens.”

The Lord of Light got up. “I must travel to this star isle, face and slay that creature before it can reunite all tokens. Yet where do I go?”

“I told you before, mighty Paladin. There is a union of sentient species...”

“I know, the one you said the Narth and the Coven are part off. Something I still find hard to believe. Maybe your sources are as wrong about that as they were about this Lathrop being the one.”

“Chosen Son of light, we had no guidance. Our most wise leader found it necessary to remain in the Upper Realms, while the Dark One found its vessel.”

“You are safe because I am in need of you. However, your criticism will not be forgotten. Now, tell me more.”

“It is good you will remember them, I am sworn to the light.”

“You insist on your story that the Narth and the Coven are part of a larger society? The Narth do not accept the refugees from the Nether-Worlds. Besides Malag and his spawn must have reduced the Coven witches to a few survivors. Have their hideaway been found?”

“The Malag has been slain, the Coven Hunters have been destroyed. The Narth alcove at the Assembly is right next to the alcove of the Coven. The Eduk and the Saresii have welcomed the Coven just as the Narth have done.

Narth agents strengthen their intelligence services. There are whispered rumors that the Narth Supreme has allowed the Nnnth crystals to be accessed and Nnnth technology has been shared.”

Uritel another knight of the light approached the high seat of the chosen one. “Lord of Light. I have returned from the spiral of stars after speaking with our agents. Mircael speaks true; the Union of societies is not an empire. It is not a kingdom, but it strong and solid. They defeated the Y’All, the Piostla, and many others. The Dark One is already here; his vessel walks among them, reunited with seven tokens already.”

“In dire times, dire measures must be taken. I shall travel to the Stronghold of the Fallen and consult with Saeth the Highfather of the Brotherhood. You, Mircael will find the Urd and press for information. These old spirits might know where the Dark One has found his vessel.”

--””--

My crew and I had returned to the Tigershark and readied for liftoff, when the Admiral of the Fleet himself contacted us, still wearing his traditional highlander costume. “Captain Olafson, please proceed to your original destination, Christmas base, and the 124th.”

“Aye, Sir. We have a destination, and orders to be attached to the 124th?”

“Not attached, what a silly idea, just using their base. It is about the Ypeherix. You will meet with Dr. Mark Members who has become the Science corps matter expert on these enigmatic creatures.”

“Sir what about the Shiss and the Unknowns?”

“The First Fleet is on its way. So am I, and twenty full number fleets. 96th to 100th are there already along with the very recently Nul turned Union fleets. Girl, there are so many battleships and combat units responding there isn’t much room for your fish. The Tigershark for all its power isn’t meant for full-scale battles.”

He held up his hands to keep me from saying anything and added. “I read the report and seen the visuals of you fighting the Y’All, your big friend made me watch it three times. I am not questioning your ability to fight when you must, but that was and is not the reason the Tigershark exists. Besides your ship’s hull is just repaired not fully restored.

“Christmas Base has a shipyard with the capabilities to do just that.”

“Commodore Haraka’s orders then are no longer valid?”

“These are my orders. Sorry, Captain Olafson. Like it or not I am in charge.”

“Just checking, Sir.”

“Good speed, Captain Olafson.”

He disconnected and I said to Krabbel. “You heard him Mr. Krabbel. Lay in a course for Christmas base.”

--””--

Calia Lethra lounged relaxed in the comfortable Vari-Matic seat of her space ship’s little lounge and had watched a Newscast on GalNet One, the Union’s main News Channel. Her elegant little Sports Ship was speeding towards Togr, the home-world of the Togar.

The ship was currently in Quasi-Space and the oversized ISAH Pods propelled it with many times the speed of light via this trans-dimensional layer between real space and Hyperspace where faster than light speeds could be obtained without the tempo-spatial limitations of real space.

She was a Togar female, member of a proud and ferocious feline species ruling over a sizable empire in the Upward Sector of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Soon her ship was soon to leave Union Space and traverse into Freespace and after another 430 light-years would reach Togar Space and the Planet High Togr, the center of the Togar Empire.

Like most Union citizens, she was following the events unfolding near the Union Klack corridor; technically not a corridor anymore since the Nul had joined.

Two colonies had been attacked and destroyed by unknowns, apparently aided by the Shiss. The unknowns turned out to be Shiss as well, led by a renegade named Hazzzock.

A sizable fleet of Shiss warships had been engaged near Balmung of all places.

The other news dominating the channels was the recent engagement of the Eternal Warrior and the Commandant of the PSI Corps, Alycia Lichfangh.

Calia was one of the few Togar that gained Union Citizenship. She was the commanding officer of the American Spirit, the private space-ship of Alex Enroe, the president and CEO of Enroe Industries.

Alex was her employer, but he was also her friend.

Enroe Industries was the only Union entity that did business with the Togr Empire, Alex considered to be a friend of the queen herself.

Calia Letrah landed her elegant little ship near the estate of her family. It was almost 2000 Gorth from High Togr, the capital, and almost twenty Gorth to the next neighbor.

Out here at the southern edge of the Golden Savannah, nature was still unspoiled and just the way it was many thousands of years ago when the Togar did not fly among the stars to fight and conquer.

Calia was as proud as any Togar of their achievements, but she realized how much the Union had changed her way of thinking and looking at things.

Her mother and three of her siblings came running and she saw her father and her brothers in the back waiting for the females to allow them to join.

The Letrah family had neither been very influential or rich until Calia worked for Enroe Industries. Now they could afford this sprawling home complex, with servants and six square-gorth of private land.

Her ship was a brand new sixty-seven meter Enroe Colt III. Designed to be a toy to the super-rich.

As the commanding officer of the American Spirit and a friend of Alex Enroe, she received a very generous salary and this ship as a present.

She pressed the contact of the cargo door and waved the kids and the family close, the men also. “I have a load of fresh pork, Lots of tuna and a ton of bacon.” She yelled and waved them close.

There was nothing Togars loved more than Terran style bacon, except perhaps Terran style Tuna fish.

It was served in small portions to the very rich and influential families in expensive eateries.

She probably could have purchased a nice villa in the Vughtr quarters of the Capitol for the revenue of her cargo if she decided to sell it.

She managed to get home only every other year or so, because Togr was far and the trip was, despite her fast ship not without risks. She had to fly across pirate-infested Freespace, and on more than one occasion was fired upon by Togar ships, as she reached Togr space.

Of course, they were supposed to hail, but Togar usually fired first and rarely if ever hailed. Some were openly jealous and would not hesitate to blow her little ship to bits to get to the cargo and the fine tech it contained.

Togar tech was crude and primitive compared to Union standards. She always managed to outrun them.

That the little ship had a high powered FLT Quon Plasma Cannon, six HEL torpedoes (a miniature version of the famous and feared LOKI torpedoes Enroe Industries manufactured), and was equipped with the finest Union shield technology was, of course, another reason she always managed to reach Togr unharmed.

The Enroe Colt was magnitudes faster than anything the Togar or pirates had.

Officially she was under the Queen’s protection and much of the cargo in the other hold was for the Queen herself.

While Enroe Industries was officially doing business with Togr, doing the actual trade was difficult. Corporate ships of Enroe delivered the wares to Pandenom, a world just 25 light-years in Freespace and Togar ships picked it up. Enroe did not want to make it too obvious they traded with Togr. While there was no Union law prohibiting this kind of trade, the general public was not too fond of the Togar, mostly due to the unfortunate and well-known practice of Togar buying humans to eat.

Pirates usually had no quarrel attacking a single Togar ship either, so battleships had to be sent along, making the traded wares quite expensive.

Her mother greeted Calia who was the oldest daughter of the pack.

“Have your claws and fangs dulled slaving for those meek and weak humans?”

Her mother could not make up her mind if she should be proud of her daughter or ashamed, so her greeting was no different than usual. She did enjoy the gifts and the wealth that came with them and kept the insults to a limit.

“Some of the humans I know, could rip you to bits and before you had time to roar, mother.”

It was no boast either. She had seen Union Marines fight; however, the average human had no chance against a Togar female who could take on a Shiss and win.

Of course, this was a moot point. Neither the Togar nor the Shiss, stand any chance of survival if the Union really went to war.

The feared Nul, perhaps the only known civilization that would at least cause some damage, had in a quite surprising move, joined the Union only recently.

And now even the legendary Y’All or whatever was left of them were Union members.

She had seen the images of the latest space battle. The Shiss had attacked with everything they got and were slaughtered, it wasn’t even a real fight.

Whenever she was thinking about these things, she remembered the young man, Eric Olafson who had taken command of her ship and defeated a Dai battleship. Sometimes she wondered whatever happened to him.

He most likely had graduated Academy and perhaps advanced to Lieutenant, serving aboard a battleship.

There were great warrior species out there: the Dai, the Shiss, the Nul to name a few. But Humans and especially the Terrans were not just warriors they were soldiers and in the end, Soldiers always defeated warriors.

Her mother ripped open a sealed pack with bacon and stuffed a handful of slices into her maw, then said.

“I have seen humans they are weak and easily slaughtered.”

“You have only seen slaves, tied up, naked, spirit broken colonists, kids, and women.

You never faced a real Terran. Our queen who is a strong and capable fighter respects the human who is my boss.”

“The queen played with him, she considers him a fancy little pet. It is a disgrace that my own daughter, a warrior born is subservient to a human and even worse he is a male!”

“It doesn’t stop you from eating the bacon or selling my gifts to live in luxury.”

The banter was interrupted by the high pitched noise of approaching fliers. Only important families and the nobles had fliers.

The ones approaching were large and armed and bore the sigil of the Queen. She counted seven and the first one bore the banner of the queen herself.

The Queen’s flier landed close while the six others landed in a semi-circle behind.

Ever since the trial of the Innocent white daughter of the Light spirit, the Queen was quite aware of the fact that there was a growing danger to her life.

The ruler of the mighty Togr Empire herself stepped down and approached.

Calia and her family knelt and lowered their heads, paws stretched upwards to show devotion, obedience and that there were no weapons.

Tobaia the seventeenth approached Calia and said. “Rise and face your sovereign.”

Calia did. The queen had not come alone.

Two steps behind her was an all-black Togar female with glowing yellow eyes. Black Togar were very rare and usually in the service to the Goddess of Togr.

This one was no exception, she wore the hooded robe of the High Priestess.

The Queen was among the largest females, her fur was of rich golden color that at places was turning grey around arms and legs and along her nuzzle.

The queen showed interest on Calia’s ship. “You have a new one again? This one looks quite fast.”

“Yes, your majesty. It accelerates at over 890 north per second and I made the trip from Union space to Togr in only sixteen days.”

The queen sighed. “My engineers tell me that our fastest ships accelerate to 300 north. Humans always seem to excel in these matters.”

“Your majesty, I brought you gifts. The finest Tuna, something called Sardines, delicious honey roasted ham and of course bacon.”

She reached into a pouch she had on a strap across her shoulder and held out a glass jar with a blue lid. “This your majesty, is called Caviar and comes from an exclusive fish farm on Terra itself. Mr. Enroe sends this and a case with 100 more jars as a personal gift to you.”

The queen opened the jar and scooped a mass of dark grey fish eggs with a clawed finger, sniffed at it and then tried. She squeezed her eyes closed and then licked her chaps. “Convey our thanks. It is a delicacy like no other.”

The priestess stepped forward. “Your majesty there are Togr delicacies just as good as any the humans have. Should the sovereign of our glorious empire not lead by example?”

The queen held out the jar. “Sample this, priestess and say what we have that compares.”

The Priestess reluctantly tried, it was clear that she was unable to pretend it was not good and she said. “It is decadent and designed by Humans to make us dependent.”

The Queen waved at Calia’s family. “Remove yourselves, we have need to speak to Calia.”

They watched as Calia’s mother and her sisters were running back to the dwelling and Calia wondered with a growing sense of alarm what this was all about.

The priestess was the one speaking first. “We decided to use you. You are a Union citizen after all.”

Celia’s neck-hair was standing up. “Use me?”

The queen gestured towards the dwelling. “Your family will be an incentive. Their welfare, their very lives depend on you now. We are your Queen, but we are aware that our commands and wishes might not have the importance and gravity they should have to you.”

“What is this all about? I am a visitor, not a subject.”

The priestess snarled. “All Togar are subjects, it is not your decision that makes it not so. A criminal, traitorous, blaspheming renegade has fled our justice and avoided her due punishment by fleeing and hiding behind Union borders.”

Celia knew of course what they were talking about. “The White Fur?”

The Priestess spat. “A pretender, bleached fur. Offspring of a mangy criminal! She must be executed for her crimes.”

The queen said. “Are you not Togar? This criminal has created much unrest and her existence threatens Togr. She must be unmasked for what she is in public and drowned as it must be the fate of such insidious crimes.”

“What threats could the offspring of a mangy criminal pose to you, mighty queen? Especially if she is so far away?”

The priestess clenched her claws. “Consider the fate of your family! Consider your own life. Do not anger her majesty with questions. You are a simple mind and you are to obey. Bring the White Fur here. Your family will rise in importance and exist in safety, defy us and every one of your family will be drowned after being declared traitors.”

--””--

Shaka dropped us out of Quasi-space. “Rudolph’s Star and Christmas Base right ahead, Captain.”

“To what directional plane are you relating this statement?” Narth wanted to know. “If straight ahead is a line of direction drawn from the bow of this ship to Rudolph’s Star, we are not aligned correctly.”

Shaka made a defeated gesture. “I stand corrected, Sir.”

I smiled at that and said. “What kind of place is Christmas Base?”

Shea looked up from her console. “It is a GWC 4C, a very cold planet with a narrow equatorial strip of more moderate temperatures, but perpetual rain and snowstorms. It is home to the 124th, which is a full number fleet, thus this is a sizeable base. Bigger than Richter and unlike our home base very busy.”

Cirruit sitting behind the engineer controls in the rear, instead of being in engineering said. “Advanced Armor and Hull development; it has a small dockyard here as well.”

“That makes me wonder.” I said. “Why would they put this so far beyond consecutive Union space?”

Cirruit answered. “Christmas base might be quite distant to Upward, but you know the Home Star of the Camogi isn’t too far, they are the best nuclear chemists, being sentients based on Nuclear chemistry themselves.”

Hans chimed in. “Besides this is sensitive research and the further away it is from main traffic, the easier it is to know who is coming and going.

“Alright then, Elfi announce our arrival and ask for docking instructions.”

--””--

Three hours later I found myself face to face with the Commandant of the 124th. He was, much to my personal dismay, Thauran. I had sworn to myself not to generalize and judge a being by race or origin. But this Admiral lower half made that very difficult.

“I am your commanding officer and I care only about the official orders, not what you think or want, Captain Olafson. Your ship is damaged and orders from Fleet Command are to have it fixed at the docks of the AAHD. Your Chief Engineer and his team will stay with the ship and receive additional training there.”

He sat behind a wide desk in a spacious office with mustard yellow carpet and floor to ceiling viewports over a wind-swept landing field and endless planes of snow beyond. He played with an order chip between his fingers and stared at me out of cold disapproving eyes. He had not offered me a seat and had me remain standing. “I expected you much earlier. Commodore Haraka gave you very specific orders. Why did you find it necessary to take a side trip to Earth? Never mind answering. You are an acting captain according to Commander Haraka.”

“Sir, I was ordered to...”

“I did not give you permission to speak. According to this, you are a Midshipman. What shenanigans did you pull, perhaps wiggle those boobs in someone’s face and obtained the permission to transfer a damaged piece of unregistered hardware to AAHD? Well, Midshipman Olafson, the gravy train ends here, you are assigned to the USS Braden. There you will assist Master Chief Hwenro in environmental until we can figure out how to send you back to the academy or drum you out of the Spatial Navy. We don’t really need failures like you. Never graduated after all this time, what has the Academy come too?”

He shook his head. “This never happened when I was there.”

“You did not graduate from Newport by any chance?” I asked.

“Ah I see, excellence is recognized. Of course, I am and I told you to be silent. Wasting my time already.” He had never put the order chip I had given him into a reader but kept playing with it. Then he tossed it into the recycler.

“You are dismissed, midshipman. I have a good mind having you scrub a corridor for being insolent and pretentious.”

He snorted. “Acting captain, pah! A midshipman. No wonder, it all makes sense now. You, not showing up on any lists.”

“Sir, please contact the Admiral of the Fleet.”

“Just so you know, I’ll have you investigated by JAG. I have an idea of how you bypassed so many rules, slept with any officers lately, bimbo? Who was your commanding officer and why did you become acting captain?”

“Admiral McElligott made me acting captain.”

“Commodore Haraka told me about that. This is all very serious, you should not take this lightly.”

“Oh I am taking all this very seriously, it is you I am taking lightly.”

I raised my voice. “Computronic, identify Olafson, Erica. Service Number 1082320-O-5434”

“Identification verified. Voice, Menta and DNA patterns match ID implant data and Central Personnel Data. Personnel data classified.”

“Priority Contact request, McElligott, Admiral. Day Code Iced Tea.”

“Requestor on priority direct list. Switching to secure direct.”

It took mere moments and McElligott responded. “Captain Olafson?”

“I am under arrest and in the brig of Christmas Base. Admiral Taros has stripped me of my command and assigned me the Brender as a shuttle pilot or something. How many more times am I going to be arrested and harassed because you fail to inform those half-baked pencil necks about me?”

“What are you talking about?”

I gave him a full account and added. “If you wanted me here and strip me of my command, why this way? What action of mine made you decide not to tell me and have me treated like this?”

“I ... I gave Commodore verbal orders, he must have misinterpreted them and added his own. I’ll deal with him.”

“Misinterpreted? Admiral McElligott, I respect you. If you think I am that stupid just say so. This phenomenon of self-absorbed, self-righteous pieces of Nubhir dung infesting this navy stinks to high heaven. He did not misinterpret anything. You tell that Andorian that I have challenged him and will send him my gauntlet. He may choose any weapon and the place, but by Thor, I will be there. If he fails or ignores this, I will ask my uncle to have me address the assembly and re-issue my challenge while standing on the Focus.”

“You are getting more like Stahl every day, first he threatens me with the Assembly and now you.”

My anger felt suddenly less and there was a sense of deep pride. “He did?”

“Never mind that. Admiral Taros are you there?”

The Thauran was not so arrogant and self-centered anymore. “Yes, Sir.”

“Who is the Admiral of the Fleet?”

“You, Sir.”

“Are you certain?”

“Absolutely, Sir. You just made me Commandant of the 124th a month ago.”

“So Commodore Haraka is not, right?”

“No.”

“Captain Olafson handed you an order chip of mine. Why are you ignoring my orders then?”

I snickered. “Because he never even bothered to check it. He is a Newport graduate, Admiral McElligott.”

The Thauran reached for the collar of his uniform. “I assumed they were just written duplicates of Commodore Haraka’s orders.”

With a friendly tone, McElligott said. “Please insert it in your reader. This action will not only verify the orders given but the identity of all the ones the orders are for. As you know of course, as every single member of this navy.”

The Thauran changed into a very pale shade of blue. “Sir, I misplaced it.”

“He tossed it in the recycler,” I said crossing my arms.

McElligott said. “This is very serious. Destroying Order chips and disregarding protocol. You are to vacate this office. It is the office of the fleet commandant, which you are no longer. You are assigned to the USS Braden, to the environmental until JAG can finalize your case.”

“Sir, I am an Admiral!”

“Not much longer, Mr. Taros. You are welcome to resign of course.”

I said. “Not so fast. He belittled me and insulted me and that while we both wore uniform. I challenge you Mr. Taros. Choose your weapons and the location, now!”

“I do not understand why a lowly midshipman has the ear of the Admiral of the Fleet unless my accusations of sexual favors offered in return for advances are true. A tall blonde and an old man...”

McElligott got red in his face. “This is ... Erica, kill that bastard or I will!”

Taros laughed. “I will best you, woman. I am a master with the rapier. I trained with Master Milieu. And we fight outside. I am used to this snow world!”

He was not bad, I had to admit in a mediocre sort of way. I pulled the rapier out of his chest, as he dropped to his knees. A thin line of blood trickled from the side of his mouth. “How?”

“You challenged a Neo Viking from Nilfeheim to a swordfight in the snow and you wonder why? Go ask whoever you meet next why this was certainly the dumbest idea in your life.”

A little later I met the new Commandant, a Battlegroup Commander had been asked to fill the position. The new Commandant was a Maggi Sauron and he said. “For whatever it is worth, Captain Olafson I thank you for what you did. Now I understand the Admiral of the Fleet is standing by to speak with you. Please use the office as long as you need.”

He saluted and left, while the McElligott established a hard light avatar. “Did you slice him good?”

“I think he lives. The medics were right there.”

“Good.”

I said sharper than intended. “This phenomenon of self-righteous, self-important bureaucrats in positions of power in our navy appears to be an epidemic. I don’t even understand why someone like him wears the same uniform I do.”

“As I said before you sound more and more like that idol of yours. He basically used the same words before he wiped the floor with Gaylord but I cannot dismiss either critique easily.”

“Gaylord, who?”

“Another admiral who at first refused manual labor, he is digging like a mad man right n...” McElligott stopped himself and cursed. “Sweet mother of god, now I am explaining things to you. Good heavens, where did he find you? As it may be. Captain Olafson, I will try to clean up our navy a little better. The Tigershark is grounded until she is space and battle-worthy again. Your brilliant engineer and his department will stay with her to learn how to fix that hull and get the tools to do it. Give the rest of your crew two or three week’s shore leave. You, Ms. Schwartz, the Dai and the Narth go find Dr. Makers and get up to date on that phenomenon about those shattered worlds. Another garden world turned volcano just a week ago.”

--””--

Har-Hi thanked the Klack waiter for the beers. We both sat at a table next to large viewports that overlooked the same windswept landing field, just a few levels below the Commandant’s office. This officer’s lounge was almost completely deserted.

He raised his glass. “Maybe it is the fact that we jumped pretty much every normal line and that we have not been exposed to what the navy really is, but we sure met a fair number of tools. Newport eh?”

I nodded and reached for the other glass. “Yes, I somehow could tell the moment I walked in his office. Think you might have a point there.”

“Well, then there is the fact that there are literally billions of officers and enlisted that never seen or talked to the Immortals. Heck, I remember there were officers aboard the Devi who never seen Stahl. I think that is also a factor. We are exposed to the highest levels and that makes our view of things different. I don’t think that Admiral you just ventilated, ever even considered that you really know the Admiral of the Fleet. I doubt many will ever believe me that I was at Stahl’s wedding.”

He tapped my glass with his and drank.

I did the same and drained it. Ordering another, the glasses were ridiculously small. “You know I think you have a point there. We would not have been to Newport in the first place.”

The waiter placed more beer before me and said. “You’re Captain Olafson right?”

“Yes I am, why?”

“The base is abuzz, Ma’am. Somehow you managed to get him replaced. Pardon my Klack, but he was a rancid royal drone. Everyone hoped for the Maggi, well the Maggi Sauron we got now.”

I simply nodded. I didn’t want to discuss fleet business with a civilian employee.

Har-Hi apparently had fewer inhibitions. “He wasn’t well-liked?”

“He wasn’t here long enough to be really hated, but he made sure that this would change. Anyway, I got guests in table eight.”

I drained the second glass, belched and wiped the foam of my lip.

Elfi who was just arrived said with an elfish grin. “Captain, that was not exactly ladylike.”

“Well, princess not everyone was raised in a royal palace or as a girl. I am still getting used to the female side of life. Besides I am a child of Nilfeheim, we praise Odin for a cold beer with a thundering belch, male or female.”

She rolled her pretty eyes. “That you are from Nilfeheim we know, your latest attest is still kneeling in the snow outside.”

“He died? I thought the medics were right there?”

“Yeah to diagnose his demise. From what I understand no one really feels all that sorry.”

Har-Hi shrugged. “I was at a banquet in Nilfeheim, and Eric’s sister is a sight to see. There were women and maids, daughters and wives but the term lady might have been misplaced.”

“Hey! We have ladies on Nilfeheim!”

“Yep and one of them drank a dozen Dai Warriors off the bench and sliced off a hand and two ears while not spilling a drop of her beer. Not so long ago.”

Elfi laughed and sat down, waved for the waiter and ordered one herself.

We just started to relax when Roghor came to our table. “Captain, I can’t find Jolaj anywhere. Cateria sent me to ask if you might know where she is.”

Chapter 4: Dispersed
“No I don’t, but I gave everyone shore leave including Cateria.” While I said I had a strange feeling about that and tapped my PDD. “SHIP, do you know where Ensign Jolaj might have gone?” “Yes, Captain. She was summoned, along with Dusty to the Personnel office of this base.”

I got up, tugged at my sleeves and said to Har-Hi. “I don’t like this. Why would they be summoned while neither Cateria nor I were informed.?”

Har-Hi got up as well. “Let us go to that Personnel office then and find out.”

After the local Computronic gave us directions and we found the next Intern Base Transport access, I called SHIP again. “Why weren’t the XO, the CMO or me informed?”

“Sorry Captain, but you are not the Captain of the Tigershark anymore. I am breaking all kind of rules speaking to you, I am so glad you are calling.”

A cold fist grabbed my stomach. “I am not?”

“Sorry, but you have been transferred to the USS Braden.”

I slowly counted to ten in old Norse, forcefully stopping my hand from reaching for the Ax. Then I called the Admiral again. “Sir, I am relieved of my command! Transferred to the USS Braden. What is going on?”

McElligott gasped and checked something on a terminal of his. “That bastard, that goddamn bastard!”

He looked up. “I failed to revoke Admiral Taros rank. He and...” He stopped in mid-sentence and actually yelled. “Have Commodore Taraka, report to my office now.”

To me he said. “I am so sorry. I will have your command restored right away, just find a place to wait before you do anything and stand by.”

Har-Hi and I instructed the system to stop at the next access-point and stepped out the I.B.T.

We found ourselves in a transparent walled tunnel halfway buried in snow. There was an intersection about twelve meters distant and most likely the reason for an I.B.T. stop. A green-lit info sign informed us that this was the connection tunnel to Christmas Base dome Nine, while the intersecting one was leading either to Hull Armor Research or to Residential Dome, Blitzen Village.

Like everything Union, the yellow floor and walls were spotlessly clean.

Right by the intersection was a seating group consisting of a few Vari-Matic seats, a few plants. One of them a Rubber tree for certain and a Vent-Matic.

I doubted this place was frequented much, while Har-Hi sat down, I was too angry to find the state of mind to do the same.

Har-Hi said. “I am convinced, it is just a temporary thing, Captain. You ventilating that Admiral didn’t stop whatever orders he might have given.”

I had to agree with him on that. I was actually quite sure that the old Admiral would fix things. I stared past the transparent Dura-Plast walls onto a quite featureless snow-covered surface. There were a few shallow mountains raising against the horizon.

Har-Hi followed my gaze. “Very cold out there should feel like home to you.”

I knew my friend tried to get me calm down and I turned. “Uncle Hogun would call these bare chest temperatures. It’s not all that cold out there, to be honest.”

He shook his head. “You Neo Vikings are something else.” He didn’t feel like sitting and got back up, to check the selection of the Serve-Matic.

A female voice reached us asking. “You are Erica Olafson?”

I turned to see who was asking.

Thereby the I.B.T. doors stood a tall light blue-skinned woman, with long dark hair. She wore a tight suit of dark blue and black leather-like material, a holstered blaster on a low slung belt and she held a long single-edged sword in her right. “I am Tamara Taros. You killed my father, and now I am going to kill you.”

She pointed at Dai. “You interfere to protect this coward and I kill you too.”

I sighed. “Odin help. I am not going to fight you. Your father died in a duel. Threatening me with a weapon is both quite unlawful and foolish. I have a good mind summoning base security.”

“I am the head of Base security and I am off duty, so are you, Midshipman.”

Har-Hi drew one of his swords and handed it to me. “Unless you want to summon your special hardware.”

While taking Har-Hi’s sword I said. “You being security makes this even worse.”

McElligott looked at the Commodore that now stood before his desk. “Before I have you arrested, I want to know why you decided to throw away thirty years of career, in exchange for a court-martial. You know they will find you guilty.”

Taraka, an Andorian and a little over four meters tall, stared with glaring hate at the Old Admiral. “Because one more charge won’t matter. I know you are out to purge Newport graduates from this Navy. Admiral Taros was a classmate of mine.”

“I tried to give you and all the others a chance. You have been checked out by PSI corps and NAVINT, we know you had no contact with the Worm, that damned Admiral Dent, and his cronies. You even graduated before Dent took office. I am not purging Newport graduates, but I am cleansing this Navy from elitists who think they are better than others, not by merit but by association.”

McElligott’s face reflected sadness. “I built this Navy with the highest ideals as the foundation and in the three thousand years it exists, billions ... no trillions of virtually every member species we have met and exceeded these ideals with an unbendable dedication to honor and service. I elevated you to Fleet command and gave you quite a bit of leeway, not because you are a graduate from Newport but despite it. Petty revenge is that the motivation you are claiming in defense?”

Taraka’s chin quivered. “Why are you talking to a Midshipman as if he and his crew are something special? This is not proper for the Admiral of the Fleet.”

“Are there any regulations in that regard? Any at all?”

“It is dragging Fleet Command to the level of a common department. We...”

“This is it, there is the real reason. You and a bunch of others still want to be the elite and despise officers of regular academy origin. While we were looking for the Worm and its slimy agents, Nelson II noticed another, smaller but equally potent disease. Senior officers in Fleet Command convinced that the Admiral of the Fleet himself never went to a proper spatial academy and his commands needed to be filtered and adjusted.”

Taraka gasped like a fish, then almost yelled. “Yes, you are an old relic. Who knows what substandard pre astro school you went.”

“I graduated from His Majesties Submarine School at HMS Raleigh, you numbskull and Captain Olafson and her crew earned the right to call me at any time. I was onto you for quite some time, I wanted you to deliver me a reason I can use to discharge you. Not even I expected you would deliver me the rope to hang you.”

Two marines stepped into the office and arrested the man.

McElligott tried to calm down and then said. “Thank you, Nelson.”

“It is what one was created to do, Sir. Two down, seven more to go.”

McElligott grinned. “Let us transfer Admiral Sorodon to the First. I think my esteemed colleague will have some fun with that one.”

“One speculates with a very high probability that neither individual will classify the forthcoming experience as fun. One also needs to remind you, Captain Olafson is still standing by.”

“Good lord, patch me to Personnel and then get me Olafson on the horn.”

Jolaj was quite surprised about the new orders and assignment. Right after the Tigershark docked she was summoned to personnel of the 124th. The officer behind the desk was a friendly Takkian but had no idea what it was all about. The Silicon being however assured her that the order chip was genuine and signed by Admiral Taros. Outside the office, she almost ran into Dusty.

“What, they called you too?”

The gentle entity answered via his voice box, as Jolaj could of course not receive his electromagnetic signals. “Yes, and so did everyone from our med department. I guess the Tigershark will be in dock longer than expected and the promised shore leave turns out to be another assignment.”

Jolaj sighed. “I guess they will send us back to the academy and Fleet Med school eventually. Especially you, of course, wanting to become an MD and all.”

“I hope the Captain calls us back once the Tigershark is fixed. I love our ship and the crew that became my family. I have been alone for so very long as you know.”

“She rescued me from a terrible situation and a fate worse than death. I am a Togar, but I am home aboard the Tigershark.”

Dusty put his enormous hand, as gentle as a feather on her small soft shoulders. “I always knew the time aboard the Tigershark would not last forever, but I hoped it would last a little while longer. Where are you headed?”

She looked at her order chip. “I am assigned to the USS Winterspere, I do not know where she is heading, but I must hurry. She is scheduled for liftoff within the hour.”

She caressed the huge hand. “Please keep in touch.”

“I will, little Snowball. It is a shame they did not even give us time to say goodbye to everyone.”

Her eyes shimmered moist as she looked for the next I.B.T. “I will miss you all so much.”

Tamara Taros did not listen to any of my arguments and attacked.

I had to admit, she was not a common brawler and very good. Her style of fighting reminded me of Master Alameda.

Her weapon was razor-sharp and of a material able to gauge deep scars into the tough Duro-Plast walls.

Har-Hi had settled back down after selecting an apple from the Vent-Matic.

He watched and said in a relaxed tone. “She’s quite good you got to admit. I think they call this style Bushido and comes from Earth if I am not mistaken.”

She held her sword with both fists, one close to the blade guard and the other near the end of the hilt. Her attacks were meant to cut and kill, it was not a fencing style as taught with the rapier or the longsword.

Her face was full of concentration and she did not waste any breath on insults, but her attacks were clearly fueled by emotions of rage and frustration.

She whirled back, raised her sword next to her face and panted. “This should be over soon.”

Har-Hi yawned and tossed the core of his fruit in a recycler clear across the corridor. “Did you see that, Captain? Almost six meters for sure.”

Tamara attacked again and her blade charred once more across the edge of the one Har-Hi had given me. I nodded. “Yes, I have, bet you can’t do it again.”

He got himself another apple. “You’re on, and while I got your attention. Want me to call someone or something?”

“Naa, she will eventually wear herself out. I don’t want to kill her.”

“That’s a first, she being Thauran and all.”

“I resent that because I don’t want to be pre-judgmental towards any individual.”

“Those Thaurans do make it hard though.”

She made a big leap while bringing her sword down in a lightning-fast move, intended to split my head right down the middle.

Instead of deflecting this powerful attack, I moved with her attack and to the side, then I grabbed her right wrist with my free left hand and added my weight to her momentum.

I realized too late that this was way too much, my opponent crashed with considerable force into the opposite wall, right next to the recycler.

While I heard something break, Har-Hi said with a slick grin. “You missed, by at least a meter.”

Tamara groaned and came staggering to her feet, with a bleeding nose. “I kill you!” She hissed.

Har-Hi said. “I don’t know what it is with you. Don’t you see my Captain is playing with you? There is not a Dai that could stand against her.”

I handed Har-Hi the sword. “Playtime is over, Tamara. I sympathize with you losing a parent and all, that is why...”

Tamara threw something, and it was fast. No longer in possession of the sword and if truth to be told a little too confident, the star-like object would have killed me, if it wasn’t for Har-Hi’s lightning-fast reflexes.

He put his hand in the path of that throwing star, just before my nose. The razor-sharp thing hacked into his hand.

I’ve seen similar weapons used by Alameda, they were quite dangerous if used by someone knowing how to use them. She was apparently very good with them and threw two more in quick succession.

However I was done playing and the countless hours of training with Alameda and Kai-Do, allowed me to evade them. It took a mere thought and Dark Blade grew in my fists. “I wanted to spare you, now you will follow your father!”

Tamara stumbled back, drawing her blaster.

My uniform was gone and a dark shroud was in its place.

The blaster shot hit me in the chest and simply dissipated.

Dark Flames engulfed the long sword I held out to strike.

Utter horror and primeval fear were shaking her, while she fired again with the same result.

“Who ... what are you?”

“I am the end of all things. You and all that is Thauran will die today!”

“She sank to her knees and cried in fear.”

Har-Hi yelled. “I am not hurt Erica, I caught the Shuriken.”

He rushed closer. “Erica, can you stop? Please. She surrendered, killing her now ... killing them all...”

“I am not Erica. I am Eric and I am the Dark One.”

Har-Hi drew his blades. “I am Eric’s and I am Erica’s friend. I knew there was something inside you, let my friends go.”

“You will stand against the Dark One for their sake?”

“I stand against you or anything for my friends.”

I lowered my sword, both Eric and my thoughts mingled and created an odd chorus both in my mind and my voice. “Eric and the Dark One are the same, Erica will come to her own as well.” My hand reached out. “No man, no entity has a braver friend than you. I am the Dark One indeed and I declare before the universe and all existence, you are indeed my friend.”

My brother retreated to wherever corner of my mind he kept lurking around and with full command of my voice I said. “I don’t need to declare this, you simply are, thank you.”

The woman was lying there in a fetal position, sobbing and crying and staring in the distance.

Har-Hi put his swords away with shaking hands. “By the spirits, when I promised to follow you to the gates of hell, I didn’t think you are the head deity of that place. I am certain, I need fresh underwear too.”

“I do not yet understand it all. I know Eric is a separate essence, but you had the courage to step into the Dark One’s way, feeling like every living being who he is. There is no greater proof of courage and love and I am so very proud of knowing you!”

Har-Hi recovered and grinned. “So what are the benefits of having a Dark One brother?”

“Very neat cutting hardware, a pair of rather ugly boots and a shroud that lets me do the spooky thing.”

“When you talk to him next time, I take one of those everything cutting swords.”

Surprisingly Eric spoke and answered through me. “Your desire will soon be fulfilled.”

The USS Winterspere was a Zebulon class Battleship, attached to Battlegroup Charlie Green of the 124th fleet. Jolaj made it with not a minute to spare and was scolded by a Kilonian lieutenant commander, who acted as the boarding master. “We are less than eight minutes to seal ship, and ten to lift off. Get your furry behind to sickbay, stat!”

The white fur Togar found sickbay alright. This wasn’t the Tigershark, the Zebulon class was near the end of their service life and the USS Winterspere would soon be decommissioned for sure.

While everything was in the usual immaculate state, spotlessly clean and in perfect repair. The ship and the med department she just entered, could not hide the almost 500 years of service.

The slide belts looked worn. The doors had streak marks from opening and closing perhaps a million times or more.

Her fine senses told her, that the ship had switched to main engines and that meant the battleship was already past the last layers of the atmosphere.

A dark-skinned humanoid beauty with long black hair and pointed ears introduced herself as the CMO. “I am Dr. Heronas, you must be Ensign Grotha. While I am surprised to get a new addition to my department so late, I am not complaining.”

Jolaj handed her the order chip. “I am surprised to be here as well. I did not expect a transfer.”

The CMO sighed with a smile. “That’s the Navy for you, sometimes these things happen quickly. Seeing you being Togar makes me wonder though.”

“I know, we are still enemies of the Union.”

“No not that, you are a Union citizen and personally I care not what species you are, as long as you do your job. We are heading to Kaliment, summoned by the Karthanians and the first Engineer.”

Jolaj, of course, knew about Kaliment, she had been there with the Tigershark.

The personnel officer before us, a Vantax had forgotten the Sarpsmong he had prepared for himself. The Lieutenant stared at the avatar projections of Admiral Redfloor, head of personnel and the Admiral of the Fleet himself.

I had never met or heard about Admiral Redfloor, but I had met enough Quadipeds to know this one was more than agitated.

“Why can’t you present me with the signed orders? Care to explain?”

“Admiral Taros called; he didn’t send any signed orders Sir. He gave instructions to disperse the crew of the Tigershark the best I can.”

“Personnel transfer orders must be filed with Personnel central and must always be signed. Not that Taros had any jurisdiction over the Tigershark.”

“Sir, he is ... he was the Commandant of the 124th and this is ... was his base. He was an Admiral. I am a Lieutenant. What am I supposed to do?”

“Apply your rules and regulations, check with Personnel Central and what kind of order is ‘disperse’ anyway, did you not get suspicious?”

“No, Admiral Taros was new and I am...”

McElligott made a wiping gesture. “Never mind this now. Reverse all transfers. Every single one and have them report to the Tigershark ASAP. Once they have done that, they can enjoy that shore leave.”

“I can’t Sir. I dispersed them the best I could. Most are no longer here at Christmas base.”

I clenched my fists, while cold anger changed to white-hot rage.

Har-Hi said with great anger. “The captain just fought the daughter of that admiral. She attacked her, fought with cowardly weapons and she confessed. Admiral Taros was not just a Newport graduate. He was from Royal, the very same planet Swybar came from and he was the brother of Swybin’s mother. He, of course, knew the name, Olafson.”

McElligott slowly shook his head. “No, I did not know this. I did not make the connection, Cherubim and I put your crew together, we do so again.”

“My crew has grown and includes people like Dusty, Xon, and Jolaj. My SHIP, is she in danger?”

The old man shook his head. “No, I checked. The Tigershark and her engineering crew are together and your ship is getting repaired. It is not an easy task, there are only two yards that can repair her advanced armor.”

“SHIP told me, I am no longer her captain. A new one can order her deactivation or whatnot.”

He nodded slowly. “I know you think of me as an old fool and perhaps I am. You have been scheduled to come here, even before you chased after pirates and convicts into the Leo galaxy. Commodore Taraka altered my orders and made you part of the 124th, thus giving his friend Taros the ability to do all this, but when you reported SHIP to be sentient, Personnel made her a person and gave her a rank, just like any Sentmac. No one can order her to be reset.”

The personnel chief looked at his PDD. “O’Brock I trust your word and I have reversed all transfer orders, but I have to say, there is no Captain Olafson in the entire Union Fleet, only a Midshipman Olafson.”

“Check the written files. The promotion is classified.”

“I see it now. The Tigershark and Captain Olafson are X Fleet and NAVINT. With all due respect, O’Brock I must say it is a tad foolish to make an X fleet unit and her captain interact with fleet and not make at least the fact that she is indeed a Captain, part of her official records. As much as I despise what Taros and your goon Taraka did, they could not have done that much damage if her rank would have been verified.”

I touched my PDD. “SHIP, are you okay?”

“Yes, Captain, I am.”

“Cirruit is still here and so are Three-Four, Warner and the rest of the engineering crew.”

“SHIP...”

“The new CO ordered my reset, but Cirruit didn’t get around doing it so far. Besides the new CO has not been verified by Fleet command and has not yet received command codes.”

I glared at the projection of McElligott. “Sir, you heard my Computronic. She has a new CO and ordered to be reset.”

He spoke to someone without audio reaching us.

Then acoustic kicked in. “You are the Captain of the Tigershark always have been. The command codes to the Tigershark include access to Nnnth tech and X type weapons. No one but me and Stahl can elevate anyone to be in command of that ship. The person Taros picked as CO could never be her Captain and he is arrested right now by your security chief for attempted murder.”

Again the Quadiped admiral spoke. “That little lieutenant wasn’t as good as he thought he is. All but two of your crew are back or on their way back. And the last two will return as soon as possible.”

“Who are the two?”

“Midshipman Roghor and Ensign Grotha.”

“Where are they?”

“On their way to Kaliment.”

“Why can’t they be recalled?”

“Because the USS Winterspere is beyond GalCom range.” The Vantax Lieutenant answered.

Mc Elligott said. “You still have a mission. I gave direct orders that both crew-members are sent back to you as soon as possible. In the meantime, they gather a little experience aboard a Union Battleship. It is unfortunate and my fault, but this is still the Navy.”

The Quadiped said. “The Winterspere is an old ship but has a good CO and I will send message as soon as we can.”

The Togar Governor of Kaliment, Seriga, the Queen’s cousin had been summoned by her aide to the large windows facing to the east. “Graceful Seriga, favorite cousin of Tobaia the magnificent. It might be of interest to you to see what transpires across the trench on the side of the bone faces.”

Seriga knew, of course, her aide would never disturb her like that if whatever happened was not of utmost importance. So she suspended her relaxed position among the many soft cushions and padded on her hind legs to the enormous curtain shaded window of her private chambers. Her razor-sharp claws retracted, her paws made no sound as she approached.

Her aide did not have to point out what she found to be of importance. There across the planet dividing trench, at the Katharian side of the planet and on the bone faces spaceport a new artificial mountain had settled on titanic landing struts. The thing dwarfed everything and needed the entire landing field. Across its grayish hull, the words USS Winterspere next to the Union flag left no doubt, to whom this space-born giant belonged, a Union battleship had made landfall.

Seriga did not take her eyes off the ship across the trench. “Quick, summon Reli. She must know something.”

The leader of the Togar intelligence service of this region did not make her wait for long and joined the governor at the window. “You called for me?”

“Reli, you cannot possibly miss what has landed over there. Tell me why they are here.”

“I cannot say with certainty, graceful Seriga. The Karthanians are hurting as they have never hurt before. The Embargo includes the Golden after all, and now with the Shiss gone as their last big customers they are eager to please the big bullies.”

“Those are not news, Reli, the entire galaxy knows that. The First Engineer is awake and it is only a matter of time and he will give in to the many voices echoing in his guild chambers to make a membership application.” Seriga pointed towards the battleship. “I am asking you why are they here? This is not a trader, not a hospital ship. This is a battleship and they usually never come alone. There might be a battle group or a whole Union fleet coming this way.”

Seriga shuddered involuntarily, despite the perfect temperatures inside her palace. “Did they decide to do to Togr what has been done to the Shiss?”

Reli looked uncomfortable. “The Union has never attacked unprovoked.”

The governor tapped a windowpane and commanded it to increase magnification. The Union ship had opened its hatches and airlocks.

At first, she simply watched the hectic activity.

There was no culture and no society Seriga knew that conducted any business with such intensity.

Reli too watched and said. “The battleship played freighter for their Army engineer corps.”

“Their what?”

“One of the many military branches the Union has. The Army Corps of Engineers is mainly a construction outfit. Doing things on planet-scale.” The Intelligence officer increased the magnification to the max and the window optics zoomed in close enough to see faces and identify logos and writing on crates and containers. “See the ACoE logo is on virtually everything.”

“What are they building?”

Before Reli could say anything, they both saw him. Standing there by a loading ramp was former Commander Roghor, there was no doubt. Even though he wore Union Uniform.

Seriga asked. “Wasn’t he reported killed? This is Roghor is it not?”

“Indeed and what a magnificent male he is.”

“A traitor...” Seriga could not finish her sentence. The most beautiful Togar ever to have been born. The White Fur, the Innocent daughter of the Light Spirit, wearing a short white dress, talking friendly with Roghor and a Pertharian marine.

If other Togar see her, the revolution will begin and civil war not seen since we abandoned the true king will erupt.”

Reli grabbed the arm of her superior. “She is not a fraud. There is no way she bleached her fur. She is not an albino. Can she not be the daughter of Malmoru, after all? There is darkness over our empire, a metal mountain over there is casting a menacing shadow ... let us not do things to hasten the fall of Togr.”

Seriga glared at the Intelligence officer. “I must obey. She is my cousin. She is the Queen...”

Seriga deep inside wondered what would happen to the Togar that brought back the Innocent and restored the goddess, could she be the next Queen? The military might just follow her...”

Neither the planet governess nor Reli noticed the aide slip out the room.

Chapter 5: Ginger Fur
Sobody occupied his very own office aboard the USS Tigershark. He had several readout field screens open that hovered over his desk.

Sobody took his job as quartermaster very serious, especially now as the Admiral of the fleet had made it official.

Until the Spatial Naval Reform of 4012 OTT, a quartermaster was the enlisted member in charge of the watch-to-watch navigation and the maintenance, correction, and maintaining the charts and information stored in the NAV-tank. That enlisted member was also responsible for the navigational sensors and the daily NAV ping training of ship’s lookouts and helmsmen.

He or she performed these duties under the control of the ship’s navigator or another officer if there was no officer navigator.

After the reform act, the term was dropped and replaced by the designation Nav-System Specialist.

While the Union Army definition of the quartermaster is used to describe all supply personnel and units that are part of the quartermaster corps.

Ever since the Golden came aboard, he sort of took over this part of the XO’s office duties. He was so good at it, that fleet command asked him to review the regulations and duties.

Right now, he was very busy. First, the sudden and strange orders that dispersed the crew, without the knowledge of either the Captain or the XO.

And now they were all back or on their way back. Technically six of them were already too far to be back soon and two, Roghor and Jolaj, didn’t even know yet that they were to be transferred back as soon as possible.”

With deep satisfaction did he witness the arrest of the new CO, who tried to order a thousand things but could not be verified as captain.

The man was not just wrongly assigned, he was an outright criminal. First, he ordered the Den to be dismantled and the hangar restored and then he wanted SHIP reset.

Sobody laughed as Little Fafnir scared the man, while he tried to steal a credit cube from the Captain’s quarters and several crew members swore he resisted arrest so Hans had to be a little rough.

The Tigershark was much more than just another Navy ship, it was defined by its crew and Sobody had to admit it was one big family, woe to the outsider trying to pry it apart.

He had just talked to the Captain and assured her that everything was getting back to normal.

Sobody just completed another quarter re-assignment when the door chime announced a visitor.

The Tigershark was sitting in a covered dock facility and much of the nose armor had been completely stripped of the frame. Erica’s decision to plow right through an exploding Y’All battleship saved everyone’s life. The Armor held, but several of the hexagon-shaped nearly indestructible armor plates got knocked off the frame. Cirruit explained to him, that it was quite difficult to attach something indestructible to a frame because the traditional methods of molecular bond welding did not work.

Having a visitor using the door chime was quite unusual because except for the engineering crew, Hans and a few of the ship’s security, no one else was aboard.

Sobody asked the door to admit the visitor.

The kilt-wearing old man that stepped in, was none other than the Admiral of the Fleet. Sobody was technically still the prime authority of all Golden, mainly because his people refused to accept his retirement request and played a dirty trick on him. As Union citizens, they called for a vote and he was confirmed as leader of the Golden by an Assembly vote. However right here and now he was just an Ensign and the Immortal that walked in was the highest-ranking officer in the entire Navy. Sobody got up and got in attention.

McElligott acknowledged with a military greeting and said. Thank you, Lieutenant Sobody. Please sit down; while they call me Immortal, you are 9000 years older than I am.”

Sobody did sit back down. “You are the Admiral of the Fleet, Sir. And I am an acting Ensign, not a Lieutenant.”

“I guess you didn’t come across your own file yet. You have been promoted to full Lieutenant.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

The old Admiral sat down in the visitor’s chair, looked at the neatly stacked lockboxes, at one side. “Seeing this and knowing the treasures you guys collected in your Den, I think you could pay for half of the Union navy’s annual budget.”

“Perhaps for a day.”

McElligott snickered. That would not surprise me. I came to Christmas base to do damage control after the mess I created.”

Sobody did not know all the details, other than the hints the Captain made and of course what SHIP had told him, so he just made sure the Admiral knew he was listening.

The Old admiral tugged on his kilt. “Officially, I am here to inspect and confirm the new commandant of the 124th of course and check on this fish.”

The Golden got up and opened a larger locker box. “This one came to us while we pretended to be pirates. We actually bought it from the Red Dragon at the Pirate’s market.”

While Sobody was substantially shorter than an average human, there was nothing diminutive about him. McElligott could sense the great age and deep experience of the old merchant.

Sobody held up a dusty bottle. “Glenlivet XXV Single Malt Scotch Whisky. If I understand, this is liquor you favor, is it not?”

“Och! All saints be praised. That’s a fine drop of Whisky indeed.”

“Then I hope you have a spot, as they say? And while you do, tell me why you came?”

While Sobody opened the bottle, the old Admiral said. “One reason, of course, is my sincere concern about this ship and crew and personally, offer you any and all assistance to iron out that mess. The other reason is a personal one, and since I had to come to Christmas Base anyway, I thought it might be a good time to ask it.”

Sobody found expensive crystal tumblers in another of his sturdy chests and said. “You wanted to know why I am here, right? The merchant of merchants serving in the Union navy.”

“Yes, that is indeed it. I know you are perhaps second to Schwartz in terms of personal wealth. I know you are the undisputed leader of the Golden, which is a very influential society.”

McElligott made a gesture to include his surroundings in his response. “I meet the Queen of Klack, Mothermachine, the Narth Supreme and several others of our esteemed society almost daily. You are certainly on a similar level, why acting like an Army Quartermaster and working so hard?”

“I do my best to please our Captain, Sir. Nothing less will do.”

Sobody sat down, after handing the admiral a glass with a generous helping of the golden liquid. “I watched humankind, the one from Earth for a very long time before even you were born. I met a bunch of teenage kids that had been abducted by Freons and were on an involuntary odyssey.

One of them, stayed with us the Golden. Sarah Guri was her name.

She became the wife of a Golden and hid her identity under the guise of a Golden Guard for a long time because we Golden were a very exclusive society back then.

This is a great secret until this day.”

“She was your companion, was she not?”

“Yes, Admiral. Sarah was my wife for 222 years, unfortunately, our medical science was unable to extend her life. She kindled my love for Earth and humankind. I supported the Friends of Terra financially and otherwise, the group that eventually made the Union a reality.”

O’Brock stopped sipping his whiskey. “You don’t want the public to know about this? We know there were a few more Friends of Terra, then the officially acknowledged Saran Queen and Pan Saran Emperor.”

“I know the identities of the others, but like me don’t want the glory. The result is more than we ever hoped for and that is all we ever need for payment.”

The Old Admiral resumed to sip and sniff at the single malt. “That explains a lot but does not answer my original question.”

Sobody too sipped on his glass and said. “Go ahead stuff one of your pipes. I have one of Har-Hi’s cigars.”

While the old highlander begun with the ritualistic motions to prepare his pipe, the Golden resumed his explanation. “Ever since there is a Union, I wanted us Golden to be part of it and like you, I am an old man and don’t need to do things in a hurry. As the leader of the Golden, I started to change little things here and there to slowly but surely prepare us for that step.

Without the unexpected attack of the Mini Terrans, it might have taken another decade perhaps, but we would have applied for membership.

To be part of a Union ship crew was a spur of the moment idea that grew into a dream.

When Erica and her unusual crew came to my bazaar, and she talked to a Dai and was friends to a real Narth, I knew I wanted to have an adventure with them.”

The Golden lit a cigar. “They all became my closest friends, little Warner is as dear to me as a son might be to you. I will not seek a Navy career, once the Tigershark and this crew makes her last journey so will I, and retire.” He puffed a cloud of smoke. “But as long as Erica is her captain, I am her quartermaster. You should be able to feel it, Sir. The crew of this ship will follow her to wherever she will lead us. There are a little over 800 souls on this crew, and each and every one is family.”

McElligott sighed. “Yes, we all. Cherubim, Richard and I know of this magical unexplainable bond. My old friend would give his right arm to be part of this crew, I know. Cherubim even mentioned it.”

The door opened without the chime announcing the visitor.

“Meeze hearz youz ze bozz of ze whole outfiz, canz you maze me crewz?”

Sobody rolled his eyes. “That is Meeze, he sort of simply stayed aboard since we blew up the Crucible.”

Shea, Narth, Har-Hi and I had arrived at Dome 21 of Christmas Base, that turned out to be the regional headquarters of the Science Corps. The transparent copula enclosed a small city of laboratories, research facilities, auditoriums and offices.

Rugged snow-covered mountains on the outside, trees, well-groomed lawns and ponds on the inside.

Narth said. “It reminds me of the Academy at Arsenal II.”

I agreed. “Yes, it does in a way, it also reminds me of Outpost 96.”

And with that recollection, I remembered the little Holdian Commandant. Not that I really knew her, but her heroic stand and death still affected me, more than I realized.

Shea pointed to a white, elegant two-story building. A sign in the front lawn identified it: SCI-CO Planetology. Spinward Auxiliary.

“I think that is it.”

A Thauran female in a light blue lab coat greeted us in the cool lobby. There were holographic images of various types of planets, between isles of indoor plants and a gurgling little stream.

“You must be Captain Olafson and entourage, Dr. Makers has left for Kinlay planet. I am here to fill in for him. I am Dr. Parea Palsan.”

“Yes, I am Captain Olafson. This is my XO, Lieutenant Hi. My OPS officer, Lt. Narth and my Chief Science Officer, Lt. Schwartz.” I made a gesture towards Shea and included Narth. “These are my science experts, and I think they should take the lead in this. Mr. Hi and I will remain in the background observing.”

Sure enough, only ten minutes later we found ourselves in a lab of sorts surrounded by charts, info bubbles, rock and mineral samples. Visuals of volcanic activity and burning worlds.

The Thauran scientist did not display any of the antics her species seemed so famous for, but then she treated Har-Hi and me with that benevolent arrogance many scientists put on when talking to what they considered un-educated laymen.

She threw around special terms, explained charts using acronyms and rolled her eyes when Har-Hi asked what ACP meant and responded. “Active Control Point, Lieutenant.” She said it as if even an idiot knew that. “There are well-stocked serv-matics in the cafeteria.”

Shea glared at her and started asking questions. It took my beautiful fiancé, less than a minute to make the Thauran expert stumble and stutter trying to understand and answer Shea. Narth didn’t hold back either and then Har-Hi begun lecturing her on the thermodynamic exchange of magma layers and the pressure built up beneath thin-crusted planets.

Dr. Palsan said. “Maybe it will be better we call Dr. Makers he should be reachable via GalNet. That Avatar conference was scheduled to take place shortly anyway. I see you are quite the subject experts already and need no refresher in planetology.”

Har-Hi leaned close to me as we followed her to another room. “Now I know how you do it all the time.”

“Narth?”

“Yes.”

“Glad I didn’t make a fool of myself. I wondered what an Automatic Colt Pistol had to do with all of this.”

“You and the Eternal Warrior are the only ones carrying such an antique and relate ACP to that piece of steel under your armpit.”

“It seems you know it too.”

Har-Hi pointed at Narth. “No, I didn’t, he did.”

Narth actually snickered under his hood. “Hey, Har-Hi is my friend too.”

“I am not complaining.”

While we talked, the Avatar of a Stellaris appeared. Being around Cirruit long enough and remembering Commander Letsgo, I was able to instantly recognize the small but telltale differences between a Stellaris and an X101-Sentmac. He wore a maroon one-piece suit, with the logo of the explorer corps on his sleeves.

He greeted us and introduced himself as Dr. Makers. Then he went straight to the subject. “My colleague and friend Dr. Palsan had a chance to introduce you to the matter, and refresh or educate you why a planet might turn from garden world to what we call a Shattered World.”

His avatar nodded towards the Thauran, scientist and she said. “It appears fleet command sent officers that exceed my level of knowledge in this matter, Mark.”

“Very good. So you know about the natural reasons. However since our outpost and a science cruiser was attacked about 9 months ago, and seven additional worlds turned from garden to hell we are certain these are the results of sentient action. A previously unknown species identifying themselves as the Ypeherix appear to be at the core of this mystery.

First contact occurred in a non-union system. According to our strict first contact laws, it was determined the Ypeherix been there before.”

He looked at a PDD he was holding, then looked up. “You are Captain Olafson, right?”

“Yes, I am.”

“I am here on the third planet of system N-346-554-696. It has been occupied by a non-tribe associated Dai. For some reason, there is a report from VASCO claiming you have been here.”

“I have been there, Dr. Makers and made contact with both Dai living there and a Ypeherix. I was attacked by the Ypeherix and it also fought and killed Dai.”

The scientist’s avatar projection changed and now included the environment he was in. He stood on a blackened rock, surrounded by a flow of glowing magma. “Captain, this is what the Jungle world you have visited looks now.”

“Odin’s beard! That was only about eight months ago. The Dai?”

“We found a small group of survivors, but according to them many perished.”

My voice was colored by a sense of loss and anger. “My ship is under repair, what is it we are supposed to do?”

“Fleet Command thinks this could escalate into conflict and there is a mystery. According to the Admiral of the Fleet, and I quote verbatim: ‘Strange unknowns, a mystery, and potential conflict. I think I have the perfect crew to look into this.’”

The Stellaris spread his arms. “... and here you are. At first, I must admit, I questioned the wisdom of the Old Highlander.” He kept his arms spread. “I know, a foolish thing to do. I have no idea how or why you have been to this world, but it appears you came face to face with Ypeherix and live to tell.”

He tapped his PDD and said. “Admiral McElligott wants you to assist my team with the investigation and take over if the situation develops into something better handled by the fleet instead of the Science Corps.”

Shea held up her PDD. “I got the coordinates. It isn’t all that far.”

The scientist said. “Expecting you here as soon as possible.” Then his avatar blinked out.

Har-Hi looked at me. “Strange unknowns, a mystery, and potential conflict. If that is going to be our mission description, we never run out of things to do.”

Shea seemed to have a happy spring in her steps. “I never heard a better one, Mr. Hi.”

Narth said. “A mission with a science component, not chasing pirates. I think this is a nice pace of change.”

Har-Hi snickered. “Fat chance it stays all science. I have a feeling the ‘conflict’ part will play a role. You never really told me what happened, after you stepped through that portal on Thana Shoo.”

Narth said before I could answer. “Our captain encountered Ypeherix, apparently unwilling to join the Union or the crew and she had her sword already drawn.”

I frowned at him as we left the building. “You make me sound terrible. The Ypeherix had a Dai in his claws and shoot some sort of thorns in my direction. I am no longer that angry Neo Viking barbarian I might have been once.”

Shea laughed. “That is true, you evolved in that regard.”

Har-Hi put his hands on my shoulder still grinning. “Galactic spirits help us.”

Roghor came to sickbay, he was almost running and was stopped by a Saurian Med Tech. “What is the emergency, Crewman?”

“Lieutenant Grotha, she is a friend. I have news for her.”

The Saurian was even bigger than the majestic Roghor. “She’s Togar, you are Togar. Even to a Saurian, she seems to be one of the prettiest creatures of your species. I fully understand, but she is on duty.”

“It is not like that, and my news is duty-related.”

The Saurian consulted his wrist com. “She is in treatment-12. I summoned her.”

It took only a few moments, the beautiful Togar came out of a door down the corridor. The USS Winterspere was maybe a little old but she was a full size 2500 meter Union battleship and everything was much bigger than aboard the Tigershark of course.

Roghor watched other beings, patients and med personnel stare after the statuesque all white female Togar wearing a white mini dress.

She had no inhibitions to hug her friend. “Rog, what is it?”

“I just came from the Captain of this monster. They are in GalCom range now and received a message from Fleet Command. Our transfer was an error and we are to be transferred back to the Tigershark as soon as possible.”

Just then her own wrist com chimed and the Captain of the Windermere himself told her the same thing and added. “You must be really special, the Admiral of the Fleet himself calling me. Well, I must say you are an outstanding asset to the ship and I am sorry to see you and Lt. Roghor leave.”

The captain looked at something outside the visuals. “Finish your shift and then enjoy a few days of shore leave and R&R, the USS Usain will be here in three days to take you back to Christmas Base, where you are to report to a Captain Olafson of the USS Tigershark.”

“Thank you, Captain, Sir.”

“Before I let you go. I never heard of the Tigershark or Captain Olafson, you know if she is not to your liking, I may be able to make a request for you to stay.”

“With all due respect, Captain. I would walk all the way to Christmas Base. There is no better Captain and no better ship.”

He sighed and cut out.

She looked at the tall muscular Togar. “Did he say Lieutenant?”

“Yes, he did. With our transfer orders also came my promotion. The transfer text said. “Can’t make your Commander right away, but I was urged to elevate and promote you, Adm McElligott.”

Jolaj smiled in Togar fashion. “Congratulations, Rog. My shift ends in two hours. Why don’t we celebrate your promotion? I dye my fur and we go eat on the Togar side.”

Mircael had reached the Planet at the Center of the Universe, a mystical planet with many rifts and gateways to many places in this and other realities and universes. It was here where all the many Ancient Gate chains terminated. Avondur was among the oldest places of the Universe. Some said it has seen the rise of the Nnnth and the First Empire.

A cast or sect of Knights, the Red Knights of Avondur lorded over this place.

Mircael did not know on whose side they were. They were certainly not allies to Lord Lummis, but then it was said they weren’t associated with the Old Empire, or with the Orlan and their now dead master, known to many as The Fifth.

The Voice of the Rule did not speak about them in one way or the other, but Mircael knew if he was to find the Norns and Urd, he had to come here.

Just as the Red Knights, the Norns or the Urd were a mystery to the Knight of light. All he knew that the three were entities of tremendous power and according to the Voice of the Rule and other sources the ones that somehow decided or influenced the fate of the universe.

He was a powerful knight of light and not easily intimidated and so he walked in full armor, his hand resting on the pommel of Shard his sword, into the Hall of Avondur and into the presence of Crimsor, one of the nine known Knights of Avondur. There was a whispered rumor that there was a tenth, but that was all.

Crimsor was not alone, a green Tomradi bigger than a Y’All and most likely just as powerful was there as well. Mircael knew about the Tomradi considering themselves the inheritors of the First Empire. They were reasonably developed in terms of technological advances, but not exactly a truly advanced species.

“Aside, Tomradi. Your business with the Red Lord can wait, the needs of the light cannot.”

The green giant turned his ugly face with the short flexible trunk towards the knight of light. “Who are you, little being? Crawl back.”

Crimsor, human-shaped and clad in an anachronistic armor, not unlike the one Lord Lummis wore. This one, however, was dark red and there was a billowing cape that obscured much of the sitting knight. “Silence both of you. These are the chambers of the Red Knights. Neither Lord Lummis nor his minions may demand anything. The haughty attitude of Crea’s soldiers is well known.”

To the Tomradi he said. “Leave now. As impertinent he is, he is far beyond you.”

The green giant grunted a curse and left.

The Red Knight parted his cloak as if by accident, revealing that his armored fist lingered on the handle of his famous scimitar. “What brings Mircael, the self-proclaimed righteous to Avondur?”

“My liege, Lord Lummis has stepped down from the Upper Realms to dwell once more among us. He sent me to consult the Urd. It is known there is a passageway to the Fountain of Fate on this world. It is also known that the Knights of Avondur know where the passage is to be found.”

“So, the personification of arrogance noticed that the one he tried to prevent to return has already returned and is close to regaining all the tokens.”

Mircael could not pretend it to be otherwise. “Yes, the Dark One has found a vessel and dwells in a yet weak mortal shell. We must know the identity of this vessel; his resurrection can yet be prevented.”

“Go then, Mircael, consult the Urd.”

Shaka took the Apparition out of Quasi space and slowed us down. Mao checked the sensor readouts and said. “Nothing Non-Union in the system. There is a battleship in orbit around the third planet and there are two wings of Wolfcrafts patrolling the system.”

“Elfi tell them who we are and where we are going.”

She did and the Wolfcrafts gave us an all-clear and permission to approach that once-lush garden world.

While I had not seen it from space, the first time I was here. I was certain it had looked different from the dark, ash cloud obscured planet with streaks of glowing red it was now.

Shea had been busy on her console for the entire trip, said. “I agree with the science council, it is not a natural phenomenon.”

I changed my seating position. “I am sure about that as well, but for what purpose? No one destroys planets just for the heck of it. Some of these worlds were unoccupied.”

Har-Hi said. “And those who were, had no connection to the other worlds.”

“So what now, do we land or something?” I asked.

Elfi answered. “Dr. Makers is calling.”

A few seconds later the smooth chrome skinned face of the planetologist dominated our main screen. “You are here already, what are you flying. Something Attikan?”

“Something like that. We are here, what’s next?”

“We are sending landing coordinates now.”

The landing field was a rock and ash-covered valley, there were several Union explorers and a collection of hemispherical base modules interlinked with tubes.

After a short walk wearing protective suits, we had entered the temporary structure.

Dr. Makers greeted us right at the airlock. “Want to take a break and start tomorrow, or do you care about taking a trip?”

“We are not on vacation Dr. Makers,” I said.

“Perfect, because we think we found something. You aren’t claustrophobic, right?”

Narth answered for me. “None of us has problems being in a tightly confined space.”

“I am asking everyone before we go below the crust. The surface penetrator is not the most spacious vehicle after all.”

Mircael had found the trans-spatial rift that the Red Knight had identified for him and after passing through the shimmering air distortion, he found himself in a dark green valley, surrounded by massive and very high looking mountains. There was an impossible large tree in its center, next to a stream of clear water.

A shrouded, apparently human female stepped in his way. “You may not come further, servant of Lummis.”

“A servant I am, and so is my master. We are defenders of Light, Life, and Creation. I seek knowledge, my Lord thinks you might possess.”

“True Light needs no champion. Crea has corrupted the light with her quest. She disobeyed the one behind it all. We are Urd and I am Verðandi. Neither Urðr nor Skuld will appear to you.

“Will the Dark One not also threaten you? Reveal the vessel he has chosen, so Lummis can slay him before he unites all the Token.”

“The Urd is not neutral. She who is Verðandi and her sisters have witnessed the birth of the vessel and the coming of the essence. The essence has chosen a vessel that pleases the Norns. The Dark One will rise, end the reign of the Light knights and punish Crea. The Rule will not be repaired but it will be restored.”

He drew his sword. “You declare to be on the side of Evil. I have sworn to stomp it out.”

“We are not on the side of evil; we are on the side of justice. He who was ambushed and divided, will not resurrect as he was, there is a new Dark One.”

“He is prophesized to destroy the light and satisfy his desire for vengeance. Now summon your sisters or I will cut your head. Shard cannot be deflected.”

“You think of yourself as a powerful entity. Oh, little have you learned.”

Before Mircael could strike, he found himself back on Avondur. The shimmering passage to the Eternal Valley of the Urd was no longer there.

He noticed a cold breeze and with great surprise he found himself standing there without his armor. He still held Shard.

He heard Verðandi’s voice like a whisper in that very wind that suddenly made him feel cold. “You arrogant little Mircael. Thy fate has been sealed.”

Roghor and Jolaj had a good time. She had dyed her fur to a very common shade of ginger and openly wore a Union fleet officer’s jacket.

At first Roghor thought it to be a very bad idea to take one of the official fliers to cross the trench and enter the Togar side of the planet, but the Karthanian side was void of anything even remotely entertaining to a Togar and the population was quite hostile towards Togar, despite the obvious fact they were Union.

Union Togar were rare but not exactly uncommon.

Jolaj was still young and she had embraced her new home and identity with a deep conviction. To Togr, her white fur represented so much, but it was just religious superstition. She was taught all the meanings and ancient prophecies and texts. To the Union, she was Jolaj Grotha. Med-Tech. She was a member of the best crew there was in the universe.

Kaliment was far from Togr. Here she was just another ginger-colored young female, dancing and having fun with the strong, so handsome old Roghor. The former Commandant, also with dyed fur slowly relaxed and thawed to the impish, playful advances of the young Togar woman. Even with orange fur, she was a sight to see. Elfi had introduced her to the fine art of make-up and she had quickly learned and adapted it to her needs.

She used black eye-liner to enhance and underline her already gorgeous green cat eyes. And a pinkish shimmer to make her small nose even more desirable.

Roghor was now convinced that the Togar would not risk aggravating the Union by harassing two average Union Togar, with a Battleship so close and an entire regiment of Union Marines.

Both sides of the divided planet were awash with Shore leave personnel.

Just as he relaxed even further. Strong arms pulled him off the dance floor and the angry hum of a Neuro ripper made any resistance futile. Just before they pulled a sack over his head, he saw the same happening to Jolaj and he heard a voice panting with excitement. “We have her! We got the White Fur!”

Chapter 6: High Father
The Stellaris scientist-led us through several connecting tube tunnels and stopped at another airlock module. Space is limited, unfortunately, and we can’t accommodate Nul or ... is that a Y’All?”

I put a firm tone in my voice. “Is there a problem with that?”

“Oh no, I voted for their admission. I just noticed the Ensign rank insignia and wondered how it managed to get to be an officer that fast.”

“He joined the Union as an individual ahead of his kind. This is Ensign TheOther, a valued member of my crew and I am proud to say a friend as well.”

“The Space Force let us have one of their Deep Penetrators. We modified it to be a research vehicle that can go below the crust of a geothermic active planet. There is simply no room for any of our Union members that exceed BaPhy 2.”

“I understand if you hadn’t mentioned that you found something. I would offer my seat to someone else and be happy with the report of my science officer.”

He opened the airlock door. “Fleet Command wanted you here, and as I mentioned I no longer question the Old Highlander. What our unmanned probes discovered is ‘something’ indeed, as we haven’t figured out what it is exactly.”

“Then I suggest we go, Sir.”

He was right, the interior of whatever we entered was confined. It reminded me of a Nilfeheim sub and with that thought came a swell of memories. While Nilfeheim was not my home anymore, it had been my home back then and I realized part of me would always be connected to that cold and wet world.

“Mine as well, Sister. My home is the Omniverse and where I dwell cannot be described in spatial or human terms, but I am also Eric and Nilfeheim will always have a special bond.”

“Why Nilfeheim and why Eric? You are if I understand it a God, a very powerful entity. Would not a Netherworld demon or at least a Pertharian be better suited to contain your essence?”

“Because it had to be a Terran from a very specific line. A line that left Earth and went to the stars, Erica. The Neo Vikings of Nilfeheim are among the purest Terrans in terms of genetics.

While almost all other colonies and even Earthers themselves mingled with Non-Terrans, Nilfeheim remained isolated and thus no other genetics were introduced. Without the seventh token, the Book Omnis Eternum I do not have the answers to why it had to be that way. Once we find the book, my memory will be restored.”

While I had this inner conversation, I had advanced deeper into the cylindrical space of this crust diver and the Stellaris pointed to a seat. “Why don’t you sit here, Captain? Our descend and the journey will take the better part of twelve hours. There is a small galley with a serv-Matic and a washroom to the left of you.”

I sat down, while Har-Hi plopped himself into the seat across from me and the small folding table between us. He asked. “Twelve hours? I thought crust buster bombs take minutes to reach their detonation depth.”

“It takes Crust busters between sixty minutes and two hours to reach their destination, true but they never go as deep as we will and we won’t be as fast.”

I reclined the seat. “Fine with me, I’ll catch a few z’s.”

Har-Hi grinned. You need them, I just got a message from our Golden. The admiral of the Fleet just made Meeze an official crew member.”

Already reclining and with my eyes closed I asked. “We’re complete again?”

“Almost, only our Snowball and Roghor have not returned yet.”

“Do we know where they are?”

“Yes, aboard the USS Windermere.”

“To be more precise, where is the USS Windermere?”

Har-Hi consulted his Wrist-Com and doing so presumably contacted Nelson II.

“The USS Usain, a brand new Battle Cruiser has been sent by Fleet Command to pick them up at...”

His hesitation made me open my eyes.

He continued. “... at Kaliment, Captain.”

This made me sit up again. “Do you mean Togar half, Karthanian half Kaliment? The one we’ve been to?”

“There is no other world named that way.”

I could not explain why I didn’t like what I heard. “What is a Union battleship doing there?”

“They’re assisting the Army Corps installing a GalCom station and begin construction of a Class B spaceport, apparently by request of the First Engineer.”

“I can add one and two, that means the Karthanians are on the brink of making their move, but having our Togar there is just not a good idea. She, being something like a saint with and him being a deserter.”

Har-Hi said. “They are aboard a Union Battleship. A crew of 20,000 and a full regiment of Marines, the Togar won’t even know they there. The Battleship is on Karthanian side anyway.”

“Well, I will feel better, if the USS Usain reports back with both of them.”

Har-Hi didn’t seem to share my concerns. “Captain, even if the Togar became aware of them, what could they do with a Battleship right there? With the Shiss gone and the Karthanians making their move towards membership, they not going to aggravate us.”

He was right of course, and both Jolaj and Roghor were Union fleet officers aboard a Union titan, probably safer than aboard the Tigershark. I tried to relax again,

Shea came from the front and stemmed her fists to her side. “We are on a very exciting mission trip. Going below a planet’s surface. There is tremendous pressure and hellish temperatures out there, and what are you two doing?”

Har-Hi stretched, looking very comfortable and said. “The Captain and I are discussing the Thermo thing reaction between those layers.” He rolled his eyes. “Cosmic Spirits, that was so much easier with Narth giving me the clues.”

She gave him a scolding look, then sat down on the last free chair of this little seat group. “It is actually what we are supposed to do, I mean we as the Fleet.”

I groaned and got in a more upright position. “And my XO and my Science Chief find it necessary to keep me awake. Girl, you know how much science knowledge I have, especially compared to you. We would not be in this contraption if it wasn’t safe. You and Narth handle the science component, while Har-Hi and I enjoy the change of pace.”

She got up, squeezed my hand and got me a coffee from the small Serve-matic. “It’s not exactly Tigershark quality, but it’s Navy standard.”

Then she went back to from wherever she had come from.

Har-Hi reached for my coffee. “She didn’t even ask if I want some.”

“Next time we take our Yeoman along.”

I crossed my arms and closed my eyes again, almost instantly dreaming about Jolaj and Roghor.

--””--

The CO of the USS Usain was known to be a stickler for punctuality. When his XO told him that the two officers he was to take aboard, weren’t there. He got angry and called the CO of the Windermere. “I was diverted from a run to Prostradoris. I have important cargo.”

The Captain of the Windermere was more laid back and said. “The two are on shore leave. They didn’t know when you arrive exactly. Why don’t you make that Prostradoris delivery and pick them up on your return?”

“That would be in 12 days.”

“Makes no difference if they spend those 12 days aboard your ship going to Prostradoris with you, or spend them here.”

“Alright, but they better be there when I come back.”

--””--

Jolaj came to her senses and realized she was wearing some sort of hood over her head.

A throaty voice, speaking Tog said. “She is awake.”

The hood was removed and she found herself in a dimly lit room, furnished only a few Togar style chairs and a worn table.

The light came from a single illuminator sphere. There were no apparent windows and the door was obscured by a heavy curtain of dark fabric.

She counted three Togar, one female and two male.

The female made a gesture of devotion and said. “You are the Innocent Fur, the daughter of Lightray spirit Malmoru. We are blessed to be in your presence.”

Jolaj was angry. “I am Ensign Jolaj Grotha of the United Stars Spatial Navy. All this white fur nonsense is in my past. You realize you doomed the Togar?”

They just stared at her so she said. “There is a Union Battleship right on this planet. We do not take the abduction of Union Fleet personnel lightly.”

“Nonsense, the Togar have abducted and eaten Unions before.”

Jolaj noticed a fifth Togar, bound and with a hood lying on the floor. It was Roghor and he actually laughed. “Forget the Union, forget the Marines who will tear this planet apart. Our Captain will not rest until we are free or avenged.”

Jolaj nodded with a resolute motion. “Yes, she will come and not even Lightray spirit Malmoru can save you from her.”

The male Togar said. “Jolaj we saved your life. We are of the Underground and moved just ahead of the government. You are the promised one and we will take you to Malmoru’s sacred pond.”

“I told you, I am a Union Citizen now and give a hoot about Togar politics and religion. Release me now, not the Queen’s guard can reach me there.”

“Yet, we managed to capture you. Malmoru’s call was made and you came. You are young and confused. Once you have been cleansed by the Waters of Malmoru, you will lead all Togr to freedom.”

Jolaj said. “This is the legend indeed, and I would be loyal to Togr for all this but I am a Free Union Citizen. I am a Med Specialist and part of a family none of you could ever understand. My friend Roghor knows it and predicted it.”

--””--

Lummis arrived on Avondur, the usual way with great fanfare and self-serving pomp. He basked in the fact that Crea, the Spirit of Creation has chosen him to be her champion and gave him tremendous powers.

He stepped out of a sphere of brilliant white light, accompanied by trumpet sounds. Dressed in his magnificent white armor and armed with Radiance the great sword of right and good. He dismissed the notion that the existence of a weapon designed to kill was a corruption of light and a tangible aspect of the Broken Rule.

To him, the Rule was insignificant. Crea did not abide by it and caused it to be broken, neither was he. That there was an Entity known as ‘The one behind it all’ was of similar unimportance to him. Lummis was of the opinion that this entity was impotent and was about to be replaced by Crea anyway, once the Dark One was defeated forever and no obstacle remained for Crea to become the Prime Entity.

His spectacular arrival did not have the effect he wanted.

No one really paid attention and went on with their business. It did not help that one of the frequent sand and dust storms engulfed much of the City of Avondur.

His armed guards lashed out at two beings that were close enough. “Be this a warning to all who do not bow down and worship the Paladin of Light.”

This was noticed and a man in armor and a red mantle stepped up. “Even you are not above the laws of Avondur, Lord Lummis.”

“I am above all laws made by crawling insects and answer only to Crea. For the sake of Light, my will is the law others must follow. Now fetch my worthy associate Mircael, he is received in great honors, I gather?”

The Red Knight laughed. “Your arrogance is legendary and only surpassed by your ignorance. We both will suffer once the Dark One rises, oh indeed. But you have not slain him yet and the conditions that govern Avondur are still valid. Your minions harmed and wounded two innocent merchants, tainting the light even further.”

“Be silent, Sata your master is a servant to Crea, nothing more. Now bring forth Mircael. I have business to attend.”

Out of the swirling dust, a naked man stepped forward, holding the sword known as Shard. Lummis had never seen Miracel without his armor, but he was certain this was Miracel.

“What fallacy is this? Why do you deem it appropriate to present yourself in such a way?”

“My armor was taken. The Urd have expelled me from their realm but retained my armor.”

The Red Knight snickered. “You are both welcome to tell the Urd if you can find their realm.”

Lummis tried to remain calm. “The Urd will know their place and pay for this in due time. I came to seek passage to the Seventh Plane. I must consult with the High Father.”

The Red Knight lost all his amused attitude. “The self-proclaimed champion seeking the counsel of one that dwells in the Nether-Realms? I will show you the access rift, but no one can come back, once the passage has been completed.”

“I can! Now show me.”

Lummis did not find it necessary to educate that impertinent Red Knight, that Crea supplied him with the ability to travel past the realms. A gift of the time when Sata and Crea were allies against the force known as the Dark One.”

The Red Knight took them to a red glowing portal in the Sandakaar Deserts. “Here is the portal to the Desolate Valley and the Weeping Mountains, upon which the Stronghold of the Fallen has been raised.”

Mircael cleared his throat. “Master, will you want me to come with you like this? Have you not armor and attire for me?”

“You lost it, you regain it. Now come, I am wasting time.”

“You wasted time in the upper realms my magnificent leader.”

--””--

Har-Hi bumped me. “I am ready for dinner, are you hungry?”

I leaned forward to glance towards the control deck, but all I could see was a closed door. “Are we there yet?”

“Naa, I think we are about halfway there. Six hours have passed. Shea and Narth have been here twice but decided to let you sleep.”

“What a waste of time, next time we stay behind as well.”

“Are you not intrigued by the mystery of garden worlds turning into Shattered Worlds?”

“I am, but I am also convinced the Ypeherix have something to do with it. We should simply seek them out and squeeze them for answers.”

Har-Hi grinned as he got up. “Fleet Command is also pretty sure the Ypeherix are part of it, but we need proof and of course them attacking a Union world.”

“They attacked and destroyed a Union outpost and a science cruiser as well.”

“In a system, they claimed to be theirs, according to our rules...”

I interrupted him. “Rules, schmules. See if that thing has Tuna Sandwiches.”

He worked the Serv-Matic. “Yes, it has the Fleet Standard Molecule map for Tuna sandwiches, choices are with or without mayo.”

“Get me one with Mayo please.”

He punched in the order and said. “Something bothering you? I mean other than this trip?”

“This trip isn’t bothering me. It’s Jolaj and Roghor. I had the weirdest dream, them being in trouble and all that.”

“Why don’t you call?”

He didn’t even finish his suggestion when I swiped my wrist com active. “Captain Olafson, comm-request for the USS Windermere. Ensign Grotha or Ensign Roghor.”

It took a few moments and a Communications Officer appeared. “They are not aboard and do not respond to the Comm-request, but if I read the roster correctly they have been transferred to the USS Usain and she was here only a few hours ago and is perhaps out of GalCom range. Coverage is still very spotty down here, Ma’am.”

Har-Hi handed me a plate with the requested sandwich. “See, everything is fine. Our fleet is a monster and it moves slow, but it moves.”

I thanked the Comm Officer and disconnected. “Everything and everyone tells me they are fine, except my guts.” I sighed and took a bite out of the sandwich. “I guess my guts are wrong this time.”

Har-Hi held up his sandwich. “No wonder if we keep filling it with this stuff.”

I had just taken another bite. “It isn’t that bad if you like bland.”

Just as I reached for the cup of coffee, Har-Hi had served with the sandwich, an unexpected jolt made me douse myself with hot coffee.

Alarm tones blared, both Har-Hi and I rushed up the narrow corridor and entered the forward control room.

Narth was there as well as Shea, the Stellaris scientist and a Takkian I had not seen before.

Shea did not waste time and reported. “A device of unknown origin has attacked us. Narth is holding it. This science vehicle has no offensive capabilities.”

The Stellaris scientist was at the brink of panic. “We going to die down here. There is nothing that can reach us this far below.”

Shea said. “That is why our Captain is here. The situation has now a hostile component. Now please simply shut up.”

“There is nothing a high and mighty Fleet Officer can do. We all going to die!”

Har-Hi grabbed the Stellaris by the collar of its one-piece suit. “By all that is sacred to you. Shut up and let us do our job, or it is I who will do it for you.”

I sat down in a free chair. “Narth are you okay?”

“Yes Captain, the device is within my capabilities to hold.”

“Shea, what is it and how did it attack us?”

“I have not enough data to give you an answer on what it is, but the attack was physical and we experienced the kinetic energy jolt. Neither our excellent and strong shields nor the hull was affected.”

“Alright, have Branda teleport Alice so she can assist Narth.”

“Aye Captain, Ms. Noleii is on her way.”

Our Delicate popped into the cramped cabin. “I am sure glad I am a slim Delicate.”

Alice frowned. “Yeah, me too. Being slim that is.” She took Narth hand with a warm smile.

Narth felt more relaxed right away. “She is a great help indeed. We can hold it or destroy it, Captain.”

“So it is a device and nothing alive?”

“It is a device with bio components. We should take it and examine it closer.” Shea said.

“Alright, how big is it?”

“About sixty-eight tons and 30 meters in its widest dimension. Looks like there are thousands of them dispersed under that crust.”

Narth said. With Branda and Alice here, I got psionics to spare. I can teleport the thing to the surface.”

“Perfect, have Dusty and Hans stand by with containment fields.”

Noleii handed me a lunch box. “Mr. EEeeryt apologizes; the Apparition simply does not have the same galley features than our Tigershark. But when he heard me coming this way he wanted me to get you this.”

Alice looked up to me and said. “And she almost forgot your coffee, Lilith insisted it is your coffee time.”

I leaned back. “It is good to be the Captain. Mr. Makers, we brutish uneducated military types may not be on the same intellectual level as you, but we do get things done.”

Ms. Noleii take our Science Chief to that thing. She is in charge of not anyone of Sci-Corps.”

The Stellaris scientist gasped. “We are not going to die?”

“Eventually we all are, with a few exceptions perhaps, and you are very welcome to die right now Dr. Makers, but I think we going to make it.”

I handed Har-Hi part of my sandwich. “Now that is a Tuna sandwich to write home about.”

--””--

Tobaia did not like the news she received from Kaliment. Lethra the Togar female, she had blackmailed with the welfare of her family had managed to get the white fur transferred to a ship that was bound to Kaliment.

Tobaia had learned that the White Fur had not only become a Union citizen but joined their fleet. Lethra so she was told had a friend in personnel who did her this favor.

Now her agents reported that union ship to be a Battleship.

This was not the news she despised, not that this was easily dismissed. A Union battleship was filled with Union Marines and ship security.

Abducting an officer, with such a menace nearby was not a good idea. The Lizards of Shiss-Ta had paid a heavy price, aggravating the Union giant one too many times.

The arch rivals of the Togar, the cursed Karthanians were doing everything to appease the Union, and if her experts were correct, the Bone faces would sooner than later apply for Union membership.

She was the Queen of all Togr and her power expressed in mighty fleets, but she knew compared to the Union, the Togar were just a speck.

The Shiss were at least ten times as powerful, yet their stand lasted less than a month and now they were utterly defeated. All their colony worlds either conquered or simply destroyed. Shiss-Taa the homeworld heavy handed occupied by the Union Army.

Technically Kaliment was Karthanian only half, and there were no diplomatic relations between Union and Togr. Tobaia had informants that reported to her from the Union Assembly, by recording Assembly sessions and she was aware how little it would take for them to declare war.

All this was bad already, but to hear that the White Fur and a renegade traitor that was not dead as reported had been on Togar side to party and disappeared before her agents could snatch them was more than unsettling.

The black fur priestess came into her private chambers, unannounced. Feeling more and more empowered.

“Even you must ask for my time, priestess of Lehloran.”

“You are on this seat of power, because of me. In matters of religion, I am supreme and this is a matter of religion.”

“You want a test of power, priestess? The temple mount has no chambers deep enough to hide if your trespass comes to light.”

“Our crime, my beloved queen. It was your courts and your own sentence that doomed the White One.”

“She did not bleach her fur as accused in court?”

“Of course not and none of the other accusations are true, you know that. Why are you asking like that?”

“Could it not be true? Could she not be the daughter of Malmoru?”

“She was born in the temple of Malmoru, to a Togress who never seen a male Togar in her life. Her mother died with Malmoru’s name on her lips despite all our truth-finding exploration. She is the first Togress born with unblemished white fur in known history. All this would be enough to convince every living Togar that she is the daughter of Malmoru. Who needs priests if there is a living goddess?”

“You tortured the Togress that made love to Malmoru?”

“You are as superstitious as all your subjects. She is as much a daughter of a non-existing superstition as I am the chosen one of Lehloran the Mother Spirit. We don’t know who it was that made her mother pregnant, a horny thief that managed to penetrate the temple perhaps. You were eager to kill her, knowing about the old prophecy.”

The Queen looked at her claws. “Yet she escaped and managed to find safe harbor.”

“Far away and if your servant does what she must, she will be in our hands and the spook ends.”

“She was on Kaliment, she was on our side and she disappeared just five minutes before we could apprehend her. Maybe Malmoru is helping her after all.”

“Nonsense, your majesty. Nonsense I say. Much worse than a non-existent god helped her, it is the cursed resistance. With her among them, their religious zeal will know no boundaries. There is nothing more dangerous than a religious fanatic. I know, religion is my business.”

--””--

The Stronghold of the Fallen was a brooding, forbidding structure atop a mountain that was part of a rugged mountain range. It was cold, very cold. Mircael huddled in the cape Lord Lummis has given him after they passed through the glowing portal and arrived here on the seventh plane.

What was called the Desolate Plane was indeed a desolate and forsaken place. A dust-covered surface with a few rocks here and there, there was nothing alive.

The constant wind was bitter cold and this is when Lummis finally showed mercy and bestowed his mantle cape to his knight.

They had not spoken much, the depressing landscape somehow quenched the desire to speak.

Now as they reached the gate of the Stronghold, Lummis raised his voice to thundering volume. “Open the gate, for it is I Lord Lummis seeking the counsel of the High Father.”

The gate doors carved out of black rock and fortified with bands of bluish metal groaned as they opened and revealed a lightless dark passageway.

Mircael hefted Shard in a different way as if to make himself ready to fight. Lord Lummis also had his fist on the hilt of Radiance.

Lummis held out his left hand and it began to shine bright, but even this strong light did not penetrate the darkness very far, almost as if its energy was swallowed and consumed by the darkness.

A voice dark and old confirmed it. “Light has no power in this place of sorrow and despair, Lord Lummis why is the Son of Light seeking my council?”

Out of the fathomless darkness, first, an evil face and then a body appeared. A grey face, with large pupil-less reddish eyes and a maw that reminded Mircael of a predator fish. Saeth, the High father was dressed in a black and purple robe with a skull fitting cowl. Even the robe could not hide the bony nature of the body beneath.

“You are the High Father?” Lummis asked with a tone of disbelieve.

“You have seen me last when my Universe existed and I was on the side of life and vigor. I choose this place to survive the destruction of my reality, little did I know about the price I had to pay.”

Lummis laughed. “Such is the price one must pay if you are not on the side of light.”

“Crea defiled the will of the One behind it all, you are the result of this deed. Your punishment will be worse than mine.”

“Jealousy and envy are the reason for your words. I came to ascertain the whereabouts of the vessel the Dark One has chosen. Your master Sata has assisted Crea once before, now it is your task to do so again.”

“Do you know why this plane is empty? Why you are speaking to me and not Sata?”

Lummis shrugged. “I pay little attention as what the dwellers of the Nether Planes do.”

“Yet you are here to ask me for information. First, you must know that Sata was so afraid of the Dark One’s return that he tried to get Ciferus and Luc to hide him on their planes. When they denied him, he abandoned his plane and has not been heard of since.

Now I will answer you and this is the only answer I will give you. “The Dark One has found his vessel and reunited seven of the Token.”

“What kind of answer is this? I know this already. I want to know the species and the name of the vessel, so I can destroy him.”

“Those we hate most, the Coven have associated with the Narth and given the Dark One access to the tokens they guarded. The most powerful of all rulers of the Nether realms, Luc has learned that his daughter is in love with the Dark One, maybe you find your answers with him.”

“Luc, is he not one of your sons? A Brother of Satheer?”

“A Satheer he is indeed, a son no. As much as I hate my abysmal existence, I too fear the Dark One. A simple Dai prince slew one of your knights, a female Union captain fought Malag and won. Lummis, heed my warning. The time of Old Entities has come to an end. The Prophecy of Before and Yet to come has been correct. Go to your Crea, retreat to the Upper Realms and hope the One Behind it all will leave it at that.”

The High Father shook his head. “No, you will not heed my warning, the prophecy speaks of your doom.”

“What nonsense is this? Prophecies are the mad ramblings of dreamers and can be interpreted to anyone’s agenda. Now I ask once more the identity of the Dark One’s vessel. I am not to be trifled with!”

“You are blinded by the power Crea has bestowed upon you. This is not a realm of the light.”

Lummis growled. “High Father, answer now. I care not about your insults.”

“Leave now, return to your realms. An old pact allows you to visit, this pact is honored. It will not be extended, the companion of yours, however, is doomed to remain here. As everyone may come here, but none shall leave.”

The darkness became thicker almost like a wall and pushed them both beyond the stone doors that slammed shut.

Lummis howled in anger and drew his sword, striking the closed doors without even leaving a scratch.

A glowing portal of red light appeared and Lummis said. “Come Mircael, we seek answers elsewhere.”

Mircael who could not see the portal asked. “Where are we going?”

The naked Knight of light sank to his knees as he saw Lummis disappear and the truth of the High Father’s words hit home.

The High Father’s voice spoke. “Do not envy your master. He will stand against a God that is more powerful than his mistress Crea. Crea is using Lummis as she used everyone.”

“Crea is the light!” Mircael said with fading conviction.

“Crea has ceased to be the light, the moment she wanted to destroy and disobeyed the One Behind It All and broke the Rule. She was exiled with the command not to interfere anymore. She caused the destruction of the Universe I called home, now she hopes the Dark One will focus his anger on Lummis and forget about her. Lummis is on our level, Mircael. The Dark One is Omnipotent.”

--””--

Chapter 7: Roghor
While the Stellaris scientist was on his way back, I presumed at least. I stood with my fists stemmed into my hips and looked up to check out the still quite hot strange shaped object sitting before us on the ground. “So what is it, do we know?”

Shea hovered about three meters of the ground and close to the mostly black surface of the thing that roughly reminded me of a tick, a big bloated abdomen, and a really tiny head.

She had used her marvelous sword to cut into the thing’s hard outer crust, to give access to a probe she apparently remote-controlled now.

“The Eduk has just responded to the images I have sent to Science central. Eduk thinks it has seen such before and is convinced it is a terraforming device of the Earlies.”

“Okay, you just managed to explain what it is and I still have no idea what I am looking at. The Eduk are some sort of ?”

Har-Hi made a disapproving sound. “Captain, how could you not know that the Eduk is an institute of geo-something experts of the 56th region. I mean even I know them.”

Shea scolded us both. “You are hopeless both of you and besides, there is no such institute and where is that 56th region supposed to be anyway?”

I said. “The only Eduk I know is some kind of huge being, found in space just like we found Dusty and it has a GalNet show, right?”

She nodded. “Long before we found that Ancient gate, there was an effort underway to reach Leo II, the standard Union way by building a step by step space station bridge. They have to complete 138 stations and completed 68 so far. And yes Eduk has a weekly show called ‘Tales of Deep Space’”

“Alright, and that relates to this exactly how?”

“You wanted to know who Eduk is.”

“Ah yes, I did.”

Har-Hi nodded. “You did.”

She nodded satisfied and floated down, and closer to us. “Eduk was encountered in deep space between the M-0 Galaxy and Leo II. During the installation of Step 18, actually quite a few years back. Eduk is very old and capable of hyper tapping energy and achieving Faster Than Light travel.

Narth was suddenly next to us and said. “We call this Psionic Manipulation of Quasi-Space transition. This is how our Narth Spheres travel.”

“And there I was thinking you were using psionic oars.”

Narth seemed perplexed. “What would a psionic paddle do differently from a physical one?”

Shea blew a strain of her gorgeous hair out of her face and said. “Both our captain and the XO want to know what we have, expect explanations they can understand and make fun of the answers given.”

“Oh, yet another sarcastic response. I should have suspected, knowing her attitude towards psionics.”

“I just don’t like them.”

“Yet they came in handy at Thana Shoo, eh?” Har-Hi said.

“You know I still have no idea what that overgrown magma tick is. Can we get back to the subject? By the time I know, Makers will be back.”

Shea continued. “Eduk claims it comes from the “other side” and it accidentally overstepped Quasi-Space and fell through a Hyperspace hole, much like Dusty it suffered from eternal boredom and lonesomeness

Eduk is a very large entity and unlike Dusty unable to reduce mass and density at will. He is 800 meters in diameter and made up of dense carbon, silicates, heavy metals, and other quite common elements.”

“Okay, now I assume this thing is not Eduk, right?”

“No, of course not.”

“Well, I guess I know much more about Eduk. And that space thing knows what this is?”

Har-Hi said. “Dare I ask who the Earlies are?”

Shea said. “Scholars of early galactic history believe there were several advanced civilizations that seeded life, or more precisely their brand of life. One group we call the Seeders might be the ones that propagated carbon-based human life, another are the Earlies who opposed the Seeders, sterilized Seeder worlds and introduced their version of non-human life.”

“Okay, that I can understand and this thing is some sort of machine that does the sterilizing?”

“Eduk thinks so, he remembers speaking with the Seeders and apparently Eduk does not have a good opinion about the Earlies.”

Har-Hi kicked the thing. “It isn’t dangerous to us right?”

“Oh it is, but Dusty has immobilized it.”

I said to my Dai friend. “That is a question you need to ask before you kick something big and hot.” To Shea I said. “These seeders were active billions of years ago. Those walking mushrooms and that lava potato are active now, not that turning a garden world into a Takkian adventure resort seems much of a terraforming effort. Where is the connection?”

She shrugged. “We just got this one out of the ground twenty minutes ago, we have just started our investigation.”

I had to agree with her on that one. “Need anything?”

“Yes, captain my lab facilities aboard the Tigershark. I know this is a state of the art mobile Sci Corps lab, but it just isn’t the same.”

“I fully understand, girl. I see what I can do to get our ship here. I also think I call that USS Usain again.”

--””--

They only removed the bonds of Jolaj’s wrists after the small spaceship had left Kaliment. She had been separated from Roghor and did not know what had happened to him. The small cabin she found herself in felt Union, this wasn’t how she remembered Togar built things.

The door was locked and there was nothing in that cabin, she could use as a weapon. True she was a Togar female and that meant she had formidable weapons built into her paw like hands and feet, but her capturers were Togar as well.

Jolaj tried to be brave, but the situation felt hopeless and she cried. She was so happy aboard the Tigershark, laughing and joking with her best friend Dusty. Learning to treat and help the most diverse life forms had been the most fulfilling career she could have ever imagined. Much more than being a clueless symbol of a clueless species that was doomed to go the way of the Shiss.

Back on the Tigershark, her friends called her Snowball and they did it with love and admiration. Cateria, the ships CMO was a genuine million-year-old Seenian with great wisdom and knowledge. Cateria was stern and it took her a long time to open up but open up she did and became like a mother to Jolaj. A great teacher letting her take the lead in many things and simply supervising in a very patient manner. There was the Garbini engineer turned med tech. On any other ship, he would still be working in engineering and dream of a medical career. Not so on the Tigershark, while the Shail who wanted to be an engineer would never see an engineering department from the inside.

No, she was not a Togar by culture and society. She was a Union citizen.

In her bitter sobs, she remembered how the cold and stern captain, all in black leather and with a frightening mask, came to her bedside after she had been rescued and turned into the most caring woman and promised her that no harm would come to her.

Her tears still moistened the wrists of her paws, but the sobbing slowly ebbed away. Jolaj remembered that promise and it was given to her not only by a Union Fleet Captain but by Captain Erica. She flew her ship right into the maw of the biggest nest of Y’All warriors to rescue TheOther. There was no one and nothing that would prevent her from coming and rescuing her. All she had to do was to make the best out of her situation and do whatever she could to make the Captain proud.

--””--

The failure of Lummis to come to an agreement with the Highfather was more unsettling to him. He retreated into a sphere of light and he lamented. “Crea, hear me. You have sent me to prevent the coming of the Dark One, yet I am unable to find the Vessel and my aides and warriors falling and failing before even the battle started.”

“The battle started when I decided to purge the universe of darkness and death. When I broke the Rule of Duality and want it restored with a new singularity base, mine alone. The coming of the Dark One cannot be prevented, but the Dark One can be conquered again. The weapon that struck him before and divided him still exists. Find it and smite that evil entity while it is still incomplete before it makes the decision and focuses on me.”

“Crea, how can I find this weapon if I can’t find the Dark One?”

“You are on Avondur. The answer can be found there. Hold the weapon and neither time nor space can hide the Dark One from you.”

--””--

McElligott, to my surprise, called me just moments before I was about to call Fleet command to get an update on the Tigershark. My surprise was doubled as he was apparently standing on the bridge of my ship.

“Captain Olafson, I think it is time you get an old fashioned Admiral of the Fleet complaint. Not only did none of your crew actually take that leave, they were supposed to take, but they keep pestering Fleet Command with questions as to how soon the Tigershark will be ready. I should be very grateful for such an eager crew, but 800 requests an hour is a little much.”

He sighed. “So I am taking this fish myself to you. Almost everyone is back and when I told them we going to take her out of dock and to you, they cheered as if I have given them extended shore leave on Para-Para.”

“The Tigershark is ready?”

“Your engineer basically invented a new way of attaching something indestructible and it was Mr. Cirruit who was teaching them ... ah never mind the details. Yes, your ship is ready and we are halfway there.”

“I doubt I heard better news lately, Sir.”

“The reason I am calling, however, is a different one. A certain Dr. Makers complained to Science Central, that you basically took over, encouraged him to commit suicide and captured a super dangerous life form. He also stated that you have left him in the Crust Exploration vehicle all by himself, while it was deployed all the way under the planet’s crust.”

I spread my arms. “I might have used different words and a somewhat different tone, but I can’t really deny what he is saying.”

The old Admiral had a hard time staying stern. “Science Central, or more precisely the Science Counselor to the Assembly, told him to stuff it.”

“Makers isn’t a bad person, but he is a yellow belly and would not have made it as a Fleet officer.”

“As it may be, what is your next move?”

“Get Shea what she needs and then we go Ypeherix hunting. Those walking mushrooms have a lot to answer.”

“Well the Gromsmaro did arrive at N-746-554-696 just short of three days after you have been there, we did find the tribal Dai and the dead Ypeherix you killed, but no other Ypeherix were encountered.

We did check on the other planets as well. So, where do you think to find them?”

“We have a few ideas.”

--””--

Roghor’s situation was perhaps not the worst he had ever been into; standing in the middle of a burning bridge aboard a ship that was about to explode and knowing that both his children were in the same ship was the worst. He was sure however the current one was a close second.

Jolaj was gone, she had been carried away, wrapped and tied like a carpet.

He was of no further interest to them. They succeeded and captured the holy one, the one with the white fur. He had been so stupid, there were only a handful Togar in the entire Union fleet, four of them aboard the Tigershark. No, he had to correct himself. His son had joined the Union Marine Corps and was now in boot camp at Harris Planet, and his daughter wanting to be a genuine Union Fleet engineer of all choices received the best recommendation from Lt. Cirruit and was at Camp Idyllic for her basic training. They were safe, but then no one on Togr side cared if they lived or died.

No one really cared about him, other than the fact that he officially was a deserter and a traitor.

They had found him, many hours later in the basement of that tavern.

The ones that captured him didn’t care if he suffocated or died of thirst and hunger. The plastic straps they had bound him with were strong enough to hold a Y’All.

The ones who found him, official Togar police identified him as Commander Roghor and dragged him to the police force bunker and into a windowless, featureless room.

They had taken their time with him and applied pretty much every torture technique known to the Togar. Being naturally playfully cruel with their prey, the sentient cats of the Togr realm had developed quite a few such techniques.

He was near the end of his powers. The funny part of it all was that they had not yet asked him a single question.

He could not tell exactly how long ago they told him, that the USS Winterspere had left. No one was looking for him or the white fur.

Now a female Togar came in and gently caressed his strong arms and then sat across him, in the traditional way squatting on the elevated seat. “You are a magnificent specimen, Roghor. Strong, intelligent, highly educated and utterly loyal to your family and your offspring. I don’t even blame you from deserting and since you are alive. I assume your daughter and your son are as well?”

Roghor did not know who she was, but he understood the technique she was trying to use.

“Roghor, Rog. 1032168-RR-0404460, Lieutenant. United Stars Spatial Navy.”

She laughed in a way as if she felt sorry for him. “Commander, you should have been that loyal to your queen and your own kind. That Union giant didn’t care about the two Togar they have lost. Your ship lifted off almost two days ago. No marines, no ship security, no one looked for you.”

Roghor had only one eye left, they had used a glowing wire to burn the right one. His remaining eye was swollen, yet she could almost feel his pride and defiance. “This wasn’t my ship, my captain and our ship will come.”

--””--

I stepped on my bridge and McElligott got up from the command seat. “Every CO thinks of her command as her ship. They may have several commands in their career.” He gave the bridge a sweeping look. “In your case, this is very true, Captain Olafson. The Tigershark is indeed your ship. She is incomplete without you. I spent only a few days aboard, but I have learned this to be a fundamental fact. She changed the second you came aboard.” he brushed over the armrest of the command seat and with a warm vibration in his voice he said. “I think creating her is one of my greatest achievements.”

He saluted. “She is all yours Captain.”

I returned the military courtesy and said. “Thank you for giving me the chance to command her.”

He walked to the main exit. To Sobody he said. “Now I understand.” To me, he added. “Get to your business, Captain. I find my way out.”

All the stations were occupied by my friends, and they all smiled openly or in their special way. I knew Krabbel was smiling just as I knew SHIP and Cirruit did. Even stern Cateria had come to the bridge and she too smiled.

After a quiet moment, I cleared my throat and said. “So we are complete again?”

Har-Hi shook his head. “All but Jolaj and Roghor, they are supposed to be on their way now.”

“Elfi do hail me the USS Usain.”

It took my Communications officer a few moments to make the connection via Command central and the CO of the USS Usain appeared on our main viewer. His careful coifed locks, the sharp nose, and the polished chest plate identified him as a Pan Saran to me. He was otherwise human so I was able to read the annoyance in his face. “Captain Olafson, you say? If you are missing personnel call personnel and do not bother me.”

Apparently, the Admiral of the Fleet had not left, he suddenly stood next to me. “Captain Remus, do you know who I am?”

“Uh, yes Sir, of course, Admiral Sir.”

“I dispatched the USS Usain with the specific orders to pick up two Togar officers from Kaliment and bring them with all due haste to Christmas Base.”

“Ah yes, Sir you did, but they weren’t ready when I arrived, and I also had orders to deliver several containers to Prostradoris. Two hundred thousand PDDs with the Union Constitution.”

“Another one?” I could not help saying.

McElligott stared at the projection. “You disregarded my orders for a load of PDDs?”

“Sir with all due respect, the officers weren’t ready and the CO of the Windermere told me they would be ready when I return. When I did return, the Windermere was no longer at Kaliment.

Combining runs and orders is what a Captain does, Sir. Your orders did not ask me to cancel my other orders.”

The Admiral grunted. “I’ll give you that, Captain. But as a CO getting personal orders from me to pick up two officers, you should have at least contacted me or Personnel why you were unable to complete my orders. This is not over and your conduct and interpretation of orders will be part of a review board inquiry.”

The Admiral gave me a side look and I nodded. “Go right ahead.”

“Lt. Petetis please raise the USS Windermere, use my code signal.”

This time it took mere seconds and a Nelson II assisted Comm request reached the Windermere and her CO responded right away. The Captain of the Windermere was a Belanorm. I hadn’t dealt with many members of this species. The last one I really remembered was the one on Corri-Dor making me an Assistant Executioner.

While he was obviously impressed to be called by the Admiral of the Fleet himself, he remained relaxed and listened to the Admiral’s questions.

“Yes Sir, we departed from Kaliment, as scheduled. We are now en route to Henrix as per our orders.”

The XO of the Windermere, a Saran handed the Belanorm a PDD. “Here is the Crew roster, Captain. We have taken Lt. Roghor and Lt. Grotha of the list after their last shift ended. Both requested. Personnel office approved their shore leave request. They are not aboard.”

McElligott said slowly. “Then why did your ship lift off with two officers missing?”

The Saran looked uncomfortable. “We transferred their posting data to the Usain, and it was assumed they are aboard that ship.”

I’ve had enough. “Admiral, this sounds like a major screw-up, but since it involves Jolaj who is not just any Togar, I do not believe this is just a screw-up. Someone with great skill made this happen. You find and hang that person, or by Odin, I will.”

McElligott nodded and said. “The USS Windermere will return to base and CIS will take a very close look.”

I tried very hard to remain calm. “What are your orders for the Tigershark?”

“Give me enough time to leave and then do whatever you can to get your officers back.” At the I.S.T. he turned. “And if the Togar have anything to do with that, you tell them that this is a declaration of war.”

I just nodded and sat into my seat. “Krabbel, the shortest route to Kaliment. Shaka, red line her!”

--””--

Admiral McElligott stood before the Assembly on the Focus, he was there by avatar projection only. “Togar intelligence services forced a Union Togar to cooperate. While her act was criminal but understandable, her friend at Union Fleet personnel committed treason and will pay for her actions in this affair with her life.”

He paused and his avatar turned a little, looking directly towards the guest alcove, where among others the visiting Vrigren delegation sat. The Vrigren were officially a small independent space-faring species and one of the civilizations that signed the Freespace treaty. The Vrigren, NAVINT was certain ensured their safety by being willing puppets for the Togar. McElligott, of course, knew they were the queen’s ears and eyes.

He then said. “This affair resulted in two Union citizens and Fleet Officers to disappear on Kaliment. Should we discover Togar involvement, this Assembly will hear about it and I will personally recommend this to be seen as an Act of War.”

--””--

The Togar governor of Kaliment got up from her seat; she had enjoyed watching one of her most talented torturers inflicting terrible pain to the poor commander before her. Finirfa had just explained to her what a Kermac Pain recorder actually did. This marvelous device of the otherwise deplorable Kermac was much more sophisticated than a regular and crude Neuro ripper. This device recorded nerve pain impulses and could reintroduce them to the victim. From a single needle prick to the sensation of being burned alive, the device even allowed to dial the intensity up and down.

Seriga was certain the Commander would tell her whatever she wanted to know very soon. She didn’t feel very sorry for Roghor. He was a traitor and all that but mostly because he was just a male.

Seriga had decided to ignore the religious prophecies and all the legends about the White Fur, the Light Ray Spirit and the notion that Togar once were male-dominated. She might be a real white fur, but so what? Seriga did not admit to herself that most of her decision was based on jealousy, after seeing zoomed images of the White Fur. Not purposefully, made to look mangy and ugly as they did for the court proceedings, but in all her glory wearing nothing but a short white dress.

Jolaj was the most beautiful Togar, not just because of the white fur, but of all her features. Seriga’s vanity was injured and that had fueled her decision and also caused her to understand why the Priestess wanted the White Fur dead.

Jolaj had escaped and all indications told her that the growing underground movement had managed to get her off planet.

No matter, the Queen was far from impotent and combined with the High Priestess, someone would talk and the spook would end in a bloody purge that was necessary anyway. To strengthen the throne in times like this, when external politics were reshaping the galactic landscape.

She knew, of course, the underground had no need for Roghor and left him behind. Meaning he had no information he could reveal.

Seriga tortured him anyway, partially to punish this renegade male, partially because she liked seeing such a strong male wither away helplessly while completely at her mercy, but the tortured male could give her some badly needed intel on the Union. Perhaps spill a few access codes or reveal what the Union was really up to at the Karthanian side.

She had to admit Roghor was very strong, not just physically but strong-willed. He had refused to scream or to give up hope until a few moments ago. She applauded herself to succeed where Finirfa has failed so far and made that male whimper and cry.

What had made her get up was a rap at the sturdy door.

“It better be of great importance.”

One of her elite guards rushed in. “Graceful Seriga. A Union ship has landed on our side.”

“I did not give them permission to do so.”

She walked to a wall terminal and demanded to be connected. Communications were almost instantly established.

A human female appeared on the screen. “I am Captain Erica Olafson and you have exactly five minutes to produce my officers Lt. Roghor and Lt. Jolaj unharmed. Should the time expire with the only result I accept, I will...”

Roghor raised his head, with his last strength he yelled. “Captain, I am here!”

Seriga cut the transmission. “Quick, Finirfa, kill him.”

A black shrouded being popped out of thin air. She had heard of the Narth but never believed they existed. The restrains that held the terribly wounded Togar commander turned to dust and the Narth said. “I’ll get you home, Rog and Cateria will take care of you.”

Narth then said to the governess. “The only reason I will not punish you is on her way. You have doomed your race.”

Roghor disappeared and the Narth said. “The one named Finirfa found delight in causing pain to a friend. Now I will find delight in teaching you why we Narth are so far beyond the Kermac. I will now turn you inside out...”

--””--

I got up from my seat and said. “Narth has located Rog.”

When Narth’s mental images reached me and I became aware of what had been done to Roghor. I reached with great anger inside me and said. “Brother, this cannot stand.”

--””--

The Karthanians on their side were at first quite surprised to see a Union ship, cruiser size but of a kind no one has ever seen come down like a meteor on Togar side, only slowing down the very last moment and not with artigravs but with main engines. liquefying and burning a vast section of the Togar spaceport. Small Togar ships were pushed away like toys.

The almost black and dangerous looking ship opened fire with many weapons, turning barracks and Togar hardware to slack. Everyone watching with utter terror as Y’All warriors emerged, alongside Pertharians and Union battle robots. Between them were Union marines of several species.

Not even the completely surprised Union Army Colonel supervising the ongoing construction on Karthanian side had ever seen a Union Fleet led ground assault of such ferocious anger.

The Togar palace guard was not known to be made of cowards, but when they witnessed a shrouded human cutting the durasteel, energy field reinforced entrance gate to the governor’s palace with an axe and throw the many tons heavy chunks with mere gestures into the ranks of their own, all courage left them.

The palace of the Togar governess was built like a fortress in the anticipation of war. Walls were thick and reinforced. Energy curtains could be placed and there were manned and automated weapon systems.

Most of all there was a whole regiment of Togar warriors, well equipped and armed with the latest of Togar weapon technology.

All of it lasted mere minutes.

Those who died right away were the lucky ones, anyone caught alive was questioned in the most brutal way regarding the whereabouts of Jolaj.

--””--

Seriga was still in the basement of her palace. While it served as a prison and place of torture, it was also the best-defended part.

She had barricaded herself in the lowest tier, along with fifty of her best guards. Reli was there, with singed fur, she had just barely escaped using an elevator.

The cousin of the queen still heard the screams of Finirfa, she had never heard anyone scream like that.

Reli, holding a Togar blaster in one hand manipulated controls of a view screen.

“Nul, Pertharians, Y’All. Attikans, Narth, and giant spiders. They are not fighting, they are exterminating. Seriga what have you done to make them this angry?”

Seriga sat on a Togar stool, also holding a weapon, but in a way that made clear she never really used one. “I dismissed your warnings, I did not believe him when he said she would come for him. She came.”

The Togar governess sniffed. “Let us chant to Malmoru maybe he will listen.”

Reli switched to another visual sensor, this one close to the basement level they were. All other visual sensors had blinked out and did no longer transmit.

Her superior was babbling nonsense. The remaining troops were shaking and knew the end was near.

An unexplainable feeling of certain death seemed to seep through the very walls, almost tangible. Reli could not explain why her inner eyes were seeing an impossible image of black flames.

She had to get away ... something more sinister than Y’All or Union soldiers had descended.

Luckily she knew this fortress better than anyone. There was a secret passage that led to the settlements sewers and from where she hoped to be able to find a place to hide.

Reli left the other’s behind and unobserved slipped past the hidden door.

Here in the almost completely dark narrow corridor she could smell the sewers and then just beyond the weak shine of a grime covered lumination element a voice.

“Meeze noz likez youz. Meeze eatz now...”

--””--

The sturdy wall felt as insubstantial as cardboard swinging my axe against it. With effortless thoughts, I grabbed the chunks of durasteel and concrete and hurled them with great force into the room behind. Turning a dozen Togar guards to stomach-churning smears of gore. My brother neither fully awake nor resurrected was already a force more potent than anything I knew. This time I did not want him to hold back and there was a strange dual symbiotic purpose in my actions.

Knowing Roghor being tortured like this and the worries I felt regarding Jolaj, fueled my rage. I had given our Snowball my word that no harm would come to her, and yet she was abducted while wearing Union uniform and serving aboard a Union battleship.

The remaining Togar warriors did not last. The ones I didn’t kill fell to Har-Hi’s blades who was right behind me.

I grabbed the female Togar, Narth pointed out to me. “She’s the one, Captain.”

“Where is Jolaj? Where is the one with the White Fur?”

Again Narth said. “She doesn’t know.”

“Then she will pay for what she did...”

My brother opened a red glowing portal in midair and he said through my voice. “You will beg for Death so your punishment will end, but I will deny you such mercy for a thousand years.”

The governess disappeared.

“Now what?” I asked in my silent way and my mystical sibling sharing my mind felt amused. “Mortals call it hell, sister.”

“There is such a thing as hell?”

“Like our friends on Coven tried to tell you, sister, it is technically an anti-verse condition of this time and space continuum, but to her, it will be hell.”

“We still don’t know where Jolaj is.”

A hidden wall door rotated open and Meeze appeared. “Pfff, youze all creepie and scarzie buz notz azk ze righz onez. Meeze askz andz Meeze knowz.”

“You know where Jolaj is?”

“Whaz hafz I jutz saiz, yourz creepiez buutz notz too smarz.”

Chapter 8: Another Approach
Jolaj was no longer bound and her fur was once again as white snow. She was treated like a princess, but there was no doubt, she was a prisoner. They did not allow her to leave her quarters.

She learned that the ship was not a Togar product, but a luxury yacht made by Enroe.

None of her captors had given their names, they simply identified themselves as the Resistance. A group she had learned called themselves, Children of Malmoru.”

The female, with a light brown fur and puffy cheeks, pointed to the computronic terminal. There are entertainment options available. We rather keep you confined to quarters. Most of the crew is male and you are even more beautiful than the legends claim you are.”

“Why don’t you understand. I don’t care about anything Togar, I am a Union Citizen and where it Roghor?”

“The male was unimportant, we left him behind and you change your mind, but frankly we will make you do what is needed. After the bath in Malmoru’s sacred pool validates you, all Togr will rise like a storm and sweep that filth out of the palace and the temples. You are a tool, Jolaj. We prayed to Malmoru for centuries, but that is the problem with gods and spirit, they never listen and all they are shadows of legends and long-gone times.”

“You don’t think I am the daughter of Malmoru?”

“Of course not, but billions of Togr do and that is what matters. Now be a good goddess and do what you will be told.” With these words, the brown-furred female left her alone.

Jolaj could hear the lock engage and she was certain the door would not open for her. She tried anyway but the unyielding door confirmed her fears.

“System, open the door.”

“Unable to comply, you are not authorized.”

Jolaj wiped her tears. She just told that female that she was Union but she was also Ensign Jolaj Grotha. She looked around and asked herself: What would the Captain do?

“Never give up, for one thing.” She said to herself. “No, I am not a useless and helpless White Fur Temple Cat.”

Then an idea started to creep into her mind. This was not a Togar ship.

“System identify yourself.”

“Spaceship Operations System Mk .14 ‘Susi’”

“And the ship?”

“Enroe Colt III, Executive Armed Edition.”

“What is your port of call?”

“Houston Planet.”

“I am Jolaj Grotha, Union Citizen and Union Fleet Officer. I am abducted, open GalNet channels for an Emergency call to Union Police.”

“System lockout deactivated. GalNet terminal active, audio connection only.”

The next voice she heard was friendly and female. “Citizen state the nature of your emergency.”

Jolaj tried to calm herself and remembered her training. She identified herself used her service number and last assignment. She also reported her situation as fast as she could.

The brown-furred female came in and backhanded her with ferocious strength. “You rangy piece of work. Who are you talking to?”

The voice from the terminal had changed to a male voice. “She is in contact with Union Police. I am Lieutenant Wargor. You are hereby ordered to return to Kaliment or the next Union Outpost. Any further harm to the Union Citizen will add to your charges.”

The voice added. “Ensign Grotha, Union Fleet and the OOCA have been informed and we will do whatever possible to affect your release.”

Her captor growled. “System, terminate the connection.”

“Unable to comply, this is an emergency call. Citizen is properly identified.”

“These are Togar affairs and we are far from Union space!”

“Abducting a Union citizen makes it a Union affair, your terminal, and ship have been identified...”

The brown pelted female actually fired her blaster into the terminal, as she was unable to terminate. To Jolaj she snarled. “What can they do? We are in Togar space. Seems like you need to be tied up after all.”

--””--

I stared at the worm being. “What did you say? You know where Jolaj is?”

“Yeez, Meeze saiz it againz.” The Wheeze spread his thin arms.”Togarz lazie wantzed zo hidze inze wallz, justz when Meeze wanzed to makez ze stinkiz. I saiz I eaz her but she wanz noz to be eazen.”

“Okay, let me get that straight. You took part in the base assault with a little knife and decided to use a base tunnel for a bathroom, while there was fighting going on?”

The worm seemed pleased.”Youz listenz. When Meeze feelz it, Meeze goez fighingz or notz.” The worm looked at me. “When youz feelz iz, you goez rightz?”

Baffled I nodded. “I guess so, never had the urge to ... never mind. Where is Jolaj?”

“Zei takez Jolaj for bazing az anotzer planez. Poorz Jolaiz, Meeze doez notz likez the bazing either.”

I smacked my face. “So they have taken her off-planet. That does not mean you know where she is.”

Dusty who was right behind me said. “Captain, the Wheeze might be onto something. Jolaj told me about a pool she was supposed submerge herself on her twenty-third birthday. It is called the Light Pool of Malmoru or something like that. Only after she emerges unharmed she is confirmed the Chosen one of the Light Spirit and fulfill her prophesized destiny of uniting the lost tribes and save her kind from a Dark Force.”

Meeze pointed to the still open secret door.”Thaz whazz shez saiz, maybeez she saiz more.I onlyz eaz a litze biz of herz legz.”

It turned out; the Togar female was indeed alive, but not by much. She was missing a substantial part of her right leg and had bled almost to death.

She was very willing to share her information after I told her Meeze could have the rest if she wasn’t forthcoming.

I had returned to my ship and called the Admiral of the Fleet.

He had listened to my report and said. “Landing on Togar side and leveling the Governess palace isn’t the most subtle way.”

“Sir, I am sending you the med report on Roghor. He is a Union officer and he was abducted. He was in this situation because of Fleet Command being unable to keep Newport arses out of their ranks. The utter discontent for his life and safety makes me fear for Jolaj. I just came from Rog’s bedside, and I have a good mind to do what I wanted to do when I saw the freighter full of butchered humans.”

He pressed his lips together. “And I accept part of that blame, Captain Olafson. I understand your anger and I am not reprimanding you for what you did, but we must handle the rest a little more subtle. This incident will give us plenty of leverage to solve this short of going to war.”

“Isn’t that what we were prepared to do, according to your own words?”

“Captain Olafson, threatening with war is a diplomatic tool. We are much stronger than the Togar, but there are also plenty of independents and there are the Kermac.” He held up his hand before I could say anything and grunted. “He has impeccable timing. Stand by to repeat your report, the Old Warhorse is requesting to take part in this briefing.”

Sure enough, a new Avatar established in my Captain’s office. As always even his avatar radiated some of the unexplainable gravity that was part of his legend. He wore his usual black uniform; the only thing new was the small golden band on his ring finger of his left hand.

He first gave the other admiral a long look. “I was just briefed about the whole affair and I expect you explain it to me in a way a simple man like me can understand it.”

“I am still the Admiral of the Fleet and I don’t have to explain my orders to everyone.”

“Are you saying that you are above scrutiny and that I need to know my place?”

“Mhac Na Galla! Yer bum’s oot the windae, Richard I am doing this damn job for three thousand goddamn years. It was never small ever and now it is the biggest darn monster in the history of monsters and I try to keep it running as smooth as possible. Sometimes things will happen. Erica, like or not, you are part of the top of the pyramid if you will. Meaning you are also going to be exposed to more bullshite than the average CO. The incredible success of your first mission forever cemented you and your crew in our focus, and in extent to everyone else’s focus who looks at us. You dealt with a jealous admiral and his son, more or less from the start. You had jealous officers aboard Richard’s big tub and there will always be some who learn about the Tigershark, about you and some will be jealous. I doubt there is more than ten percent of the Devi Crew who have ever seen Harris or even Richard. Yet you met him as a midshipman, steered his big tub, even had beers with him and went to his wedding as the Ring Bearer no less.”

He wasn’t finished and kept on venting. “The Nul All-leader declared you part of the family pod. The Nul basically re-arranged Karthania because of you. You are the declared Patri-Kar of all Dai. The Seenian Last Servant still consider you the Inheritor. The Narth made you high representative. The Coven declared you decision-maker and the re-confirmed leader of the Golden just told me, that he follows you to whatever end. I know the mysterious Mother Superior of the Sojonites calls you her Soja. You are engaged to a daughter of the richest man in the universe and the second daughter of the Queen of Saran is among your closest friends. Heck, I have you on my direct call list. Do you know there are less than twenty beings on that list?”

He spread his arms. “I know you probably never even listed all this in your mind. In this, you are like Richard and that is one of the reasons you are on that list, another reason is that I know you can handle difficulties and you can be trusted with the biggest secrets of our society.”

Richard Stahl grinned. “He does make a few good points I have to admit. You collect secrets like a magnet and your security clearance is higher than mine. Anyway, we are just mopping up the Shiss mess, the Shiss war is officially over, as of Five Hour today. The remaining Shiss leadership has signed an unconditional surrender.

Shiss-Ta is now under the control of the Union Army and the First White Nestling has been tossed off his high mount.”

I then repeated my report and he said, holding up a PDD. “On a personal level, I am impressed by your landing action. A fast descent, taking out ground defenses very quickly and then an overwhelming ground assault. But then not even the Devi can boast a personal fifty head Y’All warrior force. Not to mention a living dust cloud, a gray Nul, and your marines.”

McElligott interrupted saying. “And everyone as dedicated to her as the grunts of your Steel Gauntlet. I spend a few days aboard that fish, I know.”

Stahl nodded. “So have I, while you Captain decided to free each and every slave the Karthanians had.”

He became serious again. “That was my personal opinion and you did more or less what my esteemed colleague has authorized, but even for the sake of all your crew members, you are not authorized to willfully declare war on your own. As a Union Fleet captain you have the full authority to retaliate and respond to a declaration of war, but our law grants the authority to declare war to one body alone. Not me, not the Admiral of the Fleet, not the Narth Supreme but the Assembly. Because you did not declare war openly and there is ample proof the Togar abducted Fleet members you did not break the law, but you came very close. Make no mistake Captain Olafson, personally, I would be proud to call you my son or my daughter. Personally, I respect you very much and see a reflection of me, but if you break our laws, I will not hesitate to bring you to justice. I see McElligott bend the law and I know Cherubim does, I am personally convinced Rex Schwartz is the most dangerous criminal there ever was, and if I ever come across any evidence that supports my suspicions with facts, I will take action on the side of the law.”

His voice was a reflection of his name and his unquestionable authority. “If we suspend law and justice for some and not for others, we become criminals ourselves and our laws mean nothing.”

I could not do anything but intellectually agree with the Immortal Warrior, even though his words had a deep emotional impact on me. I felt chastised and reprimanded by the one person I never wanted to be reprimanded by.

There was nothing I could say in my defense, I had to admit that I did not act as a Union Captain should have.

In all this he managed to increase my respect for him, he was indeed integrity personified.

He glared at McElligott. “That goes for you as well. Telling her that you would call for war. Yes, you can call for it, so can anyone. But it can only be declared by the Assembly and after a vote. If it would be that easy, we would not have a Kermac problem for a long time.”

McElligott’s face reflected similar thoughts as mine, I was certain.

“Alright, but the fact remains, the Togar have abducted Union Fleet members. I will pressure for diplomatic resolutions.”

“Then do that, Admiral Sir.” He said. I was not sure if there was a hidden accusation in that response, it sure felt that way.”

The Eternal Warrior seemed ready to leave and disconnect. “Erica, I am very concerned about your Jolaj and I have seen what they did to Roghor. You are not regular fleet, you are still NAVINT. Where the wrecking ball and cannon fire won’t succeed, use a different approach. The Tigershark was built for the cunning approach, not the frontal assault.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You figure it out, I have confidence in you.”

--””--

The representative of the Office of Citizen Affairs to the Assembly was an Ogher. He belonged to a small community of genuine Ogher of the Shattered Kingdom, that were Union Citizens. In his case, he was fourth generation, but he maintained some contact to family members that remained subjects of the Ogher kingdom. Because of this, he was better informed about that particular region of the M-0 Galaxy. He also knew more about the Togar.

When he received the urgent call of Union Police regarding an abducted Union officer named Jolaj Grotha.

The Union Fleet Personnel office at first didn’t want to cooperate, and that made him not only suspicious but even more determined to get to the bottom of this affair.

While the Fleet was without question the largest Union organization and often acted as if it was also its most important one.

But that was not the case, Wrungar the Ogher OOCA commissioner felt very passionately about the OOCA. It was in his and perhaps every citizen opinion the true soul of the Union.

The Office of Citizen Affairs was the department of the Civil Affairs Administration. Formerly known as the Social Network Bureau. It was renamed OOCA by Assembly vote in 5009 OTT.

While the office had nine departments and was mostly concerned with social services such as employment, medical services, retirement and so forth, its most famous feature was the OOCA’s advocacy service. A citizen was able to call on the bureau for any problem at all.

In a community counted by trillions, most problems were not new and solutions could be offered or referred to the correct service. In more complex matters a Case Manager could be assigned. A Citizen calling from beyond Union space for help was such a case.

The Union Police could not help, and the Union Fleet at first did not appear to even acknowledge the existence of Jolaj. The Union Police officer contacted OOCA in the hope the Crime and Catastrophe Victim Assistance department of the Office of Citizen Affairs could help.

Wrungar stopped the Fleet representative in the Ring Corridor. “Ah Commander Savritz, good that I am running into you. You can assist me in preventing a major scandal.”

The Union Fleet Commander, a Terran Human and career officer loving his assignment to be part of the Assembly Union Fleet liaison alcove. It was a prestigious assignment with a clear career path to Fleet Command and an Admiral rank, knew the OOCA commissioner and as Union citizen, he knew of course about the importance of that institution. “Of course, what seems to be the problem?”

“A Union citizen and Union Fleet Officer called for help. She is being abducted and it took me no time to verify her CITI data, I am being stonewalled by the Fleet Personnel office. I expect you to answer me and assist me. A police detective opened an OOCA case on behalf of Jolaj Grotha and I will make it an Assembly Docket if you also decide not to answer.”

Commander Savritz promised to do whatever possible and contacted Fleet Command.

--””--

All my senior officers and a good number of other crew members had assembled in our Den. I had briefed them, that we were not allowed to openly pursue the matter.

Har-Hi played with a knife of his, skillfully balancing it tip first on a gloved finger. “I understand the reasoning of the admiral and an officer and XO I must agree, but we cannot give up on our snowball. She is part of this crew. By the time diplomacy does anything, she might be dead.”

Warner agreed. “She is not just any Togar, she’s some sort of religious symbol. Nothing makes beings do weirder things than religion.”

TheOther touched his little cross. “It also is a source of unprecedented strength, great art, and music. There is also a difference between religion and faith.”

The Golden said. “She has the potential to tear the Togar Empire apart, just for what she represents. To many, she is too dangerous to keep her alive. As we Golden are members now, we can’t declare war on the Togar on our own, but I will make it known how angry we are.”

Roghor came in, still limping somewhat. His magnificent strength and confidence seemed as affected as his physical condition. “It is my fault, our beautiful Jolaj is in their claws.”

I got up. “No, Commander it is not. I read your report, it was well planned and masterfully executed by a person in personnel. I am still waiting for the detailed report on the details but it was Togar intelligence and an Enroe employee forced to comply to get their hands on Jolaj. That she is a young female and that she had relatives on the Togar side only came to light after we interrogated the Togar Intelligence officer. Jolaj told no one, and probably planned to visit that sister of her mother in secret and in disguise.”

“Still, I should have known and prevented her from going.”

“And she is beautiful, a female and she argued that it was safe under the shadow of a Union Battleship. Don’t chastise yourself, I need you back in full strength. I have no intention of abandoning her, I am not sure how I am going to do it, but that’s where you come in.”

“Anything, Captain.”

“Do you know anything about a pool of Malmoru?”

“Yes, that is a mystical, holy cave in the Golden Mountains of the Frarr Continent. The main continent of Togr.”

“We think she is heading for that cave.”

“The cave is a shrine to Malmoru and the Innocent Fur was supposed to be submerged in a pool of light at her twenty-third year of life.” He stopped for a second. “Jolaj has just turned twenty-three.”

“And that is where I will need to go.”

--””--

The Vrigren observer shared the visitor’s alcove with a dozen other accepted and approved guests of mostly independent species, that were not on the enemy and hostile list and maintained trade relations with Union companies. The Vrigren were not exactly the best friends of the Union, and their trade volume was truly insignificant. Maintaining a trade office on Pluribus was prohibitively expensive and technically not necessary, but with the trade office came a seat in the visitors’ alcove. The Vrigren were pitiful weak and had little in terms of true defense against Dai raids and the once frequent visits of Karthanian slavers, but since they decided to accept Togar aid and secret leadership, they enjoyed Togar protection.

The Vrigren did not want to become Union members, mainly because their Benevolent Leader, and his dynasty would be the reason for failing the potential Union Member assessment.

The Observer had been picked for his loyalty and of course his close relationship to the Leader. He was not here to run the trade office but to keep a close eye on the Assembly and report everything to the Togar Queen’s intelligence service.

A Union Admiral had just delivered a detailed report on the official end of the Union Shiss war. The four-armed lizards had unconditionally surrendered.

The All White First Nestling dead and Shiss Taa their homeworld under the military government of a Union Army garrison. Many thousand Shiss worlds, either utterly destroyed, rendered into nuclear furnaces or lifeless balls of dust.

Whatever was left of the Shiss military was decommissioned and scrapped.

Artex, the Vrigren knew the Union military was tremendously powerful, but not even here where he was exposed to Union power every day did he think the Shiss could be defeated so fast, so decisive and with so little loss on Union side.

He dutifully recorded his observations and witnessed four Assembly dockets dealing with the Shiss war aftermath. The Purple Throat Shiss proposed a 33rd Colony memorial day and offered their cultural expertise to assist with the remaining Shiss. A proposal that was agreed upon.

Another dealt with Shiss prisoners of war and what to do with them.

It was all in all just another day at the Assembly so far. With clinical almost bored detachment did this mighty body of Union representatives deal and dismiss final issues regarding the once so mighty Shiss.

The Nul representative invited the entire Assembly and whoever else to a victory celebration. For the Nul, the utter defeat of the Shiss was a monumental occasion, but Artex knew in a few days the Shiss would be forgotten and no one would even remember this war in a decade or two to come.

This was of course bad news for the Kermac and in extent to all the independent known non-Union’ societies of the M-0 galaxy.

The Big Four had ceased to exist, and basically, overnight a new term started to circulate, the Remaining. The new term included the Kermac, the Oghr kingdoms, all the independent and unaffiliated and of course the Togar.

When the high commissioner of the OOCA asked for a new docket to be added and immediately to be discussed, and the docket title spoke about a Togar crime, he no longer felt bored but sat up and listened closely.

The Oghar was well known and he just accused the Togar government of abducting Union Fleet Officers. That was about as serious as it could get, Artex was watching the Assembly long enough to know that this had the potential for war.

The issue was discussed but they had turned off the audio feed to the visitor’s alcove.

The Oghr’s avatar projection hovering over the Focus turned and looked directly towards the visitors’ alcove and audio was restored. “This is the message of the Assembly to the Togar Empire, Artex the Vrigren. The Togar have ten standard days to return all Union citizens unharmed, including Jolaj Grotha. Should this ultimatum be ignored, this Assembly will vote upon direct military intervention.”

--””--

The USS Tigershark had been ordered back to Christmas Base and I had to comply. I knew I was losing precious time, but I could not ignore a direct summon short of turning rouge and becoming an outlaw for real. Something I even contemplated for a little while, but of course could not actually do.

We had literally just landed moments ago when Director Cherubim requested to come aboard to meet with me.

Now the most mysterious of the Immortals was sitting in person across my desk with crossed legs. Her face I knew was a very generic looking female bioflex mask.

She had however identified herself according to the Blue-Blue-Red protocol.

After the official greeting and my report, she said. “I agree with the immortal admirals of course but I am also here to offer you an alternative. You officially take a vacation, the USS Tigershark will operate under the temporary command of your XO and continue to investigate the Ypeherix.”

I stared at her. “And what will that do? Is that some form of punishment?”

“No, Erica, it is a chance for you to help Jolaj. NAVINT will send you on a mission, it is a volunteer mission of course. You can refuse and forget about the White Togar, but you cannot order any of your crew to come along.”

“I will do whatever I can to get Jolaj back. What is it I must do?”

“Come with me, I am going to Togr. The developments there are too important for our intelligence to ignore and I was told by Admiral Lydaa that you have previous experience posing as a Togress.”

--””--

I had called my senior officers and basically told them what Cherubim told me and after a long argument telling my friends that this was not up for debate. Roghor and Suit however volunteered and Cherubim accepted.

I hugged Har-Hi after I had hugged and shook hands with pretty much everyone, and he said. “It is your ship and I will do my best to make you proud. Bring her back, captain.”

Roghor, Suit and I then followed the mysterious Cherubim to her own small ship, she called Mirage. It was sitting right next to the Tigershark. About sixty meters long, apparently an old pre-Universal design courier ship of Terran design.

Without much ado, she took the ship right into space. There was no other crew aboard.

After we jumped into Quasi, she said. “Next stop, N’Ger.”

“Why N’Ger?” I asked.

“It is where we all become Togar and travel to Togr.”

--””--

“And there she goes,” Har-Hi said with a sad sounding voice.

Shea sniffed. “Anyone else going like this, I call insane, but Erica will bring Jolaj back.”

Narth was also in a strange mood. “Or make them pay.”

“Well, everyone. She expects us to solve the Ypeherix problem.”

TheOther said. “On one side the science corps and unlimited resources and on the other side, the little Tigershark...”

Xon said. “The Sci-Corp stands no chance.”

Knnnkt, the living disease came onto the bridge. “I apologize for coming up here and not being summoned, but I am looking for my roommate. Has anyone seen Meeze?”

--””--

Tobaia the Magnificent was furious and scared at the same time after she had consumed the report sent to her by the Vrigren. Her military experts were still pouring over the Shiss war reports and images and they were just as terrified as the Queen was when she saw them first.

The black-furred priestess of the mother goddess Lehloran no longer bothered having herself announces walked in.

The Queen pointed at her war council. “How can we respond to this?”

“Your majesty, we know where the White Fur is. She is aboard a vessel heading for Togr itself. She is no doubt heading for the light pool. Once she is dead, we will offer the Union her body and apologies. We send a few Union slaves meant for our pots back and all is forgotten in a few months. The Union will not attack first, they never have.”

Chapter 9: Yellow Throats
Tobaia the magnificent had ascended upon the highest spire of her palace. The Seventh Claw spire had never seen a Queen before.

She stood there, her arms wrapped around her body and just below her breasts.

Below her the sprawling city of Hi-Togr, the very heart of the mighty Togar empire. Malmorus, the sun had just disappeared behind the crests of the Kreigha mountains in the distance, but Torgu the largest of the planet’s two moons was soon to rise and provide its magnificent cool light.

The skyline was an impressive statement of Togar supremacy and might. The sky and the not so distant meandering band of the river Harkorr was alive with traffic. The sky with fliers of all types and sizes and the wide, serene shimmering waters of Harkorr with boats and barges. Millions of lights had transferred the cityscape into a magical carpet of sparkling dots. The city appeared as orderly and quiet as it always had.

To the North East, just on the other side of the river, rising on the hill of the Frorkr district the ancient citadel of Prince Frorkur, that had become the buildings of the Togar War Academy. There was a push for decades to eliminate the cultural references to male kings and their dynasties, but to erase something so deep emerged in Togar history and culture was not as easy as it should have been.

A thick black column of smoke was rising from the Academy into the otherwise clear and cloudless sky. An Incendiary bomb had been detonated. It had killed 300 junior officers and 43 teachers, instructors and staff. The raging fire had been brought under control only moments ago.

The terror attack and the fire were the reason she was up here.

There had not been any such incidents for three thousand years and now ever since the trial of the Innocent Fur, they became increasingly frequent. That the Dissidents and rebels had the gall and the cloud to bring their terror right into Hi-Togr was the latest development.

In eight days, she was to travel to Grotha as she and all the Queens before her had done for over 2000 years to be confirmed and justified by the Spirits for another cycle.

It was the most significant event in Togar society, three days of festivities, culminating in her visit to the Temple mountain of Malmoru.

It had been nothing more than a pompous event with royal pageantry for all the many centuries, but then something happened that should not have happened.

The prophesized Innocent Fur was born.

Tobaia growled with deep emotions, prophecies and religious texts were not supposed to come true. Yet all investigations confirmed that Jolaj of Grotha was born to Jamalj, the first servant to the Lightray Spirit. Jamalj had never seen a Togar male since she was brought to the temple as a little cub.

No male Togar had ever entered the sacred chambers in over two thousand cycles. There were ancient and quite modern and sophisticated security measures in place, besides no one had ever tried. Despite all the treasures, the Malmoru temple harbored. Togar were deeply religious and even the most daring thief would never even try to steal from the spirits.

The Queen still staring at the now slowly dissipating column of smoke while her thoughts were drifting back.

The news that an All White was born, just as the Prophecy of the Spirits proclaimed spread like wildfire across the empire. Religious fervor surged to the last corner of Togar space. Even the intellectuals who dismissed religion as mere fantasy, begun frequenting the temples again.

The prophecy spoke of many events and a great threat that could only be faced by the White Fur herself.

She was groomed and educated, treated like a living goddess. Secret genetic testing confirmed that she was sired by a being that was more than just Togar, further cementing Jamalj’s claim that the statue of Malmoru suddenly came to life, during the climax of her time in heat and seduced her.

The High Priestess interpreted the Holy Smokes rising from the sacred Pool of Light and claimed that the Spirits prophesied her reign would see the coming of the Darkest Spirit and that this dark spirit would even disguise himself and shape itself as a Togar female. The Darkest Spirit would also kill her and all of her dynasty and great darkness would descend upon the Togar and the very light of the Galaxy’s center would be dimmed.

Then, the High Priestess of the Mother spirit Lehloran realized that her position as the highest authority in matters of faith and religion were in jeopardy. After all who needed a priestess if a genuine daughter of the gods was around?

The Queen was not as gullible as the priestess thought, but she shared the priestess concerns. The daughter of a god was more than a Queen. The old text claimed that the White Fur was to reunite all the Togar tribes, even the lost and forgotten ones that left Togr so long ago. Restore the males to equal partners and find the Lost King.

Tobaia snorted.

A male king on the throne of Togr, ridiculous. The reign of the male kings had been successfully ended when Comptess Rogi killed her own father and crowned herself Queen in 9940 MD.

Now in the year 12,940 and a good 3000 cycles later, the idea of male aristocrats and kings was ridiculous, males had learned their place.

A lost king, a mythical figure no more. Her eyes squinted as she was thinking that. A few years ago, she would have laughed and dismissed it, but mythical things had come true. Jolaj the White Fur existed and if she did, was the idea of a lost king so far-fetched?

The prophesized darkness was perhaps that Union. The Shiss, easily on the same level as the Togar and with better technology, had paid for their transgressions against that tremendous giant. The Shiss, if all reports were true had been reduced from a major player on the galactic stage to an insignificant speck.

Tobaia knew first hand of the incredible power. She had met Alex Enroe and considered the human an actual friend. As much as a Togar Queen could be friends to a Terran Human businessman.

That Alex controlled a business empire with resources far beyond the Togar and that Enroe Corp had a security fleet that could wipe out the Togar fleet was not lost to her. Enroe was just a corporation and not even the biggest.

Making Enroe very angry by forcing Lethra to do her bidding was not an action well thought through. But the Black pelted High Priestess had her by the throat and she, the Queen kept sliding down a path of no return and knew she gave that priestess more and more control and power.

Enroe had ceased all business relations with the Togar Empire. The last shipment of bacon and other so delicious food items had been canceled.

As she stood there, one of her personal aides was coming up, bowed deeply and said. “The cabinet of your counsel is ready to issue a statement on the fir...”

The aide could not finish her sentence; something had penetrated the window panel and the skull of the aid, causing it to burst in a shower of blood and brain matter.

Security guards rushed up and basically threw her on the ground while establishing a protective force field over her.

Someone yelled “Assassin drones!”

--””--

The small spaceship, Cherubim called the Mirage was quite fast and I wondered if it was perhaps even as fast as the Tigershark. It had been a strange experience for me to be the passenger with nothing to do or have any part in the ship’s operations.

But now we had dropped out of Quasi and once more I found myself approaching N’Ger.

Cherubim swiveled around. “It is time you get into your first costume and identity. We are going to land at the northernmost part of the so-called Desert of Glaring Profit, more or less right at the gates to the Omnar enclave.”

I was wearing Tyron and the living suit said. “I have the privilege to be worn by my captain, General. I can simulate any garment or costume. If you have a visual or physical copy I can easily create the appearance.”

Cherubim’s masked face did not change, but felt she was quite impressed. “So it is true, you are indeed a living Seenian battle-suit?”

“Yes, General I am a Tyron type.”

I said. “Tyron is more than that, it is a Union Citizen and a valued member of my crew.”

She sighed. “Of all the wonders in this galaxy, your crew is certainly one of the biggest. There are entire civilizations out there willing to go to war for a prize like your suit. Can you simulate a face cover and different hair, make her appear like a member of a different species?”

“If the other life form has the approximate size, yes. I would not be able to simulate an Archa or a Mini Terran, but I would be able to simulate a Y’All or Saturnian.”

I interjected again. “Tyron is not my or anyone’s suit.”

The Mirage did not seem to need helm and was descending and approaching the landing field all on its own. Of course, automated landing was part of many civilian ship AI’s capabilities. Only the Navy rejected automated landing.

Cherubim displayed no visible confirmation to my statement and changed the subject.

“The Omnar merchants are Oghr, but like all the other merchant houses not affiliated with any of the shattered kingdoms. They are well-known merchants of second-hand items and materials. Their biggest clients are pirates and scavengers. The Omnar buy pretty much everything including slaves.”

I frowned. “At another time I would love to make sure they never deal with sentient life ever again, but can I ask you why we are here? I am eager to get to Togr and find our Snowball.”

“Patient, Erica. We can’t simply fly into Togar space and land on their Crown world without a solid cover. The cats of Togr are neither stupid nor do they trust others easily. Their intelligence service is on the highest alert, especially since our Assembly gave them ten days to produce Jolaj unharmed.”

I felt pleased. “So the Old Highlander kept his word?”

Cherubim laughed. “He might intend to do so, but no it was the High Commissioner of the OOCA.”

“What has the Office of Citizen Affairs to do with all this?”

“Your Snowball managed to send an emergency call to Union Police and since they have no jurisdiction outside of Union space and your Navy wanted to keep the thing quiet, the police officer receiving the call opened an OOCA case in behalf of Jolaj Grotha. The Assembly outraged, issued an ultimatum to the Togar government.”

“I had no idea all this was going on. And it seems that Old Highlander keeps playing his games.”

The Mirage settled on the hard-packed surface of a salt lake that was known as the Desert of Glaring Profit. I had been here before, but the Tigershark had landed quite a distance from here.

Cherubim said. “Don’t judge him too hard, Erica. Remember it is not you who comes first for him, but the entire Navy. It is expected that a good CO put’s his or her ship before anything, even before the crew. McElligott likes you, I can tell after knowing him for three thousand years, but to him, the Spatial Navy comes first above everything. It’s his baby, Erica. He built it from scratch.”

“Intellectually I can understand that, but all he has to do is say so, making speeches and promises and then changing his mind is not exactly building a lot of trust.”

Again she laughed. “True that and that is why Richard isn’t exactly his best friend. You, on the other hand, seem to be the closest thing the Eternal Warrior ever had to a daughter.”

She got up and added. “I have to change.”

Alright, and what am I going to be?”

“The General of NAVINT said, this is for my Soja. The Saresii Autodresser back in your cabin has been sent by her. I consider myself an expert in these and I think she sent you something from the First Age of Knowledge, I’d give a fortune for one of these.”

I shrugged. “Maybe you need to ask her. How does she know about all of this?”

Erica, she is the Commandant of NAVINT, she knows whatever she wants to know. Of course, she knows about Operation Fish, the Tigershark is under NAVINT command after all.”

Cherubim cocked her head. “What puzzles me in all this, how deeply she seems to care about you.”

She went to the door. “Use that machine to change your appearance and I send Mr. Suit the details for your outer garments. The Omnar will sell us a skimmer and provide us with a cover story for our merchandise. Then we cross the Glaring Desert and make a deal with the Lorr.”

“And they are who?”

“The Lorr are Togar, they are here on N’Ger longer than anyone and they are independent of the Togar Empire. The Lorr deal with food and we have ten tons of bacon and tuna.”

--””--

The Tigershark was still sitting in a hangar of Christmas Base, but her crew was complete with the exception of Jolaj, the Captain, Tyron, and Roghor. Har-Hi who had just left the ship corrected his own thoughts. Meeze, their latest crew member was missing too, but Har-Hi was certain the sassy worm was a stowaway aboard the Mirage. He could not even reprimand the worm when it came back. Meeze had literally wormed himself into the crew and of all people it had been the Admiral of the Fleet that made the Wheeze an official crew member. Meeze had zero academy training or any Union school. Meeze had no position or rank, all things that Har-Hi decided to address as soon as the Worm returned along with the others.

The Dai actually smiled as he was thinking about the small creature with a big appetite and little respect for anything.

Har-Hi glanced at his new golden sleeve ring that had been added to his uniform by the Auto Dresser. The entire crew, with a few exceptions of new additions, had been promoted; he had been advanced to Commander. It would have been a tremendous event and cause for a ship wide celebration especially as the Admiral of the Fleet and two high ranking officers were personally present. But the entire crew of the Tigershark accepted the promotions without a single cheer.

Har-Hi sighed, she was gone just a few days and he missed her too. The real reason for the crew’s less than enthusiastic response was, of course, the fact, that they all wanted to volunteer and kick all regulations in the wind that prevented them to follow the captain and free Jolaj. There was not a Dai Tribe as loyal and close-knit as this crew. The Dai sighed with a proud smile, then he stepped into an Inter Base Transport and told the system to take him to Xeno Lab facility 12.

It took no time for the transport capsule to reach the requested destination almost 200 klicks from the Tigershark’s berth.

After he entered the research facility and passed through several security locks. He was asked by a robot to step into an auto dresser before he was allowed to proceed.

Clad in a hermetically sealed protective suit, he finally emerged in a large sterile and spotless clean white hemispherical room. A large burnt looking object was sitting at the center of this spacious room.

What the crew of the Tigershark nicknamed the Geek Squad was all here, officially led by the ship’s CSO, Lt. Schwartz.

All, but Three-Four wore the same protective suits.

Shea was floating once again, near the top of the thing, at about ten meters holding a scanner. The Dai caught her attention with a wave of his arm and he said as Shea floated down and with a few airy dance steps she landed before Har-Hi. “Hi, Sir. We are just wrapping things up before we crate the specimen and sent it to the Neugruber BioSciences Institute on Venus.”

Har-Hi eyed the black clump. “So you send our only ‘whatever that is’ to the Sol system? Well, maybe they have more luck.”

Narth joined the conversation by also floating to the ground. “This is not our own specimen. We dissected twelve, terminated four and sent eight to various research institutes. This is the last of the Lava Moth Cocoons we took out of the crust.”

Branda, the Delicate remained floating. “We know what it is and what it does.”

Har-Hi looked dumbfounded. “We do? So we are done?”

SHIP who was here via her Ego Remote said. “No Sir, we identified a grave danger and we determined that the Ypeherix deliberately seed those terraforming semi organisms.”

Seamlessly Shea picked up. “We have not yet determined why the Ypeherix do it, but we are fairly sure these are self-replicating terraforming tools of the Earlies. Since the Earlies have been active a very long time ago, we fear that many millions of planets have been infected with these deep seeds.”

The Dai rubbed his chin. “That is frankly beyond me. What is it we are supposed to do next? This does not seem to be an issue for a single ship.”

Three-Four returned into his suit and said. “Maybe we capture us a few Ypeherix?”

A new person wearing an environmental suit came in and joined the group. The form-fitting suit revealed a short somewhat overweight human with bowlegs. It was the Admiral of the Fleet, Har-Hi seeing him for the first time without his kilt.

The Admiral pointed at the big black thing and said. “I am sure the Science Corps will extract the last iota of information about that thing, but I can’t tell you how proud I am that the science department of a Fleet ship unraveled the mystery so fast.”

Shea said. “We haven’t really, Sir. We just identified what this is.”

Har-Hi repeated his question and added. “Sir, this assignment doesn’t feel like something the Tigershark can solve in an appropriate fashion.”

“Little did I realize how much brain power his Little Fish has.” The Admiral of the Fleet said. “I am leaving Christmas Base and continue with my inspection tour, maybe I should take you all along. It is equally unsuited for the Tigershark.” He walked closer to the carbon crusted cocoon. “With all that brain power I hoped you figure out why.”

The Admiral touched the pod and said. “I wanted you to take it nice and slow, keep you out of trouble as much as this is possible, and give your Captain time to do her thing and bring that Togress back.”

Har-Hi could not help himself and smile. “What are we, compared to the experience and reasons of an Immortal Admiral after all.”

“Finally someone recognizes that! Mr. Hi if it would be appropriate I give you a medal just for your insight.”

He then looked at the readouts of a floating field screen and then looked at Shea. “What a nasty piece of Jobby.”

He apparently didn’t expect an answer and turned to look at Har-Hi and Narth who was standing right next to the Dai. “I’ve been to funerals that were more cheerful than the promotion ceremony yesterday.”

The Admiral said. “The Ypeherix problem is real and thanks to your fast research, we are able to scan worlds from space for an infection of these bastards. The Assembly has ordered fleet and the Science Corps to scan all Union worlds for these things. Our explorers and a new set of automated Long-Range Probes will add the new scan method to their survey procedures.”

He stomped towards the exit. “I have a few more things to say before I leave, but I need to get out of that saran wrap suit.”

--””--

Cherubim was gone, in her place was a ginger and black striped Togress. Roghor had not only dyed his fur differently but wore the mane less mask of an orange and black spotted Togar. Instead of armor and weapons, all he had on was a gray loose jerkin reaching his thighs. The thing was belted with a wide jewel adorned belt.

Cherubim explained. “He is a manservant, in the employ of Lalmej, an obscure Contessa of Chalura, that would be me. Lalmej of Chalura is a known trader and freelancer. Chalura is a dust ball at the very fringes of the Togar Empire towards Downward and Oghr kingdoms.”

I brushed over the shimmering black pelt that covered my body. Tyron flowed over it and became a tight suit of a dark red almost wet shimmering material, with a belt of copper discs, high shafted boots made for the Togar anatomy, open-toed apparently so the claws could be used.

The costume also had a red sash. From my last experience masquerading as a Togress, I knew the significance, it meant I was Lalhestes. A female that had no interest in male contact.

It was actually the first time I entered one of the Merchant House enclaves. The first time we didn’t even land and the second time only Sobody went to see the Golden Enclave.

I had read up on N’Ger and had the great fortune to have Sobody aboard who educated us better than any GalNet article could, and knew there were eleven Merchant enclaves like this one. Despite them being founded by Togar, Jooltar, Oghr, Golden and even Dai they had no allegiance to their mother societies. This alone made the planet and its society quite unusual.

Each enclave was enclosed by a high wall and this one, the Merchant House of Omnar was no different. I also knew that each of these houses specialized in a different groups of commodities.

The nature of the Omnar business became instantly apparent. There were piles of scrap, and thanks to my education I received on Sin 4, I recognized some of the stacked things and knew there was a vibrant market for these things. The galaxy wasn’t just about fleets, wars, conflicts, and cosmic secrets, there were trade and commerce and a million civilian things going on.

There were boxes with Arti-Grav coils. Not just the small ones for fliers and skimmers, but big ones intended for capital ships. Pallets with armor plating, barrels with all kinds of liquids. Crates with consumer goods. A roofed, open-walled building shaded several big cages with sorry looking slaves of virtually every species. Surprised, however, I did not see any humans or Klack. I was not certain why I found the sight of caged Yellow Throat Shiss disturbing. The Shiss were enemies that had been defeated and seeing some ending up at slave markets should have not been surprising to me.

Cherubim who now looked like a Togress noblewoman complete with a fashionable hooded cloak of a semi-translucent veil material and gem-encrusted jewelry and listened to the name of Contessa Lalmej was almost immediately approached by a fat Oghr wearing a green toga of sorts. He not only had his lip splitting tusks decorated with gold and gems but had them completely covered with polished silver.

He greeted the Comptess making it clear, she wasn’t here the first time in this disguise.

“Ah Contessa, it is always a pleasure to welcome a good customer. Are you buying or selling?”

“I am on the market for a skimmer and perhaps a few hours of your hospitality.”

The Oghr merchant paid little attention to either Roghor or me.

Lalmej and the merchant were slowly walking along the rows of merchandise while exchanging apparently unimportant gossip. Central to their conversation was the recent Shiss conflict and the market value of second-hand commodities. I listened only with one ear while I wondered if we were losing too much time.

As we came to the slave cages, the merchant said to Lalmej.

“The market for slaves has surely changed, my dear. The Karthanians no longer buying any. While there are plenty of Shiss slaves in my inventory, you Togar don’t really like their taste. The Man Tribe of distant Jarsumat were always good customers of slaves, but I haven’t seen or heard anything of them lately. Rumors claim Cam Elf-Na did not return from that secret place the Dai call Thana-Shoo.”

While he spoke of his merchant problems, I secretly felt quite proud of our accomplishments. I had been on Karthania, on Thana-Shoo, and on Jarsumat and our actions had an impact on the slave markets at least in this region of space.

As I came closer to one of the cages, I noticed a Shiss leaning against the bars of the cage, separate from the others. He was badly injured, what struck me odd was the fact that he was completely black, not green with a colored throat fold.

A Yellow Throat was kicking him and yelled in squawk. “We going to kill you, Merchant.”

The Oghr ignored it and said. “What an unruly bunch. Well maybe I need to slaughter them, there is a market for Shiss leather.”

Just then the cage door snapped open and the eight yellow throats stormed out and immediately attacked.

I had no time to check on Cherubim or the merchant as I was faced by two angry Shiss, who had nothing to lose. There was a part in me who cheered for them and wanted them to be successful in their escape, but such consideration was for later. Right now I had to fight for my life.

The Shiss were not armed, but they were tremendously strong, had four arms and claws tough enough to split Nul skin.

Two of the Shiss kept opening other cages.

I dove forward and while doing so avoiding being raked across the face by Shiss claws. My right pulled the old .45 and my left touched one of the cylinders at my belt, summoning Dark Blade into my fist. The ancient Colt belched four times thunder and lead and four Shiss including the one engaging Cherubim died. A fifth, the one I had just evaded, did not have time to scream as I split him from head to crotch with a downward stroke. Tyron said. “All offensive systems active, we can end this.”

Roghor just displayed what a terrible warrior a Togar could be, evaded a claw swipe of his opponent and retaliated with his own, right across the yellow Throat fold.

Cherubim in her Togress disguise fought like a Togar cat and not like a human in disguise. Agile and with surprising strength.

The remaining Shiss despite their desperate situation hesitated to advance. Roghor, Cherubim and I were armed and had killed seven of them in less than ten seconds.

From the side, I noticed Oghr guards running. They didn’t shoot as one of the Shiss held the bleeding Oghar merchant like a shield before him and yelled. “Come closer and I rip his throat out.”

Why I felt it was my place to say something, I wasn’t certain, but I did. “Shiss, I don’t want to fight you, but I will kill you all if I must.

I actually sympathize with your situation and applaud the courage and the willingness to fight for freedom. Open the rest of the cages, walk out that gate. We are on N’Ger, there are hundreds of opportunities for you. I recommend you go to the Golden compound and ask for Union asylum. As bad this might sound, but they will treat you as individuals and no one will make an issue of your origin.”

The merchant still held by the Yellow Throat was obviously not convinced that this was a good solution. Despite his earlier complaining and current situation. “You can’t just let this slave scum walk out of here. Their hides will pay for the damages...” He could not continue as the Yellow Throat tightened his grip around the Oghr’s throat.

I said. It is very unwise to plan the skinning of a person that holds you by the throat. Yellow what do you say?”

“As soon as I let this offense go, they will shoot. And how can we trust the Union?”

“I give you my word, go with you and kill anyone who objects.”

Cherubim sighed. “Soja, can we talk about this? Omnar is an old friend of mine.”

Omar coughed and gargled. “Yes, we are.”

She was an immortal and I needed her to get me to Togr, but I simply could not have that bastard skinning sentient beings. “Alright, merchant. I buy all the slaves from you, what I then do with my slaves is of no concern to you, right?”

To the Yellow Throat, I said. “Let him get enough air to talk.”

The Merchant asked “You buy them all? There are 72 altogether, I would need 15,000 Polo Full weights.”

“I give you 14,000 and you better accept or I let him squeeze that throat, shoot those guards and say sorry to my friend the Baroness.”

“I accept.”

Cherubim said. “I guess we can rent a flier, instead of buying it. I don’t have much more at hand.”

“Just pay him, I will be back with more.”

She stared at me. “More Polos, here at N’Ger?”

“Yes, now let the Merchant go and everyone who wants a future follow me.”

To the merchant I said. “If you or any of your goons so much as take a potshot, the deal is off and I see if there is a market for Oghr leather.”

He coughed as the Yellow Throat let him go. “They are all yours, Emperor Wedmar’s ghost be praised this is a good deal.”

To the Yellow Throat, I said. “Open all the cages, Shiss of all throat color, Non-Shiss simply everyone.”

“Even that evil incarnate, the All Black?”

“You have a name?”

“Yuyzziz.”

I replied in Shiss. Do you want to see your entrails, Yuyzziz? I said, everyone.”

Milky eyelids flashed quickly over his small reptilian eyes. “I follow you, Togar Princess, anywhere!”

“Good start!”

The All Black Shiss stumbled out of the cage and knelt before me. “I too pledge my life to you!”

--””--

The Admiral was obviously very happy to wear his beloved kilt again and able to stuff his pipe sat down on a chair in a spacious meeting room. The charred clump like thing now visible through a floor to ceiling viewport.

Har-Hi and the geek squad of the Tigershark, namely Shea, Three-Four, Narth, SHIP, Branda, Alice and Dusty in a semi-circle behind their XO.

McElligott actually had a fatherly smile on his lips as he looked at them. “I promised Richard and your Erica to clean house and part of that is an extended inspection tour of all our fleet bases and headquarters. This will take some time but that is one commodity we Immortals have in spades and it will take me out of Fleet HQ and perhaps help me to re-establish a better first-hand picture of what needs to be done to do what I promised to do.”

He fiddled with his pipe and continued. “The main reason for you working on that Ypeherix problem was to keep you from trouble until your captain is back. Little did anyone suspect you plugging these things right out of the crust, developing a scanner routine that makes it easy to find them and creating a weapon that is able to destroy them. Kudos to your techs and engineers too.”

Har-Hi looked proud. “It’s what our Captain would have asked when she comes back.”

Shea tried to sound like Erica while twisting her hair in Nilfeheim style braids. “Guys, how can we destroy that Sutur spawn?”

SHIP laughed. “Yes, that sounded just like her.”

McElligott slowly shook his head. “A SHIP AI laughing, a Level 12 intellect...” He waved his hand to disperse a rather thick cloud of pipe smoke. “Anyway, what I am trying to say. About 50 years ago a leading Xeno Biologist by the name of Dr. Martha Masters and her husband were on their way to a planet in the Spinward sector to investigate lava dwelling life forms. They never made it as the science cruiser was destroyed and the Masters were sold into slavery.

Long story short, we wanted to send the Tigershark to investigate as we think those magma eggs and the Lava Creatures of that planet are related.”

Har-Hi and the rest didn’t say anything so the Admiral continued. “I also witnessed the promotion ceremony and know this ship and its crew is just not complete without her captain.”

He leaned forward. “Admiral Stahl just handed me a big cigar and was not shy reprimanding his favorite CO and I have to agree with him. I cannot order the Tigershark to Togr and risk war, but I can send you in Freespace and stand by to get your Captain and the White Togar cat out in a hurry if they need you. The Tigershark can cloak, appear like a Togar ship after all.”

He deeply sighed. “I am taking the biggest risk in my entire life, but I want you to return being the Silver Streak and prowl Freespace, as close to Togr as possible. If you cross paths with slavers or pirates while doing so, take them out. That is still the core reason why this fish exists.”

He got up. “And if it happens that Erica somehow calls and needs help, well she’s still this ship’s Captain and I trust her judgment. Just if any way possible do it undercover and don’t declare any wars.”

Har-Hi and everyone were deeply smiling. Even Dusty and Three-Four managed to look deeply pleased.

The Dai said. “These are your orders sir?”

“Damn straight. What are you waiting for? Get that circus of yours on its way. We are talking Erica, she is bound to change a few things in that region of space.”

--””--

Cherubim, Roghor and the Oghr merchant watched the black pelted Togress march in front of a small army of former Shiss, Jooltar and a handful of Freudians out the merchant enclave.

The Oghr held his throat and looked at the dead Shiss still littering the ground. “You never introduced her to me, who is she?”

The disguised immortal sighed. “The most headstrong, enigma in the Universe.”

Roghor’s eyes glittered with deep pride. “You are a lucky Oghr Omnar. She hates unfair situations and there is no force in that mentioned Universe that can stop her from trying to rectify it. I have seen the most unusual beings follow her to whatever with the utmost dedication.”

--””--

It was actually quite a treck from the Oghr enclave to the one occupied by the Golden. Tyron said. “You know we are in GalNet range?”

“We are?”

“The Golden are independent from our Golden, but they are Union.”

“Can you make a connection to Sobody?”

“I even have his direct call code.”

Sobody actually squeezed a few tears after I identified myself and he said. “Captain, I am so glad you called. Everything alright?”

I told him what happened so far and he said.

“I call Lokta right away. Just hang in there a few moments.”

It took less than ten minutes and Sobody called back. “All set, Captain. Lokta is sending an armed flier to pick you and your new friends up. He will keep whoever wants to become Union safe until transport can be arranged. He also will supply you with any amount of Polos you need or anything else. We will be there as soon as possible.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Oh, I completely forgot, we are on our way to Freespace.” He then told me what the Admiral told them.

I instantly felt better. “I am not sure how long I am going to be on N’Ger, but knowing you are out there are good news.”

I asked him to tell Har-Hi and the rest about me while I already saw the big flier approaching.

--””--

Lt. Wikar was the Communications officer of the Gate House that had been established right next to the Ancient Gate to Leo II. The Gate House was an armed Megamon space station and it was almost fully operational. There was another Gate-House on the Leo II side.

The Assembly had decided to take possession and control of all known gates. These Gate Houses were intended to control who and what came through these gates, to conduct research on the alien technology and to, if necessary commence the SLAM DOOR protocol. That protocol dictated the swift and complete destruction of the gate if something or someone was about to use it that was hostile and beyond Union, abilities to stop.

Lt. Wikar was a Kilonian and to him, the segmented white worm right before him actually looked like it could have been a distant relative. The system AI checked the credentials and confirmed, specialist Meeze Wheeze was put in the Personnel database by the Admiral of the Fleet himself. There was no prior service record, no Phys data or HPI evaluation. Wikar’s supervisor, a Klack looked over the data and said. The Admiral’s verification codes are genuine. That must be a high-level NAVINT operative, besides the Scorpion belongs to the surplus spacecraft pool of the 124th. The Admiral was there just very recently.”

“The Transponder codes check out too and we have a recent species addition of the Wheeze.” The Lieutenant said.

The officer opened a channel to the waiting Scorpion. “Specialist Meeze everything checks out you may proceed to Leo II.”

“Yeez finzaly. Youze kinza slowzi. My frienz are in troublez and Meeze goez to getz ze helpz!”

Chapter 10: Togr
The former slaves were received like kings. The Golden and their employees went out of their way to accommodate them. Tables and benches were carried out on the big central yard of the Golden enclave. The Golden handed out food, clothing and what surprised the former slaves more than anything, weapons.

I jumped on a table and said. “You are free beings now. You can walk out that gate and try to find a new home. I will ask the Golden to give all those who leave 100 polos, so you are not without means. Or you can do what I suggested and stay here and apply for Union Asylum. You can do that right here, there are GalNet terminals. Once you accept our laws and complete Union School you are citizens. Whatever the Shiss, whatever you might have done will never be made an issue. The Union accepts anyone, be it Nul, Togar, Shiss, Jooltar or Fruidans. All you have to do is stay lawful.”

A Frudian insectoid hummed in Squawk. “Will there a place form Fruidans? We are Galactic Council members.”

“There are over 600 insectoid species, there are former GC members and there are countless individuals of thousand different species who made that choice for themselves. I know of Togar, Oghr, Jooltar, Bitllor and I think there are even a few Kermac who are Union citizens. The Fruidan society must ask this question as a species, but for you, the answer is yes.”

A Jooltar said. “You are Togar, but you speak like Union.”

One of the Yellow Throats yelled. “She is Union and I bet she’s fleet. I follow her, she saved our lives.”

I jumped off the table and said. “I can’t go with you because I have unfinished business, but what stops you from pursuing a career in our fleet? If you stick with it, one-day Nul, Togar, Humans and many others will follow you.”

I pointed to the open gate. “Our most sacred belief is in freedom of choice and the right for liberty. You are free, decide for yourself.”

I walked to the gate myself, but stopped by the big Yellow Throat, how did you manage to escape the cage?”

“I wedged a broken claw in the snap lock when they put us in, the lock never engaged.”

“That’s pretty smart. Can I ask how you ended up in slavery?”

“Our Gray Throat master sold us so he could buy a ship and flee before the Union troops came to our world.”

--””--

Lummis, the Lord of Light lingered on at Avondur. This planet was called the center of the Universe for a good reason. Many thousand rifts and passageways to other realities, realms and universes could be found on this world and the Avondur star system.

According to cosmic legend, it was here the singularity expanded in a cosmoclyptic event into what entities called the Core or Prime Universe.

A meta spatial condition with all concepts well developed. A condition the ‘Prophecy of Before and Yet to come’ predicted to be the dusk of all the old entities, and the dawn of new entities. It was the metaverse that would see the rise of the Dark One and the restoration of the Rule, with a new base at its core.

There were rifts and metaverse bridges to the anti-verse, to the upper and nether realms. This was the reason for the Orlan to construct their Trans-spatial gate network, it was centering on this place.

Seven powerful circles, the seven Orders of Avondur lorded and protected and guarded both Avondur and these rifts. Not just limiting access, but also what was seeking entry from the other sides.

In the vast dust and sand planes just outside the gates of the city of Avondur were the chaos rifts, the passageways no one controlled.

In the Shine mountains to the east of Sandakaar city was a cave with a nexus gate. Connecting Avondur with all the other Nexus points, the Nexus network was even older than the gates the Orlan constructed. Lummis suspected it to be created by the last Technos of the Old Empire.

Lummis was sitting under the dusty canvas roof that extended from an old stone building that was the center of what locals called the Estresa Compound.

Estresa was the name of an old family of Sandakaarians. While the Estresa were not associated with any of the Seven Orders, they supposedly had good connections to all of them. The city and this compound, in particular, was something like neutral ground.

The Estresa also operated this place of rest and hospitality.

The hard packed ground was covered with thick layers of coarse carpet. There were big leather cushions, stuffed with something soft and low metal wire tables.

At the center of each table, an earthen pot with a Fukik luminescence shroom, glowing in a yellowish light. Not to provide illumination but to spread a pleasant scent and to attract local buzz stingers and other flying pests that managed to get past the almost invisible energy curtains. Every now and then one of the fungi animal hybrid’s sticky tentacles snatched something out of the air that came too close to the light.

There were about twenty of these tables with several cushions placed around them.

In local terms it was forenoon and only a handful of beings had gathered under this canvas roof.

None of them paid any attention to him. Normally there would be a sizeable entourage, but right now he was alone. His trusted man Mircael rotting in the desolate realm of the Highfather. Suffering greatly, he was certain, but he embarrassed the Lord of Light and had become way too critical anyway.

Lummis stared past the tent flaps onto the dusty streets of Sandakaar. Beings from far distant galaxies, locals, visitors and refugees of a thousand realms mingled between the buildings, stalls, and tents. Some pursuing their day to day business. Others, just like him with an agenda of higher purpose.

He was certain not all the beings were mere mortals.

The City of Sandakaar just like the planet was an odd mix of the preindustrial and high tech.

He leaned back, sipped from the big mug of cold water and in his mind he heard the words of Crea, the mighty entity and goddess he was serving for so long.

“You are on Avondur. The answer can be found there. Hold the weapon and neither time nor space can hide the Dark One from you.”

The answer to defeating the Dark One was here. But like so many times she was more than cryptic with her answer. The answer might as well be known to the Fukik on the table, but without knowing what to ask or look for, it eluded him.

Then his eyes focused on a truly magnificent feline being. Tall, towering over many. The almost human-shaped body covered in a lustrous golden fur, while the impressive face was surrounded by an impressive mane of long coarse looking fur. The cat wore only a girded loincloth.

Lummis recognized the old god Malmoru. A champion of the light, but not associated with Crea.

He got up and rushed out. “Halt, Malmoru! It is I, Lord Lummis who demands your attention.”

The magnificent Malmoru looked down at the Lord of Light. “Ah yes, Lummis. As self-important and pompous as the day your Crea has lifted you from your mortal existence.”

“I was made the defender of light, you are an aspect of light. Must you not obey Crea and therefore me?”

The entity before him bellowed loud with laughter. “Is she still insisting on that? She tainted light and it has broken the RULE. The One behind it all is not to be betrayed, yet your existence is the embodiment of her betrayal.”

“I am not to be lectured and I have a good mind to teach you a lesson how foolish it is to proclaim judgment over the perfect Goddess.”

Malmoru pointed at Lummis sword. “Draw it then and put substance to your hollow words. The one that will provide the Judgement, to Crea will find his way to this Universe soon.”

Now it was Lummis who sounded amused. “What little knowledge has filtered to whatever realm you were hiding, the Dark One has returned and united seven tokens already. This is why I stepped into your way, Crea speaks of a Weapon that can defeat the Dark One, the weapon that did so before. The answer to where I can find this weapon is to be found here.”

The tall entity suddenly sounded very concerned. “The Dark One has arrived?”

“Indeed.”

“I must make haste then!”

Malmoru paid no attention to Lord Lummis anymore, turned and after a few steps dissolved into a glittering shower of sparks.

Lummis at first dumbfounded and then angry was still standing there, as a voice addressing him made him turn.

The man in the golden gleaming armor and green cloak that addressed him, had a human face underneath his horn adorned helmet. “I overheard your conversation Lord Lummis, why don’t you try the realm of the Old Ones? One of them might know what you are looking for.”

--””--

The Togar transport we had chartered from the Merchant house of Lorr held several tons of bacon and tuna in its hold. Two days ago we had left N’Ger and reach our destination, Togr planet in another twenty-seven standard hours.

Cherubim who of course like me still wore her costume and listened to Contessa sat in the same small passenger lounge of this Togar ship and used a little fancy looking silvery file to sharpen the claws of her costume. The way she was sitting and the way she moved made me think she had been in this guise for many times.

I was standing by the oval viewport and stared into deep space. Other than a few distant stars and the occasional quasi streak there was nothing really to see. I just felt this increasing urgency to get to Togr and find Jolaj.

Rog had curled up on a Togar seat and apparently slept. When he was walking and sitting on Union furniture he always appeared to me like a very muscular man wearing a tight fur costume with an impressive lion’s mask, but now as he was curled up on Togar furniture he truly appeared different and alien.

I remembered Shea showing me visuals of a Terran feline species she called a lion, ever since I could not stop seeing the close resemblance.

The day he came aboard the Tigershark, I was inclined to kill him and every Togar. But he had managed to change my mind forever. He was honorable, a very capable, well-educated and trained officer even before he became a Union officer. We all called him Commander and it was not just a nickname but a clear recognition of his former rank.

Of course, there was Jolaj, she was Togar too, but for some reason, she had ceased to be a Togar in my mind the day I held her in my arms and felt her sorrow and pain. She was our Snowball, and I know the entire crew, I included loved her very much.

I was pulled out of my musings by Cherubim’s now guttural Togress voice. “I really begin to see what the Eternal Warrior and the Highlander see in you.”

I turned from the viewport. “Aren’t you part of that trinity of Immortals? I recall you being there since we went to Richter 4. You briefed us and you received our reports, just as to them.”

She stopped filing her nails and inspected one of the needle-sharp hooks with a critical eye. “Yes, I suppose to you it must look that way, and I do know those two guys for a very long time. But I am not exactly on the Christmas card list of Richard.”

She resumed filing but on a new claw. “I first heard of you at Richter Base and like the other two was deeply impressed by the reports and the truly unprecedented successes you and the Tigershark crew achieved, but I don’t really know more than your names and the content of your files.”

She pointed the silvery file at me. “They say I am an enigma, and I carefully groom this reputation for almost eight thousand years now. But you are the true enigma and you don’t even try.”

“Eight thousand years?”

“7,793 years to be exact, Erica. Not all the immortals were made immortal at the same time. I was born in a city known then as Uruk a city of the Sumer.”

She paused. “You collected so many secrets, there is no living soul knowing my true story of origin. It is a story I haven’t shared with anyone. Neither O’Brock nor Richard knows, but I think Phil has figured out quite a bit of it.”

I shrugged. “Whatever you just said might be a secret, but I frankly have no idea what you’re talking about. I have no idea where Sumer, planet is. And who is Phil?”

She laughed. “Sumer was the name of a civilization that once existed on Earth. You do know Earth right?”

“Yes, I visited Norway. We Norse come from Earth and it’s where the real Vikings lived.”

“I would argue that the Neo Vikings of Nilfeheim are just as real. I was born long before there were any Vikings, the region became Irak and is now as quiet as it was before there were humans in the Middle East.” She sighed under her very realistic mask. “Phil Decker is another one of us immortals. He is a policeman and detective. Always was and still is.”

I wasn’t too interested in her small talk. I didn’t want to appear rude and feigned interest. Okay, she was older than Stahl, but Sobody was 12,000 years old. Deepa, Tyron, and Cateria looked a million years or so. Dusty’s age was counted in eons and while I was sure Narth was relatively young, the Narth Supreme was billions of years old and if I understood my spooky twin brother correctly the Dark One existed since the dawn of the first universe. So her revelation didn’t exactly impress me much.

She had resumed her filing. “Anyway getting back to what I wanted to say initially is, that I begin to see what they see, that episode on N’Ger was an eye-opener. You dealing with that Oghr was certainly something.”

“I just hate slavers, period.”

Again she chuckled. “Yes, you sure demonstrated that. And frankly, I am envious of your resources. Who can call the Merchant of Merchants just like that?”

“I am sure the director of TSI and the Assembly News Agency isn’t exactly short of resources.”

Whatever she might have wanted to respond was drowned by a strange rumbling growling noise.

Roghor jumped up. “They are sounding the high alarm.”

He wasn’t finished speaking when I sensed a change in the fine vibrations. We had dropped out of Freespace.

--””--

Har-Hi stood next to two Golden, one, of course, was Sobody and the other Lokta. All three of them looked over the shattered walls, the piles of rubble that once have been the Merchant house compound of Omnar. The Dai nodded with conviction. “Yes, that sure looks like she was here.”

Hans held up the headless body of an Oghr. “I think I found the former proprietor, judging by the gems and gold.”

Lokta spread his arms. “By the misfortunes of cursed bankruptcy, I never have seen anything like it. She goes back to pay Omnar. The Oghr not only raised the price on her, demanded to get paid for the ones that the black Togar cat had killed, but threatens her...” The Golden turned to face the destruction. “ ... well from what I understand, things escalated quickly.”

Five Shiss, two Jooltar and a Fruidan approached them. One of the Shiss, to Har-Hi’s surprise, was not green with a colored throat fold, but shining black from head to clawed toes.

A Yellow Throat, leading the small group said. “We think you are the shipmates of the Black Togress.”

The Black Shiss added. “She’s your commanding officer, is she not?”

Har-Hi asked. “What makes you think we are associates to a Black Togress, just out of curiosity?”

The Yellow Throat pointed at the local Golden. “He is the richest and most elusive of all Merchant lords. He went out of his way to help her and us.”

The Black Shiss pointed at the landed Tigershark behind them. “Then this ship lands, it looks like nothing any of us have ever seen, but it fits her character somehow.”

The Fruidan buzzed. “She wore civilian things, but she spoke in a way only a Union Captain speaks. Utterly confident and with unquestionable authority in her voice.”

Har-Hi threw his hands in the air. “After all this time we should be experts at all this clandestine stuff. Turns out we are still amateurs, a bunch of former Shiss slaves figured us out in no time.”

Again the Yellow Throat said. “She made no difference between Yellow Throat, All Black, Jooltar or Fruidan. She fought for us, treated slaves with the greatest respect.”

“We follow her.” The Black Throat said.

The Yellow Throat agreed with the Fruidan. “We have been told many things about the Union and most of it was propaganda I know, I was in the propaganda and intel field. I know about the diversity of the Union, but now I see the proof. There are Attikan, Y’All, Nul and Togar in her crew. Serving along with Golden, Dai, Humans, and Holdians. We want to be part of that crew.”

Lokta said. “Most of these former slaves did exactly as she recommended. Used GalNet and applied for Immigration. I sent them to the next Outpost with my Golden Sphere, but these insisted to wait.”

Har-Hi sighed. “Guys, I am sure she is going to be thrilled to have you express such sentiment, but that is not her decision. This is a Union ship and you need to become Citizens and then join the fleet. Go through basic training or the Academy.”

One of the Jooltar spoke for the first time. “No one likes Jooltar, especially Togar. She gave us weapons and even Polos. I waited for you, I too was certain she was a Union Captain and that there was a ship.” He exposed his fangs and gestured towards the Tigershark. “She left before you arrived, I could not warn her. You are Union and might be able to speak to her.”

Har-Hi instantly alarmed and worried. “What was it you wanted to warn her about?”

“We heard she and her companions chartered a Togar ship from the Lorr. The Lorr have abandoned their independence just recently and are now associated with the Kasij faction.”

Har-Hi urged the Jooltar. “Who are the Kasij?”

“A powerful group of Togar dissidents. The load of luxury food items she wanted to take to Togr is no longer a secret.”

Sobody, always informed on trade said. “These things were always welcome, but Enroe stopped all trade. You may not be able to buy Togar with Polos, but they sell out for bacon and tuna. If they know our captain comes in with a load of that...”

The Jooltar said. “I was an agent for the merchant house of Asrix, until I was betrayed but I know the Lorr. Your captain is in great danger.”

--””--

I wondered what made us drop out of Quasi, we were still a good distance from Togr. Detecting a ship in Quasi and interrupting its translight travel was, at least as far as I knew far beyond the technological capabilities of the Togar or for that matter any Tech Level Seven society.

As a Captain, I received not only the Day Cypher but a daily report on general intelligence, the state of the Union and so forth. Sitting at Christmas base, I actually read a few and knew the Kermac had developed sensors that could track Quasi space contacts, but had nothing that could pull a ship out of Quasi.

Union Tech was able to do that, but it was still not easy because of the precise timing required to affect something that traveled many times the speed of light.

Had war been declared and the Union was at war with the Togar?

Rog had rushed to the door. “It is locked, but that is to be expected during the high alert.”

A gruff, throaty voice came over intership. “All hands to their duty stations.”

Cherubim checked her PDD. “We are out of GalCom and GalNet range, but I was able to receive the NavPing. We are deep in Togar space.”

I was certain my masked face did not translate any of my facial expressions. Not that Togar and human expressions were the same anyway. With a slightly annoyed tone in my voice I said. “General, I am no longer that naive midshipman. No need to pretend. I know about Nebuchadnezzar Base, we are well within range, they monitor Togar communications and traffic.”

“Good lord.” She exclaimed. “You know? It’s an Omega level...”

“Commander Shadrach was briefed by you about me and the Tigershark. Are we at war with the Togar?”

She shook her head. “No. After we are done with this, I would love to hear what made the Old Highlander reveal...”

Again she could not finish her sentence, the door folded into the frame and revealed two armed battle suit wearing Togar. “Ah, here you are, Contessa. We decided to take your bacon. Warkor my friend here wanted to simply kill you, but I want to know where you got that merchandise.”

Rog still standing by the doorframe pointed his blaster right at the right temple of the speaker’s head. “You may have a helmet and some sort of shield, but this is a Terran TKU dialed to 12, want to find out if your Togar crap can protect you?”

“A manservant with such a weapon?”

Warkor his companion apparently did not believe Roghor and fired at me.

Tyron’s shield prevented me from any harm and said to me. “There isn’t enough energy in the entire ship to affect my shields more than one percent, Captain. All offensive capabilities active. Casern bots available.”

Roghor fired. Warkor’s unnamed friend died after most of his head had been turned to atomic ashes.

My Togar friend said with his deep voice. “My bad, I exaggerated, the TKU was only on setting five, but it turned out to be enough at this point blank range.” He swiped a finger over the power dial. “Now it is at eight. Captain, want me to burn this clown?”

“Not yet, Rog. I have a few questions.”

Cherubim sighed loudly. “Warkor, you could not have picked worst victims.”

Warkor, a strong looking male Togar was in complete surprise. Everything had happened so quick. He snapped his jaws shut and then said. “We are not alone, there are twenty of us.”

I shook my head. “You are not very good at math, there are nineteen now and there will be eighteen soon.”

He swallowed. “I am this ship’s navigator. Without me...”

For the first time, I used Tyron’s finger blaster. The thin beam was more like a laser than a TKU blast and sliced Warkor’s head from left ear to the lower jaw on the right. Helmet, shield and all.

While the Togar collapsed I said. “So this is what the finger blaster does?”

“It is the standard base weapon beam, Captain. Transphasic vibrating all spectrum light.”

--””--

Jolaj had arrived, along with her captors at the core planet of the Empire.

While they had kept her blindfolded at first, she had no doubt. Everything felt just right. The gravitation, the air, and the ambient temperatures.

She had been placed in a small room without windows. They kept her tied up but had provided her with a Comm Visualizer, set to the prime news broadcast. Every now and then they came in to check on her and give her water.

She was quite hungry and when she asked the brown pelted female that had not provided her with a name, for food. The Togress laughed and told her, that she won’t starve to death until she was to be tossed into the sacred pool of light. The female added. “If you indeed survive you are a goddess, and they don’t need food.”

She tried to keep her spirit positive and watched the news feed. Hi Togr was in turmoil and all Togar at the brink of civil war. There was an assassination attempt on the Queen. Dozens of dissidents had been rounded up by the Queen’s guards and in quick show, trials condemned to death. The executioners of the government drowned seven of them.

Millions of Togar from all over the government had arrived for the annual confirmation ceremony. More than ever before.

No matter how much official channels tried to downplay or outright deny it, but the rumors that the White Fur was alive had spread to the furthest corners of the Empire.

Jolaj could not help but shed tears again. She didn’t care about that if it was up to her the Togar Queen and the High Priestess could rot in Trakarth or rule all Togr for the rest of eternity. She wanted to go home. Her home had long ceased to be Togr, she was home aboard a Union Starship and she missed her friends. Most of all, of course, she missed Shaka, the Tigershark’s helmsman. She loved that human very much.

In her emotional misery, she imagined hearing the Captain’s voice. “No worries Jolaj, I give you my word I will find a solution, I promise you.”

She snapped out of her daydream because she heard yelling and the sharp crack of Togar blasters outside the locked door.

Just where the door lock was, the metal was quickly turning bright red and then melted.

Jolaj’s wrists were cuffed to her back, but she tried to get away from the blistering heat as far as she could.

The door was kicked open and two masked Togar rushed in, both male. One of them fired his weapon at something outside the door, while the other came towards her. With all her strength she kicked the male cat between the legs, as she tried to get away from him.

Male Togar were as sensitive as human males in that regard, the male howled in pain behind his mask. The other fired twice more and yelled. “Princess, we are here to rescue you. Branji has sold out to the Queen’s guards, they are rushing this hideout. We need to get you to a safe place.”

--””--

I did not hold back, my anger and frustration had reached its limits. The shipmaster of this merchant ship had spilled everything. The rendezvous with the other ship had been arranged by him. The Lorr wanted to get hands on our merchandise and never intended to keep their end of the bargain, Cherubim had arranged with them and wanted to space us before we reached Togr. The Lorr shipmaster double-crossed his own house and struck a deal with another faction, instead of taking the load of food back to the Lorr, he struck a deal with a friend of his.

Cherubim had followed me onto the bridge of the Togar merchant and scolded me. “I took you along on this clandestine mission, but not for you to take over and do things your way.”

She pointed at the burning wreck of the other ship, centered on the view screen. “I am not an amateur, Erica. I was expecting all this, this is the very reason I made no secret what our merchandise contained. I took the side tour via Omnar to have an explanation where it came from.

I was certain, dissident and rebel groups would try to get their hands on it and thus give us an inroad into them. Now that you killed pretty much all of them, and destroyed any veneer of you not being Union at N’Ger our mission is in jeopardy. It is vital for us to get first-hand intel on the Togar situation.”

“With all due respect, General. The only one in jeopardy is Jolaj. We are losing time with all this subterfuge.”

“Since you are not willing to do it my way, subtle and unseen. How do you want to accomplish that, finding a single Togress on the main planet of the Togar? As you so eloquently figured out, I am in contact with Nebuchadnezzar and we know that not even the Queen managed to find her, and she has all the resources?”

I sat down on the command seat of the freighter. Roghor rushed passed me and took the helm position, while Tyron had linked up with the primitive computronic, feeding me with data and giving Rog coordinated. “Captain, the Casern Bots are back, the other vessel rendered to scrap. Coordinates to Togr laid in.”

“Engage engines, Commander. Get us there!”

To the enraged Immortal, I said. “Because she is not just any Togress, General. To the Togar she is the White Fur of Innocence and the whole Loki cursed planet is after her. To the feet she is Lieutenant Grotha a valued member of my crew, to me, she is our Snowball and my friend. I gave her my word to protect her.”

Roghor said. “General Cherubim, I do not know who you are or what you represent, but there is no vessel like the Tigershark in the Universe. We are more than crew, there isn’t a soul who would not follow our Captain, or lay down our life for anyone aboard.”

He pushed his paw over the accelerator after setting our threshold pathway in a fast and efficient way. The engines pushed the old Togar freighter to its maximum acceleration. Then without taking his eyes off his controls, something none of my bridge officers would ever do, he continued. “I just survived severe torture by the paws of a Togress planet governor who was so certain about her power. She felt untouchable and mocked me that the Battleship had left, forgotten about me. Yet she could not break me, because I knew beyond any doubt my Captain would come. If I had died before her arrival, I would have died with the satisfaction that my tormentor would pay.”

Tyron spoke before I or Cherubim could respond. “General, outsiders just don’t understand. You expressed envy that our Captain has a Seenian battle suit. Do you know she has many thousand Seenian battle suits? The last servant of the Seenians made her the sole inheritor. I am not a suit to her but a valued friend. She has never ever asked me or commanded me to be worn, it was me who asked her for this honor and privilege.”

I felt embarrassed by the praise of my friends and Cherubim said. “As I said, Admiral McElligott tried to warn me. Since this has turned out to be your show, what is the plan?”

“We find that light pool thing, that is where they are taking our Snowball.”

“And how will you gain access and take that Jolaj away from an entire planet that wants her?”

Roghor laughed. “She doesn’t know you Captain for sure.” He kept laughing and Tyron chuckled too, and said. “We do it the Olafson way of course. Proceed instinctively according to results and circumstances rather than according to rules or a plan. Right, Captain?”

--””--

Hans folded his helmet away and said to Har-Hi sitting in the command chair.

“There isn’t so much as a bacteria alive on that Togar destroyer. It’s just a glowing, burned out hulk.”

Ak Pure also retracted his helmet. There are a few dead Togar floating around though, but they were dead before they had been spaced.”

Narth looking up from his console. “This definite engine trail residue consistent with the Togar transport Erica had left N’Ger with.”

Mao chuckled. “What did the Jooltar say?”

Xon repeated. “Your captain is in great danger.”

TheOther. “Yeah right. Maybe the Union can’t declare war on Togar, but it looks to me our Captain has.”

Har-Hi gave Shea a glance. “What are the odds now?”

“Sixty-seven percent of the crew thinks, there won’t be a Togar empire left. Thirty-Two percent think there will be a Togar membership application.”

“That only comes to ninety-nine if my math is correct.”

The gorgeous blonde nodded. “Because you haven’t placed a bet yet.”

Sobody stepped right next to Har-Hi, with a PDD in his left hand. “The odds favor destruction because they messed with our Jolaj. Twenty credits and your opinion, Sir?”

Har-Hi swiped his credit strip. “She left Christmas Base, mad as a Vertian Snark and seeing her handy work floating behind us, I go for option one.” Then he straightened in his seat. “Mr. Narth and Ms. Schwartz, is our Janus device operative and properly configured?”

“Yes, Sir. We have a Togar merchant vessel on file.” Shea answered.

“Then let us become Togar.”

--””--

“Who are you?” Asked an unfriendly voice on a Myon radio channel.

“Spexializt Meeze. Whyze azkes youz? Everyonz comz and goz to Quarva.”

The Pepiro appearing on the main screen said. “Because we never seen a stink crawler piloting a ship. What is it anyway, never seen anything like that.”

“I eaz Pepiroz and Meeze notz Stinkiz crawlz.” The hissing voice of Meeze suddenly had a quality of pride. “Meeze iz Unionz. Wanz have a Unionz presenz?”

“I want that fancy thing you fly!”

The channel still open, Meeze said.”Comutronix, weaponz activz!”

The Scorpion’s system had no objection. The Lieutenant of the Small Craft Pool of the 124th had opened all permission codes for this Specialist. After all Fleet Command confirmed that Specialist Wheeze was confirmed by Admiral McElligott. The worm being had no other history at all, a clear indication for NAVINT. Meeze’s personnel file did not even say what kind of specialist the Wheeze was. Nelson II just confirmed that the Admiral of the Fleet personally confirmed Wheeze’s Fleet member status and that he was assigned to the highly classified project FISH.

The Mini load translocator rotary cannon delivered an answer, the Pepiro didn’t expect. His ship rendered into glowing scrap drifted slowly away from the big entrance hole of the occupied dark moon.

Even his friends aboard the Tigershark would have been quite surprised about the level of skill and expertise the seemingly primitive carrion eating annelid, displayed piloting a Union Scorpion.

Wheeze landed the sophisticated Union war machine on one of the many platforms and said to the computronic.”Activaz ze Cereberuz and shielz. I neez to go somewherz and no onz elz alowz in ze shipz.”

“Acknowledged.”

After he was out the ship it took only moments and he slipped into one of the many service pipes. He was muttering to himself as he advanced fast. “Stoopiz Togarz. Stoopiz Stahlz. Noz alloz to declarz warz, I showz them. Meeze haz frienz and we willz declarz warz on Togarz. No onez gez awayz wiz hurzing sweezy Jolaiz. No onez!”

--””--

The Togar main system was a madhouse and I was almost certain I could have arrived in the Domi and no one would have noticed. The system was as busy as Thana Shoo was when all the clans showed up. Well, I had to admit I was exaggerating. Of course, they would have noticed the USS Dominator and there weren’t nearly as many ships as there were at Thana Shoo. Still, there was hectic traffic and whatever space traffic control there might have been was completely overwhelmed.

None of the other ships, civilian or military paid any attention to us. Roghor was invaluable, he steered the ship confident and it was apparent he had been here many times before.

I asked. “Is it always that busy and chaotic?”

“No Captain, tomorrow is the Day of the Queen’s Confirmation.”

He then said. “I never dreamed to see High Togr again. This is where it all started for us Togar so long ago. There are so many things and sights to see. Now I realize this world, holds nothing I desire. It is a poor expression of a primitive race.”

Cherubim said. “You should be proud of it, I have been here before. It is the center of an old and powerful civilization, with as many wonders as Earth.”

“It is not the sights and the history I am talking about, General Cherubim. My children are happy and free on Union side. My son is as respected as my daughter. I am an outcast and traitor to them, I am Rog to my friends of the Tigershark.”

I said. “I have been home to Nilfeheim, I still feel like a Neo Viking, but I knew I will never be anything more than a visitor. The planet of my birth is home no more.”

Tyron said. “My place of birth was a factory on a planet that doesn’t exist anymore. My home was a shipping crate.”

I looked to Cherubim. “Still okay with me running the show?”

“Yes, you took over at Omnar’s compound. My careful hatched plan went out the window there.”

“Commander, where would we find that Pool of Light and can we land somewhere?”

“The Pool of Malmoru is at Grotha. We cannot land there, no one is allowed to do so. However, we are a civilian ship and we can land on any of the six merchant ports.”

--””--

The old priestess was all alone in the Hall of Malmoru, deep in the Temple mound. She was polishing the dark red Ornu wood and gold handrail that separated the worship section from the raised circle where the statue of Malmoru gazed past the curling smoke of the sweet-smelling incense pods.

Today at the eve before the Light Ray Spirit’s feast day. This worship chamber was desolate and empty, the majority of priestesses had left for the main temple.

The Queen would arrive and the high priestess gaze into the swirling smokes that curled from the sacred pool of light. Confirm the Spirits approval of her reign for another year.

Hamaj was old and not keen on standing for many hours before and during the long-winded ceremony.

It was very quiet, there was no sound other than the occasional metallic chime that echoed from the distant entrance and the whispering rustle of her polishing rag.

There was a creaking sound as if someone twisted taunt leather straps. At first, she paid no attention, she was old and sometimes she heard things that weren’t caused by anything than her own worn body.

The creaking sound became louder and she did look up.

Malmoru’s statue moved!

Chapter 11: Malmoru
Deep in the bowels of Quarva, Meeze reached a rock chamber, no outsider had seen since the Mara had left so long ago,

There was very little light, the faint lumination that came from dim glowing mushrooms did little to reveal more than vague shadows.

Meeze had little need for light; his species was well adapted to dark places and lightless crevices. There in the darkness, something big lingered, then moved and shifted.

A malleable, mass oozing with stringy goo shifted its position and a voice in the ancient language of the Genolax spoke to Wheeze.

“A child of the Genolax, you are, yet you are not of the Quarvax. What seekest you?”

To someone unfamiliar with the old language, the question sounded just like a hissing sound. To Meeze, of course, it was perfectly understandable.

“Meeze comez from ze crubilez. Meeze wanz zo finz ze bigz Magolax anz ze Vikarz, loz of zem.”

“The Crucible and all the children of Genolax has been destroyed.”

“Pffz, zey saiz yuz ze big and smarz onz. How canz I be herez if weze all deaz? Meeze helpz make the Cruzible go boomz. Allz my familiz nowz Unionz.” Meeze lifted his upper body and looked quite proud.”Meeze iz Unionz Fleez specializt, youze helpz meeze or noz?”

“You were part of those who destroyed the Crucible. The ones that liberated the warrior drones here and been friendly to the Quarvax?”

Meeze spread his thin arms.”Yez, yez whize you repeaz thaz?”

“All the Quarvax still speak of visitors that took the warrior drones.”

With audible pride Wheeze said.”Theze are meeze frienz. The vistorz arez Unionz. Are weeze talkiz all ze timez, Meeze in ze hurryz!”

“I sense great pride and purpose in you and you tell me, the Genolax are now the Pepiro slaves of a new species?

“Nooz, I telze you weeze are membrez and equalz noz ze slavez.”

“Wonder over wonder. A species that considers Genolax equals, we will not seek their destruction then. You shall have the Magolax and ten thousand Vikarz. I send message and they will come, to what purpose?”

“Ze Togarz takez my frienz anz the stoopiz admrialz wilz not declarz ze war. The Vikarz are noz Unionz zey canz declarez the warz!”

“That was surprisingly easy,” I said as our transport had landed on a spaceport right on the Togar main planet.

Cherubim got up. “This was only the first part.” She pointed at an armed flier with official-looking markings. “I decided to let you play your game, but there are elements to this where you might benefit from my expertise.”

“I never questioned your expertise, General. I just think that your priorities do not include Jolaj.”

She sighed. “I hope you will understand one day, that the safety and life of one person are not as important as the safety of our Union as a whole.”

I snapped back. “And I hope I will never develop such callousness. Our Union will defend its weakest, smallest member with the combined might of all. This is our mantra and our philosophy, this is my philosophy. Yes, I must send members of my crew into danger. I am told that a CO must be prepared to sacrifice everyone and the ship if needed. It might surprise you, but I am indeed prepared to do just. It will however always be the very last option. I have long decided to do whatever it takes to keep my crew, each and every one as safe as possible and I will never accept defeat or give up on any of them.”

She changed the subject. “Let them come aboard and let me deal with them.” After a slight pause, she added. “I am on your side, please.”

Six Togar guards led by a female officer came aboard and went straight to the small command center. Togar did not use the term bridge.

The female guard made a gesture of honor and greeted Cherubim who of course still wore her disguise.

“Contessa Syniaj of Chalura is it?”

“Indeed, and this is my daughter Hanaj.”

“I had to consult the system, I must confess. I never heard of Chalura, but of course, now I have.”

“And what is this about? I have been to Togr many times, never had the Queen’s guard found it necessary to collect the landing fee directly.”

“Your planet is truly very distant and in a region of space I did not even know was still considered Empire. This is why I think you may not know about the escaped criminal, the pretender claiming to be the White Fur. This is why we must search every ship.”

“Be my guest, this ship has no room for stowaways, not that there were any visitors to Chalura lately that could be the source of such a stowaway.”

The guard woman laughed the guttural Togar way. “No, we are quite certain the traitor did not run or escape in that direction. It is just orders and routine.”

Cherubim produced a pack of vacuum sealed bacon and handed it to the guard woman. “We came to see the confirmation of the queen and do some business afterward.”

“Malmoru be praised! There hasn’t been any bacon on the market lately, with all the Union troubles.”

“Union? Aren’t they part of the Big Four. We are much more concerned about Oghr affairs in our parts. I think that is where the Oghr get the bacon we buy.”

The guard Togress blinked with her yellow eyes. “That makes sense, of course, learning where Chalura is. I make sure your ship is well guarded.”

She then pressed her paw on the PDD she held. “You cleared customs and inspection of course.”

Moments later the guards left.

Roghor grunted. “That’s why we are doomed, no Union border guard could be bought with a pack of food. Here we are on the Crown World, and they didn’t even check our identities.”

Cherubim slipped into a richly embroidered overcoat that matched her luxurious golden outfit. “Don’t sell your society short like that. It is very hard for spies to really get a foothold here because this is a one species society. The Togar are quite resistant to suggestive psionics and can easily smell if you are not a genuine Togar.”

Rog had to agree. “But you two smell very genuine and the Captain smells like she is on the brink of...” He stopped in midsentence.

“I don’t smell anything and I am on the brink of what?”

Cherubim laughed. “Roghor, no other society can rely on the Shaill. Our mollusk friends added scent nodules to these costumes that could fool the Brugho cats of the Silkla.”

“What are you guys talking about? I stink in some fashion?”

Roghor explained. “Captain, we Togar rely as much on scents and sounds as you humans do on visual appearances. Our sense of smell is much more sensitive than that of a human. We only mate when the female emits a very distinct scent. A fine Togar nose can tell that you are about to enter that three-week phase.”

“I am what?”

Cherubim laughed. “Almost in heat.”

“That is a rotten thing to do. Make me smell horny and all that.”

“Don’t look at me, Erica. Your costume came from Deepa and it is even more perfect than mine. Your ears and tail language is perfect.”

I promised myself to ask Deepa about that and also got up. Rog handed me a short black leather jacket and while I put it on, I asked. “So, where are we exactly and how do we get to that Grotha place?”

Rog pointed to a mountain range in the South. “These are the Kreigha mountains, meaning we are north of Hi Togr, the capital city. This part is called the Brugho District. As the General mentioned, the traditional region of a Togar subspecies with a legendary sense of smell. We are almost a thousand standard klicks from Grotha, which is an island in the Ocean to the West.”

He held out a pair of long leather gloves for me to put on. “There are flier and boat services that take approved visitors to the island.”

The gloves had open fingertips, apparently for the retractable claws. “Approved?”

“Security is always tight, because of the Queen being there, but I imagine it will be even tighter now as they want to prevent our snowball to get there.”

Cherubim said. “You need to be on a list to be able to go to the island. Do you see now how difficult it is? Doing things by ear rather than careful planning is not always the best approach.”

“We’ll see about that, maybe I just swim there!”

The masked Togar dragged Jolaj along a windowless corridor. There were bodies everywhere, some wore official guard uniforms, others the same dark leather-like suits and masks just as the ones that dragged her along.

From the other direction, she could hear yells, shots, and screams. There was intense fighting going on. Neither one of the male Togar had spoken much or identified the entity they represented.

They weren’t very gentle either.

Especially the one she had kicked treated her quite rough.

When they came to an intersection, she realized they were already in Malmoru’s temple on the Grotha Island. When she was little she had been lost down here, this was technically not the old temple she had been born in, but there were tunnels and passageways that connected all the temples with the central temple mound.

Legend and religious belief claimed that this island was the very place where the Togar discovered fire and where the cat goddess Basu fought with the evil bird Horku. It was here where Malmoru the Lightray Spirit descended from the heavens on a golden bolt of light. Where he gave the Kanji his seventy-one commands of light and righteousness and where he mated with Kanji.

This blessed union between the spirit of light and a beautiful Togress produced Anomj, the first Innocent Fur. She became the mother queen and the first ruler over all Togar.

Togar history started from this event and was commemorated every annual rotation, with this sacred event of confirming the ruler. Back then there were kings and queens.

This all changed when Yarriour, the First supposedly gave him a daughter. This daughter named Yara according to ancient art-work had human features, except for the head and face which were Togar. She introduced a new goddess, by the name of Lehloran, the mother spirit.

Togar religion was reformed and many spirits were added, but Malmoru always remained the central and most worshipped of all spirits.

The very spot where his ray of light touched the ground became the sacred pool of light, and a fine column of smoke curled from this pit ever since.

All this flashed through her mind, as these legends and stories were part of her daily instructions as far back as she could remember.

Needle sharp spikes suddenly shot up from the floor and pierced both Togar with gory swiftness, but no spike appeared for her.

Her captors could not even scream, death was so fast and so sudden.

Before she even realized what happened three temple priestesses in full regalia appeared from a previously hidden wall door.

Jolaj recognized the leading female. It was the black pelted high priestess of the mother spirit herself.

“The mindless servants have received their just payment.” The priestess laughed triumphantly. “They have succeeded and delivered you into my hands!”

Jolaj lost all hope that she would somehow survive this, yet her voice was full of defiance. “You can kill me, but I am no longer alone. My captain will come and make you pay.”

“Oh be silent, stupid little girl, no one will come for you. We are on Togr, whatever false hopes you have are as stupid, as you are silly. You are a tool, a pawn nothing more.

The Union will blame the Queen for your demise, I will offer her to them. They are appeased and all that is Togar has a new queen that is also the High Priestess.”

The black-furred Togress gave her companions a sign to grab Jolaj. “Don’t worry, it is the queen who will personally toss you in the light pool.”

The priestess that took hold of her left arm cackled. “There is no holy secret in that old hole, just bubbling acid, heated by volcanic thermics. You won’t last a minute and all that beautiful soft fur of yours dissolved with the rest of you.”

The one to the right said. “You die before the eyes of billions. That silly white fur spook will end right there and then. The High priestess validated, revealing herself as the leader of the rebels blaming the old queen.”

The black priestess kept on laughing. “I guess the prophecy comes true after all. The poor white fur sent to defeat Darkness, but white dies and black reigns supreme.”

The old priestess was petrified with fear and sheer awe.

Malmoru had come and he had stepped from his pedestal. His voice was indeed that of a god, as it resonated not only in her ears but filled her mind with an overwhelming presence. “Where is Jamalj? Where is my daughter?”

The old priestess finally managed to move and she dropped to her knees and burrowed her face between her hands. “Malmoru...”

The god spirit howled in anger as he looked into the old Togress mind. “They tortured Jamalj to death?”

Alarmed by the loud booming voice, a priestess of the mother spirit and six temple guards rushed in and stopped in their tracks as they saw the eight feet tall magnificent male Togar cat surrounded by a halo of brilliant white light.

The priestess of the mother spirit gasped. “She spoke the truth...”

She and the six guards rose into the air.

Malmoru boomed. “Oh, what filth has permutated my people!”

“Have mercy, we didn’t know gods exist. I will worship you.”

The six guards and the priestess died, as tendrils of pure light snaked around their necks and strangled them.

Malmoru paused, raised his head and bellowed. “The Dark One is here, but he is not yet fully restored.”

We managed to hire a flier, what an offer of hundred coins Iridium of another Togar could not accomplish, a vac pack of bacon did. The flier operator told us, that there wasn’t a boat or flier left. This was more than just another confirmation, he told us. This was the day of the White Fur’s twenty-third anniversary. This was the day she was to supposedly appear before the pool of light and be verified by the spirits themselves.

There were still skeptical voices among the Togar, convinced that religious prophecies never came true. Yet, the word on the street was, that the Innocent White had returned to Togr, despite being hunted as a traitor and impostor by the queen herself.

We made good progress. I could already see the island, the many temples of Togar architecture and the truly alien temple mound bathed in golden light.

The mound seemed to be a structure, a temple that had been carved right out of a mountain. Or maybe it was indeed that big of a building.

The air was filled with thousands of fliers but none of them made any progress and now our flier slowed down and stopped hovering in mid-air.

I cursed and demanded to know why we weren’t getting any closer.

The pilot raised his hands. “Apologies I offer. The queens’ guards have just issued a no approach command, they warned everyone and threatened with lethal force.”

He raised a big view screen. “It was just announced the White Fur is here indeed and the ceremony is about to start. You can watch it here.”

I pointed at the pilot and said. “Commander, make sure he stays put and reports to no one.”

“Aye, Captain.”

Cherubim with alarm in her voice said. “We came just a few moments too late ... Hey, what are you doing?”

“There is still a chance. I go ahead, try to follow as soon as they let you in.”

With these words, I jumped over the chest high sides. “Tyron, fins.”

I hit the water head first and like a spear went past the waves.

The water wasn’t really cold and I opened my gills, the water tasted less salty than the oceans of Nilfeheim, but was perfectly breathable.

My reckless jump from a flyer hovering about fifteen meters above the ocean surface was actually quite stupid and almost killed me. The ocean was quite shallow and really just about deep enough for me not to collide with the sandy bottom.

Tyron said into my ear. “I can propel you faster than fins.”

“Can they detect it, or hear it?”

“Togar tech is even more primitive than general Union tech. I can cloak us, too.”

“Go!”

Har-Hi unconsciously took the same at the edge of the seat position as the captain sometimes did when she was agitated or worried. The Tigershark looked like a Togar trader, they opted not to fully cloak. Even the advanced cloak could not mask the matter mass shock, any object created when dropping out of Quasi. Har-Hi didn’t want to risk a Togar alert reporting an invisible phenomenon.

They had assumed a parking orbit around Togr, just another ship of hundreds that did the same. There were orbital platforms, artificial satellites, and stations. Surprisingly no one paid any attention to them.

Shea and Elfi had already put on Togar costumes, Har-Hi sighed and pulled the warm bioflex mask of a red pelted Togar over his own head and waited a few seconds until the living tissue had bonded with the rest of the costume.

Lieutenant Senhadjii being on the bridge, also wore a Togar costume said. “We must limit our exposure to real Togar as much as possible. The costumes are visually perfect, but none of you know how to body act like a real Togar, and while I am sure I can be convincing in that regard. I don’t think our costumes have the right smell.

Suss, the Cat shook her head. “Whatever the Togar expect to smell, I have no idea but you guys smell like fresh bioflex masks, various perfumes, and human scent.”

Narth said. “You can smell all this from back there?”

She nodded and Ak Fectiv said. “Attikan noses are just as sensitive. I can identify everyone of this crew by smell alone.”

“Even Cirruit or SHIP?” Shea asked.

“Cirruit uses a chrome metal polish, and SHIP uses the same perfume as the Captain, but has no added human scent.”

Har-Hi grunted. “You could have told us that before we put on these fancy skins.”

Mehdi said. “I just came up to the bridge to do exactly that. No one asked me before.”

Elfi said. “We are stuck in orbit anyhow. All ships, us included were told that all landing activity is suspended until after the ceremony.”

Cirruit said. “We could use the Matter Elevator.”

“Do you know where to go?” Har-Hi said with frustration in his voice.”

“Not exactly.”

Xon said. “We just wait for some big explosion or something similar. That’s where she’s going to be.

TheOther said. “Why don’t we hail her?”

“Because she is undercover and if she forgot to silence her communicator, we might give her away and put her in danger.” Har-Hi said. “Narth can’t you reach her?”

“We are too far for me to pick her thoughts, but I sense she is extremely angry.”

Sobody said. “Anyone want to change their bets?”

The Queen had arrived at the temple mount. Surrounded by even more guards than usual. She was right away intercepted by the High Priestess and her entourage of temple guards and priestesses. Because the entire planet was watching, and eventually reach all Togar worlds, she made the appropriate motions of devotion and respect.

The black pelted priestesses wore her full regalia and was no less spectacular than the queen. After the formulaic greetings and welcoming the Queen to the Temple for her annual confirmation, she said. “Queen, Tobaia the magnificent. Sovereign of all that is Togar welcome indeed. The spirits will soon speak to me through the sacred smoke as they always do, but this confirmation celebration is more significant than all the ones before.”

She made an artful pause, mainly to make sure all the image takers had time to focus on her. “Indeed this is a most significant event.

The spirits themselves have delivered the impostor in our hands. The one claiming to be the Innocent fur herself is here.”

That was not exactly news to the queen. She knew the White Fur had been brought back to Hi Togr, but that the High Priestess had captured the white one was indeed disturbing news.

Her own guards and agents had closed in on the dissident groups that abducted the young Togress had already closed in.

Despite all her bluster and self-felt importance, the Queen was not only well aware of the Union deadline, but she and her advisers were quite certain that the Union Assembly’s ultimatum was not just empty bluster.

Openly she did not reveal her thoughts, but declined her head ever so slightly. “Then let us not waste the gift of the spirits and put that pretender under lock and key.”

This was the first time, the High Priestess openly opposed the Queen and said. “Your magnificent highness, all Togar is not interested in appeasing those Union bullies. No, this is a matter of religion and our sacred fate.

The white fur was to be tested and it will be the Spirits that exact true punishment.

You are our highest defender, oh Queen Tobaia. It is your sacred duty to punish the pretender, not by the hands of mindless brutes and a pool of water. Will, you not accept this your highest calling and punish the pretender that plotted to assassinate you on top of all?”

Hundreds, no thousands of eyes were on the Queen, and billions more via remote viewers. The queen knew she was boxed in and outmaneuvered. Even her most loyal guards were deeply religious.

“My task is clear and I thank you and the spirits. I will send the pretender into the Pool of Light and expose her to the wrath of the spirits.”

The High Priestess could not completely mask the triumphant feeling from her voice. “The smokes this traitorous body will produce will carry most profound revelations indeed.”

I crawled out of the water. The shoreline of this island was not sand, but concrete and stone. There were lights everywhere, and little in terms of cover. “Engage cloak, Tyron.”

There were thousands of Togar past the shore wall.

Tyron said. “Captain, the event has started. I am monitoring the broadcast. They have Jolaj and she will be thrown into some kind of pool. It is not water, from what I gather.”

Then everything happened quickly.

The wall of a nearby temple burst in an explosion of light and a seven-foot-tall Togar appeared. He was almost as massive and muscular as Hans. The being glowed brightly and stomped directly towards me, with an even brighter glowing sword. “Dark One, it is I Malmoru. I will stand against you! You cannot hide from me, I sense you!”

I rose to my feet, my ring also glowed dark red. I could feel my brother coming to the surface of my mind. “This is no mere Togar, but an entity.”

I said with urgency. “Tyron, I must face this thing. Separate yourself and find Jolaj.”

“Capt ... yes at once.”

Tyron flowed of my body and disappeared as the suit cloaked.

My next response was no longer mine. “Nay, Malmoru. I shall hide from no one. Come ye and receive what is the price all must pay. Vengeance is mine!”

The black shroud flowed around me and Bereaver grew in my fist. “Resurrection has not been completed, but I am no longer an impotent shadow.”

All around us was panic; Queen’s guards and palace guards responded and fired both on me and the lion-headed entity.

The shroud protected me like the finest Atlas suit, I did not feel the heat of the blast and the boots I suddenly wore, stood in liquefied concrete and stone.

But I was not yet fully incarnated, I was still burdened with the weak human body of my human origin, this is why I was quite relieved the Togar did not use Union style TKUs.

My mind had become a strange amalgam of Eric aka the Dark One and me. I did not fight or oppose him, this like the Malag I faced not so long ago were clear out of my league.

I wondered where that thing came from, wondered about the fact that this apparently was something like a real god. He extended dozens of tendrils of bright light, that like cables of a whip hit a number of attacking fliers and rendered them to burning scrap that tumbled and crashed around both of us.

Two of these light whips reached out for me. More out of instinct I swiped my ax and it cut them without effort.

It was not me who was now in control, as a bolt of black flames engulfed several Togar guards rushing close. The effect was sickening as they instantly withered to skeletons and then crumbled to dust.

“It is fair to say our captain is doing something,” Mao said with his eyes glued to his scanners. There are energy readings that are off the chart, right at what I think is their holy temple island.”

Elfi added. “Their news agencies are full of conflicting reports. Some speak of a Rebel attack; others claim their god Malmoru has appeared in person fighting an ax-wielding shrouded being. And some claim the Union is attacking.”

Har-Hi still wearing his Togar costume, sans the headpiece grunted. “My money is on the axe-wielding option.”

Xon also monitoring communications said. “They have Jolaj. She is being dragged to their main temple hall.”

Mao again spoke with alarm in his voice. “Sensor contacts! A large fleet of unknowns just dropped out of Quasi and they are firing on Togar ships.”

Shea rushed to her console. “The unknowns apparently using ships of organic origin. There are quite large and have sophisticated shields of considerable strength. I am still trying to figure out what kind of weapon these things use.”

The Central Commandant of all Togar forces, the sister of the queen was overwhelmed by the reports of a gigantic fleet of never before seen bizarre looking ships. Their apparent tech level clearly way above Togar. All she was certain they weren’t Union.

Togar missile fire was absorbed by greenish shields, while continuous beams of dark red light cut through Togar shields and ships.

“Can we hail them? Who, what are these things?”

An ugly looking worm-like being wearing an alien organic looking battle suit appeared on the viewscreen. “Hey youz stoopiz Togrz, youz takez a frienz ofz minz. Stoopiz Unionz saiz noz declarz the warz. Pffz! Meeze declarz warz. Meeze makez all Togrz goez awayz and eaz ze rezt unlez youz givez the sweez Joolaiz!”

Har-Hi’s chin dropped to his chest, being as utterly flabbergasted as the rest of the Tigershark crew.

“Meeze?”

There was not much left alive in the immediate vicinity. The glowing Togar god was emitting bolts of devastating, all-consuming light, that rendered everything except me instantly to ashes.

I thundered. “I promise to kill you and send you to the realm of the Judge, but can we not postpone this? I am in a desperate hurry to save Jolaj.”

My axe cut his sword to pieces. “While you don’t care for her, despite her supposedly be your daughter. She is in mortal danger!”

Malmoru stepped back in apparent surprise. “You are the Dark One! You want to save my daughter?”

“She is my friend. Now yield and die, I have no time for this.”

“I came to protect my daughter from you!”

“Jolaj has nothing to fear from me, she is in mortal danger because of a jealous queen and priest cast. If she is harmed, I will not stop until there are no Togar.”

I stomped forward; with a gesture of my hand I deflected another tendril of light. “You will be the first.”

I raised my axe. “I yield, Dark One! Jolaj is paramount.”

The Queen, the High Priestess, and the many officials gathered in the Chamber of the Pool of light. Heard about the terrible fight outside and they all believed it was an attack of dissidents. They had beaten her and soiled her white fur partially with cheap dyes to make it look as if the white fur was nothing but a disguise.

The High Priestess yelled quick majesty throw that pretender in the pit. She dies and the spook ends. No White Fur, no rebels.”

Jolaj had been suspended on a hook over the illuminated hole, where stinging wisps of vapor gave evidence of the deadly soup of bubbling acids about ten meters below.

The Queen was in a considerable panic, but she agreed with the Priestess and rushed forward and pushed the release, opening the hook.

A scream of otherworldly rage thundered through the hall, the Queen, the High Priestess, and the present officials stared in disbelieve at the bright glowing Togar appearing in a bolt of light.

Malmoru, the Light Spirit was real and he was here. They just killed his daughter.

The Lightray Spirit had not appeared alone, a midnight black Togar cat wearing a black shroud and wielding an archaic battle-axe had appeared too and stormed forward. Guards withered away in screaming agony as black flames consumed them in terrible quickness.

“To the darkest pits of the Netherworld with you.”

The Queen’s head was severed from her body with a powerful swing of the axe.”

Malmoru grew even bigger as he bore down on the High Priestess. Her helpers were strangled by glowing light tendrils. She shivered and proclaimed with a shrill voice. “Gods exist! I am the High Priestess...”

“You defiled this temple, killed Jolaj’s mother and now my daughter.”

Jolaj felt something encasing her, just before she plunged into the scolding acid soup churned by volcanic heat, but nothing reached her eyes or mouth. Her arms and feet suddenly free, she first believed she had died and existed as a bodiless spirit, but a voice in her ear said. “I got you, Snowball. The captain and the crew would never forgive me if I came too late.”

“Tyron?”

“Yes, Jolaj. We tried to come as fast as possible despite a lot of hurdles. Sorry for cutting it that close.”

Jolaj, not even realizing she was still submerged in boiling acid cried in relief. “You came! I almost lost hope.”

“She gave you her word, remember.”

“The captain is here?”

“She’s up there having a word with your father I think.”

Just then a bright light tendril lowered the High Priestess who screamed in agony, slowly into the boiling acid.

I just saw Jolaj wearing a gray tight-fitting suit floating out of the pit. Saving the life of the Togar official I was just about to decapitate. “Jolaj!”

At the same time, a series of thundering booms and bright flashes announced the arrival of six heavy armed Togar cats, wearing the Silver Streak versions of Atlas suits that were made to look like alien pirate armor.

That the six were not really Togar, became apparent even to me. The tallest of them had a bright red pelt and had Dai swords on his back. I was certain I knew who was hiding under that Togar outfit. The voluptuous shaped golden fur with black dots and a charming white belly pelt was without a doubt, Shea. That the black cat with a hood drawn deep over the head was Narth, I was similarly certain.

Har-Hi in his disguise looked at the carnage. “Again?”

A uniformed Togar ran in. “Where is the queen? We are being invaded by big worms!”

Har-Hi gave the glowing Togar god a side look and said. “Captain, you won’t believe who just showed up with a massive fleet of alien ships, Meeze!”

“Meeze?”

“We thought he stowed away with you.”

“Can we hail them?”

“Yes, Elfi can make the connection. He is hailing the Togar anyway.”

It took a moment and Har-Hi handed me a bigger Com Unit, a field screen established and it did show one of the scavenger worms we had encountered in the Leo II galaxy. To me, they looked all alike and I was not sure if it was indeed Meeze.

The worm immediately spoke.”Ze timez iz upz. You stoopiz Togarz givez me the Jolaj or weeze killz allz!”

“Meeze is that you?”

“Yeez ize meeze.”

“Still got your GalCom communicator?”

“Pffz, Togarz havz no GalComz thaz forze fleez.”

“Meeze, forget what you seeing. I am Captain Olafson and I am ordering you to use your damn Comm Unit so I can be sure it’s you. Jolaj is safe, we got here just in time.”

The screen went blank and a moment later a safe GalCom connection with Meeze’s MITI data confirming its identity was reestablished.

“Ize youz ze Captainz. Jolaiz iz good?”

Jolaj with her cute white cheeks still wet from tears stepped close. “Yes, little Meeze. They came for me. I am so proud of you.”

“Jubilaz anz happinez, Meeze zoh happiez, Sweezie Joolaiz iz backz!”

I interrupted. “Mr. Meeze, can we discuss that big fleet and where in the hell did you go?”

“Pffz, maybez sometimz. Me senz zents the Magolax bacx anz ze Vikarz wanz goez zo ze Azembly. Canz I comez zo ze Tigersharkz backz?”

I sighed. “Yes, but you are not of the hook, we need to discuss that in more detail.”

“Meeze poorz wormz youz speakez of ze hookz, meze knowz humanz fhisiz withz ze hookz”

The connection was severed.

The huge glowing Togar stared at Joolaj. “The prophecy came true. Even I could not believe it, how could you stand against the Dark One? You never stood against him, but the Dark One stands with you!”

Jolaj blinked with her big green eyes and then curtsied. “You are Malmoru, you are really my father?”

“I am, child. For you must have been born to fulfill that prophecy. You are the exalted Togress and the living daughter of Malmoru. You are the rightful queen

She swallowed. “Father, I am Togar by race. I care not about the Togar and do not want to be Queen. I am Lieutenant Grotha of the United Stars Spatial Navy.” She made a gesture pointing upwards. “I think my ship is somewhere up there and there is where I belong.”

She added. “I don’t care about White Furs and prophecies I know nothing about.”

Roghor came through the main entrance. Roghor held a Togar energy blaster and had several burn wounds. He stopped in his tracks. He was still dripping wet and stared at us.

I rushed towards him. “Commander, are you okay.”

“Yes, Captain. After I saw the fighting, I followed you. I am not a good swimmer, and I had to fight but now everyone outside is confused and shocked. No one dares to come closer.”

The glowing Togar god also approached. “You are Roghor!”

My friend and crew member bowed and went to his knees. “Malmoru!”

“Rise Roghor, you are of the royal line. My Togar need guidance and you are direct offspring of the Lost King.”

Malmoru the spirit stood next to me, at the steps outside the Temple Mount. Tens of thousands of Togar had gathered below and all were kneeling and bowed deeply.

“You are the Dark One, but you have not risen yet. Thy purpose and power are beyond me to understand, but I sense you are not what all creation thinks you are.

They call you friend and reject royal duties to follow you.”

“My path is still obscured and I cannot see it until more of me is united with me, but friendship and loyalty are not alien to me.”

“I will remain with my Togar, to rebuild a new society that embraces everyone, and until we have found the Lost King. Upon your recommendation, I will review what this Union is and if we too should join that society.”

“That is a decision every society must make on their own. The Union does not invite or advertise membership, but I am certain they will openly welcome an application.”

“A better argument for such a decision cannot be made.”

“I will not reveal you, but the one called Lummis is at Avondur seeking the weapon that defeated you before.”

Chapter 12: New Mission
I ordered my friends and crew back to the ship. Malmoru had instant and unquestioned authority and no one asked any questions.

The word was, that the White Innocent Fur had indeed prevented the darkest spirt from causing the demise of all Togar.

The dark spirit, so the word among the Togar was, had manifested itself in the High Priestess. Something that fits well with the beliefs and also apparently resonated well with the rebels and dissidents. The demise of the Queen, by the hand of that dark spirit, was seen as a validation of the past prophecies.

The appearance of their highest god and spirit had been witnessed by millions and sent the cats of Togar in a religious frenzy.

The glowing Togar god officially appointed an interim steward and took on the form of a mortal Togar to pose as that steward until the Lost King could be found.

Cherubim had contacted the Admirals and they confirmed that the abducted Union citizen was back safe and sound.

Malmoru actually shook my hand as I too was ready to board the Tigershark. “Those who expect you to be the same evil entity as you have been are wrong. I pledge my support to you Dark One, even though what need do you have for that?”

I kept holding his big paw. “No, indeed the Dark One has no need for alliances and pledges of support, but why not forget such pledges and simply give friendship a chance to grow. A concept that was missing in that First Universe.”

He declined his stately head. “That is a worthy goal indeed. I am an Elder of the Universe and I am guarding and hiding a token of yours.”

He suddenly held a tray on it an ornate cup, in a dark pewter shape. “This is Conscientia tenebris. It is yours I am certain.”

I reached out for it and as I touched it, my mind was filled with great knowledge. While the images and that knowledge was so far beyond me, I understood nothing. It was the essence of my brother who did and his presence was stronger than ever and his mind had reached levels that were truly immortal.

“Fear me not sister.”

“How can you share my mind and body and think that I am afraid? I am still Viking!”

He silently laughed. “Yes, sister indeed.”

I thanked Malmoru and boarded my ship.

The crew had once again assembled, each and every one of them and they all snapped inattention.”

They were all there.

I swallowed. “Mr. Hi are we complete?”

He seemed to fight a similar sentiment as he answered with emotion in his voice. “Aye, Captain. All 834 Officers, enlisted and marines are here. We are indeed complete.”

I looked at all of them. “Crew and friends, I know you technically earned some R and R, what do you think?”

Sobody said. “With all due respect Captain, keep that R & R and let us get some vacuum under the keel.”

They all cheered with an almost fanatic fervor. “Captain Olafson.”

--””--

A few moments later, I arrived on our bridge and said. “Mr. Xon take the Con and take her out. Elfi please contact Command and request an update on our orders.”

“Aye Captain.”

Har-Hi asked. “Where are you going to be?”

“I am getting out of this cat suit, have a nice swim and a good meal in our Den, and you, my friend need to get out of that red pelt yourself. You are not a very convincing Togar anyway.”

“Good idea and you are right.”

“Where is Cherubim? Is she aboard?”

Mehedi shook his head. “No Captain, she prefers her own ways and disappeared, most likely into a new identity.”

I was ready to leave the bridge when I almost tripped over Meeze.

“Oh right, Mr. Meeze. There are a few questions and a discussion we need to have.”

“Meeze? I wanz noz zo be on ze hookz.”

“Where did you go and where did you get that fleet?”

“Stoopiz admiralz noz wanz zo helpz ze Sweezie Joolaiz. So meeze takez shipz and goez to Quaraz and speakez zo ze bigz onze. Meeze wanz ze Magolax anz ze Vikarz, Meeze gez zem, simplez. Whyz youz askz?”

“And you think that explains it?”

“Yeez.”

“Who gave you a Union ship, where is it now and how did you manage to fly and navigate?”

“Admiralz makez Meeze, speciaizt. Meeze azkes forz ze shipz anz gez iz. Itz a littlez Scropionz no complicazed.” He sounded suddenly offended.”Whaaz? Yuz zink Meeze stoopiz. Meeze givez shipz backz zo ze Unionz az ze gatez. You zink me simpliz anz stoopiz wormz. Meeze livez forz ze longz timz az ze crucizible. Wheeze knowz technologiz of ze manzy!”

I could not help but be amazed, despite the hard to understand worm. I realized that he was way more than a simple scavenger.

The worm raised his upper body.”Nowz everzin ezplainzed. Givz me jobz, pleaze? Admiralz maze me memberz buz noz saiz waz.”

“We will get back to that, Mr. Meeze. There are far more questions, but I recognize your continuous dedication to members of this crew and going out of your way to help your friends. Therefore I am officially welcome you and accept you as a member of this crew. As for what position, frankly, I have no clue. Why don’t you tell Mr. Hi what department you want to be in?”

“Alrighz, Meeze tinkz abouz zat.”

--””--

I sighed deeply as I entered my quarters. I noticed that the bed was now made up for two, Shea had indeed moved in and I realized how much I had neglected her lately.

Just as I was thinking that she came in, still wearing her spotted fur costume.

She looked at me. “We are still lovers right?”

I embraced her. “I was just thinking about that. How much I have neglected you.”

“I knew it will never be easy between us. You are the Captain first and foremost and that is what you are. I just wanted to make sure we still...”

“Yes, we still are. I have changed much, meaning I know who I am now, and with that comes confidence and certainty. It is me, Erica, who loves you.”

She blinked, her intellect was churning my words, but her emotions won over and we embraced and she caressed me. “That fur is really soft...”

I did not go swimming but found myself in her arms and in our bed.

The Tigershark had left the Togar system and was now in Quasi space, our destination was Mildrus Edge, a Union colony with a small Union Fleet Outpost.

--””--

The man in the golden helmet and green cloak appeared human to Lord Lummis, but his senses told him that he was facing an entity of great power.

The man pointed towards the former city fortress and caravanserai of the Estresa tribe and merchant family. “Lord Lummis, we find a more pleasant place to discuss and converse inside. The Yellow wall is soon upon Sandakaar.”

Lummis and the man who had yet to give his name went back to the Estresa compound. While Lummis should have been immune to such things and had not been to Avondur or the city of Sandakaar for thousands of years, he knew what the man was referring to, and why the merchants and shop keepers started to shutter their shops and stalls.

This. until now very busy, apparently primitive market, started to clear, as everyone cleared the dusty hard packed dirt streets and aisles between the sturdy tents and stalls. The market had been crowded with beings of many shapes and sizes. Some were humanoid but humanoid shapes were in the minority. As diverse as the beings were so were their clothing and gear. A few sported modern, sophisticated looking armor and weapons while others wore anachronistic armor paired with swords, clubs, and spears. The only common theme was that they all were armed.

The host or proprietor of the rest tent, a somewhat humanoid dressed in colorful loose-fitting clothing with a beak instead of a mouth said. “Honored guests, you just made it in time. I am sealing the place. The Yellow Wall is rolling in a full hour earlier than usual, meaning it is driven by strong winds.”

Lummis sat down at the same cushion he had occupied before. The man took off his helmet with measured moves and sat down across Lummis.

The Lord of light said. “Would you give me a name?”

“I had many years over the past. I have known Sata and Corfic, why don’t you call me Ciferus?”

Lord Lummis jumped up. “You are a denizen of the Nether worlds and an agent of darkness and evil. I exist to banish creatures like you.”

“Sit down, Lummis. This is Avondur and by decree of the Seven Circles, neutral ground. I know your mistress abides by it.”

Lummis sat down but kept his hand on his sword. “What do you want?”

“The same as you, slaying the Dark One before he fully resurrects.”

Lummis watched as workers of the caravanserai placed steel framed transparent panels between the sturdy tent poles and locked them in place. The market square beyond was now deserted. Everything was boarded and shuttered tight.

Lummis hissed. “Is he not an associate of yours?”

Ciferus laughed. “For someone whose sole existence culminates in a confrontation with the Dark One, you know so little. Is it may be true that your legendary haughtiness is even more blinding, or did you somehow think this age will never dawn?”

“I exist to fight and destroy all that is darkness, including you. Now speak or leave.”

The demon lord or whatever he was laughed again. “Alright, Lord of Light. Your light has long been tainted. The one called PEAC left the Alliance even before it was really formed, the one entity that is truly the opposite of evil casts no shadow and has not been associated with Crea.”

Ciferus stapled his fingers. “When the Alliance formed by your precious Crea defeated the Dark One. The Nether Realms were without master and nine entities rose to claim these realms. I managed to conquer two and poised to take another one.”

Lummis made an airy wave. “And that means what to the light? Your struggles of the Nether realms are not even relevant to this the prime universe.”

“You are supposed to be an entity of great wisdom. I begin to lose the little respect I had for you. You are ignorance personified.”

“You insult me again and I care not what pacts of neutrality exist and I slay you!”

“This response proves my point. Crea and her alliance did not succeed in destroying the Dark One. He was promised revenge and resurrection. The very reason Crea felt it necessary to create you and a thousand schemes to prevent this resurrection.”

Ciferus and Lummis watched as a dense cloud of yellow dust rolled over the city. Turning bright day into a dark twilight, pounding the shutters and panels with gale wind force.

Ciferus continued. “Yet all the schemes and plans were unsuccessful, what can one even as powerful as Crea do against the will and promise of the One behind it all?”

Lummis was certain there were dark shapes within the billowing clouds of dust. “With all these lectures you have not told me what you want. You did not seek me out without a purpose.”

“When the Dark One resurrects he will reclaim the Nether realms and punish those who took advantage of his absence. I am as afraid as Crea of that day, thus if there is a weapon that can kill or stop that entity, I want you to find it.”

Lummis had to agree, that made sense and he said. “Where is that weapon?”

“If I knew, Lummis. I take it myself and do the deed. Let us go to the Sentinel of the Rifts and seek passage into the Realm of the Old Ones. It is said Invictus Rex, the first Emperor knows where it is.”

--””--

Mildrus Edge was a wet world, not the kind I found pleasant, but basically a big swamp and jungle ball. Due to its virtually non-existent axial tilt, the planet’s climate was pretty much the same year round and due to the fact it was on the closer side of the Goldilocks zone, there wasn’t a cool region anywhere, even the large ocean was a green algae soup.

From the base commandant, I learned that the local fauna consisted of slugs and snails in virtually all sizes.

According to our Shaill engineer a paradise and according to Meeze. “Noz zo baz az all.”

The rest of my crew, however, was glad that the base was sealed.

We didn’t have to stay long anyway. When we arrived a package of supplies, mail and munitions were waiting for us.

While Knnnkt, Wheeze and Huruf the Shaill enjoyed a little shore leave and the rest of my crew either helped with the supply and fuel transfer. I was sitting in my office with an open connection to Admiral McElligott.

He sat behind his desk and smoked his trademark pipe. “Next time, I think I put a few credits in Sobody’s pool. A Togar delegation just arrived at Pluribus exploring the possibilities and requirements of Union membership. Cherubim complained that you basically took over and turned her carefully planned intelligence operation into near chaos. Killing the Togar queen, conjuring up a fleet of the ugliest, most frightening bioships I have ever seen.”

He chuckled. “I warned her and so did your friend Stahl. Well, she is pleased with the results as we all are, but she swears never to take you on a clandestine mission again.”

I sipped from my ugly skull mug and said. “Good news then. Back working with the Science Corps now?”

“Yes and no, Captain. Thanks to your crew and that mentioned Science Department, we know the Ypeherix are behind these Shattered Worlds. Thanks to Eduk we also think this is related to the Seeders or the Earlies.”

He puffed a blue cloud of smoke. “You take that ship of yours on a tour of unexplored space in the Spinward sector and find out the reason why the Ypeherix do what they do. Find their planet of origin and solve that mystery for us. Seems that’s what you guys are good at.”

“Aye, so I give my helmsman a pair of dice to figure out where to go?”

“In your case, it might just work, but Eduk and the science corps have worked out a number of systems for you to visit. They used the progression pattern of the Ypeherix and worked it back. The rest is up to you.”

I had to admit that was a perfect mission. Combining science with exploration. “Thank you, Sir.”

“Just keep in mind while this is pretty much-unexplored space, it is the back side of the Galactic Council and we have no idea how far their reach might be into that region. So keep an eye open for any Kermac and GC activity.”

--””--

There was a confident professional atmosphere of excitement in the mission control center. The Lord Commander of the Skedrik Sky forces watched the many rows of technicians, engineers, system specialist, and mission control officer behind their high tech desks pressing buttons, talking into headphones and checking data and system status on monitors.

Behind the Lord Commander a small crowd of Info providers with cameras and commentators speaking into microphones, telling the billions of Skedriks glued to their tele viewers at home.

He then paid attention once again on the huge view screen in front of him and focused on what it displayed. There bathed by the glaring light of countless flood lights stood the proudest technical achievement of the Skedrik civilization. The first space warship, the Plobir na Tanga!

It meant avenger of Plobir in the old language.

The powerful 600 Engos tall tapered giant was the culmination of sixty periods of research and development and would be the tool to repay the Cavaro for their attack on Plobir.

Liftoff was scheduled for one hour after midnight. Exactly at the same time as the 100th anniversary of the Cavaro attack on the Plobir; or in one hour and ten minutes.

The Lord Commander could hear one of the Info providers reminding his audience of the significance of that date, not that he really needed to do this as every Skedrik knew about it and every detail was taught in school.

He could not help to pay attention to it anyway.

The commentator said. “Almost five hundred long periods ago we made radio contact with another sentient species in the closest star system to ours, the Cavaro. Everything changed from that day on. We finally had proof we were not alone in the universe. For centuries we were in radio contact with them, but since it takes radio waves and light over three long periods to reach them, Radio contact was the only way to interact with what we believed was a kindred civilization and friends to us. We freely shared everything with them and for a long period, we believed they did the same.

It was exactly a hundred long periods ago when our scientists discovered a method to travel faster than light. This discovery was immediately shared with what we believed were our friends.

We also began to build our first Faster Than Light spaceship to mount an expedition and visit the Cavaro for the first time.

Sixty-four periods ago the historic Cavaro expedition was launched to make the long journey. We never heard from this expedition again.

While our radio question to the Cavaro was still underway, a Cavaro space ship arrived here and requested landing permission to greet us all, but instead of landing and greeting us they detonated their ship right above our once so beautiful capital city Plobir. Killing 13 million including our beloved King Askried and his entire family.”

He paused as everyone did when reaching this part of the events to remember the terrible crime.

The Cavaro liars even accused us of destroying their ship and claimed no expedition of ours ever reached them.

We had no other recourse as to declare war on them and cease all communication.”

The commentator directed the attention of his audience to the warship shown on all tele viewers. “This is our answer. We will repay the Cavaro in kind and bomb their cities to ashes. Aveng...”

The Lord Commander was interrupted listening to the commentator as an Officer with fear in his face and utmost urgency in his voice reported. “Our radio wave scanners on Wurac base reported the detection of a fast moving object appearing fast at the seventh orbit.”

The Lord Commander paled. “The Cavaro!”

He raised the planet-wide alert. Security cleared the civilians out of the command center.

The population trained for this, begun to evacuate towns and cities and retreated into the underground shelters that had been built everywhere.

Missile batteries were activated and pointed skywards.

King Oskread and the entire cabinet rushed to the War bunker deep under the Kolrika Mountains protected by miles of solid rock and the King ordered to launch the warship right away. Not that it was any good. The ship needed weeks to accelerate and get close to the enemy to launch them. This was theoretical of course as ship to ship warfare was considered impossible. The missiles it carried were intended to hit planetary surface targets.

The Lord Commander calculated the time it took for the radio scanners to detect the enemy and the Wurac base on the sixth planet to deliver the report. It took over 52 minutes for radio messages from that base to reach Command.

The reported speed of the intruder was so great that it had to be close to the orbit of the fifth planet by now.

One of the sensor specialists handed him a report sheet. “Lord Commander these are the results of our size and mass calculations.”

The Lord Commander stared at the numbers. “This can’t be! According to this, the Cavaro ship is 1500 Engos long.” He, however, knew right away the calculations were correct.

The next message followed right after he received the scanner results. “Wurac base reports the intruder has slowed down to drift and is still beyond the sixth planet’s orbit.”

Now this message was harder to believe.

“Slowing down from 1900 Engos a second to less than ten Engos an hour in under two hours is physically impossible.” He exclaimed.

It would take several million nort units of energy, exceeding the energy outputs of all Skedrik power plants by magnitudes, and subject the ship to deceleration forces that would pulverize any known material and kill any living being.

The scanner expert double checked the results and could only confirm them.

He was just updating the King and his cabinet of the latest developments as his connection was interrupted by a display of simple white dots.

“Lord Commander we are being hailed by the intruder. It is transmitting simple mathematical sequences on all known frequencies. Every tele viewer and radio set receives them. The transmission is so strong it overpowers our own messages. There is no channel we can switch to that is not affected.”

Another specialist said with a voice edging on panic. “Millions of frequencies, every wavelength and with a sending power greater than that of our civilizations collected energy output.”

Could the Cavaro become so far advanced and powerful in only a few decades? All previous indication pointed to technology quite similar at best.

He reconnected with the king, using an old hard line communicator so he could finish his report.

The King asked. “Lord Commander, what are you making of this?”

“I am as unprepared as you, your majesty.”

“Hail them on the old Cavaro frequencies and ask them what their intentions are and continue to launch our ship. If we cannot stop them, we at least can repay them in kind.”

The Lord Commander gave the launch command and the first Skedrik warship lifted into space without the planned fanfare.

He was also preparing to hail the enemy as he received the next frightening report.

“The Cavaro ship has accelerated to over 1500 Engos a second and is approaching our world. If the Wurac information is correct. The enemy ship will be inside the orbit of the third planet only moments after we received this message,”

Another officer said. “Lord Commander we are being hailed by the intruder again. They have responded to our contact request on the same Cavaro frequencies we have used to hail them. They responded in clear language this time and have image data embedded in the message.”

The Lord Commander stood up. Straightened his uniform well aware of the gravity of this moment and the responsibility resting on his shoulders. He now had to talk to the same beings responsible for killing so many Skedrik. Beings that now returned to most likely do the same again.

He took a deep breath. Everyone’s attention was on him, it had become eerie quiet in the command center.

He nodded to the Communications specialist. “Enable the transmission and display the visual data.”

He expected to see a Cavaro. Gray skin, no hair anywhere. Large black eyes above a small nose and a small mouth. Unlike the Skedrik who still had the same short fur as the tree-dwelling Branch swingers had, that shared the same heritage as the upright moving bipedal Skedrik. They also shared the pronounced jaws and the big eyes with their non-sentient siblings.

He was not prepared to see a tall peach skinned being in a black uniform. That the being was female was instantly evident in the covered but prominent mammal glands. This alien female had very long golden fur framing her face.

She spoke in accent-free Kretka, the official state language of the Skedrik civilization. “Greetings, I am Captain Erica Olafson of the USS Tigershark.

I represent the United Stars of the Galaxies. We are on an exploration mission here in the Spinward sector to find evidence of an alien civilization known to us as the Ypeherix.

We come in peace and have no hostile intentions. Our sensors indicate that your planet may have several Deep Core seed pods. For that reason, we would like to ask your permission to conduct closer research and if confirmed remove these pods as they pose a potential risk to your civilization.

Of course, if you wish no further interaction and request our departure, I am by our customs required to comply and will leave your star system.”

The Lord Commander was prepared for anything but this. That the Aliens were not the Cavaro instantly evident. The possibility of other sentient civilizations besides the Cavaro was of course expected.

“Greetings, I am Lord Commander of the Sky Forces. We are the Skedrik and expected you to be of the Cavaro our enemies. I have no authorities to represent my people and therefore ask you to wait until my government can formulate a response.”

“Thank you, Lord Commander. We will remain at this position and await your response.

The Alien female nodded friendly and terminated the transmission.

--””--

The news of the Alien visitor spread like wildfire.

The King convened an immediate emergency conference calling experts and scientists to attend.

The King began his address. “To call the need for this conference is an understatement.”

He continued right away.

“We are visited by Aliens claiming to have peaceful intentions. The first time we made contact with others we paid dearly for our trust. I am your king but this is a matter that exceeds my authority to decide alone. The alien spoke about a danger to our civilization. Not that anything she said made sense to me, but I am of the opinion they would not have wasted the effort to come here for nothing. It, however, is important we find out what they are talking about.”

The Lord Commander of the Planet defense said.

“Whatever it is, it is a lie and a trick. I say coax them a little closer and we launch every missile. Making it their last.”

“How do you hope to do that?” The Sky force Commander wanted to know.” That Alien ship just bridged the distance from past the seventh planet to here in less than 40 minutes. They accelerate and decelerate at will from unimaginable speeds in moments. She will outrun your missiles.”

A member of the Physics Academy and one of their greatest geniuses looked up from his calculation device.

“Maybe we should simply ask them more questions and clarify what they want. Communication seems no problem. I have the feeling that we could not stop them if we had to anyway.”

The King gave each one of his advisory and experts a long look and cursed. “You supposed to provide me with answers or at least opinions. I called the finest minds of our people to an emergency conference and I get nothing.”

His Cabinet leader, a graying Skedrik advanced in age but usually not shy voicing his opinion meekly said. “What do you want us to say, your Majesty? We know as much as you. All our lives we prepared for a war with adversaries, not of our world. Today strangers showed up in a space ship that defies all our understanding of science and apparently the laws of physics itself. I tend to agree with our Lord Commander of defense. I do not trust them and frankly, I am terrified. On the other hand, I know the Sky force commander is correct. So the only option we have is talking to them.”

“But what will I tell them?”

“Nothing your highness. You simply ask for more information. I am sure they understand that this is a situation that requires more information exchange.”

The king agreed as he saw wisdom in that. “Let us call them.”

--””--

In his finest robes of state and the entire Skedrik cabinet behind him, he stood before the camera and stared at the still dark monitor. He gave the technicians his signal and the red light above the camera flashed.

“I am King Oskread, elected ruler of the Skedrik, calling the United Stars of the Galaxies ship.”

The screen immediately displayed the alien female, but not just her. She was standing inside a command center of sorts. To her right sat a demonic looking red skinned being and a being shrouded in a black garment, from head to toe. His face covered by a black hood.

“Greetings your majesty. I am Captain Erica Olafson of the United Stars of the Galaxies space ship Tigershark.” She more or less repeated what she had said during her initial call.

The King then said. “This is a profound event of the highest historical significance and I wish I could welcome you with honors, tell you about us and learn from you what you are willing to share.

However, we have welcomed and trusted aliens before and paid a horrible price. I hope you will forgive us for being cautious.”

“Your majesty, I represent a civilization of many, united by commonly accepted truths. Our highest laws protect the right of others and guarantee their liberty to decide in what fashion they chose to live. We do not conquer or press our way of life upon anyone.

This is your space and I will immediately and without hesitation leave. Further, if you so wish none of our ships will violate that space ever again.”

“As the King and leader of my people, I am responsible to keep them safe. The only previous reference I have to base my decision is the darkest event in our history. However, your arrival also confirms that the Cavaro are not the only other sentient beings out there. This realization is both exciting and utterly frightening and I must try to get as much information as possible. So I dare not to send you away.”

“I understand your majesty. Your people have ascended and opened the door to the stars. Once it is opened it can’t be closed. You will soon find out this Universe is teeming with life and full of civilizations that have done the same thing. Sadly not everyone has peaceful goals or intentions.”

“Do you know of the Cavaro?”

“Only what we gathered from your broadcasts and your information network. It appears a primitive TL3 society only about four light years from here. We have not encountered any of them so far.”

The captain listened to something the king could not hear and then said. “Our scanners have confirmed artificial energy and five artificial objects in the process of accelerating. If they are FTL capable they reach Hyper Jump transition speed in about a week.”

“You can scan and see that far?”

“Yes.”

“I made my decision. I want to invite you for further talks and face to face...”

The Lord Commander of Defense harshly intervened. “Your majesty you are not considering to let this lying brood of scheming aliens to remain?

Are you forgetting Plobir?

Are you allowing history to repeat itself? I am sworn to protect us even if I must against blind rulers!”

The King yelled:” Silence, I am still the king.”

However, the Lord Commander effectively split the cabinet into two groups. While most remained on the King’s side. Six gathered behind the Lord Commander of defense.

The King shook his fist. “I’ll have you arrested for treason.”

“I’ll have you removed from the throne for betraying your people.”

The Lord Commander addressed the Alien woman. “You are a not Skedrik. Therefore you are an enemy. Your vessel is targeted by thousands of our mightiest weapons.”

The Alien woman was not impressed so it seemed. “Well, it appears you people made a different choice. I can only accept such an invitation of the official local government. So I will depart now.”

The King interrupted. “Captain Olafson. I am still the King and this male is not speaking for the Skedrik.”

Guards entered the room and were ordered to restrain the Lord Commander, but they hesitated as the man yelled. “Our king has gone insane! He has invited the aliens to land!

We all remember Plobir! The crater is there.”

“These are not the Cavaro!”

“You have only their word. If you can prove that they are not Cavaro and not their spies. If you can convince everyone about their peaceful intentions, I place myself under arrest. If you can’t let me launch and destroy them before it is too late.”

The alien Captain sighed. “There is always one, now is there?”

She sat down. “Maybe the easiest way to demonstrate our true intentions and that I was truthful when I said we came in peace. You would not talk if I did not. Your majesty, I invite you to launch your missiles. One or all of them. Target us and after they have found their target we talk again.”

The King gasped. “You want us to destroy you?”

“I want to make a point and give you the proof demanded”

“More than one?” The King asked with a disbelieving voice.

“It makes no difference if you launch a few or all of the twelve thousand seven hundred and six you have currently pointed at us. My tactical officer suggests that you don’t launch the 4th missile of the Kauh mountain base. Its warhead will malfunction and explode on its rails.”

The Lord Commander angrily but with a surprised tone said. “How do you know such detailed information of our defense capabilities?”

“The same way we learned to speak your language by analyzing your communications”

“Your majesty let me blast these alien spies out of the sky!”

The Alien captain said. “Let him do it. If we cannot to come to pass I am forced to leave.”

The king frowned but gave the order.

The Lord Commander raised his fist in triumph. “Launch order for twenty Cavaro Destructors given!”

Twenty of the biggest and most potent Nuclear missiles streaked into the sky and left orbit.

The Lord Commander of the Skyforces expected the alien hip simply accelerate and move beyond the reach of the missiles.

The King and his now divided cabinet stared at the monitor still showing the alien captain. She yawned and another female with coppery red hair served her some kind of beverage.

King Oskread said. “Would it not be time by now to start accelerating. The missiles are almost there!”

“Your majesty if I wanted to evade them, I would not be able to make the point I want to make. Besides your missiles are far slower than I expected. They won’t be here for another hour. I think I’ll move a little closer to speed things up.”

The Alien ship traversed the distance in the blink of an eye and was now just about a million Mega-Engos away from Kedra the homeworld of the Skedrik.

The Skedrik watching could see their own weapons on the screens of the alien approaching fast. Yet none of the aliens were excited or prepared for their imminent doom.

The king however almost at the end of his nerves. “Do you see how honorable these visitors are, Krakead you fool. They are going to sacrifice themselves to give you the proof you wanted.”

Captain Olafson said. “Sorry our majesty, I would not exactly go that far”. The black-shrouded being said. “Impact imminent.”

Blinding white light washed over the screen, but the alien captain didn’t even spill a drop of her beverage. She then said, “Your missiles are not capable of stopping us. I didn’t even raise shields. King Oskread. Under shields, I could pass right through your sun. I have weapons capable obliterate your world or set in on fire.”

The Defense Commander was as speechless and shocked as everyone. “You came to destroy us!”

To the king she said. “He is a dense one. Do you think I waste time talking to you or let you shoot at me? You’d be destroyed, simple as that.”

The king said. “Arrest yourself Krakead and be gone. This is proof that they are truthful. They did not need to ask but they did.

To the alien captain, the King said. “Please accept my apologies and please accept our invitation.”

The King still stared at the now dark screen. Only know he noticed just how stressful the entire experience was.

–-””--

Shea did not look up from her readouts. “I am still analyzing their history and I am surprised it was so easy. They seem to have a wise leader. A culture shock like this could easily result in an even more paranoid reaction.”

Har-Hi grinned. “I am not sure it gets much paranoid than that missile slinging general.”

I got up and said. “I am not so sure I can condemn that Defense guy. He was preparing all his life for a very real threat. The only visitors they had before us certainly made his view and his reaction very understandable. I don’t think I would have acted much different in his case.”

Narth said, “It appears they biologically related to the Furze. A genetic examination might support my hypothesis.”

Shea agreed and pointed at the visuals she gathered from Skedrik sources. “Their adversaries, the Cavaro have more than a passing resemblance to the Freons. It might be interesting to follow up on that as well.”

“Now that be something, to find survivors of the Freon society.”

Narth corrected me. “Freon related species perhaps. United Earth was quite thorough in eliminating anything related to the Freon society.”

Elfi said. “I still think the real reason we Sarans joined with United Earth was to have Stahl on our side.”

We laughed but Har-Hi was quite serious. “In our case, it was certainly part of my father’s decision.”

As we spoke about that, I remembered the Freon we ran into in the Karthanian prison and I promised myself asking McElligott about that, especially now as the Karthanians seemed on a path to membership.

Then I asked Elfi. “Did we get anything in form of landing instructions?”

“No, just the permission to do so.”

“Alright, Shaka take us into orbit first and let us ask them where they want us to land.”

“Where are you going, Captain?” Har-Hi asked.

“Too much coffee and then I get myself into Dress uniform. “It’s not every day we meet a king.”

Sobody said. “You are meeting quite a collection of royalty every time you come on the bridge.”

“Details, Mr. Sobody, details.”

At the door, I almost ran into Cirruit.

“Captain. are you done mistreating the ship. There could have been some damage caused.” Of course, he was not serious but he made his best effort trying to sound like it.

“SHIP have I ever mistreated you?”

“Never!”

Cirruit pointed his finger in an accusing manner at the ceiling but said to me. “SHIP always sides with you.”

“Naturally she is my SHIP. Those pop rockets could not have scratched the hull. Now we have a Wurgus developed outer layer over the SII Neutronium film and the tetra compacted Ultronit beneath. Wasn’t it you who said we could check out the inside of a sun and not worry?”

“In theory, Captain.”

“Was any damage reported?”

“The paint might have peeled off.”

“We don’t have paint on the outer hull. The color scheme is material integrated,”

He could no longer pretend to be angry but said. “We do have perfectly good shields you know and your point would be the same.”

“And face the anger of my CEO for possibly causing the reduction of a percentage point of shield efficiency for an entire second?”

He laughed.

Har-Hi asked. “Do we land at all or use Tyron’s Invention again?”

Tyron added eagerly. “We could use the Transmatter Elevator again. The difficulties of last time weren’t of technical nature, just a slight miscalculation.”

“Appearing with the thunderclap of Thor himself at the most private location of the Grand Regent while he was ... well in a very important meeting causing him a heart attack while I had to explain was not just a slight miscalculation.”

“Well, we were allowed to remove the Ypeherix eggs.”

“I think we land, the locals are techno shocked already.”

Chapter 13: Alice
Our ship had settled down on its landing gear and Shaka powered down the Arti Gravs.

Har-Hi pointed at a large number of tanks and artillery pieces that had been assembled around the vast empty plane, that was designated to us as a place to land.

“I don’t think those are all for military honors. I think they are still quite nervous about us.”

Narth agreed with my XO. “To describe the entire planet’s population, the terms anxiety and fear would be on top of my choices.”

Mehdi occupying a multi-task console at the rear of the bridge said. “This is a First Contact situation. They are TL 3, we are close to TL 9. Their other first contact led to a catastrophe and generations of war preparations. The fact they let us land is actually a big step.”

Har-Hi sighed. “They shot at us with their biggest nukes, what makes them think tanks and artillery will do them any good?”

“It is a psychological response.” Mehdi started to explain.

I got up. “Well, no sense to make them wait and increase their anxiety. I can see their King and the usual bunch of officials.”

I looked around my bridge. “Har-Hi, Shea and Mehdi please join me in meeting them.”

“Waz abouze meeze?”

I noticed the worm creature curling up from a seat right next to Mehdi.

“Ah, Mr. Meeze have you decided what department you want to be in?”

Har-Hi rolled his eyes. “He wanted to be in the command team.”

“Yeeze, Meeze pretzy smarz, buz Daiz XOz saiz heze wanz noz takez ze orderz form Meeze. Meeze in ze kitzens wiz ze chefz.”

“I don’t have much time right now, but out of curiosity. I didn’t know the Galley has a bridge station.”

“Iz haz it nowz.”

Still grinning, somehow I could not get mad at that feisty worm thing. He seemed full of himself, but he was utterly confident. Seemed to fear little and I knew there was much more to Meeze than what meets the eye.

I tugged at my Uniform tunic and missed my Black Velvet outfit. Har-Hi handed me a pair of gloves and pointed at the readout field screen next to the airlock. “I know it isn’t Nilfeheim cold but it’s nippy and besides these gloves are regulation.”

Ak Pure called his Marines at attention then sent them out to the honor guard detail. Har-Hi, Shea, Mehdi and I followed down the ramp. While I did I realized we hardly ever used the IST shaft that was meant for this anymore.

The King and his entourage awaited us.

He actually bowed as we approached and said. “In the name of my people and our world Skedri, I welcome you.”

“Thank you, your Majesty. I am Captain Olafson, representing the United Stars of the Galaxies. Thank you for your trust.”

--””--

Alice watched the Captain and the officers she selected, leave the ship, then she checked her PDD for her duty assignments. The Tigershark kept Union Standard Time regardless where she was, according to SHIP it was early afternoon at the planet’s time zone where the Tigershark had touched down, but it was Six Hour late for civilians or 0101 hours for all Union military. Her shift had officially ended one minute ago and now she was off duty and went straight to her quarters, to take off the BDU, take a nice real water shower and then see what was going on at the Den.

She was now officially a midshipman, and per exception granted by the Admiral of the Fleet himself, she had spent her academy training aboard the Tigershark. She had to go to classes held by senior officers and now as other midshipmen rotate through all departments. Right now, she was in tactical and her immediate supervisor was Petty Officer 1st Class Simmons, a jovial and friendly fellow from a place called Harvest 12. Simmons knew everything about Directed Energy Weapons and not just Union weapons, but of virtually from every known society. Simmons never yelled or ridiculed, but he and everyone else told her that this was not how most of the rest of the Union Navy was.

She got a glimpse of that during the few months she did have to go to the regular academy after their first mission officially ended.

When she thought about that, she also remembered how it all begun for her, back on Sin 4.

She had been found by Papa Nestor, as a baby. More dead than alive between the rotting, vermin-infested waste of Trash Island. Alice had no recollection of her real parents, but she didn’t care. To her, Papa Nestor was the only father, the only parent she knew and loved.

The crew and the captain of the Tigershark had found them. Nestor became the planet representative for the Stik and the planet that was now known as Wooorld and the old name Sin 4 faded into history. Alice, who had tremendous psionic powers that manifested in telekinetic abilities remained aboard the Tigershark, primarily to stay with Narth who was the best psionic teacher anyone could ever ask for. Right from the start, she could lift enormous loads with what she called her invisible hands, but now she could threat a needle, sink a nail, bend a steel rod and lift a landing tank at the same time. She could disassemble that landing tank or any other thing in its components, just like a Narth. Narth was not done of course and he began to show her how matter on a microscopic level could be manipulated.

Thinking all this she had reached Deck 4, where the majority of crew quarters were located. Her quarters, Crew accommodation Dorm D4-12 was on the starboard side of the central deck corridor.

The Tigershark didn’t have designated midship facilities and her quarters were right next to the quarters of TheOther and Xon.

She shared her quarters with Tyron Suit, Jolaj and Sylia Sobur. While the Tigershark crew dorms were usually for four crew members. Her friend Dusty did not share with anyone, TheOther and Xon shared quarters but there really wasn’t room for more.

Jolaj had the privacy screen of her bunk turned on and was most likely sleeping. Alice had learned that Togar of all ages and both genders loved to take naps whenever they could. Besides Cateria, the stern CMO kept her staff busy and the Snowball was probably exhausted and perhaps catching up on sleep she didn’t get during her horrible ordeal.

But Ensign Sylia Sobur, the Thauran science officer had apparently just arrived herself and was in the process of getting undressed.

Alice knew Sylia’s biggest secret, the Thauran was of the noblest family of all Thauria. Her mother was a direct descendant of Rene Thauran himself, but Alice had sworn never to reveal that to anyone. Alice did not grow up on Union side and had no exposure or experience with other Union societies, but she was there when Sylia tried to hide from the Captain and she heard the Captain’s apology. Since then she had learned a lot about the Thaurans. Since then, the Tigershark crew received three more Thaurans and especially aboard this ship, it meant little from where you came or what you happened to be.

Alice shared the quarters with the Thauran for almost three years and had developed a deep friendship with the Blue skinned beauty.

Over the years, Alice had learned just how well earned that Thauran reputation was. Sylia had snapped at her more than just once and displayed almost unbearable arrogance, only to realize what she had done and felt deeply ashamed. Sylia worked hard on changing her Thauran ingrained nature.

Aboard the Tigershark it was easy and the Thauran officer was as loved and respected like any other person aboard. No one, including Sylia, doubted one second that the Captain would not do the same for her, what she had done for Jolaj.

Sylia smiled at Alice. “Done with whatever they had you do today?”

“Quite so. I just lingered for a moment watching the captain leave the ship to meet the locals of this Prim planet. PO Simmons had me pull a Level One on the Forward QP DEs of the Apparition.”

“Aren’t you tired of all this regular training stuff? You are the strongest telekinets there is, you could be in the PSI corps in a snap. No more maintenance.”

Alice peeled out of her Board Duty Uniform. “You are not serious, right? What if we would be stuck with busted QPs and the Captain asks me to fix them? Cirruit and Warner can do it with closed eyes.”

“I am a little bit serious, not much though. I was serious about the PSI corps.”

“PSI Corps is Army. There I could never become what I really want to be, a Helmsman. You know Shaka said I have real talent.”

“You are crazy, you know that. You would be a star at PSI Corps, there are millions of Helmsmen.”

“And one day I will be one of them.”

Sylia, now in her birthday suit went for the hygiene facility. “Tomorrow is your birthday right?”

“Well, the anniversary of the day Papa Nestor found me. We are too far from GalNet to call him and no one else will know.”

--””--

They had a big banquet organized and after Shea discreetly scanned the food offerings and signaled that it was consumable and not poisoned or toxic, we ate the bland fare that consisted of nicely presented fruits, vegetables, and boiled snakes.

The table was enormous and seated at least 500. The event was also apparently broadcasted by the local media.

It took me a little to get used to the suspended rope loop that served as a seat, but I managed. The utensils consisted of spoon like tools that, with a sharp serrated side to cut the food.

In all this, my mind took me back to my very first academy day and the formal dinner there. I remembered the Nogoll instructor and realized how comprehensive our training really was. That lesson so far back served me well now.

A Skedrik that was introduced to me as the Sky Commander worked up his courage. “Alien Commandant, female Olafson. Is it true you can see our enemies, the Cavaro?”

“Our sensors can detect their activities and we are able to monitor their communications.”

“We have no real intelligence, regarding them. Our first warship, the Plobir na Tanga has been launched to strike their capital city.”

“It is not really our business, but would not be meeting with them and talking things over be preferable? We have analyzed both communication streams and we think the events that caused the tragic catastrophe to your city were not intentional.”

An older cabinet member blustered. “We are done talking. The signals take years to reach them anyway.”

“I was thinking of taking a delegation of yours there, you talk to them and find out yourself what we suspect happened.”

“We are a tad faster than that, we could be there in a few minutes.”

--””--

The frequent storm, the locals called the Yellow Wall had blown over, and with a routine established for many thousand years, the residents of Sandakaar shoveled and brushed yellow dust and sand. Windows and doorways were opened.

And as always, a few usually newcomers that did not heed the warnings were caught in the storm and fell victim for the Yellow shapes, the shadows of something unspoken that dwelled within the billowing dust clouds.

The proprietor and employees of the old Estresa caravanserai also removed shutters and covers. Business as usual, the sturdy tent became busier as this side of the planet turned away from its sun and night was approaching.

Lummis said to Ciferus as they both poised to leave. “I have heard of this Sentinel of the Rifts, but to be truthful I heard little more than rumors. Is he associated with the Seven Circles?”

“The Sentinel of the Rifts has been on Avondur before Corflic and the Orlan arrived,” Ciferus answered. “It is said, he is the only one remembering the First Empire. As much as I like to be known as a person with great knowledge about these things, I too only rely on stories and hearsay about the Sentinel, but I know he is not associated with any of the Seven Circles. The sentinel lords over the oldest rifts. The ones in the Desert of a Thousand Doors.” The self-proclaimed demon lord snickered and added, “I know where the Sentinel can be found.”

“Why has Crea never mentioned this weapon? Would she not have equipped me with it?”

Ciferus made a hissing sound. “You are but a tool to the spirit of creation. Has she never found it necessary to speak to you about the first time the Dark One was defeated?”

Lummis could do nothing but shake his head and then with weak defiance he said. “Crea will give me what I need to defeat the Dark One.”

Ciferus pointed down the street and said. “It is a long way to the Sentinel. He can be summoned only at the Gateway Oasis, about five day marches from here.

It is late, and no caravan is heading out at this hour. Let us return to the Estresa, and I will tell you about the weapon and Crea and how it all started.”

Lummis agreed. He was the champion of light and a powerful entity. Yet he felt like a child sent out to perform a task he knew nothing about. “Yes, let us do that. The Dark One has still many Tokens to find and we have time.”

“We have time for you to hear the story but time is of the essence, Lord Lummis.”

The two returned to the Caravanserai and settled down. While they were served cold water, strong tea, and hot broth, the Demon Lord began to tell about events that occurred after the first Universe came to be.

--””--

Alice and Sylia decided to visit R deck instead of the Den. The Tigershark’s recreation deck was of course not as elaborate as on a Battleship and didn’t technically cover a whole deck, but was part of deck 4 and included the crew lounge. Ever since there was the Den, this lounge was not as busy as it would be on a regular ship of the same class and size.

But according to the board activity list, the Union Culture committee hosted a Saran festival night. The Saran members of the crew, under the lead of Lieutenant Commander Elfiatra, decorated the lounge, provided traditional Saran food and drinks, Saran music and dances. The event had started with a ceremony honoring Saran gods and was now well underway.

Both Alice and her friend had dressed in traditional Saran female costume, complete with wigs, makeup and revealing dresses of translucent white fabric.

The lounge was packed, everyone off duty seemed to be there. That the ship was currently sitting on a plane of an alien planet mattered little to the daily shipboard routines.

Everyone knew that Nefertiti Elfiatra was the daughter of the Saran Queen, but aboard the Tigershark, such things mattered little. Off duty, she was Elfi to everyone, but seeing her in all her royal glory hit it home to everyone that her status was more than just a title.

While Alice had little to no exposure to the Union, Papa Nestor had told her about the power and might of the Saran Empire. Sylia, of course, knew every detail. Her family considered themselves noble and was taught about the Saran queens and their vast influence.

Elfi’s true position elevated her far beyond even the Thauran Emperor. The princess however never made a big deal about it.

Jolaj apparently had changed her mind and also joined the event, appearing in the costume of the Saran cat goddess Bast, a white version of course and despite or because of her feline nature she was among the most beautiful females aboard.

With a screech, Fafnir winged its way across the room. Alice snatched him more or less right out of the air and petted the still growing black Dragon creature, much to its obvious delight.

Chef EEeeryt stood behind a buffet and served Saran food.

Elfi and two Saran officers stood with him, and the beautiful princess acknowledged everyone, with a charming smile and the traditional Saran pre-meal greeting. “RA provided, Sara enjoys.”

Alice found this especially nice and thanked the Saran Princess, repeating the words.

Someone said. “It is a shame our captain isn’t here. She’d enjoy that too.”

Elfi sighed with a charming smile. “She will join later if she can. Looks like the Skedrik are putting together a committee we going to take to the Cavaro. While we play shuttle; Shea, Narth and Dusty are fishing for the Ypeherix things.”

She raised the bowl. “As per Captain’s orders, shipboard routines are not to be interrupted. All Saran worlds and many other communities across Union space celebrate Queen’s Ascension Jubilee today. The USS Tigershark is a Union ship and so we decided to celebrate with all of you.” Elfi touched her forehead with the bowl and said. “RA provided, Sara enjoys. May the Queen be blessed with wisdom and health. May her reign be long.”

“Canz weze eaz nowz? Hoomanz talkiz and talkiz anz noz eaz.”

Alice had not seen much of the newest crewmember so far, but she burst out laughing as she saw that ugly worm thing wearing a small Saran wig and a traditional Saran gold and turquoise collar.

Elfi bowed. “Yes, Mr. Meeze no one said you can’t start eating while I speak.”

“Nowz ze tellez meeze.”

Alice took a bowl of Shakrath and added beef broth, meat cubes, and Dai spice powder.

“Youze beze carzefulz, ze redz powdrez makez burnz.”

Chef EEeeryt tooted amused. “My new and self-appointed food quality tester wiggled all over the place after eating a spoon of Har-Hi’s special condiment.”

“Itz noz funyz. Stoopiz Daiz! Makez ze stinkiz burnz too!”

--””--

A group of twenty Skedrik had been appointed to go and visit the Cavaro enemy, against the advice of his cabinet, the King himself was also coming along.

As he marched up the boarding ramp, I could sense he started to get cold feet.

“Your Majesty, it was just a suggestion and you can change your mind including your participation.”

He stomped on and said. “No Captain woman, I am just a little nervous. I have never been to space or inside an alien spaceship.”

As we passed through the airlock doors, the visitors were scanned and Fivecheer checked their minds just in case. He and his entourage almost bolted in panic as we all were engulfed in the crackling yellow energy curtain of the decontamination system. Something I have not even registered anymore. When they saw TheOther by the Airlock controls, two of them did run and I said. “I am sorry, I should have warned you about the decon procedures. It is a very strict observed protocol on all Union ships. We don’t want to introduce foreign and potentially harmful organisms to other environments.”

The oldest Skedrik, introduced to me as a senior scientist of sorts seemed impressed. “That actually makes a lot of sense. There is so much more to space travel than we imagined.”

“Well, we do it for a few thousand years, and some of our members do it for eons. Our society benefits from the experiences and knowledge of all members.”

I then gestured towards TheOther and added. “My crew has members of many species. Large, small, furred, naked, scaled and everything in between. I welcome you and will do what I can to help with that Cavaro situation; my science department is working on getting those planet breakers out, but if you display any sort of disrespect against any member of my crew. I personally kick you off my ship and go to the next planet on my list, have I made myself clear on that?”

The king made big eyes and a sign that he understood indeed.

--””--

Ciferus had settled across from Lummis once again and without much ado began educating the Lord of Light about events that happened many Universes and space times ago.

“No one but the One Behind it all knows how and why it all begun, but all that was and it had indeed a beginning. This beginning was called CRON, the first Universe.

There was no matter, no energy. It was a singularity in all aspects. No other universes, no hyperspace or Anti Verse.

In this singularity and by the creed of the One Behind it all a new concept was placed. The concept of duality. The RULE became the definition of this new condition. Absolute conditions became defined, Black and white, Darkness and light, life and death and so forth.”

Lummis knowing some of this remained silent and kept on listening to the Demon lord’s voice.

Ciferus acknowledged Lummis attention with a nod and continued.

“The One Behind it all endowed each of these prime concepts with a meta-consciousness in order to further the definition of each concept. One of these Prime Concepts was Light and it began to combine other concepts. Light, life, peace and so forth. Since the RULE was in effect, each time Light added an aspect, the opposite was added to darkness.”

Lummis felt confirmed and proud. “Then it is light who chose me!”

“You are surprisingly simple for an entity that supposed to stand against the Dark One. Keep listening and make your conclusions after you heard it all.”

Lummis swallowed a harsh reply and nodded. Ciferus sighed and went on.

“Now more complex came to be. One was Crea, the spirit of Creation and because of the RULE, an opposite entity came to be, the Dark One. Antiforce of Creation.”

The Demon made sure Lummis was paying attention, by pausing his narrative.

Lummis moved his hand. “Go on.”

“Crea criticized the One Behind it All for allowing the existence of bad concepts and argued that she would be a better singular force.

She called for a gathering of all entities with the aim to have all positive forces united in her and then strike against all negative forces.

The entity of peace argued that Creation is not necessarily always good and that negative things can be created too. The very idea of striking and destroying was negative and PEAC distanced itself.

Crea furious, managed to get the allegiance of several entities.

This group became known as the Alliance of Light. Crea herself visits the Urd, the Spirits of the Cosmos and steals, what is only known as THE WEAPON.”

Now Lummis shifted his position and leaned forward.

Ciferus kept on speaking. “Crea not willing to strike herself creates a new entity and calls it Force of Destruction, and makes him the first warrior.

This entity leads a band of others against the unsuspecting Dark One. He does not break the Rule and before he can mount a defense within the boundaries of the RULE he is struck with the weapon.

This act breaks the RULE and the One Behind it All intervenes. The Dark One is divided into 12 meta symbolic tokens and is promised resurrection in the last Omni-Verse when all concepts have been established and the Dark One is empowered to make the DECISION. The Dark One is to restore the RULE with a new foundation. Singularity, Duality or Trinity.”

Lummis had never heard this part before and asked. “Where does Crea fit in?”

Ciferus laughed. “Your precious Crea was stripped of much of her might. Some were given to the Spirit of the Universe and some manifested in lesser entities. She was exiled to her realm, never to interfere again. She defied these conditions again, by creating the Brothers of Sateer and then you. The One Behind it All angry at that gave the Dark One permission to exact revenge against all who conspired against him. The Dark One once resurrected will be truly omnipotent and only behind the One. Crea is terrified of this and frankly, so am I and all the other Netherworld lords who have used the Dark One’s absence to take over what was and is rightfully his.”

Lummis shivered involuntarily and for the first time in his existence, if entities like Crea and Ciferus were afraid, should he not also be?

He said. “He is not resurrected yet and if we can find this WEAPON, all this can be prevented.”

Ciferus nodded but did not tell the Lord of the Light, that he intended to be the next vessel of the Dark One.

Aloud he said. “Tomorrow we will ask the Sentinel.”

--””--

Har-Hi who had given the king and his entourage a tour of the ship ended it in the Den. The group of alien visitors had become very quiet. All their existence, they felt superior and were proud of their technology. They understood very little of what they had been shown, but they understood just how primitive and insignificant they really were.

The King finally found words and thanked the tall red-skinned humanoid.

The Old Scientist said. “I am sure you are needed to make departure preparations. When do you think we will lift off?”

Har-Hi sighed and motioned them to a large viewport. “Your majesty, we have lifted off. That blue dot is your planet and we are about to go translight.”

The King swallowed. “We felt nothing, nothing at all.”

“Our chief engineer prides himself to have the finest tuned engines in the fleet, but our Captain can tell by the vibrations alone.”

“Amazing.”

SHIP interrupted. “The Captain asks if you can take the King to the bridge. We are dropping out of Quasi in five seconds, at the outermost orbit of the Cavaro system.”

--””--

The Saran culture celebration was now winding down, there was still music and dancing. Alice sat next to the big viewport, holding an earthenware bottle of Saran beer, while Fenris had its dragon head on her lap and was quietly snoring.

Elfi walked over and sat next to her on the comfortable soft couch hugging much of the curved wall underneath the big viewport. The sofa was often called ‘the Perch’ and was a favorite spot for many.

The Saran princess scratched the scaled belly of the black creature and said. “It is your birthday in a few minutes, right?”

Alice could not be more surprised. “You know about that?”

“Of course. Everyone does.”

The Saran princess added. “Wait for it!”

The lights went out and a big cake with 20 candles popped out of thin air. Then the light came on and pretty much every one of the crew that was off duty or could spare a moment, was there cheering and singing the ancient but still popular birthday song.

About twenty minutes later she had been hugged, cheered or otherwise celebrated by everyone present and sat in the middle of a mountain of gifts.

Elfi laughed. “Warner planned it as you probably can tell. I am here representing the Captain and the rest of the Senior Staff. On behalf of the Captain, I am ordering you to be present at the Helm Department meeting at 0800 hrs tomorrow. You are transferred to the Helm Department to begin your Helm training.”

Alice had tears in her huge blue eyes. “For real? They don’t send me to the PSI department or something?”

Elfi grinned. “Not on this SHIP.”

The Saran beauty then yelled in an amused tone. “Mr. Weeze, the candles of the cake are decoration. They are not food.”

“Decoraz ze fooz? Stoopiz, anz ze candliz arz noz zo badz.”

Elfi then handed her a data chip.”This is my present. I know we are beyond GalNet and GalCom range but I arranged for this recording.

The Saran princess got up. “Happy birthday, Alice.” Then walked away.

Alice put the chip in her wrist PDD, and the logo of the Union Assembly established itself hovering before her. Then it blinked away and a human man with a salt and pepper beard appeared in Avatar form, no longer as skinny as he once was and no longer filthy and unkempt, but clean and well groomed.

The man was Nestor Faller, once known as the master thief Fusionbeam. The man that fled to Sin 4 trying to evade Union Police and the hired killers of Schwartz Industries.

Nestor ended up on Trash Island of the once notorious Hell Hole of Sin 4. Living in unimaginable filth among the planet’s true natives.

Exactly twenty years ago, Nestor found a human baby girl among the trash. She had been dumped from the bed of a garbage floater, injured, starving and near death.

Nestor barely able to keep himself alive took the baby and cared for her. In Alice’s opinion, there was no more loving or caring father in the Universe. To her, he was Papa Nestor and there was no one and nothing she loved more.

Her tears caused by a flood of emotions flowed freely. Her huge blue eyes full of love. “Papa!”

The Avatar was not live but part of a recorded message.

The projection looked with the greatest affection and deep pride at Alice. “Happy Anniversary, my lovely and beautiful Alice. I know you have grown and out of the little girl I knew, a beautiful young woman developed. But to me, you will always be my baby girl. So much has happened from that day I found you to this anniversary. I am no longer a wanted criminal, but the respected representative of the Stik. Much has happened on our planet. The name Sin 4 is fading fast, and so are the scars and the damage done to that place now known as simply as Wooorld. The last super-freighter filled with garbage and waste has just left the other day. The Army Corps of Engineers is still busy of course and will be for decades to come. There haven’t been any arrests or hangings in months. There are no more places for that criminal scum to hide.” He smiled. “Wooorld is not nearly as famous or infamous as Sin 4 once was, but we reopened the casinos and the fight arenas, under new native management and fully compliant with Union laws.”

He stopped and sighed. “I know you wanted to know all this and I included a folder with images and visuals of the cleanup efforts, and I am keeping a close eye on you. I spoke to Narth and hear you making tremendous progress learning to use and control your psionic abilities. I have talked to Captain Olafson and she tells me just how proud and pleased she is regarding your progress becoming a Union Fleet officer. I am so very proud of you.”

The Avatar of her father spread the arms and said. “I know I should hug and kiss you, but this is a recording and lacks the ability to transmit the true sentiment and emotions.” He paused. “There is one more thing. While exploring, mapping and cleaning the vast catacombs underneath the city, we realized that these were not just sewers, but the tunnel and subsurface system of a very old forgotten civilization.”

Alice instinctively knew Papa Nestor did not mention that just as interesting information, but there was more. She, of course, knew Nestor and could read his body language.

Nestor’s avatar went on. “Please activate your privacy bubble, because this is classified information.”

Perplex and baffled she did.

“A Nexus gate was found in a cave deep under our city. These Nexus gates are, as far as I understand trans-spatial connections, not unlike the Ancient Spatial Gates in space that have been recently discovered and activated.

I was told however that these Nexus doors are much older and allow the passage of individuals, not entire ships.”

Alice, of course, knew about the Ancient Gates, she was aboard the Tigershark when Krabbel accidentally activated it. She just wished Nestor would come to the point. Alice felt a cold hand closing around her stomach.

Nestor frowned and lowered his head. “Alice, I think we found your mother, and I think we know where you are from.”

The Avatar of her stepfather hastily continued as if he had to force himself. “The remains of a woman were found and a message. The woman’s genetic information was checked and it matches yours. The message she left behind speaks about a place or planet called Avondur.”

Alice somehow found the news anti-climactic. She knew Nestor wasn’t her real father. She, of course, knew there were real parents out there, but she had long accepted Nestor as the only one that mattered. She was an orphan, and she lacked many things when she grew up, but love and affection were never in short supply.

It was interesting perhaps to find out who she really came from, but nothing more.

Nestor’s avatar had given her a few moments and then concluded. “I have included a copy of your mothers’ message. My friends from the science department, Xeno Linguistics have translated it.”

Alice listened to the end of Papa Nestor’s message and then tapped the floating symbol to start her mother’s recording.

The woman appearing was very beautiful and at first appeared quite human, with the same large blue eyes and long black hair that had become a trademark of hers. The woman wore alien looking make up that extended her eyeliner in crisp lines down the middle of her cheeks on both sides of her face and there were multiple horn-like things extending from her forehead and between her hair.

The system told her that the image had been artificially enhanced for three dee viewing, the original source was simple two dee.

The woman spoke. “I am Angela Curse, I am pregnant and I am trying to escape the trackers of Ciferus. I don’t know where I am but I stepped into the light at Avondur. My daughter carries the secret of the WEAPON and she must be kept safe. Balmak, told me to find you.

The fate of the Universe rests on my soon to be born daughter...”

The recording ended with a guttural grunt and the crack of a blaster weapon.

Chapter 14: Thauran Tears
The king had been an important person all his life, yet standing in the back of the alien ship’s bridge he felt very small and insignificant.

There was a huge spider, a humanoid covered from head to toe in mirror-polished metal. A giant with only one eye and a host of other beings behind elegantly shaped consoles; and at the center on a raised seat sat the female he knew was the Captain. She managed to sit relaxed and yet there was no doubt in the king’s mind that she paid the greatest attention to everything.

A bald-headed human just reported. “The Cavaro are just as paranoid as the Skedrik, they didn’t even try to communicate. Missiles have been launched.”

Xon, hail them on all frequencies and Mao, show them that we are neither the Skedrik nor targets to be shot at and place a Giga load near their orbit.”

The king became very sick in his stomach and the Sky Commander actually dropped to his knees as be saw how fast the still very distant rockets were obliterated and then the blooming new sun of blinding energy.

The Captain said. “This was also for you to see, we have weapons able to obliterate both civilizations with great ease. Fortunately for you, we are tempered by laws and regulations. Unfortunately for you as well there are others with similar capabilities and with much fewer restrictions.”

He nodded. “We were lucky indeed.”

The monstrous being with one eye reported communications established.

The woman got up. “I am Captain Erica Olafson of the USS Tigershark.” She continued with her introduction that was pretty much the same as the one she used with the Skedrik, but she did not mention the Ypeherix. The captain made a pause and added. Personally, I don’t like to be shot at, even if it is done with such laughable impotent pop rockets. To make the story short, I got the king of the Skedrik aboard. He wants to talk to you. If that doesn’t work out we leave.”

The captain waved the king into the visual pickups.

--””--

I had my senior officers gathered in the rarely used conference room, mainly because the Cavaro and the Skedrik had agreed to talk and we offered the Den as a neutral venue.

Shea had called moments ago and confirmed that the walking mushrooms had indeed placed seven of their semi-organic planet transformers into the crust of Skedri. The scanning method developed worked indeed perfectly and all seven Pressure manipulators had been successfully removed.

Har-Hi glanced at his PDD checking on the daily agenda and then said. “”I don’t think it was a by the book diplomatic approach, to be honest. The handbook recommends a very subtle approach. Loading the Skedrik delegation, more or less right after lunch into the Tigershark; lighting up a Giga load above the Cavaro homeworld and scaring the living daylights out of them isn’t mentioned or recommended.”

Mehdi sitting in for Shea spread his hands. “They are only guidelines, in the end only the results count. That they are talking to each other after generations of hate and mistrust is a miracle all on its own.”

The Delicate who had taken Narth’s spot raised her head. “More than that, it is now becoming evident that the events were based on accidents and the lack of faster communication. The Skedrik mission never arrived, because there is a Brown Dwarf, a second sun the Skedrik did not know about. And the Cavaro ship did not explode on purpose but of catastrophic engine failure.”

Mao asked. “You are monitoring them telepathically?”

“Yes, but what I just said came from SHIP, she is with them and provides translations and calculations. It was her recalculating the original entry jump off the first Skedrik ship.”

Noleii then added. “Telepathically speaking they are both already thinking about alliances and the King really wants his people to join the Union.”

I leaned back looking at my XO. “I admit I am not the best diplomat, but then I haven’t been to Command school so far, where they teach that I think.”

--””--

Alice more or less forgot about the recording of her mother. To her, the woman in the recording was a stranger. Other than looking a little like her there was no real connection. Most certainly not an emotional one.

Alice had grown up in perhaps the harshest environment, fighting for basic survival every day. That she had been dumped like trash had calloused her mind in that regard, and that she was taken care of by a man who himself had virtually nothing made her quite uncaring about the news of her real mother.

She thought her real mother may have been some sort of Gal Drift, running perhaps from drug dealers, slavers or whatnot. That she was killed more or less right after arrival was nothing unusual on Sin 4 at that time.

As it may be, that happened twenty-some years ago and had no bearing on her life. She was Nestor’s girl. She was a Wooorld native and had friends closer than sisters and brothers, uncles and aunts, among the Stik. She technically had two families that meant everything to her. Papa Nestor and the Stik of her village, and her friends here on the Tigershark. Narth was so caring and gentle and secretly she considered the Captain her mother. Well in a sense anyway, Erica always treated her with the greatest respect and with open affection. Alice smiled to herself and wondered if the captain knew the secret nickname everyone was calling her, Mama Erica. It actually originated from a Pertharian marine, who modified the Marine phrase about their battle suit systems.

Marines called their battle suit system, MAMA (Which actually stood for Mobile Armor Management Application) and Marines always said. “If you take care of MAMA, MAMA takes care of you.”

The phrase had been altered aboard the Tigershark. “We take care of Mama Erica because she takes care of us.”

Alice giggled as she was thinking that and stepped on the Deck 4 slide belt. A monstrous Y’All joined her and said. “Humans express their amusement this way, what is it that caused your reaction?”

“Oh hi, TheOther. I was just thinking about the captain’s secret nickname and her reaction hearing it.”

TheOther made a gravel crushing sound, which was his way of laughing. “Yes, that would be a fun event. Not that I would want to be the one telling her.”

“Rumors have it she bested you in hand to hand, that can’t be true right?”

“It’s not a rumor little Alice. She did it against two of us, and she does not have those amazing psionic powers you have.”

Alice shook her head. “She is something else, Mama Erica isn’t she?”

“Yes, she is. Where are you headed anyway?”

With the greatest pride, Alice said. “Command Deck, Helm department meeting.”

“Wow, you made it! Ah, how wonderful. I bet you will be as good as Shaka one day.”

“No one can be as good, he actually achieved the first perfect 1000 score in fleet history.”

“A close second then. But why are you going there now? It is a full hour until that meeting.”

“I couldn’t sleep in excitement.”

TheOther placed one of his enormous fingers with gentle care on Alice’s small shoulders. “You will do fine. I am so proud of you. Wait till Dusty hears about it when he comes back.”

Alice hugged the giant’s lower right arm. “I love you too, TheOther.”

A Pertharian Marine at the IST complained in a friendly tone. “What about me? Or is that a Y’All only thing?”

Alice gave the menacing Marine a hug too. “Of course not, Mr. Hivres.”

She went into the IST and SHIP transported her not to the command deck, but to the main deck and said. “You got 52 minutes, young lady. Breakfast first, steering me is easier on a full stomach.”

Alice made a mocking frown. “What would you know about stomachs, you don’t have one.”

“And yours was more empty than anything for way too long. I think Chef EEeeryt made waffles today.”

“You should be called Mama SHIP.”

Alice was in great spirits, during her short stint at the academy, she heard about other ships. Marines and Navy strictly separated, Officers, eating at a different mess than enlisted. She was certain she was completely spoiled in that regard. None of these traditions were upheld on the Tigershark.

Marines and Navy personnel knew each other by the first name. In some cases bunked together. There was no Marine country. Officers and enlisted ate at the same facility and by Captain’s order ranks did not matter in the Den. These unique conditions had become Tigershark traditions all on their own.

Everyone went out of their way and far above any duty requirement to give their very best to the Captain.

The former hangar, now permanently transformed into what the crew called the Den was dominated by the huge round table and the many treasures, mementos and trophies the crew and the ship had gathered. And as always there was the buffet-style counter right next to the food transport system and the bank of serve-matics. The offerings changed from mealtime to mealtime. Some of the things offered were specifically there for the special food needs of non-human crew members. While the Chef or the Chief Steward wasn’t always there. There usually was at least an S-60 service robot or someone of the galley.

The entire buffet could be lowered into a floor compartment if the place was needed for other functions.

This morning Chef EEeeryt himself and his new helper the worm being Meeze were behind the buffet and made sure the food choices were plentiful and fresh.

The worm wore a white hat, just like the chef, most of the worms head was covered and smeared with something red.

Alice helped herself to a stack of her favorite waffles and said. “Serving raw meat or something?”

The chef face palmed himself with both hands showing only his trunk. “No, Alice. Mr. Meeze discovered strawberry jam.”

“Meeze likez ze sweetzie strawberriz and ze cherriez.” The worm seemed to think. “Whaz an gooz ideaz meeeze triez ze strawberriez wiz ze meaz.”

Alice amused by that joined others at the table and now learned the reason, why EEeeryt was there himself, the Captain was there, holding her ugly skull mug. “Ah, Ms. Enigma good morning.”

“Good morning, Captain, Ma’am.”

“Happy anniversary, Alice. I am sorry for not being there celebrating.”

“No problem, you gave me the best present ever, Ma’am.”

The captain was, Alice agreed one of the prettiest women, smiling over the rim of her skull mug. “You appear even more dedicated to become a Helmsman than Mehdi, why Helm?”

“Ma’am, steering and physically directing a ship like this can hardly be topped by anything.”

Mehdi laughed, “Captain, she speaks from my heart as well.”

“You are nuts, both of you, but this Navy can never have enough helmsmen, that’s for sure. Did Elfi give you that message from your dad?”

--””--

Ciferus and Lummis had rented a flier and followed the old road into the Yellow Desert. The Askruan Mountains in the distance.

Both of them kept an eye on the surroundings. The Yellow Desert was not only filled with rifts and passage doors, that could suddenly open but these trans spatial doors sometimes let things through that were very dangerous to any traveler.

Neither Ciferus nor Lummis were mere mortals and commanded powers on a cosmic level, but both of them were very aware of the possibility that a fiend of similar abilities could decide to attack them.

Avondur was unique in that way, ancient pacts and conditions made it a neutral ground of sorts neutralizing some abilities without any indication how this was accomplished.

Staying directly over the old road and traveling at conservative speed while the sun was reasonably safe and then they saw the Gateway oasis, where they hoped to find the Sentinel.

Both of them only appeared to be men, both were powerful entities with abilities far beyond mere mortals, yet due to rules, pacts and agreements set in place by entities beyond them neither was in command of their full potentials.

It was because of this, they overlooked the hooded figure standing at the entrance to the Oasis, holding a staff. The figure expanded and grew in size very quickly engulfed in billowing clouds of dust and the dark brown hooded cape it wore.

With a powerful blow of the now tree sized staff, the figure smashed the flier out of the air and sent it crashing into desert sand next to the paved road.

The flier’s engine caught fire and an explosion ripped the wrecked flier apart and caused a shower of shrapnel and debris.

Both Lummis and Ciferus were violently ejected and tumbled across the hard-packed ground of the rock and sand surface.

Lummis collided with a sizeable boulder and came staggering to his feet, more dazed and surprised than really injured. He pulled his sword Lightbright and approached the male figure, now not taller than him.

Ciferus also collected himself out of the midst of the burning wreck, also unhurt but equally angry. Unlike Lummis, he knew their attacker. “Balkurs!”

A thing that looked like an undead vampire bat and about the size of a large dog detached itself from the figure and attacked Lummis.

Lummis swung his sword, leaving a glowing path and cut the bat creature in half. “What is this madness?” He demanded to know with a loud voice. “You attacking the Champion of light and creation. Declare yourself and yield.”

A force gale whipped up sand and small rocks with the force of an industrial sandblaster hammering into Lummis, driving him back.

Ciferus also yelled. “Balkurs, return to your master. I am your match alone, but now Lord Lummis is at my side.”

The Demon Lord lashed out with hellish fire, engulfing the shrouded man who had not spoken or said anything.

Lummis was stomped with great strength against the sandblasting wind, that suddenly stopped as the fire bolt hit its target.

Lummis now unhindered stormed forward to strike the silent attacker. Whoever he was, vanished in a cloud of dust before Lummis could strike or the fire was able to do damage.

The Lord of light swung his weapon into the settling dust cloud, angry that he was denied a killing blow. “Who was this? And why are we attacked?”

Ciferus brushed dust and sand of his shoulders. “The price is ultimate power, Lord Lummis. The incentive to gain what the Dark One represents is a lure like none other. This was Balkurs, a servant of Baahl. They say he was a captain in the employ of Invictus before he fled to the Netherworlds to escape death. He will be back.”

“Then he will meet his fate.”

Out of the entrance to the Oasis a towering, at least six meters tall thing stalked towards them. It too looked undead. A fleshless thing of bones with four arms carrying a spear and a dagger. The skull embedded in a clump of green translucent crystal floated without a visible neck or any other connection above its shoulders.

Lummis readied himself to fight again.

Ciferus stopped him with a gesture. “This is the Sentinel of the Rifts. It is said that the being is the crystal and it bonded with the skeleton of a dead being to gain mobility.”

“An abomination it is.”

The stalking thing was now close and it spoke. The voice resonated apparently from the crystal rock thing, but the jaws of the embedded skull did not move. “Ciferus and Lummis seek out the one that guards the ancient rifts. What you seek is no mystery, why you seek it however is concealed from each other. Go then pass through the rift of Geoan. Maybe you are successful where your lackeys have failed, Ciferus. And you Lummis, servant of the haughty Crea, go and see if you find what you seek. The time of the Decision draws near.”

A sudden distortion appeared as if part of the desert scenery was no longer real threw ripples like a canvas projection screen and split in half, revealing a sizeable portal to a place with dark green trees.

Lummis wanted to ask questions, but Ciferus was already passing through.

The Lord of light objected. “How can we trust this thing?”

“I am the sentinel of the rifts, little Lord Lummis. You have come to me, pass through or remain. It is of no consequence to the Sentinel.”

Lummis not convinced about anything, only knew that there was little time left and so he passed through the rift as well.

--””--

It was even better than she imagined. Not that she was completely unprepared, ever since she expressed her desire to become a Helmsman, she received dedicated training in her second year. Since she had spent that year mostly aboard the Tigershark, it was in the form of virtual classes, simulations, and uploads. Now in her third year, she had like all Midshipmen, passed through other departments.

During her weeks at the actual Academy, she had spent some time with other Helm candidates.

To her, nothing really equated to be in control of a Starship, but they were machines. The Tigershark was more, SHIP made it feel as if it was alive. Not just the sentient part of SHIP but the body, the engines felt a little different.

Since the Captain and the Senior Officers were busy with the Cavaro and the Skedrik. Shaka allowed her to sit into the actual Helm position.

The Captain smiled at her and encouraged her before she left the bridge.

Shaka, who by all accounts should have been a social recluse, especially with an unheard Helm rating of a perfect 1000 score, put his hand on her shoulder and then lowered the Virtu Helmet over her head. Her body changed. She felt as if the engines were a part of it. Her eyes directly linked to sensors gave her an amazing view.

SHIP softly spoke to her, like the friend she was and slowly expanded her field of view.

The human and the mind of almost every known lifeform had a field of view. While it varied from species to species, it caused great distress, confusion and often physical sickness if that field was expanded. In the case of true helm view, there were no limitations, a true spherical view.

The XO gave her lift-off orders and Krabbel, the Navigator relayed a course.

She was allowed to take the Tigershark into space and take her to Threshold speed, simulated of course. To her senses, there was nothing indicating that it was a simulation.

She was utterly floored when Shaka told her with his trademark toothy grin that it wasn’t a simulation. The orders given by the XO were real. He pointed at the Dai who now was sitting in the Command Chair. He too gave her a barely noticeable nod of approval. She knew the Dai because he had acted as her Union School teacher, such a nod meant more to her than an official voiced approval of an Academy Instructor.

Shaka released her and said. “Midshipman Enigma, for the rest of your shift I want you to hit Technical Manual 4853-HS-12. SHIP will have it on your Duty PDD. It might not be required Academy training, but I want all members of the Helm department to understand our helm systems to the last detail. Here on the Tigershark, we have the best engineers, but you might not always serve on this ship.”

She nodded and signaled to understand. “Yes, Sir.”

He kept smiling. “It’s an Olafson Gang thing that became a Tigershark tradition. We cross-train as much as possible. Did you know, that the Captain is one of the best helmsmen out there?”

The huge security chief, Lt. Commander Neugruber put his immense finger in an affectionate gesture on Shaka’s shoulders. “And our Helm genius is the only Helmsman who is a Blaster Expert-Gold Level because he and we all keep cross training.”

Har-Hi, the stern, and highly respected XO said. “You being around the bridge, don’t be surprised if the Captain puts you on Con.”

As she returned to her quarters after a full shift, she was exhausted but deeply satisfied. Her friend the Thauran science officer obviously had cried and as Alice came in, she tried to hide the fact and put on a forced smile. “How was your third day at helm?”

“Oh, Sylia. It is even better than I imagined it would be. Of course, I know it won’t be the same on other ships. Because other ships aren’t the Tigershark.”

She sat down at her small desk, which was in immaculate order, to begin her studies. She turned, “Sylia you can’t fool me, you cried. Would you not tell me, what is the matter?”

The Thauran girl tried hard to keep her emotions under control. “It’s a family thing, we are back in GalNet range and I just received a call.”

Jolaj the Togar cat deactivated her bunks privacy screen and asked. “A loved one died perhaps?”

Sylia did not raise her head. “My mother and three of my siblings have been missing after taking a trip to Dark Blue, the Thauran government declared them dead.”

Alice and Jolaj both got up and sat down next to Sylia. The white Togress softy caressed Sylia’s cheeks. “That is so sad.”

Sylia’s tears dropped from her chin. “That happened seven years ago. I received a short GalNet message, a cry for help from my mother. The recording was made a day ago.”

Alice held out a tissue box she had grabbed telekinetically from across the room. “That does not explain the tears. They don’t look like tears of joy.”

“I contacted father and he urged me to forget it, and I called the Thauran government and they also told me to forget the affair, explaining I received an old message.”

Sylia sniffed. “The message was new, and I know there is something sinister going on, but what can I do?”

Alice and Jolaj almost spoke at the same time, uttering the same words. “Tell the Captain.”

Sylia used a tissue. “That is not a fleet affair and has nothing to do with the ship. Besides she isn’t the biggest fan of Thaurans.”

Alice’s eyes sparkled. “She apologized to you before everyone.”

“Yes, I know. She is a good captain and I know she meant it regarding me, but I mean the Thaurans in general.”

Jolaj shook her head in a very human gesture. “She forgave us Togar, and Shea showed me the images of the ship full of humans butchered for Togar markets. Our captain listens to everyone and she always finds a solution, always!”

Alice agreed. “It might not be a Fleet affair, but she is friends with the Immortals and she is a Union Fleet Captain. If she calls they might be compelled to give her an answer. Besides, she has a Grandfather at the Assembly and my dad is there too.”

Jolaj got up. “Let’s go to Xon, let him see the message. He might be able to verify the time frame of that message.”

--””--

“I would lie if I say I am surprised.” The Fleet Admiral said. We had reached GalNet coverage and I had delivered my report.

He had his privacy bubble activated and didn’t wear uniform. Behind him the scenery of a well-groomed golf course. “But having caused peace between two space-faring nations and both wanting to apply is a very nice development. Especially them being technically at the backdoor of the Jalusask.”

“The who, Sir?”

“An obscure sentient species we suspect to have their main planet somewhere in that general region. We strongly believe they are members of the Galactic Council.”

“Any special instructions regarding them?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. But not for the Tigershark. That would be for the Silver Streak.”

He grinned and said. “Our mysterious ANA director made it back to Richter 4 and will send you instructions. As for now, keep doing what you are doing. I am sending assets to both worlds to take care of our new friends.”

“Speaking of friends. The Cavaro seem related to the Freons and I recall running into a being claiming to be a Freon while I was a prisoner of the Karthanians.”

He nodded. “That is something our mutual friend is investigating himself. I keep you posted on that.”

With a gesture, he motioned over the golf course behind him. “I assume you recognize Patrick’s Green. The hole you left behind is back to normal size.”

“It was the General stealing Har-Hi’s proximity mine, and nothing I did. How is General McKenzie?”

“He has recovered. Not that he is ever going to play against me ever again.” The old Admiral grinned. “I know it was Har-Hi’s mine, but that Dai is part of the Olafson Gang, such things only happen with you guys.”

“I am sorry for calling you on your time off, Sir.”

“I left instructions at the office to connect you, regardless of where I am. No more Commodore Haraka mistakes. I am not too old to learn my lessons. So keep calling, girl. Now go back and chase those lava fiends.”

--””--

The rift had taken them to a place that was a stark contrast to the desert they had just left. This was the densest and darkest forest, Lummis had ever seen. The trees were tall and the air was cold but had a mossy scent to it.

Ciferus and he followed a narrow barely visible path between the trees. Their booted feet made no sound on the soft spongy ground covered with rotting leaves and dark patches of moss and grass. Except now and then when either one of them stepped on a fallen twig.

“You know where we are and where we are going?” Lummis wanted to know.

“Yes, I think I know where we are and you should know too, but either Crea kept you in the dark on many things or you were too arrogant or ignorant to learn.”

“Watch your speech, servant of the Nether worlds. Wherever we are it appears the limitations placed in my abilities are not in effect here.”

“Of course not, this is a world in the Upper Realms. This appears to be the Forest of Geoan.”

Lummis hated to admit that he indeed had no idea where they were, but he never even asked about other realms. He was convinced Crea occupied the highest and was the most potent of all Cosmic entities, a notion, she reaffirmed many times.

“Who is Geoan?”

“Another child of Crea, it came to be before the Alliance of Light was formed and before Crea’s ban and exile.”

“Another child of ... a brother? A kindred spirit then.” Much of Lummis inherent haughtiness came back and he laughed triumphantly. “I am not alone then and you worm of Netherworlds must crawl and accept my rule. Now lead the way, so I can meet this brother of mine.”

Ciferus grinned in a disturbing evil way. “Oh, I would not want to miss that meeting.”

--””--

I ran into Alice as she came out of the Comm lab, right behind her were Jolaj and the Thauran officer I remembered her of course, it was Ensign Sobur.

All three stopped in their tracks and saluted me.

Alice had the least inhibitions, and her always somber expression lit up with a girlish smile. “Captain Olafson, thank you for that birthday present, I will do my best to be a good helmsman.”

I returned the smile and said. “Shaka said you did a good job taking us into space and Quasi. I have no doubt you do fine.”

Jolaj said. “I can’t thank you enough for all you did for me. I am so happy about being back home.”

“The crew and I missed you very much. So all is good.”

Jolaj pushed the Thauran ensign. “Go tell, Mam ... I mean the Captain.”

When Thauran’s blushed they turned purple so I learned right there and then.

She said. “It’s nothing the Captain needs to be concerned about. It is a family thing. My friends overreacted.”

“I am on my way to the Den for lunch. Why don’t the three of you join me?”

--””--

The path led them out on a forest meadow and almost instantly a part of the vegetation covered hills in at the other end moved and came to life, revealing a tremendous creature, many hundred meters tall.

Lummis was not really impressed by that. “Are you Geoan? I am Lord Lummis and like you a child of Crea.”

The giant’s voice almost sounded like wind rushing through trees. “Crea has fallen. We are not kin!

You are an insignificant upstart of a previous universe, elevated by Crea to do her bidding as she is banned from the Prime realm.”

Ciferus snickered. “Ah yes, another illusion of yours dashed. I wonder if I really made a wise decision joining with your quest.”

The giant spoke again. “Yet you needed him to enter this realm. Your servants have been here and failed.”

“You know why we are here; the Urd have guarded the WEAPON; Crea has stolen it and whispered legends say the Cosmic Tree has revealed to you where it is now.”

“This is so. I will not aid you, Ciferus for you disgust me and I know why you seek the WEAPON. But I will reveal it to Lummis, as the rise of the Dark One also threatens my existence. The WEAPON has left with a woman to the Prime Realm. Seek a world called Sin 4, that is where she has escaped.”

“Where will I find this world and who is she?”

“Use the Nexus. Now both of you leave and do not return.”

--””--

The three girls sat next to me at the big table that was at the center of our Den.

While I had no problem serving myself, I knew by now that Chef EEeeryt would have been deeply insulted and disappointed, as Narth had educated me many months ago. Our Elly chef saw it as his prime duty to serve me. A few minutes ago, he had served me with something he called a Reuben sandwich. The sandwich was big enough for Hans, and I needed a knife and fork.

Our latest crew member scurried next to me. He wore a white hat, just like the Chef and tossed half a pickle next to my plate.

Eeeryt yelled at him. “Meeze! I told you to bring the pickle to the Captain. Not eat half of it and toss the rest next to her. I am so sorry Captain. He wants to be a Chef now.”

“Whaaaz ze probemz? Ze greenz, wetz pickliz waz zoo bigz anz felz of ze platze. Meeze onlyz eaz waz felz onze floorz. Captainz notz wanz waz onze floorz anywayz.”

I covered my grin with a napkin. “There was a caring thought process somewhere. You can have the rest of the pickle. I’ll take a fresh one, Mr. Eeeryt.”

After our chef had brought me a new pickle and Meeze ate the rest, I said to the Thauran girl. “In here I am Erica and not the Captain. I don’t want to pry but if you want you can tell me what causes you distress. That much I can tell right from your face.”

She blinked and poked her food with her fork, without eating and then, first with a few mumbled words she begun to tell me.

I learned that she was not just any Thauran and that she and her missing mother were of the highest family there was direct descendants of Rene Thauran. The Terran-French leader who took his group of colonists even before the settlers of Nilfeheim left Earth, to a very distant world.

Sylia started crying.

She played the message.

“This is Salia Sobur, I was born Tellia Thauran and I have been abducted because I uncovered a secret that could destroy the Thauran Empire and the Union. There is a conspiracy of a powerful cabal, I am kept alive for now. I can trust no one, but you, my daughter you are in danger. Great danger! Please hel...”

The message ended abruptly.

SHIP apparently had listened in and said. “Elfi and Xon have confirmed that the message was sent three days and not seven years ago.”

I leaned back to think. Narth popped out of thin air right next to me and said. “You know that the Thauran Empire is not all that distant from here and technically there could be worlds affected by the Ypeherix. It would be well within our current mission to check out Deep Blue.”

“You listened in?”

“Yes, and I am intrigued just like you. The word conspiracy is a key term in that thought process.”

“Because my guts tell me there is something big going on.”

I got up. “SHIP, tell Krabbel to set course to Deep Blue.”

Chapter 15: Dark Horizons
The place was called Shanties Swallow and it was not far from the main landing field of the Class E Spaceport of Shale Blue.

Shale Blue was technically a Union world at the furthermost fringes of the Thauran Empire in the Spinward sector of the M-0 galaxy, but it was indeed a fringe world.

The Thauran noble family that controlled the world, the Peribar resided on a world twelve light years distant. Pulam Peribar, the third son of Baron Persor of Peribar was the man in charge, but that was more a joke than anything else. Pulam loved Thauran wine and had no interest in getting help from the Union clinic.

He carefully maintained a state of perpetual drunkenness and combined this with extensive naps.

That was of little consequence to the patrons of the Shanties Swallow, or pretty much anyone else of Shale Blue.

The entire population did not exceed two hundred heads and that included the twelve Terran Chickens, Galwun Gerorn kept.

Shale Blue was not a world that enticed colonization, not that environmental factors alone were reasons keeping Union colonists away, but the combination of the planet’s apparent lack of resources, the lackluster management and the rather aggressive, stinging insect population were most certainly main factors. That Shale Blue was not very close to anything, Union or even Thauran related was certainly also to be considered.

All that, however, did not affect the business of the Shanties Swallow tavern. It was a well-known hang out for spacers and privateers, that weren’t exactly high profile criminals but neither model citizens or very enthusiastic subjects of the Thauran Empire.

In terms of entertainment, the place didn’t feature much variety. There was a well-worn Tabil Tosser in one corner and right next to a public GalNet terminal. A genuine billiard table, something that every Thauran establishment of this sort simply had to have. Unlike the truly masterful players of this Thauran game that could be found on almost every Azure world of the Empire, the patrons of this place had neither the skills nor the interest.

The regular patrons did enjoy playing Poker or Knaku and there was always some gambling going on.

While neither ambiance nor the choices of entertainment were reasons of people coming here, one of the reasons was the food offered at Shanties. Despite the less than stellar hygiene conditions, the food was of the finest Thauran kind.

Another reason for people coming here was fuel, the ability to access Union GalNet, the Post Office, the Union Outpost Auto Med Cube and Regul’s Repairs.

Regul wasn’t the best engineer in terms of Union quality, but still far better than anything non-Union in this region. Regul was also able to order spare parts over GalNet and only added a modest profit margin.

The table underneath the Mahlman’s Beer advertisement lamp was occupied by seven beings. They all nursed drinks, except one who just received his order of Thauran Wine Wiggler Soup and Cheese and begun savoring the delicacy.

He rolled his eyes with delight as he ate the first forkful of the wine steamed worms. “I have to agree, sister. This place should be famous for its food. Those Wine Wigglers are simply divine.”

A Thauran woman having a glass of Thauran Chardonnay before her said. “Shanties Shallow is famous for its food, just not in the circles you and I used to frequent. For me, this will be the new norm.”

The Thauran digging into his meal took a moment between forks, dabbed his mouth with a napkin before reaching for his wine. “And if we fail, we might order this for our last meal. The new Thauran government and most Thaurans are even more committed to the Union than ever before.”

“I am aware of that, brother. Most but not all, there are those who lost much.”

“I’ve seen your research, and this is why I am here. Some things are more important than personal safety. Family honor and the old Thauran ways certainly count.”

She clenched her fist. “She killed father, that cannot stand.”

“She did so much more.” Said another Thauran at the table. “When I meet Olafson, he was still male and he caused my father to be executed. He was an admiral and I was on my way to eventually become an admiral myself.”

“It was this Olafson, that caused me being drummed out of the Navy with the stain of a dishonorable discharge. I escaped civilian prosecution, but only because my father was arrested with many other Thauran nobles. The house of Suppor is virtually destroyed.”

The former Midshipman pounded his fist on the table. “I want him destroyed, not just killed. I want him to suffer as no one has suffered before.”

The man speaking now was not Thauran. Even though he was hiding much of himself under a hood, the paper white skin of the exposed skin and the short stature made it obvious he was Kermac.

“For a numbskull of an apparently insignificant planet, that individual has caused us Kermac much headaches and troubles. He was supposed to become bait for a Narth, and we spend considerable resources to have him abducted. We deemed him dead, perished on Sin 4. Yet he surfaced again on Union side and while we could not find out where he was after he played hero on Outpost 96. He has surfaced as a female and commanding a spaceship, according to the information we got from you, Tamara Taros.”

She did not smile as she knew she betrayed more than just an individual, but everything. “I gave you the complete crew list of that ship, the Narth is still there.”

“And there is Xon, the Nul prince, several Y’All. A Saran princess, a genuine Seenian CMO and many more very unusual individuals. This list is perhaps the most significant piece of intelligence we Kermac were able to obtain.”

The man who was now done eating said. “And the daughter of Salia Sobur who is Tellia Thauran.”

A Thauran who had not yet spoken said. “I went to great length to abduct my mother and two of my siblings, but they do not have the key of Rene. My sister was always out of reach being with the fleet and all. She is the last one of my family I haven’t been able to question. As you requested, I sent that GalNet message, but what makes you think she will not only come but bring you that Olafson?”

The former Security chief displayed a cold grin. “Because she will run to her captain, and my research and that of my father revealed one strange aspect of that gender changed captain, she goes out of her way to help her crew. That Captain Olafson will even disregard orders if it comes to her friends.”

“And she is friends with a lowly Ensign who is Thauran?” The Kermac asked.

Swybin snorted. “If that Erica is Eric, of which I have no doubt, then I wager she is already on her way. Even at basic training, he went out of his way to help his friends.”

Namamir agreed. “It was the same on the Devastator. His group was called the Olafson Gang and the way they stuck together was unreal.”

The sixth and last person on the table was an older looking Saresii. Silver hair, female appearance and yet, in this case, even an uninitiated observer would have seen the male features in that face. The Saresii wore a dark blue Bio-seal suit which was a good idea on this world joined the conversation without revealing who she was. “There has been an attempt to place a spy inside the Tigershark crew, but that has been unsuccessful. However, I can confirm that uncanny dedication of that crew to this captain.”

--””--

I stepped out of the I.S.T. and onto the bridge; it was three minutes to the change of the watch. The officers and crew members of the Morning watch were ready to be relieved by the Forenoon watch. This was one of those Union Navy traditions I really liked. Things aboard Union ships were done a certain way regardless of what kind of ship it was or where it might be.

The Union Time reform was finally taking hold in most aspects of Union society, but terminology regarding time aboard Union Fleet ships was still the same as it was when the first Union ships left for their missions almost 3000 years ago.

While there was no physical bell on most Union ships and neither on the Tigershark, the crisp ringing sound of a brass bell was sounded at the top of the hour.

The bell sound now announced 0800 hours and the end of Morning watch. Roghor our magnificent looking Togar had stepped down from the command seat, as he had held the Con.

He spoke with a loud voice that had a distinct hint of pride. “Oh-eight hundred hours. Duty stations prepare for hand over procedures.”

This was exactly as regulations dictated these procedures and while I never openly insisted on these regulations to be observed, it had become one of those special Tigershark traditions. Mainly because we often acted undercover and little things like that reminded us that we were a Union ship.

With me were my senior officers and each of them proceeded to their stations, exchanged the formulaic hand over procedures, which included a short report regarding the current situation.

Roghor did not salute me, as this was not done on the bridge of a Union ship, despite an official regulation. There was an unwritten one that was observed on almost all ships, as far as I knew.

Roghor, had completely recovered from the horrible torture he had to endure, not so long ago. There were quite a few spots of fur that did not have the same level of color and pigmentation as the rest of his fur. The Derma Patcher and tissue regrow procedures of medical never considered pigmentation, mainly because it was something that equalized on its own after a while.

But while the spots of treatment and restoration were still visible, it hinted at the terrible ordeal he had to endure.

I could clearly feel that the torture and that experience somehow even deepened his commitment and loyalty to the fleet and of course to the Tigershark. “Morning watch standing down, Captain. There are no unknown contacts on the scanner horizon. We are on course and our estimated time of arrival at Karana star and Deep Blue remains 10:23 hours at current speed. Ship and crew report all green.”

“Thank you Mr. Roghor. I suggest you proceed straight to the Den, Mr. Eeeryt has bacon on the morning buffet.”

He growled an exciting sound and short of running, hurried to the left I.S.T. “Thank you, Captain.” He added to his growl and left.

I saw Alice speaking with Shaka and said as she was about to leave too. “So how was your first bridge shift?”

She did not maintain her usual sad expression, but smiled ear to ear. “It was awesome, Captain. Thanks for allowing me to do that, while I am just a Midshipman.”

“It’s not the rank, Ms. Enigma but talent, eagerness and your commitment to duty that made me agree with Mr. Ndebele’s recommendation.”

Har-Hi said. “This is not just a Tigershark thing, Midshipman. Admiral Stahl made Midshipman Olafson acting captain of the Devastator.”

“Really? Awesome!”

I grinned. “You might find yourself holding the Con one of these days.”

After this little exchange, I sat down in my Command chair and sighed. “I never thought I would ever want to visit a Thauran world and yet here we are on our way to Deep Blue and on my orders.”

Har-Hi in his usual pose, with crossed arms standing rather than sitting, turned his head to look at me from the side. “Indeed your orders, but we might as well check out the Thauran worlds in this region, they could very well be infected with those lava egg things”

Narth agreed. “The probability finding the presence of Ypeherix pressure manipulators inside Deep Blue is at least 76 percent if not 77 percent, based on the observed dispersion pattern and the age of these devices.”

“I probably should not ask, but out of curiosity, what part of your calculation makes a one percent difference?”

Narth did not lose a second to answer. “There are two factors that are more variable due to the quality of the sources. The number of known affected worlds, the number of potential affected...”

I interrupted. “And I should listen to my own advice. However, the probability is certainly high enough for us to use this as justification to come here.”

Shea added to the conversation. “Did you not already justify this in the log book?”

“Well yes, but the more I am thinking about Sylia’s story the more I feel there is something really fishy going on.”

I could not see Hans, as his station was behind me. He said. “I feel the same way, Captain and I did a little digging. “Sylia’s father was not implicated dealing with the Worm, but the House of Sobur is considered a very influential family, a very dangerous family too.”

“What do you mean by dangerous?”

“That’s not as easy to answer, as there are no official sources that explain this further. However, I spoke with several Union Police contacts and they all said that Thaurans start to button up and stop talking when this family is mentioned. The only comments you might hear after that is a warning that the Soburs are dangerous.”

He paused for a moment, I was sure he was reading something, he then continued. “I just got a report from SHERLOCK, the Union Police AI and filed by a Union Police detective named Phil Decker, suspecting the Soburs to be supporters of the Necros.”

Since there was lots of time till we would drop out of Quasi and there was not much going on that required my attention, I got up and walked up to the ramp, past the Nav Tank and approached Hans. “Can you elaborate?”

“He is virtually unknown by the average Union Citizen, but to every policeman and LEO he is a legend just as Stahl. I bet you never heard of Decker, but he is an immortal too.”

“No, I admit I never heard of Decker, of him being an immortal. However I was asking about those Necros, what are they?”

“Oh sorry, Captain.” Hans looked embarrassed and then explained. “I am not too familiar with them, I am however uploading more detailed information. As far as understand, it is a sect or cult that worships death. They are known throughout the Galaxy. Legends and unverified sources claim that this cult is led by an immortal being with a god-like status known as the Necro King.”

I didn’t interrupt him and I noticed the rest of my bridge crew was listening too.

Hans kept reading from his display. “The cult has many forms, sub-cults, and names. It exists in almost all known spacefaring societies that have contact with the Galactic society pool. According to expert scholars familiar with the subject, the cult is much older than the Union and has been known to exist by the Saresii of the First Age of Knowledge.”

Shea had joined me standing close to Hans and she said. “I heard of the Necros on Sin 4. While almost all civilizations and cultures developed a death cult independently at one stage or another. They usually fade with the dawn of industrialization and the advancement of science and medicine.”

Hans gave her a nod and added. “The Necro Cult is considered a dangerous organization by Union law enforcement. However, since it is classified as a religion it is not outright banned, but certain practices are illegal.”

“Like sacrifices and such?” I asked.

He glanced at his screen. “I haven’t consumed it all, Captain. It appears they do not sacrifice anything. Not sentient or non-sentient life, but they practice illegal medical procedures that include the attempts to resurrect or re-animate dead beings.”

I tried to shrug at this information and said. “And why is this illegal?”

That Cateria had arrived on the bridge; I only really registered as it was she who answered my question. “Union medicine could reanimate a dead being even after it is declared deceased. However, it is not done, because once the brain functions cease, the being is no longer alive. Experiments and studies have shown that re-animation while technically possible can never restore the actual person. The results are worse the longer the individual is deceased. It is by medical ethical laws forbidden, as it by all sense and purpose a new being. It was forbidden in my Seenian society as well.”

“And you were so much more advanced than we are,” Hans said.

She actually smiled at him. “Perhaps in terms of human medicine, but I think no society in the entire universe is as developed as the Union when it comes to treating so many different beings and species. My Sickbay can treat Shail, Garbini, Y’All, Nul, Humans, Mini Terrans, and Union med clinics even treat Bandrupo, Bellebee, Lyrham and everyone in between. To me that is not only a miracle but a source of great pride. I doubt, even the fabled Pree would know how to help a sick Bandrupo or have treatment options to help a Non-Corporeal.”

I said. “They can get sick”

“Oh yes, Non-Corps have a whole range of them.”

To Hans I said. “”I have a feeling we need to know a whole lot more about those Necros, probably sooner than later. Keep educating yourself and give me the condensed version once you got it.”

“Aye Captain.”

--””--

“I know of the Nexus,” Lummis said to Ciferus. “But we need more information regarding that woman. Is she human? Does she carry the weapon and how does she look like?”

Ciferus walked through the opening rift before them. “Stay at your own peril, Geoan told us to leave and this is his realm. Heed his command.”

Lummis was not so quick and said to the giant. “I care not about your attitude. Your size does not impress me. You abandoned Crea, I have not. You are hiding here, while she sends me to be her champion and defeat the Dark One. Now since you know about the WEAPON, I demand details.”

“This is my realm indeed, little Lummis you are nothing but a mortal put into the shell of an immortal. Neither the powers nor the long life you have received has filled you with knowledge and wisdom. I abhor violence and actions of force, but I am not incapable of defending. Leave little Lummis, leave now!”

Lummis drew his sword and with an effort of will gathered energy to release it as a devastating, consuming bolt. He wanted to burn an arm of that arrogant giant.

“I heed but the will of one and that is not you!”

He unleashed a thundering bolt of pure light, and it did indeed burn a sizeable chunk of the arm to ashes and set a stretch of the forest ablaze.

“A lesson you needed and a lesson I provided. I ask not again!”

The giant’s arm regrew instantly and fire consuming trees and vegetation was extinguished by a torrent of rain.

Geoan, grew even bigger. “There was never much hope, and now seeing who has been chosen by the fallen goddess, no hope remains. I am supreme here!”

Lummis still heard these words as he was pushed with unequaled force and impacted with the hard-packed sand of the Avondur desert. He still held his sword, but much of his fabled armor was shredded.

Ciferus sat on a horse sized boulder with crossed legs. While the Netherworld lord still appeared like a human, his true nature seemed almost superimposed within his presence. Ciferus laughed. “I gather this was not the outcome you expected.”

Lummis gathered himself and pointed his still drawn sword at Ciferus. “That you have an agenda that is not in line with what you proclaimed has also been revealed. I am not done with Geoan and the last word has not been spoken, and I am getting weary of you.”

Ciferus jumped to the ground. “Naturally, mighty Lord of Light, I am what I am. Now do we find the Nexus or do we resolve our differences right here and now?”

Lummis was not sure about his supremacy over the Netherworld demon. Especially here and with his armor in dire need of repair.

“You know about this world Sin 4?”

“It is a world of lawlessness in a star spiral far from here. It is the same star spiral that saw the rise of the Emperor, the rise of the Narth and where the Coven have created their stronghold. It is the star spiral where the Dark One is to be resurrected if one places credit into the Prophecy.”

“Then let us go there, find the WEAPON and slay this bane of existence.”

--””--

The garden world that was center on our main viewer, was quite beautiful and in my opinion, aptly named. Shaka said. “That should be a world to your liking captain. It is a water world with even less dry land than your home, Nilfeheim.”

Shea tapped her display and said. “Whatever gut feeling made you come here has just been substantiated, there are pressure manipulators inside its crust.”

I gave Narth a glance. “It also confirmed your probability calculations.”

“It did not, Captain. Shea’s scanning results verified that my estimates were clearly in error and less accurate as they should have been.”

“Don’t chastise yourself. I am amazed at what you are able to calculate every time.”

I leaned forward. “That, however, raises a question. This is a Union world, should the Science Department not have been able to make the same calculations and issue a warning to all potentially infested worlds?”

“They have done so, Captain. A warning was sent to all occupied Union worlds in this region, however, ships with altered sensors and the necessary computronic routines are not as common. It was Shea and Tyron who developed this, only very recently.”

That made sense of course. Aloud I said. “Elfi please announce us and Shaka go ahead enter the system.”

She did and moments later said. “We are cleared for landing, but the only above water landing platform big enough for the Tigershark is currently occupied by a Meteor freighter. They asked us to use their underwater landing field.”

I gave Shaka the permission to proceed and while we descended into the planet’s atmosphere I remembered the Madrid landing in the ocean right next to our burg.

To a Union ship, it made little difference, if the landing field was underwater. I knew there were quite a few spaceports that were completely submerged. On a world like Nilfeheim, any spaceport expansion would have to be of a similar kind.

Krabbel had similar thoughts. “Before we had our spaceport on our moon, Union ships landed in our oceans as well. We Archas simply don’t like cutting down trees, to make room for a spaceport on our home world.”

“Arez we surez the shipiz haz no holez? Meeze notz likez the bathingz orze watrez zoo muchz.”

I turned. “We just traveled many light years through the vacuum of space. I think we will be okay. What are you doing on the bridge anyhow?”

“Whyze you azkez? Canz Meeze notz be herze?”

“It is sort of a Union Fleet thing, Mr. Meeze. You got to have a reason for being on the bridge or permission.”

“Thenz I beze finez.”

Har-Hi put his hand before his mouth as he asked. “And what reason would that be?”

“Meeze wanz to be herze, therze noz to much workz in ze galleyz. Meeze iz off ze dutiez.”

I too fought with a grin. “Alright just find an empty seat, but next time please ask.”

While we talked to Meeze, the Tigershark had reached the ocean surface and plunged below the waves.

As always when I saw an ocean, I got the urge to take a swim. The waters of this planet appeared to be unspoiled and according to the enviro data I blinked into view, it had the perfect composition and had an enjoyable temperature.

Elfi reported. “Fleet command has been informed and forwarded our findings to Sci Central.”

Moments later we had settled on a subsurface platform of Durocrete and about three hundred meters below the surface. Flex tunnels were extended while the planet manager hailed us. “Welcome to Deep Blue.” The Thauran on the main viewer said. “We were just informed by Sci Central that your scans were positive about some kind of alien infestation in our crust. We were informed about such a potential infestation only recently. Is there a danger to the colony?”

“I am Captain Olafson of the USS Tigershark. There is a potential danger indeed, but my Science Officer is confident it is not imminent.” I paused to read a short message, Elfi was flashing onto the display and added. “Engine 444 of the Union Fire Department has been dispatched in assisting my team to remove these Pressure Manipulators.”

He gave me a thin smile. “By the Blessed Blue Virgin, we are very glad you are here. We were living with such a dangerous threat without even knowing about it. Can you tell me what it actually is and how it got here?”

“To be frank, Sir we are still working on the details of this mystery ourselves, but my science department will share all we have and know, so you are on the same page as we are.”

“Don’t hesitate to ask for any and all assistance of course. My name is Maro Maresan, I am the son of Baron Mersen of Maresan and the appointed planet manager.”

He spread his arms. “Welcome to Deep Blue and please feel free to give any of your crew shore leave privileges. I have served the Union Fleet myself, while we would have preferred less important reasons for the visit of a Fleet vessel, Deep Blue and its population is thrilled to welcome you.”

After he ended the call, Har-Hi said. “He didn’t act like I expected a Thauran to act. He appeared quite genuine.”

Mehedi agreed. “He is a Union Citizen and this is a Union world, so our PSI department is bound by our PSI laws, but his body language and tone suggests that he is indeed welcoming us.”

Hans said. “He is Commander Maresan, a retired Union Fleet officer. There are no negative entries in his personnel file.”

I got up. “I think I will pay him a visit while you guys deal with those Ypeherix eggs. There are still many questions regarding those. Finding them here could be a reason for war after all.”

On my way to the I.S.T., I added. “Har-Hi you have the Con. Narth and Shea you are in charge regarding the Ypeherix issue. SHIP please summon Ms. Sobur to the main deck. I think me and her are going to see the Baron’s son and ask a few questions.”

--””--

“You were correct.” Trevor Taros said. “The Tigershark has just landed on Deep Blue. “But it seems there is another reason than the bait call. “There are reports about an alien infestation of unknown origin.”

Three of the six beings were still on Shale Blue, but no longer in the tavern. They now found themselves in the environmentally sealed building of the Taros Bio Research Company. Officially they conducted research on the local insect population, but this was just a cover for the Necro Worshippers. The experiments that were conducted here were unethical, immoral and highly illegal. Thauran and even Union law enforcement were far, the few locals cared little and knew even less what was going on behind the metal walls of this remote lab facility deep in the algae slime swamps of the main continent.

The Saresii who was quite uncharacteristic in terms of glamour or more the lack of it, that was the hallmark of the Saresii in general, was wearing a lab coat over her bio seal suit. “It is the Ypeherix, left over from a war and conflict that raged over a billion years ago between the Seeders and the Earlies. They have been unknown to Union science and society but they are not unknown to others. Their agenda is not clear to me, but it appears they are still following much of the Earlies goals.”

Trevor Taros, the brother of Tamara had shed the non-descript coverall he had worn during their first meeting and now wore the full regalia of a Necro priest said. “Our Lord and god the Necro King have decreed that we meet and join efforts, but I am curious as to who you represent.”

“As your God decreed we are joining efforts. Has he emphasized the importance of the identity of those who have sent me?”

“No, he has not, but I am not a blind drone. Our cause is sacred and important, our King is old indeed but he is not well versed in matters of the Union, but I am. It is imperative to keep our cause and goals well concealed.”

“Those who sent me have dealings with your king while he was a child at the court of Imperia. The level of understanding between the Necro King and those who give me directions are beyond your and my understanding. Go ask your king; do not repeat your inquiry to me.”

“Then let us return to the matters at hand. We recruited Naramir Suppor and Swybar Swybin and we have Kermac support. They think this is about Olafson and to my surprise she did appear within Thauran space, but I would not have agreed to my sister’s requests if this is about revenge. I want the key of Rene, as it will reveal the secret of Thauran Vampires, but what is this really about?”

“A conflict of cosmic proportions will come to a climax. A power and force that is beyond the Union, beyond all that exists are bound to wake.”

Trevor wiped his mouth. “What has a Union captain to do with it?”

The Saresii woman leaned forward. “The ones that guide me, are certain Captain Olafson has a direct connection to that force.”

“Are we to kill Olafson?”

“Once we determined what she knows, yes.”

Chapter 16: Gone Fishing
Har-Hi never cared much for sitting. When Battlestations was sounded, he could find his seat in a second. Standing was not really a Dai specific habit, as there were seats in Dai Command rooms (Dai did not call it bridge), it was more a personal habit than anything else.

The ship was sitting on a Duro-Crete pad and underwater on a Thauran world called Deep Blue. The main viewer was raised and thus allowed a direct view into the bluish surroundings. Fish like creatures of various sizes did dart into view every now and then.

Not far from the landing pad was the mostly transparent dome of Fathom-Dwell, the biggest of the three cities on this world. All of them under the surface of the planet-spanning ocean.

There was an above water landing platform, but it was not big enough to hold more than one space ship of Tigershark size.

Shea, Narth and several others of the crew had left the ship and used a Landing Tank, just like a submarine to pinpoint the exact location of these mysterious pressure manipulator things.

The captain had just left the ship to meet with the planet manager.

She had taken a Thauran science ensign with her.

While the Ypeherix problem was the official and prime reason for the Tigershark’s presence, there was a Thauran mystery that involved the mother of that Ensign that was the other reason.

Elfi said. “Incoming transmission from Engine 444, Sir.”

Har-Hi turned to move more into the center of the bridge, as the main viewer lowered and displayed the logo of the Union Fire Department.

He gave Elfi a nod and tugged his Uniform top. The logo was replaced by an apparently quite tall human male that looked as if he just stepped out of a hero virtu show. He was wearing the dark blue, red accented uniform of his service. Even for a society with Auto Dressers and being used to perfect uniforms and appearances, this man somehow took it to another level of immaculate perfection.

“Good Sixth hour, Citizen.” The man said, “I am Battalion Chief Michael Englyst of the 12th section Region 19. I am sorry for the delay in our arrival, but this section does not have its own firehouse yet.”

“I am surprised about your quick arrival.” Har-Hi responded. “I am Lt. Commander Hi of the USS Tigershark. I must confess I know little about the Fire Department or what the word Fire represents in regard to the service you represent.”

The immaculate Battalion Chief had an open face and said. “It is certainly confusing to many, especially to a Dai who never had planets and dwellings that could burn. It is a distinct Terran term I think and confused the Ult to no end, but it is what our service has been called for 1500 years.”

He pointed at the logo emblem on his left sleeve. “Even our logo features a Terran tool called a fire axe, something no one really associates with anything nowadays. Maybe emergency management and civil defense would be less confusing.”

“That explains it then,” Har-Hi said and continued. “You know why you are here?”

“Not in great detail. We received a briefing only a few weeks ago, regarding these Ypeherix devices and it raised more questions than answers; my orders are to assist you guys. Learn as much as possible about these things and develop new response methods geared towards that menace.”

A Klack also wearing the uniform of a Union Fire Fighter, stepped into view. “I am Captain K’Tikku of the 444. We did receive a brand new piece of equipment that has been put together in great haste for this mission. It’s called a Crust Diver and we hope it will be useful.”

“I am sure it will. I have you patched through to our Chief Science Officer right away.”

The firefighters thanked him and Elfi affected the comm link transfer.

Har-Hi wanted to sit down to access a field screen and learn more about the Union Fire Department when he stopped in mid-move. “Mr. Meeze, this is the Command chair!”

“Sooz? Captinz lefz anz zee saiz to Meeze finz an empty seatz. Youze noz uzing iz.”

The worm wiggled his body. “Meeze likez zis.”

--””--

The city under the transparent dome was as modern and clean as any Union city. According to the information, I had consumed before stepping onto the slide belt inside the flex tunnel attached to our side airlock, this city was home to about 500,000 inhabitants. The belt had carried me and the Thauran ensign across the submerged landing field and past the dome rim. Where we were checked by Spaceport authority security. This place was not a military installation and we were subject to all regulations.

The checks were professional and efficient. That everyone we encountered was Thaurans, actually no surprise as this was a Thauran world. What did surprise me was the lack of the famous Thauran attitude so far.

The customs officer was polite and scanned both my CITI and MITI and then looked at a readout and said. “Hygiene scans complete, Captain Olafson. No harmful organisms detected. You and Ensign Sobur are cleared for entry.”

I thanked the officer and said. “Would you be able to direct me to the Planet Manager’s office?”

“Most certainly, Ma’am but His Excellency Maro Maresan is waiting for you behind the security barriers, I am sure he will have transportation arranged.”

Again I was pleasantly surprised about the professional friendliness of the Thauran customs officer. Sylia Sobur, the science ensign who despite all my efforts to make her feel comfortable seemingly intimidated by me, apparently guessed my thoughts and said. “These are commoners, Captain. They do not belong to a noble family. It makes all the difference.”

I acknowledged her with a nod but had to direct my attention to the middle-aged Thauran with an apparent slight overweight system. The man wore an elaborately embroidered suit and was accompanied by five very official looking individuals, three men, and two females.

He stepped forward as we passed through the security barrier. “Welcome to Fathom-Dwell and Deep Blue, Captain Olafson. I am Maro Maresan.”

I was in uniform represented the fleet, and I knew he was a retired fleet officer, I saluted him and returned his greeting in a crisp military way. “Thank you, your Excellency.”

He pointed at his entourage. “These are department administrators we are very concerned about that infestation.”

One of the men, who had exactly the facial expression and the attitude I expected.

“You will immediately brief us, female. This is not some worthless Union world but a Thauran one. After that, I expect you to go back and do whatever the Fire Department tells you, understood?”

The baron’s son made an apologetic face towards me and said to that man. “You disrespect a Union Fleet officer one more time and you go swimming without a suit.”

The man huffed. “Your Excellency, she is not Thauran. She must...”

“And I was not kidding, Duke Merber. Remove yourself and prepare to be transferred, one more word and you will find out just how serious I am.”

The man snorted, was however not brave enough to find out and left.

The planet governor said with a sad smile. “I am so sorry, Captain. I am trying hard to stomp out that old crusted obnoxious behavior I myself was guilty off before I joined the Union Navy.”

“A few years ago, I would have been offended, Your Excellency but I too made mistakes and pre-judged people.”

He motioned to an open indoor flyer and said. “You and the Ensign are of course guests of honor. I ordered a banquet and official reception.”

“Sir that is hardly necessary. I just came to inform you about our mission and then ask a few questions on behalf of my science officer, Ensign Sobur.”

“But of course it is necessary, dear Captain Olafson. It is the first time since this planet was colonized, that a vessel of the Union Fleet has made planet fall. It will serve well, reminding everyone that we are indeed not just Thauran, but Union.”

--””--

Lummis was right behind Ciferus as they stepped through the Nexus portal with the intention to reach a world called Sin 4.

Both of them stepped out of the portal field. This nexus chamber looked just like any other nexus chamber, semi-spherical with a trans-spatial portal field generator in its center. The chamber was part of a natural cave.

Both of them stepped outside and immediately noticed the signs of a fight. Lots of displaced debris and partial molten and now solidified rock.

The plane they were on showed no sign of life. There was an old tired red sun in the sky.

It was bitter cold.

Lummis said. “This is Sin 4?”

Ciferus rubbed his chin. “No this is not Sin 4. We should have emerged deep underground and the planet is full of life and activity. We are not even in the right Star Spiral.”

“Why have you brought us here? Let us go back and find the right Nexus point.”

Just as he said it, he noticed the gauntlet and the tattered cape. The gauntlet and the cape were those of a light knight, it was the mantle of Zophim. Even partially covered by rubble, he instantly recognized the distinct seal on the cape,

He forgot about Ciferus and started to dig. He threw boulders and rocks weighing many tons effortless aside and sure enough he uncovered the mostly naked and dried our cadaver of one of his most formidable and favorite knights. This was indeed the remains of Zophim, someone had driven something sharp right through the eye slit of Zophim’s helmet, through the skull of his friend and out the back.

As much as he was searching he could not find the rest of the armor or the sword.”

Only now did he remember being in the company of Ciferus.

The Nether world ruler stood by the cave entrance. “The Nexus on planet Sin 4 cannot be reached. What is deemed impossible has apparently occurred. Someone or something has shut down that Nexus point.” Ciferus jumped on a larger boulder and assumed a crouching position, resting his underarms on his knees. “Friend of yours?”

“These are the remains of my beloved Zophim, a stalwart and bastion of strength and righteousness among the Knights of Light. He was an immortal and yet someone ended his life.”

Ciferus looked around, he didn’t go without a fight.

Lummis wondered why the old Nexus network was bringing them here, instead of the desired location. While his associate claimed the actual destination was blocked somehow, he still wondered why they were transported to this place. A place where one of his knights was slain.

Could the entity that did the foul deed be still near?

Lummis noticed that Ciferus had the same thoughts. The Nether World ruler scanned the lifeless landscape, while his voice was not as confident as usual. “What chance brought us here, I do not know, but it might still be here.”

Neither one of them could detect anything, yet a human female figure shrouded in a dark green cape with the hood drawn deep stepped from around a concealing and sizeable boulder.

“No, the hero that slew one of thy arrogant servants is no longer here.”

Lummis lashed out, threw a bolt of energy right at the hooded woman, but all he did was split the boulder behind her, she still stood there unaffected, a projection of some kind.

The woman seemed amused. “Ah yes, that was expected.”

“Who are you?” Asked Ciferus.

“I am known as Verðandi.”

“Did you slay my knight?” Lummis asked.

“Your mighty knight was slain by a mere mortal. Not that the word mere really applies, the warrior that slew that arrogant extension of yourself did so by great courage and disregard to his own safety.”

“A mortal? You lie! No mere mortal can overcome a champion of mine!”

“Yet here he lies, with a pierced skull. Oh, Lummis you are so blind. Your mistress stole from us and your other servant did not listen.”

Ciferus nodded. “Of course, you are one of the Norns, entities of the Spirit of the Universe. It was you who guarded, perhaps even created the WEAPON. It was Crea who stole it, is that not so?”

“Yes, Ciferus it is. I too seek the WEAPON, but not for the reasons you do. It must be returned. I wanted you to see this. I want to warn you as this is my task since everything began.”

Lummis crossed his arms. “Then go back old hag. Let true Gods take care of this. It is apparent that Crea had no problem to take from you what she wanted.”

This time the woman laughed. “You are not a God, little Lummis. If your Crea would be all that you want her to be, why did she not hold onto what she stole? Why is she relying on you of all beings to confront someone who will be a god by all definitions known?”

Ciferus jumped down from his perch. “What are you saying, Norn? We will find the WEAPON and slay the Dark One again.”

“The Dark One was not slain the first time. He was ambushed by a host of entities so much more potent than you. You know what occurred.”

Ciferus nodded. “Indeed I do, it is a spark of hope that this WEAPON can postpone or prevent what I fear will occur. This fool I am with is ignorant but he is not impotent.”

“I am Verðandi and my task is to warn and thus I fulfill my task. Proceed to that Star Spiral and enter the realm that is known as the Union, and know that it was a mortal warrior of that Union that slew your knight.”

“The passage is blocked,” Ciferus said.

“Go to another Nexus. The mountains of N’Ger conceal such a Nexus point.”

The woman faded into a whisp pf vapor that dissipated fast.

Ciferus and Lummis used the Nexus as suggested.

--””--

We had taken a short flier ride to a central positioned building where I was told we would have a meeting with the local news people and an official reception. This was certainly a departure from our previous missions. The planet governor had taken us to a plush lounge and we were offered drinks.

I decided to test the waters so to speak. My companion Sylia was the actual reason I decided to come here. That we found Ypeherix things was not completely unexpected of course.

“Your Excellency, I have a rather unusual question that has nothing to do with the Ypeherix situation.”

He turned fully towards me. “Don’t stop there, Captain. Just ask your question.”

“Well it concerns Ensign Sobur’s mother. She was declared dead several years ago, yet a recent GalNet message of her mother originated from here.”

I was not a telepath, but I was certain the planet governor’s face was an open question mark, making me almost certain he never heard of this before.

I encouraged Sylia to tell her story and I provided the man with a copy of the actual message.

He had found a seat and watched the recording twice and then he said. “It certainly seems to be a strange mystery. I am Thauran by birth, I am of an old noble family but I am also a Union Citizen and even though I am retired now, I am still an officer.” He paused and looked at Sylia. “There is still a lot of the very old Thauran buried deep into our society.

The rightful exposure of that crook we had as an emperor and the fall of several houses, cleansed much but I am afraid not everything.”

The Baron’s son tugged at his pant legs as he got up and extended his hand to her. “I am a Union citizen first, forget about the noble titles. I am Maro, and you have my full support in this. I too want to know what this is all about.”

--””--

Baran had been a senior official in the planet administration for a very long time. He had been in charge when Maro Maresan was still too young to shave, He had been in charge when the son of Baron Mersen found it necessary to run off and play soldier in that Union Fleet, instead of consuming his duties as a Maresan. Baran was in charge of everything for over eighty years. It was not all that long ago when the old Baron, now well over a hundred years old welcomed his son and put him in charge over Deep Blue.

“Good old Baran,” He said. “I am sure you will be a valuable aid to my son.”

An aid! After so many years, an aide!

He stood in the background, displaying a benevolent smile and watched. Sarak Sobur his true master, a man officially declared dead predicted the Tigershark would come, but now that she was here, what was the next step?

There was no information regarding the ship’s capabilities. Only a few Thaurans he knew about that remained in the Union fleet were willing to share classified information.

Tamara Taros had shared personnel information, information she obtained while she was the security chief of Christmas Base, but she had no access to technical information regarding the ship that was now sitting outside the city. It was listed as a long-range shuttle of all things, but even a five-year-old preschooler seeing that ship knew this was not a shuttle.

Baran and his superior did not really believe the personnel records anyway. They were as phony and false as the long range shuttle designation for what had landed.

The princess of the Saran Empire was the first clue in his opinion regarding that. Even to Thauran nobles, the Saran aristocrats were far beyond mere commoners and in terms of power and influence beyond even Rene Thauran and all Thauran emperors. Such a princess would never serve as a mere communications officer, what a ridiculous idea.

He was Thauran and of old stock. He and his family worshipped an illegal sect for centuries, but he was a Union citizen as well. He had traveled beyond Thauran worlds; he attended planet governor conferences, before that upstart was placed in charge. There was only one organization within the fleet that could designate something new and dangerous as a Long Range Shuttle and a simple communications officer as Saran princess, and that was NAVINT. He almost lost his painted on grin and suppressed a snort in the very last moment, not to mention the rest of this personnel file.

Tamara was blinded by her own imagined self-importance, that was certain. The file she handed to the Kermac was a NAVINT construct.

Baran wondered if Sarak had contemplated all this, or if they had made NAVINT aware of what was going on?

--””--

Sarak and the Old Saresii were still on Shale Blue, but they were in close contact with their assets at Deep Blue. The older brother of Sylia just closed the secure GalNet connection and got up to face the terrifying form of the Necro King himself. “The Olafson has taken the bait, he is at Deep Blue right now, our brother reports that this Olafson brought my sister along and openly asked Viscount Maro, the useless son of Baron Mersen for help.”

“Then bring this human in front of me, so I can ascertain what he knows about the Dark One’s essence.”

“This must be done subtle and will take time. This Olafson appears to be the CO of a Union ship that is wat more than just a Long Range Shuttle as it was originally reported.”

“The Necros are in pursuit of this power since the very first Necro King, I want this Olafson now! Our research concludes that he is a core element in this.”

“I will obey, but openly abducting a Union Fleet CO will open a floodgate of Union trouble. The Olafson has my sister along. She is the last one of my family I have not been able to examine. She has the key of Rene, the knowledge about Thauran Vampires. Thaurans that unraveled the true secret of immortality.”

“I allowed your family to join my circle and rise to prominence because of this Thauran secret, but what are the secrets of an insignificant tribe of insignificant humans compared to the cosmic powers of the Antiforce? This Union is but a shadow that will fade like everything that came before.”

“Yet you fled from the catacombs of Sin 4, the Union is not impotent. Their PSI Corps now swelled with Narth and Coven agents. I am your servant because I see value in our partnership, but don’t dismiss me as insignificant. Heed my warning and let us proceed with my plan.”

The Necro King and his predecessors awaiting the chance to finally access power of truly cosmic proportion did not heed the Thauran’s advice.

--””--

The reception was a pompous affair in my opinion and saw me in my Dress A uniform. One that I had not worn since the Crystal Ball. Well, technically I had not worn it ever as this was the first time I was wearing the female version.

Har-Hi, Shea, Narth and several of my senior officers had joined me.

I was glad, Shea was taking the lead in the questions the local media had regarding the Ypeherix. It bugged me deeply that I did not know more about it. The scientific part of it, how these pressure manipulators worked and the fact that they had been dormant in the crust for perhaps millions of years was not the reason for me feeling inadequate. It was the fact that we had not yet figured out why or ran into any of these walking mushrooms.

Now that I had my ship and all its resources available, we had not met any member of the Ypeherix. It also seemed that the Union had reduced the importance of this issue. Maybe that would change again, as we now had evidence of their constructs in the crust of a Union world.

My geeks were all excited to work with the Union Fire Department, and I had to agree they appeared to be top of the notch professionals. They, so I understood took the Ypeherix issue very serious.

Shea contemplated the fact, that these pressure manipulators were introduced into the planet’s crust perhaps millions of years ago, as she and Narth examined their movement paths or something like that closer.

That we actually had something like a press conference and that Shea, Narth and the rest of my science department could use GalNet to consult and meet with other experts was new grounds for us for sure.

My argument that this was not really something the Tigershark was meant to do, was dispelled by a very pleased call from McElligott.

“I hear you, Captain Olafson.” He said after I delivered my report and mentioned that the Ypeherix issue was not addressed and dealt with in the way I felt it should have been.

He said. “Your Science Department did not only develop a way to scan for these things, but they are also now working with the Union Fire Department on methods to remove them from other infected worlds. While they are doing this, they gather scientific information. It might not be a clandestine mission where you can shine, shock the daylights out of me and add previous enemies to our illustrious Union, but for once I know where you are, the reports are just as I like them, without any surprise component.”

“Sir,” I responded.” aren’t we supposed to do more about the Ypeherix?”

“Girl, we do exactly what we need to do. According to our information, this started with the Seeders or the Earlies. Sentient entities that have been active billions of years ago. We know next to nothing about them. We found these Ypeherix things in the Spinward sector with over ninety percent of unknown and unexplored space. As long as there is no shooting war against entities we know next to nothing about, our best approach is exactly the one we are taking and let the scientists figure things out.”

He stuffed his ever present pipe and added. “The reason you and every Union ship has a science department is exactly for this reason. If you recall your academy time you will remember that this one of our fleets core mission.”

Before he terminated the connection he mentioned that he might even come by and check officially on our progress.”

I did not tell him about the other reason, of course, it was a mystery all right but only to me and a Thauran ensign of mine.

Maro Maresan, the planet manager was a surprisingly pleasant Thauran dispelling my last reservations and gave attest to my core belief that it was the merits or flaws of an individual and neither origin or species that should be the base of any judgment.

In my relatively short career, I met a Kermac that was imprisoned just like me in the slave pens of Alvor’s Cove. I met Thaurans who were the worst scum in my opinion, but also Thaurans who were trusted with the maintenance of Translocators aboard the Devastator. I had Thaurans in my crew and I trusted them just like any other member.

There were Neo Vikings, members of my own species that wanted me dead and thought of me worse than the lowest of the Lowmen.

With all these deep thoughts, I got up from my seat at the captain’s office and stepped closer to the view port and watched the waves splash against the transparent barrier

The ocean was not very deep, three hundred meters at where our landing gear touched the duro crete of the landing field. And since the Tigershark measured 402 meters from keel to top, the bridge and the command deck was just at the water surface level, while a significant part of the aft was well above it.

This was a Union world and since my science department was busy for the foreseeable future, I had given shore leave privileges to everyone. Those on duty were to rotate with those off duty.

The city was not the biggest in terms of Union cities but it was still a sizeable and well-developed settlement.

The bridge was staffed only by the watch officer that held the Con, and a Communications specialist. Deep Blue was not a fleet installation and thus lacked military GalCom and that was the reason for this.

As I stepped out of my office, Har-Hi intercepted me. “You know this is a water world and the ocean water is chemically not very different from the water found on Nilfeheim.”

“I was actually contemplating a swim.”

“Why don’t you? According to Narth, we are here for at least five more days. The Fire department is sending another engine with another experimental piece of equipment. A piece our geeks designed if I understand it correctly.”

I sighed. “Yes I know, Shea tried to explain what they call the Mole Trap. Some sort of system that can trap and remove these things. Removing them without the need for Psionic talents like we have.”

He nodded. “Yes, Cirruit and Warner are all excited and tried to explain it to me. It’s just a vehicle to me but well I am a warrior at heart, not an engineer.”

He motioned to the Command Chair. “I am not a big fan of water, so I’ll keep watch. Go, enjoy yourself.”

--””--

Naramir Suppor no longer looked like he once did, and he had legally changed his name taking the name of his mother. Swybin was more vane like that, he had opted for a Bioflex mask, and his name had been changed as well. Neither of the two knew of each other growing up. Naramir was the son of a failing noble house while Swybin was now the official head of the house of Swybar.

The conviction of his father as a traitor, his faked execution and eventual demise after a career as a pirate under the name Red Dragon, did not diminish the Swybar family fortune. The prosecution and execution of Admiral Swybar were handled by the fleet. Who had no jurisdiction over the civilian family, this and the fact that Fleet Administration went out of its way to keep the whole scandal as much out of the public eye as possible, meant that no one really looked at the Swybars.

That the actual execution was faked and that his father became a pirate was something the general public was never told. He only found out about it, when he received a letter of his father and he had sporadic contact with him until all communications ceased and Union news media reported the death of the pirate Red Dragon.

It was Trevor Taros contacting them regarding Eric Olafson and offering both a chance for revenge. Both of them jumped at that chance, there was nothing either of them desired more.

They knew each other for less than a month really, and Swybin’s, even for Thauran standards over blown ego, didn’t really like Naramir. As a matter of fact, he didn’t like Trevor. Right now they were helping him to get revenge, but it was he who would kill the Neo Viking and no one else.

He didn’t even like the body odor of the other Thauran and found it offensive that the other man forgot to use some sort of body wash before joining him in this small craft.

“Are you sure he will go swimming? It sounds lunatic to me, to be honest.”

“I guarantee it. He had spent every free moment in the pools of the Devi. And he is a she now, don’t forget that.”

Swybin actually spent very little time with Eric Olafson and knew very little, but he had spent a considerable amount of credits on private detectives. Not that they found out much, but they confirmed what the other Thauran claimed. Eric was now living as a female. He had been seen as such during his last visit to Nilfeheim. A guy named Yngve Lofdahl, was identified by his detectives as the best friend of Eric and freely spilled everything he knew about Eric.

While he could not rely on very much personal knowledge, he had to leave Camp Idyllic even before Basic Training really started; he collected every bit of the little info that was available and studied it with unrivaled intensity. Yes, of course, Eric or Erica as he called himself now would eventually come out to swim.

Naramir did not have the best of opinions regarding Lord Swybin. He knew the man only about four standard weeks, ever since Trevor Taros had summoned him to Shallow Blue.

While there was the burning hate towards the Olafson, they shared there was little else they seemed to have in common. Swybin did not let a chance get by without pointing out just how rich and important the Swybars were and in the same breath, never failed to mention just how unimportant and poor the Suppors really were.

Naramir kept his sharp tongue in check. He was indeed just a Suppor, but he not only met Trevor Taros but Sarak Sobur who was directly related to the Thauran family. If that was not all, through Sarak he became exposed to the Necros and only a few days ago met the Necro King himself. That mystical, immortal god like being promised him a place higher than that of Sarak.

He Naramir Suppor was soon much more than a mere Thauran, but the right-hand man of a God.

Naramir heard the stupid question of Swybin, of course, Erica would come out to swim. That is what she did on Maritime right after defeating Master Milieu. That what he did every time they had free time and the Wolfcraft simulators were occupied. Olafson was showing off in swim class too.

And just as he was thinking that. There at the bottom of the really unusual looking Union vessel, a tiny looking human shape emerged. He used his dedicated optics and zoomed in.

Wearing a tight wet suit, trailing a mess of blonde hair and using fish like fins on her feet to propel her, a woman holding some kind of harpoon thing. He almost hit his companion. “There she is, that must be the Olafson.”

Swybin alerted not only by Naramir but by the sensors of the craft also focused on the swimmer and nodded. “Yes, that is Erica Olafson. Facial recognition verifies it.”

Naramir grabbed the controls of the craft, engaged the silent drive to follow the swimmer.

Swybin said. “Keep your distance and let us observe.”

Naramir snorted and increased speed. “I have instructions of a god. I am sick and tired of you anyway.”

Naramir activated his little paralysator sending arrogant Swybin into dreamland.

The Neuro Shocker he aimed at the unsuspecting swimmer was a much more painful option to disable someone, and he was certain Erica would not end up in dreamland.

--””--

Yvonne, the most advanced android in the known universe stalked silently into the spacious office of her boss and owner, despite her five-inch stiletto heels. She was the only sentient being able to do so unannounced, not even Linda the wife of Rex Schwartz. Of course, Linda would say she could, but there were countless systems keeping a close watch on her and everyone in his inner circle.

One of these systems was Yvonne. There was a special AI and a dedicated team of security experts solely occupied protecting members of the Schwartz family.

Rex Schwartz, one of the most powerful men in the known universe, raised his head. Yvonne only came in like this if she had information that was of utmost importance.

“Go right ahead, Yvonne.”

“It concerns the Necro King and Sarak. As you know we are monitoring these entities as part of the Abaddon research, it seems that they have set a trap for Captain Olafson, your future son or perhaps daughter in law.

Rex closed the field screen with earning reports of a small division and focused on his assistant. “Why would they want to stir up the worst hornet’s nest there is, namely the Union Fleet to get their hands on Erica?”

“The secure GalNet transmissions of these men suggest that they see Erica as a key to the Dark One.”

Rex leaned back. “All my sources indicate that this is indeed the time, this prime entity returns to this realm of reality. This is the true power, I too desire to control. This is the entity, the Guardian created us, Immortals.

Now it seems my future Son ... I mean daughter in law is connected.”

He kept musing, Yvonne did not detect a question or instruction and remained silent.

“Larthop, the self-declared First Son of Darkness died, believing this Olafson has a connection. The coven invited him, where no man has ever been. The Narth place utmost importance to him. They traveled to Richter base to save his life ... and I am confident that it was not just any Narth.

Rex steepled his fingers. “Is there a danger to my daughter?”

“There is a conceivable threat. She is researching the Ypeherix problem and we are certain the Necro King is behind their activity. There is a 14 percent chance of direct intervention into her scientific work because there is a 98 percent chance she will connect the dots and discover what this is all about.”

“Explain the 14 percent.”

“In her favor are the facts that she is with the Narth, the Xon Nul prince and other very formidable individuals who will protect her. The negative factors include the unpredictable nature of the Necro King.”

“Be so kind and summon our new Seenian friend, we must secure the prophecy text. I need to know if that Olafson just might become what is foretold.”

Chapter 17: Trust Issues
Lummis and Ciferus stepped out into the light of a bright sun as they emerged from their long walk through a forgotten tunnel that connected the Nexus chamber with the outside of this planet.

This time they were indeed where they wanted to be. This was N’Ger, as a short six-limbed being with yellow fur confirmed. They met the being after descending from the mountain range behind them. Both men were not really affected by the scorching heat but accepted the ride the being offered them.

They were taken to a place the Byki called the Desert of Glaring Profit.

The little yellow being calling itself Byki had asked too many questions, and as a reward for its help, Lummis had killed the being, without so much as an iota of regret or guilt.

Ciferus watched as his travel companion reduced the small being to a cloud of nuclear ashes and said. “Would that not be murder? The extermination of life, is that not something you and Crea accuse the Dark One of?”

As if the words of the Netherworld being reminded the Lord of light what he just had done, he looked at the dissipating whisp. “It is the duty of lesser life to serve me, his questions became annoying.”

The Desert of Gleaming Profit was a huge landing field for space ships surrounded by tents, temporary buildings and further to the back were walled compounds of permanent settlements.

It did not take them long to find a tavern, a place of shade and information. It was true, neither was human or had needs for the things mortals deemed essential, but both still enjoyed the shade and were not above the simple pleasure a cold drink could provide.

Besides it was a fact as old as galactic history, when civilizations discovered faster than light travel and interacted with other civilizations someone came up with the idea of a communal place of informal meeting. Where over food, drinks, drugs or simple shade information and deals could be exchanged.

N’Ger being a place of trade for centuries was, of course, no exception. Judging by the diversity of beings assembled under the plasti-sheet roof of this establishment, this was a popular spot.

Unlike Lummis who had to spend a great deal of time, in the protected realms of the Upper spheres, Ciferus moved among the beings of the prime reality for a very long time.

That he had to stay in what was called the Prime reality, because he was exiled from his own realm, was a secret he did not intend to share with his temporary travel companion.

That he spent much time among the mortals of this realm was the reason his eye could easily spot the spacers in the crowd and separate them from the dirt siders.

Spacers regardless of the original species acted and behaved differently than those who never left their gravity well.

Ciferus had been to this Star Spiral only a few times, and this was the main reason most of the beings were unknown to him.

While many of the beings around them jabbered away in their own languages, there was a common one they all shared. It was the same language the little yellow Byki used to address them. It was called Squawk, a language he knew well. And it was apparent Lummis had no problem with it either.

It was surprisingly not too different from the Altak everyone used on Avondur.

Lummis kept his mantle closed, to hide his partially shredded armor and sat down at the only free table, a little round platform held in place by an arti-grav repellor near the entrance.

Despite the busy place, a yellow pelted being looking very similar to the one Lummis killed, came to their table wearing stilts on his feet to be tall enough to serve the higher floating tables.

Ciferus stopped the arrogant Lummis from snarling a rude demand and said. “Do you accept Iridium discs for payment?”

“It is standard custom for guests to visit a payment equalizer or value exchanger to obtain the local circulated Polos, but I gladly accept your Iridium, I have a scanner scale behind the counter to determine the value.”

Ciferus handed the Byki server an Avondaler and was surprised by the reaction. “Haven’t seen one of those in decades, but you can eat and drink a lot for one of these.”

It was apparent that Lummis could not be anything else, but utmost arrogant. “Yellow thing. I require information, my companion sees value in compensating you with useless metal. Fail my request and I compensate you with punishment.”

The ambient murmur of voices suddenly stopped and everyone was now staring at them. There were quite a few hands and other appendixes dropping to weapons.

A muscular green-skinned being of impressive size and a pair of tusk-like teeth splitting the lower lip of his lantern jaw came stomping from behind the bar. “He doesn’t have blue skin, but he sure sounds like a Thauran that needs a lesson.”

Ciferus tried to defuse the situation, he was confident he and his companion were powerful enough to take on everyone in sight, but he did not want to advertise who they were on a planet with a million eyes and perhaps even those quite capable of stopping them before they could secure the WEAPON.

“Lummis, you fool. Let us maintain a low profile until we know more.”

To the approaching bruiser, Ciferus said. “My associate was trying to be humorous, we are of a distant place, not meaning to offend.”

He held out a small sack of Iridium coins. “Why don’t you serve everyone something they like?”

Offering the patrons free drinks and paying for it with Iridium changed the mood almost instantly and the green barkeeper said. “You better be careful with your brand of humor, it sounded quite serious to me.”

He left them to fulfill the many orders while Lummis glared at the Nether world lord and snapped. “These are simple mortals. They need to learn who I am and obey me.”

“I had enough of you Lummis. You are not even half as useful as I hoped you would be. True, there is not anyone I can sense within range that is even close to the power and might we present, but it will announce our arrival to those who are in our league and beyond. We are not the only ones seeking that power. Those who know about it, know it is close to manifestation.”

Lummis could not dismiss the reasons for the other and harrumphed. “Maybe there is wisdom in your words, but you belittle me one more time and we shall find out if Light can conquer a shadow dweller like you.”

“Yes, maybe we should find out, I told you I am indeed tired of your antics. You behave like a spoiled brat, not like an entity perceived to face the Dark One. Yes Lord of Light, let us find out.”

Lummis, taken back by the intensity and apparent confidence of Ciferus, he knew next to nothing about, raised his hands. “I have need of you, let us postpone my victory over you.”

The Demon Lord grinned but was thinking. It is true. It is true indeed, the champion of light is a coward. What is Crea’s reason to pick a buffon like you?

He ignored Lummis and asked the still present yellow furred, six-limbed server. “Where would we get local information, and how does one get to a world called Sin 4?”

The server looked at the Iridium disc and said. “It makes all sense now, you must be from Avondur.”

The server turned to scan the crowd, then waved at a humanoid just outside the tavern entrance. “For a piece of your Iridium, he’d sell you his own mother and while he is sober, he just might be one of the best sources of such information. He’s a Gnorfi now, but they say he was Union.”

Lummis had crossed his arms and apparently sulked at the fact he wasn’t taken as seriously as he wanted to be taken, and he was still contemplating the hidden warning of his travel companion. What guided him most was the fact that Ciferus was actually correct. He hated nothing more than being proven wrong.

Ciferus waved the local beggar to their table and said. “The server recommended you as a reliable source of information. Prove your worth and I will be generous with Iridium.”

The man wearing rags, had light blue skin as it became apparent when he brushed the hood of his dusty cloak back. “I am Surkin and I will try my best to satisfy your need for information.”

“How would we get to Sin 4?” Lummis asked.

“It seems you haven’t been around here indeed, Sin 4 no longer exists.”

Ciferus considered this a valid explanation, especially since the Nexus point didn’t work. “How was this world destroyed?”

“Oh, it wasn’t destroyed. It was liberated, at least from the viewpoint of the native Stik.”

Surkin expanded his explanation as Ciferus made a gesture for him to continue.

“Sin 4 was a planet in Freespace and a harbor for the lawless scum ever since the Karthanian’s abandoned their plans to develop that world as a new meeting place for the Galactic Council.”

The former Union citizen ended up giving the two travelers a detailed galactic history lesson.

He then leaned forward as if to make sure he wasn’t overheard.

“I don’t want to know why you want to go to Sin 4, or Wooorld as it is known now, but those who had to leave Sin 4 and were lucky enough to make it, can be found on Asputanth planet and of course, right here to N’Ger. There are rumors of a subsurface community if you know what I mean.”

Lummis had no idea what the beggar meant, but Ciferus was much better informed and pushed several Iridium discs across the table surface. “Indeed I do and for directions to that rumored community I would be very generous.”

“One must be very careful. The ones dwelling there do not like their secrets exposed and there are those almost equally dangerous seeking to find them.”

Lummis slammed his hand on the table surface. “Can you be any more confusing?”

Ciferus said in an old language. “Be silent, Lummis. This is very sensitive information. I explain later.”

To the Gnorfi he said. “One hundred of these if you make the connection, I am a friend of the Night.”

“I will be back when the sun has settled.”

Without taking his payment, he pulled his hood back over his head and muttered. “That cursed sun is murder to a Thauran.” Then he left and disappeared between the milling crowds that streamed past the Tavern.

Ciferus made a calming gesture. “Hold your comments, Lummis. That man is getting us in contact with the Necros and a source of information like none other. It is they who guarded the Nexus point at Sin 4. They use the old connection to spread all over the Universe since the First Empire fell.

“If anyone knows about the WEAPON or the woman that carried it to Sin 4, it is them.”

Lummis stopped his tirade and instead, he said. “I think I heard of the Necros and the Necro King. These are dangerous lunatics, playing with forces they do not understand. They are enemies of light and life.”

“Exactly, Lord Lummis. Exactly that. It is not the Antiforce of Life we, I mean you are wanting to defeat and destroy? Is it not the ground of our uneasy partnership?”

Outside the hallowed sphere of the Assembly, in the ring corridor, a group of beings had gathered. It was a common occurrence. While the Union had done away with embassies and the immunity of diplomats, there were still ambassadors and foreign dignitaries. As long as the non-union entity wasn’t classified with contact level minus five, which means open war and their ambassador accepted Union law. they were allowed to come to Pluribus and watch Assembly business from the visitor’s alcove.

The beings assembled outside the access to the visitor’s alcove took a break from Assembly business. According to Union standard time, it was Six Hour (late) or in the now quite outdated Old Terran Time 01:00 AM.

While Assembly business and thus Assembly sessions went on around the clock, it was usually a quiet time, even on Pluribus where the time of day meant little. The local sun illuminated the other side of the planet and the local businesses and entertainment venues offered the dinner options. This was the 10th and last official recess of the Assembly and lasted 15 minutes. It was inside the Assembly, Docket 74 had been discussed, it was one of the last dockets for this day. Not far from the Assembly in the Federal Stock Exchange, the bell was run to call the new Stock trading day to begin.

Swinasive, the Kermac observer was standing with the observer of the Jooltar, the third in their small group was a Kilth, member of an old and obscure species. They had been around since the first meeting of the First Galactic Council, and once were allies of the almost forgotten Ferons. Not associated enough to garner the anger of United Earth back then, and culminated in the complete eradication of both the Freons and their cousins the Ferons.

Swinasive would have loved to know more about these bipedal, roughly human-sized and shaped beings and so it he curbed much of his Kermac arrogance.

A character trait he had almost completely lost. It was less than five years, the Kermac were allowed to send observers again, after a long and complete ban.

Being Kermac arrogant was quite difficult right here at the center of Union might and power. Everything was impressive about the Assembly. The size of the Assembly sphere alone was a source of Union pride, but being able to build big, wasn’t a Union exclusive.

It was the fact that it was an institution that had and in some respects still was developing. Some of the things that made up the early Assembly had disappeared. The office of the president had been abolished and so have ministers, political associations and ministries. The backbone of Kermac control were ministries.

The Jooltar had purchased an Attikan snack bar from a vendor, the lard glazed stick of aged, already decomposing meat smelled pungent, and the Kermac tried his best to ignore the bad odor. The Jooltar were among the few independent species this side of the Galactic Bulge and he had strict instructions not to aggravate the Jooltar. The Kermac certainly could use the Jooltar.

He found that among the most repulsive facts of recent history.

Not so long ago, the Kermac would have never even considered the Jooltar, who stole most of the tech they used, instead of developing it. So many changes occurred in just his lifetime, events and developments no one in the Galactic Council; or even in the Ministry of Information was considering.

It was considered extremely crude and primitive to consume food or beverages to a Kermac, but he decided to get himself something, the other Kermac that were part of the Kermac representation, were most likely resting at this hour.

He had the choice to walk over to one of the many Vent-Matics. Here at the Assembly, these unassuming wood covered machines were perhaps the most advanced vending machines in the known galaxy, able to produce even the most unusual snack requests, including these revolting stink things, the Jooltar delegate was consuming with apparent pleasure.

The Kilth, judging by the forward facing eyes, the strong developed teeth with razor sharp incisors shared ancestry with something fierce and undoubtedly carnivore had summoned a floating egg-shaped bot. “I require fresh meat, preferably raw and bloody. Will that Vent Matic be able to provide me with that?”

The smooth egg-shaped machine directed its blue visual sensors at the Kilth. “But of course. Scanning and comparing biodata. You are Kilth, a carnivore LSLD consumer non-Union. There are eight hundred and twelve Member species with similar food preferences. I suggest the Maggi Sauron menu.”

“Machine, I am Kermac. Your inferior society will not have Kermac choices.”

“You are Kermac, various flavors of Keri-Milq are available.”

Before he could make a choice, he the robot, the two others, and many others nearby were swept off the ground by an enormous explosion.

The dignified and subdued atmosphere of this section of the Assembly was turned into chaos, wounded beings staggered dazed through the billowing cloud of dust.

Sirens blared and the Assembly security forces jumped into action. What no one ever considered to be possible just happened, someone or something was attacking the Assembly!

The water was just a tad too warm for my taste, but I expected it to get cooler, if I went deeper. Not that I really felt much about the water. Suit insisted on being worn, despite my assurance that I was carrying a genuine Nilfeheim slayer. I didn’t exactly study the list of known life forms, but I doubted that there was anything as big or as dangerous as a Rock Shark, or even a Tyranno Fin.

But I had to concede to Tyron’s argument that this was an ocean unknown to me and that a planet-wide ocean with very deep trenches might still hold unknown and quite dangerous life.

Tyron simulated a Nilfeheim wet suit, technically he performed more like a dry suit and provided perfect insulation.

Wearing Tyron, I felt I could have stayed submerged for days.

My science crew was still engaged with the actual and official problem that brought us here. Elfi, Xon, and Hans were working on the other one, about the Thauran Ensign and the mysterious message she received from her mother that was supposedly dead.

I found the entire thing very fishy and suspected some sort of Thauran criminal shenanigans to be behind it. It wasn’t something I could sink my teeth in, all I had was a gut feeling.

Now here I was, on a Thauran planet with two problems. Neither appeared to be anything that was within my field of expertise. As far as the Ypeherix were concerned, I would have preferred to find some kind of planet of origin, question a few of those fiery creepy crawlers and...

A deep cold voice that was no longer foreign strange to me said as a silent answer in my mind. “... and then destroy that world and all the Ypeherix.”

“That would be your solution, brother. We are Union officers we do things differently.”

“Really, sister?” That cold voice felt amused. “I am still you and you are me. We are twins and even long before I became aware of myself, you or should I say we always had a certain direct style of approach.”

“Not that I mind, but why are you not staying silent as usual?”

“I am still a child of Nilfeheim. I am Eric, and until I rise and become what I must become. Until then and perhaps even after, I do enjoy swimming, feeling the cold fresh water to pass through my gills.”

“You know this is getting weird.”

“I am certain this is only the beginning, our symbiotic coexistence is entering a new stage. You are aware of me and I am aware that I am not Erica.”

“And you will leave when you find those twelve thingies right?”

“I do not think the term leaving is the correct one, we will become separate entities. It is not twelve thingies but Omni symbolic part of me, and I gathered seven already. We both know where the gauntlets are, don’t we?”

“Somewhere underneath that statue on Netlor, right?”

“Yes.”

“Since you are around forever, what do you know about the Ypeherix?”

“Until I am united with my omnipresence, I know as much as you, I have not been to this reality before I was born as Eric Olafson.”

I swam with powerful strokes, leaving the Tigershark and the shimmering and glowing dome of the underwater city behind me. There were still quite a few submersibles zooming in every which direction. At various speeds and sizes.

I knew there were at least two or three other underwater cities and several fish farms and such.

There was no clear direction or destination, I just enjoyed the fact that this world was not another desert world but it was a Union world and covered from pole to pole with cold clear water.

Before Naramir could squeeze the trigger of the Neuro Shocker, he felt a hard little thing poking into his side. Swybin who supposedly was paralyzed pressed a small Thauran blaster against Naramir and hissed. “She is too close to her ship and the city, there are dozens of others in the water.

Naramir froze, while his mind raced. “How did you...”

“You are just as stupid as they say you are. Do you think I trust you, simply because you are Thauran and hate Olafson? These are the only things we have in common.”

Swybin snorted. “We Swybars plotted and schemed when Rene Thauran was alive, what is a disgraced bastard son of a disgraced house of beggars compared to that?”

Naramir was split between open awe of the cunning ways of the other Thauran, and burning anger that this Swybar outfoxed him somehow and even knew details about the Suppor family.”

The former midshipman relaxed his hands and took them off the controls. “I am acting under the direct command of the Necro King.”

Swybin snorted yet again and it was an arrogant sound underlining the disgust he felt for his companion. “So am I, but I am working with Sarak Sobur and Trevor Taros. The Necro King is the head of an old sect. He is powerful and connected, true. He is not a god however, just a mad man who transplanted his brain a few hundred times, becoming just a little more insane each time.”

The oldest son of the former admiral whacked the other over the head. “Accept the order of things. You are at the bottom, and I allow you to serve me.”

Naramir acted defeated and lowered his head. “This appears my destiny indeed.”

Swybin seemed pleased with that. “For one thing, do your research. I did not simply jump at Taros beck and call. I did research, you be surprised how much you can find out with a few credits spent at the right places. Did it not strike you peculiar that he found us and associated us with that cursed Olafson?”

Naramir could only nod, as he did think about nothing else but revenge.

Swybin took over the controls and slowly and with a good distance followed the fast swimmer. “He did the same and studied Olafson and as they came up. Do you think they made us part of this little coalition so we could have our revenge?”

Naramir nodded again. “Yes, I...”

Swybin rolled his eyes. “How did you manage to even get past the entrance exam? You are dense indeed. Tell me one instant in the history of our proud people, where one Noble did something for someone else without ulterior motives? We are Thaurans, of old Thauran families for the sake of the Blue Virgin!”

The former Midshipman had to agree with that as well, and now he did feel stupid. “So why did Taros bring us together?”

“He needs foot soldiers he can trust. He is not out to help his sister and get revenge for the death of his father. Unlike the emotional sister of his, he could care less who lives and dies as long as it isn’t him. Trevor became a Necro priest and he doesn’t want to jeopardize what he gained because the mad king has lost his lair underneath Sin 4 and dreams of a fictitious dark power of death.”

Naramir did not let the swimmer out of his eyes, she had now reached the end of the underwater Duro crete landing field and was swimming over the edge where the underwater plateau and the manmade developments ended. “Don’t you want Olafson and to kill him?”

“Yes, but not with crude methods like this. We need to keep the Union authorities away as long as possible and we need the Thauran Ensign. Watch and learn.”

“Captain, we are being hailed from Petty Officer 1st Class Lomasr. He is an environmental engineer on Senior Chief’s Hilbora’s team.”

I remembered we had an Ult as an environmental chief. He came aboard with the latest official additions at Richter. Before our ship was fully crewed, it was Cirruit who did what the Enviro Chief was doing. I smiled and remembered Chief Arlboro of the USS Devastator, also an Ult who turned us, well Har-Hi and me to cigar smoking. I decided to visit our enviro deck and get to know our Ult.

Thinking about the Ult, made me remember Admiral Stokes as well.

I never really heard about Lomasr, but I was certain I would remember his face. What made me curious was his call. “Put him right through, Suit.”

“Captain sorry for the call, Ma’am. I am native to Deep Blue and wanted to show Chief Hilbora the locally famous Rainbow Glitter Caves. I was told you are swimming right now and you are not too far, care to join us. Ma’am?”

“Oh, of course, gives me something to see and meet you guys. Give me directions.”

The physical aspects of the aftermath of the explosion was handled fast and efficient, but the event itself had shocked the Union like nothing else in its history so far.

It was only two hours after the bomb went off when the representative of Nilfeheim was joined by the reluctantly but overwhelmingly appointed representative of the Saresii. The famous third man of the so-called Wisemen of the Assembly popped out of thin air before Alegar could ask his question. Something he was doing now. “You have been here for a while, it seems. They didn’t let us in just until now,”

The grumpy Nilfeheim Neo Viking pointed at an I.B.T, shaft behind him. ‘Because I was inside already. I fell asleep in our alcove after you guys left to see some stupid Delicate ballet or something.”

“It was not stupid, but never mind that. What happened here?”

The Narth moved his hooded head. “To declare a cultural exhibition stupid, would suggest that the creators, participants, and spectators are of a substantial less cerebral cognitive as the one making that statement. On an intellectual, observative level I strongly reject that suggestion of yours. As an individual knowing your taste, I tend to agree.”

He then gestured across the police barrier and the activities. “I came even after you, Saresii and I know what happened. An explosive device was set off, in a place such devices should not be set off.”

Egill did not comment on the Narth statement, even though Alegar face palmed himself. “Something that was bound to happen eventually. I am glad it wasn’t something much worse, like a Spore bomb or some sort of militarized virus organism.”

Egill crossed his arms. “We are a very lawful and content society and that is the reason why the entire Union is in shock about this. Even at an unheard of ninety-five percent of satisfied citizens, there are five percent that aren’t, and we don’t include the Union Residents and Non-Cits.”

“So this was a Terror attack? Alegar asked.

“I shall refrain from commentary as this is beyond my scope of expertise. I am consulting information sources regarding terrorism now, but will be grateful for bringing it into context.”

Alegar pointed to the I.S.T. “Let us go to our alcove. It is conceivable we will be asked regarding this sooner or later.”

Alegar agreed. “We Saresii have a rich history of terrorism, but it is far distant history and I too don’t feel confident to make any recommendations.”

“It is very much part of Human history no matter where we go.” Egill sighed. “Not that I think this really was terrorism, at least none of the political kind.”

The Speaker of the Assembly stood in the center of the Assembly, at the so-called Focus point and addressed not only the fully assembled Assembly but almost everyone within the Union via GalNet.

The Speaker itself was a size reduced Avatar of a Bandrupo.

“At six hour fourteen, on Sixthday, Red Week 5027, a small flier with a substantial load of a high explosive compound was flown through the open assembly sphere access door 778 and collided with the interior wall. The resulting explosion killed 14 beings and destroyed much of the culture exhibit that was part of that outer corridor segment.

The group Freedom for Gore claimed responsibly and demanded the instant evacuation of Gore II. The group threatened more such activities if their demands are not met.”

The speaker was not finished and after a very brief break of a second or two continued. “Union Police and Assembly Security still conducting their investigations but guarantee our safety.

Such terrorist activity conducted by domestic and foreign enemies were anticipated when this Assembly Sphere was built. Most of the security measures have been disabled or never implemented, because no one ever really anticipated this, especially since the Crystal Ball is still many months away.

Those measures have been reinstated, the structure of this sphere took no damage and we will deal with this as we deal with everything. We discuss it here and we decide what to do right here and all of us.”

The two entities posing as men had followed the beggar through a maze of paths between booths and tents. Lummis estimated they covered several miles, as their guide stopped before a sandstone and mud house that wasn’t very big. A tarp of some coarse material covered the entrance instead of an actual door. Lummis was not a mere mortal and he felt many eyes watching. He was certain, there was an equal amount of lethal hardware pointed their way,

The beggar parted the door curtain and pointed with his other hand inside. “This is as far as I go, gentlemen.”

Ciferus was first and Lummis followed on the netherworld demon’s heels,

The interior was illuminated by a dim lantern.

An apparent human being wearing a frightful skull mask and a brown cloak sat behind a rough looking table.

With a croaking voice, the two were greeted. “You are the travelers from Avondur and you want to reach a planet that once was known as Sin 4”

Ciferus took the lead. “I am Ciferus and I have met the first Necro King. Something we seek has used the Nexus and escaped to Sin 4.”

“No sane being would claim to be Ciferus unless it is the exiled denizen of that lost realm. Forced to dwell and walk among the mortals. Yes, Ciferus we know of you.”

The macabre disguised man pointed at seats across his desk and waited until his guests had sat down. Then he continued. “The world Sin 4 was an independent planet, the home of many who had no home elsewhere and a place for the Necro King. It all changed when the cursed Union accepted the Stik, the natives of that world as members and moved in to clean the planet.”

“We have been informed about that already,” Lummis complained.

“Let him speak.” Ciferus snapped back.

The masked Necro nodded and did go on. “The agents of the Union did also move underground and destroyed thousands of our servants and brothers. They found the Nexus point and deactivated it.”

“How can they do this? The Nexus is imperial technology that is beyond everyone.” Ciferus asked.

“Nothing much is beyond the Narth, and certainly not technology of the Old Empire. The NNNTH achieved technology that is beyond all known technology and they did so before the Imperials rose. The Nnnth became the Narth and the Narth are members of that Union. Ciferus heed my warning, don’t take them lightly.”

“There is still no information we can use!” Lummis complained again.

The priest or whatever the masked man was looked at him from seemingly empty eye sockets. “I think I know who you are, servant of Crea. It takes little scholastic knowledge into the old, to know what you are seeking. The WEAPON that has been stolen. passed through the Nexus indeed and it was Necros who intercepted the woman that carried it through the Nexus. Your quests end, as the WEAPON was killed before it was born. Yes, the WEAPON was a being and it was killed by mindless Sub Zombs.”

“That cannot be true, how can a weapon able to slay the Dark One be so easily destroyed?”

“That I do not know, Lord Lummis, but I agreed to meet you because the one that will know the identity of the vessel is on its way and you are welcome to question and kill that vessel after we obtained the truth about the Antiforce itself.”

The instructions were easy enough, all I had to do was follow the trace signal, Lomasr’s comm unit was sent.

That the place was not exactly a secret became obvious by the signs attached to the rock of an underwater mountainside. “Rainbow Sparkle Cave Park soon opening.”

There were obvious efforts, some completed and some still under construction to make this a tourist attraction. I had seen a few of those and hoped this one, being underwater and all was worth a visit.

The entrance corridor was already smoothened and there were tracks, apparently for some kind of ride attraction.

The corridor widened into an underwater cave with a large portion having breathable air. I didn’t see the Ult, but there was Lomasr, he stood there with a smiling face and waved his arm. That he was Rhauran I only registered peripheral. He said this world was his home after all.

“Glad you could come, Captain. The chief and the others are in the Rainbow chamber already.”

I fully emerged from the water, Suit changed my footwear from fins, back to my accustomed boots and I smiled at him. “The others? Some kind of surprise party?”

“Yes Captain, a surprise party.”

He motioned towards a corridor passage and said. “Ladies and Captains first.”

I expected to see a few of my crew next. Most likely I wasn’t the only one enjoying a water world.

I didn’t pay much attention and only noticed the metal strip that crossed the floor as I had stepped over it.

Suit said with great alarm in his voice. “Captain, we are no longer on Deep Blue. Unable to determine the exact location.”

Rex Schwartz carefully unrolled the document. He was wearing a hermetically sealed suit with its own air supply as there was not a micron speck of dust inside this near vacuum chamber.

One of his newest employees had no need for air, but it too wore a similar suit, to keep the room clean and facilitate communication, said. “This document is significant for what reason, Rex?”

“This is the only copy of the Prophecy of Before and Yet to come outside of Coven.”

The mega tycoon did not take his eyes from the yellowish thing before him. “This is the ultimate antique so to speak. As it was written before this very universe begun to exist.”

“But this is not why the Assembly was attacked by these dastardly terrorists so we could obtain it, right?”

Rex’s smile was cold and carried about as much genuine emotion as an ice cube. “These fools will be hunted and their little resistance on Gore II will now be stomped out with Union precision. If they are good they will also uncover a Freon enclave and their involvement.” He did look up for a moment. “But no that was not the main reason.”

If a Seenian Special Forces android could have ever loved anything then it would have been Rex Schwartz. This immortal on the outside human-appearing man was so utterly purposefully evil, Balthasar was utterly dedicated to this man, who would have made a perfect android.

Rex said. “Nothing of a previous Universe is allowed to exist in its successor universe. So this prophecy was taken to a Nether world and transferred upon a piece of skin, some claim it to be demon skin.

He brushed his hand over the burnt looking symbols.” A Scholar with great wisdom and abilities supposedly overheard the conversation of GOD with the spirit of the Universe and he wrote it all down. It is a set of predictions made by an entity known as the Seer, from the same Pre cursor universe the Coven originated. This Prophecy foretells the events of the Return of the Dark One and speaks about the Decision the Dark One has to make.”

“I have heard about this legend.” The android said. “It was ancient and known to many even before the rise of the coven. The Queen and her son were searching for this power.”

“Indeed, Balthazar. I believe the Guardian of Earth made a number of humans immortal to prepare for this event.”

“But you are not preparing humankind, but yourself?”

“I believe I know the vessel, the human body the Dark One incarnates and I believe I will be a viable alternative for that Omnipotent power cosmic.”

Chapter 18: The End?
Hans due to his size and strength was often seen as a bruiser with tremendous strength but little else. This was not the case since he was with the Olafson Gang.

He was asked about his opinion about other things. The woman across him was about as opposite as a being could be to a Saturnian, she was a Delicate.

While Branda was certainly not a member of the original gang, she like the rest became like family.

She had just stepped into his security office and without any hesitation floated right next to him. Well, she didn’t actually float but walk on her own two feet. To everyone, especially perhaps to Saturnians it always appeared that they didn’t quite touch the ground.

Branda did not wear the veil like garments, Delicates were known of, but the standard board duty uniform he too wore. Her hair, when open reached past her hips, was gathered in a looped pony tail, reducing its true length by half.

She still was gorgeous and emitted an intoxicatingly sweet, fresh and flowery scent. She smelled like she looked.

Noleii was quite tall, but next to Hans, even a Nul didn’t look as big and massive as they were.

It was clearly an unconscious gesture of deep friendship and affection as she crossed her arms across his massive arm and glanced at what he was doing. “Still working?”

“Yes, Branda. I am digging into that Necro phenomenon, and it gets scarier and weirder the deeper I dig.”

He could not really turn his head, Saturnian’s necks were massive deltoid of muscle, reducing the ability to move the head drastically. This was the crux with genetic engineered life, it was never as perfect as naturally developed life. So he shifted his entire body.

She had huge eyes, very feminine facial features in an exotic alien way. Delicates were humanoids and shared many aspects of human appearance, but they were not human. Not even part of the so called Human Mystery, as their home was in a distant region of the Large Magellan Cloud, so distant in fact that not even the Attikans knew about the Delicates.

Branda gave him a fine smile and sat right next to him. “Care to share?”

Hans brushed over the surface of his desk and with a few additional gestures conjured half a dozen field screens into existence. “There is a Union Police task force created just for that. Officially there are seventy-four registered and legal religious sects that are considered to be part of this Necro cult and there are over two thousand known illegal groups that adhere to this philosophy.”

He pushed a screen in the foreground while she leaned closer, a clearly unconscious move of trust and affection. Something that made the titanic Saturnian quite content.

She pointed at the list displayed. “We Delicates do not have sects and religion has not been part of our culture for many thousands of years. Intellectually I somewhat understand the concept, but I would lie if I really get it. Why are there laws regulating it, and what makes one legal and another illegal?”

Hans called up another screen and it filled with text. “It is our constitution. Our very first article reads: Sentients are born, created or otherwise coming into being shall remain free and are equal in rights. The law must in all cases respect this principle.”

She didn’t say anything so he kept speaking. “It does not matter what reason a group of beings cites to come together, as long as whatever they do does not harm others or infringe on their rights.

Religion is free and is not regulated otherwise.

By request and Assembly vote in 4002, religions were recognized as a part of many cultures and must be part of the PUMA process. As of that vote, the Union Religion Registration Act became law. Religions must file their doctrine to be recognized as a religion. It is technically just semantics as the same rules apply to a community club building model spaceships, but it has been proven true that some religions have the cause to harm others as a core doctrine. As you can imagine those are declared illegal, especially if they act on these.”

She propped her chin on her thin hands and her elbows on his under arm. “I guess the Church of Gore will be outlawed now, with all the things that happened at Pluribus.” She slowly shook her head. “What an awful thing to do, attacking our Assembly.” Her eyes flashed with anger. “You know I am a peaceful Delicate for the most part, but I’d volunteer to hang a few of those terrorists myself.”

Hans sighed. “And it was so preventable, our Assembly is protected and all the scanners and systems are there.”

“And they were turned off or never turned on in the first place, as it should be. We don’t need security systems ... well we should not at least.”

“I hear you, but executing someone isn’t something easy. I tell you. I was there when the Captain had to hang a man. He deserved it a thousand times.”

“She’s something our Captain. So what do you got on these Necros and has it anything to do with our situation?”

“Well, as I started to explain there are many groups and some of them have been active for much longer than the Union. I have read reports claiming they might be around longer than the Seenians.”

Just then Shea, the ships CSO; the captain’s declared fiancée stepped into the security office and said. “This fits my research as well.” Her words gave evidence that she had heard Hans’ response to Branda. “I think both reasons we are here are connected. The Ypeherix, the Necros and that weird message of Sylia’s mother.”

Shea was more than a fellow officer to Hans. She was there from the start and a close friend. Neither one really paid any attention to proper protocol.

“What led you to that conclusion, Shea?”

“I better brief the captain too, do you know where she is?”

Hans pointed to the view port. “We are on a water-world and she had a free moment.”

“Of course!” She smiled and gave Branda a friendly nod. “SHIP can you call her? It seems my Com can’t connect.”

There was a tone of concern in SHIP’s voice. “I can’t reach her or Suit.”

The corridor behind me had disappeared and was replaced by a solid wall of rock. This was not the first time I traveled this way, I traversed space from Wichita to Planet Place. That episode with the mystery bones, Brenda and the Cave of Things seemed so long ago. Yet this was the same strange and undetectable transition.

I had stepped into a trap that was set with my biggest flaw as bait, my trust in my crew and friends,

Getting my bearings, a man stepped into sight. I had not seen his face for a long time and never expected to see again, Swybin Swybar.

The son of the Thauran Admiral that caused me to be flogged and almost killed.

“Before you shoot, let me assure you this is only a projection. Whatever you do can’t hurt me. We also believe you are wearing a Seenian suit. So be a good weirdo and take it off. If you don’t we start by executing your Ult Enviro specialist.”

How did he know all this? My mind was racing. That he wasn’t bluffing I was certain about. I also believed him to be a projection. “Swybin, if any of my people get hurt even the slightest bit, I find you.”

“Oh, no worries, Girl-boy. We meet in person very soon.” The projection expanded and showed an Ult in board uniform, he was wrapped in many layers of memory tape. Next to him appeared a Thauran, also in Uniform. I had seen his face once or twice before. Petty Officer Lomasr was indeed crew member and he stood there, with a Neuro ripper pointed at the bound Enviro chief. “Sorry to disappoint you, Mama Olafson. These aren’t the Glitter caves.”

The Ult groaned. “Captain, don’t worry about me. Don’t listen to that traitor. He came aboard at Chris...”

The Ult tried so hard not to scream, as the traitorous Thauran hosed him with invisible rays that stimulated the nerve paths, but as the sadistic bastard dialed the intensity up. The Ult could not hold back and gave evidence to the pain he experienced, by groaning in a heartbreaking way.”

“He dies if you do not comply!” Swybin barked.

“Suit, detach from me. That is an order.”

“Captain...”

Silently I whispered. “I am far from helpless, Tyron. Try to escape and find out where we are.”

He did detach himself and I stood there in the buff.

“What wonders modern medicine can provide.” Swybin cackled. “That ugly arse you used to be, transformed in a titty sporting blonde bimbo. Now step forward! And don’t hesitate or your Ult dies!”

I did and again the surroundings changed.

Tyron watched as the captain disappeared.

Naramir stepped through what appeared solid wall, with him was Petty Officer Lomasr.

The traitorous environmental engineer pointed at the gray garment pooled on the floor. “According to my crew mates, this is a genuine Seenian suit. She wears it all the time.”

Naramir still sore from the latest humiliation said. “Such a suit is indestructible is that true?”

Lomasr shrugged. “I think so, but I will bring it to the Kermac. Neither Sarak nor Trevor could offer what the Kermac offered.”

“Liar! You want it for yourself, Naramir argued and this time his Neuro shocker did what it was supposed to do, it disabled the other Thauran. Naramir snickered as the other collapsed with twitching muscles. “I am a fast learner. I am no longer serving anyone’s interests but mine.”

The Seenian suit is mine now...

Lummis and Ciferus were still processing the Necro Priests information regarding the WEAPON while they followed him down tight wound spiral stair cases, narrow corridors, and passageways. They must have walked for a good hour and finally emerged in a breathtakingly beautiful natural cave with towering stalactites meeting towering stalagmites in every shade of pastel colors.

The center of the huge cavern was a lake of apparently pitch black water. The surface was as smooth as that of a mirror, not the smallest ripple disturbed it.

The light came from thousands of gas fed lanterns and torches.

There were structures and shapes of buildings. Either carved out of the cavern rock walls or built with the material at hand and blended into the existing walls and crevices.

To both of them, it was clear this was built for the dead. An ancient burial site of sorts.

Their guide did not stop or explain much until they had crossed the cave and entered through a partially chiseled and partially stone mason built archway into what appeared to be the anteroom of as temple.

The walls mostly natural rock were of a reddish earthen color and decorated with hundreds of skulls, not only of human but apparently of a thousand other species as well.

Here too, the light came from open flames, brightly dancing over the brass nozzles of bizarrely shaped wall armatures.

There was a throne at the other end of the room, and a being in a strangely shaped armor of sorts.

The entire breastplate was cleverly shaped like a skull. Ciferus had to admit that outfit was evil in a very symbolic way.

Their guide said. “Behold the Necro King grants you with his presence.

Lummis could not feel or read the creature. His probing powers told him that this was a being indeed, but the feeling was not a certain one, as it usually was when he probed into another person. He could not stop shivering caused by an ice cold sensation that was not quite physical.

That he could not sense much about Ciferus, he had sort of accepted.

It was his companion whispering from the side of his mouth. “He is quite old and crazy as a being can get.”

They both walked closer, the humanoid shaped being sitting on a throne composed of arranged bones and skulls shifted his posture. The flickering light of the bright torches now revealing the face of a skull beneath the pointed hood. Lummis was certain these were real bones and not carved objects.

“That you choose to visit, Ciferus is not entirely unexpected. To see the Lord of Light down here in this abode and shrine to death, however, could be considered most unusual.”

Lummis actually tried to remain quiet, could not help himself. “A foul creature you are, indeed. Sitting on a heap of bones and worshiping what is opposed by life and light. Behold I am its chosen champion. I am not sure if I should simply smite you.” He put his hand on the hilt of his sword. “That lackey of yours claim my quest ended. Not that I believe him, what mortal could destroy a WEAPON meant to slay the Dark One.”

The Necro King laughed. “You are just as they say you are. They call me insane and who knows maybe I am, but you are insufferably arrogant, ignorant and completely unprepared for what Crea has chosen you to do.”

Lummis stepped forward. “Insulting me, Necro will result in your demise.”

Ciferus distanced himself from the knight as if he anticipated something to happen, and something happened indeed. Something Lummis did not expect.

A shimmering sphere of light established itself between Lummis and the Necro King. The vague outlines of a female face appeared. It was not quite human and not attached to a body or anything else. It was Crea. The essence of Creation and the god entity that made him what he was.

Lummis lost all his bluster and sank to his knees lowering is head.

Her voice did not really come from the orb of light but fill the cavern and came from all directions at once. “My champion! Ridiculed and humiliated, wearing his armor ripped and torn, oh Lummis you deserved all that disappoint me. Weren’t you the one I elevated above all of my creation? Did I not rescue you from obliteration?”

“Crea, the light of my life. What can I do with so little understanding and knowledge?”

“Seek it! Open eyes and ears.” Crea barked in a thundering fashion. “I am forbidden to descend and interfere myself, but the conditions of this place allow me to speak to you. The one you must defeat is coming to this place.”

The sphere was fading and Lummis yelled. “Goddess my light, when?”

“Her last words faded just like the light sphere. “Now!”

The Necro King rose from his throne. “My agents have obtained the mortal, we believe is somehow associated with the Dark One’s reincarnation. She is sent here, but she is only a naked human woman. Maybe she will be the mother of the vessel?”

Lummis noticed his armor was fully restored and his sword glowed with increased intensity. He knew Crea was not referring to a third party. No the Dark One was on his way, trapped in a defenseless naked human female. Still shy of five tokens, an easy kill and Crea safe and finally supreme as she wanted to be from the very beginning.

Ciferus too, noted that the fate of all that was and would be was rushing towards a cataclysmic event right here and now.

He too knew that the Dark One was not yet fully incarnated, but unlike Lummis he had not forgotten the slain light of knight, Zophim and the words of Verðandi, a mortal had slain the Knight of Light.

He too, did not doubt Crea. No one in all creation could really say who or what the Dark One really was. Maybe this Dark One only needed one token to be strong enough to prevail against Lummis. Some mortal without any such powers overcame a knight of light.

Admiral Stahl had heard about the terror attack, of course. Not that there was really anything he could do. This was not something solved with battle ships and cannons. This was not even something that concerned the fleet; this was a matter for Union Police.

The Devi and the First Fleet was on its way to the Leo II galaxy. The Gatehouses were now fully operational and both the Assembly and Fleet Command felt it important that the sentient space faring societies of that dwarf galaxy met the new kids in their neighborhood. This and a mission to the site where the Crucible used to be were the prime reasons for this trip. The Assembly requested a detailed report about the Y’All factory and wanted confirmation that it was indeed the only source and fully destroyed.

They were still in the M-0 galaxy. They only could go as fast as the slowest unit of the fleet, which happened to be four Mobile Ship Yards. Lumbering giants, bigger than the Devi and to the pride of his old Terran heart, completely Union built.

Captain Harris was running the Devi and while he was in charge of the First Fleet, there wasn’t anything to do in that regard.

So he had retreated into his office and tackled the mountain of what he called paperwork, even though it involved no physical paper at all, except the hand written notes he made. Physically writing things were still important to him.

He didn’t look up from a projected document regarding promotions before him, but he suddenly smiled. “What brings you here, my love?”

Alycia, the wife of the Eternal Warrior stepped into the light cone of Richard’s desk lamp. She too had a deep smile on her lips. She was a powerful Netherworld creature, and she loved that man deeply. His question, however, reminded her of the seriousness of this visit.

“The Captain of the Tigershark is more than just a boy that now is a woman. You know that right?”

“Ever since your cauldron stirring association insisted on him going to Coven. Not that the Narth Supreme was very subtle in dropping hints either.” He tapped a field screen. “I am keeping a loose eye on Erica. Right now she tries to solve the Ypeherix problem in the Spinward sector.”

While he said that, his voice trailed off. “Do go on.”

“The Narth Supreme is certain Eric is the Dark One or will emerge as that entity. We Coven always heed the Narth, and there are these cosmic milestones I was telling you about.”

“Yes, I remember something about a Prophecy of sorts. Not that I am a big believer in Meta Mambo Jumbo.” He grinned. “And I should not say that I am deeply in love with the Queen of Mambo Jumbo.”

“I don’t even know what that means, but I get the picture. It doesn’t sound very nice for sure.” She sighed and kissed him on the forehead. “The prophecy was made by a very wise and powerful mage of a precursor universe that existed before this one. The universe we Coven originate from.”

She walked around the desk and he said. “Okay, we are closer to the reason you came. It involves Eric or better said, Erica. Some sort of Evil Ghost and a prophecy.”

Her face was very serious now. “The ‘Prophecy of Before and Yet to come’ has been carried into the Nether Spheres, transferred onto a roll of Slider skin and brought to this the Prime Universe. It is a forbidden object.”

“The basement of the Vatican and the Saresii vaults are full of forbidden documents, and what is a Slider?”

“It is forbidden by the RULE and cosmic laws that stipulate nothing of a destroyed universe may be brought into another. That is why we Coven had to become Netherworld creatures and remember nothing of our previous existence. Do you know there is only one copy of this prophecy and we decided to allow the scholars of the Work group OLYMPUS to study it? It was brought to Pluribus and made part of a temporary culture exhibit for the Coven society. The apparent Terror attack did not only cost the lives of several Union citizens, but it also destroyed the Ultronit and Duraplast display case and burned it without a trace.”

What she said did change his expression. “You think... ?”

“Humans and most mortals would not use the term Slider, but Demon. A Netherworld denizen that can slide between this Verse and the Anti Verse without being destroyed. Richard, there is no chance this skin could be destroyed by a simple explosion,”

“This is serious indeed and suggests a much sinister force behind this.” He sighed. “This is your department. I am not much of a police man or detective and I simply have no advice on what to do.”

He stopped, swiveled in his chair to his multi task surface. “Speaking of police and detectives. I think I know just the man, Phil Decker. He is an immortal and...”

“I know Phil and I think he will take the case. This is not why I came to you. I would love you to listen to my sister. Her name is Luci Fera, her father Ciferus is in cohorts with Lord Lummis.”

“Sounds a lot like Lucifer to me, we are not dealing with the actual devil right?”

“The legends of demons and devils have a very real foundation. What man doesn’t understand he calls supernatural.”

He swallowed. “Alright, I listen to your sister, but she knows I am an old fashioned simple human right?”

“She is on her way.” She looked in his eyes. “You are old fashioned maybe, but calling you simple went out the window 3000 years ago, my love.”

“All this leads to that event the Guardian wanted us to prepare for and made two hundred of us immortal is it not?”

“Yes, Richard we believe so.”

Har-Hi went to the bridge and announced battle stations. Everyone on shore leave received an emergency imminent return to station order and all but five crew members responded with acknowledgments, moments later. The ones not responding were the Captain, Tyron Suit, Ensign Sobur, Chief Hilbora, and Petty Officer Lomasr.

Har-Hi tried to stay as professional and calm as possible. “Let’s do this by the book guys. The Captain can take care of herself. She is now depending on us to find her.”

No one spoke and waited for instructions. Har-Hi wasn’t as in-experienced as he once was, but he knew he lacked that instinctive command ability of Erica. So going by the book was the best option.

“Communications, inform local authorities that we are missing five crew members, then send a report to Fleet command.”

“Aye, Sir.”

“Security, contact Union law enforcement.”

Har-Hi turned to Narth, “Can you sense her?”

Narth had his head slumped forward, said in a quiet concerned way. “Yes, but she is very far away. All I know is that she is alive and...”

Shea almost yelled. “And what?”

“I am not truly able to express it. It is as if there is a barrier of sorts growing between us, it is something very cold.”

Har-Hi swallowed. “Spirits help us.” He straightened out. “How many ships left this world since the captain is missing?”

Mao checked as Hans was busy speaking with Union law enforcement.

“Two FTL capable ships the Harion, a Meteor freighter owned by Tyson Seafood and the regularly scheduled space-bus heading to its next destination, Royal planet.”

Hans said. “Both ships will be intercepted by Union Police and searched.”

“Get me that planet manager, Maro Maresan.”

Xon had joined Elfi, moments ago at the Comm station to assist her. He gave Har-Hi the sign that he was successful contacting the planet manager.

Har-Hi cut right through the chase and said with as much restrain on his anger as he could. “Five crew members, including our Captain, have been abducted on this planet. Fleet Command, NAVINT, Navy Police and Union Police are in their way. My experts will check into everything, we will expose every crime, every tax cheat, every violation and we are holding the administration of the planet responsible under the Union Treason act if our captain and the others are not returned unharmed. I will personally come to you.”

“Mr. Hi, I am uninformed as can be about this situation. I am pledging our full support.”

Sobur cursed and yelled at Trevor. “Are you insane? Why have you acted without discussing your plan with all of us? Where did you take her?”

Trevor steepled his fingers leaned back. “Sobur, my friend you have been an important piece in these plans. Without your sister serving aboard the Tigershark, we could not have lured her to Deep Blue. I did not want to spring the trap just yet, but despite my objections, I am but a servant to the Necro King. He ordered it to be done now.”

The Kermac was similarly displeased. “We financed and supported this venture and after we heard that there is a sentient Seenian among the crew, our focus was to obtain that individual. It was too early, the Seenian remains aboard, we wanted the Seenian Battle suit.”

Trevor lost his grin. “What suit?”

“Your sister provided us with a complete list of all crew members, one medical officer named Cateria. She apparently equipped the captain with a Seenian suit.”

Trevor waved his hand. “She is light years distant and our associates have stripped her of everything. She will be dragged before the Necro King as this were his orders.”

Sobur was not done. “It was you who warned that insane king. Do you know what kind of storm your premature act kicked loose? Do you have any idea what will happen now? PSI Corps and NAVINT will descent on Deep Blue and unravel it all.”

Yvonne found her boss deep below the surface of Omni Planet in a highly secure basement complex. The richest man in the Universe did not wear his unusual immaculate latest fashion business suit, but something akin to a suit of armor.

Only Yvonne knew Rex’s true secret. He was not just a human, made impervious to age. His true self was known as Invictus Rex.

He did not yet wear his helmet and turned towards his assistant. “Yvonne?”

“The Necro King has jumped the gun, and abducted the CO of the Tigershark.”

He was never known to display a real emotion on his smooth face, except perhaps a rare display of affection towards Linda and his children, but now a hint of worry crept onto his face. Yvonne who was far beyond Union technology had never before detected this level of anger in her master’s voice.

“That rotten sack of bones. He jeopardizes everything.”

He brushed over an interface. Technology of the First Empire reacted and he was instantly connected to the other two leaders of the Tribunal. “We must terminate the Tribunal. Events have been set in motion by the mad king before everything was ready.”

An entity not seen for over 4 Billion years, known in the oldest legends circulated across the universe only as of the Emperor, spoke. “It was unwise to involve the Necros and their king. His mind is mortal and transplanted too many times. Why are you advocating disbanding our Tribunal? Is it not safe from primitive minds and detection?”

The vessel is not just a simple human. There are those among the Union that are close to the truth about this Olafson. The Coven witch has undoubtedly informed the Eternal Warrior, and one must not forget the Narth Supreme. A Narth serves with the Olafson and we know the Narth Supreme intervened on Richter 4 on Olafson’s behalf.”

The other entity was virtually unknown to anyone, it called itself the Imperial Eldest. It was trapped in a trans spatial condition and only able to communicate via this TL 12 interface. “One has observed what they call the Eternal Warrior. He appears too many as a simple immortal raised by the Guardian of Earth that artificial creation. Something he himself believes to be true, something I doubt. His tenacity cannot be underestimated.”

The Emperor agreed and added. “I am the only Nnnth found not worthy to join with the Arth. It is unwise to expose my existence to the Narth Supreme. We will do as you ask, but what of our purpose?”

“Our purpose might become obsolete, by the events that are about to occur. If our purpose survives we will meet again and evaluate.”

The members of the Tribunal terminated their meeting and Rex said to Yvonne. “Tell Balthazar to terminate everyone associated with the Bowel.”

“What about the 200,000 clones we have completed? They are ready and perfect.”

“We need a hundred times more. Terminate everyone knowing where they are stored. If our purpose survives, we can restart. We do not suffer the limitations of time.”

Har-Hi leaned back in the command chair. He was told to stand by to receive a transmission from Admiral McElligott.

It was very quiet on the bridge when Sobody came on the bridge. “Petty Officer Lomasr of environmental was assigned to us at Christmas base.”

Har-Hi barely able to keep his irritation in check said. “So?”

“He was not assigned by Fleet Command like every other crew member, but by the personnel office at Christmas Base. His birth planet is listed as Deep Blue, and he is listed as a member of the Ante-mortems.”

Hans who had correlated the Golden’s report added. “Lomasr, according to this was not to be assigned to any post until an investigation into the accusation that he was a Grey Hood could be dispelled.”

“We are about to get called by Admiral McElligott...” Har-Hi said.

Sobody nodded. “I know that is why I am here. The Ante-mortem are a sect of Necros and the Grey Hoods are Ante-mortem high priests. A highly illegal group considered to be engaged in murder, illegal cloning and genetic experimentation on sentient beings.”

The very quiet Wheeze sitting in an unused chair before the engineering console muttered to himself: “Theyz havz gonz zo farz. Meeze showz zem!”

With these words, he wiggled into the I.S.T.

I stumbled forward and found myself in a cold cavern with stalactites and immense stalagmites. There were structures facades with doors and windows carved or built between those geological formations and cave walls.

Right before me was an archway.

Rough hands pushed me forward, and through that portal before I could really orient myself.

I recognized the voice behind me, this was no projection but Swybin Swybar wearing an alien-looking battle suit.

The push was hard and executed with much force. I fell to my knees, skinning them bloody.

Before me the feet of a man wearing armor and holding a sword, glowing bright white. “Ah the helpless vessel of the abomination, still trapped in a fragile human body. I am Lord Lummis and I am here to destroy you, Dark One.”

The Lord of Light laughed in utter triumph as he swung his sword...

Chapter 19: The Cup
The woman that stepped through a shimmering portal of dark red light, had dark grey skin, long white hair and wore a skimpy outfit which was an odd combination of bikini, medieval armor, and wispy veils.

Her eyes had no pupils but glowed in the same dark red light as the now dissipating portal.

Stahl suddenly remembered Sunday school and stopped himself to actually make the sign of the cross. However, he was never really intimidated, by anyone.

The Eternal Warrior got up, like the old fashioned gentleman he was and greeted the entity that just entered his office aboard the Devi.

“Welcome aboard Ms. Fera, I should be concerned about your ability to appear inside my ship, but my wife asked.”

“I am quite honored, Eternal Warrior. Alycia equals me in almost every aspect and for her to choose what appears to be a simple human, has created quite a stir in the Nether Realms. Yet your reputation has seeped beyond the confines of this the Prime Reality.”

Alycia gave him her warmest smile. “Richard accepted me, Luci. The Narth Supreme calls him friend, that alone elevates my beloved beyond the definition of simple.”

Richard grunted. “Girls, I am right here you know. Can I offer you anything, maybe some sulfur or brimstone perhaps?”

Lucifera, also known as the Oldest laughed. “Oh no, Admiral. That is part of human mythology and has nothing to do with reality. You see, when rifts and portals between the Netherworlds and this universe are opened, some atmosphere will also make the transition. Since our molecules are completely alien to this realm, no olfactory organ can make sense of it and the mind associates a scent memory with it. The same reason why the Coven or any sliders do not appear as they are to your eyes.” She sat down on the visitors’ chair across his desk. “A taste of your famous beer will do.”

He smirked. “Wonder what it might taste like to your tongue then, being made of molecules of this Universe.” Before he could do it himself, Alycia motioned him to remain and went to retrieve three bottles from his cooler.

Lucy crossed her shapely legs and arranged the white wisp of chiffon attached to her bra-like top in a playful move. “You do know that this ship has ceased to be Seenian long before Alycia revealed it to you? The Vax of the Krytha galaxy modified this vessel so much, over 200,000 years ago.” She made an all-inclusive gesture waving her hands and added. “Centron loves you and this old contraption has still many secrets, one of them are Nether shields. Ask Centron to raise them and neither Alycia, me or any other creature of our plane can ever overcome them.”

Stahl raised his eyebrows. “And there I am, learning about this now, but that is not what brings you here right?”

“No, Admiral. I like to explain to you who I am and give you more insights, so you will then better understand why I am here.”

He sat down and nodded. “I am not pressed for time at the moment, the Devi is in good hands and the fleet simply follows at the moment.”

His eyes reflected concern. “While I think she, I mean Captain Olafson, can take care of herself. Every gut instinct tells me to rush with all haste to Deep Blue and find out how and who abducted her again. I doubt there is anyone in the history of the Union, that ends up somewhere else against her will than her.”

“Yes, this is why I am here Admiral. Not Deep Blue, however, but the planet known as N’Ger.”

“N’Ger damn she gets around, not so long ago she ended up on Sin 4, unfortunately with all my concerns for her well-being, this is a planet beyond Union Space and unless the Assembly gives me the authority to flex Fleet muscles in old Wedmar’s Triangle.”

Alycia had asked Centron for a hard light chair projection and was sitting next to him said. “I know, love. It is not the Devi and her cannons we think is needed there, but you. Let Lucy explain things to you and then if you want we can make the trip there in mere moments.”

He crossed his arms before his chest. “Alright. Let me have it.”

“I am in human terms, the oldest daughter of Satanis, ruler of six netherworld planes. My father is fearing the return of the Dark One and is preparing with schemes and plans for this event. He also gave me the ability to journey past...”, she paused for a brief moment looking to Alycia to help her find a descriptive analog.

Alycia said.” You crossed what some scholars describe as the Cosmic Veil.”

Stahl was very attentive, but his wife could read what others claimed to be an unreadable face.

She added. “Richard, this is not magic and not religious. There are near infinite parallel realities or universes, contained in a condition defined as Meta Verse. When our ships travel in Quasi-Space, they do so in a thin layer between this spatial condition and something Union scientists refer to as hyperspace. The definition of thin is misleading of course as standard spatial dimensional expressions do not apply.”

Lucifera actually smiled for the first time. “Yes, that is a good explanation. What you call Quasi-Space is just like an Onion layer; and so is hyperspace. We call the next condition Omni Ether and this is the veil your wife was talking about, the Nether worlds are something like an Anti-Omniverse.”

He waved his hand. “I get the idea, and some of it I understand at least in general terms. Now get back to your story so we can come to the point. I think the time is of the essence here.”

She nodded and went on. “My name, my origin and the undeniable reputation of my father and its alignment to what you define as evil is hard to deny, Admiral. I was sent by him to be an enforcer and given this appearance to be able to cross that veil we just mentioned, but I am not defined by my father or my origin. I used my power and position to help the Coven escape and find a new home in this universe and I joined them, hid among them when father sent mighty hunters to punish the escaped Coven and to bring me to heel.”

Alycia looked at Richard with the greatest admiration and love. “He knows more about this than he lets on. Richard fearlessly confronted the Arkhurm hunter to protect me and defeated him. He suffered terrible injuries and while I helped him recover, I feel deeply in love with him.”

The Eternal Warrior was visibly embarrassed by this and cleared his throat. “Can we stick to the subject please?”

Lucifera did continue. “The last and most powerful hunter, an entity called Malag was utterly defeated and destroyed just recently. The fight was witnessed, an apparent simple human woman defeated Malag, she defeated the creature wielding Bereaver. Not my father, not anyone would dare to touch this ax. It is one of the two weapons associated with the Dark One.

This leaves only one conclusion, the Dark One found its vessel in a human woman. Alycia saw the images and identified her as Erica Olafson.”

“And this is where you lost me. I still have no idea what this Dark One really supposed to be and what a native of Nilfeheim, that turned into a quite lovely woman has to do with all of it. That she is somehow connected I have no doubt. She gets abducted more than anyone I ever knew, and I met quite a few people in my 3000 years. So what is she doing at N’Ger and what can we do to help?”

Lucifera got up. “No one, with the exception of the One Behind it All can really define what or who the Dark One is, but one aspect is certain. He or it has the potential to be the biggest threat and danger to everything and everyone. Morgal the Cruel, the son of the Last Queen of Seenia slew his mother, split the indestructible mask of the queen with that axe, called Bereaver. And before he was utterly consumed by the weapon, he used Bereaver and lashed out with the Omni Strike. Killing the New Dark Ones and virtually every Seenian, destroyed fleets, billions of beings, a thousand suns and a greater number of planets.”

Richard’s mouth went dry. “If such a power exists what can I, what could the entire Union do?”

Alycia also got up. “There is no one, Erica respects more than you.”

--””--

The Assembly officially was back to normal business, but the recent events still hung like an invisible, hushing quality over everything.

Visible security and invisible security measures, not been used since the Assembly Sphere were dedicated and opened, activated and upgraded to the latest tech standards. Officers of First Guard strolling armed up and down the Sphere Corridor.

First Guard, conceived 2800 years ago by Saran suggestions to perform similar tasks and duties as a palace guard, actually was the official security force of the Assembly, but had never been called to anything more serious than a few aggressive Non-Cit panhandlers and Gal-Drifts. Repurposed to perform honor guard and ceremonial duties in crisp uniforms and side arms that had never been drawn.

Another sign that this was far from really being back to normal business were the members of PSI Corps here and there, in their smooth gray uniforms.

Alegar held up an insulated cup and gestured towards Egill who just stepped off a slide belt and proceeded towards his accustomed Inter-Building Access point.

The grumpy, representative of Nilfeheim noticed the gesture of the Saresii, who had become his best friend and came over. Instead of greeting the stunningly beautiful Saresii waved the Vent-Matic menu active and said. “Nilfeheim Special three.

The system treated him seconds later with a large disposable cup and straw. Filled with coke and a helping of his favorite liquor, clear Earth sourced Vodka.

“Isn’t it a little early for that?” Alegar asked.

“No, it is just the right time.” Egill gave his friend a glance and added. “Aren’t you a little too old wearing a short skirt like that?”

“I think it fits me fine and weather control has summery temperatures planned all month.”

Changing the subject Alegar pointed down the hall. “I wonder why they haven’t cleaned up and fixed the mess. All they did is place it behind security barriers.”

Egill shrugged and sipped at his drink. “I don’t know.”

“The faster they clean it up, the faster we can forget about it.”

The old Viking looked at the tall Saresii with his watery blue eyes. “Then I think I will suggest to the Assembly that it should never be cleaned up. What happened should never be forgotten.”

Alegar sighed. “I am Saresii and you are a brutish Neo Viking. It is I who should be wise and aloft, but I know better, of course, tell me why?”

“Almost 3000 years of serene safety made us soft and unprepared. Most of all it made us blind my friend.”

It was not the Narth representative that joined the two, but the representative of the largest Vantax community Dr.Yalki. “I could not help but overhear the last words.” He said as he was close enough. “I am always fascinated and deeply impressed by the blunt openness and frank honesty of you, Representative of Nilfeheim.”

The Vantax gestured across the corridor and towards the yellow hard light barrier that prevented anyone from accessing the bomb blast scene. “The culprits are hunted to extinction, not that there were many of them in the first place. I am sure there won’t be many or perhaps none left in a short time. If you, the Wisemen would support my suggestion to let the PSI corps really do their job and scan minds, we could make sure to weed out all the members of that barbaric and fanatic cult.”

Egill touched his temples, placing the thumb and middle finger to the sides of his forehead while using the rest of his free hand to cover his eyes in a gesture signaling tiredness and frustration. A human gesture completely lost to both the Saresii and the Vantax.

Egill added a deep sigh. “This is precisely the reason, I don’t like this Wisemen business. Now we are seen as opinion makers and lobbied to support certain ideas.” He looked up and spread his arms. “And where does it take place?” He asked and answered his own question saying. “Right here in the lobby, Fifl you are!”

The Vantax, not knowing that he was just insulted kept listening.”

The Narth representative simply suddenly there said with his deep cold voice. “The Vantax apparently waits for a sample of your wisdom, friend Egill.”

The painful expression now in Egill’s face was partially hidden by his now well-trimmed beard. “And with that, we become the Kermac and the PSI Corps the Thought Police. No, Dr. Yalki our ideas only work for all, if we have room for the opposition and other ideas, even or especially those not necessarily by us or the majority.”

Alegar nodded in agreement. “You are a wise man, my friend. This is why we have PSI laws, something the average Kermac envies us more than our Translocators.”

Egill was about to resume his original intention and proceed on his way to the I.S.T. access point, when a human man, somehow looking out of time and place approached the hard light barrier across their vantage point. The human wore a hat and a beige coat.

Alegar recognized him. “I think I know why they haven’t cleaned up. They waited for him.”

Egill mildly interested asked. “And who is he?”

“He is one of the virtually unknown immortals, older than the Eternal Warrior, or McElligott. Rumored to be not one of those picked by that entity called the Guardian of Earth. That is without a doubt, Phil Decker.”

Egill scratched his beard covered chin. “You are right, I’ve never heard of him, but then I spend most of my life on Nilfeheim. Not exactly a hub of information.”

“Yet, your world had access to GalNet much longer than even you are alive.” Alegar chuckled. “I only know of him, because he was the first human ever to marry a Saresii, long before there was a Union and even before Earth ascended. As unknown as he may be to you and me, every Union policeman knows of him. To them, he is what Stahl is to the rest of us, a legendary policeman and detective.”

The Narth was listening to Alegar and said. “I see the head of First Guard and the Union Police Commandant joining this Decker. One is greatly interested in what a detective is and does. Let us ask if we may observe.”

“Why us?” Asked Egill. “And why are you referring to yourself as one again?”

“If the one you know as I, is in communion with all that is Narth, I become one.”

“Loki help, could you find a more convoluted answer?”

“Yes, one will attempt to do so if that is what you desire.” The Narth observed the security barrier partially collapse. “One would be very grateful for your company. Your mind is open to me and familiar. Through your eyes, concepts are easier accessible.”

--””--

The chief of Union Police, a tall green scaled Maggi Sauron greeted the man with the old fashioned hat, he knew was called a Fedora. “I am glad you came Phil. This is perhaps the most important matter and case there ever was.”

Assembly security was First Guard jurisdiction. First Guard was Army and thus a high ranking Union Army officer, human greeted the arriving detective as well, but was clearly not enthused about a civilian sticking his nose in Army business. “I have heard much about you Mr. Decker, and I was told by the Assembly to await your assessment, and due to the importance of this case. First Guard gladly cooperates fully with ANA, NAVINT and every other law enforcement agency of our Union.”

His tone clearly indicated that he was thinking the exact opposite.

He was even more displeased as he noticed three representatives approaching. He had the authority to deny them access, but he knew those particular ones. The so-called Wisemen of the Assembly. Easily among the most prominent voices of that collective known as the Assembly.

Decker had a fine smile on his lips. “Good to see you too, Kilor.” He clasped both his hands around the neck of the Sauron while simulating the scratching of the ground with his right foot, demonstrating that he knew Maggi Sauron customs well, and was an accepted nestling within the private circle of the Sauron. Then he said to the Colonel. “I am well aware of Army traditions, Army pride, and branch particulars. I know you don’t really approve of me. However, the Assembly has asked for me and I have no choice but to honor that. Let us both remember our common oath and purpose.”

The Colonel ground his teeth but nodded.

The Narth representative was now within talking distance and asked. “Please accept one’s apologies. We Narth are much more integrated into the Union and the physical aspect of this reality than we have been before. However, the exact nature of a Detective’s purpose and work is not fully understood. May we passively observe?”

The Army colonel could not help himself and remarked. “An excellent question indeed. I too like to know what could possibly be learned from a heap of rubble.”

Before Phil could answer, the Maggi Sauron chief expressed amusement in the manner of his species, by flaring the only facial muscles he had, his nostrils. “You will be surprised, Colonel. Phil, do your thing. I narrate for the Representatives and the Army if necessary.”

Phil friendly nodded towards the Sauron and said to the Narth. “I will be honored, just give me a few moments to get a feel for everything, I just arrived from a trip to Andromeda.”

The ancient detective passed through the now insubstantial light barrier and very slowly walked over the dust and rubble covered floor, making virtually no sound while the small crowd behind him caused crunching sounds with every step, except of course the Narth.

Decker tugged on his trouser legs and crouched down brushed a finger over the dust examined his fingertip. Then looking towards the now barricaded entrance and the damaged inner wall.

He got up and glanced over the six busted and partially destroyed display cases. “This was not a terror attack, but a brutally, clever and utterly precise theft.”

“Ridiculous!” Blurted the Colonel.

The Sauron police chief hushed the Army officer. “By Grogro’s ingrown spines, Colonel. Mr. Decker was recommended by Admiral McElligott, Admiral Stahl and Mothermachine to the Assembly Security Council.” To the detective the Sauron said. “Care to enlighten us?”

Phil made a gesture over the rubble. “Notice the blast direction? It is clearly indicated by the spread of all that debris. This is not the result of a bomb, but a shaped charge. There is more debris than there should be. The floor is almost indestructible, coated with a film of Neutronium. The walls are only covered with a thin layer of marble and wood paneling; the ultronit behind it is undamaged.

Much of the dust is too fine to come from here; it was brought in to create a cloud to blind sensors and visualizers. Please ask Crime Scene to collect some of it. I am certain it contains components designed specifically for that purpose.”

He then went closer to the damaged cases. “The cases were opened with focused energy and the content removed, the cutting residue on the floor is very linear. The shape charges were set after the content was removed to mask the cutting.” He brushed his hands against each other. “I’d like to know the exact contents of these cases. There is no chance this was a terror attack commenced by a group of fanatics. If they would have been responsible at all, they would have chosen a weapon causing much more casualties and commenced their action at a different time. Even though this Assembly is in session around the clock, it is no secret that during the time the attack occurred, there are virtually no visitors here and the last docket for the day is discussed, before the new business day reset. If I would be a terrorist to make a statement that will cost my life, I make it count. A bioweapon attack during the busiest midday time, preferably through the Burke Door, thus maximizing casualties.”

Even the Colonel could not argue against that and was openly impressed. “I..., I apologize. I stand corrected, Sir. But what about the evidence we found raiding the address of the perished suicide pilot, the leads we found clearly implicated the Gore whackos. Those leads did lead to two cells.”

Decker did not lose a beat and asked the police chief. “I bet those two meeting places were known to local police. Defenders of Gore are not the quietest group, and ever since that spore bomb incident at the Diamond Ball a few years back. I bet NAVINT and other departments investigated and observed them. In other words, not exactly hard to find for someone who needs a convenient culprit. Are you sure the pilot was conscious, or even alive? Remote controlled things weren’t new when I started as a gumshoe in good ol’ New York City on Earth over 3000 years ago.”

The Colonel ground his teeth again. “We found the remains of the pilot and did not consider this.”

Phil looking towards the Sauron. “What did I tell you when you were a first-year academy noob?”

“Don’t take any bias to the crime scene and observe with open eyes.” The Sauron managed to sound apologetic. “Damn, Phil, I should have remembered: Forget all the tech and scanners and use eyes and mind first.”

The Narth was deeply impressed. “He is very logical and correlates apparently random aspects to a clear and structured causality chain.”

“What does this leave us?” Asked the Colonel. “Who are we looking for?”

“I don’t know yet, but whoever did this wanted whatever was in those cases and has access to top professionals and is very little hampered by resource limitations.”

--””--

SHIP said in a friendly tone. “Sorry, Mr. Meeze. Battlestations have been called, no one can leave the ship, all airlock controls are disabled.”

“Whaaz a shiz, howz I suppoze callz ze helpz for ze captinz.”

SHIP was clearly tempted to help the creature. She wasn’t a simple AI after all, but a real sentient being and deeply concerned about her Captain. “It appears there is no battlestation assigned for you, meaning you need to go to your quarters, Mr. Meeze. However, there are no clear instructions that you could not use GalNet. I will enable your console, will that help?”

“Lez me zink ... yez one noz somezing.”

SHIP’s voice followed the scurrying creature as it rushed to its quarters. “Can I ask what you would have done, outside?”

“Finz a nezus and jumpz. Meeze finz ze Vikarz.”

While Meeze reached the crew quarters, designated D4-B-66. SHIP had to admit to herself that she was quite surprised by that answer. “Mr. Meeze, you know about these Nexus points?”

“Pffz, youz zink Meeze stoopiz or waz?”

“No, I do not. I am genuinely amazed by your talents and intellect.”

“Finzally! Meeze zinks youz noz zo stoopiz maybeez.” There was a detectable tone of pride in the worms voice. “Wheeze arz ze Genolax. Stoopiz Cruzible takez Genolax makez Wheeze forz ze engineerz and cleanz everyzing.”

“You are an engineer?”

“Of corz. Who you zink builz machinz of Cruzible?”

“The Mora?”

“Meeze likez youz, not zo stupiz az all, buz wheeze talkz laterz. Captinz neez helpz.

--””--

I had no words to define my own state, other than a level of anger and fury that was beyond anything I could describe. A heartbeat before I was Erica Olafson, Union officer. Human child of Nilfeheim with a truly strange case of a split personality. Sharing my very being with an entity that came to this plane entering the unborn body of my brother my parents named Eric. Another entity raised to great presence by the Voice of the RULE, Tyr the White Tyranno transferred my own essence into Eric’s body, in an attempt to influence the Dark One towards the concept of Duality. By doing so dooming my own body and causing my mother the heartbreaking pain of a dead-born daughter. Oh, what a convoluted and twisted fate I was subjected too. What right did Tyr have to interfere, what motivations validated the meddling of the Voice?

My anger burned hotter than fire and it burned in unison with my brother’s wraith. For a brief moment, we were one. Not Eric, not Erica but something far beyond anything. For that brief moment that could not be defined with time, space or any organic mind; I felt everything, saw everything. Then I was pushed aside by it and Eric’s mind created a bolt of psionic energies hitting the man with the sword and the gleaming armor in the very last moment away and with such force that he collided with the macabre decorated cavern walls shattering rock and skulls.

I rose to my feet, no longer naked but covered by the robe, shoed with my boots. Bereaver growing into my fists in a heartbeat. “Now swing thy sword again, no longer do you stand against a mere human. I am the Judge, I am the end of all.”

A partially skeletonized creature kept alive by forbidden cybernetic technology, regenerated cells beyond their natural life span screeched. “I am the Necro King. I am the master of death, I am the vessel ordained to contain your essence. I have endured eon upon eon, awaited your arrival, obey!”

I stomped forward.

The Necro King swung a staff, it crackled with bluish energies. Engulfed me, yet I felt nothing.

“Eons you cheated death, but time is of no essence to me.”

My axe severed through the raised staff and the next swing cut the armor, body and all in half. The Necro King collapsed. Spider-like artificial life forms scurried to gather his brain.

“Nay!” Black flames roared from my left-hand rendering that ancient tech spawns to dust.

Without effort and a sickening sound of breaking bone, I yanked the ugly skull from its neck. “No more. Your end has come.”

The bodiless skull still alive moved its jaws in soundless agony as my fire consumed it, brain, essence, bone and all. What had been created by a twisted scientist calling himself a techno-mage and endured for an entire galactic revolution was no more, the Necro King was no more.

Something hit me in the back, making me turn. Swybin in panic and fear fired something powerful from wrist blasters. “What are you?”

“I am the Antiforce of life. Oh mortal fool, you earned my anger. The sting of death is thine indeed and you will feel it many thousand times.”

Swybin vanished in a wall of black flames.

I turned again to face the man in the armor, but I did not see him.

Something distracted me, my ring glowed brightly as if to guide me, towards that ugly throne-like seat made of bones.

While walking towards that seat, I clearly felt Eric’s consciousness separating. He was still guiding us and with a swing of his ax, he shattered the seat and many of the bones used to make it. “Another part, sister. This is the Cup, Conscientia Tenebris. Four more and I can leave you.”

“What happened to Swybin?”

“He is in a pocket universe. I will punish him appropriately once I came fully into my own, Sister.”

“And that goon with the sword?”

“He called himself Lord Lummis, and the name has meaning and context to what I am, but without the book that holds my memories I do not know.”

“That probably means you have no idea where we are either, right?”

Chapter 20: Resignation
The Narth representative almost begged the detective to observe more and then asked Alegar and Egill to tag along.

The human detective had agreed with a friendly nod, and now all of them were sitting in an unmarked Sunblazer patrol flier that was just descending from its high altitude and approached Ms. Baldwin Town. A residential township on the North West region of the Government Continent.

Egill who was no longer a newcomer to Pluribus actually knew next to nothing about the planet and its community. He either spent time in the Assembly Dome or at his very luxurious apartment in the company HQ of Silver Hawk Inc. He had spent time at Sares and of course, went back home to Nilfeheim many times since he took on the mantle of planet representative.

He never had ventured past the Assembly district. His friend Alegar had similar thoughts and said to Egill as he looked past the transparent side panels of the police flyer.

“You know I haven’t ventured past the Assembly district. Who knew there towns like this on this world.”

The Narth Representative said. “The town was named after famous Med Tech Gloria Baldwin, commonly known as ‘Miss Baldwin’. She pioneered medical treatment for Super-large Union members, specifically Bandrupo.”

“And you memorized this of GalNet.” Egill said. “You have never been out here either.”

“This is incorrect, friend Egill. “I have not memorized it, I am accessing GalNet now and relay what information I am consuming. I am doing this because, as you so correctly surmised. I have visited only seven locations on this planet: The Assembly Dome, your apartment, Alegar’s residence, the...”

Alegar rolled his pretty eyes, shaded with long black lashes and below shapely eyebrows with a smile and leaned forward partially bypassing the Army Colonel sitting there. “Mr. Decker, what are we doing here?”

While the Maggi Suron landed the flier on a terrace of mostly transparent Duro-Plast. The terrace-like feature circled a grass and trees covered enormous mountain-sized hill, one hill of at least seven similar hills. The old detective answered. “Officers of Pluribus Police have just raided the residence of a known member of Freedom for Gore movement.”

They all climbed out of the flyer and followed the Sauron who approached a similar mostly transparent access tunnel bridge that connected the terrace with the actual hill and provided access to its interior.

Next to their unmarked flier, were six Sunblazer patrol fliers in a deep blue and white color scheme, and stylized image of Utchat on their doors. A Hazar-type flier of the Union Police sporting big white letters reading UP-SRU. The large boxy flier was all black. Its rear ramp lowered made it obvious the Special Reaction Unit had already been deployed.

Two uniformed police officers, a big Botnaar and a rather small Uril. The smaller being was the first Uril Egill seen. He knew there was a Urillua representative, but he could not recall ever hearing or seeing their rep interacting.

While he had become somewhat accustomed to the brutish Bootnar, often referred to as this galaxy’s version of Pertharians. That bald-headed, dwarflike humanoid with bright green skin somehow felt more alien to him than a Shaill.

Alegar leaned close as they followed the officers. “The Urillua were almost as enigmatic as the Narth. While they are Union members for a very long time. They too invoked Union resolution, 2300-7. One that should be very familiar to you.”

The old Neo Viking nodded. It was a resolution over 2700 old and granted special isolation consideration to a member species. It was nicknamed the “Let us alone” clause.

The Narth chimed in. “I must disagree, friend Alegar. Narth are not mysterious at all, merely not fully understood. Neither do I find the Urillua mysterious.” The Narth cocked his head. “One comes to the conclusion, Narth does not consider anything mysterious.”

Alegar grinned. “Really?”

Both felt the amusement of their shrouded friend. “Your minds, my friends both of them I find very mysterious.”

The group had reached the two uniformed, by stature and size very different officers. Something that raised no eyebrows on Pluribus or pretty much anywhere within the Union.

The Sauron identified himself to the police officers and said, gesturing over the group. “They are with me, Officer Burkis and Craddoc.”

Narth said while their CITIS were scanned and then passed through the tunnel. “The Urillua appear alien to you, because like their cousin species the Ariglou, they did not originate in this universe, but have come here from another spatial condition. The Ariglou by accident and the Urillua on purpose, their other-dimensional origin is not a secret. Both species retained an aspect of this in their appearance that is not accessible to visual sensory organs of this plane, thus many experiences their presence as alien without being able to pinpoint...”

This, to Egill quite interesting explanation, was interrupted as the group passed inside the enormous and now evidently hollow hill.

Many hundreds, perhaps thousand inverted steps of terrace levels followed the interior of this artificial hill. The cavernous center was open and featured an inverted cone attached to the apex with many sources of warm golden light.

The terraces featured parks, trees, meandering creeks, trees and pond shaped swimming pools.

Alegar said to Egill. “I actually never seen one of these Arcology structures, even though I knew there are many thousands like this all over Pluribus and on other Union worlds.”

They did not have to go too far. The flier platform outside and the access tunnel connecting to this terrace level was not top far from the obvious goal of their trip.

At the wall facing side of the terrace on the other side of the slide belt and the Duro Crete path they were on, were housing units of private dwellings. Separated by low fences, small individually styled front lawns and gardens.

One of them clearly stood out, with yellow hard light police barriers. Several police officers in APE suits and the letters SRU on the massive backs of their 2.3 meters tall, four-ton Armored Police Exoframes. While all the other residences had smooth facades with large windows and doors, much of this residence front wall was gone and replaced by a large hole that revealed the two inside levels and much of the interior decoration and appliances. Clear evidence that the SRU unit had used some kind of breaching tech. A crowd of nosy onlookers was held back by more police and a second stage of hard light barriers.

Neither Egill nor Alegar could deny the interesting and fascinating turn of events and their inclusion in this. While grumpy Egill did not want to openly admit it to the Narth or the Saresii that he was quite excited about this and thankful for the inquisitive nature of his Narth friend, he was as impressed as the others of this so plain looking, friendly human.

Egill had met other Immortals and secretly was a member of the Grey Ghosts, Phil Decker at first seemed to have none of the other’s unexplainable aura that separated them from mere mortals, but Egill had to correct himself. This man who was born on distant Earth, long before Nilfeheim was colonized. Before Terran Humans even knew they weren’t the only sentient species in the universe and he had the same eerie quality, but he was much better in concealing it.

The Army Colonel was close behind Decker. “I truly apologize, Mr. Decker. My Army ways might have tarnished my approach to non-Army individuals. A regrettable approach indeed, my darn pride has stopped me from asking what we are doing here. Have you not shown us with undeniable logic that we are not looking for members of this Terror Group?”

Decker had already stepped through the police barrier and turned. “No worries, Colonel. Call me Phil, I know the Army.” He had a sad smile on his face as he said. “I served with the US Army in World War II long before Earth ascended. While the United States and World War two are so far in the past and forgotten by all but a few scholars and relics like me. The Army has changed surprisingly little.”

“You served the Army? I am so...”

“We can catch up on this over a beer and after we are done here. As for your question, I think it will become clear to you very shortly.”

Phil approached a plain clothed police officer, revealed to be as such by a holographic projection of his service badge hovering a few inches before him. The other police detective had chrome polished skin and wore a similar cut beige coat as Phil.

Since Egill could feel the man’s mind, he was certain it was a Stellaris and not an X101.

The Stellaris greeted Phil with a level of respect Egill had only seen displayed when Union Marines met the Eternal Warrior for the first time.

Alegar said quietly. “Didn’t I tell you? While most of us never heard of him, to Union Police he is a living god.”

Phil pointed at the gaping hole. “Was he dead before you arrived or did he commit suicide as you breached?”

The Stellaris shrugged his shoulders. “We are not sure, but he was beyond reanimation. We’re still trying to figure out how he got hold of a Megdohrs.”

“Megdohrs?” Egill could not help asking. He was aware of the fact they were nothing more than observers.

The old detective did not appear to be annoyed and said. “A parasitic life form, quite similar to Pertharian Brain Leeches. If I am correct, they were found within the spaceship scrap fields of Itheamh. Their actual world of origin has not yet been identified.”

Phil moved past the Stellaris detective, stepped over the knee-high remnant of the wall. He was still very much within speaking distance. “The suspect was male, human about thirty years of age. I think he was a Priv-Drift and probably working as an editor for Cosmic Winds. He was the one renting the flier used?”

The Stellaris nodded. “Yes, Sir. Alvin Dundee. Thirty-One standard years. Native to Worchester, planet and he was the co-owner of Cosmic Winds.”

The Sauron put his sizeable fists against his hips, striking a very human-looking pose. “You had the same information than me. All we knew is what we heard over PD-Comm. A leading member of this Gore Protector group about to be arrested. We arrived with you, seen what you have seen...”

Phil raised his finger. “One moment, I explain later.” To the Stellaris he said. “Jon, do me a favor and give me a copy of the entry scan records to the access doors of this level and scan for non-resident visitors asking to see Mr. Dundee. Especially his last visitors, I do not think it was his idea to kiss a Megdohrs.”

Phil now said to the Sauron. “Since I am operating on the theory that the Assembly incident was not motivated by terror motives, but efforts had been made to frame the Defenders of Gore. I was certain the real culprits went out of their way to make sure investigators would find all the implicating clues and overlook everything else.”

The Army Colonel lowered his head and said in a quiet tone. “It almost worked too.”

Phil kept smiling. “The real crux of the matter is that law enforcement became so darn sophisticated and advanced that no one really using their eyes and their head anymore. Same with the crooks though, they went out of their way to fool scanners and sensors and whatnot, but overlooked the simple basics.”

He pointed to the not so far distant entrance tunnel. “This is a residential community, access is granted to residents, official services and registered vendors. Visitors and guests must be allowed inside by residents.”

“And this will identify all his accomplices?” The Army Colonel asked.

“That is not what we are looking for. He was visited by his murderer and it had to be the last person. These residential units are privately owned and beyond the financial reach of a real Gal Drift. There are physical sports trophies on his leisure room shelf. He participated successfully in old fashioned boat rowing, archery, and Badminton. All this points to a very old, very expensive college. These colleges are private, very exclusive. That suggests that he belonged to an old Neo noble family. His last name might be his mothers or a legally assumed name. Some of these privileged kids, especially those who might not be on best terms with their families, often decide to drift for a while. Unlike real Drifts, they don’t really have financial worries. I will explain the rest if you really can’t figure it out. Right now I like to speak to the neighbor next door.”

How he identified the Kilonian behind the police barrier, one of the many beings there as a neighbor was a mystery to Alegar and apparently to the others as well. The Saresii gave Egill a quizzical look. “Don’t tell me you are not impressed.”

“I am, I really am. Because he said what I am saying all the time. People don’t think anymore. I think I know how he deducted the rest and how he knew the Kilonian is a neighbor and not just another spectator.”

--””--

The android that appeared to be a stylish human female. Looking exactly how Clara Schwartz would have looked like if the first daughter of Rex Schwartz would have lived to become a full-grown woman. Clara had been kidnapped and murdered almost 3000 years ago.

In all this time he still grieved, in his own special way. Unable to find an adequate way to express his rage and anger.

Yvonne had begun her existence as Yvonne 1.2. The first one had been a static prototype.

The machine that stalked on five-inch heeled pumps into the office of the richest man in the Galaxy was version 9.9, this version was more than an android, more than a robot. This Yvonne had very little in common with any known Union tech. The tech hidden beneath the smooth baby-soft skin and perfect complexion was far beyond. The level of Technological development realized in that machine had not been seen in the known universe since the fall of the First Empire. During a time when planet Earth was still very young and carried no life except the first versions of primitive bacteria.

Almost 4 billion years ago, when the first sentient species the Nnnth had reached TL 12 and merged with the Arth to reach the next level of existence. This symbiosis destined to become the first trans corporeal entity of this the Prime Reality.

Rex Schwartz leaned back in his executive chair and swiveled it towards the floor to ceiling windows. His office near the very top of SII Needle III, the tallest planet-bound structure of any kind anywhere in the known Universe. His office located at over 660 kilometers above the surface of Omni, planet.

This was not a low orbit station, satellite or tethered object, but a true construct, with a foundation reaching to the very core of this beautiful planet. With a triangular cross-section, at its base each side of this incredible structure measured 330 kilometers tapering to less than 10 meters, giving this tower an elegant needle-like appearance. The engineering and construction was no small feat.

He did not turn as Yvonne served her master a glass of ice-cold milk.

Rex Schwartz did not consume any intoxicating substances including alcohol. He only drank Bovine, Earth sourced milk, water or Orange juice.

He took the glass of the tray, the android held. Without looking at her, he thanked her as he always did. Yvonne could not be anything else but utmost loyal, but she was sentient and Rex treated her this way, always had. He did not take his eyes off the scenery beyond the windows as the local sun rose from behind the planet and bathed the clouds, the continent and the oceans below in a magical shade of gold. It lasted only a few moments, then the light changed to a more brilliant white and a new day had dawned on this side of Onyx planet.

“Any news of N’Ger?”

“None that can be verified, but sources suggest that the Nexus point hidden under the Eastern Mountains had been used again. My source suggests that they were the same, that used it a few days ago to arrive.”

“I expect a more detailed report as soon as possible.”

“All sources we have available gathering additional information as we speak, Sir.”

He sipped from the glass, then asked. “Ajax protocol?”

“At stage two, Sir. Tribunal assets are terminated and neutralized. The Bowels and the Saresii are the last objectives of stage two. Final stage III will commence in thirteen hours.”

As this was within the expected time frame, he nodded and went to the next subject. “How far have we advanced in translating the Prophecy?”

“The Specialist is confident in his progress, but is unable to give a time frame.”

“I will descend to get a better picture.” He then swiveled back to face his desk and brushed open a report displayed on a field screen. “Looks like this Gore protester menace is very well taken care off.”

“Indeed, Sir. We reach a 91 percent permanent reduction of all Gore support groups without any direct SII involvement. Situation analysis suggests that we might have to take a more active role in order to eliminate the rest. As for the concept, as you know Sir. It is impossible to completely expunge an idea.”

“I am aware of this, but once there are no active cells, clubs or temples and the like, an idea can be fought and suppressed by other ideas.” He sounded confident at first, but then he asked. “What suggests this slow down and a more active role?”

“Sir, the investigation into the Assembly incident has taken a drastic turn. The investigation was not declared closed by the Assembly as expected, but given to Phil Decker, by personal recommendation of Mothermachine, Richard Stahl and McElligott.”

Rex Schwartz was confident there were no links that could be traced to him, but he had to admit, there was hardly a name that made him more nervous than that of the old detective.

He greatly respected Stahl and knew an open conflict with the Eternal Warrior would be anything but easy, but Decker had shown over the many centuries that he was able to connect the smallest thing and unravel complex mysteries.

“We have reported that this Decker survived an assassination of Cherubim during the Green Hell incident. According to this, he was hit by blaster fire that completely consumed his heart and confirmed dead. Hours later he was active again.

“That is certainly beyond the ‘impervious to age and disease’ immortality gift the Guardian infused the 200 Immortals, of which I am one.”

The android still accessed the Decker file. “All indications suggest that he was not picked and gifted by the Guardian. He was born 1912 on Earth, long before the Guardian became openly active. It appears he has not physically aged long before the ascent.

According to this dossier, he left Earth before the ascent with a Saresii female and spent a long time on Sares Prime.”

He got up. “Have the Black Sirius made ready, I need to go to Pluribus.”

--””--

Naramir was on the edge of insanity. His ego had sustained so many blows and setbacks, ever since he was old enough to think; all these events combined with his Thauran nature would be enough to drive anyone over the edge.

He was Naramir of the Suppor family, an old family of nobles in an old empire of old customs, traditions. An ancient part of a society where family feuds were never really forgotten. Where intrigue and the quest for power were synonymous with Thauran society.

Events not so long ago and perhaps even caused by him and his family led to the arrest of Emperor Soron, the Fifth, by Union Police. His arrest had a domino effect and caused many houses to suffer the loss of leaders, positions of power and the loss of many fortunes.

What had been a rumored warning, spoken in low voices by those who could read the writing on the wall, came to pass. The Thauran commoners, that filth of crawling serfs revolted on the heels of the Union police shock troops and swept the history-laden palace of the Emperor. They demanded a new government and a new constitution and got their will.

A compromise was found, and a new Emperor was elected, not chosen by rules of succession and tradition, but by vote.

That cursed primate from that backwater world Nilfeheim; that cursed upstart Olafson had been at the center of all. His choice to become a female was not unknown to Thaurans, especially old Noble houses. Not every baroness or duchess had begun her life as a female. And not every Duke or King had started out to be male. In some cases, it was caused by the need to continue a line or occupy a throne. Sometimes it was done by some twisted desire, that was indulged and kept a whispered family secret.

He was certain it was some perverted desire and mental disease in the case of Olafson.

Instead of being kicked out of the navy, he was treated like a hero. Picked by that lantern jaw brute Stahl to command the Devi no less. It had to be Stahl who was behind the impossible feats, Olafson’s Gang was supposed to have done, and now he was a she and already Captain of a Union ship.

They had discharged him dishonorable, a stain of shame like few others, because there was hardly anything more beloved by the whole damn Union society, Thaurans included, than the Union Fleet.

The Spatial Navy of the Union was often referred to as the Union’s past time.

Not that he joined the Union academy out of his own idea.

He had two brothers and two sisters.

His oldest brother Haromir unfit to be the next leader of the House. He had been a compulsive gambler with not much skill or luck to boot.

Father had been forced to sell the Zirconium mines on Pinnacle Planet; their most valuable possession to cover Haramir’s gambling debts.

Despite all these efforts, Naramir learned that his brother had been arrested and sent to a Union penal colony after he had been found guilty for embezzlement and fraud. That happened right before he had returned for his first leave of absence, upon completing basic training and his first Academy Year.

His other Brother Jaromir had been sent as a young boy to the Monastery and was raised by the Monks of the Azura Order.

It was there where Jaromir got in contact with Trevor Taros. The old Monastery of the Azure Order had been infiltrated by a vile and unholy sect. He learned were known by many names but commonly referred to as the Necros.

While all this went through his mind, he carefully retrieved the heavy metal bar, that had been buried flush with the cavern floor. He was told that this was a portable trans-spatial thresh hold. The product of an ancient civilization.

One of these had been used to abduct cursed Olafson. While he wanted to be there when Swybin was exacting revenge on the Neo Viking, he found wisdom in Swybin’s words. Thaurans did not do anything without having ulterior motives that benefited themselves first and foremost.

That transgendered bastard had been transported, naked and without any means to the old Necropolis underneath the sands of N’Ger.

Naramir wagered that women turned brute to be dead by now, but he had to leave his formidable weapons and a Seenian suit behind. Oh, this bastard was so predictable; he would have never relinquished such a priceless thing for anyone’s sake. Friendship and loyalty were so outdated and unnecessary concepts, he agreed with Swybin on that. Loyalty was for losers.

The first thresh hold connected Deep Blue with Sandcastle. Who would have known that this dungeon chamber below the Suppor manor mostly filled with rusty and worthless relics of Thauran past also held six of these truly ancient trans spatial thresh hold bars?

Not that he knew how they were activated and used, but he was certain the Kermac were interested in this and had the resources to figure it out.

He glanced at the groaning Petty Officer, who apparently was in the first stages of regaining consciousness.

Naramir picked up the spear gun, Olafson had left behind next to the Seenian suit.

“Always wondered how these things work. Primitive set up for sure.”

Lomasr blinked with a painful expression on his face, just a heartbeat before the needle-sharp shaft of the barbed spear pierced his skull.

Naramir, actually quite disturbed by the gory result turned and picked up the gray suit speaking to himself. “I wonder if this really is Seenian. Looks so plain.”

A sudden jolt that felt like an electric shock, made him drop the suit. He was more than disturbed as the suit started to inflate itself and take on the shape of a female body. Yet the face fitting cowl remained empty.

A voice that came from somewhere within that cowl. “I am Lt. Suit of the United Stars Spatial Navy and I am placing you under arrest.

Naramir released the second spear, the ultronit shaft meant to kill Nilfeheim Rock Sharks at distance and underwater hammered with great force into the chest of the hollow suit standing across from him. The seemingly thin material of the suit was as impenetrable as a wall of Neutronium. After the loud bang of the explosive release, a sharp metallic clang followed as the spear hit the stone floor.

Naramir wanted to flee, firing the Neuro Ripper at full intensity while he turned to rush to the hidden door.

The Suit sounded pleased as it said. “You could not have made a better choice. As a Union Officer, I was bound to my oath of duty and attempt to arrest you. Now that you are using lethal force I am allowed by Union laws to defend myself.”

The suit floated forward. “Now you will learn that I am more than just a suit, but a proud member of the Tigershark crew. Do you have any idea how much we respect and love our captain?”

“She is a pervert and you are a thing.”

“Let me demonstrate what Seenians did to obtain information. Where is Captain Olafson and how do I get there?”

--””--

I had been lost before, transported against my will to a place I did not know. This was different however, I was not alone.

Inside my very mind was an entity. A sentient condition that was coming more and more to the foreground. It called himself my brother Eric.

Now I could be completely insane and nothing more than a schizophrenic maniac with more than one personality, however, this mental condition was no secret to Union medical science. A diagnosis of such a mental disorder would have certainly prevented me from joining the Union Fleet and become an officer.

The entire case of my dual consciousness was too bizarre to be a product of pure imagination.

I slowly lowered the axe, I was still holding and tried to clear my mind from the red haze that lowered before my inner eyes. An unquenchable desire to kill and maim everything that stood against me, that dared to live. While I was certain this was mostly the desire and thoughts of that condition that shared my mind, I could not completely separate myself from it, white-hot anger still burned in both of us.

There was nothing alive around me. I had lost count as to how many of these cult followers I had killed, but I sensed many more lives somewhere above me. Oh aye, they all were doomed, I would not rest until the last spark of life had been extinguished on whatever planet I was.

Across the cavernous hall with the mirror-like pond, three beings stepped through a shimmering portal of light.

“Come ye, or flee it makes no difference to me. I will slay the lot of you and visit you in my realm to torment you before I grand your final death.”

Through the lifting haze, I suddenly recognized Admiral Stahl, the other two were familiar to me as well. I had seen the dark-skinned woman on Coven planet and the other one was the wife of Stahl, Alycia.

The Eternal Warrior did not pull any weapons, neither did he shrink away. I noticed and felt the fear in both females, but there was no such sensation from Stahl. He even stepped forward. “You are Erica Olafson?”

He called me by name somehow separated me completely from Eric.

“Yes, Admiral Sir. I was abducted from Deep Blue.”

He nodded. “I received some sort of briefing regarding that. I can’t see who is underneath that grim reaper shroud you wear, I repeat my question. Are you Captain Olafson, born on Nilfeheim?”

I brushed back the cowl and revealed my face to the Eternal Admiral. “Yes, Sir. I am Captain Erica Olafson, CO of the USS Tigershark. As I said I was abducted.”

He kept coming closer and stopped only an arms-length before me. “I believe you, girl.” He looked around and I could not see any emotion as he took stock of the carnage all around us, the shattered tombs, crumbed and crushed stalagmites and the great number of horribly maimed, dismembered and butchered beings of at least a dozen species.

“I was told you are more than that, and from what I can see I want to know from you, what are you?”

The axe I held shrunk away and returned to be unassuming cylindrical shape on my belt.

“I am Erica Olafson, but I am also Eric an entity I believe will eventually be known as the Dark One. I am still at the very beginning and do not understand it all.”

“I am Admiral Richard Stahl. It was chiefly my decision to make you the CO of a Union space-ship. Until now you have performed and executed your duties surpassing all, including my expectations. The Union has room for everyone, including entities, but who of you is the one that went to the Academy, who of you swore the oath of duty and service? Who of you is the Captain?”

He made a gesture across the scene. “I doubt a platoon of Pertharian Marines in Destroyer suits could have done more damage.” His face was as stern as I had ever seen it. “You were abducted and apparently by a group of particularly nasty members of a forbidden sect and I don’t blame or judge you by what I see right here, but as a Commanding Officer I must ask you these questions.”

Alycia had crossed the distance as well. “Richard, we are in the presence of perhaps the most powerful entity in all existence.”

The other woman sunk to her knees. “Not perhaps, a god no doubt. The prophecy fulfilled, we all should kneel and beg for mercy.”

Richard grunted loudly. “I don’t kneel and worship one God only. Now Captain Erica and whatever else you might be, I expect you to answer my questions.

Before I am convinced you are indeed Captain Olafson, able to follow orders, consume all tasks and conduct yourself to the standards we expect a United Stars Captain, I must be persuaded. If you are who you say you are, you understand.”

Alycia and the other woman gasped.

I cleared my throat. “Whatever I will be at the end I don’t know yet. The full incarnation is tied to twelve objects, of which I was able to find seven. One of these objects is in form of a book; it contains my memories and returns omnipresent knowledge. Until I am able to find this book, I cannot answer all your questions because I do not know. I am certain however that I will never require worship, devotion, temples, priests or any form of religion. Religion is the feeble expression of mortal beings trying to cope with entities that are beyond their grasp of understanding, real or imagined ones.

I am Erica and I am Eric at the moment and this constellation will remain until I found the last token and we can separate.”

I swallowed and tried hard not to shed tears. ”I respect you greatly Sir, and I understand your sentiment. I am a Union officer and because nothing is more important to me, I will hereby ask you to accept my resignation.”

Chapter 21: Portals
Ciferus was right behind Lummis as they scrambled into the cave and used the Nexus point to return to Avondur.

Lummis had lost all his arrogance; the proclaimed Lord of Light was a shivering heap, kneeling in the fine dust that covered much of the Nexus chamber’s floor.

Shard, the supposedly indestructible weapon of light had been deformed and bent like a piece of lead. His new, Crea restored armor torn and in pieces.

When he was flung into the cave wall, he felt like an insect. He had been shoved by Geoan, and he had been hit by Balkurs. He had stood against and before powerful entities before, but never had he felt like this. He had been swatted away like an insignificant speck of dust. He was promised immortality and god-like might with the strength to shatter mountains, yet here he was on his knees feeling actual pain and something was dripping from the corner of his mouth and drooled to the floor, he was bleeding!

He lifted his head. “Who...”

Ciferus, who escaped physical confrontation brushed his right hand over his eyes and slowly turned to the exit. “A fool I was; doomed fools they all are. Luc, Baahl, Sata and the rest. The Dark One is not even complete, he has not fully resurrected and he is beyond anything and everything.”

He gave Lummis an almost pitiful look. “Go, Lummis go back to the Upper Realms and hide. Our quest ends here. The Dark One’s rise was prophesized and it is occurring, what has been ordained by all that was and is cannot be prevented.”

Lummis raised his hand. “Wait...”

Ciferus did not wait, a dark red portal came into existence and the Netherworld dweller disappeared with it.

Lummis not only felt alone, he realized he was afraid. What he had faced on N’Ger would find him. It was not he who was hunting the Dark One.

He held up his bent sword. “Crea, mother of Creation. Why have you given me this impossible task?”

The entity answered. “I will mend your body and augment your strength. Not all the Tokens have been united, the WEAPON must be found.”

He groaned. “The WEAPON was with a woman and she was killed.”

“What happened to the cunning Vizier of great intelligence and hunger for power, I rescued from a doomed Precursor universe?”

“I am beginning to understand and I am realizing that you have not told me, educated me. I learned more from a Netherworld demon in a short period, than I learned from you in eons.”

“You are but a creature, elevated by me and bestowed with power, you are my servant. The purpose of your existence is to defeat and prevent the rise of the Dark One.”

“How?”

“Travel to the Eternal Plane, I will be there and so is the Voice of the Rule. The WEAPON must be found.”

--””--

The planet governor was certain his life and that of everyone else on the planet depended on how well the Dai before him was able to restrain himself. The red-skinned Dai Than warrior stared out of his yellow eyes with such intensity into his face, making Maresan fear for his very life.

“Commander Hi, I swear. I swear to you, I have nothing to do with your Captain’s abduction. Every resource available to me is yours.”

The Dai whispered. “Thank whatever Gods you worship, that I am wearing this uniform. Do you know what Dai can do to make a human talk? I don’t care about your resources, I will use mine. Should I find even the most remote involvement of yours, I am going to face a Court-martial and you will know how your intestines before you die. Now use those resources and find Captain Olafson!”

The oldest son of Baron Maresan spread his hands. “Look, Commander Hi. I am a former Union Fleet officer and I am not only on your side, but I am also a Union citizen, I am as angry as you about this.”

“Then what is done?”

“I have all security personnel looking for Captain Olafson. Union Police, Fleet Police and NAVINT are on their way. Assets of the PSI Corps are expected to arrive tomorrow.”

What at first, looked like a female X101 with silvery hair, but without the usual shiny chrome skin stepped into the planet manager’s office, was introduced by the gorgeous science officer of the Tigershark, who stood behind the aggravated Dai.

“This is Lt. Commander SHIP, your excellency. She and I have looked into your local Computronic.”

The artificial female had a smooth doll-like face and clearly artificial eyes with an eerie piercing quality.

“I have indeed done so and found several issues that co-relate with our missing Captain and all are connected to Sir Baran.”

“That is my deputy manager.”

“He also used to run things and was the planet governor before your father decided to elevate you to this position.” Shea said. “It looks he accepted a few rather large payments over the last few weeks.” Shea’s voice trailed off as Hans stomped in and made the spacious office of the governor feel a little crowded. The truly massive Saturnian held that very man like a doll in one of his fists, pinning the man’s arms to his body as if caught in a huge vise.

Maro Maresan’s desk unit flashed with dozens of reports from all over the planet. Calling him for advice and with bewildered faces, regarding Pertharians and Y’All in Union Marine uniform squeezing and bullying pretty much everyone they came across. His father Baron Mersen Maresan calling and wanting to know what was going on. Apparently, he was inundated by requests for answers.

Maro was a retired Union Fleet officer and that meant he was not as easily flustered or intimidated by an unusual crisis. “Officers of the Tigershark, please give me a moment to focus. I am on your side, as much as you might have certain well-founded preconceptions about Thaurans, I assure you I am a Union citizen and more so a Union Fleet officer. I might be retired, but that does not mean I left everything including my oath behind. The disappearance of a Union Fleet CO is as serious as it gets.”

He pointed at Hans. “Why are you holding my deputy like that?”

“Because he is under arrest.” Hans said. “This is Sir Baran, his last name is Taros.”

The governor blinked confused. “So? I know that, why would that be a reason to arrest the man?”

“He is the brother of Theodor Taros, aka Admiral Taros.”

--””--

Senior Chief Hilbora was near death, he knew it. The restraints holding him were made of Ultronit. Not even a Pertharian would have been able to break them. His moisture suit had been perforated many times and drained of the life-sustaining water, his kind needed.

Yet he had only one regret, he had been used to trap the captain and strip her of Suit and all weapons. That lad Lomasr seemed such a nice and competent fellow. He had been transferred only very recently while they were at Christmas Base.

That Thauran turned out to be a traitor of the worst kind. He was a Necro worshipper so it turned out. What Hilbora could not explain was the man’s transfer to the Tigershark in the first place. The environmental engineer that held this post had been with the Tigershark, since the beginning of the second mission.

The chaos and problems caused by Admiral Taros, the dispersion of the Tigershark crew was responsible for the transfer of the Oromal that held this post. Instead of getting his old assistant back, they sent him that Thauran replacement.

Now he was long enough in the Spatial Navy to know that these things happened, but the Tigershark wasn’t a regular Navy unit, not even the usual NAVINT X Fleet unit.

The crew had been handpicked by McElligott, Stahl, and Cherubim including him. So how in the world could a Necro worshipper, something that should have barred him from Fleet Service, manage to be assigned to the Tigershark?

In all his pain and misery he only hoped that the Captain would be okay.

His tormentors had left him. He was all by himself in a tiled room, attached with crude, but very solid Ultronit shackles to a stainless steel table that had been tilted upright.

They had used Neuro Rippers, Boiling Water and electroshocks on him. In all their activities they didn’t ask him any questions. One of the tormentors, a Thauran named Swybin told him that he simply loved inflicting pain on anyone especially associates of Captain Olafson.

He heard a steel door opening, the only door to this tiled chamber was out of his field of view. The white-robed being that came into view was a Kermac.

“Ah, the abdominal fish face is still clinging to life. I can make you feel much more comfortable. Get you water for your skin.”

Hilbora said nothing.

“Oh come on now, we have excellent intelligence this time. We know who you are Master Chief Hilbora, twenty one years in the Union Navy. Environmental engineer first, but your personnel files also reveal that you have propulsion certification and there is a classified part of your file.”

Still, Hilbora was saying nothing.

The Thauran picked up a sharp hook-like implement of a small table. “We Kermac are supposed to use refined and very effective psionic and neural persuasion methods, but I was always curious about the more crude ones.” He examined the needle-sharp tip of the tool with great admiration. “I am studying and collecting information regarding this for a lifetime. Dare I say I am an expert in inflicting old fashioned pain, caused by physical means.”

“Do you worst. Hilbora, Master Chief. 87599-H...”

“Oh, that is exactly what I will do, dear Master Chief. You see, I put great attention to the particularities of Union species. I know how to hurt an Ult. The fact that I find your kind particular disgusting and repulsive will add to my personal pleasure.”

The Kermac put the tool down and took a shiny rubber-like apron from a hook and put it on. “Physical torture is so messy, fish-face.”

As he tied the apron he said. “Your mind is conditioned and shielded and your personnel file contains a classified section in the specialization section. That is done for one reason only, you are Translocator Tech certified.”

“No, I am specialized flushing Kermac turds like you.”

“Now I want to know every detail of Translocator Tech. Being the one securing this secret guarantees a Wizard chair.”

The Kermac sunk the steel hook expertly into a nerve cluster, the pain blinded the chief and engulfed his mind.

The pain blanketed everything and there was part of his mind that told to reveal what the Kermac wanted to know, just to make the pain go away.

But aloud he repeated his name and service number. From within that cloud of pain, he heard the steel door open once again.

Through his blurred vision, he saw the Kermac look up. “Who...”

The Kermac’s face suddenly changed to fear. “What are you?”

Hilbora heard an artificial sounding voice. “I am “I am Lieutenant Tyron Suit of the United Stars Spatial Navy. The standard protocol would compel me to place you under arrest. Due to your actions directly seeking to discover and obtain Translocator technology, I am no longer required to act under standard Naval protocol but the Critical Technology Protection protocol.”

The Ult chief, near the end of his strength, laughed weekly. “Secure leaks and prevent the proliferation of any tech deemed critical. Tyron forget about me. The Captain, she is in terrible trouble!”

Tyron came into the Ult’s view. The Kermac pointed a Neuro ripper at the Ult. “I don’t know what you are but I kill this Ult if you do not surrender.”

“Your feeble tech has been rendered useless. You caused pain and harm to a friend of mine, now it’s your turn.”

The Kermac agent did try to use his weapon but it was dead and drained of all energy.

A bubble of insubstantial iridescent energies emerged from the suits right arm and engulfed the Kermac. The white-skinned agent of the Kermac rolled his eyes up, the cheeks suddenly collapsed, the man aged in seconds until there was nothing left but a dissipating puff of dust.

Tyron rushed to the wounded Ult, the restrains withered away. “My friend, please stay with me. I am not equipped to render medical aid, but we are on a Union planet and there is a clinic nearby. I have alerted authorities.”

Hilbora’s voice was terrifyingly weak. “The Captain!”

“I don’t know where she is, Chief. We deal with that as soon as you are out of danger.”

“What happened to the Kermac?”

“Chrono-Acceleration. He was exposed to a subspace bubble of ten thousand years. He experienced the passage of time in full.”

The steel door was ripped out of its frame and two Union Police officers and a Med Bot arrived.

--””--

Before the Mega Tycoon headed for his ship, the Black Sirius. He once more descended to the lowest levels of the SII Needle. Down here past many levels of security and secrecy, where the real secrets of SII. If the Union public would have known only ten percent of the things that went on down here, SII would have been declared the greatest enemy of the Union for certain.

One of the Seenian Sentmacs, a machine that now used the name Balthazar Steelgrip waited for Schwartz to step out of the private Matter transmitter. As always the sentient android acknowledged the arrival of the immortal Tycoon with a slight voluntary bow. “Good Midday, Sir.”

“Same to you Balthazar.”

Rex Schwartz walked past the android who fell in line with the tall man. “The translation has made good progress, Sir. Looks like we can read the document soon. One of our associates embedded with the CLOAK unit protecting and researching the Library of the Fifth recovered a cipher key to Netherworld glyphs.”

Rex acknowledged. “Good news indeed. I am about to leave for Pluribus to attend a business leader conference on Fringe group Terror and Prevention. I was informed Phil Decker took the case of the Assembly bombing.”

“I have inquired about him, Sir. Decker has a stellar reputation, but we left no traceable connections.”

While they were talking they had reached a massive elevator platform and stepped on it.

The platform started descending.

The sentient android was one of only five sentient beings knowing about Rex Schwartz greatest secret, and why this world had been chosen to be at the core of the SII business empire.

Rex Schwartz knew the true identity of those who sent the Guardian to Earth and had not rested ever since to unravel what was the behind it all.

Omni planet was not a simple garden world, a rock core planet that developed from a dust swirl around a young star. Omni planet was an artificial construct, disguised as a planet.

Its origin so ancient, that it had been moved to a new star system four times.

Here far below the crust, the true secret of Omni Planet had been revealed to the Seenian Sentmac. This world had been the original Throne World of the First Emperor.

An entity, chosen by the Voice of the Rule to become a Cosmic Elder and prepare for the rise of the Dark One and his Decision.

Balthazar was privileged to know about this truly cosmic mystery that had always been about nothing less than a quest to gain truly omnipotent powers.

The Emperor, the only Nnnth left behind. Deemed unworthy to join the rest to merge with the Arth to form a new definition of awareness and sentience, the Narth. Jealous and angry rejected the charge and task set to him by the Voice. Using his vast powers and Nnnth technology to forge the First Empire. A realm of control and might reaching across several Superclusters and thousands of galaxies.

The Emperor, so Balthazar understood wanted to attract the essence of the Dark One by this physical expression of power and control, but then over the millennia the Emperor developed the conviction that he was the next Dark One himself and that he, like his kind the Nnnth was ready to take the next step in evolution.

The Emperor lost all interest in his physical empire so the legend said. The same legend also claimed that he succeeded and became a new trans-spatial entity referred to as the Imperial Elders.

Before the Emperor made this transition, he collected all the technological and scientific achievements and just like the Nnnth placed this collection in the Imperial Vault, sealed it and dispersed the key, by breaking it into shards.

The Empire was torn apart by internal struggles and wars. Dividing itself ever further until it had completely vanished.

This was the legend and the story known to a few of the oldest species and civilizations, a pan universal legend told and retold by countless voices. Altered and changed to fit narratives and to fill missing parts with new content.

The platform had reached the end of its journey.

Rex Schwartz had shed his business suit and now wore a formfitting armor-like suit. The metal of the suit shone like polished platinum. The business tycoon did not wear the helmet yet, as he stepped off the platform to enter the Nucleus.

“What is on your mind, Balthazar? While your android face is unchanged, I can sense your deep thoughts.”

“Indeed Master, my mind is tracing the history and the significance of all this.”

Rex Schwartz face vanished behind the masklike helmet. The metal mask of the helmet, shaped and formed into a frightening alien skull-like appearance also disguised the mega tycoon’s voice. It no longer sounded truly human but had a chorus, echo-like quality that was more than just acoustics, but vibrated with feel-able power that was beyond human understanding. “Indeed, my trusted servant. The Dark One is not the only entity that seeks resurrection, the Narth are not the only ones realizing that there is more to corporeal existence.”

Both of them entered the Chamber of the Emperor. It was here where the Emperor made the transition to the next step of evolution and failed. It was here, his essence was trapped.

From here he sent out the Transport with the Guardian.

And now it was here he was slowly merging and restoring. Rex Schwartz was about to be Invictus Rex.

This was the reason for the Tribunal. To monitor conditions and events that heralded the coming of the Dark One and to secretly pull strings and create conditions to change the Union to a new seed for a new Empire.

While he had the patience of a true immortal, he secretly cursed the other immortals who steered the Union into the opposite direction and with the dawn of the Grey Ghosts with increasing success.

Now every sign pointed to the fact that the Dark One, had chosen a vessel and was on its way to resurrect.

He needed to find out what the prophecy said.

--””--

Phil Decker stood in the back of the room. Egill, The Narth representative and the Saresii elder next to him. Before them a sizeable crowd of news gatherers, reporters, and media people. They all had their backs to them, as they focused on the Maggi Suron and the Army Colonel standing behind a floating lectern and before a wall featuring the Union flag and the seal of the Assembly.

The room was called the Apex auditorium. A sizeable conference hall inside the shell of the assembly sphere, located as its name suggested at the apex of the sphere. Transparent panels in the floor allowed a view into the immense hollow interior of the sphere. Similar transparent panels in the ceiling of the hall allowed the golden sunlight of the sun Pluribus Unum to shine through.

Union Police and Guard One had called for an official news conference after briefing the Assembly Security Council begun. “Citizens, I am Major Kilor Kandar, the current commandant of Union Federal Police. Next to me stands Colonel Gordon, the commandant of First Guard. As you may know a foremost Army elite unit responsible for Assembly safety.

Much has been said and projected about the recent terror incident right here at the Assembly.”

Alegar leaned sideways and closer to Decker. “I have to hand it to you, Mr. Decker this is nothing short of a small miracle. Union Police and Union Army working together.”

Phil gave the Saresii a fine nod. “In this regard, nothing has changed in all the centuries I have seen go by.”

While Phil quietly responded to Alegar. The Army Colonel had taken the lead and explained to the media crowd what they had uncovered so far. When he told them about the theft and that the incident had nothing to do with terror or the Defenders of Gore, a crescendo of questions swelled up and were shouted.

Egill noticed a pretty looking red-haired woman approaching Phil. He recognized her as Wylma Culverstir, the representative of the one planet society known as the Coven. He only recognized her because the Coven alcove was right next to the alcove of the Narth. He did not recall her ever speaking or giving an opinion to an issue.

Phil greeted her. Egill quite impressed by that old detective was more interested in that exchange than he wanted to hear the media questions.

He heard Phil saying. “So your society had an item in one of the display cases?”

“Yes, Mr. Decker. The display case held the only copy of a prophecy that was made in a previous reality.”

“If you say copy, where is the original?”

“Not on this plane of existence, Mr. Decker.”

“Why was such a priceless item displayed, may I ask?”

“We made the scroll available for study to a group of Union Scholars. It was our wish to participate and become a Union inclusive society.”

“This document, that prophecy. Was it requested to be examined by these scholars specifically and if so who knew you, the Coven I mean had that copy?”

Egill had to agree these were very good questions.

The woman clearly was thinking the same. “Yes, come to think of it. Scholars of Workgroup Olympus did ask us for permission to examine the prophecy.”

For the second question she had to think and then she said with open wonder in her voice. “I don’t know. We are not the most open society and we certainly never advertised that fact. The document’s existence is known to a handful of people at most. There are a few crude, incomplete and quite incorrect versions known to exist.”

Phil said. “If we can answer these questions, we are getting closer to whoever stole that document. I think I will visit that Workgroup.”

Egill did not even wait for his Narth friend. “Can we come too?”

--””--

The Eternal Warrior looked at me, the stern expression of his face did not change but his voice did not sound as harsh. “Before you do that Captain, I think we need to sit down and talk. All this is too important for a kneejerk reaction from both of us.”

I still wore the shroud, as I was forced to leave Suit behind. “Thank you, Sir. Not that I have any idea where I am, or how you managed to find me.”

One of the two women I knew, she was the commandant of the PSI corps and the new wife of the Admiral. She had stepped closer and answered my questions.

“We are under the surface of Planet N’Ger. This is one of several very old subsurface Necropolis sites created or utilized by the Necros.”

“N’Ger? Upward at the other end of the old Freespace N’Ger?”

Both the women and Admiral Stahl nodded. The Eternal Warrior spread his arms. “I am with you on that one, I am just getting used to the idea of Trans spatial gates and this type of space circumventing travel. Only moments ago, I was in my office aboard the Devi, traveling towards that LEO II gate you found by the way, and the next thing Alycia and her demonic friend whisked us here via a red glowing energy gate.”

The dark-skinned woman now also stepped closer. “We met before if you remember.”

“Yes I do, it was on Coven where I got my ring and where I had been Erica for the first time in a conscious fashion that is.”

Stahl said. “Maybe we could return to my office? I also like to inform my kilt-wearing friend that we found Erica.”

Alycia waved her hand and a portal of reddish light appeared. “This is a portal tunnel that bypasses this space via the alternate space of a Netherplane. Humans can neither see nor feel the place, no time passes for them, but you are no longer just human. I cannot predict what you will see passing through.”

“Let us get it over with.” I said. “I too want to contact my friends and let them know I am okay.”

I was right behind Alycia stepping into the red light.

That I, or perhaps part of me was no longer human now became clearly evident. The passage was not instantaneous and I saw Alycia before me.

The glowing portal behind us had transferred us onto a featureless plane of hard-packed almost burnt looking ash-colored ground. The plane appeared to stretch indefinitely into every direction, about 100 meters before us shimmered another field of reddish light.

The sky was of a depressingly shade of lead-gray. Distinct from the dusty ground only by a few shades, a diffused pale sun was the source of light.

I followed Alycia, behind me Admiral Stahl and the woman calling herself Lucifera. Stahl’s features seemed frozen and instead of walking he floated a few inches above the ground. He did not seem to belong here and was nothing more than a statue or a three-dimensional image.

The oddest thing about this utterly alien place was an ice-cold wind. Not that cold wind would have been strange to someone from Nilfeheim, but for the life of me, I could not tell from what direction the wind was coming.

I could feel it, but it did not disturb or tug on my long blonde hair. More out of impulse than really feeling cold I raised the cowl of the shroud I was still wearing. The distance we had to bridge was not very long and Alycia had almost reached the shimmering portal of red light when I noticed a movement not far from us and underneath what seemed only a film thin layer of fine dust.

Now I noticed that there was no sound. Neither Alycia nor Lucifera, not I made any sound I could hear. Something ugly with tattered batwings rose from the ashes, reminding me of a Fangsnapper sized version of a dead or partially skeletonized Fafnir.

I wanted to warn the others, but the words I yelled did not leave my lips, my axe, however, responded before I thought about it and grew in my fist to full size.

That winged creature did not advance, it fled.

Something pushed me and I found myself in Richard Stahl’s office. The Admiral stepped through the portal right behind me, followed by Lucifera.

Once more he looked animated and larger than life as he always did.

Lucifera behind me said. “The Netherworlds now know the Dark One has arrived. The Racokk was stirred by your presence and fled.”

Richard sighed as he walked to his desk. “So something happened as we passed through that gate?”

“Yes.” Alycia said. “I am not certain what will happen if Erica uses this method of travel again.”

I sighed too and said. “Neither do I and that is why I offered my resignation, Sir.”

He gestured towards his visitor’s couch. “All of you sit down.” His voice left no doubt who was in charge.

I did and so did the other two females.

He remained standing and placed his hands on his back. “It might come to a surprise to all three of you, but despite what they say about me, I am just a simple Marine. All this multi-dimensional, trans-spatial, demon magic that supposedly isn’t magic gives me a royal headache.”

With a resolute move, he used his right hand to hush us, preventing any sort of response before he clasped his hands once more behind his back. “Having said that. I know ignoring these things don’t make them go away or less important. I know we are using weapons and propulsion technology that utilize different spatial conditions. I know about psionics and all that, heck I love and married a girl that by all conventional standards isn’t human or even really from this plane of existence.”

Alycia gave him a warm smile. “What is it you want to say with all this, love?”

“Nothing.” He grunted. “I just mention all this to find my ground.”

He pointed at me. “If I understand it all correctly, then you or whatever is in you is the reason the Guardian made me immortal. To somehow prepare for your arrival.”

I shrugged. “Admiral, Sir. I don’t know anything about a Guardian or why you are immortal. I am, or rather Eric is not complete. There are twelve tokens, twelve meta symbolic objects that are needed for Eric to resurrect as the Dark One and as a separate entity to me, Erica. We found eight of these tokens, and we know the location of two more, but until we find the token that took the form of an old fashioned book I cannot answer you.”

“My next question is simple. You say there are two persons inside you. Knowing both the male and the female side of you, I tend to believe that. Not that your approach to things has ever changed much, to be honest.” He paced a few steps and added. “Are you in control of your actions? Are you able to follow orders and accept the consequences?”

“Before I was aware of my brother, I could not answer you. Now we are well aware of each other Sir. As incredibly crazy it sounds. I am Erica and I am Eric, I do not suffer from a strange case of schizophrenia, because these strange items I accumulated so far are real. I am a Union Officer and my commitment has not changed, diminished or lessened, Sir. I cannot answer what my future holds and what I will become.”

“No one really can. Your word has always been good enough for me. Therefore I reject your resignation.

What we have to figure out is how to get you back to your ship.”

--””--

The Avatar projection of Admiral McElligott established itself before the main viewer of the bridge.

Har-Hi, who had already been halfway to the Planet manager returned as SHIP alerted him.

The Eternal Admiral said. “I have good news, your Captain was found, she is unharmed.”

Har-Hi blurted out. “Sir, where is she. We can be in space and on our way right away!”

The old Highlander sighed. “I wish I knew more. The Narth Supreme told me moments ago, that Admiral Stahl found her. Not that I have any idea how he did that, him being on his way to the Leo II galaxy. For now, I want you to stand by and don’t do anything irrational.”

Narth, who had been very quietly sitting in his chair for the last hour raised his head. “I can feel her again, she is too far for details but Erica is with the Eternal Warrior, I am certain.”

Ever since he saw the Black Flames, back when they all were midshipmen aboard the Devi, he knew there was much more to Eric or Erica. Much had happened since then and the Dai simply knew this had to do with that greater underlying mystery that was part of his best friend.

Aloud he said. “That news comes to a great relief to the entire crew. What are our orders?”

“Stand by for now. I don’t know much of the details myself, just wanted to let you know.”

The Old Admiral sighed and his avatar blinked out.

Har-Hi got up. “Senior officers. Conference in ten minutes.”

--””--

Meeze extended his upper body to examine the black dragoon like creature. “Alicez saiz you canz goes throuz ze wallz. Canz you takez the Meeze too?”

Chapter 22: Meeze investigates
He had been here once before, time of other realms had no meaning here.

The ground he stood on, was a polished hard surface of highly reflective properties and stretched into every direction and into infinity. The universe with all its clusters and superstrings reflected in it from the infinite sky above this surface.

This was the Plane of Eternity, a place beyond the Omniverse itself.

Lummis remembered when he was brought here the first time.

Then, he did not listen to the name of Lummis. In his realm of origin, he had been known as Akror, the mighty. A man of great wisdom, an unsatisfiable hunger for power and a man with the knowledge that his Universe was doomed and destined to be destroyed.

It was one of the unchangeable core conditions of the Omniverse. Everything had a beginning and everything had an end. It was so for a single atom, a single bacteria and it was so for civilizations and Universes.

In that universe, of origin, he had compiled much knowledge and determined the coming of the end.

Already unraveled the secret of immortality in his realm, he did not want to share the fate of his reality.

He knew of other realities and begun to explore options.

A godlike entity, Crea the spirit of Creation herself rescued him, brought him here and gave him a new identity, a new purpose, and great power.

Akror had ceased to exist along with his doomed universe, in his place now stood Lord Lummis, the chosen defender of Light and Life.

Lummis knew from the very start, that a defender was only needed if there was a threat.

But back then when he received his new position and new powers, he felt invincible, elevated above everything.

Now that he had faced that threat he felt anything but elevated or superior.

The Dark One was not even fully resurrected, swatted him away like an insect. While he was pushed away he gained a glimpse of what he was facing. That glimpse frightened him more than anything he had ever faced.

Now, she who rescued him, Crea had brought him here once more.

The entity he knew as Crea, had joined him. Lummis was not sure if she had chosen to appear in human form or if it was just how his senses were able to perceive her.

While he was so much more than a low and primitive human himself, he was not close to being on her level. Recent events and revelations made it clear to him that the Dark One, the entity he was supposed to slay was equal to her not him.

She appeared human in shape and size, but that was as far as the similarities went.

Her face and most of her body was only there in an outline and interposed with a view of deep space. It created an eerie effect, making it appear as if she was only partially here.

Lummis remembered his place and knelt. “Crea, the reason for my existence. You have not given me the knowledge and the power to accomplish what you want me to do.”

“Do not question your part and task. You are but a servant; it is not important what you think or want. It is imperative you obey.”

A pyramid of glowing blue light appeared before them. “The one that defied the will of the One behind it all, the one that caused the Rule to be broken has come here?”

Crea said. “You are not the one to judge, Voice of the Rule. I am Crea indeed and what motivates my actions is not yours to question.”

“What has been caused by you, makes it very much my purview to question, but indeed judgment is not mine. To make the judgment and serve justice is given to the Dark One.”

“You are the Voice and neither the Dark One nor the One behind it all. I want to know the whereabouts of the WEAPON.”

“You still project your hopes on the WEAPON? I cannot say where it is, but I can tell you where it will be. The WEAPON the last token, the Dark One and everything related will be on Avondur and it is there where the Decision will be made.

Now, if your hopes lie in attacking and destroying the vessel of the Dark One before he comes to his own, you should go to Avondur and await the arrival of all these elements.”

Crea’s inhuman voice rang with a note of hope. “Then the Voice knows the Dark One can be defeated.”

“Crea, you could not defeat him the first time. Do what you must, but defy your exile and descend into the Prime Universe and you will learn what it means to defy the One behind it all.”

--””--

Sir Baran, hung in the fist of the huge Saturnian. He was alive and conscious, but quite obvious completely defeated. His arrogant Thauran face was not so haughty at all.

Hans did let him go; the former planet manager delegated to a secondary post stared with contempt at the Baron’s son, but said nothing.

Maro got up.” Baran, I known you for so long. Can you not explain what is going on? You do know PSI corps is on its way. The disappearance of a Union officer is no small issue.”

“I was in charge! That old man of yours, simply put you ahead of me. You are nothing but a snotnose.”

A hissing sound interrupted whatever Maro or anyone else was about to say.

Baran suddenly drooled blood and collapsed.

Shea with alarm in her voice pointed at three dive suit-wearing individuals outside, past the transparent dura last.

The men were about to attach an explosive charge.

Without protective suits they all would drown, not even the formidable Saturnian could stay underwater for an extended time. He too needed to breathe.

--””--

Tyron Suit and the chief found themselves on Beryl, planet. The world was one of the original Azure worlds and an old Thauran colony that had been established long before the Thauran Empire became a Union member.

This old colony was home to several old and influential families, including the Swybars.

It was the old Swybar stronghold Suit and Senior Chief Hilbora escaped.

Local police still seemed hesitant to act; Federal law enforcement came down like a hammer. It was not all that long ago when the so-called purge swept over the Thauran Empire that resulted in the arrest of hundreds of nobles, including the emperor himself.

The billions of commoners were excited and celebrated the arrival of Union law, but many of the old Noble families were less than thrilled.

No one, not even the oldest most encrusted noble families wanted to leave the Union.

A Federal police officer had just taken Suit’s statement, and now the sentient Seenian garment waited for the NAVINT officer who also wanted to speak to Suit. There was, of course, the fact that both Suit and Hilbora had been transported to a planet many hundred lightyears distant from Deep Blue.

Fleet had dispatched a fast ship from Bleu, planet. The closest Union fleet base and would be here shortly.

The chief was in bad shape, but the med team was able to consult an Ult expert who assisted via Avatar presence and they assured Tyron that Hilbora would be okay.

He did not need to sit, or any other needs a biological being had. Tyron had no eyes, no mouth. He did not breathe or needed to sleep. Omnidirectional sensors projected around the suit allowed it to perceive and process the entire electromagnetic spectrum and beyond.

Despite all these capabilities, the suit was deeply concerned about its friend now recuperating in a Regen-Tank.

The bastards had caused serious and almost irreversible neural damage. According to the Med Specialists, it was the prolonged and repeated exposure to Kermac Pain recorders that caused it.

The Seenian suit was seen by many, just as a truly strange piece of advanced technology, and if it pondered its long path even his long-vanished makers did not.

Aboard the Tigershark, he was Tyron, neither the strangest nor the most powerful, but a friend first. It had also developed real emotions. Something that set it truly apart from a thing.

Suit looked at the Ult inside the regen tank and felt helpless and disturbed.

The Avatar projection of the Ult specialist stepped next to him. “Lt. Suit, we are doing everything we can and I am certain he will recuperate, but Neuropathways cannot be printed. The prolonged exposure to these neuro stimulus rays caused more than tissue damage.”

Tyron did not have to turn to face someone, he said to the Ult physician. “I think he needs to be in our sickbay as soon as possible.”

The Med specialist was a Union citizen and had seen many unusual life forms, but talking to what appeared an empty bodysuit that floated a few inches above the floor was something else altogether. “Lieutenant, I assure you he is getting great care, and we will transport him to a special clinic at Med Central, as soon as the Med transport arrives. What could a ship’s sickbay do, unless it is a hospital ship?”

The intensity of the suit’s answer took the physician by surprise.

Tyron said. “He would be taken care of friends who care, here he is just another patient.”

A physically present staff medic came into the treatment room. “Mr. Suit, the NAVINT investigators made planet fall and wanted to talk to you.”

--””--

The richest man in the known universe had started as a Terran businessman and was born before Earth ascended.

He was born in 2063, Earth still divided into nation-states and in political and economic trouble.

The Mega Tycoon had settled into a comfortable seat of his spacious work office aboard the Black Sirius, the fastest known ship, except for Narth spheres of course.

The super sleek six-hundred meters spacecraft had departed the Onyx system and had entered Quasi Space.

It would take only a day to reach Pluribus.

The room was darkened to a minimum of illumination. While his eyes wandered past the viewport into the endless darkness of space. The specks of light, distant stars and the occasional Quasi streak were the only sources of light out there.

Rex cherished these moments of silent solitude, as a time to think and restore his balance.

In moments like this, his thoughts often wandered back in time. Just like old McElligott or that eternal warhorse Stahl, he too was an immortal.

There were two-hundred of them, picked by the Guardian of Earth for the purpose to guide Earth’s humanity to the stars and onto the Galactic stage.

Rex now directed his eyes away from the viewport and focused on the strange metallic gleaming helmet in front of him resting on a small coffee table.

“Guiding humanity, yeah right.” He said in a low tone to the helmet but more so to himself. He never bought into this benevolent act and he knew neither did Richard Stahl.

The Guardian had ulterior motives. He was placed on Earth by others and with a purpose that was not spoken about or revealed.

Rex was certain about that, the very moment he had been summoned into that smooth underground lair of the Guardian, deep below the Himalayas.

The Guardian of Earth tasked him with developing commerce and business for the suddenly spacefaring Earth humanity. That Guardian claimed to know humans and watching them for a very long time.

The Guardian for all his powers and apparent wisdom, either lied or knew nothing about humanity. Terrans were greedy and hungry for power. There was little that surpassed wealth in terms of real power.

Even before humans used the new technology to explore their star system and nearby suns, they started to exploit the asteroids.

The first human space mission after the ascent was not a heroic trip of science and exploration as the history records wanted you to know, it was a commercial one to Psyche 16. Companies scrambled to secure trillions of tons of iron, gold, platinum.

It as Schwartz Industries that beat out everyone. While the company that his mother left him was a Fortune 500 before, securing that asteroid first and many after that cemented his company’s leading role as the biggest private corporation.

No humans of Earth did not need a guide to make a profit or see the business and earnings potential in just about anything.

That he murdered a rival to get to Psyche first, was simply a necessary business decision that never bothered him.

No, the Guardian had other motives and when Rex managed to find out he never stopped to make it his very own motivation.

He controlled communication and knew there always had been voices that claimed he wanted to become the ruler of the Union and worked behind the scenes to shape the Union to his purposes.

They were quite incorrect, Rex never wanted to rule the Union, no.

He wanted to rule the Universe, become an entity and advance to true godhood.

What the general public, what no one but a handful Illuminati knew, was the fact that entities beyond the corporeal boundaries of time and space existed.

The Non-Corps, the Ariglou, the Eduk, the Coven and first and foremost, of course, the Narth were all solid proof that there were life and consciousness beyond physical boundaries.

He learned about the First Emperor and the Dark One, he collected every bit of information regarding Crea, the Voice of the Rule and the Cosmic Guardians.

His research discovered the legend of the First Emperor and this is how he discovered the tomb of Invictus Rex and the failed transition.

Now through him, the Emperor Invictus Rex existed once more and this time, he would not seek to transition into the next level. The only ones doing it successfully were the Narth and for some reason, they never left and now seemed to put great efforts into restoring their corporeal aspect.

Despite his unlimited resources, he had not been able to find out anything about the Narth. He did know, however, that the Dark One, that omnipotent entity was about to resurrect.

--””--

The underwater city provided living conditions to millions of air-breathing beings, mostly Thaurans. For this reason, it had life support. A section of engineering that provided the city with breathable air. Air had to be ducted and piped. There were endless miles of ducts, usually only frequented by maintenance robots. The worm-like being sliding and moving with great dexterity and skill through these ducts were of a species specifically created for this.

This creature, however, was no longer a Wheeze, but this Genolax was a member of the USS Tigershark crew.

He was quite fond of that crew. They called him Mr. Meeze and for the most part, treated him very good. There was lovely Jolaj who never hesitated to help him and was the first being ever to treat a wounded Genolax. He silently wondered if he should educate them, that Wheeze was just a word that meant ‘we’ while he was of the species Genolax. But the Meeze dispelled that idea. They were scavengers and Genolax as they were inside the crucible. Now a few million of his kind were Union members with their own planet and with the freedom to become whatever they wanted to be. There were Genolax in that other galaxy, he was certain. There were the Vikarz and others but he was a Union Wheeze.

He fondly thought about TheOther who was his best friend. One like him friends with a Y’All, no Genolax of his home galaxy would ever think it possible.

Meeze interrupted his train of thought as he stopped to look past a duct grill in the room below.

He had followed that blue-skinned man, from the club room where Hans grabbed the former planet manager.

Fafnir, the not so little dragon creature had enabled him to follow Hans and his team.

The biggest improvement was, of course, the Atlas Battlesuit he was now wearing. Thanks to SHIP and Cirruit he finally had his very own. The most amazing thing to him was the genuine TKU blaster. Personally designed and built by Cirruit, modifying one of the Warner sized blasters to make it useable for him.

True he didn’t exactly have the permission to take the TKU yet or the suit. Cirruit wanted him to train and get instructions. “Pffz, inzstrucz. Meeze notz stoopiz.” He said to himself that the man he followed had something to do with the whole thing was obvious to him, as the guy slipped out the backdoor, as soon as Hans showed up.

The Thauran he had followed clear across most of the city and into the storage room of a freight forwarding company or something like that.

The neatly stacked Polyhedron shaped standard shipping containers hinted at something like that.

For a moment Meeze contemplated to check them out, because there might be something eatable inside. Despite his recently found confidence and his decision to be a more active member of the Tigershark crew, he was always more than just peckish.

He closed his four eyes for a short moment. The Union had so many wonderful foods. Some species cooked and baked it. Chef Eeeryt had great skill in combining foodstuff into what he called meals. At first, he could not see the reason and Mr. Eeeryt had a hard time stopping Meeze eating the raw ingredients, but since he never really had to scavenge for food and instead of eating whatever he found he could eat whenever he wanted and whatever he wanted.

Having a choice of food was truly the most amazing thing for a scavenger like him.

But he wasn’t here to check containers but he wanted to know more about that Thauran.

The man was now in a room behind the storage area and was meeting another Thauran.

The one that was already there greeted the one that just entered with an angry rant. “Our master has jumped the gun. Instead of doing it slow and careful he used your stooges to abduct the Union Captain.”

“I know, I just managed to get away from the Fishfarmer’s lounge. A huge Saturnian and a Delicate busted in and took Baran.”

“I know. I sent divers to take care of that.”

“And those are officers of that ship. The PSI Corp is on its way, they find us!”

“We must leave. Do you have my sister?”

“Yes, Sarak. I was able to capture her. Sylia Sobur is already at your place.”

Meeze, who was good friends with Alice, of course, knew Sylia as well. While she was not a close friend of that Thauran officer, he was appalled what he heard.

The two men opened a hidden door and that revealed a narrow and short featureless corridor. They walked in and simply vanished.

--””--

The divers outside the transparent wall, suddenly struggled as if they were unable to move. The explosive device simply vanished out of their hands.

Out of almost unnoticeable water disturbances, five Union Marines in sealed battle suits appeared behind the divers and Narth appeared right next to Har-Hi.

The Dai pointed to the fallen man. “Take him to Cateria. He might still be alive, I want to know what he knows.”

To the wide-eyed planet governor he said. “Do you think you deal with amateurs? I am about to forget my career, consider court-martial and execution because I am going to turn my crew loose on this cesspool of a planet.”

Elfi interrupted via Comlink. “Sir, I have an incoming transmission from the Captain.”

--””--

Thanks to Stahl’s auto dresser, I once more wore Fleet uniform. And once again I found myself aboard the USS Devastator, half a galaxy away from my own ship.

That Alycia was much more than just an intelligence officer, I always knew that ever since I met her the first time. Whatever powers decide such things, becoming the Commandant of the PSI Corps was a clear indicator of that.

That it was she who married the Eternal Warrior was the core reason in my mind that she was more than what she appeared to be.

I had seen Gwen and a good number of the other Coven in their true form, but I could not recall seeing her as anything other than an older exotic human beauty with a perpetual almost invisible smirk on her lips.

I learned that very few of these Netherworld creatures could exist in our side of the Omniverse, and even fewer of them able to create temporary rifts or gates to circumvent time-space and use these rifts to travel without much time delay to distant places.

I had been assigned spacious visitor quarters and went straight to the multi-use terminal to call my ship and let my friends know that I was okay.

Seeing my XO’s face caused a tight knot in my throat. I swallowed and said. “Mr. Hi, I am alright. I am currently aboard the USS Devastator and will be on my way back later today.”

I filled him in what happened to me and asked him to give me a report as well.

After he had done so, I asked him to send our geeks into that glitter cave and find out where Suit and the Chief were kept. I wanted him to investigate how that traitor managed to get to be part of my crew.”

A clean-cut, handsome Lt. Commander appeared in my room after the door system announced him.

“I am sorry to disturb you. I am Lt. Commander Ben De Young and I was sent by Captain Harris to take you back to Deep Blue, planet.”

“I am ready, Mr. DeYoung. I can’t wait to return to my ship.”

I followed the tall human and asked. “If I understand it correctly We are in the Downward sector, my ship is in the Spinward section. What is our best ETA?”

The man grinned. “Maybe a week at most, Captain. I am taking you in a Wolfcraft trainer to Quadron system. An Attikan destroyer is standing by to take you to Coreward Hub. Coreward Hub has a Space train connection to Blue Moon Hub. The Spinward Rim Line connects Blue Moon with Cote Azur. From there your ship could pick you up. Deep Blue is only 27 light-years from Cote Azur.”

I was actually speechless. I feared to travel for many months.

Before we reached the flight deck we were intercepted by Stahl.

“Captain Olafson, try not to start a war with a Union member and get that Ypeherix thing under control. I expected this problem solved by now.”

“Aye Sir.”

Chapter 23: Meeze disappears
Meeze used his new suit integrated monofilament Vibro blade to cut through the air duct cover he had been hiding behind. “Notz zo baz, cutz be uzed whenz eazing stuffz.”

That he didn’t have any actual training using the suit became apparent, as he fell almost four meters from the created hole to the ground. His micro bristles that allowed him to slide over smooth surfaces up and down were, of course on the inside of his suit.

Luckily the suits system reacted automatically to dampen the fall. Still, the alien worm-like creature cursed quite angry and in an old language.

“This is your MAMA, you have not connected to the system correctly.”

“Whaaz? Whoze talkiz?”

“This is MAMA your suit AI.”

“Pffz, Meeze Mamaz laiz ze eggsz, manzy eggz.Nowz youze muz be quiez.”

He scurried across the floor and examined the wall closely. He found the hair-fine gap that revealed the secret door.

He extended the blade again and to his delight, the vibrating mono blade cut effortlessly into the metal of the wall. He soon had cut a hole big enough for him to pass through. The corridor behind was only about 20 meters deep and had no other door or exit. Yet the two men disappeared, Perhaps a holographic wall or a similar illusion.

Meeze knew about the Nexus points alright, but he did not know about the importance of that bare metal strip he just scurried over.

--””--

The old Saresii had left the Thauran worlds behind and returned to Pluribus. Officially he was a member of the somewhat obscure Workgroup Olympus, a small department of the Science Council. That he was also answering to the Tribunal was his deepest secret.

He had arrived just moments ago via Space Train and had taken the Transmatter Tunnel from Pluribus Station to Government Island on Pluribus.

He had chosen the TMT access point Pleiades Plaza and after leaving the black hexagon field he stepped on the marble-white surface of Pleiades Plaza.

Well-groomed trees, outdoor art sculptures, and grass-covered spots blended with water fountains, and meandering walkways. Sky tumblers and Scurry-furs delighted pedestrians of many different species. A hulky Botnaar fed a flock of Sky Tumblers with dry bread crumbs.

A Klack Sugar Water vendor served a gaggle of human and Klack kids.

He did not pay any attention to the group of Pluri-Teens racing each other wearing flight belts and performing impressive aerial stunts, more aimed at impressing the scantily clad females who tried their best of being unimpressed.

He did notice that an ancient Terran human fashion style had made a huge comeback. Humanoid females of many species displayed Terran summer dresses in virtually every shade, with fluttery short skirts.

While he was Saresii and appeared female at first glance, he did not share the necessary passion or emotions to participate in such fashion expressions.

He wore a traditional Saresii Catsuit, he was not the skintight version and over it, he wore a science corps coat.

He activated his name tag and sci corps logo, by brushing over the coat’s controls. The logo identified him as Faculty Deputy which was Academic Professor Level 1. His name tags now visible read: Lurega Donomensi.

Lurega left Shallow Blue 48 hours ago, the genetic lab hidden in the swamps of that Thauran fringe world had been destroyed by a matter eating bomb. He felt it was a terrible loss of assets and an entire batch of perfect project clones.

He also resented the ill-advised actions of the Necro King, that crazy skeleton jeopardized centuries of carefully concealed plans. He did not know what the deal was with that Olafson, but the Tribunal was very interested.

As he walked towards the Ivory Tower building at the other end of the plaza, he glanced momentarily towards the huge assembly sphere. While only the upper half of the sphere was above ground and over three kilometers from his point of view, it was an impressive sight.

It was also a physical statement of Union might.

Lurega stepped on a simple mono-directional slide belt to carry him towards his goal, the Ivory Tower. The headquarters of the Science Corps.

Every science known had a department there, and at its top was the hall of the Hive of Minds.

One of the many departments was the one he was part of. It was one of the smallest departments, not even really taken all serious by other departments. Virtually unknown to most Union Citizens.

While it was not kept a secret, it was not advertised.

The old Saresii was with the relative new department since its beginning and was its assistant director.

During the Transbiologica-5001 Conference on Phantas; Biologists, Bio Chemists, and Sociologists of the United Stars Science Council concluded, that there are beings or life forms that could not be classified in the classical sense of science at least as far as it was understood.

During that conference, it was also declared that such Entities and life forms existed in the fabric and physical makeup of the Mega-verse.

It was furthermore concluded that the scientific terms and its level of current understanding them were not discovered or understood and therefore insufficient science base exists to explain or define their existence in a satisfactory sense.

Furthermore the same conference also firmly rejected to accept such terms as Magic, Ghosts, Spirits, Gods or Demons but found a consensus that these terms could stand as synonyms and place holder concepts until factual science can explain, define and confirm it. In conclusion, the Science Council decided to create a Meta-Physics Work Group codenamed OLYMPUS to catalog and research Entities and their role, impact, and influence.

The Saresii had almost reached the Hardlight doors.

After entering an enormous building complex, he would take an Inter Building Transport to the 45th floor.

The Work Group had a staff of only two-hundred permanent employees and four Administrators.

The official and public-facing part of his department, the workgroup organized annual conferences and issued a quarterly magazine.

Most of the staff were scholars and data miners cataloging myths, legends, science reports, and log book entries concerning unexplainable encounters.

He noticed Kees Post, a Terran Human hurrying into the building. Kees was the host of Transgalactic Voices, an Upper 9000 GalNet Radio Program, the Workgroup maintained.

Mr. Post and the truly mysterious Mitchell R Doss were also members of the metaphysical field research team.

Both men disappeared in an IST capsule.

Lurega crossed the impressive lobby of the Ivory Tower. Gigantic field screens displayed live feeds from dozens of remote science corps outposts. Deep jungles, deserts, bizarre alien landscapes, fiery streams of lava, suns and deep space were just a selection.

A holographic list scrolled in mid-air spelling out the latest projects and achievements.

The lobby was busy like a Klack’s nest chamber after the hatching of new larvae. Union society put a great emphasis on science and here is where this collective effort culminated.

Before he reached the IST access, he was intercepted by a Blue. The blue-skinned, hairless dwarven humanoid and member of a species that called the Andromeda galaxy home, identified him by name. “Director Donomensi, I am glad running into you right here.”

“You know me?”

“Not personally, but I would like to have a word with you and perhaps before you go up to your offices.”

At first, he wanted to object and know more, but then his eye fell on the little red thee pronged symbol the Blue wore as a pendant, the symbol of the Tribunal.

Without objection, he agreed and followed the man into one of the many meeting rooms available on this floor and had the system make it secure.

The Blue went straight to the subject. “It might not be a good idea to go to your office today, Mr. Donomensi. A Federal Police detective by the name of Phil Decker just went up there a few moments ago.”

“So?”

“He is an immortal, Mr. Donomensi. Not as famous as Admiral Stahl or the Old Highlander mind you, but his reputation as a detective and investigator is equal to that of the Eternal Warrior.”

“The ill-executed matter on Deep Blue?”

“I do not know what happened on Deep Blue. It concerns a document that you requested from the Coven.”

Donomensi started to feel uncomfortable. “I have simply suggested having my department examine that parchment. It appears it might be at the core of many very old legends and myths.”

“I know, but we don’t know how well you will be able to conceal the source of your interest. We are concerned that you may not be able to explain how you knew of its existence.”

The Old Saresii understood. “The Tribunal cannot be exposed, how will it be done?”

“I am not here to terminate you, Mr. Donomensi. I am here to ask you to proceed to the Astrographic institute, obtain information about a place called Avondur and report all you find.

Send a message to your office that you are taking a few days’ vacation.”

“I will do that.”

--””--

The NAVINT officer was everything but friendly. Tyron had little exposure to the actual Union Navy. He did participate in a special crash course at the academy and was allowed to return to the Tigershark, by special orders and recommendation of the Admiral of the Navy.

Technically, the USS Tigershark and its crew were detached to NAVINT and thus under its jurisdiction. The NAVINT Officer was humanoid in shape and size. His skin color was a bright purple and there was no visible hair growth on any portion of its exposed skin, including his scalp. Thanks to the comprehensive database on Union member species he had incorporated into the memory storage of his ego center, Tyron was sure this was a Bloke. Blokes were a former Geneslave species just like the Homo Stellaris and the Saturnians. According to his memory data, Blokes were on the verge of extinction with less than 3000 individuals still identifying as Blokes.

This particular officer was a Lt. Commander and from what Tyron gathered he had been sent from the Union Naval Base Bleu planet and headquarters of the 118th fleet.

Tyron had only rudimentary info on the 118th. It was not your typical numbers fleet with full strength battle group clusters. It had more Corvettes and frigates than battleships and was primarily engaged in trade lane protection inside Union Thauran space.

Every Fleet base also had a NAVINT representation, depending on the fleets location and mission envelope ranging from large fully staffed departments to small offices with very few individuals. Tyron was convinced, Lt. Commander Nathan Smythers was the extent of the NAVINT personnel at Bleu Base.

After he had identified itself for the fifth time, the last by evoking a MATA HARI connection and verification. Still, the Lt. Commander with the bright purple skin seemed less than satisfied. “It is amazing, what constitutes a NAVINT officer in recent times.” The naval intelligence officer glanced at his PDD. “According to this, you are classified as Sentmac of Seenian origin. The rest of your personnel file is classified. Care to explain why?”

“With all due respect, Sir. What kind of illogical question is this? You claim to be an intelligence officer. If you have the necessary clearance, the answer is within my file. If you are not cleared, I am not able to answer. Why am I the subject of an interrogation? Should you not investigate the Swybar compound and the Kermac connection? There is no time to lose, Captain Olafson has been abducted.”

“Never mind that. I am here to investigate how you and that still incapacitated Ult managed to traverse the significant distance from Deep Blue to here?”

“The same way they abducted the Captain, Sir. Using technology that appears beyond even Seenian capabilities. Some sort of portable Trans-spatial threshold bars.”

“A wild story indeed, and this super alien tech in the hands of a little fringe sect? Where is that Kermac you mentioned?”

“I killed him after he used lethal force on me and threatened the chief. I acted impulsively; I should have kept him alive to be interrogated.”

“Impulsive behavior claimed by a ... thing?”

“I am restraining myself, Sir. I am at the verge of another impulsive action. The Captain!”

An older looking woman with snow-white hair entered the sparsely furnished office in the local federal police station, the Bloke NAVINT officer had chosen to question the strange Sentmac.

“Lt. Suit, I have great news. Your captain is safe and on her way back.”

Lt. Commander Smythers blustered in an angry tone. “I requested to be undisturbed while I interrogate this suspect. This is NAVINT business, not a Federal Police affair.”

“I am Admiral Lydaa, Commandant of NAVINT.”

The Bloke did change colors and the bright purple turned into a pale pink and said. “This is highly irregular, why would the Commandant herself participate? May I ask for credentials?”

“The abduction of a Union captain within Union space and while on a Union planet kicked loose a storm of unprecedented proportions. Your office received, like every single NAVINT asset an Alpha level alert. This alone should explain my involvement. I was already on my way when MATA HARI informed me that a NAVINT officer requested the repeated identification of Lt. Suit.”

She activated her MITI and the GalCom connection in the room linked to the computronic verified her identity and position.

She said to the visibly shrinking Bloke. “It seems NAVINT has similar problems as the regular Navy, career officers too comfortable and too long at the same posting. You, Mr. Smythers, will not have to return to Bleu base, an immediate transfer to Mosspit station will give you plenty of time to retake all the necessary classes to eventually become a Lt. Commander again.”

“Admiral, I protest.”

“You may do so and file a complaint. You volunteered to NAVINT and declared to understand all the consequences, you do know what will happen if an investigation determines that you collaborated with local noble houses to help with this affair.”

He nodded with a defeated expression.” I accept the posting at Mosspit station.”

The Admiral pointed to the door. “Now leave.”

The suit had tried to be patient, but he was at the edge. “Admiral, the Captain!”

She smiled at him. “The Eternal Warrior found her and she is on her way back. Her sudden disappearance did cause a lot of concern. Admiral McElligott himself alerted virtually every law enforcement agency. Abducting a commanding officer within Union space has never been attempted in all our history. As I said to that former Lt. Commander, this alone would be enough reason for my involvement, but like you, I care for this particular officer as much as you do.”

“Admiral Stahl found her?”

“Yes, Mr. Suit. I am not sure how he managed to find her, but he did. Now please tell me how did they manage to separate you from her and how did you end up here?”

Tyron told her in great detail and was able to supply the Admiral with visual and audio recordings, as well as with scanner data.

She patted the glove hand of the suit. “A Scorpion is standing by to take you and the Chief to the Tigershark. No worries, I will take this Swybar place apart, stone by stone.”

Suit restrained itself from hugging the Admiral. It stopped at the last moment, knowing that this was a Tigershark exclusive thing. “I thank you, Admiral, also in the name of Chief Hilbora.”

--””--

Lt. Commander Ben De Young was so I learned a friend of Commander Cotton and I had to tell him about my time as a Midshipman flying with the 12th. Of course, Har-Hi was still the main subject of virtually every fighter class and briefing. That the 12th was the first wing on the Devi receiving Khari Wolfs was a direct result if that.

It made me so incredibly proud of my Dai friend, that I didn’t mind too much playing the passenger in the cramped cockpit of a Wolfcraft trainer. A still very rare double-seated version of the latest XI type. Trainers weren’t common as most training were conducted in simulators.

I learned from Ben, that this was a very recent development adapted from Dai fighter doctrine. Ben told me that he advanced to instructor because of this and explained that the Dai believed that not even the best simulator was as effective as being behind the controls of a real fighter. Simply for the reason that the trainee always knew it was a simulation.

I saw the wisdom in that.

The flight to Quadron system was through mostly unexplored space, but it was a relatively short and fast journey. The Devi and the rest of the First Fleet were about to go on and jump via the Ancient Jumpgate that my crew and I discovered not so very long ago and since the Devi was jumping into a distant galaxy, Captain Harris wanted every fighter to be available. At least this was the explanation for giving me a ride, rather than a craft I could pilot myself. The real reason was most likely the order of Stahl not to give me any possible chance to get in any type of trouble. I was certain about that.

The flight was uneventful and the handsome Lt. Commander bade me farewell and took off.

Quadron was a planetary system dominated by a K-type orange sun and had six rather unremarkable rock core planets, two gas giants and several smaller bodies and moons.

None of which were garden worlds, most of the planets were only very rudimentary surveyed. Only the second planet was better surveyed and the only one utilized by the Union so far. Quadron II was a powder dry ball of dust. I was certain the glaring dust lakes of Twilight contained more moisture than this world.

But it was unclaimed by anyone and the closest system to the Ancient Gate and the recently established gatehouse.

I had debarked in a subsurface receiving bay of a Fleet installation. This spaceport was a navy installation.

Right at the base access doors, a Jooltar in Union fleet uniform displaying the rank of a Lt. Commander with crossed arms. He was in the company of a nightmarish being that appeared to have elements of Fafnir our little pet dragon thing, Xandrao and the Farnok cats of the Leo II galaxy. The uniform did little to hide his muscle-building frame. The being displayed the rank of a Lieutenant and the bulk of Uncle Hogun.

The Jooltar was a particular well-groomed member of his species and reminded me of Har-Hi’s costume as he too sported a reddish, rust-colored fur.

“Captain Olafson, welcome to the brand new Quadron II base.”

“Thank you, both of you. I am honored by the high ranking welcome, I didn’t expect the Commandant of the base himself right at the landing chamber airlock, but it is very much appreciated.”

“Captain, Ma’am. The Eternal Warrior has personally called me to announce your arrival, Lt. Mook and I simply had to give you the honors.”

I grinned. “Give me the honors and check me out, right?”

“Perhaps a little, Ma’am. We also wanted to invite you to the Officer’s lounge for dinner. The Attikan destroyer is the fasted thing within 1000 light-years, but she is not ready yet. She just returned from scout patrol and her CO reported mix ratio problems.”

The other officer, had a deep booming voice befitting his bulk. “Maybe you know about Attikan engines, faster than almost anything, but high maintenance. The engineers tuning her mixers as we speak, but she won’t be ready for at least eight hours.”

I sighed, “eight hours one way or the other won’t make too much of a difference. I do know about Attikan engines and I understand.”

The Jooltar managed to translate his relief, but then I was best friends with two Attikans who were distant relatives to the Jooltar and I realized how well I had learned to understand their ear and tail language.

The Jooltar said. “Now you know the main reason for us greeting you right at the front door so to speak. We are not eager to be on the receiving end of thunder issued by the Eternal Warrior.”

The huge lieutenant with a dragon-like head, despite his apparent physical strength and frightful appearance also sounded more relaxed. “Why don’t we continue the conversation in a more appropriate location? The base is small and as mentioned brand new, but we have a few nice restaurants and a well-run officer’s lounge.”

“Lead the way then.”

As we entered the interior of the actual base, the Jooltar said. “I am Lt. Commander Billix and my Pim-Pam friend here is Lt. Mook.”

“I know first-hand about the Pan-Pans of Jarsumat, but I never heard of the Pim-Pam, not that I ever hope to be able to identify all members that make up the Union.”

While we stepped on a slide belt that moved us through a transparent tunnel, the big Lieutenant said. “Not to worry, except for maybe a few dozen individuals, no one knows about us. Pim-Pams are a Galactic Council species, that had no contact to any Union society, at least as far as I know. Our realm is deep in what Union calls the Spinward sector, almost at the Downward horizon. We are a designated enforcer and warrior species and I think the Kermac messed with our genetics to make us even more aggressive, stronger and all that.”

While he talked, the slide belt carried us through a rather long tunnel. The interior could have been anywhere, it was no different to the corridor tunnels of Christmas base, Twilight moon or Deep Blue. Gleaming white, dura past, mustard yellow carpeting, spots with indoor plants and gurgling water features. Translucent green glowing pictograms and signs giving advice and directions. The only difference was the landscape beyond the transparent walls. Instead of snow and ice like on Christmas base, torrents of rain at Twilight canyon or completely submerged like Deep Blue. This was perhaps the bleakest and most featureless landscape except for Narth Prime I had seen so far.

There was light-brown dust-like sand as far as the eye could see. No significant mountains, nothing much in terms of larger rocks. The sky was cloud-free; whatever atmosphere was out there did not produce a bright blue sky, but a dull shade of beige.

The local sun shone through a haze and produced a form of late afternoon twilight.

The Commandant noticed my stare and said. “The Interstation transport is still under construction, so we have to use the slide belt. It was decided to place the actual spaceport a good eight klicks from the actual base because even the slowest landing or take-off creates dust storms of tremendous proportions. Not that there is much need to go out there.”

“I was thinking about how these bases are the same inside regardless of what’s out there.”

The slide belt had carried us from the tunnel into a large concourse.

An access barrier was installed but deactivated, but to my inner delight there right by the entrance was an Arthur’s Swine and Dine, complete with waving pig. A Wureg&Kotz delicatessen store and a few other known chains that could be found on civilian and military spaceports alike.

The place was not deserted, there was military and civilian traffic, but it wasn’t very busy.

Lt. Commander Billix pointed at the storefront of a restaurant with rustic themed wooden wall panels and yellow-tinted window glass. “This base is still new as I mentioned, but the Old Terran has become quite a favorite already.”

The Pim-Pam said in an amused tone. “Yes, Captain Olafson. Jooltar and Pim-Pams not only able to consume Terran food, but both of us also love it.”

Five minutes later we all settled at a table with an outside facing window. A humanoid pale yellow waiter with large black eyes wore a white dress like outfit with a red checkered headscarf. He explained that it was Middle East week at the restaurant and the featured items would be Middle Eastern. He recommended the lamb with rice and that’s what we all ordered.

Billix told me that the waiter was a Tinkehel from a planet called Tink. A recent Union member addition and technically the closest one to this newly Union claimed system.

I was looking forward to the meal. My last meal was breakfast in the Den of the Tigershark, and according to my new Wrist Com, almost two days ago.

While my insubstantial brother sliced and diced a small army of Necro whackos, while Stahl found me and lectured me, food wasn’t high on the agenda. However I was still human and after missing several meals, more than just peckish.

The Attikan ship was soon to be ready, I was eager to get back. Mostly to find out who else was responsible for my involuntary journey and make them understand that the queen of abductees was sick and tired of being abducted. However, a few hours did not make much of a difference indeed.

The base was new, the restaurant promised good food and the Union officers were pleasant company. Considering the recent events, a pleasant change of pace.

The food so I was told was prepared the traditional way, not reconstituted or printed. This gave the Pim-Pam time to explain that he was a former slave, rescued by a pirate called Black Velvet leading a bunch of Imthe rebels. I could not tell him of course that I was Black Velvet, but I could not deny a sense of pride. I also learned that this base was established during the big Union armada pushing through this region.

That it was convenient close to the newly established gatehouse was great news for the base, as it had become more important.

The Pim-Pam asked me about my ship and crew and then about the mission. Since the core mission, investigating the Ypeherix mystery wasn’t classified I pretty much told them both. They listened, the food came and I kept talking between bites. I was hungry, so I ate what the waiter called lamb, but I was certain I would not order it ever again. It was not exactly bad but there was a hint of flavor that reminded me of the intense meat the Imthe had served me. I was also certain, Mao would love it.

The Pim-Pam had listened closely. “You know Captain Olafson we, I mean the Pim-Pam know about the Ypeherix for a long time, I wish it would be possible for you to cross into Galactic Council space.”

I took a long sip of the ice tea, I had ordered with the food to get the lingering after taste of my tongue, “You are saying the Kermac have something to do with these walking acid mushrooms? Would not surprise me for sure.”

He managed to sound amused. “No captain, our lore knows about them long before the Kermac messed with our Genetics and embraced us in their oppressive ways. I was a young Cannon tender on a Pim-Pam frigate when I heard the stories about the Unpronounceable, a space-born entity of great age. The Frigate boss said this thing knows about the Ypeherix and the Deep Core eggs.

Not long thereafter our frigate was destroyed and after a long odyssey I ended up on a Karthanian Smelter moon.”

“You wouldn’t know where this Unpronounceable thing can be found?”

“You should be able to home in on the Hutrhe pulse star just a few parsecs above the Downward horizon in the Scutum Centaurus arm. There is a prominent nebula, we Pim-Pams known as Suhky’s Membrane. As far as I know, that is where the Earlies originated and that is where the Unpronounceable can be encountered.”

“That is quite specific. I am sure my Geek squad can find it.”

“I would not recommend you venturing there, Captain. You might run into Pim-Pam frigates and they do not engage in first contact procedures.”

Lt. Commander Billix sitting across me received a sudden call on his wrist com. Seconds later the base alarm went off.”

--””--

“The captain is on her way,” Har-Hi said into the voice pick up that connected him to the Ult chief inside a Regen Tank.

Cateria smiled proudly. “I spend four hours studying Ult neurology and neurosurgical procedures, the foremost Ult neurologist consulting via an avatar and what does he do? Getting better on his own.”

The muffled voice of Chief Hilbora sounded much stronger already. “How can I not get better? I am back on my ship, the captain is alright. Tyron is okay and I am under the care of the best CMO in the Fleet.”

“You are not out of the matter cloud, Chief.” Har-Hi said with a pleased tone. “Rest some more and do what the doctor orders.”

Cateria slowly dialed the sleep inducer up and turned to the Dai. “It is actually no real secret, familiar surroundings and positive thoughts have great beneficiary qualities when it comes to neural pathways.”

Har-Hi thanked her, gave Jolaj a friendly nod and then went to the Xeno lab, where Narth, Cirruit, and Shea stood next to a workbench with a heavy but plain-looking metal bar before them.

Shea greeted him and pointed at the hundred sixty centimeters long object with a rectangular cross-section of 12 by 14 centimeters.

“This is, as far as we can tell a Trans-spatial threshold. Once activated it connects to a counterpart anywhere within this universe. It utilized supersymmetry much like our ISAH drive, but that is far as we know.”

Har-Hi eyed it with unveiled concern. “It is not going to trans-place us or some of the crew?”

Narth shook his head. “We got its counterpart safely in a subspace pocket of mine and the Narth Supreme is certain it is Nnnth technology from before the merge. He is in contact with me right now.”

“Isn’t all that Nnnth tech locked away in some sort of crystal you guys guard?”

“Apparently not. This is complex and I will update you as soon as I make progress in analyzing the artifact.”

“Alright.” Har-Hi raised his eyes to the ceiling. “SHIP, with Tyron and Hilbora back, the Captain on her way and our ride once again spy and traitor free, we are complete right?”

“No Sir, Specialist Meeze and Sylia Sobur are not aboard.”

Cirruit hearing this opened a wall compartment. “The Atlas suit I made for that worm is gone, and so is the TKU.”

Har-Hi was tempted to leave the worm and the Thauran behind, but that was not the way things were done on the Tigershark.

SHIP, can you call them?”

After a moment the sentient AI responded. “There is no answer from Sylia Sobur, but I have Meeze standing by. “He calls from Blue Harbor a Thauran world almost 900 light-years from here.”

Chapter 24: Step on it
Meeze had noticed the sudden change of scenery.

He looked around the vaulted room he had emerged. There was a circular metal platform of about ten meters in diameter. Raised perhaps half a meter of the rough-looking stone floor.

Not far from him was a console of shape and function alien to him.

The walls were made of large rough squared stone blocks joining each other in a vaulted ceiling. A solid looking door made of sturdy wood and iron at the far end matched the character of the room, making the smooth metal platform and the console look out of place.

There was no one else in the room.

“Damniz, whaz hapenz?”

“Commencing situation analysis. Compiling available sensor and scanner data.”

“Pfffz, stoopiz machinz. Noz tellz Meeze waz youz doez, tellz Meeze whaz youz finz.”

“Occupant and user of this system is not properly connected. SLIME has not been deployed. Situation analysis limited to passive sensor input. Please stand by.”

Meeze cursed in an ancient language and wiggled back and forth over the metal platform, hoping it would trigger a reversal of the spatial transplantation.

“Situation analysis as follows: User traversed 1006 light-years from UAS Deep Blue to UAS Le Habre Bleu. User passed through a trans-spatial condition of unknown nature. Location Pin successful. GalCom and GalNet communication possible. All system components are fully operational. Neuro connection, Neuro Ping and deployment of SLIME strongly recommended.”

Meeze made a hissing sound which was equal to a human sigh.”Whaz iz iz whiz ze slimez? Meeze iz a cleanze Wheeze, keepz the slimiz to minimumz.Meeze iz a wormz weeze slimez a lize biz.”

A loud screech made him turn. An almost human-sized bat-winged black dragon monster shimmered into existence right behind him.

“Fenriz! Whaz ze hellz you doez herze?”

The creature flapped next to Meeze and flickered its black tongue across the worm’s faceplate.

Fenris was screeching again, obviously happy to see Meeze.

However, the screeching was not only heard by the worm but by someone beyond the sturdy door, that now opened.

A Thauran wearing a dark red robe, holding a Kermac line blaster froze in his movement as he saw the alien worm in battle armor and a nightmarish black thing with enormous leathery wings.

The Thauran fired.

Yet his energy beam passed through Fenris and hit the stone wall behind the dragon-like mascot of the Tigershark.

A second bolt hit Meeze.

Fenris screeched angrily and flapped with lighting speed across the room and collided with the Thauran.

Meeze realized that his suit had raised shields, in reaction to the first line bolt and the purple TransDim shields displaced the line blast instantly. The system responded. “Battle mode active. Primary shields at 99.9 percent. Threat level low.”

Meeze pulled his TKU, but that was not necessary. Fenris had torn the Thauran in pieces, rendering the man in a heap of bloody gore, pieces flying everywhere. A bloody part of the man’s upper thigh almost hit Meeze and hit the ground with a wet sound.

“Ohz, the Fenriz eaz zhe peoplez too?”

At this moment his Comm Unit beeped. “Mr. Meeze this is Commander Hi, please respond.”

“Herze Meeze.”

“Mr. Meeze we have located you on a planet called Blue Harbor at over a thousand light-years distance. What is your situation?”

“Meeze noz entireliz sureez. Stoopiz machinz tellz Meeze to bez Slimez, noz zo nicez.”

The Dai managed to stay calm and coax Meeze to tell him what happened until now.

The XO of the Tigershark grunted. “All right, Mr. Meeze we’ll try to locate that corridor and see what we can do. We cannot leave Deep Blue until the captain has returned. Please try to find a place to hide and stay safe.”

“The Captinz comez?”

“Yes, Captain Olafson is safe and on her way back. Mr. Meeze why have you left the ship, we were under General Quarters.”

“Whhaz you complainz abouz? Youze saiz to uze all rezourcez to finz ze captinz. Meeze iz rezourcez anz Meeze knowz noz thaz Generalz.”

Har-Hi coughed, then said. “We talk about this later. Say Mr. Meeze are you hurt, there is blood all over your face.”

“Nooz, Meeze eaz lize biz of ze Thauranz. Noz zo baz, wanz me to keepz a biz for ze Dai?”

“Uh, no. I am good. Just stay safe. Find a crevice to hide till we can get you.”

Har-Hi disconnected and Meeze almost a little disappointed looked at the bloody heap.”Whaz a wastez, lez goz Fenriz. Harz-Hi saiz we finz the Crevicez.”

Egill had so much fun, he did not mind at all following the ancient detective and of course his friends. Chiefly the Narth.

Phil apparently had no objections for them to keep tagging along.

The former hermit of Nilfeheim found the method of the detective very relatable to his own.

While they were on their way to the Ivory tower, sitting in the unmarked police flyer, Alegar asked his friend. “You still owe us an explanation, regarding the Kilonian. How did you know he was the neighbour of the murdered man?”

“I think the same way, Phil figured it out. The front yard of the left domicile had Pletigroias. A strongly scented flowering herb plant native to Lonia, the homeworld of the Kilonians.”

Alegar was openly impressed, and you know this how?”

“The Kilonian pavilion features bushes of the same kind and the same strong smell.”

Phil laughed. “Yes, that was one indication, indeed. Very good Mr. Skallagrimmson. The shape of the front door and the lack of viewports were another.”

As they approached the Ivory Tower of the Science Department, Egill said. “Mr. Decker, you are so kind letting us tag along, would you not rather want to call me Egill?”

“Sure, if you drop the Mr. Decker.”

The Narth soaking up every moment had been very quiet. The Narth representative was apparently in communication with other Narth, both Alegar and Egill knew their shrouded friend now well enough to make this assumption.

The Narth nodded slowly. “It is very pleasing that both of your understanding of my nature and activities improves. May I inquire what led us here? I still fail to evaluate the causality chain that is at the core of this detective approach.”

Phil landed the flyer on a balcony platform far above Pleiades Plaza. “The object of the raid was the theft of an item. While all display cases held highly valuable items, only one is irreplaceable and of great significance.”

The Narth actually holding a PDD. “Yes, the scroll of the prophecy. Narth knows of its significance.”

Phil got out and waited till his new companions did the same. “Outside of the Narth and the Coven, no one knew about this document. Yet it was requested by a scholar of the Workgroup Olympus. The deputy director of this obscure and little known science corps department, a Professor Level 1 with the name of Lurega Donomensi. We are here to ask a few questions.”

Alegar said. “I never heard about this Workgroup, I admit but I do know a Saresii name when I hear one. It is a male name.”

Moments later they were greeted by the most unusual receptionist. A green vapor, with reddish glowing orbs in the somewhat head shaped top. The ghostly apparition’s voice came from a speaker at its desk. “Good Ten Hour to you, Citizen. These are the premises of Workgroup Olympus. I am Kurthbir how may I be of assistance?”

Decker flipped on his badge. “I like to talk to the deputy assistant, Professor Donomensi please.”

The green vapor said in a friendly tone. “The professor is not in his offices, but we expect him every moment now. Would you like to talk to someone else? I can, of course, attempt to call.”

“Please do.”

Alegar leaned closer to the Narth. “Do you know what occupies the reception desk?”

“It is an Antoo. First Contact was made by Egill’s granddaughter. They mostly occupy a different spatial condition. What is seen is only a small percentage of the being. It was Narth Supreme suggesting Union membership.”

“Of course, it had to be a Narth idea, who else would suggest ghosts to be members of the Union?” Alegar said rolling his eyes with a smile. “That your Erica was involved surprises me not so much.” He said to Egill.

The green vapor tried to call the Saresii professor. “Strange, the professor was already seen in the building, but I just received a message that he is taking a seven-day vacation.”

“Just now?” Decker asked.

“Yes, Sir. This is rather unexpected. While he does have vacation days, he was scheduled for a lecture in an hour from now.”

Saran clerk behind the desk stared at the Saresii. “Avondur, you say? Why come here to ask? Is it not found in the catalogs?”

Lurega responded. “If it would be in the catalogs, I would not be here, now would I? I am a scholar with the Science Department and I understand the Astrographic society also collects astrographic data from other societies. It is not published because it is not verified.”

The Saran became more animated and said. “Indeed, we take the accuracy of our information very seriously and nothing is made public or made accessible before it can be verified by credible Union sourced data.”

“It is no secret or classified however, so please see if there is such a place.”

The Astrograph consulted his system and after a moment said. “It appears Avondur is a mythical place also called the Planet at the Center of the Universe. It is mentioned in four sources. An old scroll located in the library of Sares, a document in the Golden Archives, a stone tablet at the Forbidden Library and a recorded oral account of a traveling merchant of N’Ger.”

The base commandant got up in a hurry, the large Pim-Pam followed his move.

Billix said. “A large fleet of unknowns is approaching this system. Please proceed to designated shelter facilities, Captain.”

“I am a certified fighter pilot if you need me.”

“Alright, Captain come along then.”

I ran right after the two to the next IBT while blaring klaxons and red strobe lights alerted everyone.

There was no panic, but an orderly rush. People of all kind lined up before IBT columns that had risen from the smooth floor. Bright signs designated them as Shelter access points.

Before solid-looking shutters were rolling across the viewports, I could see dome-shaped turrets rise from beneath the dust-covered surface.

The IBT accepted all three of us and the ride took us to Command and Control. Neither the commandant nor the Pim-Pam Lieutenant had time to talk to me, both were in communication with the system and on-duty personnel.

As we reached Command and Control, the Jooltar commander said. “We have no spare Wolfcrafts at the moment, but there are a few Wotan class prototypes.”

Half of First Fleet had reached the Ancient gate and was either already in the Leo II galaxy or lined up to make the transition.

The other half was rushing towards Quadron system. While it was only half of the First, it was still a tremendous fighting force.

Harris sat in his command seat. He glanced at the brooding admiral that just sat down next to him.

“It is not entirely unexpected, you know. A Union forward base basically in the middle of unexplored space. Not too distant from Koken or the Shattered Kingdoms. The long-distance scanners confirm the attackers are Tech 7 and we are certain this is an Or-Ghe fleet. The attacking force is quite large, but I am confident we come out on top. The base is well defended and we are only two hours away.”

“I know. I am up to date on that”

Stahl rolled his eyes. “It’s the timing of this attack, you do know who we sent there right?”

“No...” Harris blinked. “She should be near Coreward Hub, the Attikan is very fast.”

The captain of the Devi put his hand over his eyes. “She’s still there, isn’t she?”

Stahl brushed over a Comm sensor and asked the Comm officer to tie into the GalCom of the Quadron system. “See if there is any Comm traffic identifying a Captain Olafson.”

“There is, Sir.”

“Put it on speakers.”

“ ... she just obliterated that Or-Ghe capital unit.” A voice reported to the base commandant. “But that old Wotan class is toast.”

“Billix here, Viking come in”

Stahl and Harris recognized the voice they heard next. “Commander, I’ll use the Wotan to ram that Or-Ghe troop transport, three of them penetrated the base defense.”

Harris still had his hand over his eyes. “She likes ramming things doesn’t she?”

“A Wotan, how in the world did she end up in a Wotan?”

Harris grunted. “Better question: Why did the Or-Ghe attack that base when she was there?”

Stahl slowly shook his head. “McElligott thinks she has some sort of trouble magnet implanted. I am convinced he is right.”

Shea knelt before the metal strip while Cirruit examined the walls. Har-Hi stood a little behind them. “So, that’s another one of these Thresh-Hold things?”

Narth, who had just appeared next to the Dai answered. “Yes, and it is based on Nnnth technology. The Narth Supreme confirms it.”

“Does this mean someone was able to access those knowledge crystals of the Narth?”

“No, the Nnnth crystals are secure and there is no renegade Narth either.”

“I did not say that.”

“But you would not be the intelligent friend of mine for not thinking it. A renegade or Spy Narth is impossible. A renegade Nnnth however is.”

“I think you need to elaborate.”

“It happened before the Nnnth and the Arth united into a new entity. The Nnnth were a very advanced society on the brink of uniting all that is Nnnth. I only learned these things myself moments ago.”

Shea got up. “This thresh hold is currently not active, but don’t let me stop you, Narth. I too like to hear more.”

Their shrouded friend used his telekinetics to lift the metal bar out of the floor recess and said. “According to the Narth Supreme, three Nnnth individuals were deemed not ready for the Nnnth-Arth merge and left behind so to speak.

The Narth Supreme was only formed after this merger and until this tech discovery unaware of the existence of these three Nnnth. One of these Nnnth became the Entity Rex Invictus and created the First Empire in order to channel the resurrection of the Dark One.

He or the civilization he created is the source of these Nnnth technology artifacts. It is unknown to Narth how these tech artifacts ended up in the hands of a Thauran sect.”

Har-Hi made a very concerned face. “Could there be more Nnnth tech? Weapons perhaps?”

“This is a concern of the Narth Supreme indeed, as this cannot be ruled out.”

Hans stomped through the storage room and stopped by the secret door that had been forced open. Meeze’s hole was visible, but of course too small for them.

Hans said. “I followed a few leads and was digging some more. Our Thauran Ensign Sarina Sobur is the youngest sister of Sarak Sobur, he disappeared in 5020 along with Sarina’s mother. According to a Union Police file, he was a leading Necro priest and obsessed with finding Rene Thauran’s secret. There is a rumor about Thauran Vampires that somehow managed to crack the secret to true immortality. You know the secret to keep a human mind active beyond the 200-year mark. Our Ensign is a direct descendant of Rene Thauran.”

Har-Hi looked down the empty corridor. “And Blue Harbor is the planet, the Thauran colonized first.”

Shea said. “I think we need to go there, Meeze is there and I am certain this is where the missing Ensign was taken as well.”

“As soon as the Captain is here, she will decide.” Har-Hi contacted the ship. “Elfi, do we have an ETA on Erica ... I mean the Captain?”

“Not exactly, Sir. She was supposed to be on her way, but according to a report I just received from the Devi, she accidentally stumbled into a space battle of sorts.”

She sighed. “Mr. Hi, those are the exact words of Captain Harris.”

Har-Hi face palmed, not knowing that the captain of the Devi had done the same, just a little earlier.

“Accidently stumbled into a space battle...”

Meeze hissed at Fenris. “Wheeze suppoze zo finz ze crevicz. Youze zoo bigz forz ze crevicz.”

The worm had unsuccessfully tried to stuff his dragon-like friend into what he assumed was the access to a stank and moist sewage pipe.

Most of Fenris was still in the stone corridor adjunct to the room where he had first appeared.”Youze eaz too muchz ofz ze Thauran.”

Fenris, so it seemed to Meeze didn’t take the situation too seriously and screeched rather happy, while Meeze tried to shove the dragon beast deeper into the small half-pipe shaped opening.

Meeze gave up.”Youze canz shiftz inz ze wallz. Youze stoopiz and stubornz.”

Two dead Thauran later, who perhaps heard the screeching dragon, Meeze wasn’t much further. “Youz waiz herze. Maybeez we finz exiz.”

“MAMA suggests contacting Union authorities, this is a Union planet. GalNet and GalCom available, Union law enforcement agencies present on this world.”

“Meeze knwoz thaz, Stoopiz Machinz! Theze guyz havz ze Ensignz andz are criminalz. Meeze noz likez ze criminalz.”

He decided to leave Fenris were it was and explore the place some more. The Dai wasn’t very specific what crevice Meeze was supposed to hide in.

So he wiggled along the corridor.

“MAMA sensors detect surveillance systems ahead. Suggesting cloak”

“Cloakz? Meeze likez!”

The suit created a lens field bending light around the worm, rendering it invisible to most known sensors including eyes.”

He scurried past two visual sensors and up a narrow staircase. As he reached the top he could hear voices, chanting and repeating something he could not understand. He moved faster towards the monotone singing.”Youze singz noz muchz longerz, stoopiz Thauranz.”

Everyone looked the same wearing a Heavy Destroyer suit, at least that was the common consensus. The man in the dark red Destroyer suit and a very old pre-Astro Marine logo on his shoulder guards, however, was well known to me, and I knew who it was that waded through the knee-high dust and sand directly towards me.

He was not alone, marines and Cerberus robots by the thousands had rained down from the dusty sky and mopped up the last of the invading Or-Ghe.

I had led a group of Base marines and robots against a force of Or-Ghe that managed to breach the planet’s defenses and establish a beachhead. It was imperative to keep them from reaching the Loki torpedo starters.

The man who had reached me now was known as the Eternal Warrior. The marines that were with me, stood in ramrod attention.

He greeted me with a grunt. “Well, the Or-Ghe are not a Union member, and technically you didn’t start it either, but didn’t I tell you to get back to your ship?”

“Sir, the Attikan ship was not ready when I arrived. This attack occurred within the first hours of me being here. I am a Union Officer. I am by oath and charter required to act and defend, what did I do wrong?”

He sighed. “There are no rules you violated of course.” He spread his armored arms pointing at the Or-Ghe bodies and hardware sticking out of the dust. “And I see you did not hold back much. Looks like this raid was planned for a while, I am sure we’ll find the reason why they decided to attack.”

A boxy troop carrier descended. “Captain Olafson, the Attikan ship is ready and I will personally make sure you get that connection to Blue Moon at Coreward Hub.”

As I walked next to him up the boarding ramp. “I should feel honored by you personally escorting me to the space train station.”

“Erica, there is a part in me who bursts with pride. Seeing you fighting alongside marines, taking charge and repelling attackers. I am guilty of the same style after all, but there is this unexplainable condition that always gets you in the middle of things.”

“I don’t know what to say, Sir. I don’t think I did anything to cause this. I never heard of these Or-Ghe before and I didn’t get any useful intel out of the ones I fought. I was about to question one of their leaders when you showed up, Sir.”

The troop carrier landed inside the hangar of an Attikan battleship, not a destroyer. Its markings identified it as a unit assigned to First Fleet.

“Deep down I am a simple man, Erica. I don’t believe in predestination and think of the future as yet to be formed, but since I became aware of you this view seems to be inadequate.”

He pressed the contact to open the landing ramp. “My wife, the Narth Supreme tells me that the future is indeed not preordained, but then recent revelations tell me that you aren’t exactly the average human officer.”

He laughed. “I know you are a Neo Viking and I had the privilege to serve along Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes long before there was a Union and as much as you Neo Vikings have developed your own culture you are still the quintessential barbarian berserker warriors. They say we humans cannot deny our warlike nature, and your roots certainly are grounded in a warrior culture like few others from good ol’ Earth.”

He made an inviting gesture. “Let’s get out of these tin suits and have a beer. This is the USS Zinol, the fastest ship of the First. I took it to come here as fast as possible, and the Captain of this speedster has orders to take us to Coreward Hub as fast as possible. Still, it will take 12 hours.”

“All I did was have lunch at the base...”

He stopped. “I know, and all you did was take a sightseeing tour on Twilight, ending up rescuing the planet governor. All you did was hitch a ride with Alex Enroe and ended up fighting a Dai Battleship. I am not faulting you for anything. In these and all the subsequent events, you performed beyond expectations. We are at peace with the Nul because of you, added the Golden because of you and added an entire fleet of Seenian super monsters because of you. Erica, I am very proud of you, but for some reason, trouble finds you without fail.”

He was not done and added. “I know it will not stop, but I want you to be with your ship and your crew. God alone knows they are almost as bad as you in that regard.”

“About that not so average human thing, Sir...”

“Forget it, you are a Starship Captain and all your conduct has shown me that you can be trusted. I trust my wife, she isn’t human. I trust the Narth Supreme, so until you give me a reason to change my opinion, I trust you. Erica Olafson or Captain Dark One ... whatever you might end up being.”

I could feel the amusement of that essence inside me and the dry voice of Eric inside me silently laughed. “Captain Dark One.”

Meeze trusted his cloak, but he was unfortunately neither trained in suit operations nor was he properly connected to the suit system.

He did not realize that the cloak did not prevent noises he made.

He opened the sturdy door with a push, a door much the same as the one below.

Meeze emerged in a sizeable room of temple like character. There were candles and braziers, blue-skinned humans wearing dark red robes.

He noticed Ensign Sobur. She was tied to an altar-like table. The Thauran standing behind that altar wore a red robe adorned with golden skull embroidery.

The men were chanting something he did not understand.

Before he could react, he was caught in a glimmering curtain of bluish energies.

The Suit system MAMA fell silent and the cloak failed.

Everyone was looking directly at Meeze. Even though human expressions were still mostly alien to him. The faces were anything but friendly.

“Helloz everyonz, Meeze goez nows. Ze wrongz doorz.”

Har-Hi had taken the Apparition to Cote Azur Hub. He, Narth, Cirruit, and Shea now stood by the Space Train terminal and awaited the Spinward Express from Blue Moon. According to Admiral Stahl, Captain Olafson was aboard.”

Shea said. “Are you sure she is on this train?”

Har-Hi nodded. “The Eternal Warrior himself postponed his trip to Leo II and had Harris handle the Or-Ghe situation to personally escort the Captain to Coreward Hub.”

Cirruit snickered. “Maybe she got in an accidental argument with a Boloth at Blue Moon?”

Har-Hi glared at the Engineer. “That is not funny, Mister Cirruit. Not funny at all.”

It took a moment to hug and greet everyone. It was quite hard to curb my emotions to be back. Even though technically I wasn’t gone all that long.

While the Apparition was on the way back to Deep Blue, Har-Hi informed me and updated me on everything on their end and I gave them an account of my little odyssey.

Similar emotion got a hold of me when I finally stepped on my bridge.

“SHIP, sound general quarters. Elfi, tell port control we are lifting off. Krabbel plot a course to Le Habre Bleu and Shaka get us there.”

I sat down in my command seat and with a deep smile said. “Let’s get Meeze and our Ensign back, make sure those who abducted them will understand the error of their actions and then we need to find a thing called the Unpronounceable. I am getting tired of that Ypeherix issue. Less science this time.”

To my brother inside of me, I said. “You be that dark god thing, brother but I am right where I want to be.”

I pointed at the view screen. “Shaka, step on it.”

Chapter 25: Battle Stations
The Thauran behind the altar thundered with a deep voice. “What is this?”

“Itz ze Meeze, stoopiz. Meeze goez now, whenz the Meeze comz backz. Ze girlz Soburz iz bettzer reazy zo goez.”

Men drew weapons, none appeared to be of Union origin and aimed it at the Wheeze. One of them said. “I never have seen a creature like that, and I cannot identify the hardware it is wearing but it speaks a very garbled version of Union standard.”

“Pffz youze triez to doez ze speakiz witz a ringmouz, noz eazy.”

Another said. “It is caught inside the old security curtain. We shall dissect it and find out what it is.”

Meeze knew enough about the suit to know the emergency release. Meeze keyed in the self-destruct and then hit the emergency release. Technically he was wearing an Atlas suit, but it was a stripped-down and not entirely complete version made by Cirruit and Warner in spare time, but the emergency release worked, and nano charges disintegrated the suit and basically spit Meeze out, and past whatever curtain thing was holding the suit.

He didn’t wait and scurried out the door. He heard angry shouts. Chief among the deep voice of the red-robed leader. “Get that thing!”

Meeze, now able to use his micro bristles did what his kind did for millennia, he scurried up the rough stone wall and wiggled as fast as he could between the iron bars before a small half-pipe shaped wall opening.

He watched the red-robed Thaurans run both ways, one group down the stairs where he hoped Fenris had decided to hide itself a little better, and another group of men stomped into the other direction. None of them even looked up.

Now that he was without weapons or Communication he did not want to go openly against them.

He looked around and found that he was in the inner yard of a very large stone structure. The sky showed sparkling stars and that indicated to him that it was night on this side of the planet.

He pondered for a moment what to do. Go back and try to free Ensign Sobur, or try to find Fenris.

But his four eyes noticed an open gate across the inner courtyard of whatever building he was. Beyond that gate was a paved street, and he could see the bright light of a project-a-sign, Public GalNet terminal.

--””--

The director of Workgroup Olympus, a Leedei greeted Phil and his entourage. “Good Ten Hour to you, Citizens. I am Professor Sakalaer. I was just informed that the most famous detective and the similar famous Wisemen of the Assembly have come to see us here. Welcome indeed.

Phil said. “Thank you, Professor.”

Egill acting as the spokesman of his little group added. “For good and bad reasons, they indeed call us the Wisemen and despite my objection, they made us an official entity of the Assembly. My friends and I have decided to accompany Mr. Decker first out of curiosity, but his investigation into the terror attack on the Assembly has revealed more questions and now we are conducting our investigation into what was certainly not a simple terror event.”

The Leedei looked like every Leedei, Egill had ever seen. Gray skin, vague facial features beneath a natural facial cover that made them all look as if they wore a tight-fitting hood of distorting fabric. The professor wore a black pantsuit with both the insignia of a member of the Hive of Minds and the department logo of the Workgroup displayed. The glowing triangle of the Hive on his collar and the department logo on his sleeve below a Union flag. His Science Corps rank made him an Academic Professor Level 3. He waved towards the corridor behind him. “Why don’t you follow me to my offices, so I may serve refreshments and inquire about your reason to include the Workgroup into your investigations.”

Phil responded. “Actually, we were interested in meeting with the Deputy Director, a Seenian scholar by the name of Lurega Donomensi. Your receptionist just informed us that he suddenly asked for additional vacation time.”

“I was informed about this myself, just moments ago. This is why Kurthbir our receptionist summoned me, maybe I can assist.”

The four followed the Leedei into a spacious office with a window front that revealed a beautiful vista across Pleiades Plaza. The office was littered with real books, scrolls, candles, brass instruments, effigies and statues of gods and demons of at least a hundred societies. The Leedei scholar looked over the scene and said. “Oh my, I forgot, I should rather meet with you in our conference room.”

“Never mind the mess.” Phil said. “I am sure you are a busy man, and it looks you concern yourself with many subjects.” Phil took a dark wood carving of an ugly looking sitting demon figure from a chair. “The Pandorku of Simna planet, seem to have very interesting lore about beings from another realm that are able to, let’s say slide between realities.”

The Leedei became all blustered and animated. “Indeed, are you a scholar, too Mr. Decker?”

“I am traveling across this universe of ours for some time now and pick up things here and there. How did your Workgroup become aware of a document that was in the possession of the Coven? I am certain this was not an advertised fact.”

“Was it not? I think it was professor Donomensi that made us aware of this most remarkable scroll. It is supposedly the only genuine copy of the ‘Prophecy of Before and Yet to come’. If my information is correct, it is the only artifact that comes to us from a now destroyed precursor universe.”

Phil nodded. “I have the same information. Of course, you know it was this Workgroup that requested it for examination.”

He nodded. “And I was almost certain I had cracked the Netherworld language it was written in. Such a shame it was destroyed during that explosion at the Assembly.”

“It was not destroyed, it was stolen. The entire incident was staged to steal that document. I think speaking to Professor Donomensi is imperative. I also like to have a copy of all your notes and images regarding the documents and the translation.”

The Leedei nodded absentminded and pressed a sensor. “Kurthbir, please contact Professor Donomensi. He must postpone his vacation plans and report to my office immediately.”

The green Vapor appeared in a visual and said. “I am sorry, this won’t be possible, Professor Donomensi has left Pluribus.”

Phil leaned forward. “How do you know this?”

The Antoo responded right away. “He was seen by Belina leaving the Astrographic institute. He said he was in a hurry to catch the next Space Train. Belina stands right before my desk and told me.”

Phil sighed. “Looks like we are going to chase this Professor Donomensi, off-planet. Are you ready to do that?”

Egill glanced at his enthusiastic nodding friends.

“Yes, Phil I guess we are.”

“Let us go to the Astrographic Society and see what he asked them.”

--””-- The Golden Archives were inaccessible for him right now, he had to keep a low profile. He had no idea where that Forbidden Library was, there was nothing on GalNet. Traveling all the way to an independent planet on the account of an oral clue did not promise success, but he was Saresii. Member of the Black Cat society and thus had access to the deepest levels of the libraries on Sares One. Better yet Sares was connected via Space Train.

He shivered as he realized that this was the exact reason he was kept alive. The Tribunal wanted to know what the Saresii library held on this place called Avondur.

He would not fail them.

Of all people he ran into Belina, the nosy Homo Stellaris just as he was about to use the TMT. There were billions of beings on Pluribus, but of course, it was not a big coincidence to meet a fellow scientist and scholar right here near the Ivory Tower.

Belina Sankers, was a dedicated archeologist specializing in Pre Union mega societies.

After the usual greetings, and out of a hunch he asked her. “Have you ever heard about Avondur?”

“Oh yes, it is mentioned by the Oxis, and it appears to be a central theme in the Orlan society. It is a world or planet also being called the Planet at the Center of the Universe. Sadly I have yet to come across any useable details as to where this planet might be located.”

He thanked her and entered the Transmatter Tunnel, after telling Utchat he wanted to be trans-placed to the Pluribus Hub.

--””--

The richest man in the known universe officially participated at an important business summit. The top business entities were represented to discuss ways of incorporating the few existing Nul businesses into the Union markets and assist the Purple brutes to open new businesses of their own. Of course, they also went there to see what products and services could be pushed onto Nul markets.

It was rare for himself to participate, but he wanted to gather information regarding Avondur. The entity that was part of him, was certain this was the place of the final conflict and the appearance of the Dark One. The prophecy, he had stolen was now fully translated and identified the Planet at the Center of the Universe as a central part of this cosmic puzzle.

For now, he decided to let the Old Saresii live. He was a good researcher and of all things had access to the Old Saresii archives. Archives that held wisdom and knowledge from the First Age of Knowledge. It was conceivable that the mystical Grey Cats knew where Avondur was to be found.

Not even a Bellebee friend of his, who dug up every available piece could tell him where Avondur was. But that floating gas bladder suggested that the Sealed Library of the Fifth might contain such information, as the Deep Libraries of the Saresii. While it was not all that difficult to insert an agent of his into the CLOAK unit of NAVINT that currently held auspice over this recent find. It was under the watchful eyes of Cherubim and Admiral Lydaa, both women more enigmatic than he liked.

Besides sifting through millions of physical documents to find a reference to Avondur could take decades.

Rex was certain that cosmic event of events was close at hand. Certainly not decades in the future.

For all his power the Deep Libraries were not open to him. Only a handful of Saresii approved scholars were ever allowed to descend past the floor of ages and open the sealed tomes of knowledge, the Gray Cats had preserved from a time when the Saresii were a Tech Level 11 society and unlike the Seenians traveled beyond the boundaries of the M-0 galaxy.

Balthasar, the Seenian Sentmac slipped into a seat next to his boss, who only appeared to listen to the lecture of a Sauron merchant, who had business dealings with the Nul for many years.

“The Drone is on his way, Mr. Schwartz. All other possible leads have been cleansed according to Ajax protocol.”

Rex acknowledged this with a nod.

The Seenian android added. “The drone left a trail though and this man named Phil Decker seems to have picked up that trail.”

“The drone knows nothing that could implicate me, but his mission must not be hampered. Maybe it is time to reduce the number of immortals by one.”

“I think that can be arranged, Sir.”

--’’--

Meeze had successfully traversed the yard without being seen. He didn’t have the best hearing so he did not notice the blood-curling screams that came from one of those half pipe openings that connected the yard to the undercroft of the compound or heard the cracking report of Kermac blasters.

He scurried across the street. A Thauran woman walking on the other side, gasped as she saw him pressed against an opposing wall and then ran in the other direction.

Meeze crawled up on the terminal.”Systemz canz you finz the Wheeze?

“Communication request received. There is a community so named, would you like to connect?”

“Yeez.”

“Scanning CITI, not present. Scanning MITI present. Switching to GalCom.

Moments later on the screen, another Wheeze worm appeared. “It is the Meeze, why do you call?”

“Whize youze speakez likez thatz?”

“Voicebox, we are all fitted with recently developed voice boxes.”

“Meeze anz ze frienz in troublez, Neeze neez zhe helpz!”

The other worm looked up his location. “We’re coming!”

--””--

The USS Tigershark was accelerating and popped into Quasi Space. It was as if there was a collective sigh.

Mao said. “I don’t know about all of you but this is where we belong, together and in space,”

Har-Hi sat down into his XO seat and glanced at me. “So you accidentally ran into a space battle?”

“I didn’t run into a space battle. The Or-Ghe decided to attack a Union outpost while I happened to be there.”

Marth snickered under his hood. “What a perfect timing then, those Or-Ghe most likely wish they had chosen another time.”

Shea turned from her console. “I glad you are back.”

Har-Hi said. “You know we are in Union space and we can’t do any criminal investigation. All we can do is inform Union law enforcement. We are Navy, we are sort of limited in that regard.”

“I am aware of this, friends, but we have two crew members missing and I really want to know why that ensign is of such interest to them. I just dealt with a gnarled thing claiming to be the Necro King.”

Elfi also turned. “I am reading up on those Necros. That cult is very old and has spread across many cultures and societies. A sect like this doesn’t die when you kill the King. All that happens is, a new king or queen takes his place.”

I sighed. “I was afraid of that. That thing was a lunatic as can be.”

Har-Hi crossing his arms. “Yes, I say he was crazy, taking you to a place you don’t want to be and perhaps even saying some things you don’t like.”

“You know who was involved in all that?”

“Who?”

“You might not know a delusional guy named Swybin Swybar, but I am sure Narth remembers him. And there was our friend Naramir Suppor, they all worked together to get me. They were responsible for torturing Chief Hilbora.”

Krabbel waved his arms. “In his case, Stahl should have made an exception and shoved him out the airlock right after that rotten instructor.”

I frowned and said. “Speaking of the Eternal Warrior and his expectations. We will try to find our crew members and leave the clean up to Union police. We still have those cursed Ypeherix to deal with it and that is our mission.”

--””--

Le Habre Bleu was an old Union world with a population of over 6 billion, many cities and towns. It was not the seat of the Thauran Empire, but many very rich and very influential Thauran families claimed this world as their home, ever since they made planet fall with Rene Thauran, so long ago. It was a well-developed world and it was tied into the Space Train network. The trains reached the system hourly either coming down from Blue Moon or traveling up from Center Core station, the furthest point one was able to travel via space train in the Spinward sector. A major spur connected this system with Stepping Stone, and thus the main lines traveling across the Bridge to Andromeda.

Space Trains were a technological marvel, and unique to the Union. Able to cover distances much faster than any known space ship. Unlike space ships, however, space trains traveled in what was called a Blacklight tunnel and needed a start and a receiving station.

Space Train stations were always built-in so-called traffic hubs. Usually, an artificial space station parked at the nadir or apex point over a star system. Connecting via shuttles, Transmatter Tunnels, and local Space-Tram lines to various points in the system.

The traffic hub above the sun Lummis Rene, was no exception.

It was no particular special day in the Union calendar. Union week and the traditional vacation time of Union citizens was months off. The famous Le Habre wine festival was equally distant. Yet, the traffic hub manager could not explain the seemingly endless streams of wiggling and screaming worm creatures pouring out of the train compartments arriving from Blue Moon. Thousands of them, armed with small knives. Wearing all kinds of makeshift armor pieces.

They were clogging the Transmatter Tunnel access to the surface of Le Habre Bleu. Throngs of them in line before the shuttle terminal.

He glanced at his GalNet readout, the worm creatures he had never seen before were indeed a very recent Union addition.

While he was not able to identify the worms without GalNet help, he lost many shades of blue when he saw the four-armed brutes arriving in the next train. Hundreds of Y’All in full battle armor. They too demanded fast transport to Le Habre Bleu. No one aboard the Traffic hub station was brave enough to deny their request.

He called the Union Police officer, a dignified gentleman of an old Thauran house. “Can you explain what is happening?”

As he was connected he stared in the upside-down face of the old Union Police officer. He was held that way by a Y’All. “Human, I am resigning from my post and these Y’All gentlemen are helping me to arrest myself.”

“What? What are you talking about.”

A worm wiggled in his office. “We cleanz the filhz and you betterz have nozing on ze recorz.”

--””--

Meeze had returned to the corridor window and took a peek. The floor was littered from wall to wall with body pieces, bloody intestines, and gore. He heard Fenris shriek somewhere ahead.

He went into the room of worship, where he had seen the red-robed priest and the Ensign. Both the ensign and the lead priest were nowhere to be found.

But here too, it looked as if a tornado of saw blades ripped through at least a dozen Thauran.

Meeze found the destroyed pieces of his Atlas suit and his small TKU, with a green light, but before he could reach his weapon. A Thauran appeared from between curtains that concealed a doorway in the back. “Hell spawn die!”

The man fired a Neuro Shocker and Meeze felt as he was doused with boiling oil.

--””--

Sarak Sobur, dragged the dazed woman on her arm along an old corridor. She slowly fought the effects of a numbing drug and recognized the face under the hood. “Sarak?”

“Yes you little shit, I am your brother. Where is the key?”

“What key?” he shoved her through a rusty door. There was an underground river and tied to the small quay a motorized boat waiting for them. She recognized the older woman already standing inside the boat, it was her mother.

She cried. “Mother?”

“Oh you silly girl, why did you have to turn out like your father? Sarak and I are on the verge of claiming true eternal life and real power.”

“Shut up, mother. The whole city is squirming with aggressive worms. A black dragon is tearing our men to shreds. We must flee before the authorities, the one we cannot buy can find us.”

Sylia struggled against the pulling arm. “I do not know what is going on, but I am a Union Fleet Officer.”

Sarak struggled with the girl who had her wrists tied. “Don’t remind me of that fact. You silly bitch must have the key, I eliminated and killed the others.”

Sylia getting clearer by the moment. “I don’t know what is going on, but I am not only a Union Officer but a member of the Tigershark crew.”

She kicked him with all the force she could muster between the legs and followed up with a knee against his chin as he bends forward. He instantly lost his grip on her arm.

She struggled away from the water ledge and the boat.

Sarak was throwing up.

Her mother raised a weapon. “Into the boat now!”

A huge black shadow passed through the walls, it had bat wings and screeched loud.

Sylia’s mother fired what appeared to be a Neuro ripper.

--””--

Meeze was in serious pain. The man came closer, pulled a vibro sword. “I am going to gut you, worm!”

Before the fanatic could follow-through, an enormous fist clasped around his head. A Y’All had appeared and lifted the Thauran of the ground.

Like a deluge of slithering and wiggling glistening bodies, hundreds of Wheeze flooded the room.

One of them reached Meeze and looked around. “Looks like we didn’t come late for dinner.”

--””--

“Please stand by all landing facilities are currently occupied.” The voice stated and Elfi turned and shrugged her shoulders. “Looks like Le Habre Bleu is under Union Police lockdown.”

“Raise Fleet Command, maybe they know what is going on.”

She nodded and said. “No need, Captain. Admiral McElligott is calling us.

The avatar of the kilt-wearing admiral appeared before the main screen. He seemed not amused. “If it is not you, Captain, it is one of your crew. I should have spaced that cursed worm instead of making him a member of your crew.”

“Admiral McElligott, I assume you speak of Meeze. I have no idea what he has done, but for the good or bad he is part of my crew. What are the charges?”

“I have no idea how he ended up here, he seemed to have befriended a black dragon-like creature and together they tore through a local sect of Necros. Your Meeze called his buddies for help, there are about 20,000 Wheeze and a thousand Yehaa warriors on the surface of that old planet.”

I wiped my mouth. “Twenty thousand Wheeze?”

“Yes, every single Union Police officer is here or on their way, to take statements I might add.”

“Statements?”

“Thauran’s of old houses by the hundreds are confessing to crimes and schemes as far back as when Rene came here first. I think the prospect of Yehaa knocking on their doors had that effect.”

He sighed. “We are working with the Justice Department to see if this was legal and what ramification that ham-fisted action will have.”

He slowly shook his head. “Captain, collect your officers and crew members and then as fast as your ship can go, leave Thauran space.”

--””--

Meeze, Fenris and Ensign Sobur had come to the Den and delivered their reports. Well, Fenris only screeched happily.

I tried to give the worm creature a stern look, but I knew I failed. “Mr. Meeze! I was informed that you left the ship unauthorized during General Quarters. I also know that a certain SHIP was assisting you. Using Fenris as a means of circumventing locked Airlocks was quite creative, but could only have worked if that certain AI was assisting with making shields transparent to Fenris abilities.”

SHIP sounded guilty. “Captain, I merely wanted to prevent Fenris from getting hurt or stuck trying to circumvent my outer armor and shields.”

“SHIP!”

“I know, Captain. I am sorry.”

“That’s better.”

Har-Hi standing next to me. “Well, you did say we are going to Le Habre Bleu to make sure those who abducted them will understand the error of their actions. I say Meeze and his friends succeeded in that regard.”

“Mr. Hi, I am trying to have a stern word with our latest crew member. You are not helping.”

Meeze said. “Meeze canz speakiz nowz or stillz in ze attentionz?”

“You are still in attention for now.”

I glanced at Fenris. “You too, so quit trying to lick my arm.”

This request did not affect Fenris at all, the Dragon creature screeched happy basking in the attention it got from me.

I said. “Mr. Meeze, I can’t reprimand you. You had no Academy training and no one assigned battle stations to you. At first, you were with our Chef as I recall.”

I cleared my throat. “While it was Admiral McElligott who made you a specialist. He failed to make you a Union Citizen. While all the other Wheeze had a chance to go to Union School, you served aboard this ship.

I was also told that you, besides having a healthy appetite are quite the engineer.

Reports and observation show that you are quite brave and very loyal to this ship and its crew. Mr. Meeze, I am hereby promoting you to Midshipman. In lieu of basic academy training, I am directing my XO to develop a proper training program. You will, like every Union Fleet Midshipman rotate through all departments, starting with Cirruit’s department.”

“Meeze?”

“We are not done, Mr. Meeze. Because you disregarded personal safety and used all your resources to come to the rescue of me and Ensign Sobur. This action and the previously displayed willingness to serve and help your fellow crew members. It is within my powers to declare you a Union Citizen. I furthermore, and by recommendation of my entire senior staff award to you the Silver Star decoration. Your actions during the events on Togr and subsequent bravery have lent proof beyond doubt to your dedication and bravery.”

The assembled crew cheered and clapped after I had bent down and affixed the decoration to his display.”

Meeze squeezed all four of his eyes. “Meeze slimez a lize biz now. Meeze soz prouz. Captinz, youze are noz so stoopiz. Meeze likez youz!”

I grinned deeply. “Well, Mr. Meeze. Chef Eeeryt prepared a feast in your honor.”

“Whiz ze straberriez?”

“I am certain.”

While Meeze scurried to the now uncovered buffet. I looked around. “Speaking of Cirruit, where is he? I haven’t actually seen him since I came back.”

Narth answered. “Our friend is in contact with the Narth Supreme ever since we left Deep Blue. The Narth Supreme decided to reveal Nnnth technology to Cirruit. He was deemed worthy to receive knowledge that has not been shared with any non-Narth. It is a very intensive transfer of knowledge, Cirruit is still digesting and in contact with Narth Supreme.”

I blinked. “I am certain this is an honor like none other, but having my Chief Engineer in some sort of cerebral upload session and not on duty should require my permission.”

Har-Hi said with a serious face. “You weren’t aboard to give that permission. We ran into Nnnth tech and there is a chance we will encounter more. Tech, no one not even Narth, Shea or SHIP understand. I gave that permission when the Narth Supreme suggested it.”

Reprimand accepted, Mr. Hi.”

I then focused on the Thauran woman. “Ensign Sobur, can you fill me in what happened to you? I understand I was not the only one abducted.”

She gave me a long account and revealed that she fell for the same trap by that spy placed aboard my ship as I did. She then added. “I don’t know exactly how I ended up on Le Habre Bleu, and I still don’t know much of the details, but my oldest brother Sarak didn’t die and neither did my mother. They both are involved in a forbidden cult. They claim I have a key to something sinister. Captain, I have no knowledge about a key or anything like that.”

I slowly nodded. “I only recently learned about this forbidden cult of the Necros. I almost fell victim to an entity called the Necro King.”

Har-Hi grunted. “You fell victim...”

I glanced at him. “I did, they transferred me against my will to a Necropolis underneath the surface of N’Ger, without Tyron I might add. Then there was this man with a gleaming sword...” I trailed off and wondered what happened to that guy.

Har-Hi crossed his arms. “I am not belittling your ordeal Captain, but someone who can summon such wonderful hardware isn’t exactly helpless.”

Sylia said. “I did not know about these Necros. In Thauran lore, there is a myth about Thauran Vampires. Officially it is nothing more than a fairy tale, but in my family, it is a dark and forbidden story that is supposedly real. Rene Thauran was a devout catholic, but his brother forgotten by history brought dark secrets from Earth. His experiments, so family lore claim resulted in the creation of immortal Vampires.”

Shea who had a plate of Strawberry shortcake in front of her said. “That is an old rumor indeed and has found its way into the Neo Vamp subculture. It is mostly nonsense of course, but the Thauran Vampire mythos and the stories about blood-consuming undead originating from Old Earth and many other societies are just versions of the Necro cult. The worship of the dead and death has been around in virtually every culture since the fall of the First Empire.”

A plate of Strawberry shortcake was slapped before me.

I turned and noticed Meeze serving plates with the desert to everyone around the table. His method of serving was not exactly very elegant, but then he was barely able to look over the table.

Chef Eeeryt came rushing. “Don’t eat this, it is a Meeze special!”

Har-Hi having forked a helping of the stuff in his mouth, made big eyes and somehow lost a few shades of his usually healthy red complexion.

Meeze said with a proud tone in his voice. “Whaz ze problemz, Chefz? Ze Daiz eaz it. Meeze likez iz.”

Eeeryt said. “Meeze covered rotten meat with strawberries and whipped cream. I have no idea where he got it from.”

“Iz noz rottzeb. Meeze takez iz fromz the planez. Iz ze freshz Thauranz!”

I never saw my friends vacate the table that fast. Har-Hi didn’t make it...

I had to fight my own bile. “Mr. Eeeryt please jettison whatever meat supplies Meeze brought along. Mr. Meeze we don’t eat...” I had to leave the table very fast as I noticed the strawberry smothered dish in front of me looked at me.

--””--

It took a while before we were able to return to the Den. None of us felt talking about food. Chef Eeeryt and Chief Hilbora assured us that they performed a molecular level bio decon. SHIP apologized and claimed that the meat supplies Mr. Meeze brought along were indeed fresh and did not raise any bio contamination alerts.

I told SHIP to drop the subject and TheOther promised to educate Meeze.

Ensign Sobur finished her report. She told us that both her mother and her oldest brother were leading figures in that Thauran version of that cursed Death Cult. She concluded her story about Fenris killing her brother, but also confirmed that her mother escaped on that boat.

Yeoman O’Connell placed my skull mug with hot coffee before me. I gave her a thankful nod while I asked. “How did that cult get a hold of these Nnnth tech things?”

Shea responded. “If my analysis of all events is correct it appears the Thauran’s had contact with that Necro King for a very long time and this is how that cult was able to spread within the Union.”

Hans, holding a PDD said. “It is a very small and obscure cult, according to ANA and Union Police. The estimates suggest about 10 million members Union-wide, but it is classified as a harmful organization.”

I sighed. “I am sure we haven’t heard the last of those goons, however, it is as the Admiral confirms a matter for Union law enforcement.”

I pointed with my cup towards Krabbel. “Any luck finding Suhky’s Membrane?”

Our Archa waved his arms in a confirming manner. “I am certain I have. I have talked to the Pim-Pam friend of yours, Captain. What they call Suhky’s Membrane is knows as Van Dyk Nebula to our catalogs. It is located in a region of Spinward that is designated as unexplored space. The nebulae is overlapping across the Spinward/Downward horizon.”

To the discomfort of many at the table, Mao was eating and of all things something with strawberries. He said between forks of food. “It’s unknown and unexplored indeed, but there are substantiated warnings regarding this region. It is believed the Piostla originated from that region.

After the end of the Piostla war in 4317 also called the Weird War. Some efforts were made to find the source of the Piostla. Back then this region was beyond the range of regular ships as you may know. Five ships were specially constructed with long-range engines and extra fuel. Of the five ships, two were lost, the Log drones confirm hostile action. Two of these ships returned after making it only halfway with engine problems. Only the USS Rickisan completed its mission, without finding any trace of the Piostla or making contact with other spacefaring societies.”

Shea glanced at Mao’s dish with a green shade around her nose. “This is the genuine Strawberry Shortcake version, right?”

Our Tactical officer shook his head. “Not exactly, I got inspired by Meeze and mixed some goat meat with it. It is delicious!”

Elfi held her slender hand before her lips. “You know you are sick, right?”

Mao grinned. “Can’t be. I am engaged with the CMO.”

Shea tried to ignore Mao. “You know they don’t eat during department meetings on other ships.”

“That’s why I am so happy we are on this one.” Mao countered.

My lovely fiancé and CSO swiped a holo into existence. The projection hovering over the center of the table surface showed a region of deep space, with a colorful nebula in its center. Then it zoomed in onto a planet. She explained. “The C did survey a Terrestrian world of the Vulcanian type. As your planets of this type are geologically active due to a variety of reasons. While these planets may be of any age. Early, still forming planets are often quite active, as are worlds that have grown close to their stars which have begun to swell into giants. Extreme tidal flexing also is a large cause of activity...”

As usual, she lost herself in details. Facts only Narth and the rest of our science geeks appreciated. I let her speak, but then interrupted her. “This is relevant?”

She blinked and a smile hushed over her lips. “The USS Rickisan encountered an apparent sentient species of beings living and thriving in the hellish magma and lava streams of that planet.

The ship at the limits of its resources returned.”

She tapped on her controls and doing so conjured an image of a Beagle Class explorer. “In 4930, the USE Zengh He under the scientific command of Dr. Martha Masters was sent to establish meaningful contact and investigate this Thermo energy channeling life form. The Zengh He was attacked and destroyed by pirates long before she made it to her destination. The subsequent Union/Kermac war was perhaps the reason this subject to be forgotten.”

Mao shook his head. “No, not entirely forgotten, two long-range probes were lost in that region. That and intel reports of two very warlike and advanced space-faring societies with possible ties to the Kermac and the Galactic Council were reasons not to send explorers this way.”

Elfi got up. “I too think we should limit refreshments to drinks when we have a briefing. I can smell the goat clear across the table.”

Mao sighed and covered his plate.

Shea was visibly pleased and gave him a thankful nod. “Maybe it would not be that bad, but Meeze’s offering made us all a little more sensitive than usual.”

Mao shrugged. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“Mao!”

Har-Hi rolled his eyes. “He liked Sucki-Lums remember?”

I did remember and said. “Back to the matters at hand. Krabbel plot a course to that membrane.”

To Narth, I said. “I think we should turn on our Silver Streak disguise. An independent Freelancer might not scream Union as we do now.”

“We are screaming Union? Why would we do that?”

I felt amused. “It is good to realize that you still have difficulties understanding human sayings.”

He didn’t lose a beat responding. “It is good to realize that you still use human sayings.”

Giving him a clouded gaze, he nodded. “I have the Janus system active as soon as we leave Union space.”

Alice, who wasn’t part of the senior staff meeting, but close playing with Fenris. “Can I ask why, Captain? It unknown space right?”

I smiled at her. “Our past experiences, Alice. While the Union might be ignorant of others, it seems they usually have heard of us. If the civilizations in that region know about the Kermac, they might have heard about the Union and not in very favorable terms.”

Alice nodded. “That makes lots of sense. One day I will be just like you, a Union Starship captain.”

--””--

SHIP told me that Middle watch had taken over from First Watch. The Tigershark was speeding towards unknown regions of our galaxy. While the Thauran situation was anything but solved, I was more than glad that we had left Thauran space behind us.

I was sitting behind my desk and after marveling at the precise and quite beautiful entries of my XO, I was just putting the last lines in the logbook.

Shea entered my office and without much ado flowed into my arms and onto my lap. “I talked a long time with the Eduk. That entity thinks it is a good idea to find the Unpronounceable. Eduk thinks that thing was around since the Earlies.”

That Eduk thing didn’t tell you what the Unpronounceable actually is?”

“Sorry, Eduk was not very specific. The Eduk, however, warned us about that region. He claims to remember that this was the core region of conflict between the Earlies and the Seeders.”

“Unknown space, unknown dangers out there. I think we can handle that. What is your opinion, my love?”

“Logic dictates that we should not be so confident, as it is by definition unknown.” She smiled. “But we handled everything so far. Can we handle the unknown danger within you?”

“It is no longer that unknown and comes more and more into focus.”

I closed the logbook. “Both of us are off duty and we are a long ways towards our new destiny. How about some much overdue loving?”

--””--

Har-Hi rushed onto the bridge. “Battle Stations! Call the Captain to the bridge, whatever it is it is big, beyond our tech and aggressive!”

His last words were underlined by a tremendous hit that made him lose his balance...

THE END