Rajani Chronicles I

by Brian S. Converse

  #

  It occurred to James he and the other human beings should learn as much about the Krahn as they could. If they were going to be fighting the creatures on Rajan when they arrived, they’d need to know all they could about their enemy. The idea still sounded a little ridiculous when he thought about it; him being on the way to fight aliens on behalf of other aliens. He knew it wouldn’t be so funny when they actually arrived.

  James was walking down the main corridor on the way to another training session. It was early in the morning, and he’d rolled out of bed, too tired to do more than dress himself. He felt like he wasn’t getting enough sleep lately. He’d have to talk to Yvette about it. When he got to the briefing room, he saw David, Kieren, and Rauph were already there. Not surprising that Yvette wasn’t. She was almost always late, wherever she was going. Who knew if Gianni would even show up?

  “Good morning,” he said, taking a seat at the table. He grabbed a nutrition bar from the middle of the table and began to eat it as Gianni arrived, looking as grumpy as James felt. Guess he’s not getting any sleep, either, he thought. He looked over at Kieren, wondering if it was for the same reason. By her chilly reception of Gianni, he assumed the answer was no.

  Finally, Yvette arrived, looking freshly showered. She smiled at James and sat down next to him at the table after grabbing her own nutrition bar. He winked at her and returned her smile.

  Rauph stood and clicked on the translating device. “If you’re ready to begin,” he said gruffly. James thought he looked grumpy, as well. Maybe they were all in need of a vacation.

  “Before you get into any more about Rajan,” James said, “I was wondering if you could tell us more about the Krahn, and specifically about the Krahn Horde.”

  “Like what the hell they look like, for one thing,” Gianni said.

  “I don’t know what they look like,” Rauph answered. He turned and pushed a few buttons on the screen of the portable tablet set up to its full size. Some files appeared on the screen of the tablet, and he tapped one.

  The screen instantly filled with alien text, and Rauph read for a minute before speaking. “There are only brief descriptions of the Krahn available. They don’t believe in having their pictures taken, a lesson learned the hard way by the first envoys to their planet. When they agreed to join the Alliance, it was under the stipulation no visual representation would ever be used.”

  Rauph read some more of the text, scrolling down the screen with his finger. “Shortly after they officially joined the Alliance, their king, or High Vasin of the controlling clan, died unexpectedly. A civil war began between the rightful heir, Maliq, and his younger brother, Ronak. The war lasted two Standard years between the followers of each brother before Ronak was finally captured. Instead of executing him, as was their law, Maliq sent his brother and some minor relatives into exile.”

  “And the rest is history,” Yvette said.

  Rauph stood and thought about the curious expression, then continued. “I suppose you could say the rest is our history.”

  “There isn’t even a description of them?” Kieren asked. “Something to give us an idea of what to expect?”

  Rauph turned to the screen and read once again. “I don’t see anything other than that they are a bipedal, warm-blooded, oviparous, that is, egg-laying species.”

  “So, basically, they’re walking lizards?” David asked facetiously.

  “Great, we’re fighting space alligators,” Gianni said. “Do you know how stupid that sounds?”

  James spoke up. “If that’s what they are, then that’s who we’ll fight,” he said. “It’s what we signed on for when we agreed to this trip. By the way, alligators are cold-blooded.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Wizard,” Gianni said, rolling his eyes.

  James turned his attention back to Rauph. “You said there was another species on your planet, the Jur ... something.”

  “Jirina,” Rauph corrected him.

  “Yes, Jirina,” James said. “Could you show us a Jirina, so we know the difference when we get there? I don’t want any cases of mistaken identity.”

  “Yes,” Rauph said. “Although, as you’ll see, the Jirina are much different in appearance than the description of the Krahn I read to you.” He pushed a few buttons on the screen, and then a picture of a Jirina filled it.

  The Jirina was large and muscular-looking, though James had no visual frame of reference. Rauph pushed a button on the screen and another picture replaced the first. It showed a Jirina standing next to a male Rajani. James saw his first assumption was correct. The Jirina was probably anywhere from five and a half to six feet tall, but the horns protruding from the top of its head made it look even taller.

  The Jirina had large brown eyes and enormous nostrils on each side of its nose. It had wide, flat ears resting against the side of its head. All told, it looked slightly bovine in appearance, at least from the neck up. Its thickly muscled arms ended in hands equipped with three fingers, each tipped with a thick fingernail. It had a broad body and stout legs. Rauph was right; they were nothing like the description of the Krahn.

  “Now, we’ll proceed with my regularly scheduled lesson,” Rauph said, pushing a button on the screen. “We left off yesterday on some common words you may need on Rajan. We’ll follow up with some more today, and maybe some simple sentences as well.”

  As Rauph droned on at the front of the room, James felt his mind drifting as he thought about the appearance of the Krahn. Space alligators?

  #

  Janan was on duty aboard the bridge, checking the computer to ensure their course heading was correct. Not that he thought it would be incorrect, but he was bored, and checking the computer was one of the tasks a pilot performed while on duty. It provided a fail-safe, in case the computer’s diagnostics were out of alignment, which happened from time to time on long voyages.

  When traveling in space, there was no magnetic north to provide a point of reference. The Tukuli’s central computer used a four-dimensional coordinate system to navigate. The computer used extensive Alliance star maps to provide a point of reference as they passed various planets and suns; the second point of reference was a planetary motion calculation determining the location of a planet in relation to its sun, which told the computer where the ship was in relation to the planet and at what Talondarian Standard time.

  In this way, the computer could also control its orientation and heading as it calculated the direction it needed to travel to meet the next planetary body or sun in the path it was following. Basically, the ship “hopped” from one point in space to another along its heading. The transition was smooth, even in nullspace, since the computer made the calculations quickly, and the distances between solar bodies were so vast.

  The nulldrive mechanism on the ship was based on technology created by the Talondarians. The secret of how their engines worked was lost with the fall of the Talondarian Empire. The term nulldrive itself was a misnomer, because the ship was not actually going any faster or slower than it did in regular space.

  The Talondarians discovered the known universe was part of a multitude of universes that were expanding in nullspace, a sixth dimension outside of the five known dimensions. When the ship traveled in nullspace, it traveled in the spaces between universes, which were typically known as nullvoids, or NV Space, or just NV. Even this relatively minute distance of NV space was immense, and it still took weeks, sometimes months, to travel long distances. The First Rule of Space Travel stated matter could not travel faster than one percent of the speed of light, so it was better than trying to reach other solar systems at that speed. It would take thousands of years to reach the system closest to Rajan at one percent the speed of light.

  Beyond that, Janan didn’t know how the nullspace device on the Tukuli operated. As long as it worked, he was content to let the ship’s central computer control it. He didn’t know enough about the dark energy or string particles involved in the process. It was scary enough someti
mes thinking about what would happen if the device malfunctioned at the wrong moment.

  The computer aboard the Tukuli was also an artificial intelligence, though the Rajani always disabled their computers’ learning mechanisms. They didn’t want a computer becoming smarter, learning as it interacted with the pilot, crew, and the outside galaxy. Rauph had also shut off the computer’s voice capability so it couldn’t speak independently via the ship’s communication system.

  What a pity, Janan had thought many times in the past few weeks. It would have given him someone to talk to while he was on duty. At least they were almost to the Mandakan Space Port, although he didn’t think Rauph would allow him to leave the ship this time. He smiled, remembering the difficulty he’d gotten into the last time he’d been at the port. No, it was probably better if he stayed on the ship. He was not, by nature, a troublemaker, but he attracted problems on Mandakan for some reason. It was so easy to do there.

  Mandaka was also where the extraction crew was based. Rauph had hired the crew to bring the Humans aboard the Tukuli from Earth, and they had done their jobs effectively. He didn’t think he would mention this to David or the others. He suspected it was still a sore subject for them.

  #

  The next morning, James sat with the others around a table in one of the meeting rooms. Rauph wanted to brief them about the space station they were about to visit. Most of the others sat and fidgeted, waiting for the briefing to begin. There was very little conversation.

  James was used to this type of thing from years of police briefings and knew it could get monotonous to sit and wait. Put down jury duty as another thing I don’t miss about Earth, he thought. He wasn’t sure what to think about their upcoming stop at the space port. It still astounded him they were about to visit a space station built by an alien race, even if he had been living on a ship built by another alien race for almost a month.

  The fidgeting stopped when the door opened and Rauph entered, carrying the translating device. The Rajani was understandably preoccupied. James was well aware of the time loss caused by this little side trip, but he was also sure they had made the right choice for the team.

  “Officer Dempsey has told you we are going to visit a space station, I assume,” Rauph began, still standing before them. “Unfortunately, I can only tell you about it. I’m afraid you will not be able to go aboard the station itself once we’ve docked.” There was a collective groan from the group. They had all been looking forward to seeing the station for themselves, and to getting away from the confines of the ship.

  Rauph held up a hand. “I know,” he said. “All I can say is, if any of you were to be noticed by security aboard the station, we’d have a hard time coming up with a story to keep you from being quarantined for a lengthy period of time. As a new species, they would hold you away from the main station to make sure you weren’t carrying any exotic viruses. Its standard procedure, I’m afraid.”

  “Well, great,” Gianni said. “We’ve been stuck aboard this ship for weeks, and now we’re supposed to sit tight and wait for you to come back so we can leave? What bullshit.” He was dressed in a white tank top—what James’s dad used to refer to as a wife-beater—dark slacks, black socks, and shoes.

  He must have been changing clothes when he was brought aboard the ship, James thought. The others had all been fully dressed, thankfully. James was glad to be in his own clothes as opposed to the large Rajani robe he’d been wearing. The robe was comfortable enough, he supposed, but he felt like a monk while wearing it.

  “We should be on our way again shortly after all of the repairs have been made to the ship,” Rauph continued, tactfully ignoring Gianni’s remarks. “Should I proceed with telling you about the station?”

  “Why bother?” Gianni asked. “It’s not like we really care.”

  “Then I need to get back to the bridge. Again, I’m sorry, but we’ll have to make this trip as quick as possible and be on our way again.” As Rauph left the room, everyone turned to look at Gianni.

  “What?” he asked, glaring at them, then looking down to the floor, avoiding their disappointed expressions.

  “Always have to push, don’t you?” Yvette asked, before the room was left in uncomfortable silence.

  “Well, who wants to play tic-tac-toe?” Kieren asked finally.

  James sighed, wondering if the trip would get any more exciting after they left the space port.

  #

  Rauph had spent the night praying he was taking the correct course of action. His story about wanting the Humans to stay aboard the Tukuli because of quarantine regulations was true for the most part, but he also had an ulterior motive. He didn’t want any of the Humans interacting with the occupants of the space station.

  For one thing, he couldn’t have the Humans run into the mercenaries he had hired to kidnap them from Earth. That would prove too sticky of a situation. For another, he was well aware of the reputation the Rajani held after all of these years. They were the monsters, the invaders. The ones mothers scared their offspring with to make them behave; the ones those same offspring had nightmares about and woke screaming in the night.

  He’d done his best to play down that aspect of his species’ reputation when he’d first spoken to the Humans. He was afraid the Rajani would be doomed because of events that had transpired thousands of years before. He still considered it a kind of luck they had encountered beings who had never heard of the Rajani. Most members of the Galactic Alliance would have celebrated the extinction of his species rather than helped.

  Rauph had explained his plan for the space port to Bhakat, with less than desirable results. He’d finally been forced to order his Pledge back to his room for meditation. Rauph was thinking of this as they approached the Mandakan system. They had already been challenged by the Mandakan Imperial warship, which patrolled the system and had requested an explanation of their visit. A quick, superficial scan of their ship had shown the Mandakans they were unarmed, and they were allowed to proceed on their way for repairs. Rauph knew if the warship had found the Tukuli to be armed, it would have escorted the ship to the space port and then boarded it to inspect every inch.

  Rauph, Bhakat, and Janan were in their usual positions on the bridge when they made their final approach. Mandaka was a small planet, much like Earth, whose inhabitants had made the most of living along a major travel corridor. The space port was enormous, and it orbited Mandaka like a small moon, its enormous meteor shield always pointed away from the planet.

  Most of the money made by the port came from gambling—there were several large casinos aboard the station—as well as providing repairs, supplies, and a place to rest for passing travelers. That was the official story, at least.

  Rauph also knew it had a large black market system, and this was how he planned to get the ship outfitted with the required training equipment without raising any ‘official’ eyebrows.

  “Incoming call on subspace frequency,” Janan said.

  “Put it on intercom,” Rauph told him.

  “Ship designate Tukuli,” a voice said in Talondarian Standard. “You have been approved for docking. What is your purpose?”

  “Repairs to my ship and lodging for my crew,” Rauph replied.

  “Acknowledged,” the voice said. “Proceed to dock 10-KM and slow approach to .40.”

  “Acknowledged,” Rauph replied. He motioned for Janan to turn off the intercom.

  “Bhakat, you have the ship,” Rauph said, standing slowly. Bhakat nodded, not meeting his master’s eyes.

  His Pledge was still angry about Rauph’s orders to stay on the ship. Bhakat would have to get past it. Rauph had faith his Pledge would, given enough time. Bhakat was also angry because Rauph planned to ask Officer Dempsey to accompany him as a bodyguard, in his invisible mode, and allow the Human to observe his dealings on the port. Dempsey would have to stay invisible throughout the negotiations—Rauph didn’t want them to know they had someone aboard who was implanted with a Johar
Stone. It would cause a panic among the denizens of the port.

  Rauph walked to the doorway before turning again. “Please inform Officer Dempsey to meet me at the main airlock once we’ve docked, Janan.” He turned and walked out the door of the bridge, hoping their trip would be uneventful.

  #

  James waited at the airlock and wondered what was happening. Initially, Rauph had told them all they needed to stay on the ship due to concerns for their safety. He was still wondering when Rauph walked down the corridor toward him, carrying the translating device.

  “Officer Dempsey,” Rauph said when he had reached the airlock door. “Thank you for meeting me here.” He placed the translating device down on the corridor floor. “My, that is heavy after a while,” he said. “I’ll try to find a more mobile one while aboard the station, if I have the chance.”

  James thought about asking the Rajani about the devices he, Bhakat, and Janan had implanted in their skulls, but thought better of it—perhaps they were too expensive or difficult to find. He wasn’t sure about anything when it came to the workings of everyday alien life or technology.

  “I’m sure you’re wondering why I asked you to meet me here,” Rauph said, breaking James out of his reverie.

  “Yes, I am,” James answered truthfully.

  “I’m going aboard this station to barter the purchase of the equipment we need,” Rauph continued pointing vaguely toward the airlock. “The beings I will be dealing with are not the most trustworthy, and I’d like to leave the station in the same condition I enter it in, if you catch my meaning.”

  James nodded. He could see where this was headed. “You want me to play bodyguard for you while you seal the deal.”

  “Precisely,” Rauph said, with a rare smile. “In your invisible mode, of course. We cannot have them seeing you. As I told you before, they might take you into custody, and then all we have worked for would be undone.”