The Ocoda Chronicles Book 5 Paladonians

by Daniel OConnell

  Tess lowers her head and says, “I truly hope you are right, but I’m starting to believe that Olaf and Natasha may be right, and that the shutdown protocols are no more without Caleb.”

  Cavalier returns to Earth in time to see the incredible devastation laid upon it. Hundreds of Paladonian recovery ships saved hundreds of thousands of Earthers lives from the mass driver attack. The Paladonian ships possess cloaking field technology, which is specifically designed to be unseen by either Paladin or T-Challa sensors. The massive rescue mission was a success as these survivors will be offered a new life on the Paladonian moons, or be allowed to return home after Caleb travels to the future.

  Cavalier finally makes it to the gateway, hidden deep within the Oort cloud. The Paladonian gateway is cloaked and is able to operate cloaked. Its energy systems are dampened from T-Challa scanners so to prevent its detection.

  Tess arrives at the gateway to find dozens of ships waiting to leave. It takes her an additional hour to make her way through the gateway.

  Finally, she arrives in Paladonian space and says, “Cavalier, contact Whitefeather high command and get my brother on the holocom.”

  A moment transpires, as Kalen appears on the holocom, he smugly grins, asking, “Did you find them sister.”

  Tess enraged ignores his question, asking, “Tell me you didn’t do it.”

  Kalen raises his eyebrow. He smirks, asking, “Whatever do you mean, sister?”

  Tess now infuriated screams, “You fool! Mother made us swear to never allow that plan to pass.”

  Kalen, unconcerned, states, “Mother is dying, and no longer can grasp the reality of this new world we are entering. Think sister, with this new strategy, we can seize true power. We will have ships that can fire on all our enemies, be it human or alien.”

  Tess shakes her head, saying, “You had no right to pass that vote, I’m the true leader of our people, you only lead the military, and your vote should not be allowed.”

  Kalen grins, saying, “By the articles of power set forth by Reginald Whitefeather himself, in a joint leadership should one member not be present during a vote the active or present member will possess the power to pass a resolution. It is finally done sister we can take those ships from the Earthers after Caleb passes through T-Challa gateway trap.”

  Tess stares at her brother in disbelief, saying, “We have a responsibility to save the Earth, not conquer it.”

  Kalen laughs, saying, “Return home, and rejoice sister for soon we will be a power in the universe like no other.”

  Tess lowers her head in defeat, as she sheds a single tear, realizing she was played the fool, and the consequences will be her fault.

  Three years later, Tess is relaxing on a sabbatical. She has relentlessly tried to get the council to reverse their decision and failed. Now, after exhausting all her options she has chosen to take a small holiday to watch the wedding of Andrew Jackson and Qui shi Chan. She is alone, monitoring events on Earth with Cavalier when she is informed by Cavalier, “Mistress Tess, I’m currently scanning the events in and around the Paladin Battleship at the wedding of Qui shi and Andrew Jackson and I have detected several energy blips that may possibly be shifts. It is very possible that we have extremists on the Paladin ship.”

  Tess alarmed grabs her cloak as she says, “Those nut-jobs are crazy enough to kill us all.”

  Cavalier reports, “Currently I show only Carla is on the ship, as the rest of the crew is returning from a celebration of some kind, I estimate they will arrive shortly.”

  Tess is curious as she asks, “It’s called a bachelor party Cavalier, but are you telling me that Carla is all alone on Paladin?”

  Cavalier reports, “Carla is not alone Mistress, she is under the care and protection of Paladin. There is no one more capable of protecting her than Paladin.”

  Tess shifts to Paladin, landing on the outer decks. Her cloak, like all Paladonian cloaking fields were specifically designed by Paladin to hide from even his scanners. Tess puts on her goggles, which allows her to see any other cloaked people. She moves across the decks, and into the ship. She pauses, as she takes in the fact that she is standing within a ship considered sacred to her people. The ship for which her very people are named after, as she takes in the moment she sees a flash of energy, as a cloaked individual some distance away appears. Unable to determine who or what it is she stealthily moves towards it. The unknown being moves into the Bridge and starts to climb the lift to Caleb’s quarters.

  Tess becomes alarmed, fearing for Carla’s life. She immediately races across the Bridge and begins chasing the unknown person up the lift. She reaches the lift and starts to climb, when the cloaked figure turns seeing her. He is a human male, and appears to be in his forties. He races towards Caleb’s quarters with Tess close behind. Tess enters the room just seconds behind the man, but he shifts away just as she enters. Tess studies the room, making sure that nothing is amiss, but suddenly becomes absorbed in the history where she now stands. She studies the room for several minutes, noticing movement in the distance, she hears a small child speak, it is Carla, she asks, “Hello, who are you?”

  Paladin then responds, “Little Flower, I’m detecting no one near you. Your father however is down on the Bridge.”

  Carla nevertheless answer’s “Someone is hiding, and they are afraid of me.”

  Tess panics, as she realizes that she is too close to Carla to be completely shielded from detection, even with her psionic shield and immediately shifts away.

  Tess arrives on Cavalier terrified that her interaction may cause a paradox and asks, “Cavalier, I need you to see if I have harmed the timeline.”

  Cavalier scans all the data and reports, “Overall scans show no change of the timeline currently. I will, however maintain a constant scan to be sure Mistress.”

  Tess shakes her head asking herself aloud, “Yeah, this was supposed to be a relaxing holiday watching the wedding of the century. Arggghhh!”

  Cavalier states, “Mistress, Caleb has stated that time is an endless void that has no true course, we can only hope that what we do here will only make things right for our future generations.”

  Tess grins, saying, “Cavalier, I know you’re not programmed like Celesta, but you are a good friend.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  HONOR

  The year is two thousand and eighty-five. It has been six years since the Paladonians voted on capturing the Earth ships and using them against Earth, and even perhaps, against each other.

  Survivors from the failed timeline had brought back knowledge that would allow them to bypass the Paladin lockouts on Earth built ships only, which would permit them to fire upon each other. Caleb, having learned this made it so that all the ships created by the Paladonian’s were programmed differently, thus preventing them from being able to override the lockout commands on their own ships. Regrettably, Caleb never planned for the possibility of the Paladonians stealing the Earth ships, and unlocking them.

  The council meets, as the time will be upon them in under a month. Tess speaks first pleading, “I implore you all to wake up and come to your senses. We are risking everything this civilization was created for, as well as activating the Paladin shutdown protocols.”

  Olaf stands up, giving out a weak clap, stating, “Excellent speech Council Tess, but if we can now continue on with the plan.” Olaf turns to Kalen.

  Kalen stands up, as a holocom appears and he begins to speak, “I suggest that we expose ourselves to the Earthers briefly at the beginning. We will even go so far as to pretend to be their allies, but once we have their trust we will take their ships and then their world.”

  Gaul stands up angered and says, “I agree with Tess, we should be helping the Earther destroy the T-Challa. Only a fool tries to fight a war on both sides.”

  Marianne seemingly concerned asks, “Gaul speaks with the wisdom of a long legacy of military masterminds. Perhaps we should help the Earthers defeat the T-Challa first. We are
all aware that Jackson dies in the second wave of T-Challa ships, which will appear shortly after the first wave is destroyed. His fleet successfully defeats the second fleet, but at a very high price, many of the Earth ships are destroyed and we will lose a great deal of ships to steal.”

  Valentine then states, “We also risk defying Caleb’s prime laws by allowing Jackson to die.”

  Olaf, ignorantly, asks, “Are you truly suggesting we risk using our ships to aid the Earthers?

  Tess sparks up, stating, “Why not help them, does it not help in gaining their trust like you wish?”

  Kalen annoyed at the direction of the conversation declares, “No Whitefeather ship will be used to aid the Earthers.”

  Olaf agreeing states, “Nor will any Tof ship be put to risk aiding the Earthers.”

  Gaul, then states, “As expected, the cowards wait to pick the spoils of the hero’s hard work.”

  Natasha laughs, saying, “Your people heroes, how comical.”

  Gaul gets up, fist clenched as Marianne stands up before Gaul and stops him, saying, “My people would be willing to aid the Earthers, if the Bentonians will, but I feel we should wait to help until all other options have been exhausted.”

  Kalen annoyed, says, “Waste of time.”

  Tess lowers her head and stands up, saying, “I have an alternative idea.”

  Natasha smirks, as she mockingly asks, “Sure you do Tess, do you want us to go save the Earthers?”

  Tess glares at Natasha with all do contempt, saying, “I will go and board Jackson’s ship, and I will make contact with him, telling him of the future events, this will give his fleet the tactical advantage over the second T-Challa fleet. This way we gain his trust and risk nothing but me, and I’m sure that you would have very little issue with that Natasha.”

  Natasha happily grins, as she looks to Olaf, who also smiles and says, “Excellent idea.”

  Valentine shakes his head and says, “This is all so wrong, I must agree that we should help the Earth defeat the T-Challa anyway we can.”

  Olaf looks to Kalen and says, “I propose we allow the Bentonian, and Valentine ships to go off and help the Earth fleet, but only if they are successful in defeating the second T-Challa fleet.”

  Marianne is a strong military leader who has led her people well for over a hundred years and says, “The Uari fleet will also aid in the fight.”

  Olaf grins at Natasha and says, “We will stay here and protect our homes, should the T-Challa somehow discover our home.”

  Gaul grunts, saying, “Spoken like a true politician.”

  Kalen who has been studying the fleet makeup and locations says, “If the Earth fleet survives, they will most likely continue on with the history of this battle as we know it and attempt to destroy the T-Challa gateway and their base. I feel my fleet would be better off poised there, to take advantage of the Yinglong and capture that ship. Need I remind you all is that all we need is just one Earth ship, and the rest will fall? They will be helpless to stop us.”

  Tess angered at her brother says, “We could use this opportunity to take Carla too. Raise her with us to ensure that she is safe.”

  Olaf unconcerned says, “I’d feel better knowing she was dead. There is much at risk should that child live.”

  Natasha states, “According to our history files, Jackson sent home his wife and Carla just before the battle, perhaps we could capture that ship and then decide on the Demon child’s fate.”

  Valentine now becomes enraged, standing he says, “We will have no part of killing her. If you so much as threaten her I will make sure that we expose this vile plot to the Earthers.”

  Olaf aware of the need to maintain the support of all the moons says, “No need to worry Valentine, we would not be so rash as to kill the child of our founding father. We are of course only speaking in a lighthearted manner, regarding her death. We would never want to harm her.”

  The council breaks off into groups as they discuss the overall strategy. Gaul approaches Tess and asks privately, “You’re going to give Jackson the message from Caleb aren’t you?”

  Tess is amazed, as she stares at Gaul, asking, “What message?”

  Gaul smirks, saying, “Sister, we are all children of Catherine and Gabriel. Catherine made sure that certain people knew of this message. I can easily guess that your mother, Caroline did not share this with Kalen.”

  Tess disappointed as she looks to her brother states, “No she did not. She knew that he was too aggressive and too ignorant to entrust with Caleb’s last words to us.” Tess looks to Gaul and whispers, “Perhaps we can extinguish this plan and force them to help the Earthers.”

  Gaul lowers his head and says, “I’m sorry sister, but I’m a soldier first, and although I personally disagree with this plan, my people have voted to endorse this plan. They see only the opportunity to become even more powerful. I’m sorry sister, but the Bentonians will do what we can to take as many of the Earth ships as we can, just like the others.”

  Tess glares at Gaul, and punches him hard, storming from the council room. Once outside, she sees Raphael and asks, “What are you doing here?”

  Raphael smiles, saying, “I’m going to help you save Jackson.”

  Tess chuckles, as she hugs Raphael, saying, “Thank you for not being as stupid as your brother.”

  Several days pass, as Tess prepares to leave Whitefeather and go help Jackson. Natasha, who is leaving, sees her and approaches her, stating, “Council Tess, I hope you’re going to follow the council’s ruling. It would be a shame if you took it upon yourself to challenge the council.”

  Tess stares at Natasha for a moment and says, “Don’t you have a civilization to repress somewhere.”

  Natasha scowls, as she draws in closer to Tess, saying, “Challenge the ruling of the council and I swear I will make your people pay.” Natasha storms off.

  Raphael asks, “Challenging her isn’t wise sister, she is a dangerous woman.”

  Tess sighs, saying, “I know brother, but I can’t help but hope that this plan fails.”

  Raphael smiles, saying, “Caleb’s prime laws will ensure we do what's right. If we challenge them, the Paladin protocols will be enforced.”

  Tess huffs, as she smiles back to her brother, saying, “How I wish I could have the faith that you have brother, but we have already done so much that would have enabled the Paladin shutdown protocols. I’m starting to think these prime laws can no longer be enforced.”

  Raphael shakes his head, smiling still and says, “I believe in Caleb, he will not fail us.”

  Tess hugs Raphael, and then enters Cavalier. The two depart heading off to meet Jackson’s fleet

  After a week of travel Cavalier reports, “I’m detecting several Paladonian ships nearby, but they seem to be keeping a safe distance.

  I’m also detecting Caleb and Paladin are currently engaged in rescuing the Earth fleet. We have less than a few minutes before we will be able to interact with the timeline.”

  Cavalier scanning the area reports, “Caleb and Paladin have entered the T-Challa gateway, they are launching their nuclear torpedo, detonation is eminent.” With that, the scanner shows a massive explosion as the gateway is destroyed and T-Challa fleet consumed in the explosion.

  Tess locks onto the Yorktown as she says, “We’ll follow the Yorktown until they pick up the crew of Paladin. Once they lower their shields I’ll board her and locate Jackson.”

  Raphael concerned asks, “Sister you are risking a lot, should they raise shields while you are on board, you would be trapped.”

  Tess smiles, saying, “Yeah, that’s would be terrible being trapped on a ship with the great General Jackson.”

  Raphael laughs, asking, “You still have a crush on him Sis?”

  Tess laughs, saying, “I’m old enough to be his great, great grandmother for crying out loud, besides he’s married.”

  Cavalier reports, “Mistress Tess, I’m detecting anomalies in the timeline already, Cal
eb has forewarned us that even the slightest interference with the timeline at this point would cause untold changes in the timeline. Our being here is causing minor changes, which I’m currently tracking.”

  Tess exhales and says, “Well, it’s almost time to go, they’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  Cavalier reports, “The Earth fleet has arrived at the coordinates given to them by Caleb and have begun to retrieve the crew of the Paladin.

  Tess locks Cavaliers shift computer on the Earth fleet and readies herself to shift on board the Yorktown.

  Cavalier then reports, “General Jackson is currently on the hangar deck of the Yorktown.”

  Tess smiles to her brother, saying, “Ok, let’s see the hero of the human race deals with the loss of Caleb.”

  Tess shifts cloaked onto the hangar deck, just in time to see Jackson reaching out, taking Carla up in his arms. Jackson looks at her and asks, "Yes Little Flower, what can your Papa Jacks do for you?"

  Carla, sobbing, says to Jackson, "I can’t hear my Papa anymore Papa Jacks, can you please find him. Please?"

  Jackson passes Carla to his wife Qui Shi, and quickly leaves the deck. He just makes it to the lift, as Tess shifts into the lift with him.

  She enters the lift to see Jackson has collapsed in grief. He is inside the lift heading to the Bridge. He believes he is by himself alone as it goes up. He is about to discover that is far from the truth.

  "Well Jacks, you don’t have that fearless hero image I would have expected to see.” Tess says from inside the sealed lift.

  Jackson shocked, jumps back up and against the corner of the lift, he looks around and says, "Who is in here?" He reaches his hand out trying to find someone.

  Then suddenly, leaning beside him, Tess appears from behind her cloaking field, and calmly says, "Well Jacks, I really expected much more from you, considering all the legendary stories we’ve been told about you."

  Jackson stands back in a defensive pose and says, "Ok lady, I suggest you explain yourself very quickly."

  Tess replies sharply, "Well, my name is Tess, and I’m here to help you, so shut up, and listen. In about one hour, you’re going to receive a notice that there is a huge T-Challa armada of about nine hundred ships. They’ll be exiting the T-Challa gateway. You will receive orders to intercept it, and engage it. Now listen closely. Don’t play the hero, and I’m going to say this again very slowly. Do not play the hero Jacks. Be the leader. You have a mission of the utmost importance that you must complete."