“Enough!” Hines yells, “Guards, come in here and arrest this man now.”
The guards quickly charge the office, however the large amount of fish all over the floor causes some of the men to slip and fall over each other. The rest of the men also suddenly slip and fall, but they cannot understand why, as the Old man grins. Only the Old man can see the energy field, which is undetected by the guards and Colonel Hines, as the field amplifies the slippery effect on the ground causing the guards to stumble and fall over each other.
The Old man, still acting as if he doesn’t understand continues, saying, “Be careful men, this good man here may want to buy a Regional fish, but if you keep falling all over my fish he won’t want to buy any.”
Boreo is flabbergasted, as he cannot believe what he is seeing.
Eldred is staring in from the window, as he does all he can to contain himself from laughing aloud.
The Old man still acting the part of an old buffoon, pretends to help the soldiers up, but in actuality, he is causing them to slip and fall even more. The Old man innocently turns to an enraged and red-faced Hines, saying, “I’m sorry, but these men have ruined all my fish, I’ll have to go get more.” And with that, the Old man starts to leave, stepping over the security guards, all of whom are falling all over themselves, while he easily walks to the door.
Hines reaches for his weapon pointing it directly at the old man, yelling, “Freeze right where you are old man!”
The Old man keeps up his act, pretending as if he can’t hear Hines, as he reaches the door opening it.
Hines, now enraged fires his weapon at the Old man’s back, but amazingly the plasma charge misses, even though he less than twenty feet away. Once again, only the Old man can see the invisible energy field rise up deflecting the energy charge. The Old man still acts as if he is unaware of anything and simply shuts the door, heading down to his boat. He walks several steps away before stopping. He hastily turns around and heads back to Boreo’s office opening the door to see Hines trying to walk to the door over all his fallen men. The Old man speaks directly to Hines, saying, “Oh, you will need to pay for all the fish you ruined too.”
Hines once again points his weapon at the Old man firing at less than ten feet, however, his shot once again misses as the Old man acts confused yells, “Well, there’s no need to get angry, I’m not the one who stepped all over the fish. Anyways, I’m sure the next batch of fish will be more regional.”
Eldred races over to the Old man as he closes the door and walks back to his boat. Eldred overwhelmed with all that he has seen asks, “Old man, are you crazy?”
The Old man smiles, saying, “Well see if I’m crazy, especially if they’re stupid enough to be here tomorrow.”
The Old man hastily makes his way to the docks, as Hines and his men finally get to their feet, and charge down to the docks in close pursuit after the Old man.
Amazingly, a sudden fog rolls in quickly, covering the docks, as the Old man yells out to Hines, saying, “I’ll be back tomorrow with more fish.”
Hines enraged, screams to his men, “Track him on the scanners now.”
One of the security guards replies, “Sir, we can’t get anything to work, there’s some kind of interference in the area. I’m sorry sir, but he’s gone.”
Hines screams in rage again, slamming his weapon to the ground.
After a few minutes, Hines finally calms down, saying aloud, “Call regional command, and have them send out a surveillance ship.”
The Security officer becomes concerned, and asks, “Sir, do we want to bring this much attention to this, I mean, sir, we did botch up a simple arrest of an old man?”
Hines infuriated yells, “The only simple thing in arresting that man was in your mind. That man played us all for fools.”
Another security officer then points out, “We now have far too many aware of our failure, and word of this will spread.”
Hines smirks, saying, “Accidents happen all the time. It was a terrible tragedy that this Old man caused a fire that destroyed the Village and killed everyone within it.” Hines stares out over the village, as a more sinister grin appears. He swiftly orders his men, “Quickly now, gather the entire populace and bring them all to the wharf.”
The security guards all laugh, as they spread out gathering all the villagers, a population of over one hundred and sixty-seven innocent souls. The people are terrified, as they have no idea what is going on.
Several hours pass, as the villagers are all huddled together on the wharf around Boreo’s office. Most are terrified for their very lives. Boreo sits in the forefront of the villagers, as he pleads to the guards, “Please let us go. We have done nothing wrong.”
Hines smiles, saying, “It was a terrible tragedy that you all became involved with this Old man. It will be reported that he caused a fire and killed everyone.”
Boreo face drops in total panic, asking, “Why?”
Hines, clearly disgusted at Boreo and the populace, says, “This village and all its populace has been contaminated, and must be expunged.”
Hines’s men begin pouring oil all over the wharf and throughout the village. For over thirty minutes, his men ready the village, as Hines pulls out his weapon, saying, “A simple plasma blast discharge should be enough to destroy this entire village.”
A voice then suddenly speaks out from behind Hines, it is the Old man, saying, “That would be a terrible thing to do.”
Hines shocked yells to his men, “Get him!”
His men charge at him, but are unable to reach him, as a force field appears before him. The Old man angered now speaks, “I’ve recorded everything you tried to do here, and I’m going to replay it across the entire Paladonian system. It will be the only thing to be seen anytime you attempt to use X’ena technology for the next ten years.”
Hines enraged, fires his weapon repeatedly at the Old man, but his plasma charges are deflected off the force field, which accidentally strikes the wharf, catching it on fire.
The crowds scream in terror, as they begin to run in all directions, but the flames quickly block any possible escape. Hines yells to his men “Shift away now!” However, they cannot. Their equipment no longer works.
The Old man stares menacingly at Hines, saying, “You are a product of a corrupt and ruthless government. I had hoped to try and bring some enlightenment to your people in peaceful and friendly way, but you have given me no choice.” The Old man’s appearance slowly begins to change, as the holoimage that surrounds him disappears, and Caleb is clearly seen.
Caleb raises his hand, as the Harbor waters churn violently and all the ships within the harbor are cast aside some crashing onto the shores, as the massive Battleship Paladin spectacularly breaches the waters racing forward over the wharf as the water pours off the colossal Battleship, drenching out the fire, and everyone on the docks.
Hines and his men are now terrified after seeing Caleb and Paladin. Hines pleads, “Spare us, please. We were only following orders.”
Caleb annoyed, says, “I’ am not a killer Colonel Hines and I’m just as responsible for what has happened here as any. I have watched your people grow from its simple beginning, and I did nothing to prevent this fear mongering from continuing. I watched as your people became more isolated and corrupt, and still I did nothing. I know you are victim Colonel Hines, a victim just as most of the people within the Tof society are. You are just mindless sheep following your master’s orders.” Caleb, saddened by everything looks out over the frightened villagers, saying, “For the next ten years all non-essential X’ena technology will no longer work. The brainwashing and subliminal messages will cease, and the events of what this government allowed and propagated will now be shown to all. The Tof government will never be able to erase this black mark in their history, as I have had Paladin permanently place it as perpetual part of their history.”
Eldred confused stands up and asks, “Why did you come here?”
Caleb shakes
his head, saying, “I came here hoping to teach that people as a whole are good and kind, and that we can be a race that can cooperate with each other without the use of fear mongering and hate. I came here in hopes of starting something peaceful, but I failed. Instead, I learned that my ignorance in allowing the Tof and Rooke governments to do as they wanted to do was wrong.”
Eldred shakes his head, saying, “No Caleb you’re wrong. You did teach us what was right. You started something here today, and perhaps it will grow.”
Caleb smirks briefly, reaching his hand out to the boy, saying, “It always starts with just one. One person can grow to two and so on. If you can take what good I tried to bring here and help it grow, perhaps I didn’t fail.”
With that, Caleb shifts away back onto Paladin. Paladin then takes to the skies, as Paladin reports, “Cale, I’ve shutdown all X’ena based technology that would lead to weapons use or inter-planetary travel. All non-essential equipment is shut down for the next ten years. The Tof will be reliant on the help of others for that entire time. I have allowed medical and educational science to remain active. The Tof will not be able to use their ships to gather any more Earth refuges, or supply their outer hidden colonies, all of which I have also disabled. They will be heavily dependent on the help of others.”
Caleb lowers his head and says, “Send my message to all the Moons. Let them know what and why I did what I did.”
Paladin alerts Caleb, “Cale your last transmission has reached every person on all the moons and ships of the Paladonian people.”
Caleb sits back in his seat and asks, “Do you think what I planted will grow?”
Paladin answers, “Only time will show.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
BENTON
The year is now two hundred and sixty-one. The punishment Caleb placed upon the Tof has since passed, but it is far from forgotten. Reports have recently come out from the recluse world of a secret society of Caleb supporters that are trying to bring a peace and internal cooperation to their world. Not much more is known of these followers other than they are shunned and often persecuted.
However, on the other moons, things continue to prosper, especially on the moon of the Bentonians. Benton long ago chose to make his world a military operation from its very start, as the people who were rescued from the Earth were taught of each world’s philosophy, and what it offered, but only Bentonia highlighted its focus on its self-sustaining economy almost completely based on a military system. Over the two hundred plus years that has passed, Benton has focused on building a large fleet of warships, dwarfing all the other worlds ships combined. This overwhelming sense of security and power was easily found appealing to many, but to many others, most of whom reside on the other moons, they felt very differently and began demanding the Bentonian society begin a civilian government.
Early morning on the moon of the First ones, the Council of seven meets for its monthly meeting. Cooley represents the Moon of the Whitefeather and is the council leader. Uari still remains the leader of his moon, but has recently started to bring his son Traula, as he starts his grooming to be the next leader of his people. Dette retired from leadership of the Valen moon decades ago, and there has been several leaders since, currently ruling is Hermes, a natural born Valen his thinking is somewhat reserved compared to Dette, but his heart is usually in the right place.
Finally, Edgar and Dorian still maintain an ironclad grip on their power within their two respective governments. While the moon of the First One’s leader chooses not to be present, rather sending an envoy with a holoimager.
Edgar annoyed at this action by the First ones leader begins his rant, clearly pointing out his disdain of the First ones leader’s holoimager, asks, “Why must we once again be subject to this obvious display of disrespect to council, why can’t we see the council leader of the First ones? Why is this person unknown to us?”
The Envoy stands holding a holoimager, which then shows an image of a human hand, creating an incredible graphic image of disrespect towards Edgar, as it raises its middle finger towards him.
Benton laughs so hard his drink starts to come out of his nose. He rolls over off his chair, as Uari also shakes his head laughing aloud.
Dorian, always at Edgar aid states, “This is intolerable, we demand to know who this person is.”
Cooley shakes her head in frustration, finally gaining the attention of the group, saying, “Listen up you to blockheads, this is not going to keep happening every time we have a meeting. The council elect of the First ones doesn’t wish to be around either of you. The rest of the council has already met the Counsel of the First ones, but they simply refuse to stand in the same room as you two. Now get over it, and let’s start the meeting.”
Hermes then stands, stating, “I’m sorry to speak out of turn here, but I have not met the Council elect of the First ones.”
Cooley smiles, saying, “Hermes, you’ve only just recently been elected to your office, the council member of the First ones will meet you at their own time and choosing. Now if you all will pay attention to the holocom for a moment, I’d like to discuss the recent events on Earth.”
Dorian, still angered, continues with his rant, stating, “Perhaps we can discuss something of relevance to us all, such as the ever growing amount of Bentonian military ships.”
Benton annoyed by Dorian’s constant complaining simply states, “Bite me Dog boy.”
Edgar, as always supporting Dorian, says, “I agree with Dorian, long have we remained silent, as you continue to grow your military to such extreme numbers.”
Benton even more annoyed replies, “Listen up you dweeb, my world is a military based regime. We build ships we defend our worlds, and that’s what we do.”
Hermes reluctantly asks, “Perhaps there could be another contribution the Bentonians could make to the Paladonian people? That is if it is Ok to suggest such a thing?”
Cooley places her hand over Benton’s mouth, as she turns to Hermes, saying, “Well luv you do have a point. Gabe we really don’t need a military presence so strong this early in our development. Perhaps Hermes has a valid point, look at Uari and his world. They also possess a significant military power, but they have been developing a lot of the scientific and technological advancements, which have been extremely beneficial to us all.”
Benton, feeling betrayed, stares menacingly at Cooley, saying, “Et tu Rachel!”
Cooley, overtly annoyed at Benton, responds, “Knock it off Gabe, what's the harm in letting your people have a vote in developing another part of your culture and delving into other fields. Hell Gabe, we all could use some more farm development. The Valen’s can’t be the only farmers”
Benton grumbles, saying, “Fine I’ll go put it to a vote.”
The Envoy for the moon of the First ones holds forward his holoimager as a hand appears again showing a thumb up sign in regards of Benton’s decision.
Benton annoyed, responds, “Bite me too Allie.”
Edgar surprised states, “Finally, we have a name to put with the infamous hand, perhaps the council member will one day stop being so rude and make himself known to us.”
Benton scowls, angered with himself for revealing Allie’s name, says, “He is a she, ya dip wad, and she ain’t ever going to talk to an ass like you.”
Several days pass, as Benton begins looking into developing a second division for Bentonia to produce. He creates several options for additional growth development, and puts out a vote for all his citizens to vote on. The results are overwhelming, as the overall majority of Bentonian people, vote to maintain the military as their only contribution to the Paladonian people.
Benton happy with himself smugly reports to Cooley on the holocom, “Hey beauty queen, we voted, and we’re staying the course we are on. We’ll continue being the muscle for our people.”
Cooley pouts, saying, “Gabe, you’re really not making my job easy. You need to push your people to see the benefits of being able to deve
lop a second economy.”
Benton grumbles, saying, “Rachel, we grow our own food, we have our own production plants, which building everything needed to maintain our own commerce. My people have chosen to keep our military lifestyle, who am I to complain.”
Cooley annoyed answers, “A leader that needs to see the value in diversity and not keeping all your soldiers in one foxhole.”
Benton smirks, saying, “Hey, I like that. That was a good line, kinda like keeping all your eggs in one….”
Cooley infuriated, screams, “Listen up you jar head! You’re going to have to lead all these people someday, and you need to start building bridges with the rest of the council, instead of fences. We both know that Caleb is never going to take an active part in our government, which means you’re going to have to carry the mantel when I step down.”
Benton unconcerned says, “Well, we all know I’d win the popular vote hands down.”
Cooley frustrated, throws her hands in the air, saying, “Gabe you’re insufferable.”
Benton smiles, saying, “But I’m cute too, don’t forget cute.”
Several more days pass as news that the Bentonians have refused to develop into any other fields has reached the other worlds. For most of the Paladonian worlds, this comes as no surprise and as expected, causes the other moons to ramp up the production of their own warships and military growth, especially the moons of the Tof and Rooke’s. This will have far-reaching implications in the far future.
Later that year Celesta and Benton travel out to the galactic core in secret, where they meet up with a hidden research ship monitoring the Black dwarf.
Celesta docks alongside as Benton enters the research ship. He is greeted by several scientists and multiple officers, and after the formal meet and greet Benton is escorted to the main conference room on the research ship where he’s is met by the lead scientist Professor Hino.
The Ocoda Chronicles Book 5 Paladonians Page 9