The envelope had the Seal of Fleet Command printed on it, and a message appeared, flashing over the envelope. Open and receive included messages in a secure environment.
So, I asked the Holdian, who directed me to an empty office that could be made secure. Once the base computronic had identified me, it verified that all anti-eavesdropping equipment was active and the room secure according to Blue-Blue-Red protocol requested to be established by the envelope.
I put the message chip in the desk unit, and Admiral Stahl’s holo appeared across from me, the red band below told me that it was a recording.
The message began, “Receiving this message means that you made it back to Union space and you have hopefully arrived safe and uninjured. The reasons for this message to be delivered in such a fashion are the facts of your rescue that exposed you to the Gray Cats and the Commandant of NAVINT. You are not to reveal any details of your rescue to anyone. Not to your friends, not to Admiral McElligott or Captain Harris. Or putting it in other words, to no one. Even I do not know all the details and while the Commander and I are friends, the nature of her business and her position make it absolutely imperative that you keep those details to yourself. I know you will understand that and you have been exposed to those secrets because we know we can trust you with them. I am aware that no psionic trickery can make you reveal them; your friend Narth confirmed that with me. Please be aware that the level and nature of some of the secrets you now keep make it also necessary to deal with you according to Blue-Blue-Red protocol if there is any suspicion you might have or will reveal them.”
He leaned back and continued, “I know your integrity is unquestionable, but I am forced by our protocols to tell you all that.”
I said, “Yes, sir, I understand, and I will comply.”
The recording appeared to have waited for that response, and he nodded with a smile. “I know I can count on you. Now, as for your current situation, we have dealt with the problems on Newport. Your friends are back aboard the Devastator. It was planned to also extend your team by one person, your Narth friend. However, he overextended his own abilities saving us all and has returned to Narth Prime, but he is well and will also soon return.”
I could not help but grin from one ear to the other hearing that my friends were okay. Even hearing that Narth did something that affected him, I knew instantly and without a doubt, he was safe and well.
Stahl had not stopped talking to me, so I backed the recording up a few moments and started it again. He said, “Return,” and then continued, “The Devastator is on the way to Checkpoint 98, and our current ETA is nine days from when I made this recording.” I checked the displayed chronometer date and compared it with actual time and found that the Devi would arrive in four days.
The ancient admiral smiled. “Don’t think we are making this trip just to pick you up, Mr. Olafson, but Fleet Command found it is overdue we show a little muscle in that area as there is increased pirate activity. Your orders are to stand by until we arrive. Take a day of R&R and then report to the station commander for a duty assignment, which should help to keep you out of any unusual situations till I am there. Again, welcome back; Stahl out.”
I destroyed the message. Knowing the Devi was coming with my friends aboard was the best news I’d heard in a long time.
With my personal mood once again completely restored, I left the base office and looked for a public GalNet terminal.
First, I called home; the call to Olafson Rock was answered by my father. There was no hello or anything. We just stared at each other for a while and then he broke the silence and said, “It is good to see you, son. You look every inch like the Starfleet officer you always wanted to be.”
“Thank you, Father. How are things back on Nilfeheim and at the Burg?”
“Shortsummer is still three years away and it is a particular cold Longnight this season. Ice fishers complain that the ice cover is thicker than usual and the fish even less active.” He shrugged. “But you know how it is. They say that every Longnight around this time. Our clan is doing well, and I am very proud of Elena, and I will step down as clan chief after the next Yuletide meeting and plan to make her officially the first Clan Chief of Nilfeheim.” He paused and looked down. “You are not opposed to that, right?”
“No, Father, I made my decision, and recent events made me realize that it was the right one. I am proud of Elena, too, and I know she will be a good chief. But will she be accepted by the others?”
He slammed his huge fist on the desk he was sitting behind. “I break anyone’s neck that gives her any disrespect. She is Olafson. Besides, most of our associated clans have long accepted her. She runs things for quite a while now, and she is doing a better job than I could have ever done. We are prosperous, and our coffers are full with profit. She is courted by every single warrior, as she has truly become the most beautiful woman on Nilfeheim. I think there will be a wedding soon.”
I greeted the good news and asked, “How is everyone else, Uncle Hogun and Exa?”
“Elena, my brother, and his family, which includes Exa, are off planet, they all went to a place called Para-Para. Ever since the first visit to Pluribus, the spell seems to be broken, and everyone travels a little more. The space bus service is now weekly, and the bus is always booked.”
We exchanged a few more words and then concluded the call.
Next, I tried to reach Egill and got a connection, too, but instead of Egill, it was Elena who answered! “Eric!” she yelled. Then she turned to someone outside the viewer field. “Hurry, Exa, tell the others Eric is calling!”
Elena was wearing a dark red bikini and the PDDs visual sensor gave me a very nice look at her well-developed chest. Her hand manipulated what seemed to be a small PDD and switched its optical to wide view. Now I could see her sitting on a wooden recliner right at a beautiful beach with white sands and an azure green ocean. There were many others around them; no one wore much in terms of clothing. Like a beaching landing tank making gushing tidal waves, Uncle Hogun came running from the water. I had never seen him just in a pair of swimming trunks; he was truly humongous. Most of his chest and his arms were covered with black hair. Right behind him surfaced Aunt Freydis. I saw Exa hopping up and down the beach and waving at someone to come.
Elena moved the PDD around and said, “Uncle Egill went to the beach store to get ice cream, his Saresii friend went with him, but the Narth is here.”
I saw a Narth in his typical getup, looking completely out of place at the beach, but floating in a very relaxed body position as if he was using a recliner, a few feet off the ground.
Next to him floated a basket-like contraption that was partially covered with a blue cloth. Even though Narth looked alike, I knew it was not my friend, but most likely the Narth representative.
Elena said, “Uncle Narth is watching over little Eric. The Narth representative takes his godfather duties very serious.”
The Narth turned his head without changing his position, but now I could see there was also a glass of something orange with fruits and a straw floating on the other side of him. “It pleases one to behold the sharer of what is Narth to be well and safe. One likes to convey that your Hugavh sharer is also well and will return shortly.” His voice was very low, and then he said, “One wishes to ask you all to reduce the level of acoustic expressions perhaps by a factor of seventeen percent. One observed that noises beyond this tend to wake my godchild.”
Elena objected before I could say anything, “Eric doesn’t call all that often, and he should see his nephew! He never has!”
The Narth did change his position now and got up. “Analyzing human social behavior indicates that you have raised a valid objection, she who is Elena.”
The Narth gently took a baby out of the basket. It was a healthy-looking boy of about one year of age. He wore to my surprise a little version of a Narth robe, without the hood. The boy stretched his arms and clung to the Narth.
Uncle Hogun and A
unt Freydis followed by Exa came into view, and the greetings and hellos were heartwarming, and I felt blessed to have family after all. After exchanging the usual greetings and news, Hogun took the child from the Narth and said, “Eric, meet Eric-Narth Olafson, your nephew. Don’t ask why he looks like a little Narth, but that’s what the little bugger wants. Besides, it is supposed to be nearly indestructible, and his godfather is more protective of him than a Tyranno Fin mother of her nest.”
Egill and the Saresii representative arrived, carrying a tray of ice cream, and I was instantly reminded of Krabbel.
Egill looked completely different now than he had when I saw him first. He was no longer as thin, and while he still looked like an old man, he appeared to be very healthy. His skin had a nice tan, and his usual yellowish white stringy beard was now white and full and neatly trimmed. I knew the Saresii was male, but there was no telling. He looked as good as any Saresii woman.
After I had greeted them, too, Egill explained that it had been Exa’s idea to take a little vacation to a nice place and so they all decided to spend a few weeks on Para Para.
I had to promise to call more often and come home after I graduated and spend my vacation with them.
These calls managed to push the bad experiences further into the background, and Alvor’s Cove and Sin 4 became just another set of memories.
I spent the rest of the day eating at three different restaurants. I even found a fish restaurant that offered something called clam chowder, Boston-style, and it was almost as good as Tyranno Fin stew.
Checkpoint 98 had only one settlement, and it was right by the spaceport. There weren’t many local attractions worth visiting. The independent tourist development board of Checkpoint 98 praised an amusement park, a large Terran-style forest with lake and camping area and an ice canyon tour. The very word canyon made me decide against that tour and the amusement park really didn’t attract me. So I went to the forest, protected by a large dome from the freezing near-vacuum conditions on the outside. It was much better than I expected. Golden sunlight filtered through the green canopy of large trees. Birds made a pleasant noise, and I saw a four-legged animal with an elaborate horn thing on its head. Little unintrusive holographic signs identified the trees like oaks, conifers and birch trees. The animal, according to the computronic, was a deer and all the plants grasses, trees, birds, and animals came from a Terran region called North America.
The surroundings were soothing and had a calming effect, and I actually wondered if I should try to visit Earth one day. The lake was clear and cold. At its shore was a rustic-looking boathouse made of rocks and logs, where you could rent little electric boats or sit on a wooden platform and buy drinks and snacks. There I rented a locker and purchased swimming trunks and a towel and moments later dove head first into the fresh cool water. It had been ages since I was immersed in water and could swim and dive. I could not tell how long I swam, competing with the small, fast fish that were abundant in this cool and clear lake, but this day so far had turned out to be as perfect as a day could be. I was back, had talked to my family, and had a long swim.
Back in my uniform, I was sitting at one of the little tables, drinking nice cold lemonade and watched the little boats glide over the shimmering surface.
Someone said, “I didn’t think I would see you so soon again.”
I turned to put a face on the familiar voice and stared in the smiling face of Tirkov the Mercenary, but this time he was clean. He wore a dark gray combination with reinforced knees and elbow pads and a leather jacket. I noticed the motion capture pads and neuro interface connectors on his suit and recognized it as a Battle Walker Control Suit. Marines no longer used Battle Walkers, ever since the advent of the Quasimodo Main Battlesuits, but I knew Orbital Assault Units of the Union Army still did. He was in the company of a tall redhead. She would have been a beauty, and she had a nice body, but half of her face was covered with swirly tattoos, and her right eye and ear were covered or replaced by a cybernetic implant. Cyber implants could be made invisible, but I heard that most cybers loved to show their hardware openly. She, too, wore an identical control suit.
Of course, he turned a chair so he could put his arms on the backrest and he was chewing something. His toothy smile, however, was unchanged. He waved at his companion to find a seat, too, and said to her, “That’s the tough as nails Union jock responsible for getting us out of the slave pens.” He leaned forward and whistled as he checked out my ribbon display. “Holy Phoenix, Lagda, look at that. Medal of Honor, Silver Stars, Bronze Stars, Space Ace and that’s just the top row.” He kept grinning, “You weren’t fibbing either; you are of the Devi.”
Finally, I managed to say something, “I did not expect to see you here either, but I am glad to see you made it off that cursed dustball.”
He waved for the waiter and ordered Hatar. As far as I knew, it was some sort of very strong alcoholic beverage made by a Galactic Council species; I could not remember which one at the moment.
His companion simply looked me over with her left eye but said nothing.
He said, “I met a few friends and we liberated the surviving rest of my crew and hired on a bunch more and paid a late-night visit to the local lord. He was very accommodating and let us borrow his private ship.” He laughed loud, took the drink right off the waiter’s tray and poured the greenish liquid, throwing it right down his throat and smacked his lips, saying to the waiter, “Get a few more of these, good man.”
To me, he said, “Of course, he wasn’t all that happy that we left him tied up on the middle of the landing field. I wonder if he made it or if they found him after he baked for a few hours in the sun.”
I sipped at my lemonade and said, “As far as it concerns me, I would not mind hearing that a ship landed on him or a lizard dragged him away for food.”
He downed another, and his companion did the same. Then he said, “I guess it was bound to happen that we ran into each other here on this Outpost. It is the closest one to Alvor’s after all. We’re here to lay low and safe until the Hard Eight, my personal flagship, arrives. The local lord, as you might suspect, is a little upset and has a bounty on my head, but as soon as the Hard Eight and my crew arrive, this is not a problem.”
He didn’t even wait for me to say anything and pointed at my patches. “I guess my offer could not compete with being a fighter jock aboard the Devastator, but if you ever change your mind, give me a buzz.”
He snapped his fingers, and the woman handed me a business card, and he explained, “I don’t advertise where I keep my HQ, but I maintain an office on Pluribus and usually can be reached, unless, of course, I end up in a slave pen again or worse.”
The woman spoke for the first time and her synthetically enhanced voice with a metallic background and echo gave me the creeps. “Now we never had a friend inside the mighty fleet. Maybe you could help us with a little Intel. All we want to know is where that cursed Harlequin currently can be found. All you Union fleeter need to do is raise your voice just about anywhere, and a computronic provides you with all sorts of data.”
I looked at her as cold and business-like as I could. “I am glad you know that part. Only because of respect to Tirkov I am not raising my voice and calling for security, but let me make that clear to both of you. I am not your friend inside the fleet and should I ever witness you breaking the law, I will do whatever is necessary to restore order and bring you to justice.”
Tirkov raised both hands and leaned back. “Whoa, don’t get your black underwear all bunched up. All we did was ask. I owe that mercenary colleague of mine a nice vacation on Alvor’s Cove and I put all other business on hold until I can make sure he knows how much I loved his travel arrangements. For you, it would be easy to check scanner results all up and down the line and find the last location of that SOB, but you got your regulations and laws and all that, and that’s exactly the reason I run my own outfit.”
He got up and tipped his head. “Well, thanks for
getting me out of that cage; I owe you one for that. Maybe we run into each other again. Not that I want to be anywhere near where that flying continent does business.”
“Take care, Tirkov.”
She got up as well, but put her hands on the table surface and leaned close, scanning me with her one good eye. “You’re just a little boy in a black uniform. I am not impressed by those medals. The boss says you helped him escape and that is the only reason I am leaving you alive right now.”
I got up and moved close, almost touching her forehead. “Anywhere anytime, Cyberbitch. Maybe I should simply arrest you under the suspicion of espionage activity and see what other dirt we find. Starting with your cyberware and checking if it is properly registered.”
Tirkov called, “Leave him alone, Phoenix. He has a short temper, and I saw him slice and dice a Togar warrior with his own knife.”
She gave me one more look and then left. After a few hundred meters, they both disappeared behind trees following the winding forest path.
I could not shake the feeling that this wasn’t the last time I heard from him or her.
The next day, I reported to the Fleet post commandant as ordered and reminded myself that she was a commander and had completed Academy and basic training. She was about the cutest thing I had ever seen. The fur that stuck out of the black uniform had a peach-colored shine to it and looked softer than anything I had ever seen. The urge to touch it just once was great.
She had somewhat longer pointed ears, and her nose was pink instead of black. The large all-black eyes shimmered soft, and I was certain she had black eyelashes.
She sat behind her desk, or more correctly she actually sat on the desk and looked over my file. “No sense to keep a young man idle. We are always short handed out here.”
She got up from the pillow she used as a seat and paced up and down her massive desk, and then she threw her small hands in the air and said, “It’s bad enough to be out here as it is, but during that crazy religious season on Netlor, we are simply overwhelmed. I only got one battleship and two super cruisers to keep an eye on 580-square light years of spatial borderline, but we have the dubious luck to be the closest Union system to Sin 4 and Netlor. Every scum and spy is trying to get past us into Union space. Now they send me a midshipman decorated like the Silver Rat of Mount Aktura, from the Devastator, no less, and Orders directly from Annapolis.”
Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 6 (The Galactic Chronicles Series) Page 69