by T J Bryan
Farn thought a moment about the words spoken by both sides and decided she needed a few descriptive terms in order to get their attention. "I am Farn, the Mighty. Killer of Stars. Albion of Schmaltz. Conqueror of the Galaxy in service to the Obsidian Commonwealth and the regeneration of Human kind, bow before me before I wipe you from the face of Himmer." Farn then discharged her plasma pistola into the sand creating a blinding light and a puddle of melted glass by the riverside.
Both emissaries fell to the ground and again genuflected in prayer and fear.
Farn stood for a moment and knew that the impact of their sudden arrival and the surprise they had created was soon to fade.
"To both of you, and your senseless fighting armies, I declare that you are finished. No more will either of you wage war upon one another. This war is over. I, Farn of Schmaltz, declare it so. Fear me. Fear me. For I am the 'Killer of Stars.'"
Farn thought to herself that her claim was a bit over the top, but then again she had no idea where the top was in this situation.
As the emissaries from both sides kneeled Farn declared. "This war shall cease. You are to assemble representative from both sides to meet with me, the Conqueror of Galaxies, and Majesty of the Spiral Arm. tomorrow at the high sun. I shall accept the surrender of both your armies at that time and I will impose my will. Let me repeat myself to you simple low men. I shall impose my will. It is the will of Jamon the Great."
Farn turned and approached the Mist. Her two man bodyguard remained standing beside the hatch as she entered. Soon the hatch closed, and rather than seek the safety of orbit, Farn decided that remaining on the sand spit during the night was more than intimidating. To ensure their continued attention Farn ordered random blasts from her small plasma cannons to ignite the night air above the ship on an occasional basis.
Farn entered the bridge and told the crew to adopt half watch but to remain ready. Then she went to her quarters and fell into a deep but disturbing sleep.
...
Nelots System - Ragnarök - Year 3246. October 9 ET: 11:12
Silvi stood on the bridge of Ragnarök as she and her three SARs successfully passed through Girots and into Nelots. While passing Girots they noticed that the Spikey had continued its' obsession with its' seeding work on the planet, but that the scan revealed that its' internal energy source was diminishing in power. Something Silvi thought might well indicate a change in the dynamics of Gritos system. Moments later they hit the entry portal for Nelots and then Wu and 28 hours later found themselves within the Wu system. All appeared peaceful as they scanned the system from a distance.
Six hours later they approached Wu Station and upon hailing the station found a full and happy welcome. The scan revealed the old and now dead Ragnarök sitting high above the station, apparently fully powered, and on scan looking very threatening.
Silvi entered the Wu Station dock expecting to be greeted by Captain Smilot, but instead Saran Molofo from the Wu Council welcomed her on the dock. Saran informed Silvi that Captain Smilot had left for Jamon on the liner Wu Ascending more than ten days ago. She had left with some thirty passengers seeking to attend the Collegium to enhance their education and the advancement of Wu. Several of the passengers were physicians of various degrees of training, and others engineers and fabricators needing to hone their skills in order to bring Wu Station up to the standards needed to ensure its' survival. As for the station itself all seemed in order, but it was clear to Silvi that more inhabitants were needed to keep the complex station running.
Saran Molofo also informed Silvi that their single freighter, Wu Abiding, had taken a second voyage to New Carthago and with the intention of later attempting passage to Bizon which lay just beyond Carm. The gravity well interference of Zeno was now gone so such passage was possible, however no one knew if Bizon or for that matter Carm were still viable. Captain Stallings of the SAR Skuld, which had been the rescue ship that remained at Wu, was accompanying Wu Abiding as far as Carm but was soon to return.
Silvi was glad to visit Wu Station and exchange pleasantries and to observe the stations growing self support, but she was also anxious to continue onward to Hsi, Happy Landing, and possibly the mining colony at Fitz. She decided to delay any travel to Carm and Bizon and rely upon the reports of Wu Station and Captain Stallings, upon the completion of their exploration. Wu Abiding had already made two passages to New Carthago and that new burgeoning trade route seemed secure. Silvi's focus was on old trade routes originating from Wu as well as patrolling existing routes.
Silvi was bound for Hsi and she decided to split her fleet to perform four separate voyages. She knew that this had been her worst error at the Second Battle of Wu, but she deemed the situation now different. She had to cover as much area as possible so she dispatched Sigrún to seek contact with Happy landing and Tony Hamilton on Kára to set out for mining colony at Fitz. Brynhildr would travel with Sigrún and then on to one of the most remote systems named Narlanda. Narlanda had a two way street from Fitz. Narlanda was the system on which the editors of the Encyclopaedia Gallectica had performed their work while the Great War raged. That is until they were cut off by the chaos of the Great War. When Captain Stallings of the Skuld returned he would remain at Wu to provide protection.
After two days at Wu Station Captain Arast at Silvi's direction had her astrogator plot a course for Hsi, a system dominated by a water planet known in the EG as a major source of sea food and protein. The passage took three days. Upon arrival Captain Arast fell into the practice of holding back at the fringes of the system to observe and make sure there were not others lurking about in the system. The EG revealed that Hsi was a planet composed of 80% water in shallow seas dotted throughout by thousands of very tall islands. The islands were spikes jutting from the seabed and while resistant to tsunamis, which were constant in the tectonically active system, they still maintained human habitation on its' mountain peaks. There were two somewhat large cities on two larger islands separated by more than 2,000 kilometres. The island cities were called Feranon and Klepis. Silvi had no idea if any of human habitation had survived on the planet, but given its' relative unimportance in the Great War she hoped to find some semblance of order and human habitation.
Upon entering high orbit her defence specialist Rozel Eldjárn reported that there were moderate energy signatures on both Feranon and Klepis and that high orbital scan revealed two cities of moderate population not exceeding 140,000 to 150,000 on both islands. As Silvi took the ship lower the habitation of the two islands became clear. Both cities were well embraced by the sea. Small ocean ships, which Silvi assumed were fishermen, dotted the deep harbors of both islands and from her bridge Silvi could track numerous small ships passing into and out of the harbors of both islands. Scan revealed no fission or fusion energy sources, but scan did reveal significant magma flow under both islands, indicating that geothermal power was probably their primary source of energy on both islands. Silvi could further see no signs of overt conflict or warfare from their position in orbit. There were no radio broadcasts or vid transmission sources on either island or within the system. However many of the outer islands had what Mr. Eldjárn called 'light houses' which were powered by solar arrays and had weak radio locator beacons.
Defense specialist Eldjárn continued, "On Feranon I can see a great number of warehouses carved into the side of the mountain, and now I can see several cliff shelves able to support heavy lifters. The warehouses show signatures of cold storage. There are thermal energy systems here. Probably some kind of modified steam engine to produce electricity. There seems to be a workers shift change happening at one of the warehouses and I can detect almost 900 human heat signatures leavening the warehouses and perhaps 700 walking up the hillside toward the warehouse facility. If I were to guess I'd say that was a fish processing facility for offloading to the void."
Silvi considered hailing the two cities and establishing contact. But she held back for a moment as she considered her overall responsi
bilities.
The planet seemed most inviting and fitted well Abel's idea of a system that might be ready to resume contact with the remainder of human space. But Silvi held back. She was not completely certain why, but she followed her instinct. "Captain Arast let us be cautious for a day or two."
Captain Arast turned, "Mr. Eldjárn please scan the outer systems. We are looking for any activity on either of those other dead planets or in that rocky belt. If there is mining or manufacturing going on I want to know." Left unsaid was Silvi and Arast's constant worry that a warship might well be hidden among those rocks circling the sun.
Silvi realized that the infrastructure of Feranon screamed interstellar commerce, but with whom and for what rate of exchange she was uncertain. Clearly Hsi had not benefited greatly from such commerce. No radio or vid transmissions combined with reliance of magma energy generation indicated to her that whatever commerce Hsi had was entirely one sided. Someone took a great deal, and gave very little.
Terence Dazniel was the first pilot on the new Ragnarök and Captain Arast quickly ordered Terence to take them out of high orbit and return to much deeper space. Silvi asked Arast to chose a position deep in the rocky asteroid belt two million kilometres from the planet Hsi. Best to wait a while and Ragnarök sat and watched.
Nine hours later they entered a complex belt of rocks and ice that flowed through the system more than 200,000 kilometres from the planet itself. However from Silvi's perspective, they were well hidden among the rocks and ice and this gave them an ideal position in which to watch any activity on Hsi itself without probable detection. Whoever was trading with Hsi was unlikely to notice a new arrival so well hidden among the distant rocks. They did not need to wait very long.
On the second day of their vigil Rozel Eldjárn suddenly spoke, "I have a signature entering Hsi space from a portal above. I cannot determine the link to the portal at this time, but I am taking Nomi's measurements now."
"And the signature of the ship entering this system?" asked Silvi.
Rozel paused to examine his station. "It's a fission powered ship. Like a freighter. Not very large. Oh! And it's followed by something else. It's a warship of some kind. The mass is on the high end for its' size and it seems to have at least four fusion engines. Definitely a warship. Both are headed inward toward Hsi. And I can detect no scan from them. Not even an M-wave scan. Must be pretty sure they are in a safe place."
Captain Arast spoke. "Mr. Eldjárn, I want a full visual at maximum magnification on that warship. Further what can you tell me about its' weapons?"
Rozel toggled the vid display and both ships came into view and in a moment Rozel zoomed in on the warship. The warship was unusual thought Silvi. Although Silvi had found herself allergic to mushrooms she was nonetheless fascinated by the fungi and this ship was simply shaped in the form of a mushroom. A rounded full cap that ended in a long thick stem. From her perspective the long thick stem supported engines that seemed to be of the reaction type.
Arast asked, "And the engines on that thing, Mr. Eldjárn? What are they?"
Rozel replied, "Fusion engines used to power reaction jectors. It's a design as old as the cosmos. Well at least 4,000 years old. Simple, efficient, and not too fast. Not unlike our maneuvering systems. As for weapons, I can detect nothing. But it's a warship so it must have some kind of weapons system."
Captain Arast asked, "And what portal do they seem to have entered from?"
Niles Milford their trainee astrogator sat at his station. He was obviously quite nervous thought Silvi. "He seems to have come from over there." Niles pointed at the vid screen.
"Mr. Milford I need a precise entry location please."
Niles fumbled at his station and as Captain Arast's patience was about to be lost he replied, "From a portal unknown to the EG. I have the coordinates it is not in Nomi's Book of Stars. It should be classified as unknown, but not one of those 'unknowable' ones Nomi described in her book.
Silvi sat back in her jump seat behind the captain's chair. We have all the time in the universe she thought. Let's just wait and see what develops here in the Hsi system.
Chapter Sixty One
Himmer System - Mist - Year 3246. October 10 ET: 12.01
Farn has risen early on the Mist and had three cups of coffee in the mess well before 06:00. She then retired to her captains quarters to review the EG. She spent most of two hours reading on negotiations and the skill needed to conclude a successful and long lasting agreement, and then she spent the rest of her morning reading the history of peace agreements and armistices between warring nations.
The reading she found depressing. Nations fought wars and then sought peace, only to be followed by more wars. The peace periods seemed only times to catch their national breath and rearm only to launch war again. One side would win, the other sought peace in order to rearm and seek revenge. Then vengeance would strike like a lightening bolt from the sky and the offending nation brought to its' knees, only to rise again and seek further vengeance. The cycle was continued over and over again. Only in cases of complete genocide, such as was inflicted on Greayson by Unity, was peace obtainable, but then at a real cost to the victor. As with Unity, the victor had promised so much, borrowed so much, and bankrupted its' system to win, that it almost always descended into anarchy and chaos. Such was the spoil of the winner; ashes, death, and cinders.
Farn was struck by the words of some old long forgotten philosopher who said; 'War is the natural state of man. Peace is only a time to prepare for war.'
Farn was beginning to realize that she may well have made a grave error. She could force peace upon the planet Himmer, but only if she were to remain in system as some kind of God above or warlord able to cast down destruction upon anyone who disobeyed her terms. Now she understood that soon after she left to return to her mission those idiots below would begin fighting again over some ancient and forgotten insult or crime. Farn found herself without a solution. However she had come this far and she might as well finish what she had started.
As high sun approached Farn ordered weapons to unleash a barrage of fire into the heavens. Not enough to harm anyone, but more than enough to gather their complete attention.
Farn exited the hatch of the Mist with four of her crew all armed to the teeth with plasma rifles and pistolas. The crew had found a single folding plastic chair in the pursers office and as they walked out upon the soft sand Farn spotted a pile of driftwood bunched up after some storm. She had the crew place the plastic chair before the driftwood and then before she sat down she fired her plasma pistola into the driftwood for a full ten seconds. The sand beneath turned to glass as the driftwood burst into flames. Nothing like a camp fire Farn thought to focus ones attention. She sat and waited.
After half a hour the gate to the city opened and six men, on what Farn assumed were horses, came forward. Farn had never seen a horse, but she had read about them and as a child had watched dozens of old vids from the EG called 'westerns.' So she had some idea of what a horse was, but the actual horse simply astounded her. What amazing and powerful animals she thought. The group from the city forded the shallow river with ease and soon a single rider separated from the group and came foreword. The others held back near the edge of the river and safe return to the city. Farn looked to the east expecting to see the opposing force send its' representatives but no one was in sight. Procrastination or defiance wondered Farn?
Farn remained sitting as was fit for a emissary of the Gods of Schmaltz.
The lone city emissary dismounted his horse and slowly came forward. About three meters from Farn he knelt and genuflected uttering some prayer or incantation that Farn could not hear. Then he rose. Pulling off his helmet Farn saw the man she had greeted from the city the day before.
"Any what do I call thee?" Asked Farn in her best baritone voice?
"I am Magistar Ludivico of Alathor, your highness."
"Ah, " Farn replied. "Magistar Ludivico you are welcome to share our h
umble fire and to talk of peace and the majesty of the stars above, for I am Farn, the Mighty. Killer of Stars. Albion of Schmaltz. Conqueror of the Galaxy in service to the Obsidian Commonwealth and the regeneration of Human kind. You have chosen wisely to prostrate yourself before my might."
Farn could see that however outrageous her claims to ruling the stars were to the Magistar, he clearly believed her in every word.
"And where are your enemies?" Farn asked. "I commanded them to appear before my wrath and justice yesterday, but I see them not? Where are they?"
The Magistar looked about. "They fear your might Lord of the Stars. They fear that you will punish them for their sins. As you must punish them. There is no peace without their burning death and descent into the hell of ten thousand devils."
"We shall wait," said Farn. "The stars have infinite patience."
Almost an hour passed and finally in the distance across the river dust arose followed by the sound of massed chariots and horses and the foot fall of ranks of soldiers. The enemies of Alathon had arrived in mass. Farn took a brief glance at the Mist and saw that its' two topside plasma cannons had rotated to face the incoming horde. But as she looked back toward the opposite bank of the river only three chariots came within a 200 meters of the river. Perhaps as many as a thousand chariots remained just out of what Farn assumed was the firing range of arrows. What a waste thought Farn. A single blast from a small plasma cannon on the Mist would well wipe out half of those chariots and the foot soldiers standing in ranks behind them. A second blast would end everything for the besiegers and leave nothing behind but melted sand and the stench of death.
Trumpets sounded and then drums were beating from the far side of the river. Flags were unfurled and many voices began shouting in a din Farn could not understand, but the sound of which was clearly intended to intimidate. Farn leaned back in her plastic chair to demonstrate she was unmoved by the demonstration.