Syra spoke only a few words; she was slowing down in her older age and spoke publicly only when it was necessary.
Welcome everyone to Earth II’s first military base. This was one of the last things I would have ever thought we would need. But it was naïve of me to think so.
This place I dedicate to General Crawford for all the challenging work he has given to see this project to where it is today. There will be many lives depending on what has been carried out here, therefore I name it, The Crawford Military Base.
Syra stepped down with only a little aid and joined her family. The general stepped up to the podium for only a moment as well.
Please, hold your cheers I will only be a moment. I know all of you are anxious to get your tours and to celebrate. Trust me, there will be plenty of food for you later and the tours will start at once as soon as I leave the stage.
I just wanted to thank Syra for the dedication and naming of the base. I would also like to thank everyone who has worked so hard to build the base and everything in it in record time, I might add.
I promise that I will serve in my new duties with every bit of the years of experience I have from back on Earth to keep each one of us safe. This I pledge my life to serve until my death.
The general exited the stage, and the celebrations were in full bloom. Shuttles took groups to the barracks and then the training area. Tours by foot were the most sought after since you could get started right away and not wait on a shuttle. It also meant you could access all the wonderful food that had been prepared first!
Later that evening, The Ark Royal and 24 ships of its newest fleet flew over the base, the retreat, the two cities and the Central Command Center for the greatest airshow anyone on Earth II had even seen in their entire lives. The plans were to build as many as 200 ships, and the fleet would be able to protect as airspace as needed.
Lights were flashing and spinning from all around the ships as they lit up the night skies with colors pulsating in and out and dancing all around them. They all then returned to the base on their newly-assigned landing spaces surrounding the Ark Royal where it would now remain until such time they were called to duty.
But it was not until the last tour was completed, the last bit of food consumed, and music played did the base start the cleanup and worked throughout the night to look like the grand military base it was.
By morning, the night crew was sleeping, and the day crew went straight back to work on the many projects they had left that was still under construction.
The training resumed at the base and every man would know how to fly his own ship in the fleet of the Ark Royal. Many had completed their training and returned home for some much-needed rest and relaxation.
Each knew that they could be called upon at any time for added training exercises and even called to duty should a war arise. But the Crawford Military Base was now running around the clock and searching the skies for any intruders.
Meanwhile, Syra’s team had gone through the information from Arteemus and discovered that he was the last Commander of the Zhian Fleet.
Arteemus would know how the Zhian military’s thinking, planning, and anything else they did, and that was very much needed.
This is when they reactivated Arteemus and asked for more information on how the Zhianite soldiers fought, any strategic training they had, and anything Arteemus would have considered useful.
Meanwhile, Allieah’s area of expertise was in the Xnaethean behavior, she was a military adviser on tactic’s that was used against their enemy’s personal behavior, and she did that right up until the war ended. That was how Arteemus and Allieah met.
Maxtn and his wife Izbella had studied behavioral science and was chosen to study the latest information about the Xneathean race.
Izbella was in charge and started her team right away and was eager to learn more about their old ancient enemy. She was more than honored to work with Allieah, Syra’s mother for the learning and training. She knew full well it was a big possibility her work would become crucial one day and not too distant in the future no doubt.
The general believed that having an expert who was a Zhianite would be most helpful in studying the tactic’s the Xneathean military used and he asked for the best Earth II had.
Arlan and Cayetlin both worked most of their lives inside the Zhian Sphere, but they also had a passion for strategic command as did Clarx and Mikcalya. They were all best friends and had written and played out many scenarios in the holocom chamber.
The general was thrilled to have them aboard and under his command, because they were full Zhianites and would have qualities he needed in training his men.
This was a project that excited many of the Zhianites because they had never thought the day would come that their ideas would come to life.
BOOK THREE
chapter three
Emerton and Maecy and Jazon and Jaelyn, the Zhian astronomers, had been working on a plan to present to Syra. It was time to meet with her and everyone was a nervous wreck that morning.
They had worked for many years aboard the Zhian Sphere, and truly felt they needed to free themselves. They would now be able to concentrate more on the land and oceans of Earth II as well as the surrounding space.
The new observatory would be a home and an office with everything they used aboard the Sphere. It was also designed to be expanded as the new departments were ready to fill many much-needed positions.
The meeting with Syra went surprisingly well, and she gave them her blessings. When they left the meeting, they were grinning ear to ear. Everyone they passed by that morning in the Central Command Center that greeted them just had to ask, what they were so happy about?
Emerton spoke for the group most of the time and was considered in charge of that department.
The Waterfall Mountain Ridge now held the Crawford Military Base, the Zhian Sphere, and the Chadwell Lawson Retreat. But there was a peak to the east that had a high point which was perfect to have an observatory.
The astronomers flew in their travel pod to the peak and immediately started plotting the space and location of the observatory, their home and power station.
In a just a short time, the observatory building was completed, and the power station was ready to run. All they had to do was move all the equipment from the Zhian Sphere to the new observatory and they would build their homes last.
Maecy was the creative one and noticed the first floor of the observatory did not really have a purpose other than some storage and the area could actually be turned into a housing area.
At that point, everyone just looked at each other and thought, why didn’t I think of that?
In just a few months the observatory was fully functional, and they were gaining more data than ever before. The only thing they could figure out was that isolation was the key to being able to concentrate more on their jobs.
The equipment, much like one of Earth’s satellites, circled Earth II sending back data to the observatory that would later lead to a new astronomy department.
But the telescope on the satellite was mainly used for observation of distant planets, galaxies, and other outer space objects that may approach Earth II’s space.
They would also be listening for sounds or observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology, meteorology, geophysical, oceanography, and volcanology.
Earth II was a much newer planet than and far younger than Earth was, and there was a lot of unknowns.
Their old planet Zhian also had the same type of observatory system in place, and the volcanology study was how they knew their planet would soon die.
The observatory would help them to understand much more about their new home as well as learning more about the surrounding space.
When they finally got to the point that they were so well organized, everyone agreed they would need to build several teams to study the different areas they would be receiving data on. This way, each of these areas would
have more of a concentration into each of those studies and would certainly have better results.
It also would allow the old team to be able to take some time off from time to time, and so they sent word over to the Central Command Center for help.
They were as old as Syra and longed for the time they could just relax and not be putting in so many hours working. The restore and healing pods had served them well and kept all four in top-notch health.
Emerton and Maecy were thrilled with the new team and stations were set up for all eight of them. The new crew was young but freshly trained which was an added advantage both were excited about.
The original team was finally getting much needed time from work and started to spend it doing some of the things they never really had time for.
With only a half a dozen present that day Drixton, being the youngest of all of them, began to doubt what he was seeing and hearing. So, he spent some time running different algorithms to see what the anomaly was or was even coming close to and was at a loss.
He consulted the others, and none had a clue. So Drixton sent word for the elders to return as soon as they could to see his findings.
Emerton and Maecy and Jazon and Jaelyn had enjoyed their trip to the beach and the warmth of the sun and the sunsets. They felt better than they had ever felt before, and had no problem returning to work.
They boarded their travel pod and flew straight back to the observatory that morning, first thing.
It was still very cold this time of year on the mountain so that trip to the beach gave them some much-needed warmth, and they went straight to work.
Jaelyn sat there going over the data repeatedly and had contacted several linguist friends of hers to help. She had also called Syra and sent her the information she had so she could see the findings and get her input as well.
None had ever heard the language before and did not have a clue to its meaning or interpretation. So Syra decided she would interrupt Zerk from his history of Zhian and ask him what it was.
Syra took a trip to see Zerk and brought with the sample recording.
“Hello Zerk, may I interrupt you for one moment please?” Syra asked.
“Yes, you may, how can I help you?” Zerk replied.
“Please listen to the following recording and tell me what it says or means, and thank you,” Syra said.
Zerk listened to the recording over and over and cleaned up some noise to improve the sound and when he was finished analyzing it, he read Syra the message word for word.
Greetings to all who receive this message. We are the Xnaethean’s from the planet Xnaethea. We are on a dying planet and we need assistance. If anyone can hear this message, please respond. Without your help, we will all soon perish. We are in search of crystals to power our world, without them, we will be no more…
The message continued to repeat itself so Zerk stopped the recording mid-sentence. Syra was in total shock until Zerk went on to explain that part of Zhian history she had not fully understood.
Zerk explained that the Council had received that very same message and responded to it thousands of years ago. They had allowed the Xnaetheans to come to Zhian and mine for the crystals that they claimed they so desperately needed.
He explained that they had nearly destroyed Zhian, and it was the very reason the Zhianites had to leave their own planet to survive. He explained that the Xnaetheans were thieves and to not respond to the message, ever.
They call for help, someone answers and they take whatever they need and at some point, they will try to take over and take whatever else is left. They are a highly technical race and were far ahead of Zhian technologies, so the council exchanged crystals for technology.
Syra remembered that part of the history from Zerk that the Xnaethean’s started the war between their planets and millions died by the time that war was over. They were just now beginning to understand what had actually happened.
“Zerk, what is the probability that the Xnaethean’s could find us again?” Syra asked.
“Very highly probable because the Zhian Sphere has always left its signature throughout space and parts of the Sphere have Xnaethean’s technology within it,” Zerk replied.
“Thank you and please continue sharing what you know about our history, so we can learn more,” Syra said as she rushed out of the room.
That was when Syra called a special meeting for first thing in the morning to discuss the Zhian Sphere with all the research and development team.
By morning, everyone was eager to find out why Syra felt discussing the Zhian Sphere was so urgent.
Thank you all for attending, please be seated and hold all questions, I have some serious concerns from the news I have just been given.
We must begin working on the Zhian Sphere right away and update all the equipment on that ship that uses the old Xnaethean technology.
I know there are several areas that still use it, and it is critical that we replace anything that has it as soon as possible.
Here is a list of the area’s the ship needs to be updated and the schematics. Please start right away, it is urgent.
We have received an age-old message through space from Xnaethea and we have concerns that if they find us here, they will do to us what they did back on Zhian.
That was the day everyone went to work on the Zhian Sphere for a much-needed upgrade. That work would continue for quite some time.
With all the new teams now ready to work, they only needed the added space so they could set up their terminals and they could get to work right away.
The building replicator was all set up and began putting out all the panels needed to build the additional research departments.
Emerton and Maecy knew they would have these new departments ready in no time at all. This was when the observatory began to grow in size and in newly-gained knowledge of their new planet and all of the space that surrounds it.
In the coming days, the Astronomy department building was up and running and Maecy worked to pick the top-notch folks qualified to run it.
The climatology department was next, and all the equipment was moved from the Sphere to that building. New hires were shown how to get around the department and most were thrilled to start work right away.
The meteorology department was next, and the new hires loved the building and equipment from the Zhian Sphere but had many ideas on how to improve that department.
The geophysical department was not as big but was just as important and needed.
The oceanography department was in a smaller building. The research and equipment were also moved from the Sphere. But with all the new discoveries, they would have a lot of work ahead of them.
The last department was volcanology. There was little known on this subject and no real eruptions were even predicted, but everyone knew this building and its studies were equally important.
In only a few months that part of the mountain looked more futuristic than any city or retreat. They had a power station, food supply building, supply building and a research area sought after by every person who carried a love for any of those studies.
It was not long before many wanted to be a part of that area and they wanted the observatory to become a research city and it was no time at all before that became a fact.
The new expansion also meant several departments of study could now move to the new observatory on the mountain, and that freed up space in the Central Command Center which had gotten quite congested over the past 20 years. It has also freed up space in the Zhian Sphere as well.
With each new generation born on Earth II, the population now growing needs continued to arise. New departments of new research were being created because of the many discoveries on Earth II.
With the last rescue of the retreat on Earth, those refugees brought with them animals of many types which had now over the years cross-bred and the new creatures and were in great demand for several reasons.
A new department was set
up at the observatory to study the effects of cross-breeding certain animals, therefore, giving Earth II the second department of study for zoology of cross-breeds.
The two departments of zoology of Earth’s animals, Earth II’s animals and the cross-breeding studies joined and needed another larger building on the mountain observatory.
The Central Command Center began looking barren these days with so many people clearing their work out and moving to the mountain observatory.
The botany field of study had also outgrown itself at the CCC and needed to be moved as well. The botanist bot Coriyan still headed that department but was well pleased with the new location in the mountains.
Construction was begun on a monorail extension which allowed the research travel pods to avoid traffic.
BOOK THREE
chapter four
The observatory received yet another message, but this time it was from a specific person or entity and was seeking the whereabouts of one Zhian named Zerk.
Emerton, being in charge at the observatory, rushed the message over to the Central Command Center.
When Syra, Zach, and James received the message they had an exceedingly long discussion on whether to inform Zerk or try to respond without interrupting him from his retelling of the history of Zhian and filling in all the missing pieces.
Syra suggested they send the message over to the Zhian Sphere first before allowing Zerk anywhere near that message.
Even though the ship was under complete overhaul, the core systems are never aware of such matters as routine maintenance or maintenance on any parts of its frame. The core systems did not have any of the old Xnaethean technology, and those locations were mostly structural.
The message was sent to the Sphere’s core and read as follows.
This message is from Arzaitus, the leader of our Council of the planet Xnaethea.
We are in search of Zerk from the planet Zhian.
We mean you no harm, but we are aware of your existence, and the new homeworld you now inhabit.
The Chronicles of Syra Omnibus Page 44
