by Ivan Kal
“Minister Hyeon, Emp- ah, Mister Klein, it’s an honor to meet you, sir.” The man said, shaking Tomas’s hand enthusiastically. Tomas glanced at the name that his implant provided.
“Likewise Chief Morrison. Minister Hyeon tells me that you found something interesting.”
“Yes, yes sir. We found, well, for the lack of a better word a forest made of crystals, deeper inside the cave, and the crystals are generating light, though they have no contact with sunlight, and if we take the sample outside it stops glowing, only starting again when the sun sets, it’s remarkable really.” Chief Morrison said eagerly.
“Is the cave secured?” Tomas asked.
“Yes sir.” Chief Morrison said.
“Good, I’d like to see this forest, is anyone else down there?” Tomas asked, nodding towards the cave tunnel leading down.
“Ah, no, not at the moment.”
“Good, Minister Hyeon and I will go take a look” Tomas said, the Chief tried to say something but Tomas interrupted him. “No, there is no need for an escort, you said that the cave is secured.”
“Of course sir.” Chief Morrison said, and bowed his head shallowly.
Tomas and Seo-yun made their way down in silence, they walked for about 4 minutes until they made a sharp turn and were greeted with an amazing sight.
The cavern inside was vast, and dome like, the crystals reached upwards from the floor, and then split into many branches, looking like a leafless tree. They shined brightly, and illuminated the entire cavern.
“It’s beautiful.” Seo-yun said, and stepped forward. The light caught her face in a way that made Tomas take notice. Her brown hair was now cut to her jawline, rather than the pony tail she used to wear on Earth.
“Yes.” Tomas said, looking at her.
“Can you imagine how many years it took for this to form?” She asked, approaching the crystal tree.
“I assume a lot.” Tomas said.
Seo-yun turned and gave him an incredulous look.
“A lot? It took much more than a lot. Millions and millions of years.” She said, turning and placing her palm against the crystal.
“Hmm… It’s warm.” She said frowning.
“I know why you brought me here.” Tomas said.
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” She said, with her back still towards him.
“I have eyes Seo-yun. I saw how those people looked at me, and how Chief Morrison talked to me. I have no doubt that by the end of the day everyone will know that I was here.”
Seo-yun sighed and turned around.
“Yes, you are right. They will find out, and they will know that you took an interest in what your people do, that you care. You have been locked up in that office of yours for years, your people hadn’t seen you for four years. I know that it is not easy for you to accept this, but you are the Emperor, our leader, and you need to start acting like it.” She said.
“I am acting like it! I have been working every day for the past 60 years!” He yelled. His voice echoing throughout the cavern.
“Don’t you dare tell that bullshit to me Tomas, I know you!” She yelled back. Tomas took a step back, he had never seen her yell at anyone.
“I don’t know what you mean. I have been leading, authorizing projects and like.” Tomas said softly.
“Tomas, can you really not see? Ever since Cloud station blew up, you have been reacting, your last command was to get us here, but since then you have been afraid to make decisions, you left everything to your people. Where is the boy whose dream of grasping the stars pushed him to conquer the world, to create his own country?” She said just as softly.
Tomas reached up to his neck and grasped the chain around his neck, it felt as if it was biting into his skin.
“It was my fault, they were my responsibility.” He said.
“It was the fault of people who ordered the attack.” She said.
“I could have shared our technology with them, they wouldn’t have had a reason to attack us then.”
“They were greedy, and unworthy of the things we possessed. The moment they had our technology, they would have turned it against their neighbors, you know that.”
“I could have kept our warships close, instead of hiding them away.” Tomas said shakily.
“You know that it wouldn’t have mattered, they would have found some other way.”
“But those people, my people wouldn’t be dead!”
“Perhaps, or perhaps someone else would have died in their place. You can’t keep focusing on what was.”
“What if I make another mistake?” He said.
Seo-yun smiled sadly. “You will, but you can’t let those mistakes pull you down. We followed you here, to this other world where we struggle daily to find our way. We left our home planet, our roots, everything we knew because you asked us to. We put our trust in you. We don’t need someone who sits behind the desk, too afraid to lead.” She grabbed him by the shoulders, he could see the determination in her eyes. “We need our leader back, the man who created everything from nothing, the man that could have ruled the world, but didn’t because he had bigger goals, the man that laughed in the face of the world leaders when they threatened him and wanted him to step down.” Her gaze pierced into his eyes. “We need a King.”
Tomas looked down at her, he heard the conviction in her words, could see the intensity in her eyes, and there was something else there, something he had hoped to see for a long time.
“Alright, I will be what you want me to be.” Tomas said, a touch of her determination now creeping into his voice. Seo-yun smiled, she put her hands on his head and pulled him down. She kissed him lightly on the lips for barely a moment, and then she pulled back.
“I know you will.” She said, and then turned and left the cavern.
Tomas gazed after her until she turned a corner, then he turned his eyes to the crystal forest. He stood there for a time. He fished out the pendant, he pressed the button and the names of the three hundred and sixteen appeared, he gazed at them for a moment, and then turned it off, he pulled the chain off his neck and walked to one of the trees. He hanged the chain on one of the crystal tree branches, he would never forget those 316 names, but he no longer needed a reminder around his neck. He turned and started back. He had entered the cavern as a man weighed down by the mistakes of the past, he left as an Leader looking towards the future.
Chapter Eight
OES Traveler - Unknown system
The light from the star expanded outward. It traveled through the emptiness of space with nothing impending its path. It’s eventual destination was a planet five hundred light years away from its starting point. Until there was a flash. The fate of the photons was altered as they struck a silver metallic surface. They were scattered in billions of directions, never to reach that far away planet.
“Hyperspace transfer complete, Ship Master.” Ship Handler Jorge Nunez said.
“Good.” Ship Master Kisaragi Hana, of the Olympus Explorer Ship Traveler said.
She looked expectantly at the holographic table in front of her. The holo above was constantly updated, as the computers analyzed the light they were receiving. The center of the hologram was the Traveler, with the other objects in system just now becoming visible. The system was one of those that they had very little information on, as the Union ship just passed through it on its way to Earth, this system was one that the Union ship visited directly from the nebula. And any data on it was corrupted and lost. This system was between Sanctuary and Sol. Although it was still a lot closer to Sanctuary, being only 12 light years away. There was not much to do until the computer processed the full picture of the system and that would take a while. They were several light hours away from the star. A few minutes later the Sensor Handler George Smith exclaimed out loud. “What a hell?”
Ship Master Kisaragi was about to ask him what he meant when she noticed the latest update to the holo.
“Is this correct?” She a
sked.
“I believe it is Ship Master.” Sensor Handler said.
“Let’s go to yellow alert.” Ship Master Kisaragi said to her first officer, High Prime Rolland Ricks.
He immediately reached for his chair’s display and a moment later, yellow lights flashed five times on the floors of the ship, followed by five alert sounds. Meaning that the ship was now on yellow alert.
“Navigation prim the hyperdrive.” Ship Master Kisaragi said.
“I am getting a lot of comms, nothing targeted at us for now, only radio leakage.” Comm Handler said.
Ship Master Kisaragi nodded. That was a good thing, it suggested that they couldn’t see them yet, and will only see them after the light from the Travelers arrival reaches them.
This was why they were here. The hologram now showed the Traveler, and the fourth planet in the system. The planet was orbiting the system's sun on an orbit that brought it above the sun’s plane. It was the method that the fleet decided to use, for ships to orient themselves inside the system. The suns plane was the plane that the sun was on, which was parallel to the galactic disk, the galactic plane. If the system was above the disk or below didn’t matter. No planet had an orbit that was exactly parallel to the galactic plane. All maneuvering inside a system used that system's star as an orientation point. The Traveler was now around 5 light hours from the sun, about the average distance one could engage the hyperdrive. No system was the same. The fourth planet of the system was only a few light minutes from the sun, the light Traveler was getting, was just shy of 5 hours old. That meant that they could see the events as they happened five hours ago.
The hologram showed a settled planet, with a station in its orbit. And ships moving back and forth, a few were on a course that would bring them to the outer reaches of the system on the other side of the Travelers position.
“Niri, are those radio communications enough for you to start the translation of their language?” Kisaragi asked Niri the ship’s Ai.
“I can start, but a more direct communication would be preferable.” Niri said over the ship's speakers.
“Start, we will see what they do when they notice us.” Kisaragi said.
“Very well, Ship Master.”
Few of the new ships that Olympus built were installed with an Ai. There wasn’t a lot of them to begin with, as they didn’t build more. Tomas Klein was hesitating. So they had only those that were built before they came to Sanctuary. Niri was one of the third generation of Ai’s the humans built. And as she passed all the test she was given a choice of what she wanted to do. No Ai of a lower generation than fourth identified themselves by gender, that was something that happened after. But they succumbed to a human tradition and let the humans assign one to them. It was easier for human beings to care for something that had a gender and a name. The decision to install Ai’s came from the battle between EWS Athena and Concordis ships, when the fifth generation Ai Iris calculated the targeting solution for Athena.
Traveler was equipped with state of the art translating software, and with Niri’s processing power they will be able to get a translation of the alien language much faster. It was an upgrade of the Union translating software. Provided to them by the ancient Ai found in the ship. Asumy had taught them a lot, after they set him free from his shackles and given him a human core as his new home.
Kisaragi spent the next 5 hours on the bridge watching the hologram. They remained in the same position they were in when they exited hyperspace, where they could engage their hyperdrive if they needed to. The aliens didn’t yet notice them, but should any moment now. Just as Kisaragi thought that it was time, she noticed a change. Two of the ships that were in a much higher orbit, moved and met up with the six ships in orbit close to the station. It wasn’t anything major, there were a lot of ships that constantly moved. But the way they fell into formation with the rest told her that those were not transport ships. Two more ships met up in a higher orbit of the planet. Kisaragi intentionally didn’t order any changes, they just sat and watched, expecting a communication. Which, if they contacted them immediately would arrive in another 5 hours. If they didn’t have faster than light communications. She left the bridge to take a three hour nap, then showered and ate. She figured that the next period would be interesting.
After the five hours passed, they got a direct laser comm from the station orbiting the planet. They had already adapted their software to recognize and convert alien transmissions. Niri did a great job, but they still didn’t have a working translation.
“This communication will speed up my progress Ship Master. I will have a full translation in a few hours.” Niri said.
“Alright then.” Kisaragi said. After they made sure that there were no ships near them and that there was no other danger, she allowed the ship to go back to green station, and the bridge shift took place. She went to her quarters and got some more sleep. She was woken up by Niri when she finished translating.
Kisaragi entered the bridge and took her place in the command chair, High Prime Rolland Ricks was already there.
“Can you play the message Niri.” Kisaragi said.
“Yes, Ship Master, it was sound only. There is a word I couldn’t translate, I believe that is the name of their race, I will play that in its original.” She said.
A moment later the ship's speaker came to life.
“You have entered - ” It started in a monotone computer voice, but then a strange voice interrupted saying something that to human ears sounded like Nel “ – territory. You have not sent an identification signal, and your ship is not in our database. Identify yourself, or we will take aggressive actions.”
“Well, that’s direct.” Rolland said.
“Yes. Though I doubt they would be able to do anything, we are little over a month away from them at our top speed. And those ships that are leaving the system are moving slower than that.” Kisaragi said.
“Niri, translate and send the following message: This is a Human ship Traveler. We are on a peaceful mission looking for trade in this sector of space. We have a selection of items that we are willing to trade, and are looking for any information you are willing to give about this sector of space.”
The leaders of Olympus decided that it would be best that in the case of meeting an alien race, they pretend that they had already met other races. They knew that there were many out there. But meeting them would be different, they decided that by opening trade they could learn a lot about them. It was a spy practice as old as humanity. They had a few samples of what they were willing to trade. Helium 3, which they had in abundance in the Nebula, some other metals that they had no use for or had too much.
“Message sent Ship Master.” Niri said.
“Good.” Kisaragi said. She stood up and passed the command chair to her High Prime. It would be at least another 10 hours until they get a message back.
***
“Are we sure that they are not Sowir?” Lanai Sumia, administrator of planet Nuva asked. They were in her offices with her staff on the planet.
“As much as we can be sure, administrator. The Ship doesn’t match any records we have.” Retsar Isani said.
“What about the message? It was sent in our language.” Sumia asked.
“The computer analysis indicates that the voice was computer generated, and the syntax wasn’t really right. We could understand it, but it was on a level of someone who just started learning the language.” Isani said.
“Could it be a trick?” Sumia asked. Her black claws tapping the round desk in front of her.
“It is only one ship, and not a very big one at that. It is the size of our light cruisers. And there is no point, we don’t have enough ships to defend ourselves should the Dominion finally turn to us.” Isani said.
“So, what do we do?” Sumia asked.
“The home world is refusing to send aid, they have written us off. We are on our own. I say we let the newcomers approach. If they are who they say they are,
travelers from another race, we can at least warn them about the Dominion. And you never know administrator, perhaps they will be able to help us.” Retsar Isani said.
“Alright Admiral, let them know that they can approach the planet. Have our ships meet them, and make sure that they are not Sowir.”
***
“So, we can approach.” Kisaragi said.
“Yes Ship Master.” Rolland said.
“Alright. Navigation enter the course for the planet.” Kisaragi said.
“They are sending an escort.” Rolland said.
Kisaragi nodded. “How fast are those ships on a course out of the system going?” Kisaragi asked,
“Their top speed is holding at around 1800 km/s.” Navigation Handler said.
“Set our top speed at 1000 km/s. Let’s not show them our best speed. We should get there in less than two months.” Kisaragi said.
“Yes Ship Master.”
“Let’s start actively scanning the system. And send a message back to Sanctuary. Send them everything.” Kisaragi said. She looked at the holo of a big green planet. At least she will have enough time to think about what to do when she gets there.
Chapter Nine
OWS Athena
The bright superheated plasma exploded out of the VASIMR drives of the Olympus Warship Athena. It propelled her at great speeds forward. The drive gave of an immense amount of light, and could be detected easily. But the genius of human design was that the only way it could be detected was if it was pointed at the observer. There was almost no spill, all of the heat, and light was pointed away from the ship. Ship Master Adrian Farkas sat in his ready room, adjacent to the command center, he was going through the last evaluations for his crew. The Athena had been on a patrol for the past two years. It’s patrol route took them out to the inner border of the nebula, then around the system below the sun’s plane, and then back to Sanctuary above the sun’s plane. Sanctuary’s orbit was mostly above the plane, it passes below only for a few days every year. Adrian read the evaluations that his officers wrote for their cadets. Those who had chosen to join the fleet straight out of the academy and advance through ranks traditionally thorough service. They were also the last of the graduates from the academy. There will be no more new fleet personnel until the younger generations grew up. Those that were children when they started their journey from Sol, and those that were born on Sanctuary. It was strange to Adrian to think of himself as a commander. He was thrust into the position by a series of circumstances, that placed him in the wrong place at the wrong time. At least that was what he believed at the time. He knew that he was capable enough for the position, but he also understood that he was very young, technically. Adrian shook his head, it could be argued that he was in fact old. Technically, he was more than eighty years old. If one counted the time they spent on the trip to their new home. Although the stasis units froze the persons aging process, there was a kind of awareness. He couldn’t really put his finger on it, but he and a few others he talked to, felt as if they were dreaming during the trip. The scientist insisted that it was impossible, but he still remembered something, feelings. He could clearly recall how it felt even though he couldn’t really recall what it was he dreamt about. But the feelings of dread, agony and fear remained, etched deep into his mind. He had nightmares the first two years after they came out of stasis. He would wake up in the middle of the night terrified, but unable to recall anything about the dream. The only reason he managed to stay sane were Iris and Bethany, his best friends. Iris was his Ai, and was always there when he needed it. A voice inside his head, whispering soft words, assuring him he was safe. While Bethany was a bit further away, her assignments taking her away, but still there a constant in his life. Thankfully the dreams had stopped.
