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 worms 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 try to locate that corridor and see what we can do. We can not 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 neighbor of the murdered man?”

“I think the same way, Phild figured it out. The front yard of the left domicile had Pletigroias. A strongly scented flowering hern 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. “Ye, the scroll of the prophecy. Nsrth 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 premisses 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 form 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 LKuitenant 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 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?”