by Terry Frost
“During a conversation with the Daakie High Command, we suggested that we may have found a Hive training base a system away from Planet Daak, homeworld of the Daakie.”
“If I may, Supreme Commander. How could you know the training base was the Hive species. I’ve heard no mention of your knowledge of the Hive, prior to meeting with the Daakie?”
“Very perceptive of you, Your Grace. I hadn’t mentioned how we might have guessed they were the Hive. We gained knowledge of the Hive during our first discovery of an intelligent species and friends known to us as the Nawi.
“It was during a private meeting with the Nawi Supreme Emperor Nulashin that I was told about his planet being attacked by the Hive. It was extremely fortunate for the Nawi that they had a long-standing relationship with the Daakie. And on that fateful day, there were three Daakie Battlestars on their way to pay their friends a visit and ended up destroying five of the eight Hive nests that were involved in the attack on the Nawi homeworld.”
“Very fortunate for the Nawi to not have become the Hive’s next food source, very fortunate indeed. Continue your tale, please,” Gaul said.
“Once the knowledge of a possible Hive training base was close to their home planet, the Daakie King Gaakin ordered a mission to destroy the training base. Colonel Hammer asked the Daakie Burseq if he could go along and observe the attack, which they allowed. The base was completely destroyed.”
“We are not familiar with the Daakie and they sound like a people we would favor to know, but how does any of this lead to your first encounter with the Aborians?” Grand Admiral Bagnor asked.
Allen told the whole story of how the Daakie helped defeat a large Hive attack force that began their tactics on the Aborian homeworld, explaining the attack and help by the Daakie took place several hundred years ago.
“It was after the attack that the Empress of the Aborian Race so many years ago had given the young Daakie king her vow to help them should they ever need assistance anytime in the future. The Aborian Empress told the Daakie king she would enter her vow into the Aborian historicals as a written testament to her vow to the Daakie.
Allen went on to explain how the meeting between Humans and Aborians came about because of the vow the Empress had made to come to the assistance of the Daakie.
“You and your kind are a compassionate race, Supreme Commander. I have no knowledge of the Nawi or the Daakie but it would seem your kind thinks of others in a good way. How long do you expect to be in the Galic System?”
“It was my desire to inform you of the closeness of the Mantis to your realm. Now that I have succeeded in that, we should return to our ship and once again began our search for our new home.”
“Return you may. It has been an honor to meet you Humans, and should you require assistance from the Vagan Empire in the future we will be agreeable to assist. All I ask of you Supreme Commander is notification should you locate either of the insectoid races.”
“I pledge to do just that, Your Grace.”
“Excellent. I wish you and your kind safe travels in search of your new home. I do wish we had more time so my bioengineers could take a look at the Commodore. Mayhap we could do that once you have located your home.”
Chapter 42
The Humans departed the Galic System and plotted a course for the farthest reaches of the Perseus Galaxy where star systems were vast distances from one another. Allen had chosen a star named Arinis. On their way to Arinis, the executive staff was having a meeting called by their Admiral. Allen was hoping his staff would open up about their trip through the stars since leaving Mars. He opened the meeting and said, “Whatever you have on your minds now’s the time to bring it forward.”
The first topic brought up was asked by Captain Slain and his question was about their first few years exploring the Orion Spur, the Spur where the Earth is located. Slain’s question was, “Would anyone like to give me their thoughts on why we didn’t find a single intelligent species in the Orion Spur? I mean we didn’t find a single suitable planet or life of any kind, but we cross over into the Perseus Arm and life seems to be nearly in every system we’ve explored.”
“Great question, Captain. Anyone want to take a stab at answering it?”
“Maybe our Creator could answer that one, Captain. But I too have wondered the same thing,” Major Hoser said.
Since no one was eager to give their opinion, Allen turned to Commodore Jeeves. “Commodore do you have a theory on this issue?”
“Yes, sir, I do. I would think the question to be moot. The answer is completely obvious to me. The answer to your question, Captain, is we didn’t find a single planet suitable for life to succeed. They were either too hot or too cold or had wind velocities in the extreme.
“Some were volcanic, a couple active with devastating earthquakes caused by the gravity of their host star. You know the list as well as I, Captain Slain.”
“Yes, Commodore, I’m aware of the list, but that isn’t what I’m asking about. I’m just wondering why life wasn’t given a chance throughout the entire Orion Spur, after all, it is spread out and holds extreme numbers of star systems.”
“Let’s not forget we only explored a tiny number of them before we moved out to the Perseus Arm. And if I might be so bold to ask our Science Officer, why that is?” Colonel Hammer asked.
“I do not have the answer to why we didn’t continue exploring the Orion Spur, which by the way is only a minor arm in the Milky Way, and some in the astrology field have suggested the Orion Arm or Spur as some prefer to call it, is actually a part of the Perseus Arm.
The two largest Arms of the Milky Way are Perseus and Catrina-Sagittarius. Perseus is toward the outside universe where Carina-Sagittarius in toward the Galactic Center. There may be many variables to why Admiral Allen chose to abandon the exploration of the Orion Arm, but if I were to guess, which you know I don’t feel comfortable doing, Colonel, I would hazard to say it may have something to do with moral of everyone on board after nearly three years of coming up empty.”
Admiral Allen was thoroughly enjoying the conversation on that particular question. But since Commodore Jeeves’s guess played a large part in his decision to move out to the Perseus Arm it wasn’t the major reason.
“I thank you for the question, Captain Slain. And I appreciate your question, Colonel Hammer. But for the sake of brevity on this subject it is time for me to come clean, so to speak. The Commodore made a good guess, and morale was definitely a contributing factor, but not the most important factor in my decision.
“During my and the USC’s mission planning stage, we were fortunate to have at all our meetings the top astrologists and astrophysicists the Human Race had to offer. During those meetings they were concerned about our line of flight to star systems the executive staff had chosen were too near several nebulae. They were concerned that anytime we dropped from FTL we could end up in the middle of one of those massive fields.
“At the time of our planning, we didn’t have a clue to how the nebulae would affect our ships if we were forced to navigate through one. And as we found out when we came out of FTL and found ourselves needing to at least partially fly into one, the nebulae played havoc with many of our electronic systems.
“Two of those critical systems were our scanner and sensor functions, which I was warned about during our meetings. Another serious concern related to being without sensors was getting too close to one of the white dwarf stars that are prevalent within nebulae and being caught in the star’s gravity, which would mean the end of us and our hope of locating a new home.
“To that point, I’ll just say, I’d rather explore in an Arm that contains millions upon millions of star systems much greater than the Orion Arm and with nebulae lying at extreme distances from one to the next.
“But I’d like for all of you to think about this. And that is our time spent searching for a new home for our kind on this particular mission won’t even scratch the surface of our fascinating unive
rse. As a matter of fact, exploration will go on from now on, or until the universe collapses on itself.”
“Wow, Admiral, that is a comforting thought. Now I have to think about our universe collapsing,” Petrov said with a smile.
“Never fear, Admiral Petrov, it is my hypothesis that there are many universes and they go on to infinity,” Jeeves said.
“Really. Alternate universes, Commodore?” Colonel Hammer asked.
“Of course. Would you care to debate me on my hypothesis?”
“There isn’t time for you gentlemen to get into a debate during this meeting. You can save that for another day.”
“Does anyone else have something on their mind that we haven’t discussed during any of our past meetings?” Allen asked.
Doctor Stavens asked, “I realize just thinking about the enormous expanse of the two Spiral Arms we have talked about this morning boggles this doctor’s mind. So here is my question and I partially answered it in my first sentence. Why hasn’t there been visitors to Planet Earth? If over a few short years of traveling to the stars we have discovered numerous intelligent species, including two that we wouldn’t want anywhere near Earth, or Mars. Doesn’t it seem odd that we weren’t paid a visit sometime in the modern era?”
“Whose to say we haven’t had visitors, Doctor?” Allen asked.
“Do you really believe there is a chance little green men in their spaceships just sat out in space cloaked while they observed us?”
“Well to put it plainly, yes, that could be highly possible. And what makes it possible is the technology of cloaking. We have already experienced our inability to detect ships that were cloaked.
“We weren’t notified prior to the uncloaking of the Aborian Predators, or the ship that picked up the attacking fighters on Planet Ogre, nor did we have any notification of the Vagan Grand Admiral’s Starship.”
“Since you put it that way Admiral, I suppose there could be a chance that we have been visited. From what we know about the Hive and are just finding out about the Mantis, we should all thank our lucky stars they didn’t find us,” Doctor Stavens said.
“If I may, Admiral? Jeeves asked.
“Please do, Commodore.”
“The Admiral has a valid point about the cloaking technology, but I believe the highest percentage of why Humans have not encountered aliens is simple. If luck hasn’t played a part in whether we’ve had visitors or not it is a simple matter of distance and direction of space travel.
“By the latter, I’m referring to the unfathomable size of our known universe and the only way aliens would ever find the Earth, or Mars is just plain luck, which I believe is just what we managed to accomplish.”
“Intriguing, Commodore. You may very well be correct. But whether my decision to change Spurs wound up making our First Contact with an intelligent race was nothing other than our lucky day or not, we will never know the true answer.
“Does anybody else have a question they want to ask?”
No one said anything so Allen said, “Okay then. I’ve been notified by Chief McManus we won’t be dropping out of FTL for another eighteen hours. So in light of that time frame, I want all pilots to perform maintenance checks on their ships. That includes all hornets, combat wasps and the Striker and Perseus while they are in our hangar bay. You are dismissed.”
Chapter 43
It was 0230 and nearly all were sleeping with the exception of operations staff that were scheduled for the graveyard shifts. One person, in particular, was not getting much sleep and that was Colonel Hammer.
He had begun feeling that familiar pull on his senses that he knew was coming from Empress Katin. It started early in the day, even in the morning staff meeting and as each hour passed it became more intense. Jak knew he couldn’t wake the Admiral at this time of night so he fought with it throughout the night, finally dozing off around 0400.
He woke when his comlink began chirping. He wasn’t sure what time it was because his quarters was completely dark. When he turned in for the day he made sure there was absolutely no light filtering into his quarters. The only light was his alarm clock and even that had been dimmed and turned facing a wall next to his bed.
Jak tapped his comlink and said, “Colonel Hammer.”
“Colonel, why the hell haven’t you been answering your com? I’ve been pinging you for nearly an hour?” asked General Dubois.
Jak raised up and threw his legs over the side of his bed and asked, “What time is it, sir?”
“920. Where are you, Jak?”
“Sorry sir, I haven’t slept for more than a couple hours. I guess I finally dozed off and slept hard enough to not hear my com.”
“We will be at our destination in less than an hour. Get dressed, all pilots have a pre-flight exploration meeting with Allen in Room Forward in fifteen minutes.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll be there. Hammer out.”
When Jak got to Room Forward, Admiral Allen didn’t miss the fact that he looked like shit. Oh, he was dressed properly, but he looked disheveled according to Allen. Allen motioned for Jak to take a seat next to him.
The meeting lasted for no more than twenty minutes and as everyone began filing out of the room, Allen asked Jak to stay behind.
“Take a seat, Colonel,” Allen said as he sat down at the table.
“Which drinking establishment did you visit till wee hours in the morning? I hope you are going to tell me none because you know the twenty-four-hour protocol against pilots drinking prior to missions.”
“Yes, sir, I’m quite familiar with that protocol and no, sir, I have not been drinking.”
“Then why do you look like you got hammered last night? No pun intended.”
“Empress Katin, Admiral.”
“Holy hell. Has the lovely Empress initiated her spell over you again?”
“I believe so, and this time it is so strong I’m having a hard time functioning at a level that is required for my duties, sir. The only thing I can think of for her pulling on me like this is I believe it is close to time for her to give birth to our child.”
“Usually when her desire to see you is important enough, I’ll receive notification from High Mage Cina that the Empress has asked for you to be brought to Abor. But I have not received any such message. Well, I can’t have you going on a mission with your head in the clouds, so as of right now you will not be participating in our first scanning mission. If Katin is close to having the child, you must be there.”
“I told her I would if at all possible, but Admiral, we are a hell of a long way from Planet Abor. I’m not sure how long the trip would take but I imagine at least a couple weeks or more.”
“We will have to wait and see if she is sending one of her ships for you because I can’t afford to send either of our Battlecruisers and you would run out of oxygen if you tried to get there in a hornet."
“Damn it, I hate this bullshit. Sorry Admiral, I’m not myself right now.”
“Take your ass back to your quarters and remain there until you have been able to right yourself by getting some rest. I’ll have Doctor Stavens send someone to your quarters with something to aid in your efforts to sleep. Maybe we will receive either a message from them or one of the Aborian warships will show up.”
****
“Yes, my beloved, I ordered a message to be sent to Admiral Allen eight days ago. And Tage Doni and her Raptor left for the Arinis System three days ago. Try to be patient, my beloved. If you recall I told you the Arinis System is many light years from Abor. It will take some time to get there, Cina said.
“Yes, I know the distance. But I’ve never had a child in me before and can’t tell how soon it will desire to be born. I pray I haven’t waited too long for my Chakin to return to me in time,” Katin said while whimpering with tear filled eyes.
“No, you do not have the experience of a past birthing, but lest you forget, I have helped many times in the past with our Warriors while they gave birth. It is through those times
that assures me you still have several weeks before you give birth.”
“Don’t tell me that just to try and get me to calm myself.”
“It is true that I don’t like to see you so troubled about this, but I did not say that just to calm you. Though, in truth, I probably would say it if I thought it would help.”
Both thought about what Cina just said and for the first time in days, both women shared a hearty laugh. A few seconds later the Empress began to calm herself and Cina thought I’m quite certain my harmless untruth has served its purpose.
Chapter 44
Not long after the Humans had left the Galic System, Grand Admiral Bagnor was impatiently waiting on a video transmission from High Colonel Agar, who he sent out to join the task force searching for signs of the Mantis species. Prior to sending his Second, the Vagan Avenger Commanders had reported no signs of the Mantis after scanning planets covering a vast area of four star systems.
Besides the Avengers, which numbered over a hundred, the Vagans also had twenty heavy cruisers they named after a large winged predator on Planet Phar called the beaker. The animal was given the name because of its massive razor sharp beak. The beaker was a predator comparable in size to the California Condor on Plant Earth.
High Colonel Agar was commanding one of the Beakers along with two Avengers on a heading to the Ceptor System. Ceptor was the largest star in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy and held captive forty-four planets within is gravity reach.
But on his way to the Ceptor System, he had his search team drop out of FTL in order to take a look at the Coba System. The Coba had been scanned nearly a month earlier by the Humans and found nothing. But besides being Bagnor’s top commander he was if nothing else, the most thorough commander under Bagnor’s command.
Agar knew the Humans had reported no discoveries of the Mantis in the Coba System but decided to do a quick sensor sweep near any and all heavenly bodies in the system. When the three Vagan ships dropped out of FTL they immediately cloaked, which was the standard procedure by the Vagan Navy.