She was amazed how calm the young man was even in the most difficult situation. He displayed all the qualities her kind admired so much about the Terrans, and now he was at the mercy of pirate scum and too far away for her to influence them. If she could only sense him, but whatever the Narth had done to him made him invisible and unreadable to her.
But now that he was gone, there was no need for her human form. She was angry and the Scoopers were almost there. They would suffer her wraith!
The rescue capsule shattered as she grew into her real shape, pulling mass and energies from the Trans spatial regions, known to the coven as the nether worlds.
The Scoopers manning the visual sensors were a superstitious bunch in the first place, and as they saw the fiery winged creature that exploded out of the rescue capsule, they started to panic. One of the scoopers controlling one of the FTL towers fired at the horrifying creature, even though the weapon beam hit the thing square in the chest, it had no effect. Claws oozing pure energy grabbed the hull of the closest scooper ship tearing it open, as if it was made of paper. The scoopers heard a high pitched in human screaming laughter before they died.
Ancient legends described fiery, horrible demons and the Scoopers learned that these legends were true!
They had the Capsule open in no time and one of them opened his helmet, revealing a dark brown human face, partially disfigured by crude looking Cybernetics. Only one of his eyes was still human, the other was an Optic sensor of some kind glowing greenish, probably enhanced to see in the dark. Much of his skull was metal. He held a big Thompson E Blaster aimed at my stomach area and grunted." It is always a pleasure to catch a Union Fish. Your kind fetches good money on the markets!"
His companions paid little attention to me and started to salvage the Capsule behind me, one of them simply pushed me aside.
The Cybernetic enhanced man snickered and spoke into some kind of Comm. Unit attached to his chest piece." Captain, we got us a Union Soldier Boy, if I read the rank insignia correctly, it's just an Academy Student or something."
"Well strip the rat, put him in the hold and make sure I get his space suit." An unseen voice responded
It seemed they did not see me as a big threat. The Cybernetic guy looked past me and screamed." Hey Farnhill, I claim those Ration bars!"
A voice behind me said." I found them first; you can claim my shit when I digested them!"
Cybernetic skull got angry! Stomped closer, I grabbed the muzzle of his blaster, gave it a sharp thug and threw myself backwards, while burring my right foot in his crotch lifting him right over me. He crashed upside down into the Capsule, collided with one of the pirates who leaned bend over into the capsule.
In all this I found time pulling my TKU and I fired, at the two thugs to the left, who had torn open the emergency landing survival kit that was attached to the capsule.
Neither man was shielded; the sun hot bursts killed them instantly.
The second burst had not really left my blaster when I rolled to the side. The fifth Pirate who had remained by the winch reacted, and had his blaster out and fired. His blast burned a glowing hole into the deck plating where I had been a heartbeat ago. My third burned him and part of the grappling hook controls and took him out of the equation.
Mr. Cybernetic and his companion at the capsule had not even managed to untangle themselves so far. I aimed the blaster at them. "Please do something! Please! I want to kill you so bad!"
I moved so I could keep an eye on the Air lock. I expected more of the crew appearing at any moment.
Both the Cybernetic enhanced man and the other held up their hands and looked at me with startled faces. The other had humanoid shape but now I saw he was Togar.
I aimed the gun somewhere between them and with a theatrical gesture dialed the TKU to a higher setting. The Union Blaster complied with a satisfying short increasing humming sound. "How many are in your crew?"
"Only the Captain and Stoo are left, you killed the rest!" Hissed the Cybernetic enhanced guy.
"You are a Nibus!" Cursed the Togar." Don't tell him that!"
The Cybernetic eye made an almost inaudible sound and I fired, fearing he had some kind of weapon activated. The blast incinerated most of the Cybernetic guy's upper torso and melted much of the Togar's Armor. The feline alien screamed and collapsed into a smoking pile. Just then the Air lock door opened and a short man with a gaudy looking uniform entered. "Why are you not responding…?"
I gave him no chance to do anything and fired right before his feet." One step, one move and you are dead!"
He paled and raised his hands." These bumbling idiots did not disarm you?"
"I had a very bad day and my patient has worn thin. I would love to kill you right now, so don't tempt me!"
"It seems you have what it takes. Instead of being a slave, how about I am offering you a partnership."
"No partnership. I take your ship and you get mine! Get into the capsule!"
"You won't get far! There are fifty Togar armed to the teeth and they will tear you apart!"
"Did you count Stoo?"
His face fell for a second but it was enough. I raised the weapon." Either you get into the capsule now or I fry you. I have little time!"
He cursed like I never heard anyone curse. He was armed with at least four different blasters and a large boarding sword; He walked towards the capsule and then became slower." I am going to kill you slowly for this!"
"If you even so much as try to draw your weapon, it be the best thing you could do. You see I need an excuse to kill and that would be one!"
I was certain he believed me as he climbed into the capsule and sat onto my old seat. I triggered the automatic of my suit, the film helmet inflated in an eye blink.
"Put your hands on the hand rests and keep them there."
He glared at me in pure hatred but he complied.
The Outer airlock controls were simple." I kept the TKU drained at him,
Hammered my fist on the Emergency Air lock release and grabbed as fast as I could after the hand hold next to it.
The Air lock burst open and sucked the dead bodies and the capsule out into space. He dared not to fire as he did not wear a space suit and in order to get me he would have to fire through the transparent front shield.
The air was gone fast and I had no problem reaching for the control and closing it.
Now there was one crew member left and then I needed to figure out how to fly this ship and rescue the Commander.
Interlude: Logistics
Lt. Harrison liked logistics. He never wanted to do anything else really. It fitted his meticulous character and string sense of order, to be responsible for material flows and acquisitions. He liked proper filled acquisition forms and hated the ones filled out partially or incorrectly. He expected that the fields not needed were marked with n/a for not applicable. How easy was it for the requestor to fill out these Computronic forms, why could they not pay attention to the little details, like he did?
He looked at the next form coming up. Now this was a perfectly filled out form, it came from Bone Yard 49 of all places and it was for 50 Loki Torpedoes, 2000 TKU rifles, Twenty Quasimodos and 10 Cerberus XI robots. All in all nothing special and the form was properly filled; it carried the necessary command officer seal. He cared little why they needed these things there and was already sending the necessary ware house instructions and designated a transport while he contemplated to contact the officer and commenting him or her for such a perfect order form. He swiped his hand to reveal page two of the form and to put his signature on it and to file the form when he saw that the, Notes field for special instructions was also filled out, no one ever filled out this field. Logistics did not need special instructions, they were professionals. Even though field 32a on the Form was there since requisition form 44563-B replaced requisition form 44563-A over fifty years ago, it should not be marked!
And whoever filled out the form so correctly bumbled so badly on page
two, requesting Engineering Manual 12X. That was the detailed field manual for Translocator Cannons. It should have been requested under field twelve on page one. Since it was a highly classified document it needed two Command level signatures!
He triggered the Comm. Link code associated with the requestor and got an Oromal specialist three minutes later. He checked the specialists name and classification, like all Oromal he had a tongue twister for a name, Noxthyxthyazonix. So he said. "Specialist, I am processing your requisition form. I wanted to comment you how neat and well it was filled out, but you are not authorized to order Manual 12 X it requires two of your command officers signatures and Nelson verification!"
"I am sorry Lt. Harrison, but Admiral Swybar ordered these things and one of his associates added the Manual request later. I am just a specialist; he is the Chief of Logistics."
Harrison blinked." Are you out of your mind, Specialist? Admiral Swybar is dead! He has been executed!"
"He is the one who signed the Order form, sir! He is here and he is not dead."
Harrison checked the Signature in detail and this time cross checked it with Nelson, the Fleets Central AI. The response came back almost immediately." Signature authorized to Commodore Arnold."
Harrison knew Arnold; he used to be the right hand of Admiral Swybar. All this didn't sound right. He disconnected the call to Bone Yard 49 and asked the Computronic to connect him to NAVINT.
Interlude: Boneyard
Swybar lounged in the comfortable chair behind the conference table aboard the Red Dragon. Soon the requested supplies would arrive and make him a very dangerous man.
The table was laid out with a light dinner. Both of his associates had joined him and both of them had been very respectful and lauded his genius. Swybar loved it when others realized just how smart and resourceful he was. Even the disguised Kermac treated him like an equal, as it was proper!
He was no fool however and knew his associates were just as resourceful and the Kermac went through all these troubles to get something from Koken. If a civilization as mighty as the Kermac went through all this to get whatever it was, then it was something very valuable. Valuable things meant power and something an entire Civilization wanted must be very valuable. He wanted revenge and his main target was this cursed Admiral Elligott, this self-righteous immortal who had no right to be in charge or even still alive.
The Kermac agent interrupted his day dreaming. "How long do you think before the supplies you ordered arrive?"
He wiped his lips with a napkin." The secret of success in logistics is to play the system. The form is properly filled and no one will raise any alarm bells and you get your hands on Quasimodos, Loki Torpedoes and even Cerberus robots, but the system cannot be rushed if you want to operate under the scanners. I expect the first transport to be here in three days."
The Kermac could not believe his luck. What legions of spies had not accomplished he would gain in one sweep and one mission. He would return with a marvelous ship filled with Union secrets and the very manual how to service and make Translocator cannons! Such a success would secure him the seat of the Supreme Wizard. The bumbling fool occupying the seat now would be swept aside." He smiled at the human ex Admiral without saying a word, but as soon as the supplies arrived he was no longer needed and he would show this human what Kermac did to those that outlived their usefulness.
He cared less about the secrets the First Wizard wanted secured. The real secret was not in believing in ancient prophecies and living in the past, but do it like the Terrans and embrace the future. He was certain that this was the true key to success. With the Terran weapon secrets exposed and duplicated, they could not keep that huge area controlled and pacified, chaos would reign and the Kermac would rise under his rule. The old wizard clung to the old phantasy that the Y'All would come again, but they had been defeated before and if they ever came they would be defeated again. No this was not the way! Waking the Kermac out of their lethargic state and take control themselves, lead the vassal civilizations with an iron fist and control the Galaxy, that was the goal and with the things he gained here, he would lay the foundation.
The other man remained quiet, even though the others thought he was an agent of the worm, he was really working for the First Son of the Dark Church. His mission was to get his hands on whatever the Kermac wanted to find on Koken. He had orders to dispose both of them as soon as their usefulness ended. The First Church of Darkness never left any open ends
The Kermac leaned forward." Why not use your connections and get us perhaps a few spare parts for Translocator Cannons?"
"Sorry about that, but it would rise to many flags. Especially since such a request needs two command level signatures verified by Nelson."
"I thought you can fake the signatures of a dozen High level Officers?"
"I can, but Officer Signatures are complex and no fake will make it past Nelson. Be satisfied with what you get. Translocators have to wait."
***
In all my anger about my situation I could not help but pity the pirates. I wondered how they could have survived out here, being so amateurish. Stoo turned out to be some sort of semi sentient pet lizard of 3 meters length and five pairs of legs. It had bright red and yellow scaled skin and an ugly looking head with at least 4 pairs of eyes, maybe more. It posed no threat as it was in a cage on the small bridge of the cruiser. The only time I seen as much filth and garbage was in the basement of my old friend. The air was reeking of organic, slightly sweet and sour odors that made me gag. There was damp laundry hung from hooks and ropes strung across the narrow main corridor. The engine compartment looked like an n exploded hardware store. The main power coupling had been repaired with everything but the right parts. Someone had actually used a sledgehammer to fit, what looked like an old Ult shield coil into the housing of a Kartanian shield generator, the sledgehammer was still there and the coil looked bend, and deformed at one end, but for some strange reason it not only worked, these old but very powerful Ult Coils boosted the Kartanian shield to more than six times their original output. A Shiss made Control unit hooked into a Nul Graviton, connected to a piece of alien hardware I could not identify, partially glued and welded to the floor. Either the last engineer was the greatest genius or simply mad and very lucky but this wild mix of technologies and systems seemed to work just fine.
The weapon energy lines and the weapons itself were meticulously maintained however and the power levels of the ships FTL cannons were quite impressive for a flying garbage dump like this.
To my surprise, there was no Command chair but an actual leather sofa, with a wooden back, glued with Stick and Fix to the floor. The leather was worn down and there were smudgy looking pillows. While the original Kartanian design was not too different from Union bridge layouts, most of the consoles were dark, or torn apart to salvage parts. The ship was operated from three Consoles still intact.
The Computronic had no objections to take my commands and it turned out the old security codes and safety measures had been disabled, making me think that the last owner did not buy this ship but took it from someone else.
The scanners, to my surprise were Union made GE brand, High Efficiency with special filter software to compensate for the dense micro matter soup out there. It took me at least an hour but I finally figured out the main layout. I found the rescue pod with the former captain of this vessel and also saw the other two pirate ships.
Even though the vessel had better sensors for these conditions than I had, their efficiency was reduced, and I didn't have all too much sensor operation experience, it took me another 12 minutes to find the energy signature I believed belonged to the Scooper vessels that took the Commander.
I didn't want to stick around much longer; it looked like the other pirates had found the rescue pod and sooner than later, the captain would be able to tell his story to them, besides I had to rescue the Commander!
Just as I accelerated, one of the Energy signatures exploded in s
cale and the visual sensors captured a violent explosion. One of the Scooper vessels just exploded. A cold fist cramped around my stomach and I opened al hailing frequencies, disregarding my initial plan to sneak up on them." Here is Midshipman Olafson; I am hailing the scooper vessels. You have captured a Union Officer, if you are under attack send me coordinates and situation so I can assist. Be assured I will fight you to the last ship if you harmed the Commander in any way!"
There was no response!
In order to flee their doomed Universe the Coven opened a gate to another dimension, another reality known by the ancients as the Netherworlds. Almost all sentient civilizations had legends about creatures of evil nature dwelling in a fiery dark place full of unspeakable horrors. The humans of Earth once believed in a place called Hell, the Saresii called it Natkah, the Ult knew it as Huhun and the Klack called it Akth'tjak. Dr. Isah the most brilliant scientist Earthers ever knew once released a paper about a dimension he called Under-Verse, a condition of space separate from the regular Omniverse. The Coven fled into that Nether Space and did escape the destruction of their own reality, but at a prize. They had to become creatures of the Netherworld, loose much of their original identity and knowledge, but even in their adapted forms they were only unwanted guests and had leave.
Gwen did not know much of the details and understood little of what occurred, as it happened long before her essence was restored, but like all of the Coven she was as much a creature of that world as she was now a life form in this Universe. She loved and hated her true form with equal intensity. Freed of the fragile human form she was a creature of power, able to roam space without the aid of a space ship, feeding on energies but she was also deprived of sensations of smell and touch. So simple these sensations seemed, so much did she miss them when she no longer had them. The ability to feel cold and heat, to feel moisture and release emotions with a few tears were treasures humans took for granted. No she would return to her human form, she would mourn for that human that was so brave and face the anger of the Coven and perhaps even the anger of the Narth for being instrumental in his demise.
Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 6 (The Galactic Chronicles Series) Page 293
