Rex wore a taste full little device on his left wrist and it hummed. She shook her head." Only you could have a GalNet device that receives messages in a room supposedly shielded from any bug and Comm activity."
He tried to look innocent," I am sure the Stuyvesant has a good Counter Intel Tech who can help you with that, but I need to take this call. They would not have disturbed me if it wasn't urgent."
That the mightiest CEO trusted the masked woman was evident as he opened his call before her. "Sir I am sorry for the interruption, but Situation Red Flood is occurring right now. Nogoll forces joined. Federation on Highest Threat Alarm. Our analysts calculated a 67% chance the incident will escalated to full scale conflict."
"Tell Yvonne to open Contingent Plan Iota Phi and prepare for Alpha Order seven. I need the Robert E. Lee to take the Omega Answer for possible deployment, Rex out."
His smile had vanished." A large group of Dai have joined the Union. An even larger group is trying to prevent that and all happens in the Prometheus Nebula group, with Admiral Stahl and several Battle groups in the mix! The Nogoll have violated Neutral space and there is a good chance for Inter Galactic War."
Mother Superior was disturbed by this." This could change the status of Sin 4 and cause panic on this planet."
"The Stuyvesant is yours to command. If you need to evacuate she got room for all and enough storage to take the temple along. You know I won't let a friend behind."
"I know Rex and I am hoping our mutual friend Richard keeps a cool head. I have a feeling he might already be halfway to Kermac Prime!"
"He will do the right thing. He always does!" Rex assured her.
Chapter 10: Executioner
GalNet Entry: Narth
The Narth are a Union member civilization. They occupy a Planet around a white Sun. The sun ,Narth-Light' has none of the usual characteristics of a normal white star. The Wurgus Sun engineers claim it is the only star they do not understand. No one other than Narth has ever set foot on the seemingly featureless and only planet in the system. The System is not always there and often vanishes completely behind what the Narth say is a No time Field. The Narth system is off limits to all space traffic. Narth do not export or import anything. Narth individuals appear to be humanoid and wear body covering, floor length shrouds with long sleeves and metallic belts. Their faces are hidden beneath hoods. The hoods have eye holes the eye holes glow usually dark red, but bright yellows have been noticed as well.
According to the Saresii, the Narth have been known to the UNI over 250 Million Years ago. The Saresii also say that the Narth are the most powerful Psionic talents in the known Universe. Until very recently the Narth did not participate in any inter civilization activities and remained completely isolated. The Narth applied for membership after the second Y'All invasion with the explicit wish to remain undisturbed.
There is no biological data on file, no individual names or Citizen Data recorded. On April 5010 the first Narth representative came to Pluribus.
All other details on the Narth are unknown.
Narth was a young part of the unified entity Narth Supreme. He was the first new Narth conceived in 300 Million Standard years. Narth was barley 5000 years old and needed so much to learn. Narth was at his favorite location known by the Narth as the perch of Eternity, a perfect place where a consciousness could look over the condition known as space and time. Narth currently observed the birth of a star and a mild sensation of regret brushed his core consciousness as he received the gentle call of Narth Supreme. Narth separated from the swirling energies of the young star and returned to Narth Supreme. The collection of all that was Narth addressed him." We decided to take a more active interest in the space time continuum we now occupy. You have been conceived and selected to incarnate this interest. It is possible that the corporal linear existence in this continuum holds answers and secrets we have not pondered. Therefore you shall receive a corporal shell and join those Narth who interact with this continuum. Your corporal shell will be unique as we used a human body as model and have approximated how it would function. We are now a part of a Multi cultural civilization and want to be more interactive and partake. You shall be our explorer. You will explore what a feeling is, what do these strange concepts mean the humans have. You will share all this with us so we can experience it with you!"
"A corporal existence will certainly be an interesting experience."
"Yes we are looking forward to share your experience. You will soon leave Narth Prime and go to a world called Arsenal where you will become a Union Fleet Officer. We the Narth will thus fulfill our obligation and send one of our young to partake in the defense of this Union. After observing them Narth Supreme wants to know if we shall continue this membership and partake more or return to our plane."
Another Narth voice said." Please try to experience pain. I want to analyze this concept I cannot understand!"
"I want to learn what a hooded freak is. Please ask and establish knowledge!"Another Narth tasked."A human addressed me so and we all do not know if this is another concept!
"I will undertake these endeavors."
"We will prepare you with the knowledge we have already gathered."
Interlude: Cirruit
There was panic in the space bus. Something had hit the space ship and damaged it. Against the instructions, Cirruit left his seat and went towards the rear. His eyes now receiving infrared had no problem navigating. He collided with a human crew man in a space suit."What is going on?"
A Nogoll ship has fired upon us, we have a hull breach in the middle deck and we lost life support. The Main Life boat release is fused and we can't activate the seat safety capsules. Our engineer who could fix it is dead!"
Cirruit said." Go help the passengers put on space suits. I am a decent engineer I see what I can do!"
He went past the man cycled through the air lock. His sensors noticed the coldness but it did not hinder him, neither did the lack of air. He saw two dead men and a freshly sealed rupture in the main hull. He saw the fried data and system command trunks, grabbed a floating tool box and began to reconnect the command and data lines. The ship was hit again, but he ignored it and kept on working. Then he reactivated the life support emergency by pass, extinguished a plasma fire and patched a Nuc gas fuel leak to the main drive. In all this he realized how much fun he had. The situation was serious, deadly serious and the lives of a 1000 passengers depended on his work, but he was confident. He knew what to do and those were humans and Terrans. Some of them may even be related to those marines ignoring their own safety to free Mother Machine. He established Inter ship comm. and called the bridge." Can someone on the Bridge hear me? I am an engineer. I have just re established life support and the Data trunks to release the Life boats. You also should have the main drive back in three minutes."
"Whoever you are, Mister, you earned a medal and all our gratitude! Can you get me helm control back?"
"I don't have the parts, but I bypass the broken lines and you should have helm back for about 20-30 minutes, these bypass lines are not meant to handle that kind of streams for long."
"It's all we need. We are only 12 minutes from Corri-Door! Wolf Crafts have just arrived and take care of the Nogoll!"
"Good news! Blow those cursed Kermac Lackeys to molecules! Give me a little more time…"
Then he smiled, only on the inside as his face was unable to translate even the most rudimentary emotions."You got helm control!"
The door cycled and two Space bus crew members came in, they started hugging him and shaking his hand." We made it thanks to you!"
One of them said with a sad face."We did loose eight passengers and three crew men, but it would have been 1015 dead, without you!"
Cirruit learned that the nice girl that had sat next to him was one of the victims. The second hit had ruptured the hull right next to her seat! Sadness and anger that he didn't react faster, mixed inside him to a cold rage against the Nogoll.
H
e was celebrated like a hero on Corri-Door but he didn't feel like it at all. He had heard the news and knew about the details and why the Nogoll had attacked the space bus and how close the Galaxy came to war.
A man approached him."Are you Cirruit Sevenninefour? "
"Yes that is me."
"I am from Schwartz industries and am instructed to take you to Omni."
Cirruit handed him the contract." I am not going to Omni. I am flying to Arsenal. I am going to become a Union officer and the next time there is war I am doing my part to protect the Seilaghs and all the other beings of the Union!"
Interlude: Galveston
On Galveston it became clear to me what an Ultra Corp really was. The entire planet was owned by Enroe and it was a world with over 8 billion inhabitants. There were nine more planets and fourteen moons in the system and all were Enroe planets! It was only one of many systems they controlled! The space port we had touched down was a Class a port and it was busy with dozens of capital ships landing and taking off every hour. The American Spirit no longer looked shiny and beautiful, she had scorch marks all over and a gaping hole in the lower hull, Two Isah pods missing, a third was just a mass of black and twisted metal. Alex said she would be repaired and look as good as new in a few weeks. Captain Letrah put her paw like hand on my shoulder." If they don't make you Captain in the fleet, you come to us."
Alex smiled and nodded." You can change your mind right now and I promise you a ship of your own in a few years!"
"I thank you both and if the Union Fleet thing isn't working out I might come back to that offer, but I have already signed up with them and I don't like backing out on a commitment I made."
The feline Captain brushed her agile tail across my face. "I am going to home to the Togar Empire for a while. My ship is smashed up and once it's fixed I don't get the chance. You could come with me and I show you the great golden tundra of Togr my home world and we could hunt Grass Beasts together!"
"I would actually like that, but then I might end up invited to a Togar Dinner Party as the main course."
"I am a Togar female and it is us who are the warriors of our world. You don't want to be protected by a female is that it? "
"Of course not, Captain, but from what you told me about your world that is all you would do, protecting me that is. What kind of vacation would that be?"
"Alex here is protected by the queen herself. He could sleep naked covered in bacon grease in the middle of High Togr and during the last day of seven day fasting and no one would even touch a hair on his body!"
Alex laughed. "While this is probably true, I would not be brave enough to try! Besides I think I would not want to sleep anywhere naked and covered in bacon grease."
"I will try to visit Togr one of these days with you Captain."
"Call me Calia and I hold you to it! Togar girls could show a human male some things you would like very much!"
She whisked her tail across my cheek shook my hand and said."You saved my ship and my life. I will never forget that." Then she walked off and stepped on a slide way that carried her away.
Axel said."She likes you and that means a lot. As you know Togar have a hard time liking others."
"I am honored I am sure, but I think it is my cue to say good bye to you as well. I really need to get to Arsenal."
He handed me a data chip."Here is my personal card. You can call me anytime and direct. I won't offer you any material rewards or cheap tokens but I offer you my friendship and I hope you call just to say hello once in a while and if you need help you call me too. "
"That's the best thing you could have offered. I promise I call."
"Well there is a little more. You are as of today a special Executive of Enroe Industries and it might come in handy. I have the Swift Tornado standing by to take you to Corri-Door anytime you want to leave, but how about some Lunch before that? I know a great Rib place in town."
"I am sure there is time for that! And if you go back to Gore, can you send a poster and a T shirt to a friend of mine?"
"If you give me your friend's address I make it happen right now."
Interlude: GalNet Entry: Archa
On the outmost reach of Union Influence past the Klack Empire in the Perseus Arm is the sphere of the Archa with six solar systems. The Archa joined the Union only recently. Even though being a very small power on galactic scale and having reached a Tech level of seven. The Klack feared the Archa tremendously. The Klack generally known as race having no fear warned Union Explorers of the eight legged night mare monsters roaming in an area of space known in Klack legends as K'Nnktyensh (Darkness of Certain Death Space). This of course had the opposite effect on Terran Explorers and they made contact with an Arachnoid sentient species that very much resembled Terran Tarantula spiders, except that Archa measured up to 7 meters from leg to leg. While the Archa shared similarities with many spider like life forms, especially those found on Earth they were not related or shared DNA similarities. The Archa were a distinctly different species.
The Archa Spiders became Union members and while the Klack still get slight panic attacks and fright feelings upon seeing an Archa, intellectually they too accepted the Archa as members. (The historic meeting of the Klack Queen and the Sac Mother of Archa was transmitted on all GalNet Channels and caused much less panic stampedes on Klack Worlds as anticipated and that was seen as a good sign.
Archa developed hand like manipulators on all their legs, can digest solid foods even though they still prefer nutrition in liquid form. They have an endo- and Exo-skeleton and can produce over 400 different spider silks. Many types of woven spider silks are marketed with great commercial success and the Archa Silk is considered the most expensive fabric exceeding even Saresii Silk qualities. A Yard of Grade A Archa Silk was worth between 12 and 14,000 credits.
Main imports: Dairy products, tech
Krabbel was more than a little nervous. The shuttle with the Exchange student from Guayas was about to arrive. Since the Archa had been admitted to the Union only about four standard years ago, so much had changed. Krabbel was still young and was the one of the first Archa finishing Union School. Due to his biological age it had not been the full nine years Union school would normally last, but then nine years ago no one on Archa really knew about the Union. The main space port was not on the planet itself but had been constructed on the bigger of the two moons around Archa.
Archa was heavily forested with Authh- Trees and it took Authh trees many thousand years to grow and it was never considered a good idea to cut down trees as they provided housing and prey, not to mention recreation. Previously the Archa had a now considered very little space port and ship yard on the bottom of the largest Ocean. It was more than adequate for the fifty ships the Archa had prior to membership. While Union ships had no problem reaching the underwater space port, those immensely large ships caused huge tidal waves. The new Archa Port was now on one of the rocky moons and connected to the planet via shuttles. The shuttle platforms were mounted on tall towers above the trees.
The Sac Mother and the other elected officials of the Archa government had put much effort in opening Archa to tourism and advertised on GalNet great holiday packages. Complete with free visits to the prey gardens and as much Trexi killing as desired, yet only very few tourists had shown up. But then the Union was such a huge collection of civilizations and offered a mind blowing variety of recreation and vacation spots it was no wonder the tourism traffic had not been more active. Of course Archa was very far from Pluribus and the Union Center. The Klack were close neighbors but ever since that little misunderstanding a few millennia ago, where an Archa expedition reached a Klack world and thought it was a world full of wingless Nuflug bugs and went happily for dinner only to realize later they ate sentient Klack. It didn't help either that the Archa looked exactly like the worst demons looked in the Klack mythology. The Klack Queen was very brave and invited the Sac Mother to Klacktic Planet to show her subjects that there was nothing to
fear of their new Union partners, but the queen passed out three times and the Klack Honor guard fled in panic at the first two tries.
Most, if not all Archa approved of the membership, especially since every Archa basically had a money machine built into the abdomen. Archa Silk and Textile products proved to be an enormous commercial success. His parents who owned a silk waving company went from being quite poor to very wealthy. A few month ago it was decided by his Ult Union teacher and his parents that, he Krabbel would partake in a Student exchange program.
Krabbel like most Archa loved high places and a great view. He watched a dozen juveniles jumping over the edge shooting trailing silk and most likely swinging to the tree tops below. These shuttle towers were immensely popular and for a few moments he contemplated if he had time enough for a jump dive himself, but a high pitched alarm sounded and bright flashing force field fences established themselves around the platforms center, announcing the approach of a shuttle.
Krabbel knew the Exchange student was about his age and he was a human. Of course he had seen humans in Virtus and product buyers but not close up.
The shuttle landed silently using its Arti Grav. Krabbel had been warned by his teacher that the human student might react strongly seeing a huge spider. He was told that arachnoid life forms existed quite frequently on many Garden worlds including Earth and often considered to be monsters and were labeled disgusting!
He promised to keep calm but he was not sure if he liked to be called disgusting.
The shuttle door opened and a massive looking human appeared. For Krabbel it was not that easy to differentiate them or if it was male or female. He hoped he would not insult the Human either.
However the human strode right towards him and said with a loud and friendly tone." Are you Krabbel? I am Mao Mao from Guayas!"
"Yes I am Krabbel! I am here to take you to our home and show you around!"
Krabbel scurried to the edge of the platform to lower himself, but then he remembered that humans had no silk producing organ and relied on elevators and other contraptions to negotiate vertical obstacles, but Mao went right to the edge of the 600 meter tall tower and looked down. "I guess the first step is the big one. I did not bring a flight belt or parachute, but I guess I could use one of those many silk lines hanging all about."
Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 6 (The Galactic Chronicles Series) Page 225