The Ocoda Chronicles Book 4 Present Future Past

by Daniel OConnell

  Benton jokes as he grabs several bags full of the Professors equipment, saying, “Nag, nag, nag. I swear you’d have made a great horse, always a nag.”

  Onatof is about to respond, when he suddenly feels very short of breath, and once again feels a sharp pain in his arm. He realizes that with his age, he may be pushing himself too far, but he knows he has to push.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  TRUST

  The days pass quickly, as all preparation for the last stage of their mission is made ready. Onatof works feverishly on designing several devices with Paladin help. Although at times, Paladin is less than forthcoming.

  During the multiple shifts made by Paladin, as they close in on Ronin and the T-Challa gateway, Onatof believes he has perfected his device on scanning time rifts within null space.

  Benton spends days trying to learn how to phase shift with help from Uari and several others. Unfortunately, it is a skill that takes months not days to learn, let alone master. Each shift renders Benton unconscious or so disoriented, he can barely stand.

  Uari also works on several assault programs designed by Paladin and Caleb. He tasks himself every day to perfect his skill at the helm.

  Caleb keeps to himself as much as he can, as he does so, he contemplates all his options and thinks about the cost and sacrifices everyone has made on this journey. These thoughts continually tear at him every day, as the days dwindle down to just one.

  He stares out across the bridge and wonders should he trust the instincts of one his most trusted crewmembers, a man that he claims to have faith in. However, he has sacrificed so much of his soul and inner beliefs to bring them to this point, all to prevent this future from ever existing. Guilt clouds his judgment.

  On Celesta, Rooke has successfully completed his last extended shift. Once again avoiding the time rifts, and allowing Celesta to make its goal with one last shift to the T-Challa gateway.

  The Dorsa, have built up a large force encompassing over eight hundred ships at the boarder of their space, close to where Ronin is now located. It appears to White that they may actually help Caleb and his people reset the timeline, but they have not responded to Whites multiple hails.

  Cooley has had several premonitions, as they continue getting closer to the T-Challa gateway. Most of her visions are subtle options of different timelines, but in every one, she sees the death of Professor Onatof. This vision causes her much pain and grief, but she dares not tell anyone, as the Flower Stone’s warning is clear; releasing too much information on future events could cause a paradox within her own timeline, and possibly doom them all.

  The holocom opens, as Caleb appears speaking, “Reggie, I’m not liking the position you have me in, but I’ll give your plan a chance.”

  White stares at Caleb answering, “Sometimes Cale, you have to trust in others.”

  Caleb frowns, as he responds, “I trust in you Reg, not too sure I can trust your friends.”

  Caleb cuts the com line and sits annoyed in his seat, watching as Benton, who is on the bridge preparing the last of his gear. He is collecting a few personnel and good luck items as he goes over the weapons station and grabs his Saint Christopher medal.

  Benton noticing Caleb frustration says, “Cale, Reggie’s got our back. We’ll be fine.”

  Caleb takes a deep breath as he shakes his head. He turns away and heads to his quarters, saying, “Gabe, I suggest you and the Professor hurry, I’m going to go distract the Meli so that two of you can sneak on board.”

  Benton alarmed asks, “How you going to do that?”

  Caleb hovers upward to his quarters answering, “Just get there quickly Gabe.”

  Benton aware now that Caleb plans on letting himself face the Meli alone grumbles, and rushes with his all gear to the hangar deck.

  Several minutes later, he runs into the hangar bay, where he sees Onatof going over the support ships shields emitters. Benton yells, “Doc, let’s get a move on!”

  Onatof unconcerned replies, “Mister Benton, We’ll be right on time, just as I predicted. Now just get yourself onboard, I need to finalize a these last few adjustments on our cloaking field. I need to compensate for all these explosives.”

  Benton tosses his gear in the cockpit quickly, and preps the support fighter’s navigation system, locking in their flight path. Onatof, unconcerned and still working on his holopad, walks casually up to the cockpit and calmly sits down. He does so without taking his eyes off his holopad. He then nonchalantly passes a modified psionic shield device to him, stating, “Put this on Mister Benton, I’ve redesigned these to better deflect our presence from this Meli.”

  Benton hurriedly puts the device on his belt activating it. He closes the cockpit, starting the engines as he simultaneously commands the hangar bay doors to open.

  Without hesitation Benton quickly exits Paladin’s hangar, maneuvering the support fighter beside Paladins Bridge, he turns to Onatof, asking, “Ok Doc, are we ready to use that shift drive thingy you put in this fighter?”

  Onatof who is still going over the ships cloaking field answers, “I have already preprogrammed the ship to complete the entire maneuver Mister Benton. All you need to do is follow the guided directions.”

  Benton activates the cloaking field, and signals Paladin, saying, “Paladin, we are ready to go.”

  Paladin responds, “Caleb will be entering the psychic plane the moment you shift. Take care, and return safe.”

  Benton takes a deep breath, and turns once again to Onatof, to find him sound asleep. Amazed, he laughs aloud, “You gotta be kidding me.”

  Benton activates the shift drive as the support fighter enters null space. Onatof’s computer program takes over the ship’s controls activating the engines. The support fighter activates it hyperdrive systems hurtling it through null space. After what seems to take hours, the fighter exits null space, cloaked, and directly in front of a massive vessel, the super carrier Ronin.

  Benton is startled, as he sees the super carrier directly in front of him. He quickly spots several Medium fighters circling the carrier and maneuvers his cloaked fighter directly in line with them, following them as they enter the lower flight deck of Ronin’s two massive hangar bays.

  Benton is aware that if Caleb wasn’t distracting the Meli, this will be a very short mission. He lines up close to the last support fighter as he passes through the hangar shield. His support fighter remains cloaked maneuvering along with all the other support fighters. Benton keeps a fair distance as he cuts his engines and engages the anti-grav drive allowing him to float quietly. He studies the operation of the flight deck from afar, and after a few moments, he judges a good place to hide his fighter. The first part of Caleb’s dangerous plan appears to be succeeding.

  Benton turns around and is shocked that Onatof is still asleep. He whispers, “Doc, wake up. We’re here.”

  Onatof eyes still closed replies, “I’m not sleeping Mister Benton I’m concentrating on not losing my lunch.”

  However, the truth of Onatof’s condition is far worse. He discovered during the last few weeks that his heart was failing. He was able to hide this diagnosis from Paladin using the same program he and Paladin created to override Ronin’s systems.

  Benton, unaware of Onatof’s failing health chuckles. He brings the fighter around for a landing, which is out of the way. After a brief moment, he secures his position, moving the cloaked support fighter into position, locking the automatic gravity control, leaving the fighter floating harmlessly out of the way. Benton says, “Ok Doc, let’s get out of here, and do some damage.”

  They begin to slip out of the fighter using their personnel cloaking devices. Onatof, before leaving the cockpit, secretly injects himself with a stimulant shot, which allows him to move easier and quicker off the hangar deck, but in doing so he pushes his feeble heart even more. Once the two are safe and secure on the hangar deck, Benton spots a lift, and the two quietly move to the lift. Onatof uses his holopad to determine their best route t
o get them both down to engineering.

  After several minutes, Onatof hacks into the lift systems using the Paladin stealth program. He sends the lift down to engineering, where the two successfully slip around the crew. Onatof surveys the area and makes his way to a computer access port.

  Benton stands guard as Onatof access Ronin’s main systems. Here he will find out the worth of this program. Overriding a lift computer is one thing, but accessing Ronin’s mainframe is entirely another. He uploads the program, which he and Paladin created, directly into Ronin’s mainframe. After a moment, he checks and sees that it has successfully loaded. He then begins to feel the stress tighten in his chest as he tests the system. Pausing, he checks to see if it has worked. After another minute, he sees no change in the security level. Onatof smiles, he turns towards Benton giving him the thumbs up signal. Onatof quickly begins scanning all of Ronin’s data. He focuses his attention on locating the override command for the bombs on the T-Challa gateway.

  Onatof feeling his heart pound in his chest pushes himself further and harder. He pauses shortly, feeling the strain, as he can feel his heart pounding. Realizing that he will not survive, he looks up to Benton, wondering if he should tell him. He stares at him for a moment, finally deciding it doesn’t matter so long, as his friends survive. Onatof looks back down at his holopad reading the data. After several minutes, he looks up to make sure no one is around. He whispers, “Mister Benton, they have three bombs directly attached to the gateway.”

  Benton also looks around, and seeing that it’s still safe to speak asks, “Can you shut it down from here?”

  Onatof takes a deep breath replying, “The only access point to them is on the bridge.”

  Benton sighs, as he lowers his head, saying, “I was afraid you’d say that.”

  Elsewhere, and during the time of Benton and Onatof's journey Caleb sits in his ready room. Paladin readies for its last shift. With only a few minutes left, he has Paladin lower the psychic shield around his quarters, and as expected, he is ripped into the psychic plane.

  Much to Caleb’s surprise, he finds himself surrounded by thousands of Dorsa minds, and is utterly amazed, at their presence. Shocked, he asks, “You have chosen to aid us?”

  The Dorsa respond as one, “We have weighed the options, and agreed that your return to the past would benefit our people. We will aid you.”

  The Meli then appears, as the entire psychic plane becomes hers to command. She immediately forces the ground to jump upward grasping hundreds of Dorsa minds. However, they work collectively, deflecting the Meli’s assault. Caleb, aware that he must maintain the Meli’s attention stands away from the protection of the Dorsa.

  The Meli, seeing Caleb floating away from the Dorsa’s protection is astonished.

  The Meli seems almost perplexed at Caleb’s defenseless stance. However, its curiosity does not cause the Meli much of a distraction. It quickly uses the opportunity to cause the ground from underneath Caleb to launch upward and grasp him up in a fist. It begins to slowly crush him.

  The Dorsa are unsure as to why Caleb has allowed himself to be so easily captured. They immediately attempt to rescue him, but the Meli easily repels them away with a simple wave.

  The Meli laughs, as she slowly begins to crush Caleb, saying, “I was hoping that you’d try something this stupid. I was able to scan your mind about this foolish attempt to rewrite destiny. You will fail Caleb. You were created to fail, just like your daughter.”

  Caleb fights with all his might to hold on, as he says aloud, “I know you’re scared, but if you don’t help me now I will die.”

  The Meli confused at Caleb’s plea says, “Really Caleb. Your daughter is dead, and now your hope of a better future is going to die with you.”

  Caleb stays focused on reaching the separated symbiot part within the Meli yelling, “I know you can hear me. I know you can help me, but if you remain hidden, it will win”

  The Dorsa are completely unaware of what Caleb is doing. Nevertheless, they take full advantage of the distraction to attack the Meli. Regrettably, the Dorsa’s attack ultimately fails. The Meli is easily able to deflect their assault.

  The Meli now annoyed yells again, “Your daughter is dead, but if you wish to speak to her so badly. Let me help you find her!” The Meli begins to crush Caleb. His very life force is being crushed away.

  Caleb, feeling his last breath, calls out weakly, “I’m sorry Carla.” Caleb eyes begin to close, as the life begins to fade from him.

  Suddenly, a bright light erupts from within the Meli as an image of a small child appears between both the Meli and Caleb, breaking the Meli’s grasp on Caleb. Caleb collapses to the ground, as the Dorsa are shocked to see a small child like human scream aloud, “You will not hurt my Papa!” The small child unleashes a massive amount of psychic energy onto the Meli, forcing it to encase itself in a protective psychic bubble.

  The Dorsa quickly join in, adding their power to the symbiot’s, as they try to destroy the Meli.

  The Meli is once more taken by surprise, as she feels an intense pain through her entire body. However, the pain is not from any psychic attack.

  Back in the physical realm, Celesta, Paladin, and over four hundred Dorsa vessels, launch a coordinated attack on Ronin, penetrating its shields and damaging the vessel. However, Ronin’s fighters number over five hundred, and quickly launch an all-out counter attack on their fleet. Their quick response destroys multiple Dorsa ships, and does significant damage to many others, as well as minor damage to both Paladin and Celesta.

  Most of the attacking ships, including Celesta and Paladin constantly use short shifts, maneuvering away from most incoming attacks.

  On board Ronin, Onatof and Benton finally make their way to the bridge. They remain cloaked, waiting for the doors to the bridge to open. After a few minutes, several crewmembers exit the bridge, and they slip in unseen. Once in, they are astonished to see the Meli, which is floating above everyone. Her appearance is such that she is surrounded with a luminescent metallic armor, as energy ripples all around her. Caleb plan is a complete success. The Meli is so involved with the psychic battle it has no knowledge of their presence.

  Onatof visually scans the room, and quickly locates the control port he needs to access. He points the location to Benton as he moves to the port.

  Benton is more focused on staying out of everyone’s way. He moves himself and Onatof around the hectic crew. The crew of Ronin races all around the bridge, returning fire on the hundreds of ships surrounding them.

  Onatof is unconcerned about the actions around him. He remains focused on the control port, making his way through the hectic bridge crew. Finally, he reaches the data port and once again activates the Paladin stealth program. He hastily accesses the control panel. Unfortunately, Onatof doesn’t wait to make sure the program is completely installed, and after a brief few moments, he is able to override Ronin’s control over the bombs transferring their control to Paladin. Unfortunately, the stealth program did not fully install.

  Ronin immediately announces, “We have intruders on the bridge!”

  The Meli is alerted to their presence and returns to its body on Ronin. It immediately scans the bridge and a moment later detects the void caused by their psychic shields. Isolating their location, it commands Ronin telepathically to surround the area with a force field.

  Benton, realizing they have been discovered uncloaks, and opens fire directly at the Meli. Regrettably, his attack is hopeless against Ronin’s shields, as both men are now trapped behind the shield. The Meli attempts to break through their psychic shielding, but Onatof had modified these devices so even at close range they still prevent the Meli from using its psychic power. Unable to access their minds, the Meli screams in frustration, “Ronin, crush these vermin!”

  Onatof looks to Benton, feeling the pain in his chest return as he says, “It's ok my friend.” Onatof activates a program on his holopad, and before Benton can respond his personal phase sh
ifter activates. Ronin’s systems were corrupted by Onatof’s stealth program, as the Super carrier’s force shield drops for just a brief moment, and Benton is sent back to Paladin.

  Onatof was aware of the possibility that they may be caught. Knowing that possibility existed, he planted several hidden programs within Ronin’s main systems while he was in the massive super carriers engineering section. Conscious that phase shifting will not work through a shield he had planted a virus into Ronin’s systems, allowing for a split second break in Ronin’s shields.

  Onatof, fully aware he would not be able to survive the physical stress of phase shifting, did all he could to hide this failing health from Paladin. Onatof knew from the start he would not return and was fully prepared to sacrifice his life so that his friends would survive. Thus unbeknownst to Paladin, he hid a similar program in Paladin’s shields to similarly lower for just a split second, thus allowing Benton’s to return. The Meli screams in rage as she realizes Benton has escaped, “You will die alone!”

  The force shield re-engages, and begins to crush Onatof. Onatof feeling his heart pound heavily as he struggles to draw breath. He looks to his holopad and moves his thumb to the symbol that says detonate, and with his last breath Onatof says, “I may die, but I won’t be going alone.” The holopad sends its signal to the cloaked support fighter in the lower hangar bay. Its cargo bay filled to the brim with powerful explosives. In an instant, it explodes.

  The explosion is immense, destroying most of the hangar decks, and a large section of the port side of the ship. The Meli is screaming in agony, as her symbiotic connection, which is similar to Caleb’s, causing it to suffer the damage of the ship. The Meli learns quickly, having felt the pain from the first encounter with Paladin and Celesta. It immediately pulls herself out of the ship, which causes the massive vessel to revert to its original form, a standard size super carrier.