Chapter 7: American Spirit

The ‘American Spirit’ was nothing I expected a space ship to look like from the inside. It was more like a luxurious villa, complete with garden, swimming pool and green lawn. We stepped through a glass sliding door under a blue sky with a single yellow sun, and on the green plant surface he called grass was a table with umbrella and a few garden chairs. I saw rolling hills with forests in the distance.

“All simulated,” Alex explained. “The walls are actually only 30 meters from us, but I like the way it looks this way. Care for a drink?”

“This is amazing. You’d never know you were in a space ship sitting here. Do you have coffee?”

“Sure do.” He ordered some and then he gestured around. “This is my private deck. The rest of the ship is more traditional.”

He sat down and I followed suit. Just as the coffee was brought out by an older man with white gloves, part of the sky vanished and a huge field screen appeared. A voice said, “Mr. Enroe there’s news on GalNet you might want to see, sir.”

“Put it on.”

A news announcer said, “I repeat, Intergalactic war is imminent. Nogoll forces have violated the Free Space treaty and are engaging Union ships. A force of more than 500,000 Dai Than units is fighting alongside Nogoll forces against units of the first fleet in the Prometheus Five Sun Nebula area. First reports of casualties have been confirmed.”

The CEO of Enroe Industries sighed. “They say war is good for business and in a pure profit sense that’s true, but I wish our generation could’ve been spared. I feel sorry for the lives that are going to be lost.”

“I need to go to Arsenal then sir. I’ll do my part.”

“I have no doubt you will, Eric. May I call you Eric?”

“Yes of course.”

“Call me Alex then.”

The News announcer said, “This has just been announced on GalNet One. All Union forces have been put on the highest alert. The Pluribus Assembly has called for an emergency session. All civilian craft are asked to avoid border areas and return to the closest ports if possible.”

“Well that voids your plans to get to Arsenal for a while, Eric. Arsenal is now in enemy space. That region is highly disputed and only ours because this system was annexed by us as part of the armistice. I bet there won’t be any space bus traffic to Arsenal gate for a while.”

He got up. “I can drop you off at the next Union planet where you can wait for space bus traffic to resume or you can come along with me to the planet Austin.”

“Austin planet?” I asked.

“I’m sorry Eric, I must to give you a rain check on the visit to Gore. Enroe Industries will do its patriotic duty. We have a substantial fleet of our own and I’m planning to mobilize it and see to it that we do our part to shorten this war.”

With a gesture he conjured up a bubble display that hovered above the table between us. It showed a three-dimensional star map. He pointed at a star system and said, “Austin is one of our corporate planets and it’s not too far from the Prometheus Five Sun Nebula. It’s one of our biggest corporate fleet ports. I’m sure we can find something for you to do until Arsenal opens again.”

“If we’re at war then I want to do my share, be it as a Fleet cadet or as a civilian. Count me in Alex. Can I make a call?”

“Sure, go right ahead.”

I did call the contact that was provided in my application documents. The Union Navy logo appeared. Then a voice said, “Caller identified. Applicant Eric Olafson of Nilfeheim planet. Please stand by for the next communication resource to be available to you. Wait time is approximately nineteen seconds.”

The Space Navy march started to play. The voice came back on after the first few notes. “You are now connected to Arsenal Two, Union Space Navy Academy Headquarters, Recruiting Specialist Olivia Green.”

The screen changed and the same dark haired, exotic beauty with dark brown skin and almond-shaped eyes looked at me. “Good afternoon, Applicant Olafson. Thank you for calling. I’m the AI avatar assigned to you. What can I do for you?”

“War is imminent and I’m an applicant, what must I do?”

“Thank you for your question and your willingness to serve, Applicant Olafson. I’m accessing your records now. You aren’t due to report to Arsenal Gate until 1 October, 5017. Currently all civilian traffic to Arsenal is suspended until further notice. Should no civilian traffic be possible by then, we will contact you with alternative academy destinations.”

“But what are my orders right now?”

“Applicant Olafson, I assure you the situation is well in hand and the Navy will contact you. Please be assured the collective society of our Union and the Space Navy appreciate your commitment to service and duty. Again I confirm a note has been made to your file and you’ll be contacted should your application destination change.”

I thanked the simulated person and shrugged. “Looks like I can come along, Alex.”

“Perfect.” He gave me a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, our Union is strong and we will prevail. I’m sure.” The super-tycoon who had turned out to be a real nice guy said, “Let’s eat something and then I’ll give you a tour of the yacht.”

We did eat and the food was truly magnificent. The old man with the white gloves served beef steaks and potatoes that were about as perfect as food could get, and it wasn’t even fish.

After the meal he kept his word. After seeing the impressive engineering section I was allowed on the bridge of the Spirit. In the subdued light I saw men and women behind duty stations. A furry cat-like being sat in the Captain’s chair. Alex introduced me. “Captain Letrah, this is Eric Olafson a resourceful young man I had the pleasure to meet recently. Eric, this is Captain Calia Letrah, she is a Togar.”

The feline captain extend her claw-tipped hand and, with a gnarling sound to her voice, said, “Nice to meet you Eric and yes I know what you’re thinking. I am a Togar but I can be trusted and won’t eat Human flesh.”

“I don’t think you’re reading my thoughts, Captain Letrah. I’ve never seen or heard of the Togar. They eat Humans?”

A man next to her laughed. “Our captain can get agitated when things aren’t done her way, but she hasn’t eaten any of us, yet.”

Alex said to her, “Take us to Austin, please. Fast as she goes.”

She responded, “Yes, Mr. Enroe.”

Alex leaned over and said in a quiet tone. “Togars are an elusive civilization clear across Free Space. They have no direct Union contact. They’re one of the so-called Free Space independent neutrals, but they don’t like the Union much and it’s said they buy Human slaves for food.”

“They also have very good ears,” said the captain. “True, the Togar Empire doesn’t like the Union but the Togar also don’t like the Kermac, the Nul, and the Shiss. In other words, the Empire doesn’t likes anyone very much, with the exception of Alex perhaps. Yes, Togars like Human flesh, we also eat Shiss and Kermac and pretty much everyone we can digest. I heard Ult are delicious too. Nul on the other hand are undigestible. I personally prefer Terran pork; it’s similar in texture to Humans and much less rancid.”

Then she laughed with a roar. “It smells like war and who knows if there will be a Free Space after that, or a Togar Empire. If that Admiral Stahl is on a roll, he might not stop until he reaches the other side of Downward.”

Her comment caused smiles and fist pumping among her bridge crew. Alex also grinned and said, “The Eternal Warrior has never been known as a diplomat, but I’m sure he has the situation well in hand. The news spoke of the First Fleet and that means he and the Devi are right where the fighting is happening.”

The Dream was a private yacht, a very big one and just a civilian ship, yet the sense of efficiency and professionalism was addictive. It was a real space ship and this was its bridge. I had the same feeling I had back when I saw the USS Ragnarsson. This is where I really belonged, in space and on the bridge of a space ship. Not that my chances of ever getting there looked good at the moment.

The Togar got up from her chair and stood beside me. “What fascinates you so? You look like a Togar cub standing inside a meat shop.”

“All this.” I made a gesture around the bridge. “It’s where I want to be.”

“Yes I was the same way ever since I was just a cub. I didn’t belong to an important family so I would have never been allowed to become an officer in the Togar fleet. Enlisted yes but Command, never.

When Enroe Industries started to deliver pork to our worlds, I sneaked on one of their freighters. Long story short, I was allowed to become a Union citizen and Alex made me the Commanding Officer of this yacht. Enroe Industries is the only contact the Togar have with the Union by the way.”

“Why aren’t there more Union contacts with the Togar?”

“I told you, most Togars don’t like Humans, other than minced on a platter that is, but one of Alex’s corporate security ships rescued our queen from Shiss raiders and he even fought our queen in personal combat. He lost, but only by a little and survived, and for that our queen respects him, even likes him. And all Togars love Enroe bacon.” Her tail twitched as if independently alive. “How about you, Human. You appear young. What are your plans?”

“I’m on my way to join the Academy to become a Star Ship captain.”

Her slitted eyes were actually quite beautiful, and she had golden, black-dotted fur that shimmered like silk. “Yes, that’s a worthy goal if ever there was one. There are no species, friend or foe to the Union, that don’t admire Union Fleet captains. They’re a special breed of beings, regardless of what species they come from. Saresii, Saran, Shiss, Terran, Klack, Ult or any of the many others, the Union seems to have found the secret to selecting and training them. Infinitely confident as the depth of space they are. I’ve met quite a few, you know.” She gestured around. “I’m content with this. It might only be a yacht to you, but it’s a big one and could easily take on a Togar battleship in terms of shields and weapons and we can, with ease, outrun everything we Togar have. But, I must confess, I’d give my tail and my eyeteeth for a command on a Union destroyer.”

She curled her chaps under her black nose with the long whiskers on each side. “The ‘American Dream’ technically is a genuine Union Fleet supercruiser, a test platform as much as a private yacht for the latest Enroe tech developments, and the Union Fleet operates several thousand of these in a different configuration and layout.”

She pointed at the central seat. “We’re still deep in Union Space and two days away from Austin, if you want you can try it out for size.”

You mean I can sit in the Command chair?”

“It’s where you’re going to spend much of your time if you’re successful in your quest. You might as well see if you like it.”

It was nothing short of a religious experience for me to actually sit in a real space ship Command chair. It immediately adjusted to my body. She explained, “It’s all pretty much fleet standard except the classified stuff and we don’t have Translocators.” She took my hand and placed it over a ball-shaped object. “That thing under your right hand is called Master Control. With it you can access all bridge functions - Helm, Navigation, Tactical, Engineering, Security and Ops. If any of these stations fail, or don’t react as you want them to you can override them from here. It only takes a little time to get used to it and then it becomes intuitive. Fleet calls it Intu-control for that reason. The panel now sliding under your left hand is the Master Access Panel. It directly connects you with Communications at all stations; ship-wide, departments and computronic. You can raise alerts, isolate ship sections, probe damage control and provide evacuation instructions. The pedal below your left foot activates chair controls and the right one controls the Command Monitor bank.”

I could somehow feel the ship’s power through the leather of the seat. It was as if the ship had become a part of my mind. Nothing could be compared with that feeling.

Her whiskers twisted and she exposed her razor sharp teeth and it took me a moment to realize she was trying to smile. “I’m not the best judge of Human expressions, but you sure look like you belong there.”

Interlude 7: Out for Revenge

Dai patriarch Ima Win-Do had narrowly escaped the slaughter. He was still shivering involuntarily; most of his tribe, including the Ima Mother was gone. He had seen her rupture and disappear inside an antimatter fusion bomb explosion so huge it looked like the birth of a small star. The Devastator had broken through that cloud of destruction like a demon with glowing shields.

Only the presence of a second Dai Mother from another clan, firing upon the Devastator, saved his battleship and everyone aboard. One of his destroyers had sacrificed itself flying into the path of three Loki torpedoes. He ordered helm to retreat as a salvo of FTL beams hammered into his shields and damaged many systems, including navigation sensors. Instead of heading for Free Space they went deeper into Union Space. They noticed their mistake, but they had nothing to lose. The tribe was gone and, from the last images he saw of the space battle, many Dai wouldn’t live to see another day. His mind burned with the shame of retreat and his heart was heavy with the loss of everything he held dear.

The traitors had lured them into a trap. The Thalim Nebulas always had been a remote Union area frequented by miners and civilian ships and held only two star systems with useless ice planets in its vicinity. It always had been a good hunting ground. Now, completely unexpected, thousands of asteroids suddenly turned into heavily armed space forts, with Translocator cannons, Thor Gun boats and batteries of Loki torpedo tubes.

As mighty as the Dai fleet was it would have been much more of a fight with a well-organized armada. Looking back, it was utter madness to do it without any coordination between the Dai tribes. There was chaos and confusion on one side and military precision and tactical guidance by a worthy admiral on the other side. He wondered if he should not have joined Kar-Hi, but it was too late now. He had fled in the face of the enemy, no matter the fact that thousands of other tribes had turned and fled as well.

He had never been this deep in Union Space. On his long range scanners he saw only three ship contacts and sixteen star systems within reach. His navigation system still wasn’t reliable. Navigation relied on exact time keeping and a special sensor array that was trained towards the Galactic center and several known pulsars. A ship’s position could then easily be established. The sensor array dedicated to that task had been melted and his navigator established position the old way, by comparing star charts and making course calculations.

All three of the contacts appeared to be civilian ships. Two of them, from their size and speed, were most likely space buses trying to reach the next port. Full of arrogant Union citizens. Since he didn’t know exactly where he was, any of the sixteen systems could be Fleet bases and approaching them would get him destroyed before he was able do something. He needed something to quench his desire for revenge. The third target was faster and bigger. Most likely one of the fancy luxury clippers, full of wealthy citizens. A worthy target for a pirate. This time this wasn’t a raid. He wouldn’t give it a chance to surrender. He wanted to cause as much death and destruction as he could before Union forces finally got him.

“Charge all weapons. Maximum speed. When we’re in range, take out its engines first.”

GalNet Entry: Ker

>>> Approximately one million standard years ago, a Human sentient species, the Ker developed faster-than-light travel. The Ker left their original home system, located somewhere in the outer limits of the Coreward sector, and moved their entire society across half the galaxy to a garden world 20,000 light-years closer to the galactic core.

It’s not known why the Ker moved their society. The Ker originally were a society of five closely related races, differentiated by skin color and size. These species were the Ker, the Mar, the Mac, the Blue and the Golden.

Little original documentation exists but, according to scholars familiar with the subject and from limited documents still existing with the Blue, the Ker engaged in a systematic war of genocide to eradicate the other races they met. They were aided in their quest by the technology of an advanced non-Ker civilization that scholars suspect to be the Universal collective. It is assumed three groups united and called themselves Kermac. The Blue gathered their people and left the Milky Way galaxy, only to be rediscovered by Union explorers in the Andromeda galaxy.

The Golden began a nomadic existence and became a society of traders and merchants, operating galactic trade posts they call bazaars on wandering moons and large asteroids across the galaxy. All Ker species have psionic abilities. The Kermac are the strongest and the Golden are the weakest in terms of psionic abilities. The Ker are usually strong telepaths with the special ability to hypno-suggest, that is to force their will upon others. They don’t have many telekinetic talents and no teleportation-gifted Kermac have ever been reported. The Kermac believe they are the oldest sentient civilization and the only species worth existing as they are the only one that is perfect.

They use a special and unique Kermac device, known as the Will Amplifier that allows a small group of 20-30 Kermac to take and maintain control over an entire planet’s population. The Kermac feel they are entitled to be served and that their control bestows great blessings on those allowed to serve.

While they control some species and races by psionic means, they control others through military might, expressed via their many thrall species.

The Kermac extended their control and sphere of influence over a great area of space and, about 20,000 years ago, controlled over 845 sentient spacefaring species. About that time they met the Ult, before the religious event that turned the Ult peaceful. The amphibians of Ulta proved to be immune to the Kermac psionic attacks and the expansion of the Kermac was halted.

During that time the Kermac also met the Saresii, who were older and had much stronger psionic talents and a sophisticated psionic energy-based technology. It was at a time when the old alliance of sentient species, centered on the World of Old had collapsed.

The Kermac hated the Saresii and their interfering, which nullified the power Kermac had over others. They decreed that all Saresii should be exterminated and war broke out. The Saresii freely shared their Psi shields with anyone wanting it, including the Sarans and the Klack. The Kermac-Ult-Saresii war lasted over a thousand years with no real advancements on either side. The Saresii weren’t interested in gaining ground and the Kermac were unable to win.

The Y’All then arrived for the first time. The Kermac proposed to put aside all aggression and form a new alliance, called the Galactic Council, so all galactic civilizations could face the Y’All together. Even though their combined forces had some success, their doom appeared inevitable. The Wurgus lured a huge part of the Y’All fleet into their solar system and then ignited their own sun into a supernova explosion, destroying two-thirds of the Y’All armada. The Y’All became even more aggressive and went all out for revenge.

To read this story you need a Registration + Premier Membership
If you have an account, then please Log In or Register (Why register?)

Support the author's future writing by purchasing this book from Bookapy

Eric Olafson, First Journeys (Vol 2)

Vanessa Ravencroft

$4.00