Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 6 (The Galactic Chronicles Series)

by Vanessa Ravencroft

  Stahl threw his bottle with accuracy into a waste recycler, five meters away." The Academy does a great job of supplying our fleet with worthy officers who make this tremendous machine work every day. To do this you use a very efficient method of tests and training to shift through millions of applicants and Cadets and I think the Academy gets a little better at it every season, but to cope with the sheer size of all it is an almost automated process and this process turns out more or less the same flawless well functioning product. Officers that do their jobs and do it well until they retire or die. However I believe there are a few that stand out, which have a special talent. A quality that cannot be taught or measured and has to be there from the beginning. It can't be explained with genetics, race or gender or be found with Psionics. I tried using Computronic programs to shift through the applicants. You didn't test any different from any other Ult in any of the Academy tests, yet I knew you were different. I tried you and was proven right. In the same year I picked a Vantax who did something very similar and I thought I found another one and he turned virtually insane as I gave him command over the Devastator and had to be removed by force. Zezz, the Shiss. Didn't do much out of the ordinary, he simply was one of the first Shiss ever to apply to the Academy and he had a hard stand as he was considered the enemy and no one trusted him, despite all the tests confirming his integrity. When I picked him and put him through my own tests he exceeded every expectation and is now without question one of the finest Captains we have."

  Webb nodded."Not to mention one of the best Small Craft Experts and Pilots."

  "Indeed!"

  The Ult looked across the fire."If I understand your method correctly, I would wager that Neo Viking over there would be such a candidate."

  "I think you are getting the idea old Fish. I checked his background and file. He does have some issues I am not so sure about, but he fits the bill. I will keep an eye on him."

  Webb tossed his bowl in the recycler and hit it as well." Since you are here and you tell me I should forget that you are actually one of the Immortals. Do you think I can ask you a question?"

  "I am all ears, go right ahead and ask."

  "I always wondered what really happened back then when you did get chosen by this Guardian. I mean all we really know are bits and pieces and mostly just rumors, legends and stories. Unless it is some sort of state secret, I always wanted to know and I probably never get the nerve to ask you again."

  Stahl's eyes stared into the fire and Webb knew he actually saw something that happened over 3000 years ago." It's not really a state secret and you should never be afraid to ask me anything. I am not a dictator or anything like that."

  "No you are not and I know you are honorable and trustworthy beyond any doubt, but you Immortals do have tremendous influence and power. It is hard for us mortals to really believe or understand what it truly means to be immortal. I was afraid of you not in a negative sense but more like a person is afraid and in awe when meeting something like a god."

  "I am no god and you know that."

  "I do, but you know you are not really human anymore."

  "I feel very much human but I understand. You know before this all started I was just a Marine and I probably would have been afraid seeing an Ult…

  Interlude: Stahl remembers...

  Somewhere in the Mongolian desert, January 2097

  Lt. Richard Stahl ducked behind the remnant of a wall, to reload his gun and to check on the others." Smithers when are those helo's coming! We need them now or we're going to be toast!"

  The Chinese tanks crawled over the ridge. Stahl spit into the sand and cursed."Never fight a land war against China and what are we doing here? "Jones his saw man grinned weakly."Fighting a land war with China and it isn't looking all too good, Sir."

  "Where are those choppers?"

  Smither's pointed at his radio link and shrugged." No response just chatter Sir."

  The Chinese tanks opened fire, tank guns are not the best artillery and not really meant to pound fortified positions, but those were still big guns and lots of them. Fire, debris and destruction rained on the small Marine Corps Recon Unit. Smither's yells something about the Choppers and while Stahl could not hear him, the Land warrior system and the electronics of his equipment had been turned off for weeks now. Some Chinese kids actually managed to hack into the Satellite based, super advanced high tech land warrior battle system of the United States and provide Chinese artillery, missiles and every weapon in between with the exact GPS location of every American soldier.

  As a Recon Unit they weren't really equipped to deal with a full scale Armor attack. The four Dragon IV rockets they had, already used yesterday.

  This was it, Stahl thought. The choppers would not come, either being busy elsewhere or being attacked by Chinese fighter jets. He was certain America would somehow survive this war, after all since Iran nuked Jerusalem and Jaffa and the Israelis retaliated by leveling Teheran, Baghdad, Riad and Cairo the rest of the world showed some restrain using nuclear weapons. Taiwan was lost, Japan would be next and he doubted the Russians could hold of the Chinese Juggernaut from rolling all the way to the Atlantic Coast. But then the Russians still had lots of Nukes…

  Stahl cursed in his native German, he would not give up without a fight. He pressed his eye against the rifle's optics and switched to armor piercing rounds. While hell broke loose all around him, he calmly targeted the driver's mirrors and periscopes of the Chinese tanks. Suddenly blind and unable to see where they were driving the tank drivers opened their hatches, perfect targets for one of the finest rifle men the Marine Corps had.

  He had defeated 4 tanks that way and won a small victory. He gathered what was left of his men and looked over the wounded, tired and dirty men and then everything changed forever!

  Out of thin air, right there before him a black robed being appeared. It had no face, just darkness underneath a monk like hood.

  Stahl did the first thing that his live long fighting instincts had imprinted on his body, lowered the gun and wanted to fire. It was then the being spoke:" Be not afraid, my beloved Humans. I am the Guardian. I am a Machine and I was placed on this world at a time when dinosaurs roamed this planet. I have been here ever since and I have watched every step you took from discovering fire to harness the powers of the atom. You are often angry and violent children, but at the same time you created some of the finest music and art in all the Universe, developed philosophies and religions that touch indeed the true meaning of existence and you are technicians and biologists of great talent most of all you have incredible potential to become the most powerful and dominant force in the Universe.

  " I lay hidden and ordered never to interfere in your affairs until the day you ascent to the stars. You have not reached that point on your own; someone else has given you today the keys to the stars, but you have reached it! "

  Stahl suddenly saw images of Sphinx shaped UFO's landing in New York! He saw Human beings, actually beautiful women coming out of these ships and talking to the President! He didn't hear sound but the president was smiling and shaking hands.

  The shrouded being spoke again." The Sarans, a Galactic civilization and distant kin to you have come to Earth and revealed themselves to warn you about a great danger that is on its way to devour this world. They also have given you the technology to reach the stars.

  "But the Sarans are much like children themselves. They fight a long and unnecessary civil war among themselves. There are forces who do not wish the Terrans to ascent to the Galactic stage. There are terrible enemies and dangers out there that you cannot face divided as you are now.

  This is my task and purpose, to unite you. The time of national states and borders has come to an end. You are just one primitive species among many, on a small planet and now the Universe has become aware of you. Only together you might survive."

  The shrouded being moved closer, Stahl still had the gun aimed." I don't know who you are, but stay right there and do
n't move till we figure that out."

  "Richard Stahl, your weapon can not harm me. I came to you because you are needed. You are chosen by me to aide me in my task. Come with me!"

  "I am going nowhere. I have orders and men I need to take care off. There is a war going on and we are right in the middle of it!"

  "Look around you, Richard. The war has ended."

  His men did not move, there was no sound. It was as if time itself stood still! "What are you, God or Demon or something like that?"

  "No Richard I am not a God. I am indeed a machine, an artificial construct with one purpose and you are among those I have chosen to be my tools to achieve that goal."

  The landscape disappeared before Richards eyes and before he could really think he found himself in a large cave. He could not pinpoint where the light came from that made the entire place glow in an eerie red shine. The shrouded man was standing before him on a raised platform of stone.

  Richard was a Marine to his very core and nothing really scared him, but the recent events made him weary. He rubbed his eyes and said more to himself than to anyone in particular."Great, I got myself killed and went to hell." He was not too surprised that he ended up in hell instead of heaven.

  The hooded man chuckled."No Richard, you are not dead and you are not in hell."

  "Then where am I?" Richard looked around and sat down on a big boulder, put his gun but first between his legs."Why don't you explain it all to me in terms I can understand and keep in mind I am no rocket scientist, just a Jarhead."

  "This is why you are here, so I can do just that."

  Richard fished a crumbled pack of Camels from under his flag vest. "I guess it be okay if I light one."

  "Yes Richard you may smoke your cigarettes."

  His trusty Zippo made the characteristic metallic sound and he inhaled deeply." Well Spooky I am all ears."

  "The Universe is a very old place and there have been civilizations roaming the stars long before there was life on this planet. Some developed into great civilizations that spawned Galaxies and they attained technology that will appear like magic to lesser civilizations. I am the product of such a civilization. I am indeed a machine, something like a very advanced computer you might say. Of course I have as much in common with the computers you know as the Sun has in common with your Zippo lighter, but for now it will be a sufficient analogy. The civilization that has placed me here, have a special connection and love for this world and especially you the Humans. I am not allowed to reveal their identity or true purpose until you as a race are ready. When this time comes you will know who they where and why they placed me here. For now they shall be known to you as Friends."

  Richard tipped his cigarette and a length of ash dropped to the otherwise immaculate clean stone floor." So there are indeed Aliens out there, who would have known! I must say I am a little suspicious about the whole friend thing. I mean if the folks that made you placed you here and want to be called friends, they certainly want something from us in return. The Devil is known to offer great deals and calls himself friend and all you do is selling your soul into damnation."

  "I am not a demon and I am not the devil, I assure you. I will ask a great deal from the Human race and I will ask even more from you, Richard. The Human race has no choice in that matter. I will complete my mission and fulfill my purpose. You on the other hand, you will have a choice after I explained it all to you."

  "Sounds pretty final to me, well keep going. I got a few smokes left and I am going to Miss Chow time anyway. It wasn't looking to promising for that today anyway."

  "I can provide you with any material things you require. Including smokes and food, your physical well being is of paramount importance to me. "

  "If that is the case you should not encourage me smoking. It supposed to be bad."

  "Cigarettes or diseases will have no ill effect on you from this day on, Richard. For the task you are chosen you must live a long time. Aging has no longer meaning to you. Among the gifts I will give you is the gift of Immortality."

  Richard wanted to make a sarcastic remark and write it all off as a bad dream he most likely had, lying mortally wounded in a ditch somewhere in the Mongolian Desert, but he couldn't. Somehow he knew this was all real. "Immortal you say? As in unable to die?"

  "No Richard, you still can die. Immortal as in impervious to age and disease."

  Without waiting for another question or response of the Marine the Alien being continued." I was placed here on Earth to watch over mankind. I was not allowed to interfere in any internal struggles, wars or problems and by the Spirits of the Universe you humans sure had a lot of those. More than once you came quite close to make my purpose meaningless by destroying yourself. I was to activate and reveal myself to you on the day you open the door to the stars. On the day you develop faster than light technology I was to appear to all humans and guide them on their way. You have not reached that stage on your own. While you fought the Chinese something else happened. Members of an advanced civilization openly landed in New York and met with your president. The Sarans are distant relatives to your kind. They are human as you are. I do not have the information why this is so and it is up to you to find out in the future. The Sarans have come to Earth once before and first met humans during the time of the Pharaohs in ancient Egypt. I did observe but not intervene as the Sarans did not share their technology with you back then and they left after a few months. Their visit became legend, lore and religion and was soon nothing more than tales of old gods."

  "So the Pyramids were built by the Aliens after all!" Richard said more to himself as to interrupt the Alien.

  "No Richard, the Pyramids were erected by you humans and without any help from the Aliens. The ancient Egyptians however tried to entice and appease the sky gods to come back with those monuments. "

  "All right, Aliens landed in New York. That should have shaken the world pretty badly!"

  "It has, Richard. It was the cause of the increased attack activity of the Chinese you experienced for example. As they feared that the Aliens shared their technology with the Americans alone.

  And share their technology they did. The Sarans left your President with detailed instructions as how to build faster than Light ships. You see there are many other Exo terrestrial civilizations out there. One of these are the Xunx. An insectoids species that does not communicate or interact with others, they do only one thing swarm out from their home world every 1000 years and attack other worlds. To them it does not matter if that world is occupied by another civilization or not. Anything organic is considered food and will be consumed, anything that does not have six legs is not considered worth living. Much like the locust of Earth , like a biblical plaque they come and when they leave rich and vibrant garden worlds are nothing more than lifeless rocks.

  In 50 years from now the Xunx will once again awake. There are not many Garden worlds left within their reach, and one of them is Earth."

  Richard grabbed his rifle as he suddenly saw life size images of huge insect monsters that looked like a cross between Hornet, Praying Mantis and Cockroaches, only twice the size of a man. Before he actually pulled the trigger, he realized that he only saw realistic three dimensional images. The insect monsters were armed with gun like weapons and wore armor.

  The shrouded man explained." Your gun could kill a Xunx, but not if a Xunx wears battle armor and has its force fields activated. Besides you could kill a million and there would be two million to take their place. Individual death means absolutely nothing to them. Their technology is crude to Galactic standards but far beyond anything earth has now and there are many Hundred Billion Xunx and sixteen Hive planets with caverns full of warrior eggs ready to hatch at any moment to replace the losses in mere days. There are several human species in this Galaxy and while no one knows why, it is generally believed you all have a common ancestry. This is why the Sarans revealed themselves to you at this point. They know about the Xunx! They themselves have nothing
to fear from the Xunx. The Saran Empire is technologically more advanced and very powerful, but they are involved in a Civil War and are unable to provide Earth with protection against a Xunx invasion. So they decided to give Earth the rudimentary knowledge of faster than light travel so you can build Arches and evacuate as many Humans as possible. The Sarans did that not without self interest. They hope you would join them and swell their ranks. The Sarans know of the Terran aggressive talents and thus gain willing warriors in their own struggle."

  Richard was a soldier all his life and war was his business. Despite all the fantastic information he received from the Guardian, he started to think and then said." If I would be in charge I would not evacuate Earth but somehow prevent the Xunx to leave those hive worlds in the first place. Strike them hard while they are still in that sleep or hibernation state."

  The Guardian nodded." This is why you are chosen, Richard. You are in charge. I have selected 200 Humans from all over this world. Each of you has a very specific task. You are the Warrior!"

  Stahl crushed his last cigarette and got up." I am not sure I am capable of fighting space wars and all that. I am just a Marine, aren't there any brighter and more intelligent choices than me?"

  "I assure you Richard, my selection process is not based on random chance but there are many factors that made me chose you."

  "How do we get started then? Fifty years to build up some sort of space fleet isn't all that much time!"

  The Guardian laughed warmly." I have no doubts I have chosen correctly and you are quite right. Fifty years is a very short time. You will not be alone and I will be there to guide you until you all can stand on your own. I have appeared to each and every Human. I have abolished all existing governments and warned anyone from forming new ones. Anyone claiming to be a leader regardless of religious, political or territorial reasons will be immediately and permanently removed by me. A new capitol city is to be build on the South Pole. Until the new world government is established and stabilized I will rule and watch. You and 199 others will be my executives and each will have a specific task. Only if all this is in place then there will be open elections and I will deactivate and cease to exist as my part and task will be done."