The Awakening: Imortum

by JK Stone

  Jason was surprised the preacher accepted the situation so easily and asked, “Would you like to join the others?”

  The preacher nodded and stood up. “Lead on,” he said and Jason escorted him to the second level.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Once Jason and the preacher arrived on the second level his step mother who was looking appalled, rushed to the preacher’s side and dragging him off she kept apologizing for everything that had happened to him.

  Jason stayed on the level and visited with his family several hours before heading back down to check on Alise and the ship and his feet no sooner came into contact with the floor when the ship was buffeted by a blast. Rushing into the control room Jason asked, “Alise, what was that?”

  Alise had an irritated tone as she said, “We are under attack…again.”

  Jason looked at the ships on the monitors and asked, “What do they want?”

  Alise sighed and said, “They will not respond to my hail. They must know we are stuck here until the charging is complete and we do not have ship-to-ship weapons.”

  Jason looked at her flabbergasted. “No weapons!” He glanced back at the monitor, “What happens if we disconnect from the generator prematurely?”

  “It causes a feedback in the power system resulting in a shutdown and diagnostic that will take about three days to reset, or at least that is what has happened in the past.”

  Jason spotted two ships heading on a collision course with them. Looking down at the monitor, he saw there were actually five ships closing in from all directions on staggered collision courses. The five ships were about to collide with his ship when he felt as if he were being pushed aside in his own mind and he lost control of his body.

  *****

  Alise braced for the impact and was ready to initiate the restart cycle once they were knocked off of the pyramids beam. She was looking at Jason, and a moment later his eyes seemed to roll back in his head and an energy wave pulse coursed out of his body.

  Within seconds the approaching ships came to a complete halt. Then Jason reached out as if to pick up something, and moving his hand, Alise noted that one of the ships moved with his arm’s movements. Jason seemed to hesitate a second then flicked his finger and the ship went flying off into deep space. He opened the communications and he transmitted in a strange quavering voice. “I do not wish to harm anyone. You need to leave here now!”

  Alise saw Jason shake his head and wondered what that was about.

  A second later, a voice came over the communications speaking in Toralin saying, “Your ship has no weapons. You may be able to repel our smaller ships but this cruiser will pop you right out of that charging beam. While you are vulnerable, we will destroy or take possession of your ship as we did to the others of your kind. You have interfered with our business ventures long enough and we will not tolerate it any longer.”

  “We could really use some weapons about now,” Alise heard Jason mutter, and Alise was in full agreement, not knowing what they were going to do.

  Alise was watching Jason, and he looked from her back to the monitor. A second later he reached out like he had done before to stop the smaller ships, but the Toralin battle cruiser did not stop like the smaller ones did. Jason’s hand lowered and Alise noted the glazed expression that crossed his face, and a moment later his right arm swept out.

  At that moment a new control panel materialized to the right of the mission prep console. Jason’s dazed expression seemed to fade, and Alise stared down at the new control panel in stunned disbelief. “Well, that is new. How did you… Where?” she stammered.

  Jason shook his head and said, “I don’t know.”

  Without another word to her, Jason stepped over and looked down at the new panel. Alise looked down to examine it as well and it read, “Defensive Systems and Weapons Deployment.”

  Alise heard Jason mutter, “Now how do I use it?”

  Jason began tapping on the console and a moment later an energy weapon discharged and shot across the massive ship’s bow, then Jason transmitted in the strange voice again. “We’re not defenseless and if you wish to stay alive you’ll depart this area immediately.”

  If anything, the show of weaponry just aggravated the attackers more and they increased their speed. Jason then looked down at the weapons console and activated another weapon. Alise watched as a beam struck the massive ship’s hull, and all motion in the vessel immediately halted. At that point, the remaining ships in their convoy accelerated toward their ship.

  Jason seemed to be clearing his head with a shake, and began tapping out commands on the weapons console, and looked up, but nothing was happening. Then with an irritated tone, he asked, “Alise…which of the vessels have the fewest lives onboard?”

  Alise looked at the monitor in front of her, scanned for lifeforms, and targeted the smallest ship before saying, “This ship has one hundred and twenty-three lives.”

  Alise then watched as Jason pulled the targeting from her console to his monitor, targeted the ship’s engine and fired. There was a brilliant flash and the back end of one of the attacking ships exploded. The hull of the ship was now drifting uncontrollably toward their ship, and it looked as if Jason instinctively reached up and Alise saw the approaching ship come to a halt.

  Jason transmitted again to the remaining ships, “Back off now or I will be forced to destroy your other ships!” His voice was back to normal this time, and Alise was at a loss for what was happening, or how Jason could know that much about the weapons console.

  After that demonstration and issuing his warning, the remaining attacking vessels changed course. Alise watched as Jason seemed to push the derelict ship farther away from their ship. Then he opened communications and he hailed the retreating vessels then instructed them to collect their people from the damaged ship and vacate the area immediately.

  One of the retreating vessels replied, “We will destroy you as well. It is only a matter of time—

  Jason interrupted the transmission. “Do not make me rethink my actions. I do not wish to harm anyone but if you persist in your actions I will take appropriate countermeasures.”

  Alise was studying Jason closely this time and noticed his eyes appeared to roll back in his head, and with the same menacing reverberating voice as before, he said, “You have been warned. Collect your people and leave here now!” Jason then shook his head, and his face returned to normal.

  Alise sat there in uncomfortable silence. She wanted to ask what was with his voice, and the facial expressions, but now was not the time. Her attention was split between Jason and the Toralin’s, who were collecting the people from their derelict ship, and she took the time to look over the new weapons, never taking her eyes completely off the enemy ships.

  *****

  Jason watched as one of the attackers’ ships docked with the damaged ship. He was at a loss for why he felt so odd, and why events seemed to be jumping around so much. An hour later the ship detached from the disabled vessel and hailed him.

  “We will be leaving, but our commander’s ship is not responding,” they called out.

  Jason replied, “I will release my hold on your commander’s ship after you have left the area. It will be right behind you, and when your commander contacts you, tell him what you have witnessed, and what I’ve said. Your people are never to harass us again. Is that understood?”

  After a few seconds of silence, a reply came from one of the other ships. “Understood,” And a few minutes later the attacker’s ship’s engines lit up and they were off.

  Jason looked at the ship frozen in time and raised his hand to try to push it away as Alise said he had done before, but it was too large. He looked down at the console and activated a repulse beam and the ship went hurling off in the same direction as the other ships. Then he deactivated the time displacement field from the ship.

  Jason was about to ask Alise for a situation report when she shouted. “There is a massive energy buildup on the de
relict ship. It looks as if it is going to explode!”

  Jason felt his consciousness get pushed aside, but through the fogginess, he was still able to see what he was doing. It almost felt instinctive as his hands raised and pushed at the ship with all his might and the derelict vessel went flying off in the distance.

  About thirty seconds later there was a brilliant flash and Jason could see a shockwave rippling toward them. His hand raised again and Jason felt the wave disperse as it came into contact with the energy from his body.

  Jason shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the fogginess that had been coming over him, and asked, “Did we cause that explosion?”

  Looking peculiarly at him Alise shook her head. “No, that was a deliberate attempt to destroy us, and it probably would have worked if you had not prevented it.”

  Alise looked down at her console and shook her head. “The Toralin’s are returning, and it looks as if they have reinforcements.”

  This time about thirty ships appeared and began firing at them.

  Jason was pissed off. He could not believe how persistent they were. He felt his eyes roll back, and could hear himself say in a guttural growl, “Enough is enough!”

  *****

  Alise watched as Jason’s hands went to the weapons console and he targeted the largest ship. A second later his fingers started pressing buttons as if on their own and with a final press on the red FIRE button, the largest ship was reduced to particles. The weapons seemed to be automatically targeting and firing at any ship within range and with a few final blasts the remaining enemy vessels began fleeing in earnest this time.

  Jason transmitted in the same menacing, reverberating voice as before, “I warned you… Do not approach this ship again!”

  *****

  Jason’s gaze became clearer and he slumped in his chair feeling exhausted.

  Alise rushed over to support him and looked at him with shock. “How did you do that and what was with your voice?” she asked.

  Jason shook his head. “I have no idea… It was as if my hands had a mind of their own and I remember speaking but don’t recall a word of what I said. Looks like it worked though.”

  Alise stared at him oddly and said, “I would say so. After that display, we should not be bothered by them again.”

  Jason peered back at the monitor. “Who are they, and why did they keep attacking us?”

  “With what they said, in that language, I would say they are the Toralin’s, they’re a member of a consortium of scavenger races who reap the benefit from the destruction I told you about. They are one of a few races I mentioned before. Lately, they seem to know when we have altered events. They must have developed a kind of multi-spacial or temporal awareness and seem to be aware of future events.

  “Well they are usually aware of future events,” Alise stated as she looked around. “They feel that if a civilization is stupid enough to destroy themselves then their consortium should be able to profit from it. Apparently, our intervention in the past has hindered their profits too much and now they want to prevent it.”

  Jason asked, “How many times have you had to deal with them exactly?”

  Alise seemed to deliberate on it a moment and said, “Elgon and I have had indirect dealings with them by altering fifty-three planetary disasters. Including this time, the consortium as a whole has attacked this ship one hundred and sixty-three times over the last fifteen thousand linear years…but the Toralin’s alone only fifteen times. This was only the second time we were in a vulnerable position though. We would usually just phase shift and leave as we never had ship-based weapons at our disposal.”

  Alise seemed to take a closer look at the new console and said, “That must be their new tactic, attack while we are charging. We found out about that weakness long ago. A little after the Lantins took over the running of these ships, there was an attack while our ship was charging.

  “We were knocked out of commission for days, but luckily it happened when Lantin ships were nearby and they rushed to our aid. I guess the consortium must have learned of the flaw and used it to destroy the other ships. That could explain why we have not heard from any other TDS ships in a very long time.”

  Jason was confused. “If this ship never had ship-to-ship weapons what did you use on your missions?”

  Alise said, “My host commanders always performed hands-on repairs of timelines, and if weapons were needed, they could use the ones in the armory. It also helps that the time displacement suits will phase the wearer to the same TD as the ship. So if we had to deal with another ship, the commander would transport over to the ship and deal with the conflict in person.”

  “Why didn’t you transport me to them then?” Jason asked.

  “There are a couple of reasons. First off, there were too many ships to deal with, and second, I would be more comfortable if you were trained first.”

  Jason raised a brow at her and was about to inform her of some of the training he’d gone through in the military, but a sound drew his attention.

  A beep sounded from the main control panel and Alise said, “That battle drained the energy stores a little. It will take almost six hours until we can depart.”

  Jason thought this might be a good time to test a notion that had entered his mind and see if he was right. He looked at the monitors and noticed two of the small suicide ships were still drifting a distance away and he asked, “Is there anyone left alive on those ships?”

  Alise tapped the console and said, “No, those ships were drones being controlled remotely.”

  Jason thought about it a second and focused on the closest of the drones, reached out with his mind and could feel the ship. With a wave of his hand, he made a grasping gesture and moved the drone farther away, turned his hand as if to cup under the ship and closed his hand into a fist. As he did he felt energy course through his arm and pulse out. The small ship crumpled like a tin can, and he let out a humph.

  Alise looked at him a bit startled and said, “Andel told me the Imortum had the ability to control the environment around them also. Those abilities must have been dormant inside you until the attack the other day.” Alise looked down at the monitor again. “That is interesting.”

  “What now?” Jason asked apprehensively.

  “We need a little over six hours to recharge now. I may have been wrong. It looks as if your ability to control exterior events is directly connected to the energy system of the ship. When you crushed that ship a moment ago, it drained energy from our ships reserves.”

  Alise consulted the weapons console again. “Okay, now I see what happened. When you simulated moving and crushing the ship, you must have activated a nonverbal command. This ship used a light repulse beam to move the ship, then opened a micro event horizon within that vessel for a second causing it to implode.”

  Jason examined the new console and a minute later Alise said, “It seems odd that this ship has had defenses and we were never told about them.”

  Alise sighed. “So many commanders that could have been saved if we had only known.”

  Jason considered that for a moment. “What were the Lantins’ weapons like back when they received these ships from the Imortum?” he asked.

  Alise said, “They were a relatively peaceful race and only developed weapons for defensive and deterrent purposes, but they were mostly conventional weapons back then. At the time Lantins had rail weapons, minor particle weapons, and atomic weapons. Other than that, the Lantins were not much more advanced than Earth has now actually, and over the years the Lantin technology had major advancements with their flagship the Prometheus, but after the loss of that ship and the thefts of the following three flagships, the Lantins pretty much gave up. But even the most advanced of those flagships the Imperium was nowhere near this level of advancement.”

  Jason thought he understood now. “These weapons would have been a quantum leap in technology for the Lantins back then wouldn’t they?” he asked.

  “F
rom what I can see, they still would have been if Lantis had not been destroyed. That beam you shot at the largest vessel actually formed a quantum bubble around the ship freezing it in time, that is in essence what was done to this ship when you pressed the blue button,” Alise said as she looked up at the display and sighing she began tapping on her console.

  “What was that sigh about?” Jason asked

  “Just the mess of debris from the attack out there… There, I have begun cleaning it up.” Alise must have seen he was going to ask, because she added, “I dematerialized the ships and placed them in base mineral storage.”

  Jason looked at the number of ships and asked, “Won’t that much debris be too much for the base mineral storage?”

  Alise sighed and said, “I do not know, it has never had a problem in the past. The levels seem to be diminished over time, even though I am not using them. It is almost as if they are being used or possibly degraded. I do not know which.”

  Jason nodded and turned his attention back to the new console.

  *****

  Alise and Jason spent the next six hours thoroughly inspecting the newly discovered defense system and Jason was beginning to get concerned about some of the abilities the ship had. It intrigued him that Alise said the micro event horizon had been formed when he crushed the ship. But upon reviewing the weapons console he now knew their ship not only had the ability to form a micro event horizon in any location, but they were not limited to micro event horizons either. It was a scary thought, instant black hole. He could only imagine what would happen if he opened one in or near a star.

  At the thought, a shiver ran down his spine. It felt as if the blood were draining from his body as if he were remembering something horrifying. With a shiver, Jason said, “I would bet the Imortum didn’t want to give that weaponry to the Lantins or anyone, for fear they would use it to conquer others rather than defend themselves. It’s rather humane to do it the way they did. Thinking their only defense was to run, the Lantins would be prevented from going on an offensive if they wanted to.”