Enemy Myself

by Daniel OConnell

  Rooke looks over at Syn and states, “Well we could probably use a few mines that those space pirates used against us on them. That should get the two of them to drop out of hyperspace and hide our presence for a few minutes while they investigate.”

  Syn shakes his head in agreement, stating, “I can use material from any asteroid around us to manufacture the material to create one of their mines.” Syn pauses as he processes information, finally stating, “I have all the data on the pirate’s technology we faced before and should be able to mimic their technology with ease. This would allow us to remain concealed.”

  Caleb still focused on the crew of the carriers asks, “Is there really no way we can sever the connection Ronin has on the crew?”

  Syn glares at Caleb and replies, “After you released so many of my Fathers followers when you took over Skull he planted a backup program that would wipe clean the mind of any that attempted to remove or interrupt his control of them. I do possess the knowledge to remove the psionic control devices but the process will take far too long.”

  Caleb focuses on Syn, asking, “How long?”

  Syn grumbles, answering “I took me three months too free as many people that are currently onboard this vessel, three hundred and sixty-six. Considering the crew compliment of eight thousand seven hundred and forty-four people onboard each carrier it will take me a little over seven years.”

  Caleb sits back in his command chair as he ponders Syn’s plan. Finally, he stands up and begins walking away, stating, “Go ahead with your plan Syn.”

  For thirteen days Paladin closes in on the seven carriers at blinding speed, stopping only briefly to gather needed resources for Syn’s plan. Syn easily constructs several mines for Paladin to place in front of the two carriers as they prepare to unveil their trap.

  One day during their journey Caleb is walking the corridors of Paladin as he stumbles across Elise. She sees Caleb and stands directly in his path, asking, “You said my son left a legacy of descendants, do you think they will know who I am?”

  Caleb studies Elise for a second as he contemplates just why she is asking such a question. Finally, Caleb replies, “Edgar was never one to consider anyone else’s needs or wants above his own, so as far as I know they will have no idea who you are.”

  Elise turns away visibly upset, stating, “Edgar was not always like that Caleb. Years of being manipulated and deceived created his mistrust in humanity but he was always one who sought power not so much for himself but to ensure that he could not be lied too.”

  Caleb exhales heavily, stating, “Your Son and Dorian were a necessary evil. I knew from their beginning as leaders that they would drive a wedge into the Paladonian people. That wedge would eventually grow into a civil war that would join the Paladonian people into a united people. Most if not all your descendants are now outcasts, pirates or marauders. Each one, seeking out power for themselves.”

  Elise turns towards Caleb as tears runs down her cheeks asking, “You knew the future? You knew the outcome, allowing my son to be a pawn in your plan?”

  Caleb takes in a slow breath as he lowers his head, answering, “Unfortunately your son and Dorian future was one set long before meeting me. At least in my plan they both lived full lives.”

  Elise stares at Caleb in contempt, asking, “How did you know what the future would bring?”

  Caleb turns away, answering, “That is a conversation for another time Elise. I am sorry that your son’s legacy is not one you had hoped for but perhaps you can create a new legacy for his and your descendants.” Caleb doesn’t give Elise the chance to continue the conversation as he hastily shifts away back to his quarters.

  Caleb looks out over the stars from his observation dome and asks Paladin, “Ok Pal what do you think.”

  Paladin replies, “There is far too much uncertainty in what can happen. Although you have planned for virtually every variation we would or could encounter we are once again flying without a net. You have successfully protected your family and the human race, albeit temporarily. Eventually we will be forced to make a decision that could end us.”

  Caleb takes in a deep breath and asks, “Are Syn’s mines ready to be deployed?

  Paladin responds, “He has constructed nine mines which possess a rudimentary variation of a cloaking field. One that the Demon Queens forces should not be able to detect or track back to us. Nevertheless Cale, Syn could be playing us for fools as he would be bringing us right into the Demon Queens hands.”

  Caleb stares out at the stars for a moment, finally saying, “No my friend, Syn has his own motivations for helping us and for now he needs our help and we need his.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  HAYSTACK

  Avalon controlled space, Ronin moves towards a new sector, which their new friend has shown as having strong energy readings. Currently on the Bridge is Carla, Ismail, Frasier, Ulysses and their new guest a Dorsa intelligence officer. The Dorsa officer is wearing an environmental suit with an anti grave device allowing him to survive and move onboard Ronin.

  Frasier grumbles ever so slightly, stating, “Well this will be the eighth sector in Avalon space our guest has brought us to. Let’s hope this one bears more fruit than the last seven.”

  Ronin responds, “The Dorsa officer’s information has shown us several cloaked satellites as well as two other psionic super bomb. It should only be a matter of elimination.”

  Frasier exhales loudly, “We have wasted ten days so far. Our Hyper drive is functioning. We could have easily cleared the psionic dampened space for Carla to use her powers.”

  Ismail turns towards Frasier obviously annoyed, stating, “Providing Caleb himself isn’t enveloped in one of the psionic super bombs effect, which would be the apparent tactic to use against a psionic opponent.”

  The Dorsa, using his electronic voice box speaks, “We have over twenty-nine recorded energy disturbances hidden in and around Avalon controlled space.”

  Frasier no longer hiding his displeasure with their Dorsa guest states, “Well let’s hope your information pans out soon or I’d be more than happy to send you back to your people.”

  The Dorsa looks towards Frasier for a few moments before turning his attention back to Carla, asking, “If your Father went to such lengths to protect you from this threat why are you trying so hard to place yourself back in harm’s way?”

  Carla, who is focused on every scanner on Ronin’s Bridge turns her attention towards the Dorsa and replies hastily, “Because my Father can’t do this alone. What he was told of the future is now outdated and he is placing himself in jeopardy.” Carla promptly refocuses all her attention back on the sensors as Ronin continues to scan every segment of this sector.

  Abe enters the Bridge, seeing everyone focused on the scanners he states, “Well I’ve triangulated the drift in the previous seven items we found since we first started this needle in the haystack search so if I use that calculation as a basis I can save us a lot of time and narrow our search to just a few hours at most for each sector.”

  Frasier sits back in his seat, releasing a long sigh of relief, saying, “Well Abe feel free to save us all the time you can.”

  Abe walks over to the scanners and quickly updates the search parameters and within a moment Ronin announces, “It would appear that Master Abraham calculations were correct. Unfortunately, this is once again another cloaked satellite.”

  Ulysses smirks as he looks towards Frasier, stating, “Sorry Admiral but there are so many Black Guard divisions and each has a few dozens of these scattered across the sector. We send them out to do random scans of our territory just in case a potential threat slips into our space.”

  Ismail curious asks, “Why would there be so many different division? Would it not be better for you all to work together?”

  Ulysses shrugs his shoulders, replying, “Absolutely, I would agree with that statement Master Ismail but over the centuries that have passed the Original Black guard was split into two
distinct fractions as one part worked directly for the government, while my division continued on with Caleb’s prime directive.”

  Frasier confused by there conversation asks, “Is that the prime directive that kept the Paladonians under Caleb’s control?”

  Carla stops what she is doing and turns her full attention towards Frasier in total disgust.

  Ulysses exhales, stating, “Well we were only tasked in keeping the timeline on track Admiral. It would appear that you are unfamiliar with Caleb as he despised any kind of leadership role in government.”

  Frasier’s contempt shows clearly as he asks, “And just how would you know about the First One’s Black guard if you’re from this division?”

  Ulysses grins, answering, “You see Admiral Frasier I am direct descendant of a Black guard from the First ones and as such I am privy to our entire history. Most of the Paladonian Black Guard know about us but don’t know our full potential. We however know everything about them.”

  Abe shakes his head as he turns to Frasier, saying, “Perhaps we can focus on finding this hidden gateway instead of digging up a dead horse just to poke it a few times and upset my wife.”

  Frasier looks over at Carla who is staring at him with rage filled eyes. He immediately grins, saying, “Yes of course Abe. Let’s get moving to the next sector.”

  Three additional days pass when Ronin reports, “We have found the hidden gateway of Caleb.”

  Frasier, who is on the Bridge with Carla and Kalen rolls his eyes and states, “Well that clearly didn’t take too much time now did it.”

  Carla grumbles, stating, “Abe’s program saved us days of searching.”

  Kalen chuckles, stating, “Well, there was only one last possible alternative.”

  Ronin announces, “I have awoken Master Abraham, he should be with us momentarily.”

  Several minutes pass as the Bridge quickly fills with everyone. Abe sits down at the science station and begins communicating with the cloaked gateway, stating, “Well its primary functions seem to be the same as the Paladonian gateway technology. I should be able to uncloak it.” Abe sends out a command and the gateway uncloaks.

  Ronin immediately announces, “We have an urgent communication from Avalon. It is Oz.”

  Ulysses eyes go wide, saying, “This won’t be good.”

  Frasier shakes his head towards the communication officer who pulls up the holoimage of Oz. Oz quickly stares over the group before him, stating, “Your Father feared that your persistence would eventually lead you to this gateway. Carla please listen to me, if you pass through that gateway you will be giving the Meli just what it wants. Your Father was given a vision of future events and did everything he could to protect you. Please think about what you are doing.”

  Carla takes in a deep breath, stating, “His vision never considered my children nor did it know about the weakness that the Demon Queen is currently dealing with. If we move now we can help end this before it begins.”

  Oz sighs heavily, pulling out a device, stating, “Mistress Carla I want more than anyone to believe you could possible make a difference but your fathers visions were all spot on.” Oz holds out the device, saying, “This is a trigger mechanism that will destroy that gateway. Please don’t make me destroy it.”

  Carla glares at Oz as she takes helm control over and has Ronin move right up to the gateway, saying, “If you blow it up the detonation will kill me and everyone onboard this ship.”

  Kalen yells out, “Are you crazy! Get us out of here now!”

  The helm officer replies, “I can’t, my controls are locked.”

  Abe, who is focused on gateway finally gets it to activate, saying, “I have connected to all forty…” Abe pauses, stating, “We have forty-six gateways in the link and not forty-five.”

  Ismail confused asks, “What does it matter if its forty-five or forty-six?”

  Abe looks over to Kalen and says, “Because as Kalen had pointed out earlier two of those gateways where probably being used as a weapon against the Demon Queen so if Caleb added another into the link his original plan must have changed.” Abe quickly begins to calculate the data from the gateways. With blinding speed Abe accesses the gateway data, announcing, “Caleb linked in the forty-sixth gateway just a little under thirteen days ago, he passed through to the forty-fifth gateway. I’m recalculating the link to allow us to exit that same gateway.”

  Oz, who is still on the holo screen puts down the device, stating, “I cannot stop you Mistress Carla nor would I ever be able to do you harm. I hope you succeed in bringing your Father back to us.”

  Frasier looks to Carla, asking, “If you’d be so kind as to return control of my ship to me we can head through the gateway.”

  Abe looks over his shoulder, stating, “Give me a few minutes to reroute us out of the forty-fifth gateway.”

  Ismail, noticing Abe struggling becomes concerned, asking, “Abe is there something wrong?”

  Abe grumbles loudly answering, “This isn’t as simple as it sounds. Paladin encrypted each gateway to be a one-way trip so bypassing one out of the sequence isn’t that easy.”

  Raphael asks, “Can we not simply exit the forty-sixth gateway and follow the path Paladin took. Since you have the base code it should be easy enough to retrace the last protocol commands.”

  Abe lowers his head, stating, “I cannot communicate with that gateway at all. It may not have the same base code as the other forty-five.”

  Ismail shakes his head still confused and asks, “Sorry for not being on your level Abe but why not have us come out at the forty-fourth gateway?

  Abe clenches his fist in frustration, answering, “Well the forty-sixth and the forty-fifth are only a few months apart at Ronin’s top speed while the Forty-fourth gateway is more than ten years away so not really an option.”

  Carla quickly becomes impatient, stating, “Abe a few months is far better than ten years, just put us through the gateway and let me try and contact my Father.”

  Abe stops what he is doing and says, “Carla think for a minute. Your Father was planning on going into battle with the Meli, a very powerful psionic creature, so powerful in fact that he detonated thousands of those psionic super bombs all around here, do you really think he wouldn’t have detonated them out there.”

  Frasier looks over at his communications officer and turns back to Abe, stating, “We do have other means of communication.”

  Ismail’s eyes go wide, saying, “Using a holocom channel that the enemy would know all about is very dangerous. We don’t even know if Caleb is planning a stealth attack. Our enemy is not the T-Challa this time but a being with all the knowledge we currently possess.”

  Ulysses who has been patiently watching Abe approaches him and leans over, asking him privately, “Abe can’t you figure out how to operate that gateway once we get there?”

  Abe leans back, running his hands through his hair, answering, “Yes, I’m pretty sure I can do it but I have no idea how long it will take.”

  Carla looks to Frasier, announcing, “The ships is yours to command Admiral.”

  Frasier, who has lost all patience in the search for this gateway stands up, ordering, “Put us through the gateway.”

  The helm brings the ship into position as Abe continue to work feverishly trying to break the link of the forty-sixth gateway but to no avail as Ronin passes through the gateway and appears almost two billion light years away.

  Ronin announces, “The area of psionic interference is minimal here and I can scan that we are less than a few weeks from escaping its effects.”

  Abe quickly sighs aloud as he slams his fists against the console in front of him, announcing, “The base code is completely different on this gateway. This gateway’s set up is locked. I can’t access anything without the base code.”

  Carla places her hand on Abe and says, “Well than I’d suggest you prepare engineering because we know what’s next.”

  Abe grumbles as he gets up and races over
to the lift, yelling, “Try not to blow out all the new conduits!”

  Carla looks to Frasier as she begins to hover above the deck, stating, “Ronin has our course and I will supply you with as much power to the hyperdrive as I can muster.”

  Ismail asks, “Ronin how long till we will be in range to scan for Caleb?”

  Ronin replies, “We should be able to pick up the other gateway in a few weeks.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  GROWING PAINS

  Caleb sits in the command chair as Syn races across the Bridge, preparing to drop the mines. Caleb studies the seven super Carriers, noticing their massive size and armament. They are five times the size of Paladin carrying a massive array of Plasma cannons and torpedo launchers. Caleb carefully studies their formation and asks, “They are flying in a spread-out formation, why?”

  Syn, who barely stops as he glances up replies, “Standard formation since the time you were lost in the black hole gateway. All ships keep a standard distance to prevent massive losses from a similar trap. Although these ships are all equipped with shift drive technology and could easily destroy a gateway, shifting away before the initial shockwave would hit them they still maintain this standard formation.”

  Caleb grimaces, asking, “How are these carriers whose size dwarfs my ship capable of shifting? I always believed my ship was the largest vessel capable of shifting without the energy of a Phace’mal powering the shift drive.”

  Syn stops what he is doing and stares at Caleb, stating, “You are partially correct Caleb. The shift drive does require massive power to shift a ship of such size. Nevertheless, my Father created an alternative means to power the shift drive for vessels of such magnitude. These Super Carriers are only able to shift once every few days as they build up the power to shift.”

  Caleb suddenly realizes Syn’s plan to alter the size of Paladin and his eyes go wide, asking, “And if you successfully increase the mass of Paladin will this ship be able to shift as we are able to now?”