Hal repeated flashing out his message until he heard: Understood… stand by under the trees, inside his head. Silently, Hal hand signaled the two OverMasters that they should retreat under the trees, and both nodded in affirmation. All stood silently, waiting. Xior scanned the sky as if anxious to spot the incoming human ship, though Varq did not. Varq stood patiently with his hands folded and his head bowed, as if in prayer. Hal, of course, knew exactly where the ship was, gliding silently through the darkness, as he was the only one who heard the running commentary from his brother.
Xior was startled when after almost a quarter sub-turn of seeing or hearing nothing but the buzzing and chirping of nocturnal insects, he heard a sudden hiss and the muted, but unmistakable faint whirring of an electric motor. Xior had no idea what his first sight of the invisible human marvel might be, but a slowly expanding maw of soft, blood-red light hadn’t been it.
When the ramp touched down to the ground and the whirring stopped, Hal signaled for his two companions to follow, as he slowly made his way up the ramp and into the ship. When Varq, who trailed behind Xior, cleared the top of the ramp, the whirring began again softly as the ramp slowly closed again behind them. Two seconds after the ramp completed its journey, the hiss of the hatch sealing could be heard and then came a soft thunk, as the hatch locks slid into place. Another second later, the red lights faded as white lights came up equally slowly, giving their eyes time to adjust before ramping up to full brightness.
Just as the lights came up enough to begin to make out details of the interior, for a moment Xior thought Hal was being attacked, as a smaller giant suddenly collided with him… no, not collided, he corrected himself… embraced.
“Hal!” cried Noreen as she leapt into her brother-in-law’s much-strengthened arms. After smothering his cheeks with kisses, Noreen backed away and exclaimed, “God, it’s good to see you again. We’ve been so worried.”
“Hello, Noreen,” said a blushing, but broadly grinning Hal. “I have to say, that was certainly a hell of a greeting. One definitely worth waiting for.”
As a grinning Noreen backed further away, Diet handed her the baby and he stepped forward to embrace his brother as well — minus all of that cheek kissing, of course. Their ancestors were Germans, and not of French or Russian descent, so cheek kissing was left strictly to the womenfolk.
Suddenly remembering his companions, who were all but hidden behind his body, Hal made introductions. “Diet… Noreen, I’d like to introduce you both to some of my friends. First is OverMaster and former Supreme-Master Xior, who is the sire of the current Raknii supreme-master.”
As Hal was speaking English, neither of the two Raknii understood a word of what Hal was saying, but upon recognizing his name, Xior stepped from behind Hal to confront… another Hal, only this one had fur on its face. He had seen Hal scraping his off with a borrowed fang-blade, sharpened to surgical quality.
Switching back to the Raknii language, Hal said, “OverMaster Xior, I would like to present my twin brother, Diet.”
Diet gave a slight bow, but did not extend his hand. One just didn’t do that with creatures having long, sharp claws, even if they were only half your size. Xior mimicked Diet’s gesture and then stepped aside to allow Varq forward.
“Diet, I would also like to present OverMaster Varq, the prophet who first delivered the dark prophecy concerning humans to the Raknii people.”
Diet repeated his bow towards Varq, but Varq’s attention was elsewhere.
Hal again turned towards the two small aliens and said in Raknii, “OverMaster Xior… OverMaster Varq, I would also like to introduce you to Diet’s mate Noreen, and their kit, Hans.”
Noreen did not bow, as she was holding the baby, but nodded her head towards the aliens as she recognized her name within that growling introduction. Again, Xior repeated Noreen’s gesture, but yet again, Varq’s attention was elsewhere — focused totally on the infant in Noreen’s arms.
“May I hold the kit?” asked Varq suddenly.
When Hal interpreted Varq’s request, Noreen glanced quickly at her husband in a flash of grave motherly concern, but when she saw Diet give her a slight nod of affirmation, she gulped and stepped forward to hold little Hans out towards the living embodiment of Rak nightmares. At first it appeared awkward as Varq took the human baby, who was almost half his size, but his strength was equal to the task and he cradled the babe tenderly in his arms.
Hans cooed joyfully, delighted at the furry feline face so close to his, as he patted Varq’s graying muzzle with his pink little fingers and lifted Varq’s lip to reveal the fangs hidden beneath. For his part, Varq studied the chubby pink face before him in obvious wonder. Xior wasn’t the only one to note the obvious discontinuity in the strange scene before him, at this essence of innocence gurgling contentedly in the tender grip of a master of death, having long fangs and exceedingly sharp claws. But Varq’s claws were retracted and his fangs showed only in the Raknii version of a smile.
Suddenly Varq looked up, and seemingly noticed Diet and Noreen for the first time. “That you dare to bring your most prized possession… this innocent kit, here to this place of extreme hazard and bestow it confidently into the peril of my claws, speaks volumes to my spirit,” Varq growled. “These actions show incredible respect and extraordinary trust to enemies, who have horribly wronged your kind. I salute your character and courageous sense of personal honor, and offer you my deepest and utmost respect for your gallantry, in return.”
Varq then tuned to face Xior and said, “I declare these humans inviolate and I place the blessings of Dol and my own benediction upon them. I vow to shelter and safeguard their well-being with my life, until their purpose here be accomplished and they leave us in complete safety, to return from whence they came.”
Xior responded in ritual solemn agreement, to the ancient injunction invoked by his brother OverMaster saying, “I stand in accession with the wisdom of my brother and add my own vow to his.”
Hal translated the incredibly unique honor of Varq’s offer to Hans’ parents, as Varq tried to hand the babe back to Noreen. Little Hans, however, had a mind of his own and didn’t want to go back to his mother. He grabbed fistfuls of Varq’s fur in his attempt to remain snuggled tightly to the big kitty. Noreen mumbled embarrassed apologies, as she tried desperately to disentangle her offspring’s chubby fingers from Varq’s fur, without pulling on it. Varq rumbled deep in his throat… not in menace, but what sounded like a lion purring in contentment. Hans squealed and laughed in sheer delight at this marvelous new game his mother was playing, as he wiggled and squirmed to avoid her probing hands trying to detach him from his furry new friend.
Xior turned to Varq and said, “I will adjure the supreme-master to declare this place and the back tunnels between the palace and the temple forbidden to all but ourselves, so that security is assured.”
Varq nodded in agreement, as Noreen finally disentangled Hans from his fur. Hans squealed in frustration at having been thwarted, but quieted quickly as she clutched him against the soft comfort of her bosom.
Diet looked at Hal and said, “Please have our guests follow me to the bridge, where seating and refreshments may be offered, and we can talk in a more relaxed atmosphere.”
Hal translated and they all followed as Diet led them through the small ship. Varq followed as though on automatic pilot, concentrating on whatever deep internal thoughts he entertained… but Xior’s eyes flitted everywhere as he walked, drinking in every detail of this marvel of human engineering. The steps on the circular stairway leading up to the bridge on the small upper level were twice as far apart as the Raknii found comfortable, positioned for beings almost twice their size, but they managed.
The bridge itself was revealed to be a generally circular area with a large view-screen forward and a rotating captain’s command chair centered in the room. Other rotating chairs faced communications, weapons, engineering, scan and ECM stations, empty of occupants, but having blinking ind
icators and readouts scrolling, as though they were crewed. Diet took the captain’s chair and offered the other chairs to Hal and his Raknii guests, while Noreen laid the baby down in his crib where their sentient computer could keep watch over the babe, while she gathered refreshments for everyone. Again, the scale of the furnishings dwarfed the Raknii, who had to crawl awkwardly into the oversized seats, but they maintained an air of great dignity in the midst of feeling totally ridiculous, engulfed in a world much too large for them.
Xior and Varq thought it odd that these humans had traveled across hundreds of light-cycles for a specific purpose, yet they did not immediately speak of that purpose. Instead they served human food and drink in a purely social setting.
Perhaps it is a human custom to share food prior to conducting business.
“Please be assured that everything offered here has been tested and verified safe for Raknii consumption by Planet-Master Mraz on Golgathal,” said Diet.
Small talk was made concerning positions, rank and health, as they ate. Both aliens enjoyed the hot-charred chunks of bloody beef, an unfamiliar herd beast whose taste met with their hearty approval. Chocolates and soda pop were also thoroughly enjoyed by their alien guests, as previously reported by Kalis from Kitty Litter. Their favorite human consumable, however, was beer.
Xior was astounded to learn that Diet was a major figure in human finance and industry, yet mysteriously allowed his mate and littermates to virtually run it for him, restricting his own participation to only the most important of policy decisions. Whatever questions that Varq might have had remained unasked, as he merely listened to what transpired around him in silence, a habit from his many cycles of living as a falgaar body-servant, one of the relatively invisible stoneless during Drix’ cubhood. Many forthcoming questions led to confusing or ambiguous answers, which led to yet more questions, which led to even more confusion. Obviously there was a lot about these humans that was truly alien to Raknii ways of thought, and it was going to take a long time to come to any kind of real understanding of one another.
Diet was astounded to discover that Hal had diagnosed Xior as having colon cancer, and had been fabricating generic versions of human cancer drugs for him using comparatively primitive chemistry apparatus, but had somehow managed to bring his cancer into remission, at least temporarily. All agreed that it would be a very good thing if their little “disagreement” could be resolved soon, enabling Xior to travel to one of the top cancer treatment centers in human space.
“I was told there was a third litter-mate here as well,” said Xior. “I would like very much to make his acquaintance, as well.”
“I am very pleased to meet you, OverMaster Xior — and you as well, OverMaster Varq,” came a disembodied voice from the speakers, speaking the Raknii language to perfection.
Xior and Varq both looked puzzled and Xior turned to Hal and asked, “Why does your litter-mate speak to us through the ship’s intercom, instead of sharing food and conversation with us personally, as you and this one called Diet are doing?”
Diet, could you please explain to our guests, while I interlink with my mobile-self and get us both updated? I think that would be advisable at this juncture.
“Very well, Hal… one moment,” said Diet. Noreen dug a small, human-built Raknii translator out of a bin above the communications station over Xior’s head and took it to Diet.
Activating the device, Diet said “OverMaster Varq, could I trouble you to exchange seats with Hal, so that he can have access to our engineering station?”
Varq nodded and crawled down from his chair without comment and allowed Hal to sit down where he had been sitting. Varq watched intently as Hal opened an access panel in the engineering console and extracted a cable of some sort, which he then connected… to his head?
“The data cable is in place and I am ready to begin, brother,” Hal said in the Raknii language, for the benefit of their alien guests. “Perhaps I should upload to you first, so that you understand what’s been happening with me, over the past three cycles.”
Agreed. Beginning synchronization handshaking routines now.
Xior and Varq both watched attentively to this strange, whatever-it-was that was happening before them, but other than Hal closing his eyes, nothing really appeared to be happening at all.
Diet then said to his guests, “I know this must appear very strange to you, but our third brother here isn’t currently in a different part of the ship. He is the ship.”
* * * *
Chapter-29
Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have. — Saul Alinsky
CSS Ghost, in the Garden of Dol, atop the Temple of Dol
The Raknii Imperial Planet of Raku
September, 3869
Supreme-Master Drix was puzzled by his sire’s request that he accompany him, Varq and the human Hal to the Temple of Dol, next door to the imperial palace. There were none he trusted so much as his sire and Varq, unless it be Raan and Tzal. He was slowly coming to feel similarly towards the human Hal, but he dared not allow that to become public knowledge.
Drix accompanied them, at Xior’s request, past the Raknaa guards he’d stationed outside the entrance to the sub-basement of the imperial palace, which led to the tunnel going to the temple. The guards only saw Drix and Hal, of course, as the two OverMasters were effectively invisible to them, their sunburst and onyx rank-stones invoking a hypnotic “hole” in their memories. If they thought it odd that the supreme-master accompanied a human with no other Raknii along, they kept it to themselves… Raknaa did not challenge the will of the supreme-master. If he wanted to enter the sub-basement with the human, that was totally the supreme-master’s business.
Drix initially started to bring a Raknii/English translator along with him, to save on the punishment that speaking the Raknii language inflicted on Hal’s vocal cords, but, surprisingly, Hal told him it was unnecessary. Once they cleared the tunnel, they climbed the back stairs up to the temple roof to the Garden of Dol, where Dolrak and occasionally the supreme-master himself came to meditate and relax in the sun. Drix followed as they led him into the trees surrounding the contemplation pool at the center of the garden. As they cleared the tree line, Drix was startled to discover a large teardrop-shaped something, resting in the shallow pool. It was flat black in appearance, and yet it was uncannily difficult to see any actual details of the object, even in bright sunshine.
“And just what, may I ask, is that?” asked Drix, who had been startled into immobility upon first sight of the huge object.
“Oh, this is just one of the little projects that I had been working on before I made the acquaintance of your assault troops on Bavara,” replied Hal. “Have no fear, there’s no danger.”
“How did it get here?” asked Drix suspiciously.
“My brother brought it,” replied Hal.
“Your litter-mate is here?” asked Drix in astonishment. “How did it get past all of our scanners?”
“Actually, two of my brothers are here,” said Hal. “It got past your scanners the same way it scouted all of your systems without detection, before the human combined fleets launched attacks on your worlds.”
“Ah, so this is the invisible mystery ship that we surmised must exist for you humans to accomplish your attacks with such complete surprise,” Drix responded. “As it’s here, can I assume that the human military is also aware of Raku’s location, then?”
“Yes, but no attacks were planned this deeply into Raknii space when my brothers left to come here. Humanity has more than its hands full with Raan’s surrender of all 63 planets of Region-6.”
“You know this for a fact?” asked Drix.
That explains much… unsurprising. That’s what I’d hoped was happening.
“Yes, my brother told me,”said Hal. “Would you like to meet him?”
“What else might I expect to find within that… whatever-it-is, Hal?” asked Drix suspiciously.
“It is
safe, we assure you,” said Xior. “Varq and I have already been inside the human ship.”
Drix looked at his sire, and then at Varq and with a nod from the one who raised him from a cub, he turned back to Hal and said, “Lead on, then.”
At that, a ramp began to descend with the quiet whir of an electric motor and when it touched the ground, Hal proceeded up it immediately, followed by Xior without hesitation. Drix then followed, with Varq trailing, as usual.
“As you see,” Hal called out from over his shoulder, “the outer surface of the craft has a flat-black outer covering that tends to greatly inhibit visual perception of any appreciable amount of detail, because of its unique light-absorption properties. The outer layer is also highly effective in the absorption of laser-based scanner emissions.” Hal stopped at the top of the ramp to continue. “A clear electro-chemical exterior coating allows for the images received from thousands of micro-fiber lenses to be displayed on the exterior surface of the hull, displaying light patterns from the opposite side, so that nearby visual sensors cannot detect the ship via occlusion, or blockage of stars, as the ship passes in front of them.
“Directly beneath that light-absorbing exterior is a highly reflective mirror finish capable of reflecting 99.6% of destroyer-class, weapons grade laser radiation, which burn through the thin outer layer,” Hal said. “The mathematically calculated acclivity of the craft’s surface facets ensures that reflections are refracted away from the radiation source, thus further reducing the possibility of a reflected echo returning to the emission source. Beneath that mirrored layer is a ferrite-impregnated composite material capable of absorbing a broad bandwidth of electromagnetic wavelengths capable of greatly reducing reflections of electromagnetic based scanner emissions. When combined with the multi-surfaced acclivity of the exterior facets incorporated into the overall craft design, reflections of all known types of scanner radiation reduces the craft’s total scanner signature to no more than that of a piece of space debris the size of a human fist.”
Wrath of an Angry God: A Military Space Opera Page 33