Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 7

by Vanessa Ravencroft

  The transmission terminated and the field screen went dark.

  I felt much better now. After talking to Stahl, everything didn’t seem so confusing, and there was a clear direction once more.

  Mother Superior said with a warm tone in her voice, “I’ve known him for a very long time, and I can see he is very fond of you!”

  I was still staring at the dark field screen and said, “I am very proud to know the admiral. It is very reassuring to know he is one of the men in charge and to know I can trust him.”

  She nodded. “That you can indeed. There is no one with a reputation like his. In all the centuries that I have known him, he has not changed. No matter the situation or crisis, he is like a sturdy rock. Even his worst enemies respect and trust him. It seems you are fond of him as well. You have keen senses, and I think your feminine side goes much deeper than you know.”

  During the next few days, I was taught how to overwrite and hack into advanced locks, break into computronics, operate Bioflex mask makers and use makeup and other means to change my appearance. I learned that the Sojonites did not only teach the art of love making but had a special squad of enforcers that made sure the Sojonit brand was not exploited by others. I learned the tall Sojonit was from Earth, and she taught me a new and different secretive martial arts technique that had only one goal, to kill the opponent as quickly as possible by recognizing the weak spot. Most of the training was given by neural upload and ancient Saresii hypnotic techniques. I was told that they had to revert to these old techniques as I was immune to psionic learning. After each extensive upload, she would go through a series of physical exercises to make sure the upload had taken hold. The martial arts technique was unlike any of the ones I knew, as it was based on the incredibly deep knowledge of the Sojonites into the weaknesses and nervous systems of hundreds of different species.

  Another woman introduced me to the world of poisons and neurotoxins. How to identify some of them and how to effectively use them; again the Sojonites drew from a deep knowledge base of many species, some of them unknown to the Union.

  The range of weapons the Sojonites used was wicked and deadly. None of them obvious and all of them hidden: micro-needlers, monofilament blades hidden in jewelry, masks, wigs, and clothing. A seemingly innocent and playful-looking wispy veil, used as part of the costume or in seductive dances, that could be transformed into mono mesh nets, slicing through flesh and bone, was especially nasty in my opinion.

  None of the weapons would do much good in real battle or during boarding action but could reap terrible havoc in a nightclub or similar urban setting.

  I learned much about the Sojonit and their secrets, that this order was only one aspect of the Goddess and that another much more secretive order worshiped and studied the destructive aspect. To them, the universe was a female spirit, giving live and light, but part of the universe was also death and destruction. The innermost circle of the Sojonites enforced the laws of the Order quite effectively as assassins, killing without mercy those who did not pay for services or those who tried to cash in on the reputation and dress like Sojonit Sisters. While I was not really buying all the metaphysical stuff, I learned that the Order existed long before Terra ascended. They had collected and preserved knowledge and developed skills for a very long time.

  After two weeks of the most intensive training that barely left time for eating or sleeping, I wondered why I was receiving these instructions. I was certain it would come in handy to know these things, and I eagerly wanted to learn more. The Viking warrior in me recoiled and abhorred the wicked and hidden ways to kill and assassinate, and it was not really my style or character, but knowing such things existed would help me to identify such threats easier.

  I had just completed another practice session with the tall Sojonit when the Mother Superior came and inquired about my progress. After she received a satisfactory answer and a little demonstration of the skills I had learned, she asked me to follow her to a small sacral-looking vaulted room with a statue of the goddess Sojo dominating the back. The statue was about the size of a human and the material had a waxen bone-colored appearance. The figure was dressed in the same deep red as the Mother Superior. Hundreds of candles were burning, and the scent they produced was almost too much.

  A faint sound of silvery bells could be heard; it wasn’t really a melody but appeared to be generated randomly. I also could hear the gurgling of water somewhere.

  She sat down on a large silk cushion, folded her legs underneath her, and asked me to do the same on a cushion across from her. She made a gesture toward the statue, “To us Sojonites the Goddess is quite real, and I am going to tell you our story so you may understand us better. After that, I will arrange to improve your education in certain areas a little.”

  I blushed and said, “I don’t really want to know all the things Sojonites do. I respect it and all that, and I do enjoy being female at the moment, but I am quite sure I am not interested in the... uhm... you know what you Sojonites do.”

  She laughed heartily. “Oh, now, young student, fear not, there are no intentions of that nature. Even though you would be surprised how powerful and useful such knowledge could be. The skills we hope you will acquire here are of a more practical nature and your admiral has approved it.”

  I nodded and was glad that there was some knowledge I did not have to acquire. Still, I wondered what she wanted to teach me.

  She pressed the palms of her hands together and placed them on her lap. “To learn something, it is often best to start at the beginning.”

  I had to agree with this basic wisdom and simply nodded, while she began, “In a time where humans on Earth had barely learned to walk upright and had yet to bring forth true sentience, the Saresii had developed to a strong and mighty civilization with many achievements. We were blessed with psionic gifts and talents few others species could dream to match. With these powers and with the achievements of our culture, came pride.”

  While she talked, a dark sphere established itself between us and displayed deep space and then moved to a Star system with seven planets. I knew as soon as I saw it that such a system could not have been natural, as all the planets were in the same orbit around their sun. The orbit was not elliptical, but a perfect circle, placing all seven worlds into a perfect distance from that star.

  “Our pride grew and while pride is a good emotion, it can easily grow into haughtiness and arrogance, and it did so with us. The Saresii became obsessed with our own beauty, our own power, and this self-importance affected and infected our entire society. The Saresii were as condescending as the Kermac are now. Yes, there were voices of warning and those who tried to make us see the true reflection but to little avail. We used our combined psionic powers to rearrange our own solar system as you can see. There are seven perfectly groomed and perfectly identical worlds. We were not content with one home world, but showed the galaxy we were powerful enough to rearrange star systems and shape worlds to our ideals. The Saresii spread over many worlds and colonies, and each colony competed to be the most beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. We Saresii cared little about what others found pleasing and sterilized many worlds to brand them and remake them in our image. During this phase of expansion and arrogance, we met another civilization, the Seenians, just as arrogant and even more advanced. They commanded an empire that stretched across most of our galaxy, with untold resources and mighty fleets.”

  I actually enjoyed her history lesson, and it did give me some insights into one of the leading societies of our Union. I was sure her story would drag on for a while longer, but after running through the city wounded and poisoned, I found this a nice change of pace. I also had the suspicion that the scent of the candles had some sort of tranquilizing, calming effect, but my mild interest changed as the image showed a fleet of ships, hundreds of them, and each looked like the Devastator. To the entire known galaxy, the single Devastator was a sign of Union might. I had seen her might unleashed and now I stare
d at a fleet with hundreds of these immense ships. I knew how difficult it was to fight a tiny courier vessel of the Seenians, so this image brought home to me just how powerful the Seenians had been.

  I barely heard her say, “The Devastator is a Seenian ship, and it is just one. The Seenians showed up with fleets of thousands.”

  I remembered the words of Admiral Stahl about how dangerous the universe could be, regardless of how big your ship was; there was always someone with a bigger or better one. I wondered if even the combined might of the Union fleet would have stood a chance against such an adversary.

  “We welcomed them and felt we’d finally met a species worthy of our attention. The Seenians told us that they were at war against a brutish force and were recruiting others to join their fight. They also warned us that if we would not join them, we would certainly perish trying to stand alone against the Dark Ones.”

  Seeing the might of the Seenians displayed, I wondered what opponent could hope to stand against them. The Seenians were no longer around, and everyone knew they had lost the war against their final mysterious opponent.

  The Mother Superior kept on talking and commenting on the visual before me. “The Saresii, as you most likely know from school, fought with the Seenians against the Dark Ones, much like the young civilizations of the galaxy now fight against the Y’All every time they return. The Dark Ones were just as relentless unstoppable, and their only motivation seemed to do evil and inflict pain and suffering. They could have easily destroyed entire worlds and solar systems and had done many times, but they also invaded and tortured and killed, not for gaining ground, but to devour and destroy.”

  The projection field between us displayed grainy and blurry images of a spherical ship that moved into a star system, and she said, “These images are the only visuals we have of the Dark Ones, and no outsider has ever seen them. We enhanced the quality as much as possible, but these records have been copied many times and are over a million of your years old.”

  I had seen spherical ships before; the Ult used drop-shaped ships, and the new battleship class that was supposed to replace the wedge design was also spherical. I had seen the enormous Klack battle moon from the cockpit of my Wolfcraft, so the first time I laid eyes upon a sip of the Dark Ones, I was not really shocked or amazed, but something was odd. I suddenly realized what I was seeing. That spherical ship was moving behind, and not in front of, an Earth-sized planet, and it was bigger! The Dark Ones used a ship of the size of a large planet!

  The view switched and whoever took the image was standing on the planetary surface. I could see troops on sleek artistic-looking battle tanks and other beings wearing similar suits as Cateria the Seenian commander had worn. They all looked into the sky as an immense shadow darkened their sun. In that eerie twilight, I could see little darks spots in the sky. The troops on the ground poured a withering fire of powerful weapons into those spots, yet the spots became bigger and descended unharmed. The eyewitness who made these recordings had the camera mounted on his helmet. As he looked around, I saw Celtest and Saresii troops ripped out of their battlesuits by unseen forces. Blood and gore and the painful screaming of men all around. Then for a brief moment, I saw a dark shape, almost looking like a Narth, holding what looked like a battle ax. Flanked by hellish-looking creatures that made a Fangsnapper look tame and cuddly. The recording ended, and the projection field went dark.

  Once more, I became aware of my ring. Every time this happened, I wondered why I never thought about this piece of jewelry and why I kept forgetting that I had it. While I watched these ancient million-year-old recordings, something struck a chord somewhere deep inside me, as if I had seen these images before; familiar images that meant something to me, but I had seen them from a different perspective. I somehow knew the sphere was called a War World, capable of instant and absolute movement. Able to appear anywhere in space, commanded by a Lord of the Deep. The black dots were Fury Hounds, savage intelligent beasts made to strike terror and fear into their opponents and bring death and destruction over anyone and anything they descended upon. I clenched my fist and agreed silently with their purpose, to bring revenge, to punish all those who worshiped chaos, life, and light with the final peace of darkness and the orderly state of death.

  It was the preordained faith of all who conspired against…

  The images displayed on the projection field now showed an elegant glittering object that appeared like a precious jewel floating over a deep blue ocean and these powerful emotions and thoughts that had gripped me just moments ago faded away.

  I was puzzled and quite confused about my own train of thought—who conspired against whom and how I would know all this?—even as I tried to concentrate and hold on to these alien thoughts inside my mind. They faded away like a puff of smoke in a fresh breeze of air, leaving me wondering what I was I was just thinking about.

  That crystal thing, I had seen it before, and this time I knew where. It looked exactly like the crystal construct on Pluribus, where the Diamond Ball was held. These new images made the other dark thoughts fade away. As much as I tried to hold on to these strange insights about the Dark Ones, they slipped away. After a moment, I wondered what I was trying to remember.

  As if waking from a dream that had taken me away from reality, I remembered where I was, and the voice of the Mother Superior once again reached my ears as she said, “I know you recognize this sphere; it was the original hall of assembly for those who spoke for the Saresii, our leaders, back then. The Sphere was donated to Pluribus as a symbol of Sares’ commitment to the Union.”

  I still felt as if I had cobwebs around my mind. While I did not feel tired, I could barely keep my focus on her presentation. I knew I had seen something profound and important. More important to me than anything and yet it was gone. I could not remember!

  It had to be the scent, the candles.

  Her voice went on, and inside the projection field, we now saw seven white-haired men in floor-length robes standing in a semi-circle inside the crystal hall. They looked regal and wise and full of authority.

  While I looked at these images, she said, “These seven men represented the seven core worlds, and they had made that decision for all Sares, to join the Seenians and to fight the Dark Ones. Now, after we were soundly defeated at any engagement, they demanded that we fight even harder, that we invent and develop new weapons and that our greatness as a civilization would only be measured by our success in our success fighting the Dark Ones. There were other voices and these voices culminated in that woman you see standing before the seven.”

  The image showed a woman looking very much like a Saresii, with a skin-tight suit and long silver hair. She argued with the seven men standing in the regal hall of the Saresii High Council.

  Even though I did not understand the language, it was clear by the reaction of the men that her demands were not immediately accepted.

  Impatiently, and with a commanding gesture, she waved her hand, and a group of twenty women entered the room. They pointed little silvery devices at the men.

  As the old men of the High Council collapsed to the floor in withering agony, I recognized the small mushroom-shaped projector heads on the business end of the silvery devices, quite similar to the ones on modern Neuro Rippers.

  Mother Superior said, “This was Deepa and her followers. They believed that it was men’s aggression that caused the war, and it was she who contacted the Dark Ones and negotiated conditions of surrender.” Her voice became harder, and she said, “The true reason why the Dark Ones did not destroy the Seven Worlds but every other Saresii location was her act of treason. She revealed all locations and the position of every Saresii ship and promised to destroy all means of Saresii space technology and knowledge, in exchange for the safety of the Seven Worlds.

  “This part of our history is not taught in any school, and not even the Saresii know anymore, but her act worked. For the prize of thousands of Colonies and billions of lives, the seven Sar
es Worlds were safe. The Seenians are nothing but a memory; the Saresii are still here.”

  I could see her outline through the projection screen and she spread her arms. She continued, “Some think she was a spy of the Dark Ones and that was the reason she could contact them in the first place. Some believe she was a hero. It all was a long time ago, but this was also the beginning of our story.”

  Most of the facts she told me about the Saresii from that point on, I had heard in some form or another.

  Her presentation and narration were not over, and she continued, “Saresii women blamed the catastrophe and the war on the power hunger and the aggression of our male leaders and swept everything away that was an expression of male gender.” She sighed. “The truth, of course, is that women are just as power-hungry and capable of violence as men. During that time when Deepa and her group overtook government, plunging Sares culture into a long, dark and violent epoch of our history, there were those who believed the Dark Ones might come back, despite Deepa’s deal.

  “Since neither psionics nor any known weapon was successful in stopping the Dark Ones before, the Saresii back then were determined to find another way to defeat the dark forces if they ever came back.

  “It is not clear why the decision was made for a group of about two hundred women to leave Sares Prime on the last spaceship known to exist, to find out if the threat of the Dark Ones was still there and to find a way to defeat them, should they decide to come back.”

  She sighed and added, “Without the details of that decision, it seemed like a fool’s errand to embark on such a quest. Sadly, time erased many of the details of these reports, so we may never know if they had more reasons and details that made them decide on this course of action.”

  The projection sphere showed a Saresii tile ship leaving its star system. If these images were as old as she said, I wondered why their ships had not changed much in all that time. While the Saresii technology was considered highly advanced and at least Tech Level Nine, it seemed to me they had not made many advances. The Tile Ship design was one of the worst hull designs, and the interior layout was not exactly practical, but I kept my observations to myself and listened to her almost boring presentation. I was sure all this was fascinating and educational. I wished it was over soon.