Annals of the Keepers: War 267 (Book 1 in the Gashnee Saga)

by Hile, Christiaan

  Lintorth placed his staff upright as to halt the spar.

  “Our time is running out, my friend. The Si Generals want an all-out attack on Sol.” The disdain marked Lintorth’s face. He continued, “An attack on who? On what? The generals do not know who or what they are going after, and they want to attack? For all we know, this could be a scouting party who attacked Dalyth Point and these batwons want to charge in blindly not knowing what lies in the dark,” Lintorth ranted as he threw down his staff.

  Leaving his staff on the combat chamber floor, Lintorth limped over to a weapons rake and took his cape from the podium.

  Swinging his cape around his back, he turned his attention back towards Voskal.

  “In ten circles, Xoma Si will hold a meeting with the generals and render a decision on invading the Sol system. My friend,” placing his hands on Voskal’s shoulders, “if I have ever asked for anything so much, it is now. We must, at all costs, gain some detail into this riddle that’s been thrust upon us.”

  Voskal cleared his throat with a swallow. “We did capture three of the escapees from the outpost and…”

  Lintorth interrupted his friend.

  “Three, you count. One Kryth soldier died of his wounds, telling us what we already knew. The Fossari scum quivers in his own urine telling us everything we didn’t want to know about how much of a coward he is. And the third?” Lintorth sighed as he turned from Voskal, “the third is a useless Cuukzen, unable to get out of his own way.”

  A tired look came over Lintorth’s face, as if an hourglass had emptied its last bit of sand.

  Voskal beckoned his last desperate thought. “If there is anything left here, it may be with the bounty hunter.” Lintorth lifted his head on the comment. “Bounty hunter?”

  “Yes. We think he has something on the invaders. We set him up for another round of interrogations. I was going to do it myself in my chambers after our bout... Why do you ask?” Voskal Lat questioned as Lintorth approached.

  “Who calls this Cuukzen a bounty hunter?” Lintorth asked.

  “The Cuukzen himself.”

  “Really?” peaked Lintorth’s voice. “This is interesting. So they do come in small packages.” Lintorth finished with a broad smile cresting his face.

  “Small what?”

  “I will perform this interrogation on the Cuukzen myself.” Lintorth paused as his mind whirled. “You, my friend, have generals to stall.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Lintorth turned, heading out of the chamber door, his crimson cape flowing behind him. “Follow and I will tell.”

  Voskal Lat quickened his pace to catch up to Lintorth as the door slid closed.

  ∞∞∞

  The landscape was beautiful, stretching onward with thousands of purple and yellow flowers rolling across the hilly scenery outside.

  Not a location one would bring to mind for a top secret military installation, Mistuuk reasoned. Maybe that was the point.

  The glass reflected back his own reddish brown skin.

  He was staring out the window watching the winds blow the flora when a new, unknown reflection appeared behind him in the glass.

  In stepped Lintorth.

  “Please don’t let me interrupt your viewing pleasure,” Lintorth said towards the Cuukzen.

  Mistuuk peeled himself from the glass and turned, speaking before noticing his Kryth interrogator. “It’s about time,” he said, shuffling around with arms crossed. “Make a bounty hunter wait will youuu…” His voice trailed off at the sight of Lintorth.

  Lintorth towered over the Cuukzen like an ashlin bearcat standing over a, well, a Cuukzen.

  Without hesitating, Lintorth approached his seat behind the crystal desk next to where the Cuukzen stood.

  As he sat, he brushed his cape to the side.

  Mistuuk just remained where he was, mouth agape and eyes wide.

  Lintorth adjusted his data portfolio on the desk to his front, reading the bio of his prisoner.

  The Cuukzen were a labor race. They Kryth used them for engineering or mining across the vast holdings of the Domain. Too small for combat and too annoying for anything else, many races employed them for menial tight-spaced tasks such as engine duct work and splice-graphing repairs.

  Turning his head, Lintorth gestured the open-mouthed Cuukzen to move to the seat in front.

  “Please have a seat.” Lintorth opened with a warm pleasing smile. “Let’s gets started, shall we?”

  Mistuuk found his seat, making the leap, he grunted, adjusting himself until he was comfortable in the chair.

  Lintorth waited, hands clasped in his lap.

  “Wow! You’re the largest Kryth I’ve ever seen,” came the Cuukzen’s first comment. “I’ve never seen such… such power presented in a Kryth Mahr uniform before. And that cape, it’s fantastic.”

  The corner of Lintorth’s mouth tried hard to keep the half smile for his guest.

  Lintorth leaned forward.

  “Thanks for the pleasantry, but let’s dispense with them. What say you, Cuukzen?”

  “Yes, let us dispense with them. I was never an admirer of such trivial small talk, though I try and get away with it from time to time and as much as possible.” Mistuuk gulped.

  Lintorth held his gaze a moment before looking at the file on the Cuukzen.

  He spoke. “Answer these questions.” He paused. “Is your name Mistuuk, and are you a bounty hunter?”

  “Yes, and yes I am.” Mistuuk beamed with glee as someone with half a brain recognized the talent before them.

  “A bounty hunter I have not heard the likes of until oh, fifteen minutes ago.”

  Mistuuk’s wide eyes sank from excited jubilance.

  Lintorth continued. “If you’re an infamous bounty hunter, then please, name some of your marks. I may have known a few.”

  Lintorth sat back in his chair, hands still folded.

  Mistuuk let out a laugh, his little pudgy hand slapped against his knee. “No, no. Not a bounty hunter of people. I’m a bounty hunter of information.”

  Lintorth sat, un-amused. The Cuukzen continued.

  “I charge bounties to go and find information for my clients. I am a gatherer of knowledge.” The little guy chuckled again. “Whoever will pay the highest fee will get my services. How can I be of service to you?”

  Lintorth sat staring at his prisoner.

  The heart beat felt like a lifetime for Mistuuk, who began to fidget in his chair.

  Lintorth placed his hand to his chin surmising the big-eyed Cukkzen to his front.

  “So you’re a spy, then?” The intended question came from Lintorth, as did the expected wince from the Cuukzen.

  Mistuuk straightened up in his seat, brows furled, mouth clenched.

  “If you want my respect, ‘bounty hunter of information’, I need to know what data you were trying to garner at Dalyth Point,” Lintorth said.

  Mistuuk blinked. Then he blinked again. “That is the question, isn’t it?”

  Lintorth nodded in agreement.

  “Well, it’s a long, long, long story and I wouldn’t want to tire you with the small details.”

  “Tire away. I love small details. Come to think of it, I believe Aythra’s love the small details too. Or is that entrails? I always mix those up,” Lintorth remarked.

  The Cuukzen twitched.

  Mistuuk thought for the briefest of moments about conjuring up a lie but soon condemned the idea back down into his conscience on the key words, ‘Aythra and entrails’.

  Mistuuk began his story.

  “Two weeks ago, I had information regarding the new Legion Flag command ship that the Kryth were fielding for test runs near the Conaten system. A Vrae client wanted this data, as you could imagine. He paid a pretty Tanar for it, too. I mean, credits were no issue when it came to stealing new Kryth secrets. You know those Vrae really despise you Kryth? Did you know that?”

  Lintorth placed his hand on the side of his face, not pleased with the
Cuukzen’s filibustering. “Please continue. I’m starting to get bored.”

  Mistuuk continued. “Right, where was I? The Legion Flag test run. So I picked up its hyper-space signature within minutes because you Kryth didn’t try and hide it well. Then, several days later, I picked up what I thought was the Legions Flag’s matrix, but something was different about this signature. The small, almost untraceable signature jumped out at me. I had never seen such a residue layer within the space-time before. Just as I was about to try and relocate the Legion, this unknown ship jumped into the system. This thing was huge! And it was awesome. It was defiantly not a Kryth ship because it was awesome. It wasn’t Vrae either and definitely not a Cuukzen ship, as again you could imagine.”

  A malicious grin now creased Lintorth’s face. “How did you forgo being detected by this ship?”

  Mistuuk’s ears and eyes peaked at the look that came over Lintorth’s face. His face surveyed just like the Aythra did at his cell door; wide eyed, ready to devour its meal.

  Mistuuk continued clearing his thoughts.

  “I have a small ship with an even smaller… well you know... class-three shrouding device. And I was next to a large asteroid to add for masking of course.” Mistuuk grinned and continued. “The ship didn’t stay in the system for long as it exited and jumped into hyper-space. I continued on my way trying to track this nameless vessel, forgetting about my bounty of information on the Legion Flag. My client would have to wait. He would be an unhappy Vrae for sure as again you could imagine. So, I was tracking it towards the Sol system for several days when I lost the trajectory. I decided to resupply at Dalyth Point, and the rest, you already know.”

  Lintorth measured his new friend for a full breath before he questioned, “And how did you escape the outpost?”

  “You know this part; with a life-pod. I teamed up with a Fossari. Did you know Fossari are a troublesome people?”

  No response issued back from Lintorth.

  “Okay, moving forward. I was in my room when the particle wave hit. Lucky, I have no hair or it would have been an amusing sight to behold, all of them standing at attention. Anyways, I pulled out my light-bend-bag and hid inside under a desk. I assumed the creature didn’t detect me since it passed by the room. Once it left, I found the nearest pod to escape. End of story.”

  Lintorth rose from his seat.

  He approached the window, arms folded behind his back.

  “As a bounty hunter of information, I assume you get paid well for said information.”

  “Quite so,” Mistuuk eagerly replied.

  “So, you would have saved this data gathered on the residue matrix from the unknown ship and then would plan to sell it to the highest bidder. Do I assume correctly?

  Mistuuk didn’t hesitate to answer the question. “But of course,” He placed his hands over his mouth as to acknowledge to Lintorth that he still had said information.

  Lintorth turned to his guest. “Good. Now we can discuss the outcome of your life for said information.” Lintorth gave a broad smile to the little Cuukzen.

  Mistuuk’s ears drooped behind him as his lips released a low inaudible sigh.

  Data Cell 10

  The silent mag-lift came to a stop.

  Keeper Alon stepped off the doorless lift with eyes surveying. He had just entered the bridge of the Orion’s Rage for the first time.

  She was the pride within the fleet, the first command ship of the mighty Rage class to be produced. The Keeper displayed no emotion, but a vanity-filled shiver went up his spine. This was one of mankind’s greatest achievements; a ship unlike any other and second to none.

  He had arrived from the starboard side of the bridge noting another lift directly opposite his location on the other side of this room. The room was massive, at least from a mere glance, he surmised, about 20 meters across with a total length of 60 meters from his centered position. The black metal surface of the floor reflected back a soft light from the seamless ringed white lighting on the outer perimeter of the ceiling. The lights gave off a warm hue--just enough to know there was a surface to walk upon without being distracting.

  As he walked within the center section, he observed it was laid out into three sections. The first one he was standing in was sunken from the two others, which were fore and aft of the great ship. The others were raised a little over a meter and were ascended by steps. In the center was a circular platform rising two meters off the deck, again with steps ascending to a chair, Commander Parejas’s seat to overlook the entirety of the bridge. There were also work consoles with a dozen individuals working them. Holo-monitors raised from each console as did massive dimensional holo-projections descending down from the raised ceiling to be at eye level with the command chair.

  Alon caught the eye of Droe Temin seated at the right front console as he entered.

  She swiveled in her chair.

  A smile crept over her face before she spoke. “Welcome, Keeper Renske.”

  “Thank you, Lieutenant Commander Temin. I have no words to describe the magnificence of this ship.” He paused, still admiring the scope of what he viewed. “I usually have nothing but words to give. I am simply awe-struck.” He continued to glance around at the marvel before him.

  “Oh, you will lose that feeling quickly enough when minutes turn into hours and hours turn into days, from working in the same seat.”

  Alon laughed at her comment. How true her statement was, he thought.

  Alon knew, as a Keeper, that’s all he did was write out the Annals of man from the same seat for hours.

  Droe turned to motion Alon with her arm. “Come. I’ll show you to your position.”

  Droe guided Alon to the left side of the command chair.

  “You will work here. This should give you an excellent observation of the entire bridge,” Droe said.

  “Thank you Lieutenant Commander Temin.” Alon nodded his appreciation.

  Droe smiled, returning to her seat as Alon looked over his console.

  He was still amazed by the ship and the bridge.

  Alon could remember when her hull was first laid during a ceremony at the Tyr shipyards back in 58 PE Even though the ship had been complete for the last eight years, he hadn’t been on it since her commission. He was unfamiliar with her nomenclature, but then again, he had no need of military knowledge as a Keeper.

  Alon was curious, though.

  He punched up the detail on the Orion’s Rage.

  His security clearance beeped level (4), one shy of full access. He was fine with this since Commander Parejas had full discretion to allow access to whom he chose.

  The holo-image of a spinning schematic of the Orion’s Rage came up.

  He touched it with his finger and the information scrolled out in front of him.

  Designation: Orion’s Rage CCR-1

  Command: Commander Shenta Parejas

  Type: Capital/Command

  Class: Rage

  Length: 3482 Meters

  Built: 258 PE Tyr Shipyards/Sentinel 10 Construction Facility

  Propulsion System: Classified Level (5) Access

  Shield Systems: Classified Level (5) Access

  Armaments/Offensive: Pulse Batteries, Torcon Massive Fire Torpedoes, Main Hull Gun Bolts, Field Spread Ion Barrels-All others classified.

  Armaments/Defensive: Auto-Lock Eliminators, Shield Barriers, Constellation Camouflage Screen, Energy Dispensing Unit, Ranclair-Fused Reactive Hull-All others classified.

  Crew: 3000

  Fighter Complement: 500

  Reaver Regiments: Classified

  As Alon read the tech specs, he soon realized why he hadn’t looked at them before. They didn’t interest him -- fascinating to someone else maybe, but not his cup of tea.

  Alon closed the file.

  He looked past Droe’s position towards the forward-viewing platform.

  He got up and approached her side. “May I?” He asked gesturing beyond her to the fore deck.

  “Well,
of course. You don’t need my permission, Keeper. You can come and go as you please,” she said.

  “Thank you again,” he said as he walked towards the massive forward windows on the bridge.

  Alon ascended the five steps that traversed the width of the bridge to the fore-deck above. In the center of this section was a circular protrusion coming up from the floor, about two meters in diameter, with an identical one above on the ceiling.

  It wasn’t the round object in the floor that garnered Alon’s attention but the spectacular view from the front portion of the bridge. Each side had two long rectangular viewing windows. To the front, there were three. It was the center viewing port where he noticed Commander Parejas standing in the shadows of the area, his form silhouetted among the backdrop of stars.

  Alon approached the side of Parejas as a brighter light, one more brilliant than the surrounding stars met his gaze.

  There beyond the crystal-spun glass was the G2 spectral class star of the Sol system.

  Alon paused next to Parejas, taking in for the first time, the sun of the planet Earth.

  Without moving, Shenta spoke. “It’s much different when viewing it in person compared to a data cell image.” He turned towards Alon. “Wouldn’t you agree, Keeper?”

  Alon nodded as he observed the splendorous sight. “And I thought it was hard to come up with words to describe this bridge but this, this is truly grand.”

  “This is why I wanted your position to be stationed here on the bridge,” Shenta said, looking back towards the sun. “To sequence the emotions of this moment as we take back what is rightfully ours. The position here onboard the Orion’s Rage,” Parejas’s words now measured, “will allow you to record the matters of fact regarding human events within the Annals.” He paused, drinking in the spectral shards of light radiating from the center of the system. “Take this down, Keeper.”

  Alon was documenting everything through his mental training as a Keeper, able to use all six senses to record every detail surrounding the two men to include every word. The training at the Keeper Adytum didn’t stop at flash-image memory skills, varying martial art styles, and counseling. Words and emotions were easy to capture and memorize.