by Terry Frost
“May I inquire about how close are you to your uncle? I mean to ask if you and he have a good personal relationship?
“Uncle Kaagin is more than just an uncle. He has been more like a father to me than my father ever was.”
“Would it be true to say that he is quite worried about you and your well-being?”
Gorvik thought about the question for a long moment and said, “I have not considered that.”
“Well, maybe you should think on that. I’m about to share with you some information that only myself and Science Officer Faadin knows. When I visited with your uncle and the question came up about how old he was, he told me he was close to the end of his days. I am not pleased with myself for telling you this, as he asked me as a King to an Admiral, to not make mention of the fact that he is dying.”
Gorvik stood up suddenly, put his hands behind his back and began pacing as he walked around the Admiral’s chambers.
“Dying. My uncle is not dying. You are not being truthful. I know what you are trying to do, and it is to lie just to make me go back and it will not work.”
Admiral Allen stood up and came intimidatingly close to the young prince’s face, making him tread backward a step and said, “I’m an admiral. I do not make it a habit of lying. What I’m telling you is the truth. Do not ever suggest that I lie, again. Do you understand me?”
The prince nodded his head in the affirmative, then walked back to the couch and sat down as Allen followed.
“Who will rule if you are not there to do so?”
“Caid Tikik. I do not wish to give the caid my rule. Many Daakie would not want that either. If what you say is true about my uncle, I do not want to be gone if he becomes ill. I would not be able to forgive myself.
“But, Admiral, what am I to do about my Junal? To think of her dying because of me is not an acceptable consideration. But yet, living without her is also not an acceptable consideration. Not being there for my uncle is not acceptable either.”
“Yes, I agree that you have a serious problem, and if you will agree, I just might have a plan that will allow you to still have Junal, and still go back to your world and do what is not only right but what is expected.”
“Please, Admiral. I would be most thrilled if you would tell me your plan, is it?”
“Yes, it is a plan. Consider this. What if I promise that in the future when you become king that I figure out a way for you to see Junal again?”
“Yes, yes. I want to hear how we can do that.”
“We will come up with the tale that Junal was lost on Planet Ogre, and we were barely able to rescue you. We will not say that Junal died on the planet just that we couldn’t find her. Meanwhile, she will stay on the Colossus with us while we search for a new homeworld.”
“But that doesn’t solve the problem of her not being able to be betrothed to me.”
“Here is something you are not thinking of. A king makes his own laws, and when you become king you can change the law forbidding Daakie people from marrying outside of their own kind. Changing the law will allow you and Junal to be betrothed. For you see, a king can do whatever he wants.”
“What is this word marrying?”
“It is our word for getting betrothed.”
“Thank you most kindly, Admiral. I understand why you are a king of your world. I will speak with my one true, as you call it, love, and get her to see this is the only way.”
“Once you have talked to Junal and all is agreed we will get you back to see your ailing uncle. One more thing, Prince Gorvik. It is the utmost secrecy that you never tell a soul about our tale, and when you get home you must stay in the frame of mind that you have lost your Junal. At least for a while. Do you think you can do that?”
“One cannot become an effective ruler if one cannot seem to be something he is not.”
“Yes, I agree, and I feel you are going to make a great king. Now go and I wish you luck.”
Allen walked him to the door and told Lieutenant Baffy to escort the prince to Junal’s quarters. As soon as Prince Gorvik was on the elevator headed towards Junal’s quarters, Allen asked Anatoly to come to his quarters so he could brief him on the plan to get the prince back to Planet Daak. He also informed his second in command that the mission of getting the prince safely back to his world would be upon him to get it done.
Allen thought it best to have a member of high command escort the prince home as a show of importance Humans place on the mission of delivering King Gaakin’s nephew back to him. It was also important to Admiral Allen to keep the story being told to the Daakie king on a need to know basis.
Chapter 35
The Colossus had jumped back into the Calphor System, and with the knowledge given by Colonel Hammer to Admiral Allen about Planet Ogre, he ordered helmsman Gordo to plot a course to the next giant planet located twenty million miles from Planet Ogre and closer to the huge star.
While moving towards the next planet, a contingent of people was standing at the boarding ramp of the Battlecruiser Perseus. Those present were Admiral Allen, Vice-Admiral Petrov, Colonel Hammer, Commodore Jeeves, Captain Sokolov, Major Hoser, Prince Gorvik and the Venic, Junal.
The party was on hand to say goodbye and good luck to Prince Gorvik as he was about to return home. Everyone gave a quick goodbye, then backed far enough away as to give the prince and Junal some privacy.
Gorvik took her into his arms and she wrapped her arms around his waist while crying. He pulled back just enough to raise her head with his right hand so could look into her eyes.
“This is hard for me too, my sweet Junal. But it is the only way we can be together in the future. Admiral Allen has given me his word that he will find a way to let me know where you and the Humans will be.
“When I become king of Daak I will strike the law about betrothal as it has stood since the beginning of my world. When I know where you are, I vow to come get you myself. You will become my queen and be by my side while we rule. Now, no more tears. You will be safe with the Humans until the day I come retrieve you. Will you give me your oath that you will do that?”
“I give you my oath that I will stay with the Humans while I count each day waiting for you to come and get me.”
Prince Gorvik gave Junal a long embrace and kiss before releasing her. Rear Admiral Petrov walked up next to Gorvik and said, “It is time.”
With that, the crew of the Perseus boarded and everyone else walked to the lift and went up into the body of Colossus. Five minutes later the Perseus departed Colossus, and thirty seconds after the cruiser jumped.
It had been roughly two hours since Prince Gorvik had left to go back to Planet Daak when the intercom in Junal’s quarters buzzed, and the voice on the other side of her door was that of a young woman.
“Junal, I am Ensign Margo Wolski. I’ve been assigned as your liaison by Admiral Allen. May I enter please?”
The door slid open and Junal saw a petite twenty-two-year-old brunette with dark green eyes and a radiant smile. Margo was close to the age of Junal and she was happy to see another female around her own age.
Margo walked up to Junal and offered her her hand. Junal had seen other Humans shake hands before as a sign she related to an introduction. The two shook hands and Junal offered her a place to sit on the small couch in her room.
They both sat by each other and the ensign was the first to speak.
“You are as beautiful as the Admiral said you were. Your eyes are the same color as mine except more highlighted by the gold specks, whereas mine is just white.”
“Thank you, Margo. You are very beautiful too. I would wager you have many male suitors.”
“Thank you, and yes, I have had a few, but I am not looking for a relationship at this point in my life. But enough about me. This day is all about you and I’m here to make your time on Colossus as joyful as I can make it.”
“I do not feel much like being joyful as my heart weighs heavily on me.”
“Yes, I know
about your Prince Gorvik and I can see why you don’t feel joyful, but I hope you are able to believe that you will be rejoined with your prince as soon as possible.”
“I can only hope for that to be true.”
“The first thing we need to do is to pick out a lovely wardrobe for you. I’m going to take you to the finest seamstress on any world. Is that something you think you might enjoy?”
“I do not understand this word, wardrobe.”
“A wardrobe is what you wear on a daily basis such as I have on today. We will select one for each day of the week. In case you don’t understand a week is seven days. You do understand what a day is, don’t you?”
“I think it means from when the sun rises and lasts until the next sunrise.”
“That is close enough. Now, please follow me and let’s get down to the person that will make your new wardrobe.”
Ensign Wolski noticed a pleased look come onto Junal’s face and thought it doesn’t matter what part of the universe or what world an intelligent species calls home, a woman will always be passionate about the clothes they wear.
****
Lieutenant Gordo McManus had slowed Colossus to an orbital speed next to a large planet with swirling white clouds, one large land mass, six smaller ones, and so many strings of islands to count within the short time they had arrived near the planet.
Calculations by Jeeves showed the planet would make a complete revolution in just under sixteen hours, which he concluded made winds on the planet extremely powerful and violent.
“Ensign Cherny, what do our sensors show the speed of the surface winds to be?”
“Sensors show the wind at or just slightly above the surface to be at speeds up to 380 mph. Wind speeds above 1500 feet are reading at close to a 1000 mph, sir.”
Seemingly disappointed in Commodore Jeeves’s findings and Ensign Cherny’s wind readings, Admiral Allen decided to scan the four moons orbiting the giant. The Colossus would scan the two innermost moons and the Striker would be tasked to scan the other two, one of them being the largest of the four and estimated at twice the size of Earth’s moon.
Allen had told Rear Admiral Petrov that the Colossus would remain in the Calphor System while waiting for the Perseus’s return from Planet Daak. He also informed him the only way the Colossus would not still be in the system would be if the Hive were to show up, but added he would return to the system when given an estimated time that the Hive would have probably moved on. The admiral's orders were for Anatoly to deliver the prince, give them the story they had concocted, then jump back to the Calphor System.
By Allen’s estimate, the Perseus should have been back by now. But then he thought maybe he should give Anatoly a little more time in case he was asked to stay and celebrate the return of the king’s nephew.
It took approximately six hours to complete the scans of three of the four moons and Captain Slain when asked by Admiral Allen how much longer would it be before they had completed scanning the largest moon. Slain said they would be finished in less than two hours.
“Captain put a hot iron to it. I may be sending you on a mission to check on the Perseus. Admiral Petrov should have returned from the Daakie homeworld by now. Speed up the scan and get back to the landing bay.”
“Aye, aye, Admiral.”
Allen was starting to think maybe King Gaakin didn’t buy the story about the two stowaways and was keeping the Perseus and its crew hostages, or worse, prisoners. Allen was praying that wasn’t the case, but if it was he would do all he could to rescue the Rear Admiral and crew of the Perseus.
Admiral Allen wasn’t the kind of commander to let paranoid thoughts creep into his head, but he did remember a warning from Supreme Emperor Nulashin of the Nawi not to trust the Daakie completely.
Captain Slain kept his promise and had managed to finish the scanning of the large moon in under two hours. He didn’t look forward to telling his admiral the scan was a waste of time, as the Striker had found nothing but a rocky dead world.
“This is the Striker, Admiral. Scan complete and heading to the hangar bay,” Slain said.
“Message received. I want you, Colonel Hammer, and Captain Teasor, to land, get something to eat and rest for the next couple of hours. I will summon you both to my Ready Room for possibly a new mission. Allen out.”
“Sounds like the Admiral is concerned about Perseus. If anything unruly has happened to Admiral Petrov and crew, I’m afraid we will be taking on a rescue mission,” Hammer said.
“Let’s hope they aren’t dead because if they are, Planet Daak could be the end of our mission to find a new homeworld. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think there is any way in hell we would defeat the whole damn Daakie military,” Slain said.
“Roger that.”
Back on board Colossus, engineers were preparing the Striker for her next mission. She was being loaded with weapons not normally carried on a Battlecruiser. The weapons team had installed four nuclear missiles replacing the standard tactical missiles the cruiser usually carries. There was quite a lot of talking about the exchange, among the weapons team until Weapons Commander Kenta Masato ordered a stop to the conversations, which he referred to them as a bunch of Nervous Nellies.
Colonel Hammer was an hour into his power nap after eating, when he got the call to come to Admiral Allen’s Ready Room. He quickly walked to his lavatory and brushed his teeth while thinking a new mission, huh? I’m ready to go anywhere other than back to Planet Ogre. Don’t care if I ever see that damn place again.
When Jak got to the Admiral’s Ready Room, Kenner and Jeff were already there. He walked through the door and the admiral said, “Glad to see you could make it, Colonel.”
What the hell is that all about. I might have been twenty-eight seconds behind the other two brown nosers.
“Take a seat, Colonel,” Allen ordered.
“I’ve asked you here because I’m concerned about the Perseus. Admiral Petrov, Captain Sokolov, and Major Hoser are overdue. By Commodore Jeeves and I’s estimation they should have delivered the prince, and at the very least been back here eight hours ago.”
“Have we tried to make contact with the Perseus? Maybe they were at FTL when the attempt to call them was sent out,” Slain suggested.
“I’ve instructed Lieutenant Corbin to continue trying to contact the Perseus for several hours now.”
“Are you thinking the Daakie are holding them captive?” Hammer asked.
“That could be a possibility. They might not have bought our story.”
Admiral Allen's comlink chirped and he immediately pressed it and said, “Allen.”
“Admiral, the Perseus has dropped out of FTL and are in the Calphor System. I have him on screen. Do you want me to put it through to your quarters?” asked Commodore Jeeves.
Jeeves didn’t get a response as the four men walked out of the Ready Room and Allen, said as he walked to sit in his chair, “Good to see you, Admiral. I was just about to send a party to come look for you.”
“Sorry for being late, Admiral, but it couldn’t be helped. I’ll need to brief you on the reason we were behind our scheduled return time when we get back. Should be at your location within the hour, Petrov, out.”
Chapter 36
Once the Perseus was safely in Colossus’s hangar bay, Rear Admiral Petrov went directly to Admiral Allen’s Ready Room, where Allen and Jak were waiting for his arrival.
Anatoly walked into the room and said, “I come bearing gifts from King Gaakin.”
The first thing Hammer noticed was a V-shaped diamond-laden necklace hanging from Anatoly’s neck as well as a jewel-encrusted box under his right arm.
“You sure are looking fashionable, Admiral,” Hammer said.
“Oh, you mean this monstrosity,” Anatoly said as he reached around to the back of his neck and unclasped it then laid it on Allen’s table.
“What’s in the box?” Allen asked.
Setting the box on the table directly in fro
nt of the admiral, Anatoly said, “This box holds the real thank you gift from the Daakie king.”
Anatoly opened the box and inside was three serrated throwing discs (singas). He pulled the top one from the pile and handed it to Allen. He then handed the next one to Jak, then closed the box and said, “The last one is for the Commodore. King Gaagin wanted him to have one for rescuing his nephew on Planet Ogre.”
“These are exceptional gifts, Admiral, including your necklace. I would wager it would be worth a half-million credits back on Mars. But now it is time for you to tell us how the return of Prince Gorvik played out,” said Allen.
“When we were within sensor range we received their standard welcoming committee, except this time the Daakie commanding the newly built Zurgut was a Burseq Jaaf. He was skeptical that we were who we said we were and ordered us to allow them to board.
“But his obstinacy ruffled Prince Gorvik’s feathers, and he stepped into the Burseq’s view on the viewscreen and asked Jaaf if he was doubting that he was the future ruler of Daak.”
Colonel Hammer smiled and thought oh yeah. I believe I experienced that kind of attitude from the prince when I first came to know him. He is going to make an exceptional king.
“Jaaf bowed his head and asked Gorvik if he wanted to be teleported to the Zurgut, and the prince asked him if he remembers Daakie protocols when about to receive an alien dignitary. Jaaf asked for his forgiveness and said he would make the announcement to King Gaakin that his nephew had returned. Then the Zurgut turned and went back to the planet.”
“Let me guess. The protocol was for you to wait until they had time to greet you with their festive fanfare,” Admiral Allen said.
“Correct, sir. We were at stand down for about four hours until they returned to retrieve the prince and me. There had to be over a hundred thousand adoring subjects waiting when we were driven from Perseus to the entry of the palace.”
“How did the prince carry himself? Did he do what I instructed him to do?”
“Did he ever. He scowled the whole way and stayed that way during our interrogation by old Caid Tikik. You remember the days when Hollywood held their award ceremonies back in the day when Earth had movies?”
