Star Chaser- The Traveler

by Reiter

  “Travelers!” Nugar nodded as Dungias started to pace. He watched as his student took it all in. He knew what his student was doing. The greatest tool in Dungias’ arsenal was always going to be his mind. It was already a powerful item, and his experiences had only made it sharper and quicker. The room was too small to allow for pacing. Dungias eventually stopped, folded his arms, and sighed. “How long were they active?”

  “Three, maybe five generations,” Nugar replied. “Long enough to make an impact on the war!”

  “And shay-spawn enough to be forgotten,” Dungias added as he decided to sit down again. “Your lessons grow heavier, my Master.”

  “Then consider this your last lesson from me, Dungi,” Nugar resolved. “For you are most assuredly beyond me now.”

  “That course I will never be able to chart,” Dungias argued.

  “This is the last lesson I shall give to you as my student,” Nugar stressed. “When I am done speaking, I will no longer be your master. Now let me finish this, as it is a task that is much harder, and has come much more quickly, than I anticipated.” Dungias lowered his head and closed his eyes. He rested the back of his left hand on his left leg and did the same with his right. His Osamu rested in his palms, and Alpha too prepared itself.

  Nugar looked at Dungias for a moment and steadied himself. Too soon. It had not been nearly long enough, and he was still saying hello to the boy. But he had blinked and the Stars were having their way with him – now he was saying farewell to a man!

  “Enough,” he thought, scolding himself. “Enough now. He has earned at least this much! Give him the truth and be comforted that at the very least, you had a hand in this find.

  “You are not meant to be a simple Traveler, Dungi,” Nugar said, folding his arms. “You are being called for something else… something greater. The Stars call upon you to be a Star Chaser!”

  “What?” Dungias said, looking up at Nugar. “What is a Star Chaser?”

  “To some, it is a mythical character,” Nugar started. “Something created to fan the flames of hope and ambition. The legend tells of one particular Malgovi explorer… whether it was he or she was never recorded, and that is the way the Star Chasers would prefer it. But the first Star Chaser dared to chart something that person called the inner-verse.” Dungias was obviously curious for more details as Nugar explained himself. “Their reason was founded in the fact that the diagrams for molecules often look like star charts. From there, it was concluded that each body of existence housed an untold number of star systems–”

  “Or a universe!” Dungias said as his mind took hold of the concept.

  “Exactly!” Nugar emphasized. “A movement was born from the concept, and those who undertook the quest were called Star Chasers. I can assure you that the name at that time was hardly complimentary. But it did not seem to deter those who chose to believe that the concept held merit.

  “Generations passed, and anyone holding to the notion of being a Star Chaser knew it meant that they needed to live among those who also believed in the same thing.”

  “They were cast out of society?” Dungias asked, already feeling linked to the people.

  “All but,” Nugar replied. “Nothing official was ever said or done to them.”

  “Or course not, that would be barbaric!” Dungias said ironically.

  “What you need to know,” Nugar stressed, “… is that they did not fail in their quest!” Dungias’ face relaxed and his head came up. As he locked eyes with the Master Traveler, whose face now held a soft smile, Nugar nodded. “They found the Inner Star! The Star Chasers decided to bring what they had learned back to the very people who had…”

  “Fallen short of their perspective,” Dungias offered.

  “Leave it to a poet,” Nugar nodded, picking up where he had stammered. “In fact, the very means by which we learned how to meditate and focus our minds either on casting MajiK or iro-form manipulation was founded by the Star Chasers! However, timing is an often overlooked and underrated step in many processes. Before the Star Chasers could complete their… unveiling, BroSohnti ships were spotted!” Dungias was nearly lost in the narrative. He started to get anxious before reason took hold of him, reminding him that since the Malgovi and the Vinthur were still alive, the story could not end too tragically. “And I believe you are more than familiar with that part of our history.”

  “The Founders saved our people,” Dungias said in reflection.

  “He says ‘our people’ because that is what he means,” Nugar thought. “No, my Dungi does not see Vinthur and Malgovi, he sees ‘our people’.”

  “And we lost sight of the Star Chasers?” Dungias asked.

  “Quite nearly,” Nugar quickly replied, squatting down to look his student in the eye. He took a firm hold of the young man’s chin and gave it a slight shaking. “Some time after the wars, even after the time of the Shadow’s Blade and the birth of the Travelers, the Star Chasers took their leave of us, giving no reason as to why. There wasn’t a Traveler who could find any sign that they had ever been, let alone where they went. All that was ever said or recorded was that one would be born to take up where they had left off… and only the Stars would know who that candidate would be.

  “As far as I know, only one other has been named a Star Chaser since the time of their passing, but she opted to take up another path.”

  “How could anyone exercise such an option?!” Dungias said with his hand clenched tightly around his Osamu. “To refuse the trek of the Star Chaser?!”

  “Well, she had a lot on her mind, Dungi,” Nugar explained. “With a very healthy parent and two proven older male siblings when she started her training, I am sure she did not think she would ever be called upon to be Queen.” Dungias looked at his teacher for a moment, searching for some indicator of mirth in his eyes. When he could not find it, he returned to his own thoughts.

  “I would suppose the crown is reason enough,” Dungias said softly. “And this is the caliber of our people you wish for me to join?”

  “No, vazi,” Nugar replied, taking hold of Dungias’ shoulder. “This is what you are becoming! Take a good look now so you can recognize the changes later. You are already a Traveler, and only an Osur could have freed me from an Arch Invoker the way that you did.” He shook Dungias and forced his former student to look him in the eye. If by nothing else, it would be by sheer will that Dungias would be convinced his mentor believed in every word he was saying. “Even with what happened in your attempt to Jump-Stride, the success of your plan to rescue me hinged on teleportation! I cannot imagine what must have gone through your mind in the creation of your strategy. But there was no fear in your execution… no doubt in your eyes when we took to that shaft.

  “Yes, Dungias! With all that comes with it… you can believe it… you are a Star Chaser!”

  It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.

  Confucius

  “I didn’t know gemnur could be so quiet for so long!” Laejem said as he checked the navigation of the scout craft once more. He turned around in his seat and stretched his neck as much as he could, trying to get light to bend so that he might be able to see around corners, but he could not see Dungias or Nugar.

  “You could always get up from your seat and go back there, kommis,” Saru suggested. “It isn’t as if they are not family.”

  “They?” Laejem questioned. “I know that gemnur is family. How is it…” Laejem looked at his younger sibling and finally noticed the light in her eyes. He left his seat to kneel beside hers, taking a very gentle hold of her forearm. “Saytrah, are you sure?”

  “He said the words, kommis,” Saru replied.

  “He is Malgovi, saytrah… and he was just waking from near death. Did he know what he was saying?”

  “He knows more about our people than we do, Laejem,” Saru pointed out. As her brother looked away, nodding in agreement of the point, she considered the latter of Laejem’s argument. “Laej
em, as always, speaks the truth. Dungias had come so close to death and I know what little comfort and assistance I was able to give him did–” Saru’s PC chirped, signifying she was receiving a message. She looked down at the small monitor and started to cry. ‘I know!!!’ scrolled across the screen three times before the message was discontinued. Saru offered up the transmission to Laejem who read it, stood up, and started for the rear of the ship. Saru was about to follow when she received a second message: keep your SEAT! The young woman smiled and strapped herself into her seat, accustomed to the training received from Nugar. Even though it was the Void, only when a Traveler is alone should the pilot’s chamber ever be empty. There were three very capable pilots on board, and Saru was learning fast.

  Nugar sat quietly, contemplating his self-worth. Dungias was not his first student, and by the grace of the Stars he hoped the young Malgovi would not be his last. But he could not help but feel helpless against the events unfolding in his latest student’s life. While he was able to tell him of the Shadow’s Blade and the Star Chaser, he could not even begin to fathom the Grenbi dream or the word MANROVI. When Laejem entered the room, the Master Traveler said nothing.

  “May I speak?” Laejem asked, looking at his gemnur. Nugar looked up long enough to identify who was speaking. He nodded ‘yes’ as he returned his eyes to the floor. “What will you do, Dungias?”

  “I think a more important question is what will you do, Laejem,” Dungias replied, looking at the young Warrior. “You have a very important decision ahead of you, and you are being pulled in opposite directions.” Laejem’s eyes flared wide as Dungias spoke. “While it might be a simple option to exercise, I am afraid it is ultimately an irresponsible means of decision-making.”

  “What, in the name of all the Stars, are you talking about, Dungi?” Nugar asked.

  “Reactionary decision-making, Master,” Dungias advised. “The exercise of implementing one’s plans based solely on the actions of others.”

  “Thank you for the definition,” Nugar said as his eyes squinted. “Now could you see your way to answering my question?”

  “Was it not the K’Dalkian Council that moved against you, Master?” Dungias asked.

  “I think you already know the answer to that question,” Nugar replied.

  “And their actions were directed by the Grandmistress of the Traveler Order, were they not?”

  “You already know that as well. You’ve seen into her mind!”

  “Exactly, Master! I have.” Dungias slowly took his eyes off of Laejem, shifting them to Nugar. “Tell me, Kwinsoah, what is the likelihood that men sent to collect your grandchildren… men sent by Talkurra… would come ill-prepared to take two of your students?” As Dungias returned his heavy gaze to Laejem, Nugar added the weight of his own stare. “You are of the Age of Decision, are you not, Laejem? You wish to be a Warrior, and whether you take your place in the Warrior ranks or join the Mal-Vin, you need to receive acknowledgement to attend any one of the guild schools. It is unlawful for your own blood to sponsor you, so Nugar has done all he can for you. The Council controls the admissions process, and your application has yet to be answered.

  “Mark well your first course, but never forget the second and third,” Dungias quoted a well-known Traveler idiom. “Talkurra may not be your measure, Master, but she is no fool! Getting information out of you without conflict was never her destination.”

  “No,” Nugar said softly as he initiated his own contemplations. “Travelers, as an unwritten law, often stand against the aims of the Council. I took no comfort in being betrayed by a Sister Traveler… especially one I trusted.

  “Talkurra would have anticipated my discord,” Nugar said, looking at his gemvazi. “She would have charted another course.

  “One I trusted!” Nugar hissed at Laejem as he pushed off from the wall and bolted down the slender corridor. He brushed Laejem aside with the ease of moving a paperweight and the young Warrior spun before falling to the floor. “Keep your eyes on that one!” Nugar commanded as he rushed past. Laejem watched Nugar for another stride but then looked back to Dungias who was slowly advancing.

  “With the fear I see in your eyes, the last of my doubts is erased,” he said, extending his hand to Laejem. “I know you were approached.” Laejem was confused, as the motions Dungias was making did not match the subject of the conversation. He looked at the offered hand and then back at Dungias who waited patiently. He took the hand and Dungias slowly lifted him from the floor. “Your escape and subsequent assistance to Saru were all orchestrated. You were meant to be their spy… but you have yet to hold to your end of whatever bargain that was struck.”

  “The same man who taught you how to guard your thoughts taught me to do the same,” Laejem stated, beginning to shake with fear and frustration. “How is it that you can read them?!”

  “You rely on what you can read in one’s mind,” Dungias said, patting Laejem on the shoulder. “And there is truth there, but that is not the only place where the Light of Stars can help us see. I look at your actions – your reactions to every word I have said – and the pattern becomes very clear to me. How late are you in reporting in to them?”

  “Nearly two star-terms now,” Laejem admitted as his head sank. He shuddered when the ship jostled just before jerking to one side. Laejem was falling into the wall when Dungias took hold of his belt. “What is happening?!”

  “Your gemnur, my Master, is shaking things up.”

  “Prepare an iro-form pulse,” Nugar had commanded as he swung into the pilot’s chair. “Just one strong enough to clean the sensor feeds.” Nugar had started hitting the switches to take the piloting controls from Saru’s station. “Ready the shields and prime the drives.”

  “Yes, gemnur,” Saru had replied, going as quickly as she could without making any mistakes. She looked up, seeing that Nugar was already in full control of the scout ship. “Station ready.”

  “Good work, child,” Nugar had replied as he looked at all of the sensor reports. “Pulse on my call.

  “Emit pulse!” he commanded just before he pulled on the controls. The ship had tilted to port, but turned hard to starboard.

  “Pulse away,” Saru had reported before the stern and port sensors had registered a ship in close proximity to their own. A shadow! The tricky turn Nugar had performed was too difficult to mimic, and the iro-form pulse would have interrupted any probes that were reading Nugar’s ship. “Possible target,” she announced, “bearing sixty-three degrees port from our former course and coming around hard. From the run speed, gemnur, their ship is more agile than ours.”

  “It was the last time I saw it, too,” Nugar had said, pulling his ship into a loop. “Thank the Stars we are in the Void. Otherwise, the attached ship would make these maneuvers nearly impossible.”

  “Shields at the ready,” Saru advised. “Drives ready to burn!”

  “Hold steady,” Nugar said as he came down behind the small fighter-craft that was just recovering from its tight turn. “Some things never seem to change,” Nugar had said, opening a communications channel. “Ho there, G’Dalzee!” he had shouted. “Still falling for the same tricks? I am of the mind that words should be said before weapons are fired. Do you agree?”

  “I have your word and station?” G’Dalzee had replied as his ship cut forward engines.

  “Damn,” Nugar had whispered as his hands lowered away from the controls. He had sat for a moment, ordering the flight computer to take up a steady position beside the sleek fighter-craft.

  The scout ship had been refitted with a very sizeable cargo bay which made for a handy meeting place, as there were doors that could open to the Void. G’Dalzee had removed his suit and was given refreshment before anything was said.

  “Leave it to you,” G’Dalzee said after swallowing and nodding to Saru for the service of the drink. “… to find a way to make us both right in an argument. I warned you there could be trouble in all of this.”

  “When d
id you come to serve the Council?” Nugar asked, taking a more direct approach to the matter.

  “How dare you?!” G’Dalzee barked as he stood up, throwing the cup toward the floor. “I serve our people! I serve the Vinthur as I have always done! For once in many courses charted, the K’Dalkian Council serves our people in the same manner!”

  “And how will they achieve that in the service of the First Princess?!” Nugar returned at equal volume and fervor. He took a breath and chuckled, looking away from G’Dalzee. “But then again, they did not necessarily tell you that, did they?”

  “It would have served them very little,” Dungias added. He stood in the corner closest to the door leading out of the chamber, his right hand wrapped around his left wrist, both arms draped in front of him.

  “And you will be silent, boy!” G’Dalzee shouted. “This is talk among the Travelers, among the Vinthur! Keep your Malgovi ways clear of this!”

  “You think with your heart,” Dungias’ voice remained steady and low. “You must see with it as well,” Dungias said, releasing his grip upon his arm. His belt buckled could be clearly seen and G’Dalzee quickly recognized the symbol. “But I’m speaking of what should have been obvious. You threw the cup down… a cup given to you by my woman. While you thanked her for bringing you refreshment, you insulted her by casting it to the floor. But you never heard the cup hit the floor, did you?” G’Dalzee looked to his side and tumbling slowly in mid-air was the cup he had thrown. Both the cup and its contents floated above the floor. As Dungias came away from the corner, the fluid entered into the cup and floated to Dungias’ hand. He finished the remains and walked over to Saru to return the cup.

  “My apologies, nyaka,” he said softly. “I should not have allowed such insolence in the home of your blood.” Saru took the cup and lowered her head.

  “It was not an act of your own,” she replied. “No apology required.”