Chapter 26
Cateria , with a totally uncharacteristic warm smile on her face, handed the older kid a sparkle bright gum .
Only after the big-eyed mother nodded did it take the offered candy and unwrapped it.
My CMO had a reputation of being unable to show positive emotions and many considered her arrogant and cold. I knew she could have that effect, especially since she considered almost everyone primitive and far below Seenian development. Once I got to know her better, I knew much of her Seenian arrogance was gone, but she kept a small remnant of it to remind her of her own long lost civilization and perhaps as a shield to not let anyone get too close to the vulnerable woman she was underneath it all.
She was an excellent physician, trained and educated by the Seenian civilization, and everyone aboard respected her deeply but she rarely smiled. To see her stern features transformed like that was a little side note in the current events but I found it noteworthy nevertheless.
The Ithe woman had so far not spoken a single word and only after several assurances by Cateria that she would not harm her children, did she let go of the small one so my CMO could examine the infant. While I knew next to nothing about the Ithe, I estimated the bigger child to be around four or five years old and male.
He stood next to his mother while a Med bot hovered overhead weaving a new layer of skin over a cut on his mother’s arm. His eyes on short stalks moved independently. As alien as his face and appearance was, I could no longer see him as an alien as I noticed him clutching a little stuffed animal.
She turned to me and said, “Physically there is nothing wrong with them, save for a few scrapes, small cuts and superficial bruises. Generally speaking they are all a little undernourished and suffer from vitamin and mineral deficiencies. I cured a range of allergies and hypersensitivities in all three of them, but emotionally and psychologically they are in shock; their world as they knew it is gone. They had been simple workers till yesterday and now they are homeless and state enemies. As they are supposed to be dead, they can’t go back to their homes. At least in the case of the female I would suggest some psycho surgery, but that would be ethically wrong without their consent.”
“No Cateria, I won’t order you to do Psycho surgery. It always will be the last option.”
The white furred Togar female, another one of those we collected along the way fussed over Har-Hi, tending to the many little cuts he had received. Cateria noticed my glance and her lips curled to a faint smile. “Jolaj learns very fast and she is working full shifts. Our Togar snowball is very popular especially among the human male portion of our crew for some reason.”
Despite my growing comfort being female, this was not a mystery to me. Aloud I said. “I guess we need to make her an official member after all, send me your recommendations.”
“She already takes Union class with SHIP and the XO.”
It was only about 30 minutes since we had returned to the Tigershark. Cateria insisted on scanning and examining me too, especially after it turned out that the biting bugs had done more than just bite, but also deposited eggs into the wounds they caused. Har-Hi was his stoic self as the beautiful Togar told him he was infested with with thousands of alien bug larvae inside him, but I too knew him well enough to see the disgust in his eyes.
Cateria pushed the med scanner up and said. “There is nothing wrong with you, Captain. The Micromesh prevented the bugs from hurting you. I still suggest a hot shower and a change of clothing. There are hundreds of dead larvae sticking all over your suit. There is an auto dresser in my office you can use.” She did not have to ask me twice.
After a refreshing shower and getting a new suit I returned to the treatment room. Cateria was checking on the infant while she was closely observed by the Ithe women. Her little boy stood forlorn in the middle of the room.
I walked over to him and he backed off hugging his stuffed animal even tighter. So I went to my knees and said as soft and friendly as I could. “What is the name of your friend there?”
His stalk eyes focused on me and he said with a weak voice, “Crancy.”
“Do you have a name too?”
“Crancy is very afraid and I am Drenc.”
“I don’t think Crancy needs to be afraid, he is safe here.”
He looked around. “Is this where you have taken Daddy too? Can I see him?”
“No your daddy is not here, but we will look for him.”
The mother finally spoke. “You are from the Union are you not?”
I got up and said to her, “Yes we are.”
She too looked around, moving her eyes without moving her head, and said, “It is all so bright and clean. You help me but why don’t you help us? Why don’t you do something for all of us?” She spread her arms. “We are simple people. I am just a Seamstress working on sewing machine 3454 in factory 865. My life partner was a pattern cutter in the same factory. We know nothing of galactic politics. It is forbidden to know anything about other worlds. It is forbidden to ask questions.”
I sighed. “Lady, I know very little about the conditions on your world. We are quite distant from any Union Outpost or planet. What are we are supposed to do?”
She cried while she pointed her finger at me. “It is all true, what the Instigators say. The Union is clean and mighty and powerful and cares little about others. Do you know how many Ithe died or disappeared just because they listened to the Instigators and their dream to join your shiny Union?”
She sobbed and looked at her children. “Now my partner is on his way to slowly die as a slave on the Smelter Moons on drummed-up charges to appease our cruel true masters, the lords of Karthania.”
She gestured over her children. “What will become of them?”
She put her hands over her stalk eyes and whispered, “What will become of me?”
I asked her, “Is there a place you can go?”
She uncovered her eyes and said, “I think I could find shelter with my grandparents. They have a small Nuktur farm in the mountains, the gray leather coats of the Drake rarely go there.”
I said, “Okay then that is where we will take you as soon as possible.”
She looked at me. “Rench, my partner, said there is a secret community of the Instigators and those who want to fight against the Karthanian oppressors and their puppets are welcome there.”
Her tone of voice changed and there was an edge. “I never wanted to have anything to do with them, but now I want to fight. Make them pay for what they did to us, but if I fight what will become of my children?”
The little boy held out his stuffed animal and said to me. “Crancy is hurt too; can you make Crancy well too? Daddy said I must take very good care of Crancy.”
I smiled and took the stuffed animal. “I am sure we can.”
I put the toy on the diagnostic station and Cateria pulled down the diagnostic scanner with a sigh.
“I knew I would get some strange cases, being your CMO. A wounded Nul, a Y’All with an upset stomach, but I never dreamed to perform surgery on a stuffed toy animal.” She then glanced at the boy and changed her tone and said. “Let’s see what is wrong with Crancy.”
The young Ithe boy looked in awe as his stuffed animal appeared as a large three dimensional scan image on the field screens. There was an obvious tear in the fluffy fabric and some of the white stuffing was coming out.
One of the scan images showed the interior of the animal. It had some sort of mechanical or electronic component inside. She glanced at me then she said looking to the ceiling. “SHIP can you call an engineer up to Sickbay we have a special patient here.”
SHIP responded. “Circuit is on his way.”
I smiled at the boy. “Crancy will be good as new I am sure of it.” To his mother I said, “I suggest you find some rest and then we figure out how to get you to your grandparents without being seen.”
She nodded and I left sick bay to check on the bridge and the ship’s status.
Outside I almost ran into Narth who just popped out of thin air. He said. “The Ithe woman is not as innocent as she says she is. She belongs to the rebels of that society.”
I looked over my shoulder towards sick bay and said. “I had a feeling she was. On the one hand she claims to be just a factory worker but with the same breath she accused us of not helping. I still sympathize with her. Maybe the civilians weren’t as innocent as I assumed they were, but shooting women and children after dragging them out of their homes is still the vilest thing I ever thought possible.”
He nodded. “It is and from what I can gather, they do fight for liberties and freedom and those are very strong concepts I can understand.”
“Anything happen while we were gone?”
“Of course many thousands of events happened while you were gone, but none of any significance to ship, mission or crew.”
“I thought you are getting used to human expressions by now.”
“Getting used to them is not the same as understanding them. Do you have any idea how many such expressions you corporal beings use every day? It takes a significant portion of my intellect and several thought levels at once to constantly analyze and reference them.”
“Well I am glad you found something to do with that superior intellect and all those thought levels of yours, it would be a waste to have them do nothing.”
“Do you want to talk about your first use of telekinetics?”
I stared at him. “My what?”
“You saved that child from falling, by reaching out with your psionic abilities.”
I wanted to argue with him that I had no psionic abilities, but it was a lie I told myself. What has become of the Neo Viking that left Nilfeheim not so long ago? Not only my outside had changed and it was not simply growing up. I evolved and mutated into something else.
I looked at my mysterious friend and sighed. “What am I?”
Narth put his hand on my shoulder and said. “The sum of all that is Narth would fail to predict what you are going to be, but I for the moment, I would say you are a very stubborn Neo Viking refusing to accept the facts and you should really begin to practice the exercises I have asked you to do.”
“Narth deep down, I am still a simple boy from Nilfeheim. I never understood my own desires to be female and I prefer a sword of cold steel over blasters and psionics.”
Then I added quietly. “I am more afraid of the unknown thing inside me than I am of anything else. Despite the efforts of the Narth Supreme to erase or bury memories of recent events, I can feel it stir. I can feel someone, something, move in the deepest regions of myself.”
He said. “I know, I can feel it too, but you are not alone. Har-Hi, Shea and me, I am not just Narth, I am your friend. “ He then added. “The exercises are very important though. You know how dangerous it was for Alice.”
“She is very powerful as you said. Moving a child and pounding a Landing tank to scrap is a different story. How is she anyway?”
“She is fine and taking Union school classes, her education was severely neglected on Trash Island. As for your level of...”
We were interrupted by Circuit who came out of sickbay and said. “The toy is as good as new and does all the things it supposed to do.”
I smiled at him. “I didn’t think a toy would pose a serious challenge to my Chief Engineer.”
He held up a tiny black wafer thin square shaped thing. “This however was not part of the original design of the toy.”
I looked at it. “What is it?”
Circuit held it higher. “It is a truly ancient program chip.Like the ones Mothermachine used many thousand years ago. I am sure it some sort of activation key for something like a Computronic.”
I shrugged. “Could it not be part of the toys program, or from some other electronic toy?”
“Captain, that chip is at least 5000 years old and it appears Karthanian. Yet it is way beyond Karthanian technology of today and certainly beyond anything the Ithe could produce.”
To me it looked just like a little bit of plastic and I said. “Can you and Shea try to figure out what it exactly is?”
He palmed the thing and said. “That is where I was going, as soon as Shea’s bridge shift ends.”
“Alright keep me posted.”
I went to the bridge myself and found Shea sitting in the Command chair. She smiled at me and her eyes told me she was very glad I was back. Aloud she gave me a situation report and then Elfi said. “The Red Dragon called and left a message. He said that we should meet him as discussed in sixty days on the second planet. He also wanted you to know that all associated with the quest were able to leave with all their possessions, but the pirate Nocturna has indeed died. Her crew elected a new captain and had left Itheamh.”
I said. “It looks you got things well in hand here. I need to return to Itheamh once more to make sure our guests get to a safe place.”
Shea said. “I heard you rescued a woman and her children. We saw the execution, as it was broadcast. Heavily edited of course but it was still horrible.”
“Yes it was. I was under the impression Itheamh was a lawful somewhat oppressed but normal world, but it is anything but.”
Sobody got up and said, “It is, Captain. It is just not Union laws they are enforcing. The Ithe have a long and violent history. This world is not their real home world after all. It is the second one, the first one had been made barren and inhabitable by a nuclear war. The Ithe society here grew out of a former colony. Ithe and Drak are the same species.”
He walked towards the main screen that showed the planet below from a visual feed of the dock the Tigershark was still in. He pointed at the world below. “This world is barely able to sustain life. It is a very dry world with very little water. The colonists needed help to survive and help they got from the nearby Karthanian. The help they received was not free; they paid and are still paying for it after over 500 years. The Drak, supported by the Karthanians oppress the Ithe that had been here, but it is lawful.”
He sighed. “The Karthanian are not like the Union who would help without asking for anything in return.”
I also looked at the ash colored planet slowly turning below and said. “Why haven’t they simply taken over then?”
Sobody explained. “The Karthanians are extreme xenophobes. They do not like other beings sharing their worlds with them. Yet they want to do business with the rest of the galaxy, so Itheamh and a few other worlds like this are used by them like store fronts. You can buy Karthanian tech and ships here, have ships repaired in docks like this that are in orbit. Most of them are as you know controlled by the Karthanian guilds.”
Shea looked at her PDD. “Since there was not much to do, Mehedi and I analyzed their political situation. From what we could gather from their broadcasts, it is the Karthanian who cleverly keep the division between the Ithe alive. The old reasons that drove them to war on their old world are kept alive here. One part of the population is in power, even though they are nothing but puppets, while the other is kept just above poverty and does all the labor. The ones in power have to keep their masters happy, provide the Karthanian with cheap labor and maintain their status of power over the rest.
There is a group calling themselves the Instigators, who want to break free from these conditions and unite all Ithe. While the Instigators have a broad base of sympathizers in the general population, they are split among themselves. There are the purists who want to brush all alien influence away and decide on Itheamh’s future alone. Then there are those who believe they have no chance doing that on their own. They hope for Union interference and finally Union membership. This group believes that the Union would protect them from Karthanian reprisals.”
I said. “Would that not be the best solution for them? Maybe we can do something in that regard.”
Sobody glanced at Shea’s PDD and spread his arms as he said. “I have assisted Lt. Schwartz in that analysis as well and we have found out that an official Union Delegation had been here about a year ago, following an invitation by the Instigators, but they left without taking the application to Pluribus because it could only be considered if all of Itheamh applies for Union membership. The Magistrate of Ithe is still the official government and the Instigators could not even claim to have a large majority behind them openly wishing for membership.”
Har-Hi had silently stepped onto the bridge. “I have seen the execution too, Captain and I would love to do something about that, but nation building and interfering with local politics takes much work and lots of time. They have been at each other’s throats for over five hundred years.
If we remove the evil that controls them, there is a good chance they’ll use their new found freedom to do what they had done before the Karthanian helped them and bomb themselves out of their second home.”
I knew he was right. What he said made much sense and again he showed how well he knew me. He knew that I wanted to do something for the children. Find their father if possible or at least get something in motion that would provide them with a better future. Not that I had any idea how I would even get started doing that and still follow the Red Dragon on his quest in just two month, but I underestimated my friend as he added.”Having said all this, captain. If we do something, I am behind you. There should be no place in the universe where children are massacred for any reason. As an Union citizen and as a Dai warrior, I can not condone this or not do whatever it takes to stop this evil.”
I said. “Let us get our guests into the mountains to safety and forget about Itheamh. It is a number too big for us.”
We decided to use one of our camouflaged landing tanks. These marvels of Union technology could cloak.
Not that the Ithe maintained planet wide scans in the first place, but I wanted to make sure we could drop the woman and her children unnoticed by anyone.
Mr. Eeeryt, our chef, came almost running, carrying a big package. “We can’t have them leave without some provisions.”
I smiled at him and said, “I guess the whole ship knows about our guests?”
The Elly wiggled his short trunk like snout and said, “It was you who allow everyone to listen to what is going on. We are all very proud of you, Captain.”
I blinked and said. “What for?”
The cook pointed at the Ithe family standing next to the landing tank, the mother, holding her children close while she was talking to Har-Hi and looking on a PDD.
“Saving them, Captain of course. Isn’t that the real reason we are out here? Making a difference to those who can’t do it for themselves, that is what we are really about. It’s not the ships and the tech that makes our Union stronger and better, but that we don’t turn away from those who need help.”
I sighed and said. “I wish I could do more for them, but the situation is complicated.”
“We know Captain, we heard the XO. Still we know you’ll find a solution to all this.”
He said that with such conviction that I did not have the heart to contradict him. I said, “I try my best, Mr. Eeeryt.”
Har-Hi walked over and said. “It wasn’t easy, but she finally recognized the village she needs to go to. She has virtually no geographical knowledge of her own continent and there are quite a few mountain villages.”
“Well let’s get this over with.”
Har-Hi raised one eyebrow and said. “Captain, there is really no need for you to come along. We drop them at the bottom of the path and all they have to do is walk two kilometers and they are safe.”
“I promised the boy he will be safe and I want to see that through.”
Har-Hi piloted the landing tank with Narth sitting behind the mission control station checking sensors.
The Ithe woman held her infant and was very quiet. The boy, however, had lost some of his fear and shyness and first looked at Narth, then Har-Hi, before he focused both his stalk eyes on me. He said to me. “Will you find my daddy?”
I didn’t want to lie to the child but I also did not want him to lose hope so I said. “If we find him we will bring him to you.”
The woman turned her eyes to me and said, “They will drop us off at Nunu and Taru and then we will never see them again.”
There was bitterness in her voice.
What was there that I could say? She was right, but I wished she had not said it that way before the little boy.
He clutched his animal close and his stalk eyes sank in a heart breaking sad manner.
Har-Hi said, “We are almost there, I am taking us down.”
Narth checked his scanners and said, “There are no significant energy sources nearby.”
We debarked and stood before a steep mountain path. I could smell the smoke of a distant fire. It was just before dawn and the local sun was about to come over the horizon. The wind was very cold and dry and it tugged on the simple dress of the woman.
She pointed up the path and said, “Up there is the village of my grand-parents. I haven’t been here since I was a little girl; ever since they restricted travel, coming here is impossible.”
I shouldered the food pack our cook had given us and said to her. “Lead the way then, I am going to accompany you to the edge of the village so I can make sure the village and your grandparents are still there and you’ll find shelter.”
For the first time she smiled and said to me, “Underneath all that black leather and those weapons you do have a good heart, Captain Velvet.”
Har-Hi grunted something, sealed the tank, activated the cloak and then followed us too, as I began to walk behind the woman. The path was steep and the gravel crunched under our boots. He too, had a soft heart under all his tough Dai warrior exterior, as he scooped the boy off his feet and put him on his shoulders.
We had walked about a mile, Narth who floated effortless next to me said, “We are not alone.”
The next thing I heard was a sharp whistling sound and a ragged rock hit my friend with force against his hooded head, a second rock hit Har-Hi almost the very same time. A third rock grazed my temple, and made me see stars. I saw both of my friends falling to the ground, just as I went to my knees myself.
The boy cried and the woman screamed. “Stop, don’t hurt them.”
Out from behind boulders and rocks, appeared Ithe men wearing furs and swinging some sort of loop like slings. Out of the painful daze I counted seven of them. I recognized the weapons they used as sling shots, very primitive missile weapons our instructor at the academy had shown us once. Through all that, I wondered why Narth had not detected them earlier.
The woman was almost hit by a rock as well and again she yelled something in a language I did not understand.
The men were armed with big sword like weapons and those slingshots and they scrambled down the ravine and came closer with caution.
The woman spoke again, this time she used Squawk. “I am Narmoa, granddaughter of Nunuat and Tarnua. The Draak-Ithe have killed many and we had to flee. These are strangers of other worlds who helped us.”
One of them said. “Tarnua and Nunuat are dead for seven wind times already, but we remember them.”
Another said. “The Drak-Ithe have patrols on the mountain paths and we thought you were of the Drak.”
The tallest of them said. “We must hurry; a Shogotrz is on the hunt in this valley. Only Fire Beamers can kill a Shogotrz and if one is used the Drak can find us. Let us take them all to the village and leader Claramoa will decide what to do with them.”
I stumbled back on my feet, blood blinding my right eye, my hand on the blaster, the men drew their swords, from somewhere from behind another rock was hurled hitting me on the elbow and I dropped the weapon.
Three trained Union Officers, one of them a Narth and a Dai outclassed and outfought by a bunch of primitives with slingshots and we were in this situation because I wanted to help. The seven were not alone, there were more.
One of them came closer and kicked my blaster out of reach while holding his sword to my throat while there where others with whirling their slingshots. I was certain their swords could not cut through the micro mesh of my suit, but the blunt force trauma was just as effective as a cut.
While I was sure Narth was not dead, I could not reach his mind. I hoped for their sake, Har-Hi was alive.
The woman screamed and then the men looked at something behind me and yelled. “The Shogotrz.”
I managed to turn and saw a big, scaled monstrosity that somewhat reminded me of the snapper crabs of Nilfeheim. It stalked on eight spidery legs and had four long appendixes armed with sharp looking claws. I estimated it to be at least seven meters wide and three meters tall.
The locals pelted the thing with their rocks, but they bounced of the tough, shell like armor of the beast.
I witnessed the power of the thing as it grabbed and crushed a man like a weightless doll into a bloody gore.
The alien creature made a metallic hissing sound and it too, had stalk eyes, six of them, and a mass of whip like tentacles around a small mouth. It blocked the way down the hill, and my chances to reach the landing tank were nil. As I turned, I saw the locals had already scrambled a good distance away; one of them had dropped his sword. I cursed them and promised myself if I would somehow survive this, I would kill each and every one of those cowards.
I took the sword and backed further away from that monster, while I drew the 45 and fired. My aim was good and three slugs found their mark right into that open maw and a fourth shattered one of the stalk eyes, the last three bullets careened off the armor of the beast.
None of my shots had done anything to slow down the beast, or hurt it in a significant way.
After putting the empty 45 back in its holster, I grabbed the alien blade that was somewhere between a broadsword and a scimitar with both fists and jumped out of the way of a snapping claw arm.
The blade was heavy and looked sharp and it rang with a bright note as I hammered it against the other claw that was about to decapitate me.
The arms and legs of that monster were covered with the same tough armor as its upper body. But then the sword bit deep into a leg joint, there, where the arms and legs were articulated, was a small area without armor.
While my head was still ringing like the brass bells of the Thing stead Round House from the rock that had grazed my temple, I danced and jumped between the legs and claws of the monster, knowing even the slightest oversight would be my end.
Another sword blow against the joint right behind the claw showered me with a spray of dark green ichor and rewarded me with the painful, high pitched scream of the monster.
That claw dangled useless from its arm and this success made me careless and another claw almost caught my left leg, its saw like edges scraped painfully across my shin bone.
I clenched my teeth, ignored the pain and cut off two of the mouth tentacles.
The fight went on and, while I had no way of telling how long I was hacking and jumping, I noticed my own energies fading. I would not last much longer.
My monstrous opponent was no longer as fresh as it was before, missing two of his claw arms, two legs, and most of its mouth tentacles, but so far I had hit nothing vital and I had not seen any place or mark where I could sink the blade and end the bout.
I wished I had an arsenal like Har-Hi; one of his anti-matter pellet grenades would do the trick.
Here I was fighting for my life and that of my two best friends, against the toughest life form I had faced so far and I was in this situation not because of the Kermac or someone else’s fault but because of my own doing.
Yet I could not, I must not fail. My own life was not important but both Har-Hi and Narth lay on the ground not far behind me and for their sake I had to prevail. In all this I tried to keep a cool head, to keep my anger down. I knew my rage was a gateway for whatever was inside me and I told Narth the truth. I feared that even more than the Shogotrz before me.
Then I slipped on a smooth rock, stumbled and as I tried to regain my footing one of the remaining claws of the beast snapped around my left ankle.
It felt as if the beast had clipped my foot right off as it pulled me with irresistible force towards the remaining tentacles.
I successfully cut one more of these arm thick leathery tentacles before the last one sneaked around my neck. I could see the small feeler like things inside the creature’s maw reaching out like a hand.
I would not fail.
I choked as I had hard time getting air. As I was struggling I could feel something growing inside myself, I knew it was my true self, but it was dark and felt so utterly cold. In all this I tried to prevent its rise, my own voice seemed to have changed. “Nay I say! I shall not be slain by a mindless foul creature! What Gods and theElders of the Universe could not accomplish shall not be thy triumph.”
I raised my free arm.”BEREAVER TO ME!”