Tiva Boon: Royal Guardian

by Jenn Nixon

  Shuffling through and prioritizing them would be her first task for the day, but not before she programmed the computer to begin an internal sweep of the ship. Her fingers danced, the station beeped and blinked like a musical instrument, and before long Tiva was comfortable enough to multi-task.

  “How was your first night on board?” Captain Maar asked, appearing next to her.

  “Fine, sir. Thank you for asking.”

  “Hill says you didn’t sleep much.” He grinned then lowered his voice. “If you are having trouble sleeping, we have a virtual recreation room that you might enjoy. It’s not as sophisticated as the VR chambers on the outpost, but you can program it to create almost any environment, and it looks very real.”

  “I could take ya fer a walk on the beaches of Silantrio Prime, they have crystal pink water an’ black sand, exotic don’t even describe it good enough,” B’abot said, turning his head to smile at them both. “Sorry, didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but even the Cap’n’s whispering can be heard ‘round the whole ship.”

  “Man your post and leave Ms. Boon alone, B’abot,” Hill spat.

  Gigs laughed and then floated across the command center. Her small form changed to her normal size one, and she held up an information recorder at Tiva.

  “I tried all night, I can’t figure out your language,” she said with a frown. “Though, captain…it might be a great idea to keep it out of the Union database and use it for secret codes and operations in the future.”

  Captain Maar chuckled and shook his head. “We’ve never needed codes before.”

  “Never say never, captain.”

  Caedm stepped off the lift with Emerala. The two greeted everyone before taking their seats. Gigs vanished from sight, and Maar settled into his chair.

  Raife Nassut arrived last and climbed up to the navigation hub in the middle of the room. The captain emitted satisfaction and turned to his crew commander an unspoken order given.

  “All sectors report!” Hill barked.

  “We are one hour and twenty minutes from the Arillo galaxy at current speed, sir.” Nassut said.

  “Science is running continual sweeps of the area, sir, nothing out of the ordinary,” Caedm said.

  Emerala typed on her console without looking up. “All ship power output normal, sir, nothing on communications.”

  “Weapons are primed and ready, Mr. Hill.” Jimmi grinned.

  “First internal sweep initiated and all security codes have been changed and sent to your station, sir. Incoming reports from all sectors clear.” Tiva filed through the reports as they came in from around the ship. She looked up for a moment to see Hill and Maar exchange another look. They both seemed pleased. She was as well. The crew obviously worked well together, she only hoped that she would fit in as time went by.

  “Good, good.” Hill rose from his seat and moved toward Emerala. “Gigs, I need you to contact my negotiating team and have them meet in the briefing room in fifteen minutes.”

  Her voice said, “Yes, sir. Fifteen minutes.”

  “Emerala, send all the information about Lecokrot V to me, culture, religion, greetings, basically anything you find that will be helpful with negotiations.”

  “No problem,” she said cheerfully as Hill entered the lift.

  “Chief,” Maar began, turning to her, “I hope you are ready for your first job.”

  “I will do whatever is needed of me, captain.” Tiva straightened up.

  “I have no doubts. Caedm, Nassut, you, and I will be delivering the supplies to the Speego Colony while Hill and his team begin negotiations.”

  “Understood,” she said.

  “Run another internal sweep and then lock down all essential sections, we’ll have minimal crew on board for a few hours.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Maar exited through the opposite side, after ordering Caedm to take command. Tiva did as told and ran the internal sweep on the ship once again, and secured all unmanned areas. She glanced over at Emerala for a moment, but before she spoke Gigs appeared in Hill’s seat.

  “You know, being an AI really sucks sometimes. I never get off the ship.”

  “Maybe if you looked at it in a positive light, you’d see the good of being a hologram,” Emerala said.

  “Like what?”

  “Well for one, ya can’t get hurt.” Jimmi turned.

  “And you’re smarter then everyone on the ship…” Caedm said with a wink, “…even me.”

  “Don’t forget you’re the only one who can change form.” Raife snickered from above.

  Tiva listened to the banter, but remained silent. She found it curious that the crew tried to boost the AI’s confidence. Did Gigs actually have emotions? Tiva didn’t sense anything from the being, but she had not expected to.

  “Have any wise words for me, Tiva?” Gigs appeared next to her in a flash.

  “I do not.”

  The others laughed. Tiva felt her markings pink, and she heard some of the crew gasp. She lowered her head to hide her forehead and sighed inwardly.

  “Wow, how did you do that?” Gigs invaded her space and looked up at Tiva despite her attempts to get away from the attention.

  “Do what?” she grumbled.

  “Gigs leave her alone!” Emerala raised her voice.

  “But her moon things changed color and I want to know why.”

  “Curiosity can sometimes kill more than the cat, Gigabyte,” Aliri said.

  “Fine, fine, fine.” The hologram stomped away and sat back down at Hill’s chair. “You people need to go anyway, we’re almost there.”

  “She’s right,” Raife said. “We’ll be in Arillo in a few minutes.”

  “Come on, Tiva, I’ll show you to the flight deck.” Caedm glanced over and smiled.

  Tiva’s marking had returned to normal by the time she met Caedm’s eyes, but trying to filter through all that had happened in the short span of time was still picking at her mind. How much did she have to divulge for these aliens to understand her? Even if she did such a thing, there was no guarantee they’d comprehend.

  She secured her station and followed Caedm to the lift. When the doors closed, she heard Jimmi explain her markings to the others. She leaned back against the lift and gripped the railing trying to keep calm, though the darkening of her moons betrayed her attempts. She was going to have to try harder to keep in control. Every little thing seemed to set her off without warning.

  “He really shouldn’t be blabbing your business to the others and I’ll make sure to talk to Hill about it, but honestly he’s just trying to help.”

  “Perhaps.”

  “Listen, Tiva. I can only imagine what’s happened to you. If I can be upfront with you…I can sense your pain and anguish. You’ve lost a large part of yourself recently and you are very angry. So angry in fact you’re bound to give me a headache during our training.”

  “I do not wish to burden you.”

  “That’s not what I mean.” Caedm sighed as the lift doors opened. “I offered my help and I will stand by my word. I’ve trained many people in my life, you will not be an issue…all I am saying is, we are your friends now. We are a very close group of people and over time, you’ll feel more comfortable around us. Jimmi is a bit overbearing, but he’s only looking out for you in his own backwards kinda way. Not to mention he really has the hots for you.”

  “Hots?”

  “Um…yeah, he’s attracted to you, probably seeks your companionship.”

  “I sensed his attraction, though he did not mention anything about wishing to court me.”

  Caedm chuckled and motioned to the end of the corridor. “Earth men haven’t done that for centuries, and the rest of the guys here wouldn’t know how to court properly even if you explained it to them. They’ll usually find excuses to talk to you or get close….some will even argue and pick fights just to get your attention.”

  “Why do such things?”

  “I haven’t a clue, and that’s even after a
few lifetimes worth of research.”

  “You are long lived?”

  “I guess you can say that,” she said, swept a lock of hair from her face and opened the hatch to the flight deck. Tiva walked into the storage type room first. Several sleek crafts hung from a metal contraption on the ceiling. Captain Maar was speaking with an engineer, and a few other crewmembers were scurrying around obviously preparing them for flight. Tiva turned her attention back to Caedm, but she was walking toward the captain. She hurried and followed, but remained behind.

  Maar dismissed the engineer and handed both her and Aliri a datarecorder, and looked down at them. “The cargo ship is supplied and ready, what is our status, Caedm?”

  “We should be in the Arillo galaxy any moment, sir. Nassut is on his way.”

  “Excellent.” He squeezed his hands together and turned. “Boon, grab a few extra plasma guns and store them inside. There is a weapons locker in the corner.”

  “Yes, sir,” Tiva said and crossed the large room searching for the locker. Without turning, she sensed both their eyes following. Not daring to open her mind with Caedm near, she prayed they were not talking about her.

  After retrieving the guns and returning to the cabin, Tiva found the security console inside, took a seat, and reviewed the datarecorder. The Speego Colony, located on the second moon of a planet called Syfark was in desperate need of medical supplies and food rations. The Colony, settled mostly by refugees from the polluted planet, was building a temporary living space for the majority of the people while Union environmentalists cleaned up the air and water on the surface.

  Some type of natural disaster had occurred on the planet a few dozen years before and despite their efforts to contain the decay of their environment, ninety percent of the planet had become uninhabitable. Government heads and scientists still resided in the small expanse of livable land, the rest of the citizens moved to the colony. The colony leader, Kik Voxx, requested the supplies and the Union was happy to oblige.

  The operation itself seemed easy enough, yet she secured a second plasma gun in her boot, and checked her belt. Each side held a weapon, her Timbur and primary gun. For a moment, she felt like a guardian again. She frowned slightly when the bay doors opened and Nassut, Maar, and Caedm entered.

  The pilot moved to the front of the craft. Captain Maar staffed the weapons while Caedm took over the science and communication. Having little to do on such a small craft, Tiva familiarized herself with the other sections in case anyone needed her help.

  Maar ordered Nassut to make for the planet. Caedm smiled as the craft dropped from the ceiling and flew backwards out of the Tolox. Once out among the stars, Nassut turned the craft, and guided it toward the colony’s coordinates.

  Tiva studied the datarecorder and ships functions. A quick glance to the console showed the moon on the displayer still far off in the distance. Getting there would take quite some time.

  Caedm’s soft voice filled Tiva’s mind halfway through the flight, If you wish to do some practicing while we have the time, we can head to the back.

  Tiva glanced over and nodded.

  “Sir, I’m going to show Ms. Boon the type of supplies we are bringing to the colony.”

  “Sure, I’ll call you when we’re close,” he said, turning back to the star chart.

  Tiva followed her into a cargo hold lined with hundreds of boxes with a symbol printed on the side. Back against the wall, cylinders of food rations. The amount of supplies in the hold was enough to feed and medicate every Royal Guardian and legionnaire for half a cycle.

  “How many people are we supplying?” she asked.

  “Over four million I believe.”

  Tiva’s eyes widened. “Such vast numbers, are many planets populated so heavily?”

  “That’s nothing, Tiva. I came from a planet that had over thirty-five billion people, most planets range somewhere in the medium to high millions.”

  “Amazing.”

  “Yeah, I was quite surprised myself when I first left my planet. I never realized the universe was so inhabited…anyway, let’s get to work.”

  “Tell me what I must do.”

  “First clear your mind of thought,” Caedm said. Tiva complied and closed her eyes. She relaxed her body first, allowing her emotions to float away. Memories clouded her, but she forced them aside. She felt Caedm inside her head, and tensed at first, then used her as a guide to release all thoughts.

  All right, Tiva, now I want you to raise your barrier and try to block my invading thoughts. Concentrate only on thoughts, do not worry about emotions yet.

  She did as instructed and tightened her shield. Caedm’s voice disappeared, but deep in the back of her mind, she sensed her trying to break through. Tiva pushed back, forcing the energy to flow through her and center on her task. Again, she tried to break the barrier. Tiva shook and balled her hands tight.

  Do not force…

  Tiva heard the words in her mind, but was unsure what she meant. How could she keep something away without forcing herself? Trying to decipher Caedm’s riddled words, Tiva attempted to use her energy to strengthen the shield instead of pushing the invading thoughts back.

  Good.

  She concentrated on her shield, but felt a strain on her body. Staggering back, she opened her eyes and a powerful blast hit her. Tiva gasped and steadied herself against the nearby wall.

  “I’m sorry,” Caedm said. “I pushed too hard, but you did very well.”

  “I do not understand, how can I have done well if I continued to hear your words in my mind?”

  “There are not many people who can block me. I’ve studied telepathy for many years and have abilities far beyond most known races of the universe. That is not to say I am the strongest, I am not. The fact that I was only able to get a few words past your shield is very promising. You are a quick study. Now, let us carry on a simple conversation. The more you use it, the stronger it will become.”

  Very well, Aliri, Tiva responded.

  Aliri and Tiva returned to the cabin. Captain Maar and Nassut were chatting about ancient Oninus weapons. Raife Nassut apparently had firsthand knowledge of the captain’s home world, and they seemed to get along rather well. Their banter was friendlier then she expected.

  “I was wondering when you two were going to come back, our supplies are not that interesting.” Raife grinned as his fingers slid across the flight control panel.

  “Someone has to ensure her safety, Raife.” Aliri slid into her seat.

  Tiva settled in her chair, and picked up a few emotions from Raife. He was intrigued with both herself and Caedm. She felt ten cycles again, new to the palace and guardianship, everyone watching to see how she would fare. In a sense it fit, she was starting anew, though she had far more experience this time around.

  The captain broke her silent thoughts with orders to sweep the colony. She did as told and brought the sensors online to scan the moon. Relaying the incoming data to everyone, she watched as the moon came into view outside the window.

  “I’m within range for communications, Captain,” Caedm said.

  “Excellent, inform the Minister we are here and coordinate a landing site with Nassut.”

  “Aye, sir.” She quickly tapped on her console, as did Raife. Captain Maar rose from his seat and tapped Tiva on the shoulder.

  “Let us ready the supplies.”

  “Yes, Captain,” Tiva said, following him back to the cargo hold. Inside, she searched the room for some type of moving device.

  Maar moved to the back of the room, opened up a side compartment, and pulled out a hover platform. He pushed it toward the middle and began loading the supplies on top. Tiva joined him.

  When they were through, Aliri and Raife entered. She opened up the hatch, and Raife took out a portable scanner.

  “The supply manifest is entered in the datarecorder, Captain. The Minister eagerly awaits our arrival.”

  “Well done. Let’s move out.”

  The gr
oup exited the cargo ship to a dusty gray sky. Around them, jagged hills and rocks covered the surface. Tiva noticed the air was thinner, and found it harder to breathe than on Uucor. She wondered the effects it might have on her body, the constant change in atmosphere, and made a mental note to ask someone later.

  A short bronze-headed figure neared. He extended a hand to the captain, and removed a mask from his face displaying a crooked grin on his small mouth.

  “Captain, Captain! You’ve made it. Bless the Union, you are most welcome.” The man was undoubtedly overjoyed.

  “We are glad to help, Minister…”

  “Wargo. A pleasure to meet you all.” He looked up at everyone; his childlike features disappeared for a moment.

  The captain introduced everyone and Wargo handed each a mask. “This will help keep you safe from the harsh air on the moon. Sadly, the air here is full of dust particles and they will irritate you after a while.”

  Tiva placed the mask over her face and felt better immediately. The others donned their masks, and then followed the Minister. Towing the supplies behind them, she noticed several clear domes in the distance. Tiva gathered a sense of happiness when she lowered her shield. Despite the suffering of these people, they were content; that surprised her. Not allowing herself to take her eyes off the captain for any length of time, Tiva moved closer to his side.

  They entered the first dome after Wargo ordered the shield open, and immediately Tiva felt a change from the people. Many stopped what they were doing to look at the strangers. Wargo waved frantically to a group of men and women. Tiva’s hand went to her side, and she moved next to the captain.

  The stares continued. Petite by the standards of Tiva’s planet, the people of Syfark possessed stealth and quickness beyond anything she’d seen before. The entire group was in front of them before anyone spoke.

  “Captain…” Aliri began.

  Maar held up his hand, and glanced over at Raife.

  “I cleared him, sir.”

  “Secure the cargo, something does seem odd...”

  “Agreed,” Raife said, and moved back to the supplies and activated a charge-field around the hover platform.