Chapter 4: Dispersed

“No I don’t, but I gave everyone shore leave including Cateria.” While I said I had a strange feeling about that and tapped my PDD.”SHIP, do you know where Ensign Jolaj might have gone?” “Yes, Captain. She was summoned, along with Dusty to the Personnel office of this base.”

I got up, tugged at my sleeves and said to Har-Hi.”I don’t like this. Why would they be summoned while neither Cateria nor I were informed.?”

Har-Hi got up as well.”Let us go to that Personnel office then and find out.”

After the local Computronic gave us directions and we found the next Intern Base Transport access, I called SHIP again.”Why weren’t the XO, the CMO or me informed?”

“Sorry Captain, but you are not the Captain of the Tigershark anymore. I am breaking all kind of rules speaking to you, I am so glad you are calling.”

A cold fist grabbed my stomach.”I am not?”

“Sorry, but you have been transferred to the USS Braden.”

I slowly counted to ten in old Norse, forcefully stopping my hand from reaching for the Ax. Then I called the Admiral again.”Sir, I am relieved of my command! Transferred to the USS Braden. What is going on?”

McElligott gasped and checked something on a terminal of his.”That bastard, that goddamn bastard!”

He looked up.”I failed to revoke Admiral Taros rank. He and...” He stopped in mid-sentence and actually yelled.”Have Commodore Taraka, report to my office now.”

To me he said.”I am so sorry. I will have your command restored right away, just find a place to wait before you do anything and stand by.”

Har-Hi and I instructed the system to stop at the next access-point and stepped out the I.B.T.

We found ourselves in a transparent walled tunnel halfway buried in snow. There was an intersection about twelve meters distant and most likely the reason for an I.B.T. stop. A green-lit info sign informed us that this was the connection tunnel to Christmas Base dome Nine, while the intersecting one was leading either to Hull Armor Research or to Residential Dome, Blitzen Village.

Like everything Union, the yellow floor and walls were spotlessly clean.

Right by the intersection was a seating group consisting of a few Vari-Matic seats, a few plants. One of them a Rubber tree for certain and a Vent-Matic.

I doubted this place was frequented much, while Har-Hi sat down, I was too angry to find the state of mind to do the same.

Har-Hi said.”I am convinced, it is just a temporary thing, Captain. You ventilating that Admiral didn’t stop whatever orders he might have given.”

I had to agree with him on that. I was actually quite sure that the old Admiral would fix things. I stared past the transparent Dura-Plast walls onto a quite featureless snow-covered surface. There were a few shallow mountains raising against the horizon.

Har-Hi followed my gaze.”Very cold out there should feel like home to you.”

I knew my friend tried to get me calm down and I turned.”Uncle Hogun would call these bare chest temperatures. It’s not all that cold out there, to be honest.”

He shook his head.”You Neo Vikings are something else.” He didn’t feel like sitting and got back up, to check the selection of the Serve-Matic.

A female voice reached us asking.”You are Erica Olafson?”

I turned to see who was asking.

Thereby the I.B.T. doors stood a tall light blue-skinned woman, with long dark hair. She wore a tight suit of dark blue and black leather-like material, a holstered blaster on a low slung belt and she held a long single-edged sword in her right.”I am Tamara Taros. You killed my father, and now I am going to kill you.”

She pointed at Dai.”You interfere to protect this coward and I kill you too.”

I sighed.”Odin help. I am not going to fight you. Your father died in a duel. Threatening me with a weapon is both quite unlawful and foolish. I have a good mind summoning base security.”

“I am the head of Base security and I am off duty, so are you, Midshipman.”

Har-Hi drew one of his swords and handed it to me.”Unless you want to summon your special hardware.”

While taking Har-Hi’s sword I said.”You being security makes this even worse.”

McElligott looked at the Commodore that now stood before his desk.”Before I have you arrested, I want to know why you decided to throw away thirty years of career, in exchange for a court-martial. You know they will find you guilty.”

Taraka, an Andorian and a little over four meters tall, stared with glaring hate at the Old Admiral. “Because one more charge won’t matter. I know you are out to purge Newport graduates from this Navy. Admiral Taros was a classmate of mine.”

“I tried to give you and all the others a chance. You have been checked out by PSI corps and NAVINT, we know you had no contact with the Worm, that damned Admiral Dent, and his cronies. You even graduated before Dent took office. I am not purging Newport graduates, but I am cleansing this Navy from elitists who think they are better than others, not by merit but by association.”

McElligott’s face reflected sadness.”I built this Navy with the highest ideals as the foundation and in the three thousand years it exists, billions ... no trillions of virtually every member species we have met and exceeded these ideals with an unbendable dedication to honor and service. I elevated you to Fleet command and gave you quite a bit of leeway, not because you are a graduate from Newport but despite it. Petty revenge is that the motivation you are claiming in defense?”

Taraka’s chin quivered.”Why are you talking to a Midshipman as if he and his crew are something special? This is not proper for the Admiral of the Fleet.”

“Are there any regulations in that regard? Any at all?”

“It is dragging Fleet Command to the level of a common department. We...”

“This is it, there is the real reason. You and a bunch of others still want to be the elite and despise officers of regular academy origin. While we were looking for the Worm and its slimy agents, Nelson II noticed another, smaller but equally potent disease. Senior officers in Fleet Command convinced that the Admiral of the Fleet himself never went to a proper spatial academy and his commands needed to be filtered and adjusted.”

Taraka gasped like a fish, then almost yelled.”Yes, you are an old relic. Who knows what substandard pre astro school you went.”

“I graduated from His Majesties Submarine School at HMS Raleigh, you numbskull and Captain Olafson and her crew earned the right to call me at any time. I was onto you for quite some time, I wanted you to deliver me a reason I can use to discharge you. Not even I expected you would deliver me the rope to hang you.”

Two marines stepped into the office and arrested the man.

McElligott tried to calm down and then said.”Thank you, Nelson.”

“It is what one was created to do, Sir. Two down, seven more to go.”

McElligott grinned.”Let us transfer Admiral Sorodon to the First. I think my esteemed colleague will have some fun with that one.”

“One speculates with a very high probability that neither individual will classify the forthcoming experience as fun. One also needs to remind you, Captain Olafson is still standing by.”

“Good lord, patch me to Personnel and then get me Olafson on the horn.”

Jolaj was quite surprised about the new orders and assignment. Right after the Tigershark docked she was summoned to personnel of the 124th. The officer behind the desk was a friendly Takkian but had no idea what it was all about. The Silicon being however assured her that the order chip was genuine and signed by Admiral Taros. Outside the office, she almost ran into Dusty.

“What, they called you too?”

The gentle entity answered via his voice box, as Jolaj could of course not receive his electromagnetic signals.”Yes, and so did everyone from our med department. I guess the Tigershark will be in dock longer than expected and the promised shore leave turns out to be another assignment.”

Jolaj sighed.”I guess they will send us back to the academy and Fleet Med school eventually. Especially you, of course, wanting to become an MD and all.”

“I hope the Captain calls us back once the Tigershark is fixed. I love our ship and the crew that became my family. I have been alone for so very long as you know.”

“She rescued me from a terrible situation and a fate worse than death. I am a Togar, but I am home aboard the Tigershark.”

Dusty put his enormous hand, as gentle as a feather on her small soft shoulders.”I always knew the time aboard the Tigershark would not last forever, but I hoped it would last a little while longer. Where are you headed?”

She looked at her order chip.”I am assigned to the USS Winterspere, I do not know where she is heading, but I must hurry. She is scheduled for liftoff within the hour.”

She caressed the huge hand.”Please keep in touch.”

“I will, little Snowball. It is a shame they did not even give us time to say goodbye to everyone.”

Her eyes shimmered moist as she looked for the next I.B.T. “I will miss you all so much.”

Tamara Taros did not listen to any of my arguments and attacked.

I had to admit, she was not a common brawler and very good. Her style of fighting reminded me of Master Alameda.

Her weapon was razor-sharp and of a material able to gauge deep scars into the tough Duro-Plast walls.

Har-Hi had settled back down after selecting an apple from the Vent-Matic.

He watched and said in a relaxed tone.”She’s quite good you got to admit. I think they call this style Bushido and comes from Earth if I am not mistaken.”

She held her sword with both fists, one close to the blade guard and the other near the end of the hilt. Her attacks were meant to cut and kill, it was not a fencing style as taught with the rapier or the longsword.

Her face was full of concentration and she did not waste any breath on insults, but her attacks were clearly fueled by emotions of rage and frustration.

She whirled back, raised her sword next to her face and panted.”This should be over soon.”

Har-Hi yawned and tossed the core of his fruit in a recycler clear across the corridor.”Did you see that, Captain? Almost six meters for sure.”

Tamara attacked again and her blade charred once more across the edge of the one Har-Hi had given me. I nodded.”Yes, I have, bet you can’t do it again.”

He got himself another apple.”You’re on, and while I got your attention. Want me to call someone or something?”

“Naa, she will eventually wear herself out. I don’t want to kill her.”

“That’s a first, she being Thauran and all.”

“I resent that because I don’t want to be pre-judgemental towards any individual.”

“Those Thaurans do make it hard though.”

She made a big leap while bringing her sword down in a lightning-fast move, intended to split my head right down the middle.

Instead of deflecting this powerful attack, I moved with her attack and to the side, then I grabbed her right wrist with my free left hand and added my weight to her momentum.

I realized too late that this was way too much, my opponent crashed with considerable force into the opposite wall, right next to the recycler.

While I heard something break, Har-Hi said with a slick grin.”You missed, by at least a meter.”

Tamara groaned and came staggering to her feet, with a bleeding nose. “I kill you!” She hissed.

Har-Hi said.”I don’t know what it is with you. Don’t you see my Captain is playing with you? There is not a Dai that could stand against her.”

I handed Har-Hi the sword.”Playtime is over, Tamara. I sympathize with you losing a parent and all, that is why...”

Tamara threw something, and it was fast. No longer in possession of the sword and if truth to be told a little too confident, the star-like object would have killed me, if it wasn’t for Har-Hi’s lightning-fast reflexes.

He put his hand in the path of that throwing star, just before my nose. The razor-sharp thing hacked into his hand.

I seen similar weapons used by Alameda, they were quite dangerous if used by someone knowing how to use them. She was apparently very good with them and threw two more in quick succession.

However I was done playing and the countless hours of training with Alameda and Kai-Do, allowed me to evade them. It took a mere thought and Dark Blade grew in my fists.”I wanted to spare you, now you will follow your father!”

Tamara stumbled back, drawing her blaster.

My uniform was gone and a dark shroud was in its place.

The blaster shot hit me in the chest and simply dissipated.

Dark Flames engulfed the long sword I held out to strike.

Utter horror and primeval fear were shaking her, while she fired again with the same result.

“Who ... what are you?”

“I am the end of all things. You and all that is Thauran will die today!”

“She sank to her knees and cried in fear.”

Har-Hi yelled.”I am not hurt Erica, I caught the Shuriken.”

He rushed closer.”Erica, can you stop? Please. She surrendered, killing her now ... killing them all...”

“I am not Erica. I am Eric and I am the Dark One.”

Har-Hi drew his blades. “I am Eric’s and I am Erica’s friend. I knew there was something inside you, let my friends go.”