The Raygin War

  “I love surprises! Well done.”

  Mongwau grinned. “I thought you might like it.”

  The chief’s personal communicator beeped an alert. He read the classified message: From Admiral Sewati, Two Probes intercepted by fighters. One probe is Raygin. One probe is from the People of the Stars. Raygin are tracking ship movements within territories of People of the Stars. People of Stars probe tracking People’s Nation ship movements near Orenda.

  Oh great, Orenda is our shipbuilding planet. The People of the Stars have discovered us. This changes everything. I have to contact them to explain who we are, and what we are doing. In addition, we we have to warn them again about the Raygin. They would never forgive us if we knew the Raygin are here again and we said nothing. The chief responded to Sewati: Send data on Raygin probe to our lab without delay. Will arrange to contact the People of the Stars – be safe. Mahpee.

  The chief let Mongwau read the admiral’s message and his reply.

  “I’ll get the lab ready for the probe. This is both good and bad news,” Mongwau smiled at his friend, “I’m glad I’m not the chief.”

  “I’m glad you aren’t the chief too,” Mahpee said. “I better get going. I have to call a council emergency meeting right away.”

  “Better talk to your daughter, Mahpee.”

  “I will, I will. I’ll do it today. Right after I get word to the council about the meeting tonight.”

  Mahpee made arrangements for the emergency meeting. The schedule gave him four hours to get to Kele’s house, talk to his daughter, and get back. As he drove to see her, he visualized how he would apologize. He would be sure to tell her how proud he was of her. She had to understand, she meant everything to him, always had. He realized now he should have talked to her long ago about his feelings. It was too hard, because it always brought up memories of Shanee’s body on the operating table. After twenty-five years, he still hadn’t mourned for his wife. It hurt too much.

  I should have reminded my little princess of how I sang to her when she was small enough to put into my hand. How she snuggled on my chest to sleep. How the best part of my day was when I came home from work and got to spend time with her. Instead, I always talked about the Raygin, military weapons, and retribution. I even talked about opening a formal line of communication with the People of the Stars. I did everything except talk about how much I love her.

  Mahpee decided he would fix everything between them tonight. He realized he better call to make sure they’re home. He grabbed his communicator and called Kele.

  “Hello, Mahpee. How are you?”

  He let out a big breath. “Fine. It seems there is always something going on. Is Ayashe there? I’m minutes away from your place. I know, I should have called you earlier and spoke to you, but I figured she needed time, and I’ve been busy. I have come to apologize to her, and you.”

  “Oh, Mahpee. What have you done this time? You promised me after the last argument with her, you would not be so quick to anger. She should not receive a scolding like a child. She is a woman. I haven’t seen Ayashe in about four months. She stayed with me for two days.”

  “What do you mean? She’s not there? Where did she go? I haven’t seen or heard from her since she came to stay with you four months ago!”

  “What? When she arrived she said the two of you had a big argument. The next day she told me the issues between the two of you were being resolved. I thought you made it right? I should have known better. Mahpee, she left. I assumed she went home to you. She seemed happy. Could she be staying with a friend?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll check. I’m getting worried, Kele.

  Mahpee parked his flyer and walked into Kele’s home. He gave her a quick hug and asked, “May I look in her room? There could be a clue to her whereabouts.”

  “Yes, yes, go ahead. I’ll call her friends and ask if they have seen her.”

  Mahpee opened Ayashe’s stack shelves. Most of her clothes were gone. More bad news, her prized weapons, two terrillium tomahawks, were gone. He had given them to her two years ago when she earned the rank of master in hand-to-hand combat. Kele gave him more bad news. None of her friends had seen or heard from her in four months.

  Mahpee pulled his communicator out. He initiated a search and notify message: To all, Ayashe, my daughter, missing four months. If you have had contact or know whereabouts notify me. Mahpee.

  Mahpee was getting sick to his stomach. What has happened to my little warrior? The communicator beeped. It was Commander Tokola.

  “Hello Commander, you have news for me?”

  “Chief, I couldn’t believe your search and notify. Per your instructions I took Ayashe to the transport terminal at Finders Station four months ago.”

  “What?”

  “She gave me the diplomatic orders signed by you. She even knew we were picking up Eyota.”

  “Did she say what she was going to do?”

  “She said she was on a quest of sorts for you.”

  “I don’t understand. I didn’t ask for anything.”

  “We helped her convert her rare metals to credits on Finder’s Station. Everything seemed legit chief. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault, it’s mine. We had a big argument. She wanted to join the military. I said no, and forbid it. I’m ashamed to say I made it worse by insulting her choices in life. I have to find her and apologize before she does something we both regret.”

  Discovering his daughter left with a purpose in mind made him feel better about her safety. Not knowing her plans on her first trip away form home, made him worry. He cancelled the search and find. He contacted a few agents. They were familiar with operations within the People of the Stars territory. They were trackers by trade. They would locate Ayashe and get her to come back to me.

  During Mahpee’s meeting, both the council and the Tellers agreed with him. Treaties must be made with the others. The council would introduce themselves to the People of the Stars. They would carry proof the alien’s exist. Both peoples must prepare for the coming war.

  Mahpee determined it was better to send the delegation on a transport ship rather than a military vessel. A military ship might seem too threatening. In a cryo chamber they would carry the body of a Raygin, as an offering to show the People of Stars they speak the truth. They would show them vids of the attack along with some vids of the Raygin scout ship. With the enemy on the move, it would be wise for both peoples to from an alliance.

  It took one week to make the arrangements. The transport ship, Black Fox, left the port city of Tall Pine on Nokomis heading to Finder’s Station. From there, the People’s Nation would send a formal request to Rhizon. They would ask for a meeting with the Planetary Parliament. If initial communications went well a formal dialog would be opened with the People of the Stars. They would be invited to open an office on Nokomis. The Black Fox also carried five trackers. The trackers would begin their search for Ayashe on Finder’s Station. They would go wherever the leads took them.

  The war fleet was ahead of schedule. The shipyards upgraded the ships with each new discovery.

  The chief stood outside of his dwelling, admiring the night sky. These were the same stars my ancestors looked at thousands of years ago. It feels good to be ahead of schedule with the war fleet and upgrades to the older ships. His stomach started to rumble as it reacted to a low level sonic frequency. A high-pitched siren filled the night sky. Mahpee experienced a feeling of dread. It was the planetary alert system. Mahpee reached for his communicator. Damn, I left it inside. He ran into his dwelling to find it beeping like crazy.

  He picked up the communicator. It read: One Battleship and six cruisers detected by planetary defenses. Tracking toward Orenda. Ship design is of People of the Stars. Call me – Sewati. This is horrible timing. He grabbed his communicator and called Admiral Sewati.

  “Hello chief. I have disabled planetary defenses around Orenda, but not Nokomis. We are attempting communication with the People of the
Stars convoy. At present they are ignoring us. They seem willing to risk all to find out what we are doing in our shipyards. They have deployed a system of com probes.”

  “How long before they arrive?”

  “The convoy is traveling using ion drives. We estimate it will take them three standard days to navigate the asteroid maze.”

  “Nice job Admiral. Let their ships get in position to see our shipyards. Place a couple squadrons of fighters near them so they don’t do anything too stupid. Do whatever is necessary, but remember, we want these people to be our friends.”

  “I understand. When will you be arriving?”

  “If we push it, we can get there at about the same time they arrive. I’ll keep my com close to me. This is not what I envisioned for the first official meeting between our peoples.”

  “Do not delay dear friend. To be honest, I’ve heard my skill at diplomacy is poor at best. I don’t understand why. I am honest and to the point. What more is there to statesmanship than this?”

  “If they contact you, tell them to stand by for my arrival and I look forward to meeting them, and Sewati – don’t add anything in your own words.”

  “Anything you say my eloquent tongued chief.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, you are hilarious.”

  Mahpee disconnected and called Bodaway.

  “Hello chief. I thought you might call. You want us to prepare Greysail?”

  “No. We better take Wasp this time.”

  “Where to, and when?”

  “We need to get to Orenda as soon as possible.”

  “You picked the right ship. The crew will be ready in thirty minutes.”

  “It will take me forty-five minutes to get to the launch pad.”

  “We’ll be waiting.”

  As Mahpee arrived, he could see the crew completing their prelaunch checks. The Wasp was ready to depart. He couldn’t wait to see the new technology the engineers had installed on his ship. Admiral Sewati contacted Mahpee to give him an update. Sewati said the convoy still refused to communicate. As expected, the ships were having problems navigating through the asteroid cloud surrounding Orenda. Once through, the ships would have to contend with the floating workstations. Ships were always under different phases of construction. All the obstacles would force the UFC ships to separate and end the trip in single file. Not a good tactical move, but necessary.

  When the Wasp was a couple light years away, it made a final jump and arrived on the opposite side of Orenda. The small ship maneuvered with little effort through a hidden path in the asteroid cloud. Captain Bodaway positioned the Wasp at a point over the shipyard. The battleship and cruisers exited the asteroid cluster. They positioned themselves over the Wasp. Three hundred sparrow hawk fighters armed with plasma torpedoes arrived to surround the convoy.

  This got their attention.

  The Wasp com center lit up like the night sky over Old Dry Lake on Nokomis.

  “Unknown fighters. Stand down, or we will fire.”

  “Hello, People of the Stars. Welcome to Orenda. I am Chief Mahpee, leader of the People’s Nation. Welcome.”

  “Chief Mahpee. This is Admiral Harding of United Fleet Command. If you are the one in charge have your fighters stand down or we will fire.”

  “Now, now, Admiral Harding. We have allowed you into our shipyards so you can see for yourselves, what we are doing. The fighters are here for our safety. After all, you invaded our territory and would not communicate with us.”

  “First off Chief Mahpee, you did not let us anywhere. Second, you are building ships of war. Third, you attacked an innocent colonization ship, the United Federation ship, Nomad. Now, have your fighters stand down or we will destroy them.”

  Mahpee’s private com beeped. He looked at the message: Ten Dreadnaughts standing by. Should calm him down.

  “Admiral Harding, as I said, we let you see for yourselves, what we are building. We tracked you here, shut down the planetary defenses, and I came here to talk to you in person. We did not attack any of your ships. We will not stand down in our own territory until we come to some type of an agreement. Look around you.”

  Ten large ships from the People’s Nation’s appeared around the convoy. The com station went silent. Admiral Harding and his team were evaluating their new circumstances.

  “Okay, Chief Mahpee. I’ll concede. You let us come here. If you didn’t attack the Nomad, why are you are building ships of war?”

  “My ship came under attack by an alien race called the Raygin twenty-five years ago. My wife died in the attack. We have been preparing for a war we know is coming. It is the reason we are building ships of war.”

  “I’m sorry about your wife. I have to ask, do you have proof of what you say?”

  “Yes, Admiral Harding. We have already sent a diplomatic contingency to Finder’s Station. Their job is to open communications with your people.”

  “Who are you? Why are you in unprotected and uncharted space?”

  “We are the descendants of the Indian Nation of old earth. Tens of thousands of years ago when the sun consumed the Earth, my people took part in the great exodus. The cryo ship carrying my ancestors to a safe new world malfunctioned. We lived lost and alone for thousands and thousands of years. We made our home on a planet we call Nokomis. Several years ago, after we designed the singularity drive, we located your people.”

  “Chief Mahpee, I think you just told a wonderful story, but it’s a lie. We developed the singularity drive about a year ago in one of our military sponsored schools.”

  “Admiral Harding, we placed one of our engineers into your engineering school. He acted like he designed the new drive while attending your top school. We wanted to share the new technology with you. The name he used while in your school was Michael Etton.”

  “Every engineering person in the universe knows Michael Etton designed the singularity drive. He disappeared after the first trial run of his creation. Your proof is all common knowledge.”

  “Nashta, or as you call him, Michael Etton is an engineer on my ship. Nashta, come to the viewer. Here he is captain. Do you have any young engineers that were in class with Michael Etton? If so could you get them and let the two talk?

  “Give me a couple minutes.”

  While they waited, Bodaway gave council to Mahpee. He told him to bring the whole convoy back to Nokomis. Seeing their home world would end many doubts. It would be good for both peoples. Mahpee agreed. As usual, it was good council.

  A young, blond haired, engineering ensign, appeared on the viewer screen. “Mike, I can’t believe it’s you.”

  “Tim. It’s so good to see you. How is your mom?”

  “She’s okay. It turned out to be a neurological reaction. It came from a chemical she started spraying on the fruit plants to get them to grow.”

  “Great. Tell her I said hi.”

  “You know you’re famous? Why did you leave without saying good bye?”

  “I left you a note. It’s as much as I could say at the time.”

  The young ensign looked at the captain and said, “It’s Michael, sir.” He looked at the view screen again. “Great talking to you Mike, Maybe we can talk more later, but for now I have to go.”

  “Tim, when all these issues are resolved let’s get together and visit. Take care buddy.”

  “Chief Mahpee, can we meet face to face?” said the admiral. “We have a lot of talking to do.”

  “I have a better idea, if you are willing. We will send you the location of our home world, Nokomis. I’ll ride with you, we will get acquainted, and you will become the first People of the Stars to visit us.”

  “Great idea. Tell me, why do you call us People of the Stars?”

  “There are so many of you on so many planets, we did not know what else to call you.”

  “I guess you’re right. We have populated a lot of solar systems. How do you want to do this? Would you like me to send a shuttle for you?”

  “Would it be possible to pa
rk my small ship, the Wasp, on one of your landing decks?”

  “Chief Mahpee, you’d be doing us a huge favor. Our engineers would love to look at your technology.”

  “We have a deal, Admiral Harding. My ships will stand down.”

  Captain Bodaway maneuvered the Wasp onto the Constellation. The first order of business was to allow their human cousins to tour the Wasp. Captain Bodaway showed off the little ship to the Constellations’ lead engineer, Commander Gynn Roads. Meanwhile, Mahpee was escorted onto the bridge to meet Admiral Harding.

  As the chief walked by engineering on the Constellation he heard the familiar pop caused by the singularity drive. The convoy had started its historical trip back to Nokomis. As he walked with his escort he counted off seven seconds before he heard another faint pop. The speed at which the People of the Stars fitted the new drive into their ships amazed Mahpee. Both peoples had much to learn from each other. He had to admit, when it came to the military, they were efficient.

  The escort led Chief Mahpee to the bridge elevator. As he stepped out from the elevator Admiral Harding was waiting and honored him with a salute.

  “Chief Mahpee, I’m Admiral Harding.”

  Mahpee held his hands at chest height with his palms outward saying, “Admiral Harding, my people are informal. I would prefer you address me as Mahpee, if you don’t mind. It will make the trip much easier.”

  “Okay, Mahpee it is. I can see the strong link to your ancestors. You know we still teach our history students about the Indian Nation’s disappearance? It was pandemonium during the exodus. I checked our computer. We don’t have a complete data bank of your language but we did have your name. It’s from the Nation called Sioux. It means sky.”

  Mahpee laughed as he recalled the story of his naming. “My family had been working on our farm near Lone Tree, on Nokomis. When the time arrived for me to come into the world, it caught my mother by surprise. As she gave birth to me in a field of wheat, my mother looked up and saw the sky, or mahpee, as spoken in our native language. My father told a different story. He said at the same time my mother looked up, a Sky Hawk, the fastest predator bird on Nokomis, flew overhead. My father believed it an omen from the Great Spirit. My mother refused to see the Sky Hawk, for seeing the bird at the moment of a birth, was an omen of war. My mother’s name for me stuck, but my father always called me Mahpee Chatan, Sky Hawk.”