I looked at them. Apart from their colouring, they appeared to be human. Humanoid at least.
"You're curious about us," said the man.
"Sorry, I didn’t mean to be that obvious."
"Perfectly understandable," said the woman. "We are just as curious about you."
"But questions will have to wait," went on the man. "We need to move on as soon as your ships have docked."
"Let me save you some trouble," said the woman, "and give you a quick rundown. There are many humanoid species in the galaxy, and many more non-humanoid ones. As far as we can tell, similarity covers the galaxy, but there is no particular reason why any one species comes to dominance on any given planet. Well, as far as we who've skryed the galaxy for centuries can detect. The galaxy is divided up into three main zones, each with an apex predator at the top. The Keerah, what you call a Tiger, are one, and the Ralnor, looking like your Kangaroo, are the second. The third are an omnivore plant, with no real translatable name."
"I believe," interjected the man, "your fiction calls something similar, a Triffid."
"Oh," I said.
"I am from Karn, where we are a sisterhood of mainly what you would call witches. Magic tends to follow the female line, and while males with the ability do come forth, they are rare. We have never worked out why this is so. Karn is on the outer reaches of the Ralnor territory, not far from where the spine, as I think you call it, joins the galactic core. We had no direct contact with any other planet until we devised a way to escape the Darkness. We were fortunate the Ralnor accepted us when we entered one of their outpost systems. From what I've heard, they do not accept everyone."
She looked at the man.
"I'm from a planet called Kelewan. We seem to be the opposite of the Sisters of Karn, since magic is passed down the male side of families. We are part of the Keerah dominion, albeit on the extreme outside edge of their territory, but as well, nearby where your spine joins the core. We also had no contact before the Darkness made us leave our home, and it was something of a surprise to find females who use magic. We have none, and have never understood why either. We've observed the galaxy for millennia, but never seen other magic users. To find one came as a shock. Not all of our Mages will accept female practitioners, but for now, the Mage-King demands our attention to any and all who can help defeat the Darkness. And so I am here, as the highest ranked Mage with the power to transport great distances."
"I take it the Keerah and the Ralnor don’t usually get along?" I asked.
"No," answered the man. "They're normal state is open war. And while neither are directly threatened at this time, both have a prophecy which describes the end of their species. And long before that, both would lose all influence in their domains, simply for failing to protect their member species."
"What of the Triffids?"
"They were consulted, but refused to participate in this effort. They never do. Of the three, they are the worst. At least from what I hear."
"I assume they all have mighty militaries?"
"Oh yes," answered the woman. "And not just them. But the problem is your arm of the galaxy is a backwater, and forces sufficient to deal with the Darkness are not at hand. And given their nature, by the time forces could be brought to bear in sufficient numbers, it would still not be enough. You found this out already, didn’t you Jon Hunter?"
"Just Jon will do. And forgive me for not asking, but what are your names?"
"Syrinx," said the woman.
"Tanith," said the man.
"And the other two?"
"They don’t have pronounceable names," said Syrinx. "But before coming here, they chose Hobbes and Roo."
I started laughing.
"This is no laughing matter Jon," said Tanith, sternly.
"Sorry. We cope with bad things by using humour, and both names have connotations which are funny to us."
"Best not allow them to find such a thing out," said Syrinx, smiling.
I let my grin die, and looked at them seriously.
"So what's the plan?" I asked them.
"Plan?" they said together.
"Yes. You rescued us from certain death. There must be a reason, and I assumed it was part of a plan."
"There is no plan, Jon," said Tanith.
"None?"
"Jon," began Syrinx. "About six of your major cycles ago, something changed in the cosmos. One of our more eccentric seers saw you for the first time. From you we learned what we needed to escape our own doom."
"It was similar for us," added Tanith. "Except it was the Mage-King himself who found you, using power previously not available to any seer. He took from you what we needed to avoid our doom."
"And so we look to you to help solve the greater problem, for if the Darkness is not stopped, the galaxy will be purged. It took a lot of convincing to get the Keerah and Ralnor to talk to each other, let alone see you as a possible asset. Hobbes and Roo are both provincial governors of a sort, and are here following orders, not because they chose to be."
"So I gathered. What do they think?"
"Neither are willing to accept that a mere human," said Syrinx, and I winced, "could have any real military wisdom to add to their own. But the leaders of both species have decreed you be brought to them. At the least, they want to know how humans survived at all, given in most respects, you are technologically inferior. But so far, every species which has encountered the Darkness on our side of your arm, have either fled, or been eaten. You are unique so far in having successfully fought them, up to a point, and they would know how and why."
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask if their method of finding out what they wanted to know involved dissection. But I stopped myself from asking. I’d have to hope not.
"What's their key strengths?" I asked instead.
"The Ralnor have the best weapons," said Tanith, "but their few encounters with the Darkness so far, showed while they are strong against the ships of other races, for some reason they cannot yet comprehend, their guns do badly against the Darkness. The Keerah have a unique ship hull. What worries them is it gave them no advantage at all in the only encounter they have had so far. Again, they have no idea why."
"It is also why they do not understand how you have successfully fought them for so long."
The notion of the two apex beings having no notion seem to please her.
"What about their Generals?"
"Both have good leaders," said Syrinx. "Although in my opinion, having watched many of them, and you, I judge you to be in a class above all of them."
"They fear this Jon," added Tanith, "since it hasn’t happened in a millennia for either species, to encounter a superior military commander than they themselves produce."
"So I need to be careful what I say and do?"
"At the least."
"Dinner at your place Jon," interrupted Amanda through room coms. "Now would be good."
"Be right there," I responded.
"May we join you?" asked Syrinx.
"Of course. But can you eat our food?"
"All sorted my Lord," said Janice. "Files were added to our food database on all four species, and I've determined which foods are safe for each. Taste is another matter, but they can at least eat and drink."
"After you," I said, waving them out the door.
Angel I noticed was already gone.
"Where's Angel?" I asked Janice sub-vocally.
"She wandered out of your Ready Room a while ago, and Jeeves took her to your quarters."
"Thanks."
I led my guests to a travel car.
Fifty Eight
The ships arrived while we were still eating, and people kept coming in to join us, as they shuttled across. Jeeves and his team kept adding food and drink as the numbers climbed, and I was thankful for the first time my lounge was so huge.
I have to admit to taking a lot of perverse pleasure in seeing double takes and other reactions to our four guests, as people saw them for th
e first time. But for pure indulgence, seeing a Tiger and a Kangaroo being hugged by a grateful Mother, really made my day.
Max and Nut weren’t too sure about the Tiger, and couldn’t make up their minds if the Kangaroo was a threat or not. The three cats retreated to the top of one of Angel's trees, and kept out of the way. Midnight joined them, and Nut was introduced to her.
Janice popped up screens all around the room, and we watched the ships being docked. The Explorer ships undocked from the Titans, and moved out of the way. So did the two Dreadnaughts, Unassailable and the other ships docked underneath the Titans. Those docked internally, launched. All of the crewed Cruiser or smaller ships docked with Haven, mainly on the non-open sides of the cube, although Apricot docked next to Gunbus. The Privateers and fighters remained on Orion, but the pilots were shuttled across, and assigned accommodation on Haven, with their own messes, in the Hunter space-scraper. Janice had assigned quarters to the non-Hunter officers in the Australian space-scraper, where the AMS had their own space.
Once the smaller ships were docked, each Explorer ship entered slowly, locking into prepared positions against the walls of the cube. The Dreadnaughts and Unassailable went next, followed by all the Drone ships. All of them fit easily to the inner walls.
The mining station detached from Redoubt, and a set of tugs moved it into a prepared space adjoining the open side.
"Do you enjoy jigsaw puzzles?" my Mother asked Bob.
He laughed, and nodded.
"Yes, as it happens. How'd you guess?"
The rest of us in earshot laughed.
I was curious as to what Bob intended to do with Redoubt. As usual, I'd proposed ideas, and left it to Bob and the AI's to design everything. They'd bounced concepts and questions off me for a year, but I didn’t recall ever seeing a finished concept. So what happened next had me riveted to the screen, along with everyone else.
The bottom of the cube detached, and split into two ships, both almost Titan sized. They moved to each side of Redoubt, and their center sections of one side began to retract. The two then came in on both sides of the join area between the original stations, sealing together to form one huge structure, with Redoubt in the middle, sticking out on both sides.
All the docked ships on Redoubt now launched, docking with Haven instead. The AMS ships docked next to Apricot, and the rest in free docks around the rest of the docking ring.
With infinite care, the structure moved back to the base of the cube, and carefully inserted the top half of Redoubt up into a space between the lower space-scrapers of Haven. The side of the cube sealed. The huge Battleship engine tugs which propelled Redoubt, now inside the main structure, detached, and made their way out, to reattach to the outside. When in place, they looked like they should have always been there.
Orion moved now to take its place on the fully open side, followed by Hammer. Sceptre completed the cube on the other half open side.
I stood, and applauded Bob. Everyone joined in, and he went pink, but loved the attention.
The vids were showing cam drone views of the outside of the cube from all angles now, and we could see that all the sides ended with engines pointing the same way. Shields came on fully all around the structure, as Redoubt's massive shielding was integrated with Haven's. I knew it was going to take time to integrate all shield emitters, but for now, we had more shielding than we could possibly need.
I noticed our four guests talking to Jane. The Tiger was frowning, and the Kangaroo looked puzzled.
Dick's face came alive all of a sudden. He looked at me and grinned. He raised arms towards the main screen.
"Witness," he proclaimed, in a gravelly voice, "the power of this fully armed and operational Battlestation!"
Every half side of the cube activated the same turrets as Sceptre and Hammer had, which of course they were now part of. The only places where turrets didn’t appear, was where the engines were.
There were gasps of shock, expressions of alarm, joy, surprise, amazement, and everything in between.
Both the Tiger and the Kangaroo went rigid.
"YES!" said BA and Alana together, both doing fist pumps before high fiving.
Our two alien warriors looked at them with expressions I wasn’t sure I wanted to interpret. They looked at me for a moment, and began talking to Jane again.
"Here comes trouble," muttered Amanda, and I looked where she was looking, to see Bigglesworth, Jedburgh, Harriman, Hallington, and Bentley, walking over. Vonda and Hobbs saw where they were heading and followed them.
"Jon," said Bigglesworth in a conversational tone which didn’t match his face. "Would you care to explain why you didn’t deploy this…"
He struggled to find a word.
"Monstrosity?" suggested Aleesha.
He blinked a few times, and ignored her, and the word.
"…against the Darkness?"
"Ah, well," said Bob. "That would be my fault."
"How so?"
"Well, I only got the damned thing finished yesterday. Sorry it’s a bit late."
I couldn’t help it, but put my head back and laughed. Everyone joined in.
When the laughing stopped, two beings pushed their way through the crowd around me and stood in front of me.
Both saluted in what I guessed was their way, the Tiger with crossed fists over his chest, and the Kangaroo with fists pushed together in front of his face, both of them bowing to me at the same time.
I gave them a half bow back.
"My Lord Duke," said both, and they stopped, releasing their salutes, and glared at each other.
"Don’t spoil it," said someone.
They resumed looking at me.
I nodded to the Tiger, who had spoken to me first when we met.
"My Lord, your AI has been regaling us of your lost territories, and explaining to us what we were seeing here. I apologize for thinking you unworthy of your position as Admiral of your small fleet, which appears to be considerably larger than we could see. In exile from your people you may be, but you bring to the galactic core an embassy for your species, and a much needed alternate viewpoint of how to wage war. I cannot say how our leadership will greet you, but my recommendation will be to treat you with the respect others have accorded you with from your deeds, and now your assets. My Lord!"
He saluted me again, and stepped back.
"Duke Admiral Hunter," said the Kangaroo, respectfully. "My people will not welcome you, but should you settle in an unclaimed place within the core, we will recognize you as a sovereign state, and trade with you. We will listen to you at the war table. We will fight the Darkness alongside you."
He bowed again, and also stepped back.
It seemed like every gun around the whole station fired at once, lighting up the room from every screen. The noise level went up considerably as everyone commented on the display of firepower.
And suddenly the room went completely black.
"Oops," said Bob.
Fifty Nine
The lights came back on a few minutes later, and the party continued. The day finally caught up with me, and I slumped into a lounge chair with Angel on my knee, and let Jane mingle, sowing the suggestion it was time to leave. I promised everyone an 'end of the war' party the following day in the station's main parkland. Soon after, the only ones left were my parents, and team.
"Jon?"
"Dick?"
"Are the rest of the sides more Titans like Sceptre?"
I popped up the specs, and viewed them for a minute.
"No. They all have turrets on one side, but each section has a non-military function. If you look you can see them. One side seems to be mainly deck after deck of food animals and crops. There even seems to be some sort of open zoo on several decks as well. The half side next to Sceptre is food production and resource storage. And the other side seems to be shipyard modules."
"So everything we need for an extended stay in deep space?" said Abigail.
"Indeed."
"Did you plan this all along Jon?" asked Aleesha.
"Look at his face," said Agatha. "Of course he did."
"Jon?"
"Yes Mum?"
"Tell the truth dear. Is this what you were planning when you said you didn’t think you'd be returning to Gaia?"
"No, and yes."
Amanda laughed.
"Typical Jon answer," she chuckled.
"Which is it?" demanded Mother.
"Both. I planned to have a station out here, with enough resources to last a lifetime. Bob took it one step further and made it into a Battlestation. But I didn’t actually expect to live long enough to reach it, although I'm grateful we were rescued. If anything, it was supposed to be a last resort for anyone caught on the wrong side of the Gaia jump point, somewhere they could retreat to, and survive from. It was a logical end point to my long range plan."
The stupid part was, we shouldn’t have needed rescuing. It never occurred to me I could throw the Sceptre into the sun, and have it work. But I never asked, so Kali never said. In hindsight, I could have thrown it from the edge of the sun, and we could have beaten the expansion at full speed, or I could even have thrown it in, and commanded it to begin work only when we were well clear. Twenty-twenty hindsight is a wonderful thing.
The Sceptre materialized beside my chair, and dropped neatly against the side, still standing upright.
"Is that…?" asked my father.
"Yes," said Jane.
And suddenly I wasn’t there, standing in a green meadow in front of a triangular table. Jane and the twins appeared next to me. The table was empty, and then it wasn’t. Thirteen had appeared standing beside One, who was sitting with the other eleven. Kali and Ganesha were sitting with Jesus, Amitabha, and other ascended masters. A row of ArcAngels was opposite us.
"End of the war celebrations are premature," said One, sternly.
"It's not for us," said Amanda. "The war is over. We need to celebrate surviving."
"Your war is merely an opening skirmish my dear," said Ganesha.
"It still should be celebrated," said Aleesha defiantly.
"What would you have of us?" I asked.
Hero to the End (The Hunter Legacy Book 13) Page 27
