The Dave Brewster Series

by Karl Morgan

  “That is our only hope, my lord,” Fola said. “If the tekkans use that Hive to attack this planet, they could dissolve it below our feet right now. We would have no place to hide from such a weapon.”

  “But the tekkans have never been aggressive with us before. We have traded with them for centuries, until the ongoing battle with the Paxran made that untenable. Perhaps we should convince them to join us?” Lok asked.

  “They are the cornerstone of the Free Society, my lord,” Fola scoffed. “If you ask me, they are using their Hive device to force the loyalty of the other cultures.”

  “Won’t that make them like the Predaxians whom you want us to befriend?” Lok asked. “That seems counter-intuitive to me.”

  “Call that a friendship of expedience, my lord,” Fola replied. “We need as many friends as we can to defeat the Free Society. Once that group is in decline, we can select different friends if we choose to.”

  “What exactly is your goal, Fola Untor?” Lok asked. “Let us say that your plan works perfectly. Tak-Makla is rubble and the other pieces of the Free Society are crumbling under our armies. What do you want the end game to be?”

  Fola drained his glass and refilled it. He pulled his chair close to the emperor’s and whispered, “All of us have disrupted the true course of the universe. The only significant species to evolve in this galaxy are the valakars and maklans. The humans, Gallicean, and Kalideans originated in my home galaxy. Of course there are others, but they represent a tiny minority. To me, that means God wants the valakars and maklans to have dominion over this galaxy. After we work together to eliminate the invasive virus here, you and the different maklan species can decide for yourselves who will rule well.” He smiled broadly. “Frankly, if you rule the entire galaxy, that would be wonderful. Those spider-like maklans freak me out.”

  Lok laughed out loud. “Thank you for the vote of confidence, friend. I hope your prediction comes to pass.”

  “There is another issue though,” Fola continued. “The humans originated in my galaxy and I want us to rule there. There are a few minor species, like the Boley of Lagamar 7, but they amount to nothing. Some valakar have settled in my galaxy and that is not acceptable. It is my hope to send them back here if possible.”

  “Or destroy them if not?” Lok asked.

  “Only as a last choice, my lord,” Fola replied. “Without the scourge of the humans, Kalideans and Galliceans, there is plenty of room here for them. Over time, they will likely fall under the Donnaki sphere of influence. That would obviously be much more acceptable than being slaves to the maklans.”

  The emperor laughed again. “You are a man of great dreams, Fola Untor. We shall work together as long as it suits me.” He stood and pulled on his royal robes. “I must take my leave of you now, dear friend. I have affairs of state to deal with, as you can imagine. But I did want to suggest you might stay here with us as an act of faith that you will not turn on us. I will treat you very well here.”

  “Sorry, my lord, but I won’t be a hostage to our agreement,” Fola frowned. “Each of us has our lives and futures tied intrinsically to this arrangement. You must accept that.”

  The emperor smiled, “I don’t know about that. You are just one man on a planet of valakars. Are you sure you can refuse my offer?”

  Fola smiled, “You forget, dear friend. I have a Hive.” As he spoke, his body dissolved into thin air. The emperor was alone in his chamber again.

  “God damned Hives!” he shouted as he marched out of the room.

  Darlene woke up in the sick bay of the Nightsky. Jon Lake was sitting on the chair next to the bed. “Jon, what happened?”

  “Thank goodness you’re awake, Darlene,” Jon sighed. “I think you just passed out due to the trauma of the blast. The doctor says you’re as fit as a fiddle.”

  She tried to sit up, but her head was pounding. “What happened to the Pak family? Are they okay?”

  “Pretty much,” Jon began, “Odo and Ila were not harmed at all. Uli broke an arm and Alo has a lot of bruises and contusions. But they have all be released from sick bay and have been assigned quarters on board. The doc said you might have a headache for a while. One of the beams hit your head when it crashed down.”

  “I don’t understand what happened there,” she said. “How could warships suddenly appear out of thin air like that? Couldn’t you see them coming?”

  “We only have theories now, Darlene,” Jon replied. “Either the Donnaki have been given Maklakar shielding technology or a Hive was involved. We don’t know which.”

  “Have you told Dave yet?” she asked.

  “He is out of communication on the terrestrial planet in the Gallicea system, Darlene,” Jon answered. “We are trying to get a shuttle there to get him.”

  “Odo told me he was on Tak-Makla at the time of the explosion,” she replied. “How long have I been out?”

  “Only an hour or so, Darlene,” Jon answered. “But you’re saying Dave is on Tak-Makla? How did he get there?”

  “That’s irrelevant, Jon,” Dave said as he appeared in the room with Jake on his chest. “I just got the word, darling. How are you?” he asked as he rushed over and hugged her tightly. “Thank goodness you’re safe now.”

  “Admiral, we don’t know how the Donnaki ships jumped to Nanda without our noticing anything,” Jon started. “We were alone in orbit one second, and the next we were surrounded.”

  “Was anyone hurt on board? How’s the ship?” Dave asked.

  “Everyone is okay here, Dave. Thankfully, we were running our daily drills at the time and our defensive shields were up when the Donnaki appeared,” Jon replied. “It’s like a miracle that the Kong-Fa and her fleet were close by as well.”

  Dave thought a moment and then said, “Well, we can’t count on luck anymore. I need you to take the ship to Tak-Makla as soon as possible. Now that their Hive is operational again, our enemies will be trying to take it out. Nanda was a diversion. They are trying to split our defenses into enough small pieces so that Tak-Makla becomes vulnerable again. I won’t let that happen.”

  “But what about the Nanda, Dave?” Darlene asked. “They are helpless without us.”

  Dave kissed her cheek and replied, “We’ll do what we can, sweetheart. But Tak-Makla is the linchpin in this. If the Hive is disabled again, we’ll lose all insight into what our enemies are planning.”

  “We’ll be on our way in fifteen minutes, Dave,” Jon answered. “I’ll also contact Kong-Fa and see if they can send some ships with us and leave a few here.”

  “That’s perfect, Jon. Thank you,” Dave replied. “By the way, is Darlene safe to travel?”

  “Sure! The doctors gave her a clean bill of health,” Jon answered.

  “Great!” Dave said as he picked his wife up in his arms. “Jake, take us back to Tak-Makla.” Jake glowed and the three disappeared, leaving Jon alone in sick bay.

  As soon as Dave and Darlene appeared on the beach outside Zee’s house, the crowd assembled for dinner erupted in applause. A few seconds later, Fa-a-Di appeared next to them, having just returned from Nanda. The applause turned to cheers. As Darlene stepped up onto the patio, De-o-Nu, Zee and Loni rushed over to hug her. Ton was right behind them with two glasses of whisky, which he handed to Dave and Darlene before he led them back to their seats.

  The group of waiters began passing out platters of appetizers. The crowd was buzzing with conversation and people were laughing and enjoying the night air. Dave touched his glass to Darlene’s and they each took a sip. Darlene leaned over to Dave and kissed his cheek, then whispered in his ear, “Honey, this is unbelievable. After the house was destroyed on Nanda, I was pinned under the rubble and was thinking it might be the end for me. Then I prayed I could be here with you, sipping whisky together. And now look, my prayer was answered.”

  Dave kissed her lips and smiled back. “I love you, Darlene. When I heard about the attack, I knew I should try to find Odo to make sure he was okay. But I could
n’t think about him at all until I found you safe. Things are going to get worse for a time now, and I’m not going to be separated from you again.”

  She kissed him lightly. “Dave, thank you for loving me. But you have to complete the Sojourn first. I’ll be okay. But please do this for Fa-a-Di.”

  Zee, who was sitting next to Darlene, broke into their private discussion. “My dear friends, I fear we are neglecting our other guests. No one is happier than me that Darlene is well, but this was a great day for us. Three Galliceans have entered a Hive for the first time in history!” He pointed across the table. “This gentlemen is De-o-Pa. He is De-o-Nu’s brother and a senior official in the Gallicean faith. I don’t think you’ve met.”

  “It is an honor to meet you Ambassador,” De-o-Pa said. “It is a great blessing that you are safe and with us tonight.”

  “It is very nice to meet you, De-o-Pa,” Darlene replied. “What did you think of the experience of the Hive?”

  The Prelate’s face lit up with joy. “By the Daughters of Lubna, I’ve never had such a miraculous experience!” The other Galliceans started to laugh. “What did I say?”

  When he could stop laughing, De-o-Nu said, “You have to forgive my brother. He travels in different circles from most, being part of the clergy. That saying, “the Daughters of Lubna” is generations old. Our grandfather used to use it all the time.”

  “We are sorry, Prelate, we meant no disrespect,” Fa-a-Di gasped between fits of laughter. “But most Galliceans gave up those old sayings in primary school.”

  “But the Daughters of Lubna are a sacred part of our past, brothers. We should not so easily forget such things. There are priests who spend their lives researching the ancient texts for hidden meaning,” De-o-Pa replied.

  “I love that story!” Fak shouted. “It is one of my favorites, and I have studied many cultures and religions.”

  “Oh dear, now that the whisky is flowing, so is Fak’s tongue,” Zee sighed. “Can this wait until after dinner, at least?”

  “Of course, High Consul,” Fak acquiesced.

  “I can’t wait to hear about it, Fak,” Darlene replied.

  “And I am intrigued how a non-Gallicean would know our ancient texts,” De-o-Pa asserted.

  The dinner continued for another two hours with courses of seafood and fresh vegetables, followed by the traditional coffee and sweet offering. Dave told the group about his plan to safeguard Tak-Makla at all costs, which met with much disagreement, as each species was terrified of potential attacks on their own planets. While Dave explained how the tekkan Hive was the real target, there was little agreement on how to keep everyone safe. Only Loni Arrak was firmly on Dave’s side, as she had seen hundreds of reports from Hive agents about activity among the Donnaki, Paxran, Maklakar and the rogue Predaxian agents. According to tradition, after dinner the primary guests joined Zee and his ministers for a walk along the beach and more whisky. Within a few minutes, the talk of the pending war slipped away and everyone grouped around Fak for her story.

  Her face was already slightly blushed from the whisky, but being a student of galactic history, she was not about to lose her moment. “De-o-Pa, since you know this story as well, please interrupt me if I miss anything,” she began. “The Daughters of Lubna comes from the story of Fa-u-Di, the brother of Fa-u-Bay. After the battle of Gallicea, Fa-u-Di was given the job to expand Gallicean influence by finding new civilizations to partner and trade with. He wrote about his adventures in the book, Ten Years to Gallia.”

  The book tells how Fa-u-Di was given a brand new star cruiser and asked to document all life within a hundred light-years of Gallia. The ship, Pal-No-Fa, was equipped with a new power system that would allow it to fly much faster than any others in the fleet. Unfortunately, there was a flaw in the system. When the ship left Gallia, it began to accelerate uncontrollably. Within hours, it was out of communications range hurtling through empty space. The crew was panicking, but they knew any escape pods would be destroyed if they tried to leave. After ten days of travel, Fa-u-Di ordered a core shutdown, which had only a ten percent chance of success. If it failed, the ship would be obliterated in a massive explosion. Every other option had been tried without success. He asked the crew to pray to God for their salvation. At exactly 1000 hours, the core was taken offline. The ship twisted and shook horribly, and the crew members were thrown around inside like toys. After a minute or two, the shaking stopped and the ship began to decelerate. Ten hours later, the ship was at a dead stop in orbit over an immense gas planet. When the core was safely reenergized, a large celebration was held. The crew was euphoric to be alive, even though no one knew where they could be. There were very few stars nearby, and Fa-u-Di correctly presumed they were on the edge of the galaxy, thirty thousand light-years from home.

  The following morning, Fa-u-Di met with his command officers. The news was not good. From what astronomical data they could gather, it would take eight years to get home at top speed. There was not enough food or atmosphere to sustain them more than a couple of years. They would have to find planets with a breathable atmosphere and edible food to survive. Also, being enclosed in the ship for that long would undoubtedly lead to mass hysteria. The only good news was that the planet they orbited had a breathable atmosphere; but since they had only been gone a few days, their supplies were almost full.

  The system they were in was very odd indeed. There was only this one planet orbiting the sun. The planet had only two moons, which were both terrestrial. The science officer noted that life was visible on the gas giant even from this high orbit. He and his men had seen what looked like enormous snakes moving around in the gas. He estimated they were hundreds of miles long and probably very dangerous. The recommendation was to avoid the planet at all costs.

  The weapons officer was laughing at the story and Fa-u-Di chastised him. The officer mentioned the ancient story of Lu-Be-Na, the legendary female warrior who rid Gallia of giant snake-like creatures that had been attacking towns all over the planet. When one of the snakes stole her two daughters, she killed it and rescued her children. Then she set out on a mission to destroy all of the snakes to keep galli children safe for all time. Fa-u-Di smiled when he remembered the same tale from his childhood, and in honor of Lu-Be-Na, he named the gas planet Lubna, and the moons were named Fistan and Solander, after the mythological gods who created life on Gallia.

  “I can’t believe you know so much about Gallia,” De-o-Pa sighed. “I feel young again, sitting on my mother’s knee as she told me that story.”

  “As you know, that’s only the first chapter,” Fak replied. “The book tells the stories of every world they visited until they returned home. I can tell by Zee’s expression that I’ve told enough for one night though.”

  “Thank you for that, Fak,” Zee said. “After walking so much and drinking too much, I’m sure we could all use some sleep.”

  “May I share one thing that is wrong in that story?” Fak asked.

  “If it is brief,” Zee replied.

  “I’ll do my best,” Fak began. “The book is not really about Fa-u-Di. It was really written by Fa-u-Bay.”

  “That’s very slanderous, Fak,” Fa-a-Di said. “How can you back up such nonsense?”

  “You all must remember the Hive. Our scientists and historians have traveled all over space and time learning about other civilizations. We believe we must understand a people’s motivation before we can be true partners,” Fak replied. “I have seen the two Fa-u brothers together in the past. Did you know they were identical twins? After the Battle of Gallicea, Fa-u-Bay was overcome with grief. He was a priest and he had killed Za-a-Za with the blades his generals forced him to wear. Even though the people demanded that he rule, he could not come to grips with his emotions and the failure of his faith. Finally, he convinced his brother to rule in his place. They were so identical no one ever knew. His brother offered to let him travel the stars until he could come to peace with his actions. He said he would then al
low Fa-u-Bay to rule. Gallicean history says that Fa-u-Di followed his brother into rule, but really it was the other way around. This is how the first ten editions of Ten Years to Gallia were written.”

  “That is preposterous,” De-o-Pa said. “Can you prove this?”

  “Of course. I’d be happy to take you back in time to see for yourself. We also have a first edition of the book in our archives,” Fak replied.

  “You stole a first edition from Gallia?” De-o-Pa gasped.

  “Not really, De-o-Pa,” she smiled. “We borrowed one from the past, which was taken one hour before a fire destroyed the building and countless historical texts. That was very long ago. We also digitized it so we can make copies. Would you like one?”

  “I think we’ve heard enough for one night, Fak,” Zee said as he led the group back up the steps to the house.

  Chapter 22

  Dave could hear the arguments raging as he walked toward the dining room in the ambassador’s residence on Tak-Makla. He entered the room to see Darlene, Fa-a-Di, De-o-Nu, Odo Pak and Jon Lake eating and discussing how to safeguard the Free Society from their emboldened enemies. The Galliceans were demanding to keep their ships in their own space, while Darlene was supporting Dave’s demand for protection for Tak-Makla. Odo was looking much better and listening silently to the others. The group quieted as Dave joined them.

  “Odo, it is wonderful to see you here,” Dave said as he sat next to him and put his hand on the Elder’s shoulder. “How are you feeling today, old friend?”

  “I feel very good today, Dave,” he replied. “Consul Gongaleg suggested my condition might be improved on this planet. There is some magic in the place for sure.”

  “It is amazing,” Dave agreed. “You can tell that our Galliceans friends are our size now and not gasping for air in this atmosphere. Zee told us when we met they could somehow set those differences aside here.”

  “Yes, I have heard that as well,” Odo said. “It must have something to do with their Hive and the proliferation of lines of Source in this location. But I must return to Nanda soon, Dave. My job is not complete there.”