“He has done no such thing,” Scamp protested. “I was merely fact checking to make sure my response was accurate.”
“Okaaaay,” Arlene said waving her hand in the direction of Scamp’s video simulation. “Anyway, while Scamp checks that, I think I’ll go ahead and see about narrowing this search down with the new data we have, now that we’re here and able to take some up-to-date measurements.”
Giles nodded. “Great. The thought of checking eleven of these places is not appealing.” He turned to his new friend. “Beno’or, would you like to help me analyze the samples?”
Beno’or’s eyes lit up. “I’d love to! To understand how your technology works with regards to dating a structure… it sounds fascinating” he exclaimed, heaving himself stiffly to his feet. “Hook me up!” he chirped enthusiastically.
Giles smiled. “Ok, let’s see if we can disturb Scamp to make the initial analysis and we’ll go from there.”
“I’ve got it!” Scamp interrupted excitedly.
Everyone had started moving out but they turned back when they heard Scamp’s eureka. “They’re referred to as the celestial bodies in an arrangement that is generally called a Klempler Rosette,” Scamp concluded triumphantly.
Arlene chuckled to herself. “Thanks Scamp,” she said, trying not to sound like she was ridiculing him. She actually had a fondness for AIs and Scamp was turning out to be quite the team player, as long as he was always right.
Giles added his sentiment, not as adept as Arlene at keeping the irony from his tone. “Thank goodness. I’ll be able to sleep tonight now. Thanks Scamp.”
Scamp missed the sarcasm. “You’re very welcome, human,” he responded earnestly. “Now, if you load the sample into the substance analysis in my lab area, I’ll get onto that.”
Giles confirmed and took Beno’or through to the back where the very compact lab could be pulled out of one of the walls in the rec area, chuckling in amusement at the interaction.
***
Some time later, Giles and Beno’or had been back and forth to the samples area multiple times.
“Looks like it was only 230 years since the stone was cut,” Giles reported back to Arlene as he sat back down in his console chair.
Beno’or followed him back in. “That’s some pretty amazing kit you have there!” he exclaimed as he sat himself back down with his mocha.
Giles nodded. “Yes, we’re very privileged to have the Scamp Princess on loan from the Federation. You know, originally she was commissioned by the Empress herself, so that she could go out and kick the shit out of people without being recognized.”
Beno’or frowned, surprised. “I did not know that. So your Empress actually goes into battle?”
Giles nodded. “Yep. Dad says it was something to do with needing to dish out justice and get her hands dirty. I think she just went stir crazy staying on one of those big starships, isolated from the universe, doing Empressy things, though.”
Arlene sat back in her chair and swung around. “Ok, so I’ve got something,” she interrupted.
Giles swiveled around to face her. “Do tell.”
“Well,” she started slowly, “it looks like the calculations needed some tweaking. The orbits weren’t as I’d originally thought, but if we make a few assumptions, like the planet would have to have been accessible 100,000 years ago with the tech the Zhyn had back then and such like. If this is accurate then we’re still only limited to four moons to check out.”
Giles’s hand was back on his face as he thought things through. “Of course, that assumes that they didn’t move the relic, which after today’s little trip seems entirely possible.”
Arlene sighed, her eyes fixing on a point on the floor and glazing over in fatigue. “Yeah,” she agreed. “That’s true.”
She paused.
Finally she pulled her gaze up again. “So whatcha want to do?” she asked.
Giles shrugged, “I guess we land on each of them, do a scan, and see if any of them give us any clues. We’re bound to come across something useful.”
“Ok then,” Arlene confirmed. “Next moon, Scamp! Let’s go.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Aibek Moon, Orn System
“Ok, you’re up!” Mennynad nudged at Jendyg, who immediately pulled an arrow from his quiver and hooked it into his bow. He pulled the arrow back and lined up his target.
The woodland was quiet but for the sound of insects and the gentle hum of the force field keeping the atmosphere in their dome.
The genetically enhanced goat-like creature seemed oblivious to the hunters standing around watching it grazing on the rough grasses.
Mennynad glanced over at their brother, Ammo. Ammo had a twinkle in his eye. He had sticks on Jendyg out-shooting Mennynad this cycle. So far Mennynad was ahead by three points, but not long ago Jendyg was winning by half a dozen.
Betting was one of the few pleasures they had in their rural existence. That, and teasing each other.
Jendyg felt the pressure mount as he breathed, trying to steady his aim. He felt the weight of Mennynad’s stare on him, willing him to mess up, to miss, so that he could be the champion. Jendyg tried to block it out and clear his mind the way the monks had taught them long before they were stationed here.
It worked… somewhat.
He imagined the arrow going straight into the flesh of the quagga. He visualized it with all his might. And a moment later he released his arrow and it found its mark. The arrow stuck into the animal’s flank, wounding it, but not dropping it. The creature started, let out a squeal and then bounded off into the undergrowth.
Mennynad looked over at Jendyg. “Good shot,” he nodded. “A shame we’re probably not going to eat much for supper tonight though.”
Jendyg started walking onwards, tracking the creature. Ammo patted him on the back as he followed him. “It’s okay. You’ll finish him before we lose light,” he insisted, glaring back at Mennynad for his teasing. “Just ignore the heckling from the cheap seats!”
The three moved on again, Jendyg in the lead, tracking the four-legged furry thing.
Ammo’s tone had changed as he followed behind his friends. “You know your comment to Gagai the other day had him pissed,” he called forward to Jendyg.
Jendyg ignored him, not wanting his voice to disturb their prey should they catch it.
Ammo wouldn’t be dissuaded. “He has mentioned using more extreme measures to get you to fall in line with the mission,” he warned.
Jendyg spun around and glared past Mennynad at Ammo. “The mission is dead!” he hissed loudly. “The sooner you people realize that and accept that we’ve been forsaken, the sooner we can start letting people land here and get the hell off this rock.”
Mennynad put his hands up to stop the confrontation, but it was too late.
Ammo retaliated. “If you weren’t so selfish, and thought for a moment about your sacred duty and everything you swore to prote-”
Jendyg’s eyes flared with irritation as he retaliated. “And if you people realized that we’re out here on our own, our mission forgotten, and goodness knows what might have happened to the rest of the order-”
Mennynad clamped his hands on Jendyg’s shoulders and stared him down. “Look, this isn’t getting us anywhere.” Jendyg’s breathing slowed a fraction.
“And besides,” Mennynad continued, “what makes you think that the rest of our order haven’t already been taken out? That would make us the last line of defense. And you want to abandon your destiny?”
“Destiny?” Jendyg scoffed. “I’ve had just about enough destiny to last my next hundred lifetimes,” he added, breaking free of Mennynad’s grasp and stomping on.
Mennynad and Ammo exchanged concerned glances before following on after him. This time in silence. And at a distance.
Elders Chamber, The Sacred Ascenders Convent for the Gifted, Estaria
“And you’ve seen absolutely no improvement in the child’s behavior in her term here?” The ol
d woman’s voice rang through the wood paneled room, quickly dampened by the carpet, and the other four people present.
“No, Mother Superior,” Bridgette reported. “But she has been becoming more powerful in the last months. It’s becoming more and more difficult to contain. I fear that she is putting all the others in danger.” The anxiety was evident around Bridgette’s eyes, and her skin was dull from lack of sleep - a problem she was also attributing to her charge.
“Not to mention the fact that her attitude is rubbing off on the others,” Bridgette added as an aside.
Mother Superior narrowed her eyes a little, and without moving another muscle, quietly asked, “How so?”
“I caught three of them out in the gardens after hours,” Bridgette divulged. “Goodness knows what they were doing.” She looked to the old man at the other end of the table, making sure he was hearing her arguments and understanding. He remained still, listening, but not reacting.
Mother Superior turned her head as if to hear better. “Was she with them?” she pressed Bridgette, surprised that this was the first she was hearing of the incident.
“No,” Bridgette confessed. “But you could tell it was her influence.”
Mother Superior’s expression remained blank and unrevealing. She glanced across the table to the old man, who held a ceremonial walking stick in front of him, his hand folded over the top of it calmly.
“Charles,” she ventured, “tell me you have some thoughts on how we might proceed.”
Charles’s fingers moved in a repeated fashion as if he were waking them up to play some piano. “I do,” he responded gently, his grip on his stick returning to stationary. “The child is clearly talented, but from what I’m hearing,” he continued more slowly, “this isn’t the right place for her.”
Bridgette piped up, her eyes filled with frustration and her tone verging on insolent. “Well, that’s what I’ve been saying for the last year!” she blurted out.
Mother Superior threw her a stern look, and Bridgette caught herself and settled down, her cheeks flushed.
“The fact remains,” Mother Superior explained as she moved her gaze from Bridgette to the other elder present, “this child cannot just be sent anywhere. She needs special care and attention. So… Charles, you were saying?”
Charles bobbed his head and continued. “I think we need to consider halting her training and taking her off world somewhere where there isn’t the power source for her to channel.”
The room fell silent.
Finally, Mother superior sighed. “Exile?” She said it more as a statement than a question. She paused, her mind churning. “We had such high hopes for her,” she mumbled.
Charles tilted his head to one side. “I know. But we have to consider the safety of the population. If this continues, we may end up with something on our hands that we have no control over.”
Mother Superior nodded solemnly. She caught Bridgette’s expression out of the corner of her eye. It was one of triumph. Bridgette suddenly became self-aware and swallowed her slight smile. Her skin, however, was regaining its glow, despite her best efforts to control herself.
Mother Superior looked back at Charles, her hopes now surrendered. “So, where were you thinking?” she asked. “Not…?”
Charles nodded. “It has a long history of being a place which is both stable and out of the way. They will grant her passage easily, too.”
Mother Superior shook her head gently.
Charles continued. “We have little choice at this point. Teshov doesn’t have the land energy required for her to present a threat. It’s the safest option.”
She leaned forward, her arm on the table, holding his gaze with a determination he’d seen on few occasions before. “And there’s nothing else you can do? With all your connections, and insights?”
Charles leaned back in his chair, his arms now outstretched to hold onto his cane. “I can certainly ask around, and see what other solution we can come up with,” he offered. “But I think we need to prepare ourselves for the Teshov option.”
Mother Superior’s shoulders slumped as she surrendered a little more to the course of action. “And who should we send with her?”
Charles glanced sideways at Bridgette.
“Oh no! No way!” Bridgette protested. “That’s not fair. You can’t exile me as well! This was just a job…”
A young female Estarian had been listening on the other side of the enormous wooden door. Reading that their discussion was coming to an end she deftly stepped away from her listening post, careful to avoid the floorboard that creaked. She turned on her tiptoes and moved away down the corridor as fast as she dared. The last thing she wanted was to be spotted anywhere near that discussion. Eavesdropping was frowned upon but in her position, her knowing what they were planning might force them to move up their plans, meaning she wouldn’t have time to prepare.
And there was something she needed to do before she was whisked away from this place.
Aboard the Scamp Princess
“We won’t be long,” Arlene told Beno’or as she left him in the rec room in the back of the ship. “And then we’ll head back out to the surface. I’m not sure our survey has quite ruled this second one out, so better safe than sorry,” she explained.
“Take your time,” he told her. “I’m perfectly happy catching up on some of the information we have about our shared heritage.”
Arlene grinned. “Hypothesized heritage,” she corrected him playfully.
“I heard that!” Giles called through from the corridor to the cockpit. “Nice to know my friends have so much faith in my theories!”
Arlene nodded in the direction of the disembodied voice, and Beno’or and she shared a moment of humor. “Ok, I’ll come get you when we’re done,” she told him before wandering back through to the cockpit.
Giles heard her footsteps heading into the cockpit. “You know, if you don’t think there is any merit to this quest-”
“Oh hush you,” she retorted. “I knew you were listening. No need to get your knickers in a knot.”
Giles simmered down, mumbling away under his breath. He knew Arlene was teasing him, but what kind of sport would he be if he didn’t play up to it, he figured.
He was just making the last checks to ensure that Scamp had them parked somewhere safe and that their shields were up and early warning signals on.
Arlene had settled in at her usual console behind him and to his right. He scooted his chair over to see her holoscreen.
The call was already connecting.
“Greetings, gentlefolk,” Molly’s voice called out over the ether connection.
“Greetings, Molly,” Arlene chirped back.
“Hi, how are you?” Giles tried to greet her too, pushing his way over to be seen better on the screen.
“I’m good,” Molly responded brightly. “How are you both?”
Arlene answered for the two of them. “We’re doing ok,” she told her. “Giles obviously is grumpy about the tedious work load, but we’re doing well. Making progress,” she summarized.
Giles protested. “We’re working through the moons one at a time. And there are eleven of them! Arlene’s calculations sucked ass.”
Arlene grinned and tilted her head at him. “See?”
Molly smiled. “So you’re in the Orn System?”
Arlene pulled her console chair closer to the holoscreen pushing Giles out. “Yes. I must say, the moons are rocky and deserted, for the most part. But when you look out at the system, in almost any direction, it isn’t half beautifu-”
Giles interjected. “It is, but what is more fascinating is how eleven of these moons ended up in such an intricate orbit - so close together. And so similar in size. There’s no physical way it could have occurred naturally. It just doesn’t make sense… unless…”
Arlene frowned. “Unless you buy into the conspiracy theory!”
Giles huffed. “It’s not a conspiracy theory. It’s just physics.
Occam's razor, etcetera, etcetera.”
Arlene shook her head at him and smiled back at Molly. “See what I have to put up with?” she joked playfully.
Giles pretended to be offended and folded his arms. “Well, I shall just be quiet then, shall I?”
Arleen grinned at him and slapped at his arm playfully. “So,” she said, changing the subject. “You had information for us?”
Molly shifted in her seat. “Well. Kinda. It’s like…” she took a deep breath before continuing again. “I had a realm shift, and I saw some things. I had no one else to speak to who might know what it means, so I thought I’d reach out to you. In case you can help.” Her eyes dropped below the camera as if she were somehow ashamed of what was happening to her.
Arlene made a note to talk with her about that at some point, but right now listened with concentration. Giles had sat back a little but was paying close attention too.
Arlene leaned on the console in front of her, her hand by her chin. She waved, ushering her on. “Go on,” she said, encouraging Molly to share.
Molly took another deep breath. “Well. I’d just finished a call and Neechie was hanging around, which is how I suspected at first that it was a realm jump. So the usual started happening. Feeling ungrounded and so on. And then I saw an image, as clearly as I see you in the hologram before me. It was a series of planets in a weird array, all in this cluttered orbit.”
Arlene started poking at her console, her attention no longer on Molly. Then a second holoscreen appeared on their call with an image of the Orn System that she had been analyzing.
“Something like this?” she asked.
Molly’s mouth dropped open. “How did you do that? Was Oz able to pull an image?”
Arlene chuckled lightly. “No, no, no… this is where we are. This is the Orn System we were just telling you about.”
Molly’s mouth was still agape. “But that’s exactly what it looked like.”
Giles Kurns_Rogue Operator Page 6
