Chapter 9: In Space 2

For the next several weeks the Republic battlecruiser cruised peacefully through space. So far there was no sign of any pursuit by the Morro and the course the Republic battlecruiser was taking was a wide circle around the area of Morro colonization and influence. Unfortunately, this also forced the Republic battlecruiser to increase its distance from human space temporarily, but there was no avoiding this. There were simply too many Morro military units in the way to allow travel directly back to the republic. Instead they were forced to return home in a roundabout way.

Because of the need for going around the Morro incursion the return trip to the Republic was going to take more than two years, even at the best sustained speed the Republic battlecruiser could make. There was a good chance the battlecruiser was thought to have been destroyed during the battle which had resulted in her being cut off from the Republic, because every other Republic vessel in the squadron had been in fact destroyed. It was only by luck and quick action that Mason had been able to save his battlecruiser and escape. But the escape required the Republic battlecruiser to speed away from the Republic, out toward unexplored space.

During this time Zira fully joined herself to Mev's group and the Triad of Power became a Quartet of Power. As the four High Lords grew physically and mentally more intimate Zira began to share some of her knowledge of spellcraft, which was more advanced than anything the High Lords of Venda had had an opportunity to learn in the relatively short time of their existence. For Mev it was a unique opportunity to gain new knowledge unknown to his destroyed people.

Of the being Zesh there had been no further sign of him and Zira could tell Mev little about the alien that he did not already know. During the time that Zira had been with Zesh he had shielded himself very well, revealing very little about himself to Zira's enhanced senses. Mev had to assume that Zesh was watching the High Lords whenever he wished, continuing in the undetectable way he had done so before.

The four High Lords continued daily unarmed combat training and it was an opportunity to Kathleen to learn more about it. As a civilian she had never really gotten into any martial arts and it was an opportunity for her to change that. She found herself enjoying it much more than she thought she would have at first and she learned very quickly. Zira took special interest in teaching Kathleen martial arts knowledge from her lost people.

The supply of hydrogen used as fuel by the Republic battlecruiser began to run low and the command crew began searching for a source to replenish this vital fuel. The best source would be to find an icy comet or perhaps scoop up part of the atmosphere of a gas giant planet such as the one Mev and Kathleen had visited recently. The battlecruiser changed course toward a nearby star system which contained several gas giants. The presence of planets also indicated the likely presence of icy comets so the star system seemed to be a possible place for the Republic battlecruiser to refuel.

In order to refuel from a gas giant planet the Republic battlecruiser would deploy a ram-scoop made up of powerful force fields. With the ram-scoop deployed the ship would descend into the upper atmosphere of the planet. The ram-scoop would then capture a portion of the upper atmosphere of the gas giant, which would be rich in hydrogen. After processing to remove unneeded gasses the resulting hydrogen would then be stored into the fuel tanks for later use in the fusion reactors. This was a common method of refueling for deployed Republic warships and the officers of the Republic battlecruiser had a lot of experience using it.

The approach to the star system was done carefully and much time was spent sweeping for any Morro or other strange presence in the area. After the preliminary, careful scan was completed, scout drones were dispatched to make a more careful examination of the entire star system. The larger planets and moons were carefully scanned to ensure nothing was trying to hide behind them or on them. Only after the scout drones had completed their first survey of the system did the Republic battlecruiser continue to make its way toward the star system.

For Mev the approach to the star system meant increased activity for him and the other High Lords. Just as the ship was searching for hostile aliens Mev and his group needed to do the same. The recent encounter with the Zentas Hue aliens was still fresh in his mind, and Zesh was also a factor in his thoughts. Because of this Mev was determined to carefully scry for any undesirable presence, not just in the star system ahead but anywhere within his scrying range.

In this effort Zira was able to offer some welcome help since she had knowledge of more advanced methods of scrying than had been learned by the High Lords of Venda. Zira taught Mev and the others a spellcraft which would allow them to link together, combine their power, and greatly increase the distance over which scrying could be done. The four joined together to carry out a careful search out as far as they could reach and fortunately found nothing.

Zira also pointed out to Mev that his method of destroying the Morro warships was both risky and also used too much power, she could teach him a better way. With the method Zira taught the others they could just sweep whole groups with their powers, stopping their hearts and vital organs, killing them immediately. Using this Mev could have eliminated the crews of every Morro ship in the previous battle without having to visit any of them, and without any damage to the ships themselves. Mev was both awed and frightened by this power, the potential for abuse seemed large.

The only answer was more thoughtful self discipline by all four members of the group and this was something that was better to be kept concealed from the human crewmembers of the ship. Mev was minded again of one of the sayings from his early training: "The road to Zentas Hue is broad and easy." Considering what he was learning now that saying took on new and added meaning.

With nothing hostile being found by either the ship or the High Lords the Republic battlecruiser resumed its approach to the star system in order to refuel. There were three gas giant planets in the star system and Captain Mason selected the outermost one as the source of the refueling. This planet was colder, with a higher proportion of hydrogen in the outer atmosphere, and smaller so the gravity well was easier to navigate.

The Republic battlecruiser approached the gas planet in a gradually lowering orbit until the faintest upper limits of the atmosphere were reached. The ships protective shields and the ram-scoop were deployed and then the orbit was lowered still further. The atmosphere gradually grew denser until the ram-scoop was gathering a good flow of gas for processing into fuel for the ship. Scrubber systems removed unneeded elements from the gas flowing through the processing system until pure hydrogen was left. This hydrogen was piped into the fuel storage tanks as liquid hydrogen.

The ship continued scooping up atmospheric gas from the planet for several days, steadily filling the Republic battlecruisers fuel tanks. The officers on the bridge carefully monitored the ship status in the atmosphere and the progress of the refueling, alert for any sign of a problem. Fortunately everything worked perfectly and there were no problems encountered during the course of the refueling operation.

For Mev and the other High Lords the refueling passed uneventfully, with little for them to do. They continued to participate in the training activities Casey set for them but they had few duties otherwise except for Mev and Sheila to show up for the security muster meeting every day. Otherwise they were left pretty much alone, though Mev was sure that Casey was observing them as much as he was able to.

Zira continued to tell Mev and the others about her people and origins and share with them more spellcraft and other lore of the power. The history of Zira's people was much longer than that of the High Lords of Venda but they had met a similar fate, but by a different means. And like Mev, Zira was the sole survivor of the cataclysm which had destroyed her people and civilization. She was a refugee without a home to return to.

Zira's people had developed their powers gradually over the course of thousands of years of civilization, and Zira's knowledge was the culmination of that. Zira's people had been more advanced scientifically, technologically, and in spellcraft than the High Lords of Venda or the Earth civilization from which the High Lords had come.

The difference between Mev's people and Zira's is that Zira's civilization was destroyed by internal conflict instead of external enemies. Two competing factions went to war with each other and unleashed sufficient energy to destroy everyone and everything. Zira had only escaped by being away doing maintenance of remote space beacons. The destruction of everyone and everything left Zira completely alone until she was rescued by Zesh.

The star system where the battlecruiser refueled was uninhabited and contained no inhabitable planets. Once the refueling was complete the Republic battlecruiser left the system for deep space, resuming the roundabout course for home. As before all of the ships sensors were working to detect any possible approaching threat, either from the Morro or from anything else in this increasingly unexplored area.

The area of space into which the Republic battlecruiser was entering now had never been explored by anyone from the Earth based Republic. Entry into this area had been blocked by the increasingly expansionist Morro so the battlecruiser was now traveling into the unknown. Because of this an extra careful watch was carried on by both the computers and the crew.

Despite being forced to venture into unexplored space the ship proceeded without anything untoward happening. Captain Mason ordered all of the ships sensors and cameras to record as much information as possible so that the star charts and information database for the area could be updated when they were finally able to return to the Republic.

A few days after the refueling Mev was walking alone down a passageway when he was accosted by a girl, another of the civilian refugees on board the battlecruiser. The meeting was not a hostile one, on the contrary the girl had developed an intense interest in Mev and the other High Lords, and had finally worked up enough courage to find Mev and meet him. This girl was younger than Kathleen, and unlike her, a blonde of European decent.

"Mev Van Zehe?" the girl asked.

"Yes," Mev replied.

"I'm Anna. I'm really glad I found you! I've watched everything about you and the others on the news channel," Anna replied.

"I was on the news channel?" Mev asked. He didn't usually watch it, having other sources of information about what was happening on the ship.

"Yes. Your fight with the aliens, it was wonderful!" Anna replied enthusiastically.

"You were able to watch it?" Mev asked the girl.

"Yes, it was shown on the ship's news channel. They showed the output from the long range visual scanners," Anna replied.

"I see," Mev said.

Mev had not realized the ship had watched their battle with the Zentas Hue, though now that the girl had mentioned it, it made sense. He was a bit surprised the command staff had fed the sensor output to the news channel for viewing by the crew and civilian refugees, but they probably had their own reasons for this. Mev would have preferred to have kept the unavoidable battle with the aliens more quiet and low key but he did not feel comfortable trying to change that now. The High Lords would just have to accept whatever fallout came from the increased attention.

Now it should not be thought that Mev and the other High Lords would be seriously threatened if the humans making up the bulk of the crew and passengers on the battlecruiser were to turn against them. The involuntary shields of the High Lords could easily deflect any possible attack from any weapon that could be carried by a human inside the ship. This was true even if the Mev or another of the High Lords was sleeping at the time. Instead the issue was one which would cause the High Lords to have to choose between leaving the ship and exerting overpowering control over the human crew of the Republic battlecruiser. Exerting involuntary control over another, except at dire necessity, was a sure first step on the path to Zentas Hue. With the knowledge that Zesh and possibly others of his nature were almost surely watching over the High Lords Mev preferred not to exert any power more than absolutely necessary.

"I want to be with your group Mev. I lost everyone and everything in the war. Can I join with you?" Anna asked.

"You really want to do this?" Mev asked. He wasn't adverse to the idea, the girl was quite pretty and there was a long history on Venda with human/High Lord relationships. This was due to the much higher population of humans that had resided on Venda.