by Kord Stone
Jason calmly said, “If you can stay cool-headed, I will explain everything to you. I assure you that no harm will come to you.”
That seemed to mollify him for the moment and he said, “Okay, what’s going on? I thought you were dead.”
Jason told him about being picked up by the ship and rescuing the family and him from the bombing. He looked doubtful, but seemed to be taking it well enough, but Jason had his suspicions that the preacher wouldn’t truly believe anything he said until he saw they were not on Earth anymore.
Jason asked him, “How well do you know the geography of Earth?” He made his way to the closest outer wall and thought transparent, and the wall seemed to dissolve in front of him.
Jumping back, the preacher gasped and seemed to hold his breath for the longest time before asking, Where are we?
At that moment he realized he had never asked where they were going so he asked in mind to Alise. Uh…Alise, where are we exactly?
She explained, We are in a stationary orbit over a planet called Daregon. It is situated on the backside of the star Mintaka, which is one of the stars in the Orion’s belt a little over nine hundred light years from Earth. The Inhabitants here do not allow refugees but they do not have a problem with us using the pyramids generator, considering they were built for these ships eons ago.
Jason relayed the information to the preacher, and he looked as though he was about to faint, so Jason summoned a chair for him to sit on. When it appeared right in front of him, all doubts seemed to leave the preacher’s mind and he sat down with a stunned expression.
Jason was a little stunned as well. He didn’t remember requesting a chair, or know that he even could in that fashion.
The preacher looked up at him and asked, “What’s going to happen to me now?”
Jason sighed and replied, “We’re working on that at the moment. If the people who tried to kill all of us found out they failed, they might redouble their efforts to locate us and put more lives in danger. At the moment, all the evidence will make them think they succeeded. If we were to return you to Earth now, they might harm you or others you love to discover the truth. For the moment I believe it’s safer to let them continue thinking we’re all dead. If at all possible when this is settled, I’ll try to return you safely to a point just after the event and you’ll be able to say you were late showing up to the services. But for now we don’t know if the bomber knew you were in the church when the explosion happened or not.”
The preacher looked determined and mumbled, “Not much we can do about it then. Well let’s make the best of the situation.”
Jason was surprised he accepted the situation so easily and said, “Would you like to join the others?”
He nodded and stood up. “Lead on.”
Chapter Sixteen
Jason brought the preacher up to the second level and visited with the family several hours before heading back down to Alise. His feet no sooner came into contact with the floor when the ship rocked from a blast. He ran into the control room asking Alise, “What was that?”
Alise had an irritated tone as she said, “We are under attack…again.”
He looked at the ships on the monitors and asked, “What do they want?”
Alise sighed and said, “They will not respond to my hail. They must know we are stuck here until the charging is complete and we do not have ship-to-ship weapons.”
He looked at her flabbergasted. “No weapons!” He glanced back at the monitor, “What happens if we disconnect from the generator prematurely?”
“It causes a feedback in the power system resulting in a shutdown and diagnostic that will take about three days to reset, or at least that is what has happened in the past.”
He spotted two ships heading on a collision course with them. Looking down at the monitor, he saw there were actually five ships closing in from all directions on suicide courses. The five ships were about to collide with his ship when he felt as if he were being pushed aside in his own mind and he lost control of his body.
* * * * *
Alise watched as an energy pulse coursed out of Jason’s body and the approaching ships came to a sudden halt. Then Jason reached out as if to pick up something, moving his hand, Alise noted that one of the ships moved with his arm movements. Jason seemed to hesitate a second then flicked his finger and the ship went flying off into deep space. He opened the communications and he transmitted in a strange quavering voice. “I do not wish to harm anyone. You need to leave here now!” She saw Jason shake his head, and wondered what that was about.
A second later, a voice came over the communications speaking in Toralin saying, “Your ship has no weapons. You may be able to repel our smaller ships but this cruiser will pop you right out of that charging beam. While you are vulnerable, we will destroy or take possession of your ship as we did to the others of your kind. You have interfered with our business ventures long enough and we will not tolerate it any longer.”
She looked to Jason, and he looked from her to the monitor. A second later he reached out like he had done before to stop the smaller ships, but the Toralin battle cruiser did not stop like the smaller ones. Jason’s hand lowered and Alise noted the glazed expression that crossed Jason’s face, and a moment later his right arm swept out.
At that moment a new control panel materialized to the right of the mission prep console. Jason’s dazed expression seemed to fade, and Alise stared down at the new control panel in stunned disbelief. “Well that is new. How did you… Where?” she stammered.
Jason shook his head. “I don’t know.”
Without another word to her, Jason stepped over and looked down at the new panel. Alise looked down to examine it and it read, “Defensive System and Weapons Deployment.”
She heard Jason mutter, Now how do I use it?
He began tapping on the console and a moment later an energy weapon discharged and shot across the massive ship’s bow then Jason transmitted in the strange voice again. “We are not defenseless and if you wish to stay alive you will depart this area immediately.”
If anything, the show of weaponry just aggravated the attackers more and they increased their speed. Jason then looked down at the weapons console and activated another weapon. Alise watched as a beam struck the massive ship’s hull, and all motion in the vessel immediately halted. At that point, the other ships accelerated toward his ship.
Jason seemed to be clearing his head with a shake, and began tapping out commands on the weapons console, and looked up, but nothing was happening. Then with an irritated tone he asked, “Alise…which of the vessels have the fewest lives onboard?”
She looked at the monitor in front of her, scanned for lifeforms, and targeted the smallest ship before saying, “This ship has one hundred and twenty-three lives.”
Alise then watched as Jason pulled the targeting from her console to his monitor, targeted the ship’s engine and fired. There was a brilliant flash and the back end of one of the attacking ships exploded. The hull of the ship was now drifting uncontrollably toward their ship, and it looked as if Jason instinctively reached up and she saw the approaching ship come to a halt. Jason transmitted again to the remaining ships, “Back off now or I will be forced to destroy your other ships!” His voice was back to normal this time, and Alise was at a loss for what was happening, and how Jason could know that much about the weapons console.
After that demonstration and issuing his warning, the remaining attacking vessels changed course. She watched as Jason seemed to push the derelict ship farther away from their ship. Then he opened communications and he hailed the retreating vessels then instructed them to collect their people from the damaged ship and vacate the area immediately.
One of the retreating vessels replied, “We will destroy you as well. It is only a matter of time—”
Jason interrupted the transmission. “Do not make me rethink my actions. I do not wish to harm anyone but if you persist in your actions I will take appropri
ate counteraction.” Alise was studying Jason closely this time and noticed his eyes appeared to roll back in his head, and with the same menacing reverberating voice as before, he said, “You have been warned. Collect your people and leave here now!” He then shook his head, and his face returned to normal.
Alise sat there uncomfortably. She wanted to ask what was with his voice, and the facial expressions, but now was not the time. Her attention was split between Jason and the Toralins, who were collecting the people from their derelict ship, and she took the time to look over the new weapons, never taking her eyes completely off the enemy ships.
* * * * *
Jason watched as one of the attackers’ ships docked with the damaged ship. He was at a loss for why he felt so odd, and why events seemed to be jumping around so much. An hour later the ship detached and hailed him. “We will be leaving, but our commander’s ship is not responding.”
Jason replied, “I will release your commander’s ship after you have left the area. It will be right behind you, and when your commander contacts you, tell him what you have witnessed, and what I have said. Your people are not to harass us again. Is that understood?”
After a few seconds of silence, a reply came from one of the other ships. “Understood.”
A few minutes later the attackers’ ships’ engines lit up and they were off. Jason looked at the ship frozen in time and raised his hand to try to push it away as Alise said he had done before, but it was too large. He looked down at the console and activated a repulse beam and the ship went hurling off in the same direction as the other ships. Then he deactivated the time displacement field from the ship.
He was about to ask Alise for a situation report when she spoke up. “There is a massive energy buildup on the derelict ship. It looks as if it is going to explode.”
Instinctively he raised his hands and pushed at the ship with all his might and the derelict ship went flying off in the distance. About thirty seconds later there was a brilliant flash and they could see a shockwave rippling toward them. He raised his hand again and felt the wave disperse as it came into contact with the energy from his body.
Jason shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the fogginess that had been coming over him, and asked, “Did we cause that explosion?”
Looking peculiarly at him Alise shook her head. “No, that was a deliberate attempt to destroy us, and it probably would have worked if you had not prevented it.”
She looked down at her console and shook her head. “They are returning, and it looks as if they have reinforcements.”
This time about thirty ships appeared and began firing at them.
Jason was pissed off. He could not believe how persistent they were. He felt his eyes roll back, and could hear himself say in a guttural growl, “Enough is enough!”
* * * * *
Alise watched as Jason’s hands went to the weapons console and he targeted the largest ship. A second later his fingers started pressing buttons as if on their own and with a final press on the red FIRE button, the largest ship was reduced to particles. The weapons seemed to be automatically targeting and firing at any ship within range. A few final blasts and the remaining enemy vessels began fleeing in earnest this time. Jason transmitted in the same menacing, reverberating voice as before, “I warned you… Do not approach this ship again!”
* * * * *
Jason’s gaze became clearer and he slumped in his chair, feeling exhausted.
Alise rushed over to support him and looked at him with shock. “How did you do that and what was with your voice?”
He shook his head. “I have no idea… It was as if my hands had a mind of their own and I remember speaking but don’t recall a word of what I said. Looks like it worked though.”
She stared at him. “I would say so. After that display we should not be bothered by them again.”
Jason peered back at the monitor. “Who are they, and why did they keep attacking us?”
“With what they said, in that language, I would say they are the Toralins, a member of a consortium of scavenger races who reap the benefit from the destruction I told you about. They are one of a few races I mentioned before. Lately they seem to know when we have altered events. They must have developed a kind of multi-spacial awareness and seem to be aware of future events.
“Well they are usually aware of future events,” she stated as she looked around. “They feel if a civilization is stupid enough to destroy themselves then their consortium should be able to profit from it. Apparently our intervention in the past has hindered their profits too much and now they want to prevent it.”
He asked, “How many times have you had to deal with them exactly?”
She seemed to deliberate on it a moment and said, “Elgon and I have had indirect dealings with them by altering fifty-three planetary disasters. Including this time, the consortium has attacked this ship one hundred and sixty-three times over the last fifteen thousand linear years…but the Toralins alone only fifteen times. This was only the second time we were in a vulnerable position. We would usually just phase shift and leave as we never had ship-based weapons at our disposal.”
She took a closer look at the new console. “That must be their new tactic, attack while we are charging. We found out about that weakness long ago. A little after the Lantins took over the running of these ships, there was an attack while our ship was charging. We were knocked out of commission for days, but luckily it happened when Lantin ships were nearby and they rushed to our rescue. I guess the consortium must have learned of the flaw and used it to destroy the other ships. Which could explain why we have not heard from any in a very long time.”
Jason was confused. “If the ship never had ship-to-ship weapons what did you use on your missions?”
She said, “My hosts always performed hands-on repairs of timelines, and if weapons were needed, they could use the ones in the armory. It also helps that the time displacement suits will phase the wearer to the same TD as the ship. So if we had to deal with another ship, the commander would transport over to it and deal with the conflict in person.”
“Why didn’t you transport me to them then?”
“There are a couple of reasons. First there were too many ships to deal with, and second, I would be more comfortable if you were trained first.”
Jason raised a brow at her and was about to inform her of some of the training he had in the military, but a sound from the console drew his attention.
A beep sounded from the main control panel. Alise said, “That battle drained the energy stores a little. It will take almost six hours until we can depart.”
Jason thought this might be a good time to test a notion that had entered his mind and see if he was right. He looked at the monitors and noticed two of the small suicide ships were still drifting a distance away and he asked, “Is there anyone left alive on those ships?”
Alise tapped the console and said, “No, those ships were drones being controlled remotely.”
He thought about it a second and focused on the closest of the drones, reached out with his mind and could feel the ship. With a wave of his hand he made a grasping gesture and moved the drone farther away, turned his hand as if to cup under the ship and closed his hand into a fist. As he did he felt energy course through his arm and pulse out. The small ship crumpled like a tin can, and he let out a humph.
Alise looked at him a bit startled and said, “Andel told me the Imortum had the ability to control the environment around them also. Those abilities must have been dormant inside you until the attack the other day.” She looked down at the monitor again. “That is interesting.”
“What now?”
“We need a little over six ours to recharge now. I may have been wrong. It looks as if your ability to control exterior events is directly connected to the energy system of the ship. When you crushed that ship a moment ago it drained energy from our ship.” She consulted the weapons console again. “Okay now I see what happen
ed. When you simulated moving and crushing the ship, you must have activated a nonverbal command. This ship used a repulse beam to move the ship, then opened a micro event horizon within that ship for a second causing it to implode.”
Jason examined the new console and a minute later Alise said, “It seems odd that this ship has had defenses and we were never told about them.” She sighed. “So many commanders that could have been saved if we had only known.”
“What were the Lantins’ weapons like back when they received these ships from the Imortum?”
Alise said, “They were a relatively peaceful race and only developed weapons for defensive and deterrent purposes but they were mostly conventional weapons. They had rail weapons, minor particle weapons and atomic weapons. Other than that they were not much more advanced than Earth has now actually, and over the years they advanced but nowhere near this level.”
Jason thought he understood now. “These weapons would have been a quantum leap in technology for the Lantins back then wouldn’t they?”
“From what I can see they still would have been if Lantis had not been destroyed.”
Alise looked up at the display and sighing she began tapping on her console.
“What was that sigh about?” Jason asked
“Just the mess of debris from the attack out there… There, I have begun cleaning it up.” She must have seen he was going to ask, and she added, “I dematerialized the ships and placed them in base storage.”
Jason looked at the number of ships and asked, “Won’t that much debris be too much for the base minerals?”
Alise sighed and said, “I do not know, it has never had a problem in the past. The levels seem to be diminished over time, even though I am not using them. almost as if they are being used or maybe degraded. I do not know which.”
Jason nodded and turned his attention to the new console.
