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

by Vanessa Ravencroft

  I wondered what kind of trouble he expected at a Star System with a major Fleet base, but I did say nothing and listened to his advice. Commander Vasco his XO said, as if he sensed my thoughts." Our Captain does not like to be surprised. Out here you can scan and establish contact and you have time to make decisions if there is anything wrong. The Kermac could have decided to go to war while we were in Trans Light, and attack Lorman's Base and we would drop out of Trans light in the middle of a battle. Of course this was only an example and the chance of something like this happening is astronomically slim, still it exists."

  He was right and it made perfectly sense and I decided, I would do the same if I ever made it into the Command seat myself.

  The Captain then said." We received approach and landing instructions. Helmsman take her down!"

  "Yes Sir." I said a little less confident as I was before." Steering a battle ship in deep space was one thing, but taking 3500 meters of Ultronit down on a planet surface was something else. Of course the ship could land on its own, using the computronics of auto helm, but he did not say that. He wanted me to land the ship manually.

  Lt. Gar, the real helmsman of the Madrid said not over communications but being right behind me. "No sweat, you did well so far and we still have a little time." He pointed at a funnel shaped graphic that was superimposed over the still distant planet."This is your approach vector, given to us by Traffic control. As you see it is still red, we can approach it but not enter it until it turns green."

  I heard the captain."All hands General quarters, tactical activate shields."

  The Lieutenant next to me was a Spindlar and he used his telescoping arms to reach past me to point at a representation of the ship."The Captain does this all the time. During Landing and takeoff with those flying mountains, much can go wrong. So it is better everyone is at their duty station so everyone can react right away. The shields automatically adjust to the best shape for aerodynamics and push away any freight drone or flyer that accidently got in our landing path."

  I had landed battleships in simulations before, but this was the real thing. We got a green cone and I adjusted the engines and Arti Grav output, matching it with the planets gravitation and entered the planets thin atmosphere. The planet looked like a typical Garden World Class IV, thin atmosphere, the world looked even dry from space, but then Class IV meant desert conditions. The world was colored in dusty maroon and brown shades, but I could already see the sprawling city and the vast space port.

  Did I extend the landing struts too early? Did I land too slowly? I had made it, the Madrid rested on her landing gear and I deactivated external Arti Grav. Only now I noticed my sweaty palms and the drops of perspiration on my forehead.

  The Captain said." You did fine, Mr. Olafson."

  Gar the Spindlar was still behind me and said." Landing a ship is very important to captains, on a major Fleet base like this, it is likely other Captains see and watch it. It is part of the Captain's calling card if you will and as he said, you did fine."

  I released my breath slowly."I sure was glad you have been behind me. Knowing you being there helped, Sir."

  "I wasn't."

  The Captain called me over." When you're done with second year, put in a request to be posted on the Madrid and I will confirm it when it reaches my desk."

  "Yes Sir, I will!"

  He extended his thin hand like claw and wished me well. Then he handed me an order chip." These are your instructions as to where to report. I would like to stay but we have just received transfer orders to the Magellan cloud and that's a long way to go."

  I thanked him and said farewell to the bridge crew, the XO and Lt Gar and debarked twenty minutes later.

  Interlude: Steel Gauntlet

  The five potato shaped space ships immediately attacked. Their weapons were consistent with the Y'All technology and so were their shields. Stahl looked over the scanner results and was convinced it was exactly the same as 1500 years ago. The Chief Science officer confirmed it."Sir, these are defiantly Y'All ships. Even the power output and everything is exactly the same as it was 1500 years ago. It looks like they made no improvement at all."

  If this was the case, the Admiral thought, then this Y'All invasion would be quite different from the one before. The Union had expected their return and prepared for it. If forces could be amassed fast enough the Y'All Armada would not reach the Milky Way galaxy this time. However he didn't like the situation. The Y'All acted differently and there was only a handful ships. Before they had come with a huge armada, there were no reconnaissance craft, no advance units, but a massive fleet. They never tried to hide either! He expected them not to respond, but still he ordered channels to be opened."This is Admiral Stahl of the USS Devastator; we are representing the United Stars of the Galaxy. Calling the approaching ships. We will retaliate with all necessary force to any further signs of aggression. Stand down and respond!"

  Alyica did not want to interrupt him but she wanted him to know what she had found out. So she decided to contact him telepathically." Admiral I am sensing them clearly. There are not just Y'All inside those ships, I also clearly detect Kermac thought patterns."

  The Admiral showed no sign of surprise but opened the channel again." I do not know where you got these Y'All ships but since you are Kermac you know who I am and you know what will happen if you do not stand down right away!"

  This time there was a response. A Kermac appeared on the screen. He appeared Kermac in every aspect, except his skin was not white but of a dark gray." Yes we know of you, Demon Stahl! Your presence is unexpected, but we cannot let you leave. We have sixty more ships approaching and it would be best you surrender, not even you could stand against so many Y'All ships!"

  "You must be new in the space battle business. So let me give you a little advice: first of all you don't tell your enemy how many ships you got. Secondly I suggest you get a few more ships, sixty or even a hundred won't do the trick. Finally I suggest a spearhead formation. Coming at us with a half moon formation isn't very smart."

  Before he even cut the transmission Stahl said." Tactical reduce the number of enemy ships to one!"

  The scanner operator confirmed sixty ships to approach at high speed.

  The Y'All ships were formidable opponents. Tough shields, strong armor and powerful weaponry, the Terran FTL-DE cannon was a direct development of a captured Y'All ship, but this was 1500 years ago. The Union had not stood still and had developed; it seemed the Kermac had found a stash of Y'All ships, just as they were so long ago. Somehow it made no sense to Stahl. Why would the Kermac cause trouble, so far away from their sphere of influence? They knew about the Instantaneous communication and would know the Devastator would report everything back to command right away. Maybe they relied on their disguise and were surprised by Stahl knowing they were Kermac.

  The Battle was intense, the primary shields of the Devastator reduced to 60 percent. That had not happened in a very long time. Stahl had left Harris on the bridge. He was the captain and he knew how to fight. Stahl needed action and answers.

  To get both he went to Deck 33 called Marine Country, his personal picked Elite team. Stahl's Own, nicknamed the Steel Gauntlet, already assembled wearing Gilgamesh Quasimodos. It was a wild bunch of beings. Each one of them a rough and tumble individual, specialists in the dirty business of close combat. Even though he was a Navy Admiral now, Stahl never ceased to be a Marine first and foremost, and despite all logic and caution, against all common sense to get himself in dangerous situations, he occasionally led his special team and that was the core of his reputation and legend. He was one of the men, regardless of his immortal and important status. He fought, sweat and bleed with them and this was the reason they respected and loved him. Stahl came out of the Combat Dresser, wearing his own Gilgamesh. On his left shoulder armor was an old symbol only a handful still recognized, an eagle perched upon a globe and a naval anchor below and the letters USMC. Why he called his HK chain cannon "Che
sty" no one knew. The Devastator was the product of an ancient and long disappeared civilization called the Celtest. Stahl and a handful of his loyal friends had gone into Exile and traveled on an adventure rich odyssey across the Galaxy. He had found the Devastator and met Alyica in her true form. It was her who told him how to gain the ship and that he was needed back home.

  While the ship had been heavily modified and refitted over the millennia with modern Union tech, it still held a few secrets only Stahl and a select few knew about. The secret of the Translocator canons and the Para Dim shields he had shared with the Union, but he kept a few aces under his sleeve. The Transplanter worked on the same principle as the Translocator Cannons, able to shift any matter via a Trans dimensional gate to another location. It also worked with living beings. He and the Iron Gauntlet platoon used this secretive technology to transport themselves directly aboard one of the remaining Y'All ships!

  Stahl stepped through the glowing portal and right into hell!

  Interlude: Stowaway

  Peter Baker had neither slept nor eaten much in the last days. Everything had gone wrong ever since he captured the Y'All herald and brought the being to Fornax Hub. He told them to keep the being in Stasis until fleet could arrive. He had barely left the security lock up facility aboard the stations when all lights went out and the station was boarded by Y'All and Kermac! What was odd that these Kermac fought, they weren't the same cowardly white skinned Kermac he knew about, and still these gray skinned bastards had the same Psionic abilities. The Y'All were also different from the bigger and silent warriors he remembered from the Invasion 1500 years ago. While these beings looked identical they were smaller, not as massive and they appeared to be much smarter.

  The Station was a military installation but had only a minimum of military personnel and lots of civilians. Peter had fought like a lion and the eight Cerberus robots the station had made a huge impact. Would they had more, the entire thing might have ended otherwise. The odds had been thousand to one. The Kermac and the Y'All had come with overwhelming numbers and struck with ferocity.

  The Invaders killed everything in sight and as soon as they had freed the captured alien, they retreated. They had brought in floating energy cannons and with those and overwhelming numbers they were able to defeat the Cerberus robots.

  The Barracuda Destroyer had fought valiantly and triggered self destruct before the Y'All could board her. He knew what they were after, the secret of the Translocator canon. The being he captured had asked him plainly if he knew about the workings of this weapon.

  They had broken in one of the Stations warehouses, and it appeared they knew exactly where to look and took six big crates with replacement translocator cannons. The Invaders did not know that Peter managed to hide in one of the crates.

  He had to make sure they would not learn the secret, even if it meant his life.

  Now he was in that tight crate aboard an alien ship heading for an unknown destination. Peter had placed six charges and was ready to detonate them at any given moment.

  Thanks to his advanced suit the Kermac could not detect him with their Psionics and he wanted to find out who was behind all this and he hoped he could escape with vital information, before he had to activate the charges and destroy the cannons and also committing suicide. He was prepared to do so, but if there was a chance to escape he would take it and that is why he still waited.

  ***

  Lorman's Starbase was basically a big town and a spaceport on an otherwise empty planet. I had made my way via slide belt to the main concourse of the space port and took a moment to read my orders. I still had 12 hours before I was supposed to report to JAG Office 54653 in the Fleet Justice Tower.

  The space port was just like the ones I had seen before, with the usual businesses and retail outlets. I watched a group of perhaps twenty beings in bright orange jumpsuits, shackled together and guided by a five armed marines and two robots walk towards a waiting Leyland transport. Only to see another orange jump suited man, his hands in heavy cuffs escorted by two marines going the other way two minutes later. Fleet Officers and personnel walked busily back and forth and they all wore dress uniform. No one was casual, the whole atmosphere of this spaceport was somehow subdued and serious, still busy and lively but the din of many voices I had experienced on other ports was not there. As if everyone whispered.

  I also noticed four Federal executioners in their dark red robes talking to two Union Officers. Somewhere an alarm went off and a dozen armed marines were running and flying towards the sound.

  I grabbed a bite at the local Swine and Dine and then went out to the Taxi Stand. The flyers were operated by beings and not robots or computronics. The one I flagged down was flown by a green skinned being that reminded me of Wintsun, he had the same coppery red hair. He confirmed my destination and then I asked him if he was from Kipling Planet.

  "Why yes I am! Kipling Planet is not far from here, just about 13 light years. Do you know the place?"

  "No not first hand, but one of my friends comes from there, Wintsun Asher."

  "Ah the Asher Family. I know of them, nice folks!"

  The flight only lasted 3 minutes and the Pilot refused any payment and wished me well.

  The Air of this world felt extremely dry and cold and had a dusty scent to it. Everything was coated with a very fine layer of powdery brown dust. I saw robots with Vacuum machines almost everywhere and from the looks of it, their task was a never ending one. The building I had to go was a twelve story square Duro Crete and glass construct with a large JAG symbol above the main entrance. Before it a large green grass area with a fountain and the statue of a man holding a book in one hand and addressing some unseen audience. Metal poles I thought of as lights as first were actually spraying a fine mist of water into the air and here the air was much better and did not feel so dry. I was still very early and had no particular hurry, but I wanted to report in before I did anything else.

  The lobby was as quiet as the space port, even though there were at least hundred beings around in small groups talking to each other. A human Lieutenant with the JAG logo on his collar greeted me very formally and I saluted and handed him my order chip. He scanned it and said:"Midshipman Olafson ah you are here for the Main docket tomorrow. Arrangements for your stay have been made at Red Tree Plaza Hotel, which is just across the plaza from here. I let the prosecution team know you have arrived. They might want to speak with you prior to the proceedings."

  "Thank you, I will remain at the Hotel then."

  "Yes that would be advisable, not that there is much to sight see on this world anyway."

  The room they had arranged for me was a small standard hotel room with an attached bath room. The window only gave me a view of a wall of another building on the side of the hotel. So I went back down to the reception and asked if I could rather pay for my own and get a room with a view. It was easily arranged and looking on my credit strip, it had grown in size instead of becoming smaller. This time the suite was on the top floor and I had a spectacular view over the vast emptiness of this planet. The City had sprung up in the middle of a vast brown desert with a mountain range in the distance. There was nothing green out there. No roads or buildings, only rocks, boulders and dust. Yet when I looked the other way there was this vibrant busy Union City with parks , alleys, buildings and a downtown district with bright lights and advertisement. I wasn't sure if they would still come today to talk to me, so I did not get more comfortable and just took off the uniform jacket.

  My PDD went off and as I checked, Egill was asking for a call. The Suite was Avatar enabled so I accepted the call and connected it to the Suite GalCom Unit sat down on the Virtu Couch and was connected to my Avatar representation where Egill was. The suite disappeared and was replaced by an Assembly alcove. Egill was not alone, there was a Saresii and Narth!

  Egill stepped back and looked at me up and down and then said." Do you think you can impress me showing up in uniform like that?" He sound
ed gruff and grumpy.

  "Do you think I jump and change clothing every time you call Old man?" I answered similar grumpy. The Saresii woman looked quite surprised at that, there was no reaction from the shrouded being. Since the Narth did not react at my appearance at all I was fairly certain it wasn't my friend."

  Egill then hugged my Avatar and boxed me in the side. "Good to see you Eric."

  "Good to see you as well Old man! I am glad you called!"

  "Elena just called me and told me you went off in a humongous battle ship only a day after you arrived at Nilfeheim."

  "I was summoned for a Court Martial procedure. I am not sure how long it will last, if I have time I go back to Nilfeheim, if not I have to be at Arsenal II for the second year."

  He sighed." Of all cadets, it had to be you going to a court martial procedure instead of going home. You have not learned to stay out of trouble, even in the Navy!"

  "No Sir, I am afraid I have not."

  "Well I am calling you because my friend the Narth representative just told me that you have also made friends with a Narth and he wanted to tell you something."

  The Narth next to Egill bowed slightly and spread his arms."It is the Eric, sharer of Huhgavh. One has been told by the representative of thy world Nilfeheim, that he knows of you and has contact. Therefore I made Ones desire to contact you known to him. For the Narth that is your Huhgavh wanted you to know that he is undergoing a reincarnation process during which he cannot use GalNet. He wanted you to know that he is with you in spirit and looks forward to continue his study of the corporal world and his education to become a Union officer."

  "I thank you for this message, representative of the Narth. If you can convey my friend that I miss him and look forward to the time we meet again."

  "I shall convey and I am confident he can explain to me how he can be missed."