"Not for long little fish! I must return to the sleep soon, but I had to see you before you return to the stars."
"I expected you to be asleep otherwise I would have been seeking you first!"
"I know that little fish and your uncompromised dedication and fondness to an old big fish makes me feel quite warm. Now I must talk of urgent matters to you. I have had a very special visitor. That visitor is the reason I am awake. The Narth has been seeking me out and it pleases me beyond my ability to express that you found friendship there. "
"I guess I should have kept silent about you but I shared my Inner something with my best friend and there was nothing I could or wanted to hide from him."
"All is good Eric. I have done the same with the Narth Supreme and I must say I am richer for it, but you must leave your sword with me!"
"Of course! I got it right here!"
There was suddenly a strong sense of resistance. Why would the fish want my sword? What possible use could Tyr have for a simple steel weapon? It was given to me by my grandfather! The thought to raise the weapon against Tyr suddenly occurred to me!
I marveled about my own thoughts, Tyr did not need to explain to me why he wanted anything. He was my friend and that was reason enough to give him whatever he desired!"
I unhooked the belt.
"Eric, this sword is not what it seems and it has disguised itself to look like a Viking broadsword and it is waiting for you for a very long time. It is yours and no force in the Universe can separate you from it for long, but you are not ready yet. You must master it, right now it is trying to master you and that must be avoided at all cost."
I tossed the sword from me." I knew it! I felt it! I know I am a savage more than I like to admit, but what I did in the Halls was not me."
"You are strong. You are able to separate yourself! I am relieved it was not too late!"
"But Tyr, it is only an object, just a sword. How can it have a will and try to make me do things?"
The sword on the ground changed its shape and form right there! It grew longer and turned into a strangely shaped two hander. It was still a sword, but it had an odd almost talon shaped cross guard; unlike the Great War swords I had seen in the weapon chamber of our burg, it had no false edge, but a long grip. There was a skull like symbol on the blade just above the hilt and a similar shaped skull shaped the pommel. The entire sword was made of a very dark metal.
Tyr said. "This is Dark Blade, a token of power and a piece of a cosmic puzzle if you will."
I still stared at the transformed weapon and there was an urge in me to go and hold it, just once! It knew me, and I knew it!
I stepped back. I trusted Tyr more than this strange temptation and said." I have seen this winged and fanged symbol once before. It was a symbol on the robe of a man worshipping the Dark ones."
"When the puzzle is completed Eric, a battle will be fought. A decision must be made and this decision will affect if the Rule remains intact or will be broken forever."
"All this is beyond me, Tyr! I am only a Neo Viking with a strange desire and the knack to get into trouble and I like to see the future as not yet established and not predestined."
"Eric you are far from a simple Neo Viking. Yes the future is shaped by the decisions we all make, but there are certain forks in the road, mile markers if you will, that must happen. I was destined to meet you Eric, the reason I became sentient was because it was destined you will be born on this world. You wanting to leave Nilfeheim and roam the stars are not entirely your own ideas but this desire comes from something within you. For now I have the power to make you forget and forget you must, so you can make your own decisions and grow and become ready, for it is you who will make that enormous decision I have spoken about."
"Tyr, don't make me forget about you again!"
"It must be so. No one, not even Egill will remember I exist, and you will carry a replica of Mördaren back to the Burg. I guard now two of pieces of the puzzle, and these pieces are too dangerous to fall in the wrong hands and no hands are more wrong and dangerous than yours until you are ready, the Master must not return before that. Do not despair, it is just temporary and we will meet and know each other again."
I woke early and found myself in Elena's bed chamber. I must have had more to drink than I realized. I never was much of a drinker and never drank to get drunk, but I remembered lifting more tankards than one and there was plenty of Aquavit between the beer and the ale. At least I didn't feel groggy or sick.
I was certain Elena brought me here and I blushed deeply finding myself wearing a silky nightgown of hers. My Uniform and my Viking garments were both laid out on a divan across the room.
My own room was as far as I knew still all the way up in the main tower and dragging me up there would have been a chore, but this was no small burg and we had guest quarters.
Elena knew of my deepest secret of course, but finding myself undressed and wearing a feminine gown was not exactly how I wanted to wake up.
Elena being the daughter of my father's bastard brother, evil Hogun was not my sister but my Cousin; she became my sister as Father officially adopted her.
A message had been sent do me on my PDD while I was asleep, it blinked red and I could see the fleet logo. I took the PDD of the nightstand. It was a recorded message by Captain K'Tngnk, a Klack insectoids. He informed me that he would be here tomorrow at 0400 hours and expected me to be ready.
Someone knocked at the chamber door and hastily pulled the cover up to my chin and said."Who is it?"
The door flung open as an answer and it was Elena. She had an impish smile on her face and it made her eyes sparkle with mischief." By Odin you became quite the Norse while you were away. What do they teach you besides flying star ships? Is there a class for drinking?"
"No not really, but I guess I did drink a tad too much. I can't even remember how I got here and how I got in this night gown. Even though I have a strong suspicion."
"You're my brother, you saved my life. Changed my life and avenged my mother. Never mind the technicalities how I came to be your sister. We share our secrets and that is why I thought you might enjoy that gown. You still have those feelings, right?"
I could not help but blush again." Well I did not have any opportunity to indulge myself, but yes I still do. Waking up like that reminded me that I was far from cured."
She sat on the bed and folded her hands." I am glad it is so. Even when you are away I always know I have someone I can talk to about everything. Isegrim lets me make much of the business decisions and while he doesn't really push it or say much. I think he wants me to get married. I do have my eyes on Rodney the firstborn of the Stavanger clan and I know he likes me but I am not really in a hurry."
"I saw his brother on the space port. He is an officer with the Port Authority. I think I remember him too, but I would lie if I say I knew anything about him."
"He looks very much like his brother. He is the older brother, but not by much and I told him I make my decision after you had a chance to see and talk to him."
"Elena, that decision should be yours alone. If you feel he is the one then my opinion should not matter."
"I know and more so I know you think that way, besides I already made up my mind, but you are not only my brother but you and Siegfrieda are my best friends and I told him much about you."
"I sure hope you left out the part how we met."
She giggled."Of course!" She then got up and made a gesture around the room." I hope you don't mind that I have put you up here. It would be inappropriate for the heir to sleep in the guest chambers and I have the tower renovated. Besides that cold and drafty room up there is not exactly hospitable. "
"Well I do like my room up there. If it could be heated a little it will be perfect. Not that I have plans to move in anytime soon"
"I will have it done, just in case you do change your mind. You might have noticed the scaffolding. We are putting a GalCom relay module up there. SI
I Com pays us a handsome monthly rent fee with a hundred years contract. Ever since you left the demand on Gal Com units has increased around Nilfeheim and now they are going to settle Ygral the fourth planet."
"It seems things do change around here, perhaps not as openly and readily noticeable."
"Not very much and I think that is good that way. I don't want Nilfeheim to change to fast and too much."
I agreed with her and said." I need to leave tomorrow morning, but I am back if not this year then by next year during my leave then."
Her face fell." I hoped we could go to the Space Port mall for old times' sake."
"I don't think I still make a very convincing girl. My voice has changed and so has my body."
"I noticed, but I still think you would look good, you aren't more muscular or tall as Siegfrieda and she turns every man's head."
"She is really going to marry Isegrim?"
"Yes. I think she will be able to tame him and in a more natural way than your evil stepmother did. She has wrapped him around her finger by natural means and he is still Isegrim."
"I know her fighting skills. She was one of my teachers after all."
She pulled the cover back with a giggle and said."Time to get up, Midril wants to see you and has breakfast ready in the kitchen!"
"Elena!" I protested." I am your brother not your husband."
She went to the door." Tonight we go out! I have kept your stepmother's auto dresser you know."
"I wanted to go to Hasvik and put a torch up for Astrid."
"Yes let us go there after breakfast and after you met Rodney."
Interlude: An Enemy returns
The communications officer of the Devastator reported to Stahl. "Sir we have no contact to Fornax Hub. The last message we received was a distress call and now it is silent on all channels."
The old Admiral wished the huge ship could go any faster and glanced over to captain Harris, knowing full well that the ship was already pushing its engines close to the red line. He did not want to push them any further. The mighty Devastator would be of no help if she arrived at a crisis with damaged engines. Thankfully the Attikan Commonwealth was not only part of the Union now, but they had sent a full battle group to Fornax and all ships with the fast Attikan engines, but it would take them month to get there.
Attikan and Union engineers already worked on Attikan type engines big enough to fit the Devi but they would not be ready until next year.
The Devi still had the old Celtest Engines as well, but they had not been used in over 1500years, he had used them to fly the Devastator home, when he found that ship, but they had not been used since. As good and far advanced the Celtest technology was, age and wear affected it too.
He sighed and Harris reacted knowing his old friend to well and pushed the direct link to engineering. The Chief Engineer of the ship was one of the handpicked talents and he too already knew what his Captain wanted of him." I ran some pretests. I think we can risk it."
"Alright, Commander Dohan. Fire the old Celtest Engines up and give us what they got."
Stahl walked up to the command balcony and sat in his chair on the left side behind the Captain. He trusted Harris, who commanded the Devi now almost twenty years and was her nineteenth captain since Stahl had brought the ship as he returned from his exile, and he was perhaps the finest Captain she had. Harris was more than that; he was one of the few real friends he had. He was afraid of making too many friends, because as an Immortal he had seen too many of them die.
In times like this he cursed the fact that he was an Admiral. He would much rather sit in the Command chair, heck he would not even mind manning Tactical. He was reduced to a passenger and he carefully avoided ever interfering with the Captain.
The Sirens of General Quarters sounded. The bridge was never brightly illuminated, but now the lights dimmed away and replaced by dim red light of battle stations. The Devi was 34 kilometers from bow to stern and almost as wide and over 9000 meters thick. It was an enormous machine and it carried the very elite of Union fleet talent. It took only three minutes and all stations reported ready. Captain Harris addressed the crew via Inter ship." We are about to activate the Celtest Engines, damage control teams stand by."
The Devastators normal Isah engines pushed the big ship to 99565 times the speed of light while traveling in Quasi Space, making her also the fastest long distance ship of the Union. At this speed the Devi could traverse the entire Milky Way galaxy in little over twelve month. It would still take her 20Years to reach the Andromeda Galaxy on her own. Normal Union Battle ships had a range of 5000 light years. After that they needed to refuel and the engines serviced. The Devi had a range of 15,000 light years. Still far short of the almost 460,000 light years to the Fornax Dwarf, or even to the Large Magellan Cloud where the Attikan Commonwealth was.
Yes there was a chain of stations every 5000 light years between the Milky way Galaxy and the Magellan Cloud, just like the Bridge to Andromeda and there was Space Train Connection to Attika. With the Space Train you could make the trip from Blue Moon Central Station to Attika Terminal in less than three days, but nothing bigger than ten meters across would fit in the space-short-cut made by the black light tunnel of the Space train technology.
There was no such train connection to Fornax. It would still take the Devastator over four years to reach the Fornax Cluster this way. While the Attikan had faster ships, their range was not better. The new ship yard in the Attika System had only begun producing new Uni Design battle ships, only 25 were ready and while a fleet was on its way, it would take too long to be of immediatehelp. The Devi could make it in less than a week with the Celtest Engines, but if it was a full scale Y'All attack even the Devastator was not enough. On one hand he was glad there was a Union presence in the Fornax Cluster as it looked like the Y'All might come from there and having a few outposts there gave the Union a warning, on the other hand it was too far to mount an effective defense for the colonies there. Maybe all they could do was evacuate as many as would fit in his big ship and make the stand in the Magellan Cloud.
The Devastator accelerated to speeds unimaginable by Union Engineers.
Alyica appeared silently next to him and put her hand on his shoulder, but said nothing.
It was the first time he went into battle with someone he really cared about by his side. He could not decide if he liked it or not.
The Helms man whistled."We just went past 100,000 and we are still gaining speed. At this rate we will reach Fornax in 12 days."
Stahl said nothing but he hoped the millennia old engines would hold and not have them be stranded in the middle of nowhere unable to help.
***
I kept my own promise and went to Hasvik and lit a torch for Astrid, Elena did the same and we didn't talk much on our flight back. I didn't know Astrid as well as she did, but she was a friend and she saved our lives, paying with hers.
I still feel stuffed from breakfast even though it was close to five as we returned to the Burg. Midril had prepared what must have been the most calories laden and without question the biggest breakfast of Nilfeheim history. Rodney turned out to be the very definition of a Neo Viking. Tall, strong handsome and perhaps a little more open to things from the outside than others. He barely took his eyes of Elena and he tried his best to impress me and I was as social and friendly as I could.
As we landed little Exa and Uncle Hogun were there waiting for us. She had grown quite a bit and was no longer as thin, and I knew it would not be long when she was going to turn heads.
She ran over with flying braids and gave me a long hug." Thank you, Eric. Meeting you was the luckiest day in my life. I am even getting used to the cold and Papa Hogun says I am becoming a real Nilfeheim girl!"
"How they are treating you in school?"
"Oh at first it was a little odd, me being from Off World and all that, but I told them I am an Olafson and if they want trouble I get my dad." She grinned widely." No one wants to mess with
Papa Hogun, no one! Now I don't think they really remember I am from off world and I got good friends too!"
Hogun's eyes were full of love and pride as he said."She's also quite a good student and hasn't stolen a thing in over six month!"
She giggled."I gave up on that, besides if Papa Hogun isn't getting it for me all I have to do is ask Uncle Isegrim."
Hogun threw his big hands in the air."That is the greatest miracle of all; my evil brother adores that little girl and spoils her rotten, every time she is out here."
We talked a little longer and then Uncle Hogun had to go as he didn't want to leave the Inn just tended by Jan and his helpers. In another hour the Inn would be filled with drinking and eating guests.
Elena gave me a little tour around the Burg to show me what had been done. The Tanneries far below were completely transformed and the revolting process was now done by machines and robots. The stinking vats and the slick gray Duro-cretewere gone, replaced by stainless steel tanks, and tiles. Elena explained that the fine leather produced on Nilfeheim and especially by the Olafson clan was in high demand and fetched good prices. She told me that Isegrim hung by tradition on the Tyranno Fin hunting, but it was no longer the main source of income for the clan.
Elena smiled proudly and said." The Leather you wear I have selected of the finest grade."
I told her how much I like it and then added." It looks especially great on you, Sister!"
There was something about tight leather and female curves I found especially alluring.
After the little tour we ended back in her chambers. She served us Midril's famous crumble cake and coffee.
"So are we still on for tonight?" She asked me glancing over her cup.
"I would like to, but I made a promise to the Ancient not to do it here no more. Last time it caused a whole lot of trouble as you remember."
"Ah what could happen? Anyone wanting you ill is gone or dead."
"And yet I killed Sigvard last night in our own burg. When I come back we will have time to go off planet. Twilight is not far away and there is a big city and we can do whatever we want. Freya wants to get out so bad, but I made a promise. I hope you understand."
Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 6 (The Galactic Chronicles Series) Page 274