Obsidian Ressurection

by T J Bryan

  Abel continued, "A few days ago Captain Marx with Sigrún departed for Wu and will remain on station for four weeks. Commodore Silvi Karrlson in Ragnarök will command the Combat and Patrol Squadron protecting Wu and its' knot lines. In addition to Sigrún I have assigned to Silvi, Captain Thorgaut on Brynhildr, and Captain Fanny Menendez with Eir. I have spoken with Silvi and it is her intention to patrol the knot lines while always leaving one ship at or near Wu station. At any given time only one of her squadron will be available here in Jamon and that ship will be in R&R status. That puts one ship at Wu, perhaps one here and two available for patrol of the lines. Silvi's intention is to patrol each knot line in commercial use from Wu every 30 to 40 days with special random patrols on those systems with crossroads portals such at Nelots."

  "We will initially keep Captain Eon Stallings with Skuld and Nelson Anders on Skaga in system for Jamon protection and to assist in training new crews. Now that we are beginning to build a real navy I don't want to leave our home unprotected. As green crews develop we will begin to move them out into the void, however, I would like to keep at least one or two experienced crews and ships in-system at all times. It is only a matter of time before we are discovered and I want to be prepared."

  Abel stood and went for another coffee. "Commodore Mayer will continue shorthanded in Recovery and Survey but will take Mist, and if available our new Destructor, and seek out contact with Narlanda. That the portal from Fitz to Narlanda is masked will present very real problems and Farn has requested that Nomi accompany her on the mission. If anyone can find that portal it is Nomi Ketill. I realize that some still object to Nomi accompanying our warships, but Nomi has told Dilli that she must return to the stars to continue here research on propulsion and the portals. Nomi seems to have completed her theoretical work and now wants to test her theories in the void."

  Emmitt interjected, "Any idea what her theories are. If it is anything like her astrogation simplification its going to help a lot."

  Abel responded, "Dilli has only an inkling of what she is working on and that says a lot. Or perhaps a little. If Nomi is outpacing Dilli then the gods only know where this is going. Dilli showed some of Nomi's equations to Professors Ollon and Canry. Canry says it is gibberish and Ollon says there is something significant there but until Nomi's work is complete he cannot yet fully understand it. As for Canry I consider his opinion for what it is worth."

  "Which is nothing," added Helen. "Ollon's opinion is the one that counts. If he says there is something there then there is. If Nomi wants the stars, it is up to us to provide them to her."

  "I agree Helen," replied Abel. So despite the objections that Nomi is only 15 years old I want her to accompany Farn to Narlanda. If anyone can find that masked portal it will be Nomi."

  "When do they depart, Farn and Nomi?"

  "When the new destructor completes it shake down cruise. I expect that to be completed in forty days or so."

  Emmitt continued, "And when does Silvi leave?"

  "Silvi and her squadron leave tomorrow."

  ...

  Jamon System - Collegium Main Library - Year 3247. January 31 ET: 11:57

  Farn sat at a quiet work station on the fifth floor of the Collegium Main Library reading about Narlanda and the Encyclopaedia Gallectica. The amount of information was overwhelming at more than one terabyte of text just for the origins of the EG. Farn did not know even where to start so she just jumped into the middle of the text and began reading. After two days she had to admit that she had learned hundreds of details, some interesting, some dull, and some odd, but nothing that would help her in her mission. Farn realized she needed help. To read the entire record in the EG might well take years even a lifetime. Farn stood and left the quiet cubicle and descended the broad staircase to the main floor where she knew there was a reference desk with librarians who might be of help.

  Farn entered the cavernous and deadly quiet Reference Room. It was just before lunch and the few students in the immense room were gathering their inter-tabs and research materials and heading off to the cafeteria. Farn quickly walked to the reference desk and was embarrassed that her footsteps sounded very loud echoing off the polished stone floor. Against one wall were the portraits of Collegium Presidents going back four hundred years and on the other wall three story windows that let in the false sunlight from high above. Several of the Collegium Presidents looked down upon Farn with a seriousness that only added to her sense of dread. They are only old oil paintings she told herself, but that did not help. This place is more like a temple than a workplace.

  "Can I help you Commodore Mayer?" asked a tall young woman standing behind the reference counter.

  Farn was surprised to be recognized, but in recent weeks following Stephen Klien's broadcasts almost everyone recognized her. Farn found this embarrassing and it made her very uncomfortable. She wanted to be out and about in the Habitat after weeks cramped on her ship, but all this recognition was proving tiresome and she hungered to be anonymous once again.

  "Yes. I am sorry to bother but I need some help. Some direction in my research."

  "Ah, and can you describe your research. What are you looking for?"

  "Well, I want to know everything about the EG and Narlanda. I have been reading the EG but there is simply so much data, detail, footnotes, addenda, references to other works, short explanations, long explanations... I need some help."

  "Ah I see," said the young woman. "I understand your concern. The EG can be extraordinarily detailed in its' descriptions. You need to talk to..." Here the young woman paused and paged through his inter-tab. "Ah yes, Beckley. You need to talk with John Beckley he is an expert in many subjects related to Narlanda with particular emphasis on the EG. Shall I page him?"

  "Please do, if it is not an interruption. But I do need some help."

  A few minutes later John Beckley arrived. Farn had expected an older man, perhaps a man of great age and wisdom, but Beckley was young and not much older than Farn herself. He was also rather cute and Farn found him handsome with short blond hair, bright blue eyes, and the rarest of adornments, a handle bar moustache.

  "Commodore Mayer, how can I help you?"

  John spent the next hour with Farn in a quiet study chamber reviewing the index system for the EG as a whole with emphasis on those sections dealing with the EG itself and Narlanda. Very quickly Farn realized that the level of detail even in the indexing system was overwhelming and she admitted that she had little time to master the subject. Eventually, in her frustration, she told John of her mission to establish contact with Narlanda and seek any updates to the EG that had failed to make it to Jamon. John was surprised and excited by the prospect of the recovery of any EG updates. He agreed to help. Given the importance of Farn's assignment John was given permission by the Dean of the Library to work with Farn for as long as she needed to prepare for the Narlanda voyage. Even the Dean had become excited about the prospects of Farn's voyage.

  The Destructor named New Hildr had proven more difficult to return to service than expected and two critical replacement parts could not be found. After a long search of the wrecked destructors parts were identified and moved to New Hildr. They initially proved problematical, but eventually the maintenance droids certified them as serviceable. Farn's study at the library was the first time in almost a month she had time to study about the target of her voyage. Unfortunately she knew she had only a few days of free time before she needed to run additional tests and finalize her crew selection. She concluded that her only option was to ask John Beckley to accompany Hildr on its' voyage. But first she decided she must clear this decision with the Admiral. She would do so when she discussed her final crew selection and assignments for both the New Hildr and Mist.

  She discussed with John the objectives of the voyage to Narlanda and at three o'clock she excused herself to meet with Abel in his office at the Annex. The walk took only two minutes and soon she arrived at Abel's office door on the second floor. She k
nocked and there was no answer. She knocked a second time and Abel called for her to enter. As she opened the door she noticed Bennet Nolo standing over the desk reading something as Abel leaned back in his chair talking on his vid-com.

  "Yes Bjorn. So the Assembly has finally agreed on a number." Abel paused as Bjorn spoke.

  Farn could not hear the comments of the Chairman.

  "Thank you Bjorn, and when will the posters be put up?"

  Farn knew Bjorn had said something as Abel terminated the line

  "Well that is finally done. The reward to betraying Arne Thougaut is a rather large quantity of rare earth metals and passage to any system along the Wu knot line. Taken to another system they are worth a fortune. More than enough to assuage any guilt a goon might have in turning on his master. But I doubt that Arne's thugs have any feelings of guilt. Anyway the posters go up this afternoon. I expect we will hear from Arne within the next week or so. I would be surprised if he let this 'insult' go unnoticed. I would send out a bulletin to folks to be extra cautious, but then Arne would probably wait a while. He would love us to call 'wolf' too many times so that we become lazy at any warning. No. We do nothing."

  "What's a wolf?" asked Bennet. Abel shrugged his shoulders.

  Farn knew what a wolf was from an old child's picture book but it would take too long to explain. "I have my crew assignments for your review Admiral. However I am still upset that you are taking Sal Paris and Ignacio Waltis away for other ships. Now that I will have Nomi the loss of Taylor Schmidtt is acceptable."

  Abel smiled. "Farn, when you have a successful crew and you have returned from a completed mission, you should expect that you will loose crew. After all we are spreading the wealth. Success has a reward in the Navy. That is you loose your best crew and you get fresh recruits to train, and if your really successful I will take them away as well."

  Farn realized that to grow the fleet these changes were necessary but she still felt real resentment at loosing Paris and Waltis. However she also realized she was lucky that Abel had taken only those three. Clearly Abel knew that the trip to Narlanda would be challenging and Farn expected on her return to loose even more experienced crew.

  After reviewing her crew assignments for the SAR and the new Destructor Farn asked to add a 'supercargo' in the name of John Beckley. Farn expected Abel to resist given that the previous experience with Matt Brnseon on the first voyage to Girots had proven so difficult. Matt had panicked at the sight of the Spikeys and had almost caused habitat wide panic on his return. However when Farn mentioned that John was a trained librarian Abel agreed. In fact he enthusiastically agreed.

  "Farn, that's a very good idea. A librarian is exactly what you need when you talk to the editors at Narlanda. Hopefully they will have a common language and frame of reference. That should ease any concerns they may have about our motivations."

  "Thank you Sir." Replied Farn glad to have that over with. "In addition Nomi has had the ME Lab build some bulky instruments as part of her project. They will take up significant space in the hold of the New Hildr so I am afraid we wont be able to carry any supplies to Wu along the way."

  Abel asked, "What kind of instruments?"

  "I don't know. Only they are bulky and when operating take the entire output of most of the fusion engines on the ship in order to operate. I asked Nomi, but you know ..."

  Abel replied, "Yes, I know. Perhaps I'll ask Professor Hamza."

  "I asked," replied Farn. "He said Nomi's specifications were exceedingly exact and she had checked and rechecked their work as the built the things. However he really could not explain what they do other than one unit is extremely sensitive to gravity waves. So sensitive that it can detect the gravity wave emanating from a human being."

  Abel could only shake his head.

  "The second unit he thinks in unfathomable, but he thinks it is some kind of gravity jar."

  Abel looked puzzled.

  "Yes, I know. Gravity in a jar. Who would have thought. But then again Professor Hamza said that was only a guess because the instrument could be a cooler for beer. He simply did not know."

  Chapter Seventy Two

  Wu Station - Ragnarök - Year 3247. February 14 ET: 08:23

  Silvi had arrived at Wu station 22 days after departure together with Brynhildr and Eir. Captain Marx with Sigrún departed three days later for a return to Jamon and a patrol through Nelots and home. Several days had been spent renewing acquaintances with Wu station personnel and offloading maintenance supplies for her newly installed fusion engines as well as additional munitions for her monitor station. Wu station now packed a punch. The old dead SAR Ragnarök still hung above Wu station looking menacing but as everyone knew without teeth. Old Ragnarök was simply a ruse and a decoy.

  A small shipment of food, medicines, environmental systems, and a small engineering staff together with Ervin and Elowin destined for Happy Landing was scheduled to depart immediately. Silvi directed Captain Fanny Menendez on Eir to escort the small Wu freighter 'Wu Rising' to Happy Landing and return. Silvi and Ervin had agreed that the relief of Happy Landing should begin with the station who's population was less than one thousand. If medicine and hygiene could be established on the Happy Landing station then there might be hope for the planet. Only time would tell, but the odds seemed favourable to Silvi. With the Knarlaon Otho the despotic healer dead, Ervin said that there may well be no active opposition of modern medicine and cleaning up the station habitat. Passive opposition based on ignorance and 'the old ways' was certain, but there was finally a chance to bring at least the station up to the standards of a habitable living space.

  In addition Silvi directed Brynhildr with Captain Thoranson to patrol the knot line to Carm, Bizon, and Sargon. He was instructed to return via the route through Tarn and to avoid Harappa. The voyage would be a long one of at least 32 days, but Silvi was anxious not only to ensure that the lines were open to the new member of the alliance at Bizon, but also learn if there was any activity at Sargon. Once again she urged Captain Thoranson not to travel to Sargon but to ask he people of Bizon if there was any activity in the system.

  Silvi herself with Ragnarök would stay in the Wu system, but would explore Wu's three moons which had once held Wu's shipyards. That the yards were destroyed was common knowledge and even mentioned in the EG. The extent of the damage however was unknown and Abel wanted a full survey of the moons in order to plan for the location of the OCN station Holagata.

  Silvi arrived off the moon Lol and the damage was immediately obvious and total.

  "Any energy reading Mr. Eldjárn?" Captain Arast asked sitting in her captain's chair.

  "Nothing. Lol is stone cold. There are a few warm spots from spent and destroyed fusion and fission products but nothing capable of powering a toothbrush. And our scan reveals only torn metal and debris although there are some pretty big pieces floating about. I don't think there is anything useable here. Greayson or Unity, or both, seem to have done a complete job on that station."

  Silvi looked at Captain Arast. "Captain take us in a bit closer and prepare one of the runabouts. I want to take a closer look at all that wreckage. If any Greayson technology or even useful Wu technology survived I don't want to miss the chance of picking it up."

  Captain Arast looked at her crew knowing full well that Abel disapproved of captains leaving their ship. Kata Park was her third pilot and she directed Kata and Con Tattinger, third on weapons to suit up in vac suits and prepare for an excursion into the remains and debris of the Lol Shipyards.

  Kata and Con exited the launch bay of Ragnarök and headed in toward Lol in a rugged runabout named 'Big Boy!' Lol was a small moon, but still one with significant gravitational attraction, and much of the remains of the shipyard that had once circled in orbit around Lol had descended onto the surface of the moon. However some debris, particularly large pieces continued to in low orbit over the moon.

  Kata was piloting the runabout which had once come in 82d out of 102 runabo
uts in the Singleton race. As her name indicated she was indeed larger, if slower, than the other participants. She was also sturdy and that was why she had been selected as one of two runabouts the Ragnarök carried in her SAR launch bay. The other runabout was named 'Uh Oh!'

  Con spoke, his voice muffled by the vac suit he wore. "Kata can you nudge us in a bit more. Between those two huge spinning stanchions. I think I can see what might have been the hub, but I can't tell from here."

  "Ok," replied Kata. "I think I can wriggle in there." Kata gently pulsed the manoeuvring jectors and the ship slid to the left and ahead at perhaps 3 meters a second. Big Boy eased its way into the debris field and what remained of the central column of the Lol shipyard station became visible.

  "Dead." whispered Con. "Really dead."

  Kata replied, "Yeah, look at the slag marks alongside the main hub housing. Looks like they simply sliced off the arms of the yard. With the station spinning the rings must have just spun off into the void. Look to the right. It is the nose of a freighter, or at least part of one."

  "Yeah, must have been building it."

  "Or it was docked here when the attack occurred. I'd hate to have been aboard."

  "Yes. They really slagged this station. There is nothing here. Lets return."

  "Agreed," said Kata. One down two to go."

  "What's that? Over on the left about two kilometres. I have it on my scope. It is big and it has a very dim energy source."

  Without responding Kata nosed Big Boy over and headed slowly out toward the distant object. Con called Ragnarök on the comms. " Ragnarök, do you see that big section we are headed toward. It looks like a large portion of the outer ring. I have a dim energy reading. What can you tell me? Your instruments are better than this home built stuff."

  "Give me a full scan on that ring section Mr. Eldjárn," commanded Arast.

  Moments later Eldjárn responded. "Looks like about a eighth of an outer ring of the station. Its curved of course, about 1,800 meters in length. I have several very low energy readings at the center, but they cannot be active energy sources. Batteries or capacitors perhaps."