Gerry slowly swung around, to face an unfamiliar object that had just exited the glowing shaft that he’d fallen through earlier.
“So, I’ve been told,” he finally answered while trying to make sense of the object.
He could see that it was apparently some kind of advanced Droid. It almost looked like two eggs attached in line, he thought. So, maybe one egg-shaped section was the power unit. And the other had two muzzles.… that he suddenly realized were pointing directly towards him. They must be its weapons, he decided just as they started to glow.
Gerry was startled to see a force-field forming around the Droid. Then the droid became agitated as it probed the strength of the force-field enclosing it.
“Disable this field immediately,” the Droid tried to order the Ship’s security system.
“You will leave me now,” the ship’s interface sphere returned.
Gerry decided to intervene. “I believe you wish to kill me. Why?” he asked the Droid.
“The High-council ordered your termination. I will play the relevant part of their meeting to you,” the Droid replied. Then Gerry listened, noting that the speakers’ voices were much deeper than the droid’s
“Number Seven, this Gerry Stevens does not seem to have the abilities that we need for this type of fixer?”
“Correct, Number One. However, we still believe that he could have had, eventually.”
There was a pause.
“Number Seven, I see that you had to use a Time-ship because this Stevens was already way behind schedule.”
“Yes, Number One. That’s why we have already arranged to terminate Stevens. We are in the process of selecting another to take his place.”
Then the droid’s replay of the recording ended.
“This confirms you are no longer required,” the Droid then stated.
“Are you the one sent to terminate me?” a shocked Gerry asked.
“Yes.” The Droid replied, then shifted its attention back to the interface Sphere.
“Ship, you will drop your shield, now,” it directed the interface.
“Hang on, I am here, and ready to do my part,” Gerry quickly interjected.
“Nevertheless, I will carry out my orders,” the Droid reiterated.
Then, seeing the Droid’s weapon’s tubes start to flare, Gerry quickly stepped back from the shield surrounding the Droid.
‘The stupid thing’s going to try to fire through the Ship’s holding forcefield,’ he thought to himself.
A blinding flash from the Droid’s weapons within the forcefield, sent its beams swirling around inside ripping the Droid’s body apart in a flurry of energy. Having been contained within the force-field, the fiery discharges then slowly dissipated, leaving the remains of the Droid’s body as a smoldering globular lump on the floor.
“You took a risk,” Gerry chastised the Ship’s interface.
“Why? I did say that I was the greatest Starship in the twenty-seventh century.”
“You could have been wrong,” Gerry snapped at it.
“Never.”
“Yea-yea… I assume we are still in business?” Gerry then asked.
“Of course, Captain.”
“So, is the glowing shaft that I fell through the only entrance to this ship?”
“No.”
“Well, that was short and sweet. Okay. So, calling you a Sphere, or Interface, is not my idea of communicating with a ship’s AI. Or rather, my ship’s AI,” Gerry stated, having finally accepted the fact that he was indeed the Captain of this pretty special ship.
“What do you wish to call me, Captain?”
Gerry thought about that before answering. He knew a female name would generally be used. But he was sure that this ship was lethal. So, a strong-sounding male name would undoubtedly be better.
“Ronin,” Gerry said. “It comes from the Sanskrit word which I think means ascending.”
“Very well, Captain. Ronin, it shall be.”
“Well, that’s settled then.”
“Come, Captain. Walk with me.”
“Ronin, that’s an impossibility,” Gerry sarcastically replied, as he followed the Sphere over to a large shiny disc that had just materialized on the floor.
Gerry then stood in the center of the disc with Ronin hovering close by.
“So, what now?”
“To work, as your mind is saying.”
“Don’t you have any privacy ethics?”
“No. But, as you said to me earlier. If you really are a Starship, why the hell are you underground, and not in space. Well, we soon will be.”
“Will be what?”
“In Space, of course.”
And Gerry immediately felt a wrenching feeling, then there was just blackness.
Chapter 9
Game Changer
Stardate, Unknown.
Location: Delta’s central chamber.
The virtual chamber was in session again. With just four prime Council elder’s holographic heads hovering in the air around the sizeable holographic table.
Number One audibly addressed the other three members to facilitate the recording of the meeting.
“Number Two, I see that the Temporal overlay for 2773 still hasn’t changed.”
“Correct. Neither timelines exist beyond 2773.”
“That might change soon. Number Seven, has this Stevens been terminated?”
“It seems that our temporal extraction prevented the Droid from terminating him.”
“How is that possible?”
“The ship’s still fluctuating within the temporal overlay, Number One.”
“Then our control over the ship is suspect?”
“It may well be. Do you still wish us to eliminate Stevens?”
There was a pause as number one listened to an update.
“It seems that one of our Up-Time predictor Time-ships has just registered a blur at 2773,” Number One informed them.
“At what Up-Time date is the ship’s location?” Number Two asked.
“Apparently, 2771. It’s as far Up-Time as the stable timeline extends,” Number one told him.
“That’s far too close,” Number Two exclaimed. “We have no way of predicting something which is already unstable.”
“Then, an unknown element must have entered the equation and is affecting the timeline,” Number Nine interjected. “Possibly Stevens?”
“Perhaps. Let’s see if Stevens has caused the shift before we continue.”
“No termination then, Number One?”
“No termination, for now, Number Two…. All elders will reconvene as soon as we have all Up-Time data, and the status of Richardson’s children is known… This session has ended.”
With that, the Holographic scene dissolved.
Chapter 10
Destiny’s Children.
Garth and Tarra’s Crillon battle-cruiser exited warp four kilometers off Invincible’s port bow.
“Damned dangerous,” Commodore Jack Earhart grumbled as his ship’s close-contact warning activated on his heavy cruiser’s bridge.
Then he nervously watched the new arrival as it drew closer to his cruisers, Victor and Excalibur, and to the Crillon ship that had succumbed to mind control. All of which made up Earhart’s small but impressive battle-group.
Commodore Jack Earhart’s mind clouded as he remembered his first contact with these two humans, when an unsteady Holographic image of a young man and woman had established in the center of his Bridge, and the man had issued an order, saying, “You will only work for us.”
Now, part of his mind registered that his ship’s crew had just been subjected to mind-control orders from these humans who had also over-ridden the central AI, forcing it to shut down the operations systems, including the weapons assistor droids.
The Commodore’s mind was telling him to submit to these humans, as well. And, even though up to now, these humans’ mental control over his personnel had only just been strong enough, they st
ill scared the life out of him.
So, it was inevitable that whatever control he had managed to maintain before, he would be forced to give in to them now, and would no longer be in control of himself.
I’ll just be a puppet to them,’ Earhart thought.
Then, almost cried out in pain as the two invading minds, now closer and stronger, tried to invade his mind. He struggled to resist their attempt at full control, at first. But his mind was unable to withstand their power, and he finally yielded his allegiance to them.
Earhart was surprised that he felt as if nothing had changed in his mind. That is until he tried to stand and stabbing pain in his head halted him abruptly.
Damn it, he mentally swore. Then wondered if these five ships were really the only ships this Trexis group had?
Just then, Invincible’s central AI returned to operational status, and Earhart could see that, in preparation for warp, it was issuing commands plus a set of galactic coordinates to Tactical, and to the Astro plotter systems.
Startled by this, Earhart turned in his Command chair to see the sharp holographic images of the young man and woman form on his bridge. He noted that both were smartly dressed, as before, but looked taller and younger than he’d previously thought. Their reddish hair was also shorter. He knew that one of the side effects of the brain cell injections could make some peoples hair more reddish in color.
Earhart’s eyes then rested on the female. She was attractive and quite shapely for her age, which he guessed was probably about sixteen.
“We will be intercepting another group of three Crillon Battle-Cruisers,” the male stated. His words sounding cold and firm. “These three ships are the most advanced to come out of Crilla’s construction facilities on its moon, Tapin.”
Earhart knew that all the ships in his group would be under full control by now. So, would also be seeing and hearing these two beings.
He tried to ask these humans, why only Crillon vessels. But the female glanced at him, and he almost screamed as a stabbing pain again cut his words dead.
“Commodore, you will not speak unless we say so,” the female ordered.
Then the male continued.
“Our destiny is to be rulers of this Galaxy…. From now on, when spoken too, you will address me as Lord Garth and my Sister as Lord Tarra.”
Why Lord Tarra? Earhart wondered. After all, Tarra, by the very nature of her gender couldn’t really be called a Lord. But then decided it wasn’t relevant now, it was an old royal tradition, and they weren’t on Earth.
He cringed, just waiting for another stab of pain for questioning their titles. But, the pain never came.
Then he looked at their images again and noticed that both pairs of eyes were fixed on him. Eyes that were a vivid fluorescent green color. Of course, he thought to himself. They must have had the special brain cell injections.
Earhart was brought back to the here and now, when his ship’s central AI suddenly re-established the ship’s operational systems, including the weapons assistor droids.
“Lord Tara will be joining your ship, Commodore,” Lord Garth then informed Earhart.
“Is that wise, Lord Garth?” Earhart queried.
“Yes…, she is my equal. Your central AI will immediately prepare a luxury cabin for her.”
Earhart felt the word almost, was implied, but not spoken by Garth.
Then, he saw his Astro navigator Sub- Lieutenant Stiles, enter data into the navigation system. Straight away, the Galactic coordinates of the target Crillon Battle Cruisers appeared on his tactical display, along with the computed jump sequence needed to intercept the vessels.
“Shuttle coming into dock, Commodore,” Captain Carpenter’s voice said.
Commodore Earhart cursed himself for not taking command. Well until now., he decided. After all, he was a Military officer, so should have damn well been acting like one.
“Tac…,” he said to re-activate his tactical display.
“Time to dock?”
“Three ship minutes,” came the tactical update.
“Captain... Bridge crew, verify all assistor droids are unaffected by the mental control applied to us. Do it now,” Earhart ordered.
“Why?” came Lord Garth’s irritated voice.
Before replying, Earhart tried to control his mind enough to keep it from wandering and putting his loyalty in question.
“Simple, Lord Garth… It seems to me that our predictive jump exit is far too close to the three Crillon ships for safety.”
“You may be assured Commodore that we will not cause any deviation in the Astro-plot’s accuracy,” Lord Garth stated.
Earhart knew he could never disobey either of the Lords. But something somewhere in his brain was prompting him to risk all and ask the question that he needed to know the answer to. So, he didn’t reply straight away.
“Do you wish to know if we can control computers and other equipment, Commodore?” Lord Garth finally asked.
Earhart was sure that it was his mind’s bolt-hole that was prompting him. But, knowing that he was on dangerous ground, he hesitated momentarily before replying.
“It’s just that if we are going into battle Lord Garth, we might unconsciously think that you will save the day for us, causing us to hesitate. Then we will almost certainly join the cosmic dust.”
Lord Garth studied him for a few seconds before answering.
“We cannot control in-organic objects…. Do not ask any more questions, Commodore.”
Earhart had felt Garth touch his mind, but that was all. But, he knew the answer now. He had won. The two of them had only been able to take over his crew, who had then shut down the systems for them.
Later, Lord Tara’s shuttle docked with the Invincible, and Tara went straight to her cabin without entering the bridge. That pleased Commodore Earhart.
Earhart noted that his tactical display showed that his ships were ready to jump. Then saw that the exit coordinates were changing in real time and sighed with relief knowing it was essential to keep the predicted exit-point synced with all ships, and with the continually moving target.
“Jump when ready,” Earhart commanded his Systems Tactical AI. Then sensed Lord Tara was in his mind, just for a few seconds, before both Lord Garth and Lord Tara’s Holo-images vanished from his bridge. Then, Earhart braced himself for the next unpleasant Jump.
“Bring back the old warp engines,” he muttered to himself.
Space, suddenly seemed to twist in front of Earhart’s ships as they warped space and created their own worm-holes, whose jet-black centers were enclosed by a ring of swirling milky-white vortexes of pure energy that denoted the wormhole’s outer boundary.
Earhart felt as if his body was being stretched and pulled apart while at the same time a ferocious yanking sensation made him feel as if his stomach had been left behind.
Chapter 11
New Direction
The blackness in Gerry Stevens mind cleared as he finally managed to stand upright.
“Ronin,” he angrily yelled.
And the ship’s interface sphere, Ronin, instantly materialized nearby.
“We are in orbit, Captain,” Ronin informed Gerry.
“Bloody hell…. Ronin. I told you about your jerking around. It’s damn painful.”
“I must allow for your intolerance of pain in the future,” Ronin replied, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
“Show me those two supposedly Varon wrecks,” Gerry angrily ordered, and a large two-meter translucent sphere instantly formed. Then a life-like image of the two Varon wrecks materialized within the Sphere, which was entirely transparent now.
Gerry hadn’t seen such a technically advanced presentation before. The wrecked ships looked solid as if they were really in the sphere, and he felt as if he could just remove them and hold them in his hands.
The holographic sphere suddenly flickered and seemed to dissolve in mid-air. While Gerry felt a popping sensation, as time stretched away from him.
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Then time returned to normal, and he saw a young female standing right in front of him.
“I’m Cindy,” she said, extending a hand in introduction.
“Whoa…,” he muttered, then automatically took her hand.
“And you are…?” she asked him.
“Uh, Captain Gerry Stevens at your service,” he returned, trying to sound humorous.
“You can release my hand now, Gerry,” she prompted as a smile broke across her face.
“Uh, Sorry,” Gerry absently replied, unable to take his eyes off her full lips that quivered slightly when she smiled at him.
Then Gerry quietly studied her. She was an attractive looking and shapely female, dressed in a light-blue one-piece suit that hugged her body. With long auburn colored hair cascading down over her shoulders.
He looked at her face again and decided that she couldn’t be more than 25 or 26 years old.
Cindy smiled at him as she touched a patch on her suit, causing it to transform into a free-flowing light blue garment that rested just off her shoulders.
Gorgeous, Gerry thought. And suddenly remembered the two females that had been mentioned in Captain Frank Richardson’s debrief papers, one of whom had been called Cindy. He recalled that the two women were 24 years old when Frank had first met them on Andromeda.
Unbelievable, he thought. So, how can Cindy still look so good at…, what…, well over 40 years old?
“A four-hour session in one of Delta’s rejuvenation cubicles works wonders,” she told him.
Then Gerry sensed his special brain cells urging him to make mental contact with her.
‘Is it that easy?’ he thought, concentrating his mind.
Galactic War Page 5
