Erica Olafson Rise of the Dark One Vol 10 Chapter 15 Ice Demons
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Luurat, the High Lord of the Tomradi marched ahead of an entire regiment towards the former Estrella Caravanserai. Each of his warriors wearing a living combat shell and armed with Tomradi force projectors.
Never has there been a display of such force on Avondur planet. No one here ever seen over a thousand Tomradi. Yet many knew there were many legions more in the terrifying battle discs in the Avondur system.
Fetherars, the representative of the Circle of Seven and the chairholder of the Sandakaar Council bravely stepped into Luurat’s way.
Fetherars was accompanied by all one hundred Sandakaar guards. Beings of different species recruited by the city council.
They were far outnumbered, but Luurat made his force stop. “Make way, or perish!”
“Stand down, Luurat! This is not permitted on Avondur. You may challenge and fight an individual but full-scale war is forbidden.”
Luurat released a bolt of energy from his face trunk and vaporized the Representative.
“No one stands against the Tomradi, I am Luurat!”
Tomradi warriors unleashed withering energy blasts against the remaining Council guards. Some of the guards had come to Avondur passing through rifts, originating from different spheres and realms and some returned fire, managing to kill a few of the well-armored Tomradi. Their living battle shells were highly resistant to the energy blasts of the Council guard. Despite the brave stand of the guards, there were simply too many Tomradi.
The sky darkened as several battle discs, huge 30,000-meter space ships bristling with force projectors descended and hovered among the low hanging clouds.
Luurat’s voice boomed as he stood before the old caravanserai, that had been remodeled, “Show yourself, you who claims to be the Emperor! We Tomradi deserve what is sealed in the Vault alone! Come out and crawl before me, share what you know about the Imperials. Do this not, I destroy and kill!”
Lumis had taken residence in the old temple of the light priests, just outside and to the south of the city center of Sandakaar. It was here where the trans spatial gate to the Stronghold of Light was. Asput, another female member of the Knights of light, kept the place.
He anxiously waited for the team of hunters to come back with that elusive bitch. She knew where the WEAPON was so he could go and retrieve it, slay the Dark One and end all this tiresome business. He was destined to be a god and he deserved to be worshiped by every living thing.
He was simply not prepared for that Dark One, the first time they met. It was the wrong place and he did not control the WEAPON.
In all this contemplation he wondered why Crea did not simply tell him where that WEAPON was, or why she not made a new one and bestowed it on him. Part of him realized that she had lied to him and elevated him just to be a tool, but he was an egomaniac and dismissed those voices. He was destined to slay that foul thing and with that WEAPON he planned to threaten maybe even destroy Crea and take her place.
Just as his thoughts and dreams soothed his mind. Everything went black, utterly dark before his eyes, Another pulse reverberated across the Omniverse and reached the consciousness of every entity. The first such pulse was a cosmic declaration of power. The universe was put on notice, that the JUDGE was one with the Dark One. It was a signal of forthcoming judgment. This second one was as intense as the first, but it was different. The Dark One was once again the Antiforce of Life.
A chill of eternal darkness ran up his spine and reminded him and all the other god-like entities, they were not beyond the reach of death.
As he recovered from that uncanny event, he noticed the enormous dark circles just beyond the clouds. The Tomradi disregarded all warnings and made their presence known.
He decided to wait and see how this developed. He didn’t like these arrogant members of that Circle. The Red Knights, specifically Crimsor and the Yellow Robes deserved whatever the Tomradi dished out.
At first, Alice was nervous, Captain Olafson made true of her suggestion and Commander Hi had scheduled her for CONN. She wanted to be a helmsman and that meant her career would lead to a bridge position and that meant CONN rotation. That she only spent a few weeks in basic training between the first and second mission meant little on the Tigershark. She had been promoted to Ensign, without ever serving three years in the Academy.
The Admiral of the Fleet had promoted everyone, including her. Alice smiled as she was certain no academy cadet or midshipman had teachers as she had. Shaka, the best helmsman was the most knowledgeable, patient and intuitive teacher who shared her great passion for being at the helm of a starship. That the very SHIP, technically its AI was also her friend and shared intimate insights into a ship’s helm and propulsion systems, no official manual ever mentioned was part of the reason that she was now officially rated at 810. That far above the average and reached Virtu Helm talent without having that rare gift, or curse as Shaka always said.
Two hours ago she had stepped onto the bridge to take her first CONN watch. Because it was her first watch, Commander Narth had remained at OPS. One of the Y’All, his name was Forty-Nine had changed his desire to become a marine and expressed his wish to be a regular Navy officer like TheOther, he was now officially a Union Fleet cadet and Captain Olafson made him a Midshipman.
The massive Y’All was sitting behind the Navigation controls. Lt.Cmdr Krabbel right behind him supervising the Y’All. Fivcheer the Leedei was at Helm and Brana the Delicate held the science station.
This was another Tigershark special. Normally the bridge science station was only occupied when required by mission or situation. On the Tigershark, this station was always occupied. Technically there was little or nothing to do, but the Tigershark was passing through non-Union space and on her way to a planet called N’Ger.
Lt. Nolei was working with the Attikan marine behind the security station cataloging scanner contacts.
The closer they came to N’Ger the more contacts popped up at the scanner horizon.
Alice had lost much of her nervousness and relaxed in the big seat. It was an event less watch so far and actually quite boring as she had nothing to do.
From the engineering station, she heard odd sounds, something wet and organic sounding. Certainly not part of the constant electronic whisper that was constant ambiance.
The servos of the command seat followed her move to swivel and she looked at Meeze, the wormlike creature actually wearing Union fleet uniform and coiled on top of a chair behind the engineering bridge controls. Meeze was buzy eating something dark red. His ring mouth was smeared with a red substance and so was part of his uniform.
Alice said. “Mr.Meeze. there is no eating on the bridge.”
“That is not true. The Captinz drinks the coffees and eats the sandwiches sometimes.”
“She is the captain.”
“Soo? I am the Meeze.”
“You got that strawberry stuff all over you, the uniform and the console.”
“It’s not straberriez, its blood.” He held up a dripping piece. “Want to try some?”
Alice shuddered. “No way, not even living on Trash Island did I eat ... what is it?”
The worm raised his thin arms. “That is what I try to find out, I found it in the hold after the slaves left. It’s not too bad. Good idea, I add the strawberries.”
“Mr.Meeze please clean up your mess before the captain sees it.”
She swiveled back.
Fivcheer’s icon blinked and the Leedei still under the Virtu Helmet reported. “Five minutes to drop. We are about to arrive at Eller system.”
Alice acknowledged. “SHIP please inform the Captain.”
“No need, Ensign Enigma, she is right behind you.”
Alice swiveled the command chair and there she was, Captain Olafson.
I smiled at Alice. “Good job, Ensign Enigma.”
She got up and almost saluted, remembering that this was not done on the bridge of an active ship. “Thank you, ma’am. Thank you for trusting me with that responsibility.”
To Meeze I said. “Could you at least keep the work station clean, Mr. Meeze and not use the engineering console as a cutting board?”
The worm seemed a bit annoyed. “Meeze cleans it.”
I rolled my eyes, of all my diverse crew Meeze, was taking the cake for sure, virtually and quite literally, I stopped myself from asking what he was eating. To Alice I said.
“It’s quite boring, right?”
“Just a tinny bit, Ma’am.”
“SHIP, call the Seniors to stations.”
“They are on their way.”
“Mr.Fivcheer please drop us out of quasi and go to drift.”
My senior officers and friends arrived, while Krabbel changed seats with the Y’All.
I gave then a few moments to get situated and then asked Mao. “Anything on the scanners, that could concern us?”
He responded. “The system is quite busy, and Hans identified two contacts with known energy signatures of pirates. None are on the top ten list.”
“Until we know why we are here, they are safe. But if they are still there when we leave I think we reduce the number of known pirates by two.”
I had to admit, I liked us being the Silver Streak again, I wore my Black Velvet outfit that was made of syntho leather and a layer of ultronit micromesh. I was also certain. Tyron would insist on being worn the second we landed.
“Mr. Ndbele, approach N’Ger and take us down. Elfi announce us if necessary.”
Our Saran princess said. “I announced us. There are Oghr forts on both moons. All they responded was a general behave or else message. The same we got the last times we have been here.”
Har-Hi pointed at the main viewer. “SHIP, focus on that orbital contact and enlarges, please.”
SHIP chirped. “Sure thing, Sir. Isn’t that a Dai Mother?”
He nodded, and said. “She is perhaps the most unique feature of N’Ger security because it is provided by the Ug-Ka Dai. Their Dai Mother has been in orbit around N’Ger for centuries. Dai Fighters are the main reason, no raid or attack on N’Ger was ever successful.”
SHIP adjusted the zoom settings and the little dot became bigger. Due to my recent exposure to Dai culture, I was able to identify the ship as a very old Kur-Mesk; a Dai Mother made during the sixth age after the destruction of Thana-Shoo. Not one of the very big ones, but still an impressive sight of over 13,000 meters in length.
“I remember one of the merchant houses was supposed to be associated with the Dai, but Dai providing fighter protection for others sounds odd.”
Har-Hi, as so often, crossed his arms before his chest. “About 6000 years ago, a Dai tribe starving and near the end of their resources arrived in the orbit of N’Ger. The Wak, you know is a 3rd tier Dai tribe leader decided to attack and raid N’Ger or die doing so.”
While Shaka steered the ship getting us close and in an orbit before we were in the best position for planet-fall, everyone was paying attention to Har-Hi.
He continued. “The Oghr commandant of the protective forces was a smart and intelligent man and he convinced the Wak Ure-Ka to a face to face meeting.
This Oghr commandant, quite famous Nerun Risor, due to his intelligent and wise decisions acknowledged the Wak and his dilemma. He offered an alternative, pointing out that the Merchant House of the Muruur, a Kakth Oghr was on the verge of collapse.
The Ka tribe could fight the Muruur without any interference of the Oghr protective forces and take over that house.
So it came that the Ka tribe abandoned its spacefaring nomadic existence and became settled.
Other Dai declared them Okthi and it was confirmed by the Pale Ones. The heart of the Ka Tribe died and the Dai Mother of the Ka remained in orbit around N’Ger. Without a heart, she is nothing more than an immobile hulk, unable to go FTL.
The Ka tribe became the Uk-Ka merchants of N’Ger. In a somewhat similar development as the Man tribe, but instead of dealing among Dai tribes, the Uk-Ka are galaxy-wide known weapon dealers and in turn very rich and influential.”
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“The Rundiranz?” I repeated. So what do you know about all this?” “Lize Biz, Captinz.” Meeze said, looking at the greenish goob of organic substance in one of his small hands. He took a bite.”Iz baaz Captinz buz maybez I puz the salz or ze strawberriez onz ze Rundiranz.” “Mr. Meeze can you pause your culinary experiments for a moment and tell me what you know?” The worm creature gave the green glob a last look and then tossed it back into the cracked open cryotube.”Meeze knows lize biz....
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Tobaia the magnificent had ascended upon the highest spire of her palace. The Seventh Claw spire had never seen a queen before. She stood there, her arms wrapped around her body and just below her breasts. Below her the sprawling city of Hi-Togr, the very heart of the mighty Togar empire. Malmorus, the sun had just disappeared behind the crests of the Kreigha mountains in the distance, but Torgu the largest of the planet’s two moons was soon to rise and provide its magnificent cool...
“How?” TheOther yelled. “Restore the main energy feed to this system. It has been severed. This system no longer has physical controls.” A holographic image established itself. It was a representation of the Chamber he was in, and a big console not to far was highlighted. “Proceed to the panel indicated and restore the energy feed to the Yah-ha Al drones. They will obey me and restore what must be restored.” TheOther was about to do exactly that, but he stopped. “These drones will also...
The thing didn’t move. Narth said. “I am holding it. It is strong but not unmanageable. “SHIP called. “The asteroid has revealed previously unknown weaponry. It is taxing our shields to almost 20 percent. ““Are you in danger?” “Oh, no captain. That tech is quite advanced, and I think it is Orlan but Mao took those weapons out with kilo loads. I was just reporting. “I dialed my TKU to 10 and said. “It’s going to get mighty hot in here. Narth your shields are on, right?” “No, captain. I...
Our ship had settled down on its landing gear and Shaka powered down the Arti Gravs. Har-Hi pointed at a large number of tanks and artillery pieces that had been assembled around the vast empty plane, that was designated to us as a place to land. “I don’t think those are all for military honors. I think they are still quite nervous about us.” Narth agreed with my XO. “To describe the entire planet’s population, the terms anxiety and fear would be on top of my choices.” Mehdi occupying a...
From the open door, Dusty stepped into the room.”I am containing the Dai.” The living dust cloud flowed like a sand storm around me and engulfed both Dai. The Dustcloud said.”Captain, they are riding on electromagnetic waves. They infiltrated us as we set the shields transparent for radio waves.” Both Dai looked like living statues. Now Orthbeer passed through the deck plating. I could not hear what he was trying to say, then he came closer and closer and his greenish hand passed into my...
The Dragon stood in his cargo bay and his eyes glowed as his pirates dumped loads of Iridium and other highly valuable goods only to return to get more. He cursed himself for not remembering the right planet. He was so sure he had been here before and now he could not remember any details. He was so certain the suit told him these coordinates. Of course, he had not kept any files on the coordinates but his suit knew where it was and now it was silent and did not respond to anything. All there...
Hans due to his size and strength was often seen as a bruiser with tremendous strength but little else. This was not the case since he was with the Olafson gang. He was asked about his opinion about other things. The woman across him was about as opposite as a being could be to a Saturnian, she was a Delicate. While Brana was certainly not a member of the original gang, she like the rest became like family. She had just stepped into his security office and without any hesitation floated...
A muscular being covered with a brown shroud came running our way. It had a nonhuman snout sticking out from under his hood. What was exposed of him was covered with a short gray fur. In his right, he held an elegant looking weapon. It appeared to be an energy beamer of sort, he had fired it twice into the direction he was coming from. Now he turned and with it his weapon and he aimed at me. Lucky for me I was close, unfortunate for him, I had already drawn the Dai blade. I moved fast into...
About ten armed Trontigmakader entered the tavern, led by an insectoid in a flashy bright blue and white armor of some kind. “The four Masters declared martial law until we can determine who released the Cleanser beasts from their hold. This place has been identified as a meeting place of the Discrepant Element. You are all considered potential collaborators, perhaps even supplying weapons to these criminals. You are...” A high pitched humming voice screamed from somewhere else. “The Four...
Har-Hi had left over two hours ago with the first twenty and reported the city was orderly. The crew members with him had a good time and the locals were used to visitors and merchants from other places. He also reported that there was a market and Circuit excited. I warned him not to buy any more eggs. Even though I had to admit Fenris had turned out to be liked by the crew and more or less fit right in. Two of the minis were out near the Red Dragon watching I suspected the Red Dragon...
Har-Hi was led to a Wisdom keeper, who was without question an old Dai. The revelation that there was a Dai was quite a surprise for Har-Hi. He had not expected that, but since he had become a Union officer and traveled with Erica, he had met and seen the unthinkable. Living dust clouds, planet surface covering creatures and a planet-bound, desert scavenging Dai. He had met Dai that were born in captivity and knew a Dai tribe leader was engaged in selling Dai Than as slaves. Meeting a Dai...
The Dai Nest so I learned a week later, was a huge space station in an otherwise empty star system. It was deep in Union space. The star had been named Dai-Core. The station was made of several Gigamon stations, interconnected with girder-like structures that acted as docks and mooring arms for Dai ships and the humongous Dai Mothers. The system and the station were busy. From my visually unaided vista, a simple viewport I counted eleven Dai Mothers, I was sure there were many more outside...
Prelude Part 4: Volund 4999, OTT The crumbling walls of Olafson Burg were no longer on his mind. Volund was now the steward of Ragnarsson Rock. Erik Gustav had kept his word and had given him the stewardship and rule of all that was Ragnarsson on this world. There were tanneries in the extensive basements, several Nubhir farms on the permanent ice of the southern polar region, and large Fangsnapper herds. Best of all, there were five modern and well-kept fishing boats and three hunting...
Mr.Flensburger was now gone for a week and we had a new teacher. Mr. Walters was his name and he was much different to the jovial and gentle Mr. Flensburger. He was stern and had a no nonsense approach. This Monday morning, right by the main doors I saw Yngve Lofdahl waiting for me. He had a busted; bleeding lip and his left eye was swelling. Like me he was wearing a fur vest over a linen tunic that reached halfway to the knees, linen breeches and boots. Usually he always looked like he wore...
TheOther was injured. The wounds he received from the relentless attacks of these smaller Y’All versions were too deep and too severe for his incredible healing abilities to cope with. He regretted the fact that he opted to forego the AutoDoc adjustment, Cateria recommended for months now. The original factory-issued unit, requested a species update because this amazing piece of Union technology was deploying medical nanites and his own bodies defense mechanisms fought the nanites and...
This situation reminded me of my first visit to Sin 4. I did not know where I was, brought here against my will. Abducted, stripped of everything I owned. I was once again bare feet, had several blisters and burn wounds. My hair was a mess, at least In didn’t have to go pee. Darn it thinking about it, made realize I actually did. I was still running across that landing field, not knowing where I was going, but I knew I still stuck out like a sore thumb, being the only pin skinned human. The...