Star Guild Episodes 10 - 18 (Star Guild Saga)

by Brandon Ellis

Swift is the same class of starship as me. We are family. Swift is here to help.

  “Thank Guild.”

  Be my eyes, Crystal. I need you.

  Taking command, she pointed at a cluster of starfighters. “Ten o'clock.”

  Aye, Crystal.

  Tranquil shot several rounds of lasers, slicing the starfighters to pieces, destroying them in less than ten seconds.

  Crystal, for future reference, you do not need to point to danger. Your thoughts are connected to mine, so if you look at an incoming starfighter I'll see it as well. Do you understand?

  “I think so,” she replied. “I see the starfighters retreating now, but you probably already noticed that.”

  Yes, that was Swift’s goal and mine. We do not want to take lives, but no one has the right to invade the space and life of another, especially if it is to end that Being's life, which is what happened here. They attacked us, and Universal Law states that we have the right to protect ourselves.

  “Well, I didn't want to die, so I'll agree with Universal Law.” Crystal squeezed the armrest and leaned forward in rapt attention. “What in the Guild is that?”

  Ahead was a large city of towering skyscrapers with needle-like roofs. She could make out palaces, abodes, and many other structures dotting the ground. A large lake sat in the middle, also dotted with islands with skyscrapers and other buildings. Crystal was astonished; she’d never seen structures shaped in such a way. Whoever designed these took great care in their architecture. The city was beautiful.

  From what I've observed, that is called Lumus II by the Nankuani of Iburun—the creators of the city we are looking at. The Nankuani are the Drags, as you have so aptly named them. From what you've been taught on Starbase Matrona, this area and this city is in the Radiation Zone. Your people have been persuaded to keep away from this part of Lumus.

  “So, this isn't an actual radiation zone?” Crystal rolled her eyes. “Wow, I'm so surprised,” she said sarcastically.

  You have been lied to a lot.

  “Yes, that seems to be the theme lately.”

  It's time to return to Dirn Garum, Crystal. Are you prepared for your welcome when they see you?

  “They're going to think I stole you.”

  That's why I was being sarcastic, just as you were a moment ago.

  “Oh, Guild. This is going to be fun.” Crystal looked up at the ceiling, as if asking for help from the Dwarven Goddess.

  Just tell the truth when you return and say that I was the one who took you out on your first spin.

  “Can't you tell them that?”

  They won't be able to hear my words, Crystal.

  With that, Tranquil spun the ship around and proceeded to Dirn Garum.

  “They’d better not kill me.”

  Don't be silly. They will do no such thing. You are of the bloodline. To kill you will be their ultimate failure and Dwarves loathe to fail more than they loathe surface dwellers. Plus, some of them will be your permanent crew.

  “What!?”

  In a matter of minutes, Crystal could see Forever Mountain coming closer. It was more majestic from the air and seemed to touch the painted sky.

  You aren't here to just take me out from time to time. You're here to create a crew, build rapport with them, and explore the Universe. That is why I was created. I'm built from Knights Templar hands, fashioned with the light of the Universe, and given the gift of gab, to say the least. I'm here to explore under the guidance and direction of those in the bloodline to which you were born.

  “Well, that's interesting,” replied Crystal, not taking Tranquil too seriously. “I'm not so sure the Dwarves would go for that. They're looking for Gaia, not exploration.”

  They were slowing down as they came upon the mountain. A slit opened up in the side of Mount Gabriel and Tranquil slowly moved toward it, readying itself to enter into the belly of Dirn Garum.

  Their reign on Gaia ended many epochs ago. None of their ancient kin are alive. They are all that's left of their own race. They will need to seed other planets in order to keep their race going. You will help them do this and you will help them navigate the stars. Are you prepared?

  “Uh...no.” Crystal grimaced at the thought. “I'm fine being by myself. No need to take kids on a long trip. So, no thanks.”

  Yes. You have free will and I honor that.

  Tranquil entered the mountain and descended for a landing. When it touched down, Crystal stared out of the view screen, seeing a very angry Dwarf King—Bilrak—gawking up at the ship, his long axe in hand. Several Dwarven warriors stood alongside him with many weapons at their disposal, and a smirking Harak holding a large hammer. Thun and Shan watched as well, looking worried.

  ∞

  Jerrod waded through all of his fear, knowing what would happen next. “Can I sit here?” He had a tray full of food in his hands as he eyed an empty section of the long bench.

  “You mean with us Tech Geeks?” asked Hank.

  “Yes...well...no. I mean...”

  Hank snorted. “What is it doctor? Yes or no?” He patted the empty section next to him, then took a large bite of his sandwich, chewing noisily through his half grin.

  Jerrod smartly sat down without answering Hank's question and could feel all the Techies' eyes burning a hole through him, probably wondering why someone like him would want to sit with the likes of them.

  “Damn, I love lunch.” Hank took a large bite of his sandwich. He then took a small carrot off his tray and threw it at a Techie sitting across from him. “We call him Rabbit.” He pointed his fork at a person sitting next to Rabbit. “That's Bonch.” He waved his fork around at the rest of the people at his table. “And, I haven't given the rest of the guys nick names yet, so you don't get to know them.”

  It was a busy and noisy lunch hour in the cafeteria and Jerrod had many questions, along with an anxiousness about the answers he might receive. He took a small bite of salad and chewed it slowly, wondering which person to ask.

  Several people at the table laughed at some silly joke he couldn’t hear.

  “We haven't been attacked in a while,” said Jerrod.

  Rabbit looked up and nodded; the rest made no response.

  Hank elbowed Jerrod in the ribs. “No battle talk here. We spend all day in Tech Quarters waiting and being prepared. We don't want to bring it with us to lunch. Just be happy the Drags don't want any part of us today.”

  Jerrod took another bite of his salad. “Does anyone here know where Daf or Crystal is?”

  “Isn't Daf your wife or something? Shouldn't you know where they are?” responded Hank.

  “No, Daf isn't my wife.” Daf was beautiful and everyone knew it, but she surely hadn't caught Jerrod's eye like Crystal had.

  Hank nodded his head several times sharply, his roll of fat under his chin jiggling as he did so. “Good. Then her and Crystal are all mine.”

  “I haven't seen them in about two days. They aren't in their quarters and I've checked engines room, all launch bays, the bridge—”

  “Man, they must not like you,” said Hank. Shrugging, he continued, “You can't find them 'cause you haven't checked my room yet.” He winked at Bonch.

  “Have any of you see them?” Jerrod looked at all the men at the table. All shook their head and went back to eating, cajoling, and poking fun at each other.

  Bonch picked up his spoon and shoveled soup into his mouth. “Check the nursing stations. They might be trying to find Hank to apologize about making his face a punching bag the other day.”

  Everyone at the table laughed, except for Hank and Jerrod.

  Hank rubbed his face remembering the beating. “Laugh it up, geeks. They were just love taps.”

  “I want none of that love,” said a Techie from the table.

  “I want all of that,” smirked Rabbit. “Crystal's rough around the edges, but I could tame her.”

  Jerrod wanted to roll his eyes. He remembered being that age, with nothing but women on his mind and s
tupid comments coming out of his mouth.

  “Hank,” said Jerrod, “can I search your HDC to see if they took a starfighter out for a spin and didn't come back?”

  “They didn't,” Hank replied. “I've checked.”

  “Maybe check if any Mechs went out? Maybe they went to a Mech Warehouse to gather some supplies of some sort?”

  “I've checked that as well. The last person to enter any Warehouse seventy-five square miles around us was more than a week ago. And it was them. I think it's when they picked you up and brought you here.”

  Jerrod dropped his fork on the tray and folded his hands. “So, you've checked all of this?”

  “Duh,” Hank retorted. “I'm not stupid or blind. I haven't seen them around either and I can't get answers from Sleuth or Diana.”

  “Have you tried the mechanic guy in the launch bay?” asked Jerrod, pointing a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the bay.

  “Wrench?” Hank took a large bite of his sandwich, finishing it, and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “I haven't asked him.”

  “What the...” Rabbit pointed at the swinging doors that led in and out of the cafeteria. “Did you see that?”

  Everyone turned and the cafeteria became silent. Through the windows of the doors, they saw a troop of people walking by, then a large Being with fur, then another.

  “What the hell?” Hank stood. “Did you see that...or them? Did you see? There's another!”

  People stood up and ran over to the doors, wanting to see if they were having a group hallucination or if there really were large furred Beings inside Starship Sirona, walking down the halls.

  Jerrod sprang from the table to the door, but instead of looking through it he pushed the doors open then stopped dead in his tracks. A furred Being put both hands together in front and bowed. It then placed one hand on Jerrod's shoulder. Jerrod immediately felt peaceful and loved, and wanted to float away on a feather. The creature then turned and took graceful, athletic strides down the hall with the rest of the group.

  Jerrod stood still and could swear he heard the Being talk, even though it never opened its mouth. Then he heard it again.

  You must come with us to your Admiral's Quarters.

  Jerrod glanced over his shoulder, seeing hundreds of wide-eyed people from the cafeteria starting to invade the hall. Hank was in the front.

  Without saying anything, Jerrod proceeded toward the strange Beings walking to the Admiral's Quarters. Hank accompanied him, but everyone else behind them seemed paralyzed.

  “What the Guild is going on?” asked Hank.

  “Don't know.” They closed in on the group. “But did you hear anything from that big blue guy?”

  “Nope.”

  Staying several steps behind the group, passing quarters after quarters, they couldn't help but see the odd humans that walked next to the furry ones, as well. They seemed to sparkle. In fact, they all looked like male and female models.

  The group stopped in front of Admiral's Quarters. In the lead, and to their surprise, was Admiral McCoy and Sleuth. A man and two other women were standing next to Diana, about to enter her quarters. Diana typed in a command on the console and the door slid open.

  The young-looking man spoke in the Admiral's ear, prompting her to look straight at Jerrod. She waved him over, saying, “Jerrod, you're welcome to attend our meeting.”

  To help him understand who and what was going on, especially with these furred Beings, he'd happily attend. He nodded and trudged forward, Hank by his side.

  “And me,” said Hank to Diana.

  “I'm sorry, Hank, but no.” Diana didn't like Hank, especially after what her daughter told her what he had done, slapping Crystal's backside in the cafeteria.

  “He ain't going in unless I'm going in, right Jerrod buddy?” said Hank.

  “No, Hank,” Jerrod replied courteously but sternly.

  Sleuth gave Hank an uncomfortable stare, prompting Hank to flip him off.

  “Nice, Hank,” said Diana, gesturing for Jerrod, Sleuth, and the two women and man to come into her office.

  The door slid shut with Hank standing in front of the closed door. He turned around and found himself staring up at a gray-furred Sirian. “Hey big guy. You new around these parts?”

  The Sirian let out a purry smile. I'm Soka. And yes, I'm new to many parts of this planet, not just here.

  Hank took a step back, rubbing his ears. “Did you just speak into—” He rubbed his temple. “That's bad ass.”

  ∞

  Mimi sniffed around the biosphere forest, chasing bugs and the occasional mouse, digging her paws and nose in the forest floor, hoping to get a tasty snack that had a tail.

  Naveya sat cross-legged and watched a squirrel scurry up a tree. She was taking a break from collecting all of these fibrous plants covered in white flowers with purple tips on each petal. These were the cure to the poison. Days ago, she had seen it in a vision. Today, she had to collect as many as she could.

  She wiped her brow, enjoying the calm yet busy forest. Birds talked to each other, deer ate saplings off in the distance, and a small fox watched them near the base of a small hill.

  Naveya looked in her bag, pleased with how many of these plants she had gathered, but disappointed by how many more she would need. In truth, she would have to grab thousands and thousands to juice them and hand out tiny vials to the most effected people, or to those most likely to survive. In a perfect world she would press these plants into oils, where they would be at their most powerful. A drop would equal fifty vials of juice. But to do that, she'd need to gather hundreds of thousands of these little plants and she didn't have the capability or the time, and these plants were few and far between. She'd have to make do with what she had.

  She collected herself, checking her disappointment and changing her feelings to gratefulness. It was her good fortune that she had an opportunity to help another, whether it be one person or ten thousand. This was the lifetime that her race, the humans, would set their footprints in the sand and stand tall against the corruption and slavery they had been oppressed by for so many cycles. Naveya was driven to make this the last destructive cycle on Matrona and the beginning of the end of all Nankuani control. Enough was enough.

  “Come on, MiMi,” beckoned Naveya.

  MiMi barked, objecting. She had a mouse to find.

  “I don't think so, girl. You've had enough food for a day.” Naveya felt sadness, knowing that if the poison was released there was no way she could heal even a quarter of the people affected. Or, even ten percent. If she was lucky, maybe a thousand people who had been poisoned would survive. She just didn't have enough of the plant with her and there surely wasn't enough in the entire biosphere.

  Walking over a hill she clutched her heart, feeling the pain that would soon befall Matrona. Inhaling, her quivering lip turned into a small sob, and she wiped a tear from her eye.

  I've failed in what I set out to do.

  “Let's go MiMi,” she muttered, almost too softly for her dog to hear. “We're heading to the infirmary.”

  Time wasn't on her side and she knew it. Everything she needed in order to conduct her experiments on the plants were in the infirmary, such as a juice extractor, vials, and water, which would need to be filtered in the Suficell Pods, where she'd need to punch in the frequency code that turned acidic, chemical laden water into pure, alkalized water. All of this would take time—hours, and maybe even days.

  She didn't know when Payson would release the poison or if he already had, but the fight wasn't over until this journey collided with death—her death.

  Then it hit her and she fell to her knees with joy. “The Suficell Pods!” she yelled, her arms raised toward the biosphere's ceiling. “That's it!”

  She pushed herself up and ran to the biosphere, understanding that all she needed to do was to test the frequency of the plant and then download that frequency into the Suficell Pod. The next step was to pick a number for the frequency and l
abel it, “Batrachotoxin.” This would automatically install the code in every single Suficell Pod on Starbase Matrona.

  She stopped and leaned against a tree. “But...” she muttered to herself. When MiMi came to her side she jumped up into Naveya's arms. “If I download the code for the batrachotoxin into the Suficell Pods, and the poison is starting to affect everyone, then I'd need to somehow get hundreds of thousands of people to line into the pods, one by one. It is big enough to pack about five people in there, but maybe...”

  She bit her lip, thinking. MiMi licked Naveya's chin, then jumped to the ground and barked. She wanted to keep moving but Naveya put up her finger, telling MiMi to settle down. “We'll get a move on soon. I'm letting the solution to this challenge come to my mind. Be patient.”

  Naveya slid slowly down the tree until she came to a seated position, perching her back against the bark. “All Suficell pod frequencies are electromagnetic frequencies...so...” She scratched her chin and then cleared her mind. “Let it happen, Naveya. Still the mind and the Universe will dance at my feet with an answer.”

  She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, watching the blackness swirl in her mind. She put a call out to the Universe to give her the answer to her immediate challenge, and then with a pop, her mind exploded with a solution.

  She petted MiMi, who was always her best sounding board. “Nothing that I know of can impede an electromagnet frequency flow. It gets weaker the farther it travels, but yet still goes and goes until it can be picked up by receivers of a similar reception.”

  MiMi moaned and Naveya pet her some more. “I know. This is boring, but the answer is in my mind and I have to unscramble it.”

  Thinking some more, Naveya stroked her dog, then nodded in agreement as if her mind came up with the equation to the entire puzzle. “Humans are electromagnetic beings, making them the perfect antenna to receive the frequency outside of the Suficell Pod. So, to create a large enough frequency I'll have to crank the dial on the Suficell Pod to its highest setting. There are many Pods in each Sphere and if I can get to each Sphere and turn the batrachotoxin code frequency to its highest, then the people who are affected by the poison will easily pick up the frequency wherever they are. They just wouldn't know they were receiving it.”