A standard black oval nanotable with fourteen nanochairs stood in the center of the chamber for current use. Two door panels stood closed and secured at either end, and two other sets of wider door panels were spaced out evenly along the inner wall to port, and opposite the viewports.
The chamber was lightly scented, well-ventilated, and neither stuffy nor dusty. Drink and snack stations emerged from the walls and stood ready around the table for anyone to access. The fruity scents of juices and lix also permeated the air. The aroma from different snacks tantalized a few palates that enjoyed physical food.
Some energy beings like Shalaen only took in such fuel if they wished to do so, if they enjoyed the taste, or they merely wanted to be social. Others such as Haemet of the Laelor did not bother with such things, and drew their sustenance continually and far more efficiently from the Cosmic flows themselves.
The standard light thiolin music piped throughout most of the ship was toggled off so as not to impede conversation.
Naero spoke to the current gathering about her clumsy ordeal in the newly encountered SpaceTime Records. They listened for almost an hour to her descriptions of what she encountered there. After that, there were many opinions.
“I don’t think that you should waste too much time on reviewing what has already transpired,” Khai finally told her. “There’s still plenty to be accomplished in the here and now. And I think that going over painful past events, and especially personal losses, of which there have been many, will only cause you needless pain and suffering.”
“There is always pain in the past,” Janner chimed in. “Why go out of your way to relive any of that. It’s a waste of time and energy.”
“But Jan, what if you could spend even just a few more moments with Mom and Dad? Wouldn’t you want to-?”
“No. Not at all,” Jan pointedly said. A very pained expression flashed over his face as he trembled. “Haisha, I don’t think that I could bear that.”
Jan still partially blamed himself for the deaths of their parents, and perhaps he always would. Like the past, there was little that Naero could do about that.
She still wasn’t certain if she was brave enough to go back into her own time stream and witness the deaths of her parents, however valiant their demise had been.
Their deaths had been planned out for a long time by the many enemies of Clan Maeris. Janner had not been at fault.
Shalaen said, “Losing anyone that we loved a second time or more would be horrible for all of us.”
Haemet bowed his head. “I understand, even as an energy being. My people and I lost seventy-percent of our species. We still grieve for them. The effects of any loss cannot be properly calculated.”
“I know that very well,” Ty said flatly, sitting next to Zhen. He would say no more.
Om had assumed one of his dark synthezoid forms to join them directly, and did not agree. “Yet consider this,” he said. “If we set aside emotions, if this difficult technique could be mastered and fully explored, it might prove useful in many ways that we cannot possibly foresee.
“For example, Naero could use it to go back into her near time stream and spy on the enemy with impunity—if she knew where they were. Yet there is the risk and pain factor to consider. She would be slowly taking temporal damage.”
Jia took up one of Om’s points. “That is a consideration. What if she could use this technique for intelligence gathering? There’s always something about the enemy that we might have missed.”
“Whatever the risks,” Baeven noted, “this dangerous technique should be used sparingly, but it could be vital to us under the right circumstances. We cannot ignore that.”
Baeven was correct, of course. Who could say what the long term effects of such temporal energy exposure could be?
Exploring the past was a time sink as well. She could not spend so much time searching events in the past that she was not contributing enough to events in her present.
That could become a trap in itself, and keep her out of the vital now where she was so badly needed. Everyone only had so much time of their own.
Truly, no one could live in the past, even if it technically became possible to do so.
Doing so too much could take away her future.
Naero made another announcement. “The Guardian of the Time Records mentioned what the enemy leaders in the Beta and Delta Quadrants are called. The one in the Beta Quadrant is known as Khemathrykal, and evidently has some kind of Darkforce hyper beam attack that we need to beware of. The other one in the Delta Quadrant is known as Xath the Hidden, and I’m guessing that this entity is difficult to locate.”
At least now they had names to use.
“Anything else about them?” Janner asked.
“I don’t recall any mention of either of them in the KDM,” Jia said.
“There isn’t going to be any information on Nahaxrathrax either,” Baeven pointed out. “But we know that he is also one of the current enemy leaders–their primary leader in the Gamma Quadrant.”
“They seem to have a Prime Leader in every quadrant,” Shalaen noted. “Why isn’t there such an enemy leader in the Alpha Quadrant?”
“Who said there wasn’t?” Khai said. “Even if we never knew the entity’s name, we think we took him out during past conflicts. Naero has been instrumental in taking out several high-level G’lothc. But how do we know he hasn’t been replaced?”
“We’ll need to continue to learn all that we can about all of our enemies, new and old,” Om told them. “That will not change any time soon.”
Alarms that had been set for the Interdimensions went off on one of Naero’s private battlecomps in her quarters off to one side. She shifted over to it with Khai behind her.
Further discussion would need to wait. Something was very wrong.
By all of the reports, Khai’s people the Oden had recently made their final transformations into being full energy beings.
Then they had vanished within a matter of a few hours, shortly thereafter.
Naero, Khai, Baeven, and the primary Alliance Champions linked up with the Interdimensional Alliance Forces. These battle groups were comprised of energy beings and Ultrium Battle Fleets, modified to explore, travel, and fight within the aether and extreme conditions of the Interdimensions.
Yattai, Laelor, Nodani, Elok, Glos, and Prill were just some of the growing list of energy being races who had joined forces, if for nothing else, than to survive against the Great Adversary’s nearly relentless assault on their kind.
It bothered everyone, including Naero and Om that another entire advanced species had suddenly disappeared so abruptly, without word or any trace.
The Oden had been horrified by what happened to the Laelor, when the enemy had nearly wiped them out, and captured the rest to use as slaves, food, and energy sources.
The Laelor had not been as numerous as the Oden, but they were an ancient species of energy beings, and far more powerful.
That they could be nearly exterminated by the enemy made the Oden extremely concerned and fearful.
Even before the great transformation, over a third of the Oden had already retreated to hidden places within their interdimensional realms.
But since the Oden had taken their next evolutionary leap of existence, they were simply gone without a trace.
No messages.
No explanations.
All of the Oden Homeworlds in the Prime Material plane were now like ghost worlds. The other minorities of sentient races that lived side-by-side with the Oden in peace and harmony grew extremely troubled and frightened.
They missed their neighbors, friends, and partners on those worlds.
Reports only came in about green flashes of light.
Telleron-1, Gethera-5, and Masenal-3—on each planet the reports were the same, and the mystery and the terror grew.
Naero followed Khai to Odenar-2 and Jurzed-4. They observed the same thing first hand.
All of the Oden w
ere gone, as if they had fled or were taken deliberately.
Baeven and Jan reported the same findings on Beleth-5 and Diezak-7.
“Any signs of fighting or struggle?” Naero asked. “Any Cosmic energy readings or traces that the enemy, their mind control wraiths, or their Phage strains were involved?”
“Negative,” Baeven stated. “If they had been under some kind of attack this big, our conventional forces protecting these worlds would have responded immediately and raised the alarm.”
“We’ve scanned and searched everything possible, several times over,” Jan added. “Whatever occurred, it did not involve any kind of an enemy attack that we’ve seen before.”
“I think that the Oden chose to leave,” Baeven said flatly. “They took themselves to some other place for reasons of their own. And to protect themselves, they don’t want anyone to know where they’ve gone.”
“That could either be wise, or foolish,” Shalaen said. “If the enemy does not know where they are, that could protect them. Yet if something goes wrong, their allies and friends won’t be able to help them.”
“My people would not have done something like this without a good reason,” Khai noted. “But they never said anything to me about this. I’m just as puzzled and confused as the rest of you, and these are my people.”
“Khai,” Naero noted, “there probably wasn’t any time, if they were forced to act quickly. You’ve been consumed with our duties with the Alliance forces. We all have.”
“I have a suggestion,” Haemet of the Laelor said. “If they just made their final transformation into becoming fully formed energy beings, this would be an extremely vulnerable time for them. Perhaps their leaders took them to a safer place where they can all explore their new forms and abilities?”
Khai shook his head. “I still don’t think that they would depart so quickly, without informing anyone where they went. But if that was true, then let’s push on into the Interdimensions and check with our forces there. We know where all of the normal Oden realms are.”
One by one they traveled from one location within the Oden Interdimensional spaces to the next. All communications with the Allied forces there echoed all that they had found, at Xyleris, Kobeth, and Alood.
They found the same situation at Gelingar, Dariba, and Trass.
The Allied forces in all of those places were conducting similar searches, with the help of other energy beings. But they had no luck uncovering any traces or suggestions as to what had happened to the Oden, or where they had gone.
Finally they came to the most outward colony of the Oden in the Interdimensions. Jeesh had been abandoned months before, when the enemy unleashed their new attacks. Only a few fleets patrolled the area.
But there were traces of recent activity, and low level energy readings.
Had some or all of the fleeing Oden come that way?
What had they stopped in Jeesh for and why? Where did they go when they left?
There wasn’t enough information at hand that could even hint at what direction they had gone off in. As usual, the searchers were left with more questions about the growing mystery.
Naero rested with Khai in his mother’s abandoned open space among her energy constructs within the Oden colony of Jeesh.
Perhaps it could be called a city in some fashion. Many sentient energy beings had existed there at different times. But it wasn’t exactly a city on a flat plane with buildings and such. Energy being construct regions were more free form, with single or clusters of open spaces marked by whatever forms, shapes, or spacial designs that the makers found interesting or needed.
Some of these thought constructs only took shape and form when the energy beings were present in those spaces, and otherwise returned to the aether.
She knew Khai worried, by the way he sat with his head down, and the way he wrung his big hands together. She could only imagine how helpless he felt. They all did. They had come to the end of their current real options.
Naero rested a gentle hand on his forearm. “Something will turn up, my heart. We’ll keep searching until it does. We’ll explore the spheres for any traces.”
He sighed heavily and spoke sadly, “My people are gone, I don’t know what happened to them, or where they are. I’m their protector, but I can’t help them if I don’t know where they are. This is weighing very heavily on me, my love.”
She sighed with him, resting her face and head against his mighty arm.
*
The next day brought a visit from Admiral Saemar Maeris, currently on leave for the next several months.
Saemar was gloriously pregnant in her last standard month, filled with nesting energy and as vivacious as usual.
Her child was a normal Spacer boy, with half of his genetics from Saemar’s lost soulmate, Hikaru Kimura, from the Kimura sept.
“You’re staying with me and my people for at least the next year,” Naero insisted.
Saemar tried to open her mouth, but Naero stopped her with one hand.
“It’s as safe as can be possible. My people and I have plenty of staff to take care of babies, kids, and your dumb ass. One or two more people won’t make a difference. Chae, Ty, and Zhen all leave their kids here when the GSA calls and come around on a regular basis. You can have as many visitors as you like, within reason. Have your son with Trudi and the best medical in the galaxy. You know that is true. Raise the son you and Hikaru always wanted, Saemar. You know that you will lack for nothing.”
Her friend shook her curly, auburn head. “But the war, N.”
“You let us take care of the war. Haisha, you’re having a baby you goof! You’re going to be busy. You can’t fight anyway.”
“You do it all the time, N.”
“Yes, but you can’t replicate yourself like I can!”
And thank goodness for that. No universe could handle more than one Saemar Maeris in it.
That really would be a sign of the end.
6
Naero and Khai finally had the opportunity to spend some more quality time with their other children on a one-to-one basis. The war and duty made it tough, but she and Khai both tried to manage such times as often as they could.
When they had time like this, both parents took turns on their own with each of their children.
Their children needed to know their mother.
They needed to know their father.
Daeyen and Kathron were nine years old, just one year younger than Shetharra. The first twins always had each other to play with and keep one other company. Like all sibs, they did fight and have fall outs. They could separate and be on their own without too much difficulty, but they were always happy to get back together afterwards.
They were also both a year away from beginning their own Mystic training. Dae was already telepathic and telekinetic as far as his psyonic talents went. Kath was telepathic and cryokinetic. Shetharra had already quickened their abilities once, to make them stronger.
Naero spent an entire day with Daeyen. From morning PT, sparring, and breakfast, they spent a good part of their morning time fencing, and then in starfighter practice out in the black in a tandem T-88 Hyper Banshee trainer.
Her oldest son excelled at two things: fleet tactics and interstellar navigation. He was much like his Uncle Janner in the latter regard.
Naero was still small enough in size that she could go Spiraling with any of her kids. Khai was always too big for many of the chutes, tubes, and tunnels. She never heard Dae laugh so hard as when she chased him, and then he chased her through all of the Spiraling mazes.
When they got lix and snaks, he would hug her so tight with both arms, look up at her with his adoring face, and just blaze away with love and happiness.
“Love you, Mom!”
“I love you too, honey…forever and ever.”
After lunch they went up to the big observation decks of the flagship, with all of their viewing panels wide open. Dae got on his handcomp and worked out galactic n
avigation challenges on his own–first with his comp, and then in his head. Naero herself had never been very good at completing such tasks.
In the afternoon, the watched one of the latest holovids, a sweeping fantasy movie filled with wondrous creatures, magic, and epic battles. Then Dae insisted on them spending a few more hours in the advanced fleet tactical trainers.
Naero let him win some of the encounters to encourage him, but she also whipped him soundly on a few others, as well. They went over each contest and evaluated what could be improved. For a nine year old, he was very adept.
He shared with her his secret dream about wanting to become at least a Strike Fleet Captain in the Spacer Navy, or perhaps the GSA. “Maybe I’ll get to be an Admiral like you someday, Mom.”
She smirked at her son. “I don’t know. You’re pretty lazy, you bum.”
“I am not!”
“Oh, really? Aunt Sharrah talks to me all the time, you know. And I’ve seen firsthand what a disaster your quarters are, young man.”
“Kath is twice as messy as I am. She can hardly get into her berth, with all of the crap she has in there.”
“Daeyen Wallace Williams! I am not talking about your twin sister. I’m talking to you, little mister!” She touched her right index finger to his cute nose. He broke out giggling as she smiled at him.
She couldn’t help drawing him close, giving him a good snuggle, and some kisses on top of his head.
The two of them might as well have been in heaven.
“You’d better get things squared away in that room of yours. You’re not going to get to be captain or admiral by being a slob, my lad.”
“But Mom, I don’t understand. You’re a big admiral, yet Uncle Jan says that when you were a kid, you were the biggest, nastiest, stinkiest slob that he ever saw. He said that your quarters stunk so bad-”
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