Clusen then said, "I will investigate those obviously false citations. No Midshipman could possibly have the Medal of Honor, this was done by altering records, I will see that you are spaced, Mr. Olafson!
"In the meantime the Olafson Gang has an appointment at Environmental, cleaning tanks. All others will report to the weapon range."
On our way we ran into Lt. Merkus.
"Where do you think you are going?" he asked.
I answered, "Sir, we are to report to Environmental and clean tanks."
"Why? What have you done this time?"
"Lt. Clusen takes offense that I was rewarded the Medal of Honor, Sir. He accused me of altering records."
Just then Clusen came around the corner and stopped in his tracks.
Merkus said, "Lt. Clusen?"
"They tampered with the score system, Sir. I am on my way to Personnel to find proof. Olafson here has the audacity to claim he has the Medal of Honor!"
"I checked and verified Mr. Olafson's citations. He was indeed so decorated, matter of fact he is the highest decorated member aboard this vessel, except Captain Harris and the Old Man himself. I was on my way to apologize for not saluting this morning. Tampering with service files is a very serious charge and if you are certain it happened we must alert Security!"
"I want them in Environmental! I will not explain myself to you in front of them!"
"Very well," Merkus agreed and turned to us. "Report to Environmental for now."
We had just reached the lowest deck when we were called back. No explanation was given but we joined the others at advanced weapons training.
Here, a Marine Lieutenant instructed us on the use of various weapons. It was basically the same as in year one of the Academy. Here the instructor deepened our knowledge of the technical aspects of different weapons and introduced us to the standard weapons of other civilizations, as well as those of our enemies. This instructor was very knowledgeable and explained to us how a Nul Thermo Shocker worked, how a human could fire the heavy weapon and how it was assembled.
"Most civilizations abandon previous concepts and concentrate on the new ones they develop, he explained, standing by a table full of various guns and weapons. He picked one up. It was underarm-long, looked like polished gold or brass and the designer had shaped it into a stretched bird's head. It looked very artistic and elegant. "Can someone tell me what I am holding here?" It was Elfi who answered him. "Sir, this is a Horus Ray Falcon beamer. It is an antique. Sarans no longer use these, except to arm ceremonial units."
"Indeed it is. As you see it is a beautiful weapon, many artisan details went into the design. The beam emitter is incorporated into the beak, while the arm of the user is almost hidden underneath these stylized golden wings. Saran weapon designers changed little on the actual weapon design and the technology underneath ever since Saran technology discovered focused energy projection, over 8000 years ago. It is very unlikely you will run into one of these in any combat scenario, but I still want you to familiarize yourself with the weapons I have laid out as they are samples of many of our member cultures. You can learn much about a culture by evaluating their weapons."
Someone said with a snort, "Saran tech is made by women! Looking at that piece of flashy junk, makes me wonder how they managed to keep their Empire."
Another Midshipman said, "I see all kinds of stuff here, but there are no Terran weapons!"
"Because this class is about alternative weapons and weapon systems."
Elfi muttered, "Because compared to modern Union weapons they are impractical in combat, inaccurate and weak compared to TKUs."
Then she added with a frown on her face, "Sarans are well aware of the fact that our weapon technology is inferior to Terran human designs."
The Marine Instructor had heard her comment and said, "Terrans would be Xunx food and forgotten without Saran technology. Yes, the Horus Ray is impractical and no Marine would want to go into combat with a shiny weapon that proclaims ‘here I am’, but it is still beautiful and quite deadly. I don't think the famous Seth's Shadow Guard of the Queen had ever used one of these."
Elfi smirked, "No Sir, you are quite correct."
He looked over his table, picked a black glove. It looked like part of a garment and not like a weapon at all. "Not all weapons look like weapons of course. You just saw the flashy Horus beamer. This one too is of Saran and called Seth's Fist and it is used by that Shadow Guard I just mentioned. It won't fit my big crude hands, but perhaps Ms. Petetis could demonstrate it."
Elfi put on the underarm long black glove.
A robot stomped in carrying a big potted plant.
The Marine said, "Show the effect on the plant and the robot."
Elfi touched the plant and it withered away in seconds. The healthy green plant was now dry, brown and quite obviously dead.
Then she extended her finger and something like a cloud of black smoke shot out, engulfed the head of the bot for a few seconds and the bot collapsed.
Our instructor said to the one making the insulting comments, "Do you still think Saran weaponry is inferior? You have just seen one reason why the Sarans managed to create a stellar empire of over 8000 star systems and keep it, despite a long civil war. Maybe you want the glove demonstrated on you?"
"No Sir!"
"How does it work?" someone else wanted to know.
"Why don't you write me a technical paper by tomorrow on how it could work? You all might come across Xeno technology you can't explain. The first step is to think about how the effect could be duplicated with technology you know. It might also change your opinion about Saran tech."
He took the glove back from Elfi and continued with his lecture.
During a break I asked him, "Sir, are you familiar with antique firearms?"
"Oh yes, they are a hobby of mine. How antique?"
"I don't know for sure but it could be pre-Astro Terran."
"Can I see it?"
"Yes Sir, it is in my locker."
"Get it!"
When I returned with it his eyes became wide and he said, "Good Lord, this is a 1911 Colt .45. It seems to be genuine!"
"It should be Sir."
"That logo on the handle is the old United States Marine emblem! Where did you get it?"
"Admiral Stahl gave it to me, Sir."
"The Old Man himself? So it is true what rumors say – that he was a Marine before the ascent!"
"Can you teach me to use it?"
"I would be honored, Midshipman! Let's go to engineering and get us some ammo replicated!"
The old gun had no target optics and could not be tied into the battle-neuronics of a suit. It made a loud bang when it fired and it shattered the plastic discs the Marine had put down range.
It took me a while to get the hang of it before I managed to hit the targets, but it was great fun.
"You ought to wear it. It is a badge of honor that the Admiral himself gave it to you!" he said.
"Would that be allowed?"
"The display of cultural objects, or in this case a badge of honor, that does not hinder you from performing your duties and does not obstruct rank insignia is allowed if an officer approves it. I am an officer and I approve it. I will make an entry in your service record. I doubt anyone in this Navy would dare to deny you wearing it, considering from whom you got it."
"Thank you, Sir."
"The honor is mine."
So it came to be that I wore the shoulder holster with the old gun wherever I went, and I visited the range and the Marine Instructor very frequently for training and practice. Har-Hi almost always came along and showed me his incredible marksmanship and the use of traditional Dai blades. Most impressive was his skill with a disc-shaped, razor-sharp object that he called Alti-Karr. He hurled it with a fluid, powerful motion decapitating target avatars at over 20m distance and that was just for starters. He could make the knife bounce off walls, the floor or other hard objects, and could hit targets from the side or from
around a corner. He told me about Dai using Alti-Karr throwers, weapons loaded with 20 such discs, hurled by magnetic energies, and make them bounce down narrow corridors during ship boarding action.
Almost two weeks had passed since I commanded the Devi. The days passed with training and classes pretty much like in basic training, except that we now faced the challenges as a team.
We saw Clusen only in the morning when he compared scores and assigned us to classes and departments. Today would not be much different, I assumed, as we were ready to go for breakfast and then to the lecture hall. Cirruit, as usual, was the last one ready. Just as we left the dorm, the ship rocked! Alarm was sounding and the Computronic voice snarled, "Hull breach Deck 54, intruder alert! Intruder alert!"
Our general quarter post was the dorm. We had no real battle stations on the ship yet. We would be called if they needed extra hands for damage control. Lt. Merkus came running down the corridor. He was bleeding from a cut in his face and his uniform was ripped and stained. He yelled, "All hands on deck!"
All 12 teams assembled moments later in the corridor. He gasped for air and then said, "A force of unknown aliens has been able to somehow remain undetected by our sensors, and they managed to attach boarding vessels. Most could be repelled and destroyed. Marines and crew are fighting to keep Engineering and the bridge. Several enemy vessels have breached the hull on our deck level! The Captain managed to seal off the decks and shut down inter-ship transport. That means no Marines or robots can come to assist us."
He delivered the shocking and quite frightening report almost shouting and it seemed like he was on the edge of panic himself. He pressed his hand on a contact plate in the wall and weapon closets rotated into sight. "You are to arm yourself and then each team will take one corridor. You are to clear the corridors of any intruders to the outer corridor and secure the access shafts to the Translocator Cannons. They must be kept out of enemy hands at all costs. There are 12 turrets around Deck 54, as you know!"
He had each team take weapons and then he assigned each to a different corridor. All happened fast while the ship rocked twice more, and I wondered what type of weapons could make the Devi rock like that. I took a Marine chain sword, attached it to my belt and, after taking a TKU, I grabbed as many E Cells as I could in the short time he gave us.
"Team Olafson, take care of Corridor Green 5 and secure the Translocator access at the other end. Good luck!"
To everyone, he said, "I wish we could have Cerberus robots or Marines, but right now all we got is Midshipmen. Make the Captain proud and give them hell!"
We were not five meters down the corridor when the lights flickered and one of the security doors activated behind us, making it impossible for us to retreat.
Wetmouth shouldered her gun. "This is a test, I am sure! The pattern is too superficial to be real."
Har-Hi nodded while he glanced down the long corridor, hugging the wall. "I am certain this is the case. Merkus was bleeding yet he had no wound. You don't yell and make faces like this with a two-inch cut in your cheek. He is a good officer but a terrible actor, besides there is nothing that could tear Intelli-fab material without wounding the skin below."
I said, "As it may be. We got our orders and test or no test, we are going to secure those Translocators."
We edged forward and Mao said, "So you think it is real?"
"Not after Wetmouth pointed it out, but they went to a lot of trouble to make it look real. This corridor is straight as a flicker swims and gives us virtually no cover. There are more security doors and forcefield curtains that could activate at any moment. What are the departments ahead of us?"
Wetmouth said, "Classroom and training facilities from here to the red area and then sport facilities in the yellow area and finally storage facilities all the way to the rim corridor."
"Is there a way to activate the slide belt?" I asked.
Cirruit and Wetmouth almost simultaneously said, "Yes."
Cirruit removed an access panel and said, "I can put juice directly to the field inductors and make them run, not intelligently of course, but like a conveyor belt with one direction and any speed you like.
"Hans, Mao, open that door over there if you can."
Hans pressed his flat hands against it and with little effort forced the sliding door open. It was a gym and I grabbed a big blue floor-padding mattress and said, "Get all you can and stack them on the slide belt. Krabbel, you keep an eye on the corridor. Alert us if anything moves."
In no time we had built a nice little wall of those paddings. Har-Hi suddenly laughed. "I understand your plan, how inventive!"
Hans actually ripped the door out of the wall and leaned it like a shield against the mattresses. "That will hold off blaster fire a little better than mattresses!"
Wetmouth said, "There is a plan?" She looked at the setup and then smiled behind her mask. "Oh of course, yes it is a great idea!"
I had them all lie down on the slide belt behind our makeshift barricade and said, "Cirruit, let us roll and give it a little more speed than they usually have!"
Our mobile little fortress started to move with the speed of a running man. Then we saw the first intruders. Six large gray bipedal beings far down the corridor with criss-crossing harnesses carrying odd-shaped weapons. They were almost a click away but the distance was shortening fast. Being in a prone position and relaxed I could carefully aim and just as I squeezed the trigger, four light bolts completely evaporated the upper torso of the one I had aimed at. More fire from my group obliterated the rest. Krabbel, being able not only to carry but also aim and fire four TKU rifles at one time, thanks to his legs and his many eyes which he could use independently. Har-Hi was a crack shot and Hans the best marksman of the team. The TKU looked like a toothpick in his hands.
"I wish we could go faster," I grunted.
Cirruit said, "No problem. I still have contact to my nanites that rerouted and bridged the connection!"
He increased the speed and the slide belt made us almost fly down the 12 km-long corridor. We encountered only a few of the alien intruders that were completely unprepared for our mobile fortress. Two blaster shots did pepper our metal door shield, but did not penetrate it. I looked ahead and yelled, "Cirruit, slow us down and everyone roll off to the sides, now!"
The sliding belt had reached the end and the rim corridor that intersected ours horizontally. Several of the aliens must have stood on the slide belt as Cirruit increased the speed; they had been slung into the opposite wall!
Our makeshift fortress mattresses, metal door and all kept their momentum and hit the aliens, who tried to get back on their feet. We fired and made that their last effort.
But more of the aliens came from each side; they could not use their weapons without running the risk of hitting their friends on the other side.
We shot and fired and felled a great number, and then, as they were too close, we had to fight them hand to hand. The chain sword chewed through their gray leathery skin and pieces of armor. It showered me with bits and pieces of plastic metal and Cybertronic parts; the aliens were robots!
Hans got hold of one by the legs and used it like an oversized club, cracking and swatting the attacking bots left and right, until his makeshift club itself was nothing but pieces.
To see Krabbel fight was unnerving, to say the least. He was fast, incredibly fast, and I came to the conclusion that Krabbel had to be almost as strong as Hans. He threw the tall aliens with little effort and with much force against wall and ceiling, showering us with artificial limbs and parts. Elfi, Mao and Shaka fought shoulder-to-shoulder, shielding Wetmouth and Cirruit. Wetmouth was talking to Cirruit, who held the severed head of one of the robots, and moments later, the rest of the robots suddenly lowered their arms and stood still! Cirruit yelled, "Yes Wetty, that's the command code."
Cirruit held the head of the bot under my nose. "I found their command carrier wave and Wetmouth hacked it. We deactivated this bunch!"
The res
t of the way to the Translocator Cannon shaft was easy. We secured the door and I hit the comm. panel next to it. "Computronic, identify Olafson, Eric."
"Identified."
"Tie in to ship’s comm. and connect me to Command and Control."
"Security level sufficient to overwrite lock out. Tied in."
"This is Midshipman Olafson, Deck 54. Intruders appear to be robotic in nature. Transform access shaft reached and secured. Door has not been breached. TLC controls show green, no intruder inside. We isolated carrier wave and robot command codes. No casualties or ship damage observed in our vicinity. Request permission to seek the location of the hull breech and secure alien ship for analysis and counterattack. Awaiting further instructions."
***
Stahl stood behind Harris and the rest of the officers watching the progress of the intruder simulation on Deck 54. Harris leaned sideways and whispered, "We need to find tougher challenges for that group. They waltzed through it like it was kids’ play."
One of the observing officers heard it and said, "We need to improve our training bots too. That girl hacked into a level nine crypt program without the aid of a dedicated PDD and in less time than it takes me to program my damn auto-dresser."
Harris, who had known the old Admiral for a long time, was the only one who noticed the almost invisible smile on Stahl's face. "Have them stand down and debriefed, otherwise they’ll end up reprogramming Centron and activating Cerberus bots to sweep the ship."
Harris gave the command and then said, "In all my years I have not seen a more diverse group than those nine."
There was pride in Stahl's eyes. "Wait till you see number 10. That team is not complete yet." Then his smile widened. "That idea with the moving fortress was a fine tactical decision in that situation."
"You really like that Viking, don't you?"
"If I ever had a son I would want him to be a lot like that boy."
Even Harris was surprised by that answer.
***
All 12 teams were assembled in an empty cargo hold which was part of Noob Country. We were all standing in attention as the Captain and Admiral Stahl arrived with a group of high-ranking officers, a delegation of civilians and a group of Daoine in non-Union uniforms. I recognized the tall rat-like beings from the diplomatic mission of the Hyperion.
Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 7 Page 23
