I put the toy on the diagnostic station and Cateria pulled down the diagnostic scanner with a sigh.
“I knew I would get some strange cases, being your CMO. Nul, Y’All with a toothache but I never dreamed to perform surgery on a stuffed toy animal.” She then glanced at the boy and changed her tone and said. “Let’s see what is wrong with Crancy.”
The young Ithe boy looked in awe as his stuffed animal appeared as a large three dimensional scan image on the field screens. There was an obvious tear in the fluffy fabric and some of the white stuffing was coming out.
One of the scan images showed the interior of the animal. It had some sort of mechanical or electronic component inside. She glanced at me then she said looking to the ceiling. “SHIP can you call an engineer up to Sickbay we have a special patient here.”
SHIP responded. “Circuit is on his way.”
I smiled at the boy. “Crancy will be good as new I am sure of it.” To his mother I said, “I suggest you find some rest and then we figure out how to get you to your grandparents without being seen.”
She nodded and I left sick bay to check on the bridge and the ship’s status.
Outside I almost ran into Narth who just popped out of thin air. He said. “The Ithe woman is not as innocent as she says she is. She belongs to the rebels of that society.”
I looked over my shoulder towards sick bay and said. “I had a feeling she was. On the one hand she claims to be just a factory worker but with the same breath she accused us of not helping. I still sympathize with her. Maybe the civilians weren’t as innocent as I assumed they were, but shooting women and children after dragging them out of their homes is still the vilest thing I ever thought possible.”
He nodded. “It is and from what I can gather, they do fight for liberties and freedom and those are very strong concepts I can understand.”
“Anything happen while we were gone?”
“Of course many thousands of events happened while you were gone, but none of any significance to ship, mission or crew.”
“I thought you are getting used to human expressions by now.”
“Getting used to them is not the same as understanding them. Do you have any idea how many such expressions you corporal beings use every day? It takes a significant portion of my intellect and several thought levels at once to constantly analyze and reference them.”
“Well I am glad you found something to do with that superior intellect and all those thought levels of yours, it would be a waste to have them do nothing.”
“Do you want to talk about your first use of Telekinetics?”
I stared at him. “My what?”
“You saved that child from falling, by reaching out with your Psionic abilities.”
I wanted to argue with him that I had no Psionic abilities, but it was a lie I told myself. What has become of the Neo Viking that left Nilfeheim not so long ago? Not only my outside had changed and it was not simply growing up. I evolved and mutated into something else.
I looked at my mysterious friend and sighed. “What am I?”
Narth put his hand on my shoulder and said. “The sum of all that is Narth would fail to predict what you are going to be, but I for the moment, I would say you are a very stubborn Neo Viking refusing to accept the facts and you should really begin to practice the exercises I have asked you to do.”
“Narth deep down, I am still a simple boy from Nilfeheim. I never understood my own desires to be female and I prefer a sword of cold steel over blasters and Psionics.”
Then I added quietly. “I am more afraid of the unknown thing inside me than I am of anything else. Despite the efforts of the Narth Supreme to erase or bury memories of recent events, I can feel it stir. I can feel someone, something, move in the deepest regions of myself.”
He said. “I know, I can feel it too, but you are not alone. Har-Hi, Shea and me, I am not just Narth, I am your friend. “ He then said. ”The exercises are very important though. You know how dangerous it was for Alice.”
“She is very powerful as you said. Moving a child and pounding a Landing tank to scrap is a different story. How is she anyway?”
“She is fine and taking Union school classes, her education was severely neglected on Trash Island. As for your level of…”
We were interrupted by Circuit who came out of Sickbay and said. “The toy is as good as new and does all the things it supposed to do.”
I smiled at him. “I didn’t think a toy would pose a serious challenge to my Chief Engineer.”
He held up a tiny black wafer thin square shaped thing. “This however was not part of the original design of the toy.”
I looked at it. “What is it?”
Circuit held it higher. “It is a truly ancient program chip.Like the ones Mothermachine used many thousand years ago. I am sure it some sort of activation key for something like a Computronic.”
I shrugged. “Could it not be part of the toys program, or from some other electronic toy?”
“Captain, that chip is at least 5000 years old and it appears Karthanian. Yet it is way beyond Karthanian technology of today and certainly beyond anything the Ithe could produce.”
To me it looked just like a little bit of plastic and I said. “Can you and Shea try to figure out what it exactly is?”
He palmed the thing and said. “That is where I was going, as soon as Shea’s bridge shift ends.”
“Alright keep me posted.”
I went to the bridge myself and found Shea sitting in the Command chair. She smiled at me and her eyes told me she was very glad I was back. Aloud she gave me a situation report and then Elfi said. “The Red Dragon called and left a message. He said that we should meet him as discussed in sixty days on the second planet. He also wanted you to know that all associated with the quest were able to leave with all their possessions, but the pirate Nocturna has indeed died. Her crew elected a new captain and had left Itheamh.”
I said. “It looks you got things well in hand here. I need to return to Itheamh once more to make sure our guests get to a safe place.”
Shea said. “I heard you rescued a woman and her children. We saw the execution, as it was broadcast. Heavily edited of course but it was still horrible.”
“Yes it was. I was under the impression Itheamh was a lawful somewhat oppressed but normal world, but it is anything but.”
Sobody got up and said, “It is, Captain. It is just not Union laws they are enforcing. The Ithe have a long and violent history. This world is not their real home world after all. It is the second one, the first one had been made barren and inhabitable by a nuclear war. The Ithe society here grew out of a former colony. Ithe and Drak are the same species.”
He walked towards the main screen that showed the planet below from a visual feed of the dock the Tigershark was still in. He pointed at the world below. “This world is barely able to sustain life. It is a very dry world with very little water. The colonists needed help to survive and help they got from the nearby Karthanian. The help they received was not free; they paid and are still paying for it after over 500 years. The Drak, supported by the Karthanians oppress the the Ithe that had been here, but it is lawful.”
He sighed. “The Karthanian are not like the Union who would help without asking for anything in return.”
I also looked at the ash colored planet slowly turning below and said. “Why haven’t they simply taken over then?”
Sobody explained. “The Karthanians are extreme xenophobes. They do not like other beings sharing their worlds with them. Yet they want to do business with the rest of the galaxy, so Itheamh and a few other worlds like this are used by them like store fronts. You can buy Karthanian tech and ships here, have ships repaired in docks like this that are in orbit. Most of them are as you know controlled by the Karthanian guilds.”
Shea looked at her PDD. “Since there was not much to do, Mehedi and I analyzed their political situation. From what we could gather from their broadcasts, it
is the Karthanian who cleverly keep the division between the Ithe alive. The old reasons that drove them to war on their old world are kept alive here. One part of the population is in power, even though they are nothing but puppets, while the other is kept just above poverty and does all the labor. The ones in power have to keep their masters happy, provide the Karthanian with cheap labor and maintain their status of power over the rest.
There is a group calling themselves the Instigators, who want to break free from these conditions and unite all Ithe. While the Instigators have a broad base of sympathizers in the general population, they are split among themselves. There are the purists who want to brush all alien influence away and decide on Itheamh’s future alone. Then there are those who believe they have no chance doing that on their own. They hope for Union interference and finally Union membership. This group believes that the Union would protect them from Karthanian reprisals.”
I said. “Would that not be the best solution for them? Maybe we can do something in that regard.”
Sobody glanced at Shea’s PDD and spread his arms as he said. “I have assisted Lt. Schwartz in that analysis as well and we have found out that an Official Union Delegation had been here about a year ago, following an invitation by the Instigators, but they left without taking the application to Pluribus because it could only be considered if all of Itheamh applies for Union membership. The Magistrate of Ithe is still the official government and the Instigators could not even claim to have a large majority behind them openly wishing for membership.”
Har-Hi had silently stepped onto the bridge.
“I have seen the execution too, Captain and I would love to do something about that, but nation building and interfering with local politics takes much work and lots of time. They have been at each other’s throats for over 500 years.
If we remove the evil that controls them, there is a good chance they’ll use their new found freedom to do what they had done before the Karthanian helped them and bomb themselves out of their second home.”
I knew he was right. What he said made much sense and again he showed how well he knew me. He knew that I wanted to do something for the children. Find their father if possible or at least get something in motion that would provide them with a better future. Not that I had any idea how I would even get started doing that and still follow the Red Dragon on his quest in just two month.
I said. “Let us get our guests into the mountains to safety and forget about Itheamh.”
We decided to use one of our camouflaged landing tanks. These marvels of Union technology could cloak.
Not that the Ithe maintained planet wide scans in the first place, but I wanted to make sure we could drop the woman and her children unnoticed by anyone.
Mr. Eeeryt, our chef, came almost running, carrying a big package. “We can’t have them leave without some provisions!”
I smiled at him and said, “I guess the whole ship knows about our guests?”
The Elly wiggled his short trunk like snout and said, “It was you who allow everyone to listen to what is going on. We are all very proud of you, Captain.”
I blinked and said. “What for?”
The cook pointed at the Ithe family standing next to the landing tank, the mother, holding her children close while she was talking to Har-Hi and looking on a PDD.
”Saving them, Captain of course. Isn’t that the real reason we are out here? Making a difference to those who can’t do it for themselves, that is what we are really about. It’s not the ships and the tech that makes our Union stronger and better, but that we don’t turn away from those who need help.”
I sighed and said. “I wish I could do more for them, but the situation is complicated.”
“We know Captain, we heard the XO. Still we know you’ll find a solution to all this.”
He said that with such conviction that I did not contradict him. I said, “I try my best, Mr. Eeeryt.”
Har-Hi walked over and said. “It wasn’t easy, but she finally recognized the village she needs to go to. She has virtually no geographical knowledge of her own continent and there are quite a few mountain villages.”
“Well let’s get this over with.”
Har-Hi raised one eyebrow and said. “Captain, there is really no need for you to come along. We drop them at the bottom of the path and all they have to do is walk two kilometers and they are safe.”
“I promised the boy he will be safe and I want to see that through.”
Har-Hi piloted the landing tank with Narth sitting behind the mission control station checking sensors.
The Ithe woman held her infant and was very quiet. The boy, however, had lost some of his fear and shyness and first looked at Narth, then Har-Hi, before he focused both his stalk eyes on me. He said to me. “Will you find my daddy?”
I didn’t want to lie to the child but I also did not want him to lose hope so I said. “If we find him we will bring him to you.”
The woman turned her eyes to me and said, “They will drop us off at Nunu and Taru and then we will never see them again.”
There was bitterness in her voice.
What was there that I could say? She was right, but I wished she had not said it that way before the little boy.
He clutched his animal close and his stalk eyes sank in a heart breaking sad manner.
Har-Hi said, “We are almost there, I am taking us down.”
Narth checked his scanners and said, “There are no significant energy sources nearby.”
We debarked and stood before a steep mountain path. I could smell the smoke of a distant fire. It was just before dawn and the local sun was about to come over the horizon. The wind was very cold and dry and it tugged on the simple dress of the woman.
She pointed up the path and said, “Up there is the village of my grand-parents. I haven’t been here since I was a little girl; ever since they restricted travel, coming here is impossible.”
I shouldered the food pack our cook had given us and said to her, “Lead the way then, I am going to accompany you to the edge of the village so I can make sure the village and your grandparents are still there and you’ll find shelter.”
For the first time she smiled and said to me, “Underneath all that black leather and those weapons you do have a good heart, Captain Velvet.”
Har-Hi grunted something, sealed the tank, activated the cloak and then followed us, too, as I began to walk behind the woman. The path was steep and the gravel crunched under our boots. He, too, had a soft heart as he scooped the boy off his feet and put him on his shoulders.
We had walked about a mile, Narth who floated effortless next to me said, “We are not alone!”
The next thing I heard was a sharp whistling sound and a ragged rock hit my friend with force against his hooded head, a second rock hit Har-Hi almost the very same time. A third rock grazed my temple, and made me see stars. I saw both of my friends falling to the ground, just as I went to my knees myself!
The boy cried and the woman screamed. “Stop, don’t hurt them!”
Out from behind boulders and rocks, appeared Ithe men wearing furs and swinging some sort of loop like slings. Out of the painful daze I counted seven of them. I recognized the weapons they used as sling shots, very primitive missile weapons our instructor at the academy had shown us once. Through all that, I wondered why Narth had not detected them earlier.
The woman was almost hit by a rock as well and again she yelled something in a language I did not understand.
The men were armed with big sword like weapons and those slingshots and they scrambled down the ravine and came closer with caution.
The woman spoke again, this time she used Squawk. “I am Narmoa, grand-daughter of Nunuat and Tarnua. The Draak-Ithe have killed many and we had to flee. These are strangers of other worlds who helped us.”
One of them said. “Tarnua and Nunuat are dead for seven wind times already, but we remember them.”
Another said. “The Drak-Ithe
has patrols in the mountain paths and we thought you were of the Drak.”
The tallest of them said. “We must hurry; a Shogotrz is on the hunt in this valley. Only Fire Beamers can kill a Shogotrz and if one is used the Drak can find us. Let us take them all to the village and leader Claramoa will decide what to do with them.”
I stumbled back on my feet, blood blinding my right eye, my hand on the blaster, the men drew their swords, from somewhere from behind another rock was hurled hitting me on the elbow and I dropped the weapon.
Three trained Union Officers, one of them a Narth and a Dai outclassed and outfought by a bunch of primitives with slingshots and we were in this situation because I wanted to help. The seven were not alone, there were more!
One of them came closer and kicked my blaster out of reach while holding his sword to my throat while there where others with whirling their sling shots. I was certain their swords could not cut through the micro mesh of my suit, but the blunt force trauma was just as effective as a cut.
While I was sure Narth was not dead, I could not reach his mind. I hoped for their sake, Har-Hi was alive.
The woman screamed and then the men looked at something behind me and yelled. “The Shogotrz!”
I managed to turn and saw a big, scaled monstrosity that somewhat reminded me of the snapper crabs of Nilfeheim. It stalked on eight spidery legs and had four long appendixes armed with sharp looking claws. I estimated it to be at least seven meters wide and three meters tall.
The locals pelted the thing with their rocks, but they bounced of the tough, shell like armor of the beast.
I could see the power of the claws as it grabbed and crushed a man like a weightless doll into a bloody gore.
The alien creature made a metallic hissing sound and I could see it too, had stalk eyes, six of them, and a mass of whip like tentacles around a small mouth. It blocked the way down the hill, and my chances to reach the landing tank were nil. As I turned, I saw the locals had already scrambled a good distance away; one of them had dropped his sword. I cursed them and promised myself if I would somehow survive this, I would kill each and every one of those cowards.
Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 6 (The Galactic Chronicles Series) Page 141