Initiation Series: Series One Compilation (Terran Chronicles)

by James Jackson

  Skylow turns and says, “I have never seen anything like it!”

  Voknor considers Skylow’s age, and is impressed.

  Prime Markulz’s features dominate the main viewer. He grins widely and excitedly declares, “Now, that was fun!”

  “Prime Markulz! How many injuries?” Voknor demands sternly, not too happy with his taking pleasure in the dangerous situation.

  Markulz frowns in confusion as he replies, “We have no injuries.”

  Voknor stares blankly, in disbelief, then asks, “How is that possible? You were much closer than us, and we have a lot of injured.”

  “Oh,” Markulz replies as he stops grinning, understanding his Regent’s tone. He explains, “The Kord installed an interface unit between the IGD and RMC. I am not sure how it works, but they call it a variable gravity effects controller.”

  Voknor hesitantly guesses, “It compensated for the fact that you were going backwards, when the main drive was in operation?”

  “Exactly!” Markulz exclaims, “Not only that, it compensated for the gravitational variances throughout the entire vessel.”

  Regent Voknor leans back, smiles, and says, “Now that is a piece of technology I would love to get my hands on.”

  “I already asked, but was told no!” Markulz responds, disappointed.

  Voknor nods, then says, “I credit your initiative.”

  “The Kord offer their thanks. They say that none of their craft have the power reserves to do what we did.” Markulz boasts.

  “Our craft are strong!” Voknor agrees, then adds, “Now we should look for a planet to mine, while we repair our damage.”

  The Kord scientists are so busy examining the vast amounts of data gained, they do not care that the fleet spends time mining and repairing.

  Once the flagship is repaired, Voknor contacts Moot, and says, “I would have the fleet travel back to your space station, and deliver a load of resources.”

  Moot excitedly agrees, “It would give us a chance to share our findings.”

  “Excellent!” Voknor exclaims, then turns to Skylow and orders, “Get the fleet moving. Plot six!”

  Skylow cheerfully replies, “Regent!”

  Voknor beams proudly at his crew, they exemplify the Gamin spirit. He stands, then states, “I will be reviewing the damaged sections; the fleet is yours, Skylow.”

  Lilpax glances around, then takes advantage of her status, and leaves the bridge with her mate. She enjoys being in his presence more so when it is one-on-one.

  The flagship’s repairs take considerable time. Its main supports are reinforced, while other damage is simply repaired. The extreme twisting may have been an optical illusion, but the reality is that the ship was stressed beyond its design limits.

  Traveling at close to maximum speed, the duty cycles pass quickly for most, as the fleet makes its way back to the Kord space station.

  Slowing to sub-light as they approach the Kord Station, Bandor appears on the main viewer, and immediately blurts, “What happened? Is everything okay? Why are you back so soon?”

  Voknor chuckles, then replies, “Moot has some data he wishes to share with you, plus we get the opportunity to deliver our first load of resources for the new craft!”

  “Phew,” Bandor exclaims, then says, “for a moment, I thought the worst.”

  “This will work out well for all concerned!” Voknor states cheerfully.

  Bandor wipes his fur, then questions, “What will?”

  Voknor grins, “Our fleet returning after each research mission. It will allow your scientists a chance to discuss their findings, while we transfer the resources to your construction teams.”

  Bandor relaxes as he confesses, “Actually, it also doesn’t hurt that your fleet is in the area, just in case the Effen Raiders are observing us.”

  The Kord scientists discuss the data obtained from the gravity well, while planning for the next research project.

  Bandor travels to Voknor’s ship, and utilizing the new transit-way gets to the lower command levels easily. He gazes at the stairwell upward, and grins as he ignores it. He had not told Regent Voknor of the hidden elevator system, but plans to today.

  Voknor turns to watch the small fur-covered Bandor as his short legs scurry him across the bridge area, instantly noticing that he is not tired from what should have been an arduous walk, and smiles.

  Bandor notices Voknor’s intense gaze, and lack of surprise, and sighs, “You already knew about the elevator! How?”

  Voknor leans back in his chair and replies, “An advantage of having spent so long as a maintenance technician. I performed those duties for longer than your race lives, so it was not difficult to understand what your crews were doing when they were on board.”

  Bandor lowers his gaze; he had hoped to share the news of the elevator as a means to gain favor for his request.

  Voknor stands, then walks to Bandor and says, “Tell me why you are here? You are not one to simply make social calls.”

  Bandor takes a deep breath, then begins, “The technology of your power units is beyond us. My engineers are unable to resolve a number of issues.”

  Voknor considers the ramifications of sharing that technology, then realizing that the Kord must have something similar already, states, “I will have my engineers show you how we manufacture those. A task that will eventually fall to the cruisers.”

  Bandor frowns as he continues, “My engineers tell me that once turned on, there is no off-switch.”

  “Correct.” Voknor replies with a nod.

  “But how is it they do not overload?” Bandor queries, concerned. He begins pacing as he imagines overloading power units exploding all over a ship.

  Regent Voknor ignores Bandor’s pacing and replies casually, “The GPU’s, as we call them, have a pair of capacitors built inside them. In addition to this, just about every system on board our craft has a capacitor.”

  Bandor frowns, then says, “But by using stored energy, there is a loss of efficiency.”

  Voknor grins as he replies, “That’s okay. One thing our craft are not short of, is power!”

  The Primes of the fleet take advantage of the down time, and perform many of the routine maintenance tasks that are often overlooked. Some review hasty combat repairs, and get these sections overhauled. Others follow their Regent’s lead, and work on installing secondary life support systems, additional bulkheads, and even conduct battle drills. Whenever additional resources are required, the fleet’s supply officers turn to Sharz, who miraculously never fails to provide what they need. He follows the well-established protocol of providing resources to existing vessels first, thus slowing down the construction of the cruisers.

  Finally, the Kord community is ready for the next mission; their original idea of staying away for the entire list has been abandoned in favor of returning after each one.

  As the fleet moves away from the station, Regent Voknor takes one last look at the docks where the Cruisers are beginning to take shape. Skeletal fragments fill the void between the numerous construction arms of each dock, segments of the central main-line superstructure reach out to meet each other across the expanse, while vertical supports encircle the central superstructure like a rib cage. Progress looks slow, but each craft, once completed, will be enormous.

  Powerful Pulsar

  Moot waits excitedly as the fleet heads toward the next anomaly on his list, the most powerful pulsar ever recorded. He is still in shock over the willingness of Regent Voknor to commit his fleet to the Kord expedition. Everything he had heard about the Gamin, as being brutish overlords, is being proven wrong. The more time he spends with the Gamin, the more he learns, and begins to feel sorry for them. They have no home world, and are supposed to remain inside a region of space, as defined by their Emperor. They must remain ever watchful for an Atlan attack, and then are they are left to their own devices regarding repairs and maintenance. He laments that this explains their lack of research and development progr
ams, which in turn also explains Voknor’s actions in wanting new craft and technology. Looking up from his research, he vows to share his personal feelings with Bandor, and make sure the cruisers are completed, as promised.

  Prime Markulz taps on his armrests, bored, and yet he feels an odd thrill building up inside him. He leans forward and orders, “Full scan! How long until we reach the target pulsar?”

  One of his officers leans closer to his console, distracted, as he replies, “Three duty… whoa! What the…?

  Markulz has always followed his instincts, and immediately orders, “Full stop! Inform the Regent of our status.” His officer would not have exclaimed if it were not something exceptional.

  Before anyone can do anything else, Moot rushes onto Markulz’s bridge; his fur mattered with sweat. Between deep breaths he excitedly exclaims, “We found an energy reading! We have to check it out!”

  Markulz nods to his officer and questions, “Is this the reason for your exclamation?”

  The officer turns and replies, “Yes Prime. These enhanced sensors capture energy in spectrums we would ordinarily be unable to detect.”

  Moot rushes to Markulz, and almost falls to his feet as he begs, ‘Please, please. We must investigate!”

  Markulz grins at Moot’s passion and enthusiasm, then contacts Regent Voknor, “Moot wants us to detour to some ‘thing’ we found.”

  Voknor considers how little progress has been made on the cruisers, then says, “Well, it’s not like we’re in a hurry. Lead the way!”

  The fleet diverts to an area of space that is just beyond Voknor’s boundaries, but he is not concerned, it is not the first time he has left his assigned area, and he is sure it will not be the last.

  As the fleet slows, then slops, Voknor stares at the main viewer, baffled. There is nothing there. He strides to a vacant wall console, his favorite, and reviews the data, or the lack thereof, and then frowns.

  Meanwhile, on Markulz’s craft, the bridge crew stares in wonder at the mesmerizing phenomenon before them. Jagged edges of multicolored-light point toward a dark central area, beyond which, no stars are visible. There are no noticeable gravitational effects, and yet it is clearly something round. The area effected would encompass a small moon, or half the fleet when traveling in formation.

  Markulz stands and strides closer to the main viewer. He stops, points to a section, and orders, “Enhance that area.”

  His officers comply, causing the view to zoom in closer.

  Markulz staggers back in shock, exclaiming, “It looks like someone blew a hole in space!”

  The irregular edges oscillate through the color spectrum, much like the main viewer during faster than light travel. The additional oddity is the black void at the center.

  Moot listens to someone on his earpiece, then requests, “Can we fly around it, to map its size, and then send probes in?”

  Markulz nods, then orders, “Do as Moot requests, but let’s keep our distance.”

  Regent Voknor watches as Markulz’s vessel travels in a wide arc, first laterally, then his pitch changes; clearly, he is flying around a central location. Something invisible to Voknor’s ship, and the rest of his fleet.

  Skylow notices Voknor’s expression, and queries, “Do you want me to contact Markulz?”

  Voknor considers Markulz lack of reporting his actions, then in a moments clarity states, “The Kord enhanced his sensors! I bet he has no idea we can’t detect anything. We won’t interrupt them.”

  Lilpax stares at a local area map, then expands it, displaying more and more of this part of the galaxy. After a moment, she hesitantly comments, “We have never been in this region of space before, and based on our trending movements, would have skirted past this area.”

  Voknor replies, questioning, “Any advanced cultures nearby?”

  Lilpax has been reviewing a large number of systems in anticipation of his request, then replies, “Only one world, but it appears its inhabitants moved or died off a long time ago. The planet’s infrastructure indicates it was once a tech five or tech six civilization, but it’s now little more than dilapidated ruins.”

  Voknor tilts his head, frowns, then says, “How are you getting such an accurate scan? I am not reading any worlds nearby.”

  She shrugs, then offers, “Perhaps, whatever that thing out there is, it’s enhancing our sensors.”

  Voknor glances to Skylow, who upon seeing his expression, discretely informs the fleet to go to battle readiness.

  Frazik is perplexed, and asks, “Regent, I am detecting no hostiles.”

  The Regent relaxes, then says, “I want the fleet’s shields and weapons ready, without disturbing the Kord. I have an odd feeling about this area, and the sooner we are away from this thing we can’t detect, the happier I will be.”

  Moot is so engrossed in preparing the probes, he is oblivious to the change in atmosphere on Markulz’s bridge. None of the Kord notice as bulk heads seal shut along the outer corridors; the ship’s weapon’s ports open, and the shields ramp up to full strength.

  The first probe enters the void at half the speed of light, and vanishes. One moment it is transmitting data, the next, it is gone. The fleet is repositioned all around the strange phenomenon, and a second probe is launched. This one travels at just over the speed of light, its data transmission cuts off the instant it crosses the void’s threshold, and vanishes.

  Both the Kord scientists and Gamin engineers spend considerable time reviewing the little data they have, then eventually they realize that they may never figure out what happened to the probes.

  Reluctantly, Moot contacts Regent Voknor, “We may as well resume our previous heading, and investigate the pulsar.”

  “Did you learn anything?” Voknor enquires, his curiosity getting the better of him.

  “We did indeed,” Moot replies, then explains, “it’s not a naturally occurring phenomenon. We theorize that it was created by a light-speed radiologics explosion.”

  “That should not cause this effect!” Voknor states bluntly.

  “Correct!” Moot responds, then explains, “This entire area is flooded with radiation, but nothing the shields can’t cope with,” he quickly adds, then finishes, “however, we have determined that the changing colors is the light-shift of its core moving faster than light.”

  “But its stationary!” Exclaims Voknor.

  “Only relative to us!” Moot replies, then with a sigh, says, “Okay, we have no idea why it does what it does. But I stand by my conviction that it’s not naturally occurring.”

  Voknor shakes his head, then says, “Well, if you can’t figure it out, then I will mark this region of space as hazardous, and we can move on.”

  The fleet is soon underway, but for Moot, his enthusiasm is tainted. He never considered that he may find something inexplicable. The Kord scientific community has always been able to find solutions to problems, or answers to mysteries of the universe.

  By the time, they arrive at the Pulsar, Moot has regathered his energies, and is able to focus once more.

  Frazik frowns, then asks, “Are the shields drawing a ton of extra power?”

  Skylow reviews the ship’s systems, then replies, “Yes. The pulsar is emitting an exotic form of radiation.”

  Voknor stands, and demands, “Keep the fleet at a safe distance, and monitor the radiation.”

  “Understood!” Skylow replies, then adds, “We would have to lose all power to be in any danger. Our armor alone affords a great deal of protection.”

  Lilpax questions, “Frazik, are you reading the pulsar as having a dual-core?”

  “That could explain why the Kord want to investigate it!” Frazik replies.

  “Well, that would make it unique!” She replies, “We have none like it recorded in our own database.”

  Frazik reviews his data, then exclaims, “It’s a single density pulsar, but, it’s oscillating along two separate frequencies, and at different speeds!”

  Lilpax stares at he
r console in disappointment, then says, “What I would give to have Markulz’s sensors on this vessel.”

  “I know!” Frazik adds as he turns to Voknor, expectantly.

  “Don’t look at me!” Voknor exclaims, “We have done well from our dealings with the Kord, and this is one technology they are not willing to share. Not yet anyway!” he adds with a grin.

  For the Gamin, the Pulsar is nowhere near as exciting as the strange spatial anomaly the probes vanished into. While they wait dutifully, the clan’s vessels scout nearby systems, and commence mining operations.

  The Kord continue their research, making numerous requests for Markulz to move his ship to different areas, all the while launching probes. Some they recover, as planned, others, they dive into the pulsar’s core.

  Voknor grins as he agrees to yet another request to delay their departure, it would seem the Kord wish to document every facet of this pulsar. The longer they stay, the more resources they acquire that will go into building the cruisers.

  Eventually the Kord have completed their studies, and the fleet returns to the Kord space station. Voknor grins when he sees that there has been progress made on the cruisers. Both have much of their primary superstructure in place.

  The fleet remains at the station for quite a while, and offloads their vast quantity of resources. The Kord scientists soon have them traveling to another area of space, then another.

  Time passes quickly for the Kord in comparison to the Gamin. Markulz is saddened when Moot retires, but understands that the Kord scientist has a life to live, beyond his research. The Gamin lose track of all the strange things they see and do with the Kord; whereas they would ordinarily avoid any anomalous readings, the Kord embrace the unknown, and press the Gamin to investigate. Bandor visibly ages, and spends less and less time at the space station, yet he is always present when the Gamin fleet returns, and is happy to see Regent Voknor.

  Gas Giant

  Regent Voknor stares at the near complete cruisers with pride. He smiles as he recalls the first Kord Scientist, Moot, who has long since retired, as have his replacements, Kilnar, Amolic, and Whetlin. Each specialist spent a number of years on board Markulz’s craft, as the fleet traveled from one spatial anomaly to the next.