Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 7

by Vanessa Ravencroft

  It was the Togar who stepped forward. “Yes, he is a butcher and deserves death, but we must not become the new Drak. We must resist going down the same road. We can only do what we need to do if Itheamh speaks with one voice and that includes the Drak.”

  To the Drak, he said, “General Kning, you know who I am. You have tortured and killed many innocents trying to locate me and this hideout. I was Ninety of the Instigators. We are the Instigators no longer; we are Ithe. I am Togar by race; I am Ithe by creed and soul. That Karthanian over there is Ithe by creed and soul and so is everyone here. We are the first voices, and we won’t rest until this world speaks with one voice to outsiders, where every single person speaks with his or her own voice without fear.”

  He gestured to the Ithe who held the general and it was evident that even they accepted Ninety as leader and instantly and without arguing let the Drak general go.

  The general was a soldier and officer, I could tell, as he straightened his stance and tried to gather his shredded mantle into a more dignified appearance. “Yes, I know you, and I don’t know how you did what you did, but I assume you found some kind of alien device in one of the wrecks to create havoc with our communications and disable the Sky Punishers. I applaud your persistence and ingenuity. I am prepared to die; my life is worth nothing anymore.

  “If I would return, I’d face a firing squad for failure, so if you kill me or not, makes little difference. The Magistrate has 50 Karthanian Ognix Mechas and I am sure they are already on the way. They can’t be stopped by your communication tricks or your captured weapons. You don’t fight the Drak, who for the most part are as tired of the fighting and not being masters of our own world as you are, you fight the Karthanians, who use this world and won’t let go. They will come and retaliate even if you manage to flee from the Ognix and hide. Many civilians will die.”

  Ninety looked in my direction, and I simply nodded. Not that I had any idea what an Ognix was.

  Narth’s voice explained in my mind, “Eighty-meter-tall robotic machines, steered by the disembodied brains of Karthanian soldiers. These machines are heavily shielded with good Karthanian force fields and are armed with four large-caliber force projectors. The machines are incapable of flight and are currently marching in this general direction.”

  I turned. “Not that I think we can’t handle them but when you said steered by brains, do you mean the actual biological brains of a living being?”

  “Precisely that, captain.”

  “And here I am with a Narth and a Leedei with tremendous psionic powers. Wouldn’t it be a shame to waste such talents in a situation like that?”

  I could feel Narth’s amusement as he responded, “You have a particularly wicked mind.”

  The Togar said to the general, “We do not fear your Magistrate’s terrors. We lived under them for so long, one more terror makes no difference, but we will no longer be the victims. We will fight, it is better to die fighting for our freedom than to shiver in fear and hide like a coward and live.”

  The general said, “Then let me fight with you. My life is over, what does it matter if I die by the hands of a lynch mob or if I die fighting?”

  “There won’t be any lynch mobs. We are not the Drak. The only ones who must die are the ones in the Magistrate Tower. They are beyond mercy.”

  Ninety then came over to me and said, “I do not fear whatever it is they are sending as I have seen with what ease your invisible forces have rendered battle tanks and flyers to scrap; what do we do against those things?”

  I put my hand on his shoulder and had to reach up to do so. “Ninety, I don’t want to sound arrogant or ring our bell. I don’t want make light of the situation as it is as serious as can be and we are only at the beginning of what we want to do, but let me assure you there is nothing in the arsenal of the Karthanians we can’t handle. Now you may not believe me, but there is nothing in the Karthanian arsenals that could stop you. There is little to stop a determined man with a plan and cool head. Everything can be overcome if the cause is right.”

  He straightened. “You are right, captain. I’ve been a rebel so long I forgot that I was a Togar commander and fought in many battles. I am a warrior born and your words ring with truth, strength, and confidence.”

  He looked over at my friends. “I also know now why they follow you, Dai Than, Nul, Togar, and even a Y’All. Because of that reason, I, too, will follow you.”

  Har-Hi, who had his arms crossed, smirked while he gave me a side glance. “Yes, our captain has that effect on the strangest people; we keep collecting all sorts of strays and oddballs and haven’t even really started on our actual mission.”

  Ninety spread his arms. “Come, captain, and bring your friends and officers. Let us share a meal and then face what is coming.”

  I said, “The approaching machines are no problem. We will deal with them and make sure they won’t be used by anyone again. So, let’s eat and then get started on phase two.”

  When we gathered at the tables in the community room, I told my friends to be careful with the served meat. I politely declined the meat and asked for porridge only.

  Across from me sat the Human boy and while I had little time in the last hours, I did notice his continuous stare. By now he should have been getting used to another Human being and I said, pointing the spoon at him, “Listen, buster, I know you have not seen another Human and I tried to ignore your staring until now, but it is getting ridiculous. You even forget to chew. Either say something and get it out of your system or get over whatever is bugging you!”

  He blushed deeply to both his ears as he lowered his head and stared at his plate.

  Shea giggled and I watched Narth as he actually held a spoon with a piece of the horrible meat. He probably didn’t want to scare the locals with an open display of psionics.

  I almost gagged as I saw Mao helping himself to a big chunk of the meat while he chewed with full cheeks. “Captain, that stuff is delicious! It tastes like the most intense goat I ever tried.”

  Mao instantly became the center of attention of several Ithe.

  Shea leaned over and whispered, “That poor kid, you scared him half to death. He isn’t much older than you were when you left Nilfeheim.”

  I pushed the plate away and sipped at the tea mug and said to her, “Yeah, maybe I was a little rough, but he keeps staring at me with an intensity that creeps me out.”

  Shea patted my hand. “Pirates, monsters, generals, and aliens don’t creep you out, but a teenage Human boy does? I am sure he couldn’t care less if you were your old Eric self. You are not only the first Human he has ever seen, but the first girl and just a few years older than him. You know you are drop-dead gorgeous and your choice of dress leaves little to the imagination.”

  I got angry and felt the blood rising to my cheeks. “I didn’t pick this outfit. It was you and Cherubim, and besides I am not—”

  I stopped as she looked at me with a deep smile. “Yes, you are. You no longer refer to yourself as he and you haven’t used your old name. I think your transformation is almost complete and what you have called your old problem has vanished.”

  “There is too much on my plate right now to think about all that. I have a mission and we are straying further and further away from it. Next stop is Tana Shoo and it is not where the Red Dragon wants to go.”

  She wrinkled her nose and pushed the plate away. “That is worse than anything I remember eating even as a girl on Sin 4.”

  To the boy, I said, “I think your name is Mel, right?”

  He nodded without looking up or saying anything, and I felt rotten for what I had said. I asked him, “So, how did you end up here?”

  He spoke with a meek tone as he answered my question. “I was able to hide on an ingot transport from Olx and it stopped here.”

  “Olx is a Smelter Moon, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “So, escape is not impossible?”

  He shook his head. “No, it is no
t impossible. There are scrap and ore transporters coming and going, and there are now too many slaves and not enough overseers. That is how Ninety and the others escaped as well.”

  I now felt even more guilt for snapping at him and tried to sound friendlier. “I guess I don’t mind if you stare at me.”

  He did not move his head.

  I sighed. “Now that explains how you came here to Itheamh but how did you come to Olx. From what planet did you come originally?”

  He did raise his head now and looked at me with sad eyes. “I was born on Olx, I think. I was raised by several slave women and I think one of them was my mother. When I was old enough to work, the overseers pulled me out of the breeding cages and stuck me on a work gang unloading scrap metal and sorting the bad pieces that aren’t supposed to go into the smelters.”

  I could not completely hide my feelings and felt a tear roll down my cheek. Compared to this boy, my childhood was paradise. I remembered Egill saying to me that there was always someone who had it worse, when I complained about my lot in life. Back then, it was just another saying of a grumpy, wise old man. Now it became reality.

  Being female had not only positive sides, it seemed to affect my emotional balance somehow and I hoped no one saw the tear.

  When I was a kid, I knew Viking boys didn’t cry. Now it was imperative that as a captain I would not show such displays of strong emotion, at least not in public.

  To Mel, I said, “We will find out where you belong. I am sure there is family for you somewhere and we will find it.”

  He cramped his fist around the wooden spoon utensil and actually broke it. “My home is Olx, and I will return there as soon as I can.”

  That statement surprised me even more. “Why in Odin’s name would you want to return?”

  He touched his neck. “I am still getting used to walking without restrictor cables attached to my feet. I still can feel the steel collar scraping my neck sore, even though it is gone. I am still amazed about open sky, and I can’t believe how big and clear it is.”

  He pointed at the food bowl. “Or eating food that is not mud soup with ground up bits of brothers and friends floating in it.” Mel’s eyes glowed with a fierce fire. “I am going back there to kill the overseers, free all my friends on my work gang who are still alive, and then we are going to kill more overseers.”

  I said, “This is something we plan to do before we leave.”

  Just then, my wrist comm chirped. Elfi said, “Captain I’ve got Admiral Stahl standing by. I told him you are on an away mission. Do you want to take the call?”

  The blood that had just rushed into my cheeks now sank to the bottom of my stomach. “Yes, Elfi, I am going to take the call.”

  I went to one of our landing tanks and took the call in the small cockpit. When the secure transmission was established, I noticed it was not just Stahl, but McElligott and the mysterious Cherubim were there as well. It looked like the three Immortals were sat in Stahl’s office aboard the Devi.

  The Eternal Soldier looked at me with his ice-gray eyes and said, “We had a quiet meeting and my old friend thought it might be nice to call you and catch up with our special crew and captain.”

  He gave McElligott a side glance. “Somehow, I have a feeling you have quite a report for us.”

  I straightened myself in the comfortable seat of the tank. “Yes, sir, I think I do.”

  I told them everything that happened so far and I left nothing out. While I spoke, I uploaded my log book entries and also the reports of my departments. They did not interrupt and I finished by saying, “Sirs, I am in a dilemma and I know it, but I made the decision to help as much as I can. I also must somehow go to Tana Shoo. Har-Hi is more than a friend to me, and I could not look into his face if I did not do something to help the Dai Than. I know how important the Seenian depot and the Red Dragon issue is, and I assure you I will find a solution to it, but it eludes me at the moment.”

  Even though I had finished talking, there was silence. The three Immortals looked at each other, and I was sure there was some sort of communication going on.

  McElligott folded his hands before him and leaned forward. “We send out a young crew, with untested officers on a mostly untested ship and all under the command of the youngest captain in Fleet history. We did that, mostly because my old friend here saw something in you.”

  My stomach knotted as he paused for a moment and then he continued, “We thought it would be a nice easy assignment for a young crew. Act like pirates and suppress pirate activity. Little did we know you went out to change Galactic history.”

  He sighed and then smiled. “Your mission is not set in stone, captain. You are out there all on your own. You are in command because we trust you to make those decisions and you did. We won’t hang you for that, or strip you of your command.

  “The Fleet you serve has many reasons to exist and many tasks. Protecting the Union from outside threats is one, exploration is another, but our single most important task is to help others.

  “Your Elly chef was quite correct; that is the true core of the Union and its fleet.

  “It is not written, not mentioned anywhere in basic training or the manuals you have read so far, because it is expected. You are no longer in Freespace where Fleet operations are prohibited. That you are technically undercover is a fact and a problem, but you are doing the right thing by helping.”

  Stahl said, “These things are discussed in Command school but you did not have the benefit to go there yet. You did not spend years as the XO of another captain and yet you do what we expect you to do. So, I am very proud of you, girl.”

  Now it was Cherubim’s turn to speak and she said, “Your XO is right, however, when he says nation building is very difficult, rarely successful, and opens a can of worms of problems. Not many would try it, and even less on a schedule of a few weeks.”

  She held up her hand signaling to me that she wasn’t finished as I tried to say something. “You are a very unusual individual, Captain Olafson, with a command and lead style all your own, and you have the great fortune of having a crew who not only is second to none but virtually worships the ground you walk on. Your science officer and your ship AI have prepared the most comprehensive political situation report I have seen in ages. Your intelligence officer and your special envoy from the Golden prepared a detailed intelligence dossier. All this is very helpful for us to develop a course of action.”

  Stahl also leaned forward in his seat. “What my shadowy intelligence friend tried to say is that you are not alone in this. I know it must feel like this for you to operate under cover and without the benefits of regular Fleet contact. We will discuss this and see what we can do from our end. In the meantime, go and contact our intelligence contact in the Itheamh government. We will send him a message and transmit the details to you as well. When you have made contact, we will contact you again and tell you what we can do to help you.”

  The kilt-wearing Admiral of the Fleet said, “Carry on then, Captain Olafson. We put a big load on your small shoulders and you somehow have the talent to stir up things wherever you go and increase that load beyond anything we had foreseen. Now take care of your business and be assured you are indeed not alone in this and that we are very proud of you.”

  They saluted me and the screen went dark.

  I’d rarely felt more release of tension and stress than I was feeling right now. Having the blessing of the eternal guides and more so, having their backing, made me feel a million pounds lighter. The old admiral of the Fleet was right; it really felt like a big load I had carried.

  Shea stuck her head in. “Captain, you may want to tune in to the local propaganda channel.”

  I did and saw towering machines that remotely looked like mechanical versions of a Karthanian being, stomping through a small town, releasing rays of energy, crushing and burning houses and the clear images showed scores of panicked people dying. Others were rounded up by soldiers. A voice-only commentator
spoke of the glorious victory of the government law and order against a hotbed of rebellious activity.

  Shea said, “That town and many other communities had open protests on the streets. This is the answer of the Magistrate.”

  “I am done playing it subtle.” I activated my wrist comm and said, “Marines, men, saddle up. Full destroyer suits authorized. One squad stays here, the rest follow me.”

  Without restriction, I let my marines loose, but we did use the cloaking technology of our Atlas suits and protected the outer image of Ithe warriors in simple battlesuit frames. Of course, no initiated observer would believe that the carnage and destruction we dealt out to the Drak shock troops could have possibly done by Ithe manufactured Exo frames.

  Despite the fact that I had an incredible arsenal of weapons at my disposal, I mainly used my strange ax. I knew it was not just my Neo-Viking roots that made me favor a seemingly simple-bladed weapon.

  There was a connection between me and that ax that went beyond preference. This thing was part of me and when I swung it, I felt more complete than ever before. This time, there was no blackout. I recalled every moment of my fight attacking and slaughtering Drak soldiers and I knew the vicious, intense, and brutal way I was ripping through men and hardware was nothing the old Eric would have done. Whatever was sleeping inside me was slowly but surely fusing with all other aspects of my complicated self. I did not stop it, suppress it, forget it, or ignore it.

  I could feel the entity that was inside me, and it was colder than the coldest ice winds of Nilfeheim. It had no shape form or name.

  It was more like an intense emotion, comparable to a feeling of fear or anger that began collecting somewhere below the stomach. It was like staring into a mirror in a very dark room and only seeing bits and outlines; the reflection looking strange and alien and yet I knew the reflection was me.

  I always liked the crisp clean feeling of cold water, of cold wind, and there was a new desire of mine to embrace that coldness and make it rise and come to the foreground.