Eric Olafson, Fleet Cadet (Vol 3)
Copyright© 2018 by Vanessa Ravencroft
Chapter 23: Kermac Prime Interlude
The Kermac High Circle of Wizards listened to the report of their spy. He had shown them a recording of the Assembly proceedings as well.
Vorneun, the Intelligence wizard, looked perplexed. “Can someone tell me what is going on here? I never even heard of the Fornax Cluster. What were they talking about, Kermac, in Y’All ships?” He addressed Nachacht, the Military Wizard, as he expected him to have done something in secret, but Nachacht looked as surprised as the Grand Wizard clenched his little fist. “It has begun. The Call has been answered. The Y’All are here, and the cursed Union will be no more than a memory.”
Nachacht raised his hands, wanting to strangle the Grand Wizard. “Did you not see and hear that entire report? The Narth will go to war on the Union side. I am not sure if there are enough Y’All in this Universe to stop that one Narth Sphere they have sent. Did you hear the Union Reps screaming for war? We are not ready for war.”
The First Wizard said angrily, “That was just a Union ruse. A cheap actor. Anyone can look like a Narth. Besides, even the Narth are not invulnerable. They too can be conquered. It is your job, Wizard of the Military, to make sure we are ready for war.” To the Intelligence wizard, he said, “Your task is to find out how the Narth can be overcome. Your task will take priority over everything. The Universal Collective had a way to deal with the Narth. We are the successors of the Uni.”
“They are gone for two million years.”
“The shafts of knowledge are still on Koken. Go there and do your research. No cost and effort to be spared. Take and recruit what you need.”
Vorneun was no longer as pessimistic. “Yes, I will do that. I wondered why we left all that knowledge there in the first place.”
“Because the shafts are dangerous and they do not easily give up the information, and only Kermac can access them, so we cannot use thralls. I value my existence more than knowledge, but you are expendable, and so are a few thousand of our kind you can take along. Now go and be successful.”
Vorneun was not sure this was the real answer. There was a reason their forefathers had left the shafts untouched and left Koken. No one remembered the reason why the Kermac left Koken. The story about hearing the Voice of the Universe was mythology. There was another reason. Yet he had been there with the Grand Wizard, and nothing bad had happened. He wondered also why no Kermac before them had gotten the idea to do that. There was a hidden tome of information guarded by the first wizards that held the answers. Part of his mission, he decided, was to get rid of the Grand Wizard and make himself supreme, and then he would know.
--””--
COMMANDER HOLLOW
No one had shown up to brief me or anything. So I reported in ten minutes before the time I was supposed to be there. JAG Office 54653 was an entire floor of the building, and I was asked by a human Ensign to wait in a boring lobby until I was called with a few armchairs and a low table littered with Fleet magazine foils.
A single-room plant in the corner looked somehow forlorn. Every now and then, women in high-heeled shoes and skirt suits would stalk down the corridor and disappear in one of the many doors. I could see the desk with the Ensign, and after 12 minutes, I asked him if I was at the right place and if they knew I was there. He looked bored and a little annoyed. “Midshipman Olafson, I am doing this job for a while now and very well, I might add. You are but a Midshipman, about as important as that rubber tree there in the corner. I have registered your presence with those who requested you. All you have to do is sit tight and wait. If it takes all day, you still wait. There are important matters worked on, and should they need you, they call you.”
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