Chapter 31: Interlude: Aboard the Devastator
Richard stood by the view port in his office aboard the Devastator. The Ship was still on its way back to the LMC. The Narth were certain that the nextY’All invasion would come from this direction. He had seen the Narth Sphere during the last Y’All invasion and now that the Narth Supreme had personally told him that the Narth would be on the Union Side and hinted he would share some Narth technology with the Union he was far less concerned as he was before.
He smiled at his own reflection, how did the Narth Supreme put it? “It is conceivable that Narth will allow some minor adjustments to the Union technology.” Whenever he talked to the Narth Supreme he felt pretty small and primitive, even aboard the Devi. It was like a Caveman proudly showing off a Flintstone hand axe to someone who used directed energy weapons.
He turned and looked at beautiful Alycia she had fallen asleep on the visitors couch after briefing him of the latest development. She was not human, not even Saresii. He had only glimpses of her true power and form and yet she too could get tired. She had interrogated the prisoners for the last twenty days and that in addition to all the work she had to do as the lead officer of the PSI Corps.
He went over carefully lifted her legs onto the sofa and covered her with a blanket.
As he was stepping away she blinked and smiled at him.” There is a soft and caring heart under all that steel armor of yours, after all.”
“Just don’t tell it around. I worked hard on that reputation.”
She sat up but kept the blanket wrapped around her.” No worries, Warrior, come join me. It is quite nice right here.”
Just as he decided that this might be a good idea, his personal Terminal played the first notes of the Old Marine Hymn. Since it was piped directly to his terminal it could only be the other Old Admiral. He sighed and Alycia nodded.” He has impeccable timing. In moments like this I wish I could turn him into a toad after all.”
Stahl grunted.” The real scary part is that I think you actually could.” He then told the terminal to establish the call. Elligott’s avatar appeared and he was in the process of stepping out of a Destroyer suit. Stahl’s left eyebrow shot up and said.” Lieber Gott, what happened that made you suit up?”
Elligott grinned like the Cheshire cat.” Once in a thousand years I was able to have a little Adventure and its conclusion could easily steal your thunder just once, and I can’t really publicize it.”
Stahl walked over to the sofa and sat next to Alycia.” I have no idea what your obsession is with this stealing thunder theory of yours. I am not doing this for glory or fame.”
“I know, everyone knows that and you know I am not really out for fame and glory myself, but every school kid knows about the Warrior and even our enemies shake in their boots when they hear your name, given that there are some that wear boots. Ah well I am old enough to have my own little idiosyncrasies.” He struggled getting his left leg out of the Armor.
“You certainly won’t steal my thunder when it comes to get in and out of a battle suit. In the time it takes you to get out of it, I take a shower have a beer and watch the first half of a football game.”
Alycia giggled.” I think you almost made him a little angry and now he is really stuck, but I bet he is the only one wearing a Kilt while inside a Quasimodo.”
McElligott cursed like a medieval highlander but finally managed to get his foot out and his smile returned.” We just solved the Wichita Bone mystery uncovered an old Pree chamber full of alien weaponry. We discovered a new species of Terrans and solved the Human Mystery, pretty much.”
That did have the expected result and both Alycia and especially Stahl sat straight up. Richard said.” Are we sure it’s Pree? We know even less about them than about the Uni.”
Elligott nodded.” I activated the Pree Sphere myself.”
“I am sure you did not call to end your story here. Would you please elaborate?”
Mc Elligott retold the events and when he was finished poured himself a glass of whiskey sat down and lit a pipe. The blue smoke wafted only a few inches and then disappeared as it left the Avatar projection radius.
Neither Stahl no Alycia had interrupted him while he was talking but now Richard said.” I wonder if the Uni were the ones that left the Guardian behind on Earth then.”
Mc Elligott answered.” It certainly is a possibility, but somehow I don’t think so. I am sure the Uni have an important role in that and perhaps they did seed human life. We found that the Hanglers, a species of semi intelligent primates also found on Planet New Place came from Saran and were taken by the Uni, but then there is an amphibian Snake species there that has the same DNA structure as life from Ulta. The Ult are not Humanoid or Human.”
Stahl said,” but their DNA is not so different from us and who knows how Humans would have developed on a Water world like Ulta.”
Alycia spoke.” I don’t think the Human Mystery has been solved at all, the mystery has deepened.”
As it was his habit. Stahl used an old fashioned pencil he always carried in his left chest pocket and jotted down a few personal notes on a little paper note pad. Of course he had a PDD and could dictate any notes to it or using the ships computronic, but like Mc Elligott he liked old fashioned paper.” That Midshipman is going to serve his third year aboard the Devi for sure.”
“God help us.” Elligott groaned.” You and him on the same ship, I am not sure the galaxy is ready for that. If I wouldn’t know better, I’d say he is related to you, perhaps a distant nephew.”
Stahl didn’t get into that and gave Mc Elligott a short report on the events and the situation in the Fornax Cluster.
Mc Elligott finished his drink bade his fare well and disconnected.
Alycia took the hand of Stahl.”You trust me don’t you?”
“If a woman, especially you ask that question I should be inclined to say no.” He smiled at her.”Of course I do.”
“You are the only living being outside the Coven that knows who I really am and it is very important that this Midshipman goes to the Coven. The Circle wants to talk to him; this conversation will determine if we join the Union.”
“I would lie if I understand what you are, Alycia. When I first met you, you were the closer to a demon than anything else.” He held up his hand.”You know how I feel about you and I know you are some sort of a female entity from another plane of existence. Heck you are as mysterious as the Narth, perhaps even more so, but you have saved my life countless times and you are the only one I ever considered to marry, bit could you explain to me what you want with that Midshipman?”
Her big purple eyes shimmered as if she was close to tears.” I love you Richard more than life and more than the Coven and I will tell you know secrets that we have shared with no one.
He said nothing but paid attention to every word she said and so she begun.” You know there are many other realities, dimensions if you will. You humans use Quasi Space to escape the physical boundaries of your own reality so you can travel faster than light and use that marvelous communication technology that allows you to exchange conversations over incredible distances. All the members of the Circle are survivors of a terrible war that raged in our universe for a very long time. That war was fought with means you would call magic, but it is just another way of channeling higher energies. Just as a psionic talent uses its brains ability to tab into trans dimensional energies to do these incredible feats. The Saresii for example are physically not stronger than Humans but there are some that can move many tons of weight with their telekinetic abilities. They are not doing this with their own energies, their minds are able to act as a conduit and just as there are humans that are physically stronger than others, there are Psionic talents with greater control than others.”
He nodded.” I think I understand the principle behind Psionics. Even before the ascent some physicists on Earth theorized that some of the functions of the human brain could not be explained with normal chemical electrical triggers but that there had to be something that acted faster than the speed of light. Something we thought was an absolute and could not be exceeded. They called it exotic matter and now we know that these particles like Tachyons were used by the brain of sentient beings. This faster than light radiation of a human mind is what a telepath can hear and use to read another beings mind.”
She nodded.”Exactly, it is not magic or unexplainable. Once you have the right tools and knowledge you can explain it and even base technology on it, just like our Para Dim Shields, PSI tech and Life sign scanners.”
He said.”Or Neuro Rippers and Paralysators.”
She sighed. “Of course you are Terran. The first thing you guys did when you discovered this technology was making weapons.”
He looked a little guilty. “I guess we tend to see weapon potential in some things.”
She waved her hand.” Anyway I am getting away from my story. In that universe of ours we called it magic and we channeled similar energies to fight each other. Our war reached a climax and it became clear to us that no one would survive and so the Coven, a circle of female wizards or if you prefer the term witches searched for a way to escape the imminent doom. We found a way to cross the normally impenetrable veil that separates these Universes and we came here to this your Universe about 5 Million years ago. It took us a very long time to get adjusted to this universe, to be able to think and manifest ourselves completely.
At first we had no agenda here. We simply wanted to stay hidden adjust to this Universe and perhaps find a way to take the next step in our evolution, but by coming here we had to make many sacrifices and we lost much of our knowledge and developmental gains. All this is very hard to explain and even more difficult to understand, even for me.”
“What should I say? You basically lost me ten minutes ago but do go on.”
She sighed.” We observed many civilizations here, we saw the Celtest rise to prominence and when the Dark Ones came, we thought they could be the enemy of our Universe and that some also found a way to escape the final battle and we went into hiding much like the Narth.”
“Everyone in our Universe knows about the legends of the Dark Ones but nothing of them has ever been found, no artifacts, no records no ruins and none of the old species that were around back then can describe them. Some went in hiding like you and the Narth and those who choose to side with the Celtest were severely punished or completely wiped out. But they had to come from somewhere and if your kind made it across these Universal barriers why not others?”
“We lost the knowledge how to cross these barriers and it might take us millennia before we gain it again.”
“So what has all this to do with a Neo Viking from Nilfeheim?”
“It is not entirely true that there are no artifacts of the Dark Ones. We know the Narth guard such an artifact on Narth Prime and the Coven guards another. There is an old legend, a prophecy if you will that tells of a human that comes from a cold world. That human will have to face the returning Dark Ones. We know not when this happens or if it will happen at all in this universe and this time, but Eric meets three of the criteria. He does come from a cold world, he is the only Human that could ever set foot on Narth Prime and maybe see or touch that artifact. He has shared the Hughavh with a Narth and if we understand the Narth Supreme correctly this will turn Eric eventually into a Narth. Also he has this female duality in his being that would allow him to set foot on Coven and learn our secrets and see the other piece. We think that there is a slim chance that he might be the one that must face the Dark Ones. The legend says also, that this Human would have the means to defeat them forever. This prophecy is anything but clear and it is very vague. Eric might not be the one. It could be that he will father that human. Maybe he is just a necessary piece in the puzzle so that Defender can be born. That prophecy was made in a Universe before this one.”
Stahl had a dry mouth.” We do not know what the Dark Ones are, but we know they had been here at least once before. I never told that to anyone but I think the Guardian who made me and the others immortals had picked us to form this Union to take the place of the Celtest the next time the Dark Ones come and this is the real goal of our task, to make this Union strong enough so we do not share the fate of the Celtest. Only a blind man would not see that this Neo Viking has some sort of destiny.”
She took his hand.” The future is not set in stone and our actions and decisions shape the way it will turn out, but I too believe the Dark Ones will return. The Celtest were not the first who had to face the Dark Ones. The Uni had to face them before, but unlike the Celtest they did not stand and fight but fled and left this galaxy. The Pree who were as advanced as the Uni and had a very deep sense of justice and love for life disappeared as well, and no one knows if they perished fighting or if they too decided to flee. We think the Uni were human and they seeded the planets with their own DNA in the hope to be reborn that way if they failed to run from the Dark Ones.”
“I trust and believe you, and I hope we still have a few thousand years before the Dark Ones return but if there is a chance that this midshipman plays a role in this then we must not stay in the way. How do we get him to Coven? Not even I know where it is and I think I you brought me there after I had to fight the Malag and was near death.”
“We had planned to have the Midshipman pick up a small space ship that will malfunction and send him to Coven, but I did not want to abduct a Union citizen and Union Officer, I wanted you to know about it and maybe simply order him there.”
“Yes I will do that.”
“Your feeling is correct, you are the only male being that ever been on Coven. You were almost gone when I found you; no mortal has ever faced a Malag in combat and survived. It was then I fell in love with you.”
Stahl’s eyes trailed into the distance as he remembered. The hardship of the Penal Colony, his escape and then he had to run and went into exile and traveled with a band of rag tag heroes and misfits in a rust bucket of a ship halfway across the Galaxy, but that was then and long ago. The Peace Force party was long gone and the Kermac agent acting as Union President, making him an Outlaw was long dead.
“Tell me where to send that Olafson and I transmit the orders.”
She said. “In a moment, Warrior, I still have a very important matter we need to discuss and it was you who started it.”
He wrinkled his forehead. “What matter would that be?”
“You said something about marrying me. I think this deserves a few moments of consideration and conversation, especially since I just might say yes.”
--””--
SECURITY CLEARANCE
Ross 248 a red dwarf star was only 10.2 light years from Earth and in terms of Suns it was moving fast towards the Sol System and would be the closest star to earth in another 35,000 years or so. It used to be a flare star, but the Wurgus had fixed that. There were three small rocky planets and a relative Small Gas Giant. All four planets were utilized and colonized for a long time. The largest of the rock planets was named Frank Elmore. From space it looked like a dark brown rock that was covered with a fine net of glittering diamonds. The Diamonds were the lights of huge sprawling factory cities; dozens of Corporations manufactured mostly supplies and tech for the Union Fleet.
From the Information Brochure I learned that the Ross system was frequented by 1000 freighters every hour and thus one of the busiest star systems in terms of space ship traffic and that there were several hundred space born factory complexes and no less than 14 Class A Space ports in the System.
The trip from Blue Moon lasted only two days and we were about to land. The Bus was filled to the last seat mostly with technicians and workers returning from vacation trips.
While Blue Moon was the central traffic hub for the entire union, I had switched buses so fast; I had no time to really see anything there.
While the bus made its landing approach I hoped I would find the Gortha Dock Yards right away.
--””--
I had debarked and followed the workers and other travelers across a slide belt and through the Customs Check. Before I could even think where to go I saw a man in Fleet Uniform and Master chief rank insignia waving at me.” Sir, you must be Midshipman Olafson from Nilfeheim, right?”I was surprised and said.”Yes I am.”
He chewed at something and said.” I am here to take you to the Dock Yards. Your ship is ready.”
“I didn’t know someone would pick me up but I am glad I don’t have to find them myself.”
“I recognized you right away. You were the only passenger in Fleet Uniform and only a Neo Viking could have the idea to travel with some archaic axe over the shoulder.”
I blushed a little,” Sorry about that. It is a souvenir I picked up at my last stop and had no time to send it home yet.”
“No worries. It sure helped me to recognize you.”
He pointed at a pair of Ride-bots. “Hop on Sir. This is the fastest and best way through this mad house. It’s Monday after Union week and literally millions of workers return from vacation. These Space ports are always busy but nothing like now.”
He wasn’t kidding. The entire space port concourse was filled shoulder to shoulder with pushing and walking beings and swarms of messenger bots and small cargo drones filled the air above their heads.
The ride bot was basically an S-10 Robot with a seat bolted on its back, with leg rests where the bots hips were. The bots knelt down and I climbed on mine, while the Master Chief mounted his. The bots rose and extended rotating yellow lights from their chests and stalked into the pushing and shoving masses.
A man in a business suit waved his Credstick at me.” 1000 Creds if you let me use your bot.”
Before I could even say something my bot found an open path and rushed forward. It was a mad ride, and I had to hold tight to the handles as the bot changed directions almost every second, and without running into anyone we made it through the concourse onto a six lane slide way. The master chief guided his bot next to mine.” I was picked clean three times before I got smart and got me ride bots. There are gangs of pick pockets; they rob you blind before you even know it.”
“I have never seen so many people in one spot. I bet there are more people in that lobby than there are on Nilfeheim.”
“I was born here, but I think it gets busier every year.” He pointed down the Slide Belt tunnel we were passing through.” Four more kilometers and then we are at Gortha HQ. Traffic will thin out.”
“Seeing all this, I am glad it will.”
“At least you leave. I have to get back in three hours and pick up another Officer.”
“Does this happen a lot?”
“Three four times a day Sir, Gortha Docks got an Order for 25,000 Sturgeons and only half are picked up by freighter. The rest is transferred by pilots like you. They delivered 8,003 so far and I am with the Fleet Liaison Office so it’s me who picks you pilots from the port.”
“I guess you could ask for a transfer.”
“Naa I love my job. I just like to complain once in a while. I can be home every evening with my family, as I said I was born here and I am used to it.”
Gortha HQ was a Glass and Metal façade and a bright red Project-a-sign. The Master chief wished me a good trip, collected his robot and went back on the Slide belt going the other direction. I never even had time to ask his name.
A Garbini stood behind the reception desk wearing a dark red uniform and the word Gortha on his chest. He checked my order chip and waved his tentacles. I knew he was a he because of his fur color.” Your ship is ready on Dock bay eight. There are complimentary accommodations in the Red Ross Hotel across the Slide tunnel if you want to rest before you take off and there is lunch for all Fleet Personnel and if you like you can watch the Gortha Dock Experience in our Corporate Virtu theatre.”
“No Sir, I would rather get started, if that is okay.”
“Of course, Sir.”
He paged someone and moments later a dark gray skinned being appeared, and I recognized it as a Leedei. It was only the second time I came in contact with a being of that species. The first time when I was interviewed by the screening specialist on Arsenal Gate, this Leedei bowed slightly and just like the one at Arsenal Gate had its spidery fingers folded in a very complicated looking way. I said.” Did your Sip Sap ever help you get your hands untangled?”
The dark shadowed area that appeared to be the mouth of the being did not move, but it made the same humming sound.” It appears you are very familiar with Leedei, which is a pleasant surprise. Very few Non Leedei know about us.”
I smiled.” To say I am familiar would be stretching it, Sir. I met another Leedei only once.”
“I am pleased never the less. Please be so kind and follow me. Your Sturgeon is ready and I am sure Traffic control will be able to give you a lift off window soon.”
I followed the being into a People mover cabin and after a short ride exited onto a large Duro-Crete field with at least twelve brand new space ships. The being explained:” We are a contract outfitter for SII Small Craft Division, finishing the standard base Sturgeon Class Courier to Union Fleet specifications. There are eighteen different versions and all are named after types of Acipenser Fish. That is a Terran fish type also known as Sturgeon.”
“I think Terrans like to name things after animals form their planet, without knowing that no one else ever seen one.”
He hummed again which was the way his species laughed.” Indeed I often think so too. In any case you will take out a Type Nine or so called Atlantic Sturgeon. It has the longest range of any Sturgeon Type ship and is well armed for a small ship. Type Nines are outfitted for Border patrol duties.”
I thanked him for his little lecture and could barley confine my excitement. All sturgeons lined up colored the standard Union Off white. They were about 60 meters long had two decks and I had to admit with a little phantasy they did look a little like a fast fish, almost shaped like a Rock shark, Without the fins and tail of course. This one had two stubby wings attached to the dual aft ISAH pods. The Leedei pointed at the stubby wings and said.” I see you noticed the wings. They have been added to the design as Sturgeons often operate inside planet atmospheres and they do add tremendous flight stability to the ship in atmospheric environments and on the Type nine they are thicker and reinforced to act as weapon hard points. Your ship carries two A20 Havoc Ship to ship torpedoes on each side at the moment.”
“No Loki torpedoes?”
“While the Loki’s are famous, they are made by Enroe and this is a SII product and the HAVOC’s are the SII answer to the Loki program. The fleet is currently testing them and this Sturgeon is part of that test program. In any case you won’t need them, but they are part of the equipment package.”
He pulled a PDD.” So what will her name be?”
“Her name?”
“She isn’t going to be part of a larger ships auxiliary fleet and since it is only a Sturgeon, Fleet lets the pilots picking them up, name them.”
“Elena, I like her to be called Elena if that is okay.”
He worked on his PDD and said.” Yes USS Elena is registered and added to the Transponder code.”
A towering Octo-Bot rolled up and one if its metal tentacles emitted a greenish glowing beam and he wrote USS Elena next to the Union Flag symbol on the side of the Hull.
The gray skinned Alien held his PDD under my nose and said.”If you would like to sign here that you received the ship in good condition from Gortha Docks Inc. Then all formalities are done and you can take her out.”
“Should you not want to come aboard with me and we run a preflight test first?”
“Sorry I am not allowed aboard anymore. The ship is sealed and for Union Fleet personnel only. It carries Military grade weaponry and Fleet Computronics.” The being pointed at a bulbous extension underneath the nose cone.” That is the main reason and Fleet is very nervous and very picky who is allowed around one of those.”
“It has a Translocator cannon?”
“Dual Mini Load TL”
I signed the form with my thumb and the Gotha Employee said.” She is all yours. If you find anything wrong with her during pre-flight you must first report it to your Command and they decide what is to be done. She is all yours, have a safe flight.”
The air lock opened and the boarding ramp lowered before me and as I stepped aboard the lights came on. “Welcome aboard SII Sturgeon – Version 9-Atlantic. USS Elena. Please complete Identification Process.”
I transmitted the authorization codes that were part of my Order chip and the ship’s AI responded.” Authorization verified and accepted. Olafson, Eric. Command Authority verified. All Systems unlocked.”
I dropped my Gear bag; jacket and axe right here in the little Air lock room and made my way to the Mini Bridge of the ship. It was barley bigger than a cockpit of a D12 Shuttle but since it had four duty stations and a real Command Chair it was technically a bridge.
I might have been born a Neo Viking and I sometimes I was confused about my own Gender identity, but at that moment when I sat down in that Command chair, I felt as right as rain and I had neither doubts nor the slightest confusion. It was Courier ship, had no crew but it was a real space ship, with shields, weapons, long range engines, sensors.”
I ran a detailed pre-flight check and carefully diagnosed all systems; part of my order chip was a long check list and instructions what to look for.
It took over two hours and included a walk through the ship. It did have a small galley, Crew room with 4 bunks, a tiny Command Officer cabin with fold out desk and bed. Small Galley and a cargo hold that had room for 60 tons or 3 standard containers.
Then it was all done. The ship checked all systems on stand by and all boards green and when I hailed traffic Control, I was connected to an automated system that assigned me Launch Cone and lift off Time.”
I had done this many time before in the simulator and with the training D Twenties we had at Basic Training, but this was my first solo un supervised lift off and it was terribly unspectacular as Control required Computronic assist lift off, due to the heavy traffic.
Only after I was over 6 light minutes away from the planet, Control released the ship to me.
I let the ship drift and opened the sealed course and destination instructions of my orders. I was to take the ship to Pauli Station almost 2500 Light years in the Upward Sector and would then receive final destination instructions. The Ship’s Trans light speed was 32474 times light speed and I would make the trip in nine days, in other words at least nine days of the most perfect vacation I could imagine. Pauli Station was only 45 light years from Narth Prime and I promised myself to call Narth and see if he was able to talk or use GalNet by now.
Thinking about my friend I could almost feel his presence and I knew he was alright, and would soon be able to return to the Academy for his second year.