Chapter 3: Christmas Base

Lord Lumis sat brooding on his throne as he listened to the latest report Mircael delivered standing below the golden steps that led to the Seat of the Righteous, occupied by the chosen of Crea.

“Champion of light, it is I Mircael the Brilliant who must again be the bearer of news that might not be well received.”

The man, who existed in spite of the will of the One behind it all, removed his gauntlet covered fist from his chin and straightened in his golden seat. “Speak then, Mircael. It is about Lathrop my rival, is it not?”

“Yes, mighty stalwart it is. The self-proclaimed Son of Darkness, the one called Lathrop has been slain.

It is a gene clone copy of his that tries to become the Dark One.”

“Foolish of course, the Dark One will not incarnate in a clone copy. Therefore you wasted much time, chasing the wrong leads. We know the Dark One has already chosen a vessel and reunited six of the Tokens.”

The Lord of Light got up. “I must travel to this star isle, face and slay that creature before it can reunite all tokens. Yet where do I go?”

“I told you before, mighty Paladin. There is a union of sentient species...”

“I know, the one you said the Narth and the Coven are part off. Something I still find hard to believe. Maybe your sources are as wrong about that as they were about this Lathrop being the one.”

“Chosen Son of light, we had no guidance. Our most wise leader found it necessary to remain in the Upper Realms, while the Dark One found its vessel.”

“You are safe because I am in need of you. However, your criticism will not be forgotten. Now, tell me more.”

“It is good you will remember them, I am sworn to the light.”

“You insist on your story that the Narth and the Coven are part of a larger society? The Narth do not accept the refugees from the Nether-Worlds. Besides Malag and his spawn must have reduced the Coven witches to a few survivors. Have their hideaway been found?”

“The Malag has been slain, the Coven Hunters have been destroyed. The Narth alcove at the Assembly is right next to the alcove of the Coven. The Eduk and the Saresii have welcomed the Coven just as the Narth have done.

Narth agents strengthen their intelligence services. There are whispered rumors that the Narth Supreme has allowed the Nnnth crystals to be accessed and Nnnth technology has been shared.”

Uritel another knight of the light approached the high seat of the chosen one. “Lord of light. I have returned from the spiral of stars after speaking with our agents. Mircael speaks true, the Union of societies is not an empire. It is not a kingdom, but it strong and solid. They defeated the Y’All, the Piostla, and many others. The Dark One is already here, his vessel walks among them, reunited with seven tokens already.”

“In dire times, dire measures must be taken. I shall travel to the Stronghold of the Fallen and consult with Saeth the Highfather of the Brotherhood. You, Mircael will find the Urd and press for information. These old spirits might know where the Dark One has found his vessel.”

--””--

My crew and I had returned to the Tigershark and readied for liftoff, when the Admiral of the Fleet himself contacted us, still wearing his traditional highlander costume. “Captain Olafson, please proceed to your original destination, Chrismas base, and the 124th.”

“Aye, Sir. We have a destination, and orders to be attached to the 124th?”

“Not attached, what a silly idea, just using their base. It is about the Ypeherix. You will meet with Dr. Mark Members who has become the Science corps matter expert on these enigmatic creatures.”

“Sir what about the Shiss and the Unknowns?”

“The First Fleet is on its way. So am I, and twenty full number fleets. 96th to 100th are there already along with the very recently Nul turned Union fleets. Girl, there are so many battleships and combat units responding there isn’t much room for your fish. The Tigershark for all its power isn’t meant for full-scale battles.”

He held up his hands to keep me from saying anything and added. “I read the report and seen the visuals of you fighting the Y’All, your big friend made me watch it three times. I am not questioning your ability to fight when you must, but that was and is not the reason the Tigershark exists. Besides your ships hull is just repaired not fully restored.

Christmas Base has a shipyard with the capabilities to do just that.”

“Commodore Haraka’s orders then are no longer valid?”

“These are my orders. Sorry, Captain Olafson. Like it or not I am in charge.”

“Just checking, Sir.”

“Good speed, Captain Olafson.”

He disconnected and I said to Krabbel. “You heard him Mr.Krabbel. Lay in a course for Christmas base.”

--””--

Calia Lethra lounged relaxed in the comfortable Vari-Matic seat of her space ships’ little lounge and had watched a Newscast on GalNet One, the Union’s main News Channel. Her elegant little Sports Ship was speeding towards Togr, the home-world of the Togar.

The ship was currently in Quasi-Space and the oversized ISAH Pods propelled it with many times the speed of light via this trans-dimensional layer between real space and HyperSpace where faster than light speeds could be obtained without the tempo-spatial limitations of real space.

She was a Togar female, member of a proud and ferocious feline species ruling over a sizable empire in the Upward Sector of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Soon her ship was soon to leave Union Space and traverse into Freespace and after another 430 light-years would reach Togar Space and the Planet High Togr, the, and center of the Togar Empire.

Like most Union citizens, she was following the events unfolding near the Union Klack corridor; technically not a corridor anymore since the Nul had joined.

Two colonies had been attacked and destroyed by unknowns, apparently aided by the Shiss. The unknowns turned out to be Shiss as well, led by a renegade named Hazzzock.

A sizable fleet of Shiss warships had been engaged near Balmung of all places.

The other news dominating the channels was the recent engagement of the Eternal Warrior and the Commandant of the PSI Corps, Alycia Lichfangh.

Calia was one of the few Togar that gained Union Citizenship. She was the commanding officer of the American Spirit, the private space-ship of Alex Enroe, the president and CEO of Enroe Industries.

Alex was her employer, but he was also her friend.

Enroe Industries was the only Union entity that did business with the Togr empire, Alex considered to be a friend of the queen herself.

Calia Letrah landed her elegant little ship near the estate of her family. It was almost 2000 Gorth from High Togr, the capital, and almost twenty Gorth to the next neighbor.

Out here at the southern edge of the Golden Savannah, nature was still unspoiled and just the way it was many thousands of years ago when the Togar did not fly among the stars to fight and conquer.

Calia was as proud as any Togar of their achievements, but she realized how much the Union had changed her way of thinking and looking at things.

Her mother and three of her siblings came running and she saw her father and her brothers in the back waiting for the females to allow them to join.

The Letrah family had neither been very influential or rich until Calia worked for Enroe Industries. Now they could afford this sprawling home complex, with servants and six square-gorth of private land.

Her ship was a brand new sixty-seven-meter Enroe Colt III. Designed to be a toy to the super-rich.

As the commanding officer of the American Spirit and a friend of Alex Enroe, she received a very generous salary and this ship as a present.

She pressed the contact of the cargo door and waved the kids and the family close, the men also. “I have a load of fresh pork, Lots of tuna and a ton of bacon.” She yelled and waved them close.

There was nothing Togars loved more than Terran style bacon, except perhaps Terran style Tuna fish.

It was served in small portions to the very rich and influential families in expensive eateries.

She probably could have purchased a nice villa in the Vughtr quarters of the Capitol for the revenue of her cargo if she decided to sell it.

She managed to get home only every other year or so, because Togr was far and the trip was, despite her fast ship not without risks. She had to fly across pirate-infested Freespace, and on more than one occasion was fired upon by Togar ships, as she reached Togr space.

Of course, they were supposed to hail, but Togar usually fired first and rarely if ever hailed. Some were openly jealous and would not hesitate to blow her little ship to bits to get to the cargo and the fine tech it contained.

Togar tech was crude and primitive compared to Union standards. She always managed to outrun them.

That the little ship had a high powered FLT Quon Plasma Cannon, six HEL torpedoes (a miniature version of the famous and feared LOKI torpedoes Enroe Industries manufactured), and was equipped with the finest Union shield technology was, of course, another reason she always managed to reach Togr unharmed.

The Enroe Colt was magnitudes faster than anything the Togar or pirates had.

Officially she was under the Queen’s protection and much of the cargo in the other hold was for the Queen herself.

While Enroe Industries was officially doing business with Togr, doing the actual trade was difficult. Corporate ships of Enroe delivered the wares to Pandenom, a world just 25 light-years in Freespace and Togar ships picked it up. Enroe did not want to make it too obvious they traded with Togr. While there was no Union law prohibiting this kind of trade, the general public was not too fond of the Togar, mostly due to the unfortunate and well-known practice of Togar buying humans to eat.

Pirates usually had no quarrel attacking a single Togar ship either, so battleships had to be sent along, making the traded wares quite expensive.

Her mother greeted Calia who was the oldest daughter of the pack.

“Have your claws and fangs dulled slaving for those meek and weak humans?”

Her mother could not make up her mind if she should be proud of her daughter or ashamed, so her greeting was no different than usual. She did enjoy the gifts and the wealth that came with them and kept the insults to a limit.

“Some of the humans I know, could rip you to bits and before you had time to roar, mother.”

It was no boast either. She had seen Union Marines fight; however, the average human had no chance against a Togar female who could take on a Shiss and win.

Of course, this was a moot point. Neither the Togar nor the Shiss, stand any chance of survival if the Union really went to war.

The feared Nul, perhaps the only known civilization that would at least cause some damage, had in a quite surprising move, joined the Union only recently.

And now even the legendary Y’All or whatever was left of them were Union members.

She had seen the images of the latest space battle. The Shiss had attacked with everything they got and were slaughtered, it wasn’t even a real fight.

Whenever she was thinking about these things, she remembered the young man, Eric Olafson who had taken command of her ship and defeated a Dai battleship. Sometimes she wondered whatever happened to him.

He most likely had graduated Academy and perhaps advanced to Luitenant, serving aboard a battleship.

There were great warrior species out there: the Dai, the Shiss, the Nul to name a few. But Humans and especially the Terrans were not just warriors they were soldiers and in the end, Soldiers always defeated warriors.

Her mother ripped open a sealed pack with bacon and stuffed a handful of slices into her maw, then said.

“I have seen humans they are weak and easily slaughtered.”

“You have only seen slaves, tied up, naked, spirit broken colonists, kids, and women.

You never faced a real Terran. Our queen who is a strong and capable fighter respects the human who is my boss.”

“The queen played with him, she considers him a fancy little pet. It is a disgrace that my own daughter, a warrior born is subservient to a human and even worse he is a male!”

“It doesn’t stop you from eating the bacon or selling my gifts to live in luxury.”

The banter was interrupted by the high pitched noise of approaching fliers. Only important families and the nobles had fliers.

The ones approaching were large and armed and bore the sigil of the Queen. She counted seven and the first one bore the banner of the queen herself.

The Queen’s flier landed close while the six others landed in a semi-circle behind.

Ever since the trial of the Innocent white daughter of the Light spirit, the queen was quite aware of the fact that there was a growing danger to her life.

The ruler of the mighty Togr Empire herself stepped down and approached.

Calia and her family knelt and lowered their heads, paws stretched upwards to show devotion, obedience and that there were no weapons.

Tobaia the seventeenth approached Calia and said. “Rise and face your sovereign.”

Calia did. The queen had not come alone.

Two steps behind her was an all-black Togar female with glowing yellow eyes. Black Togar were very rare and usually in the service to the Goddess of Togr.

This one was no exception, she wore the hooded robe of the High Priestess.

The Queen was among the largest females, her fur was of rich golden color that at places was turning grey around arms and legs and along her nuzzle.

The queen showed interest on Calia’s ship. “You have a new one again? This one looks quite fast.”

“Yes, your majesty. It accelerates at over 890 north per second and I made the trip from Union space to Togr in only sixteen days.”

The queen sighed. “My engineers tell me that our fastest ships accelerate to 300 north. Humans always seem to excel in these matters.”

“Your majesty, I brought you gifts. The finest Tuna, something called Sardines, delicious honey roasted ham and of course bacon.”

She reached into a pouch she had on a strap across her shoulder and held out a glass jar with a blue lid. “This your majesty, is called Caviar and comes from an exclusive fish farm on Terra itself. Mr. Enroe sends this and a case with 100 more jars as a personal gift to you.”

The queen opened the jar and scooped a mass of dark grey fish eggs with a clawed finger, sniffed at it and then tried. She squeezed her eyes closed and then licked her chaps. “Convey our thanks. It is a delicacy like no other.”

The priestess stepped forward. “Your majesty there are Togr delicacies just as good as any the humans have. Should the sovereign of our glorious empire not lead by example?”

The queen held out the jar. “Sample this, priestess and say what we have that compares.”

The Priestess reluctantly tried, it was clear that she was unable to pretend it was not good and she said. “It is decadent and designed by Humans to make us dependent.”

The queen waved at Calia’s family. “Remove yourselves, we have need to speak to Calia.”