Eric Olafson First Journeys Vol 2 Chapter 2 Consequences
- 3 years ago
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Lieutenant Ovil, our white furred Nogoll instructor said. “Today we will exercise in our extensive pool facilities. We want to make sure that all those cadets who can will learn how to swim.”
For once there was good news in the morning! I thought and looked forward to wet my gills and swim and dive.
Potsema wiggled with all his upper tentacles. “I know Garbini can swim. My brother learned it but I am still terrified!”
I padded his fur covered torso. “We are there and help you.”
Fectiv cuffed me and said.” Let’s see if you can beat me swimming! I was reading up on Neo Vikings you know! You are supposed to be amphibious!”
“You read up on Nilfeheim?”
“Pure and I wanted to know more about you. It is Attikan tradition to honor a friend by learning about his home and family.”
“That is a good tradition and I will do the same tonight about Attika.”
Two Three was also excited.” Water, have I told you how much I find liquids fascinating?”
The Elly, both Attikans and I said simultaneously.” Yes!” All had seen our Non Corp friend stare at a running faucet.
Then we laughed and Potsema asked. “What is so fascinating about it? Isn’t a sun’s surface sort of liquid too?”
Two-Three rung his hands try to gesture something and then said. “It is not easy to explain. A star is all chaos, nothing is orderly and an only held together by magnetics and gravitons. Do you know how long it takes for a photon that is created inside a star to reach the surface and actually escape? That photon travels at light speed no less.”
Pure dropped one of his ears and scratched behind it.” It should be almost instantaneous, even the biggest star isn’t big when it comes to light speed right?”
Two-Three sighed. It can take many hundred years before it reaches the surface. Being bounced around, bent and deflected. You see not even light is orderly and straight inside a sun. Water is liquid but it follows very simple rules and inside all the molecules are orderly and in long chains. You have no idea how much I enjoy being with all of you and in an orderly world.” He stomped his suited foot on the floor.” I just love solid things!”
Potsema snaked a few tentacles around Two-Three. “The whole academy thing started out pretty scary, but now I think it is great.”
The Elly crossed his stumpy looking arms.” You squiggled Eric and now Two-Three. I think it is my turn next! I wasn’t hugged by a female in ages!”
I raised an eyebrow.” Potsema is female?”
“Yes I am, you did not know?”
“No I did not really look at you in terms of gender but I guess I always thought of you as a he. How do you tell a female from a male Garbini?”
“There are many ways. I have light brown and red fur and ten tentacles. Males have eleven tentacles and usually black or gray fur and never any red.”
“I now know I should have paid much more attention in school and most of all not secretly skip the Neural uploads with Captain Iron Hand or Navy Magazines.”
Fectiv’s tail swished. “You managed to switch chips during upload hour? Our teacher was always checking!”
“I could have never done it with Mr. Walters but we had a different teacher before and Mr. Flensburger was not as hard to fool.” I frowned. “Now I know I should not have done that. You all know stuff about each other and I can’t even tell a female Garbini and know nothing about the Elly.”
“Don’t feel bad. I know little about humans yet!” The Elly said.
Our white furred instructor looked at his PDD. “Cadets assemble in Corridor B before the escalators and wait there. Following Cadets are to report in full dress uniform, cover and side arm at Applicant road two Dome Exit hall at 0700: Olafson, Eric, Ak Pure, Ak Fectiv, Potsema Pe, Onli Nevar...”
I cursed my luck. Whatever we had to do wasn’t swimming. I was certain that Swimming and dress uniforms did not go together, the names he called were the others of my new group of friends. Except we had now three Ellis in the group and Hanlin and Bergdorf, two of our humans walked grinning to the escalators. Pure rippled the upper part of his snout and around the nostrils. “I sure wonder what they cooked up for us. Dress Uniform and side arms. I never heard they issue side arms to Cadets until year three.”
Fectiv pointed at Purse’s snout and said to me. “That’s how an Attikan shows surprise by the way!”
The Elli looked all alike to me and one of them said. “We Elly do this when we are surprised.” His trunk retracted almost completely into his skull and his voice sounded meek and high.” If an Elly gets too excited or surprised we can choke on our own noses!”
The other two Ellies shook their trunks back and forth and one of them said. “This group seems fun!”
A new instructor we had not seen before, he was human send us through an auto dresser and we all emerged in perfect fitted, pressed real black navy uniforms with golden closure snaps, all that was different was a big green ring around the sleeves and no rank insignia at all. Dress uniform consisted of a stiff collar black shirt with buttons, a waist coat with a diagonal cut collar that was half way flapped down and the inside of this was white contrasting with the otherwise black uniform, The diagonal flap could be raised and fastened with a series of golden colored snaps. The black pants ended in also black all terrain boots. There was a white belt with the Union Fleet symbol on the belt buckle. There was an empty holster for a gun and two loops for some missing equipment. Black gloves and a white hat with black duckbill (called cover) The human instructor carried a PDD checked us all at least five times, then he was joined by two more who went over our uniforms made me wear the gloves that came with it and barked at Pure to do the same. No one really told us what was going on. Two Three leaned over and said.”I think we are going to a state funeral or something like that.”
The nervous human instructor said. “We are now handing out fully functional and fully loaded Union Fleet Standard TKU Side arms. Since you are not instructed in using them properly you are prohibited from touching them. The same goes for the swords and the daggers that are attached to the loops on your belts. While these are ceremonial weapon they are real, if I see anyone of you so much as touch his weapons you will wish not to have been born.”
After a while there were more instructors around us than cadets and they all were nervous. While we didn’t stand in attention we weren’t really able to talk to each other. Even more officers appeared and every one of them carried a PDD in clip board mode and tried to look important.
We were near one of the Academy Dome entrances. Wide sets of automatic sliding doube doors set into the Duro-Crete wall underneath that rim we had used for our first PT exercise. Behind the doors was a waiting room with benches, vending machines, bath rooms and an air lock that allowed access to the space field beyond at the outside of the planet.
Someone yelled, “Admiral on deck.”
We weren’t exactly old hands and except for Two-Three none of the Cadets including me did anything. Two Three looked around.”Where is he? Is it a real one?” A Lieutenant hissed. “Did you not hear? Attention, Cadets!”
“Now that was something they had already told and taught us and I put myself in the required rigid posture.
From the doors emerged an old man. He walked briskly and without difficulties, despite his apparent high age. He wore a black Uniform jacket just like ours, but instead of pants he wore a red skirt that ended just above a set of knobby knees. Among the first instructions we had was a lecture about rank insignia and if I remembered right this was a Five Star Admiral. I was certain even the fleet did not have all that many of those and this most likely explained the nervous Instructors. What it did not explain was what we were doing here, but this was the career I had chosen for myself and I would have to stand in attention before higher ranking officers all my life from now on.
The old man said. “At ease Cadets.”
One of the instructors behind the Admiral slapped his hand before his face as one of my human comrades actually sat down and one of the Elly took his jacket off. Fectiv waved at the Admiral.” Nice to meet you Sir. The other human cadet went straight for the Admiral. “Do you think I can get an autograph, Sir? You are the McElligott, one of the Immortal ones are you not? Oh gosh to meet you for real!”
Pure snorted.” No I don’t think he is, the Immortal Admiral has a scar and is taller.”
“Attention!” One of the Instructors yelled red in his face and we responded as we had learned.
The old Admiral glared at the Lieutenant. “If allow men to be at ease you don’t put them back into attention. I can see they are greener than their uniforms and then he said to us. “I am Admiral McElligott. I am yes I am the Admiral of the Fleet.I am the other Immortal Admiral. The old and wrinkly one, not the tall and famous Admiral Stahl.” He waved his hand. “Be at ease but don’t walk away and listen to what I have to say.”
He gave us a moment. “I am fully aware that you are brand new Cadets and that you just yesterday received your first drill instructions as how to stand in attention and it appears they had not entirely covered the subject of how to stand at ease.”
Pure spread his paws. “They did mention it but at the very end and they wanted to continue today.”
“I am glad they mentioned it then Cadet. Now we all will take a little trip to a nearby planet system and it will actually be your very first real mission as Union Fleet personnel. It is not a training exercise or a test but a real diplomatic mission.”
That did get my attention and I listened closer.
“We are invited by the Yokuta and they requested more or less you to be present, by that I mean a cross section of Union Youth that just begun to serve and they want to hear from you what it means to be a Union citizen and a Union Soldier.”
He reached in a pocket and produced a black and brown object, he fiddled with the thin, and I thought was probably a pipe. I had seen a few of those in use by fisher men and Snapper herders. He put one end between his teeth. “While you can’t tell them much about being Officers or soldiers yet, you can tell them why you chose this career. I want you to be honest with them, but try to be positive. Goal of the whole thing is to tip them towards an application for Union membership.”
One of the Elly padded the palms of his hand like appendixes together. “I know of the Yokuta. I think they once were a colony of ours or something like that, but they are in Galactic Council space and the Nogoll won’t allow us to visit them.”
The Admiral put a small flame to the other end of the pipe and then produced a small cloud of blue smoke, much to the utter fascination of most of the Cadets and some of the Instructors too.
Elligott appeared to be pleased about the puff of smoke. “This has changed, the Black Nogoll at least as you knew them no longer exist, they have been defeated and the Yokuta are their own masters once again.”
He looked at something like a wrist PDD and turned to one of the Instructors.” Be a good lad and check on the USS Shetland, she is bound to be here by now and it is not like Captain Mackenzie to be late.”
“Yes Sir!”
Then the Admiral turned back to us. “Now we are not the Nogoll or Galactic Council and there is no real reason for us to remain in that system and with the Yokuta after the victory celebrations are over. We can’t simply establish a military base or install orbital platforms. We can’t even use one of the planets as the Yokuta have reached Tech level three and it is their system.” He puffed another cloud of smoke and this time I got a whiff and it smelled not like any smoke I knew.
“Now you may wonder why the Union really needs another star system or is so eager to win the Yokuta over instead of them seeking membership on their own or not.”
One of the Elly who was slightly taller than the rest said. “I can think of a few reasons.”
Elligott’s bushy white eyebrows shot up.”Gie it laldy, Cadet. Do tell.”
“The Yokuta being on their own could either be taken over by the Kermac or opt to be protected by the Free Space Treaty and deny the area for both Union and Kermac but open it wide for pirates and all the independent nations not bound by the Freespace armitice as it would create a direct connection to the Honaster expanse and create basically something like a corridor of free space.”
“Ohc! Cadet you managed to surprise me and that isn’t easy. That is exactly the reason. How come you know that?”
“My father is the representative of my world and belongs to the Elly delegation and I was always interested in these things. That is why I am here, Sir”
“We need to talk cadet. You know there is always room in my administration for a bright officer with an interest in politics and diplomacy.”
I paid no longer attention to the conversation. A part of the mustard yellow sky darkened and then through the swirling clouds a huge man made mountain descended. It was just like when I saw the USS Ragnarsson for the first time. Here on a planet surface it gave a true sense of scale to this behemoth. It was wedge shaped like most of Union battle ships that had been designed and built after the Uniform design doctrine, making it easier for logistics, service and repair. Bold letters it identified the USS Shetland and next to it the Union Flag. The hull classification code was BBG-32 and if I remembered my nights reading and watching fleet and ship specs it was a Super dreadnought and two of these could, according to the magazines I was reading, take on the Devi.
I would be aboard that monster on an official mission and wearing Union Uniform. I could swim any day.
They made us line up before the air lock doors. A transparent covered gang way rose from the surface and connected with the battleship and a slide belt carried us up. To me it was like stepping in the sacred halls of Valhalla.
A high whistling sound was heard and now we had to stand in a neat row and get in attention. The Admiral approached a woman of small stature with short cropped gray hair and four golden rings on her Sleeves and said ton her. “Captain Mackenzie permission to come aboard with ten Cadets and two Academy Instructors.”
“Permission Granted, Admiral!”
The two high ranking officers walked to the side and talked to each other quietly. Then they left and one of the Instructors told us to relax but not to leave the area.
We were in a large room, an illuminated sign on the light gray walls identified it as Crew boarding chamber eighteen. The first thing I noticed was the smell of metal and that undefined but still unmistakeable scent of new machinery, the deck plates vibrated barely noticeable, making this mountain of metal feel as if it was alive and below all the voices, orders, footsteps and generated sounds. that faint almost undetectable hum of unimaginable energies.
“What has gotten into you? You stand there like an oaf with a dumb grin on your face” One of the human cadets said.
I remembered his name was Bennett Waite and he was one of those people you meet and you don’t really like from the start, he always snapped and seemed displeased with anyone around him, but maybe he had some personal issues to deal with and so said, raising my hands. “All this! We are aboard one of the biggest and most powerful battle ships. There are over eight thousand beings serving on her right now and almost eight million tons are going to lift of, accelerate at 450 kilometers per second to the square and go trans light!”
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I was still as tired as a Tyranno during Longnight when the lights came on and a voice barked via the PA system: “0400 hours Cadets rise and shine. 0430 is Breakfast. At 0500 you will receive your first class in the Elbhard Auditorium.” And we found ourselves in said Auditorium at that time an hour later. Clean, fed and still tired. Again I tried to find a place in the back, so I could perhaps close my eyes for few moments. The Pan Saran Officer was already there. “Good Morning Class.” We...
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...
The Hyperion approached Arsenal IV just as Captain Zezz said with only eight hours to spare before I had to report for my third year posting. The extended time of my stay aboard the battle ship appeared to have gone by even faster. The Klack XO touched my face with his antennae. “You have been outstanding at the OPS station. I have seen many others struggle with that position.” “Thank you Sir. Your guidance and the tutor ship of the other bridge officers was the real reason I managed.” To...
The Space bus came out of FTL and approached the blue and white sapphire sphere that was Nilfeheim. I had 6 month before I had to return to the Academy. This was my home world and I was longing to take a long deep dive and feel the fresh cold water all around me, it was of course still Longnight. That I had left Nilfeheim just a little over a year ago was something I could hardly believe. So much has happened since then; it felt I had been gone for much longer. “I wonder how Nilfeheim is...
“No need to be afraid First Daughter!” the Old man said and the gun spun out of Freydis hand and floated in mid air. “I am Egill Skallagrímsson, the Eldest. I am sure some of you have heard of me. My friend here is Elkhart the First Keeper of Hasvik. We are not here to harm you, arrest you, kill you or stop you from what you are doing! We came because this world of ours is in grave danger, because we too believe it is high time all citizens of this world are heard and because together we are...
Sodoby occupied his very own office aboard the USS Tigershark. He had several readout field screens open that hovered over his desk. Sodoby took his job as quartermaster very serious, especially now as the Admiral of the fleet had made it official. Until the Spatial Naval Reform of 4012 OTT, a quartermaster was the enlisted member in charge of the watch-to-watch navigation and the maintenance, correction, and maintaining the charts and information stored in the NAV-tank. That enlisted...
I tried to get up and managed but I was stiff as a frozen snapper fur in Longnight, I was more sore than I realized and colder than I ever was. This time he let me get in. The door led into a short tunnel shaped corridor passing through the tall massive rock wall. Judging by the length of the tunnel, the walls must have been at least 10 meters thick. The steel door swung close behind us, making absolutely no sound as it did. Two boys perhaps my age, wearing dark long fur coats were behind the...
The commander stood at the window of his spacious office overlooking the lake and jungle with his hands clasped behind his back watching a group of cadets struggling with a heavy wooden log. They had to carry it over an obstacle course and only by working together could this task be achieved. This ancient time tested exercise promoted team work, group coordination and leadership. This exercise had been used by Navy trainers even before the Galactic Ascent on good old Earth. Of course it...
“Have we been hailed?” Harris shook his head.”No not yet, but the sphere is transmitting genuine Union Transponder Codes.” The screen changed and a hooded Narth became visible. The Comm. Officer looked at his console and shrugged. The Narth spoke. “This is the USS Narth. “There was a pause and the Narth moved his shrouded head as if he was looking at someone then he nodded and said.” One hopes to be forgiven, by the one who has command. One was uncertain of the correct address. It is the...
I had slept a few hours at Uncle Hogun’s and went to the clinic to check on Litfas Arnske and I found him, in a low gee bed. Two elders, Adolph Lindbergh and a young man perhaps two three years older than me was with him, most likely Sif’s brother I had not yet met. As he saw me, he first smiled and then his face dropped. “You have saved my life, and it looks like my very own daughter has tried to end it. The daughter I promised, my honor is in shambles and I am not sure I want to live...
The lights flickered and Astrid said.” Looks like his Tech stop has trouble to get through our armor and hardened systems. She then pried open an access panel and said.” I am sure I can fix this!” Her hands pulled chip connectors and reset them and then she turned. Eric flip open your left armrest. Beneath is the Code sequencer. They could not have altered your Command Codes, without your permission! All they did is bypass it and tying in their own!” I did and pressed my hand on the now...
We arrived in Halstaad Fjord and were greeted by a group of elders accompanied by twenty beefy looking men, all were dressed in the traditional Neo Viking way with leather vests and trousers and shirts. They all wore identical helmets and swords and all were dressed in the same dark brown color. Egill was also with them. As we stepped ashore he said to me, I know what happened, Eric and I will take it from here. You may have noticed the men; these are the first members of the Nilfeheim...
Jolaj was no longer bound and her fur was once again as white snow. She was treated like a princess, but there was no doubt, she was a prisoner. They did not allow her to leave her quarters. She learned that the ship was not a Togar product, but a luxury yacht made by Enroe. None of her captors had given their names, they simply identified themselves as the Resistance. A group she had learned called themselves, Children of Malmoru.” The female, with a light brown fur and puffy cheeks,...
When I came around, I was still lying under that purple thing. The armed and fully armor suited men were close now holding their weapons ready pointing them at my friends. The bearded dark skinned man wearing a battle suit of unknown origin argued with Cardwell. “I want you to open those Translocator storages now. We do not have much time.” Cardwell barked back and pointed at me. “I told you that two command codes are needed to open them, the only one able doing that was killed by your...
Swybar lounged in the comfortable chair behind the conference table aboard the Red Dragon. Soon the requested supplies would arrive and make him a very dangerous man. The table was laid out with a light dinner. Both of his associates had joined him and both of them had been very respectful and lauded his genius. Swybar loved it when others realized just how smart and resourceful he was. Even the disguised Kermac treated him like an equal, as it was proper. He was no fool however and knew...
Green Eden appeared to be a beautiful green, white and blue sphere. From space it looked as inviting as any garden world. The transport descended through moderate clouds and approached a heavy forested land mass. We landed on a simple dirt field that had been cleared in the jungle. At the edge of the dirt field I saw a collection of primitive looking buildings made of wood. There were no machines, no robots, no ships or vehicles and no one waiting for us. Someone from the flight deck...
I took a shower as well and used the Auto Dresser and then checked my messages as I saw she was still in her part of the suite. There were two messages waiting. The first was of Egill and Sif. Egill had changed much, he wasn’t as thin anymore and his hair and beard was clean, white and well trimmed. He did not wear braids and his clothing was all black leather with broad silver seams. Sif also had changed; she was much more a woman than a girl now. Her facial expression seemed even cooler...
In this complete darkness. Something inside me made me close my eyes, just as I did riding on Tyr’s back. I could sense my surroundings, felt every heartbeat of Plemo and I learned that Elly had two hearts. I felt the stairs and the faint electric residue in the lamps. The stairs transformed with a metallic hum, into a steep declined slide. Plemo had no warning and was sliding away before I could warn him. I managed to hold onto the hand rail and prevent the slide, but Plemo and most likely...
I saw the Yokuta running towards the podium and my first response was to the dagger they had given us with the uniform. Of course I had a blaster, but my reflexes were still geared toward sword and knife. A burning foreign thought exploded like a yell in my mind.” Stop!” It was a telepathic command and while it was given I knew it had been said by a commanding officer. My hand froze, before perhaps a microsecond before I was to throw. The Yokuta ripped off his snouted gray head, ears and...
Wulf activated his cloak and put the suit in flight mode. Like a human missile he flew towards the ware house. Another energy beam emitted from the alien craft and slammed into the ground, where he had been a second ago. “Rusty, activate weapons and open remote control. He slaved the ships weapon control to his suit and a pair of green crosshairs appeared before his eyes. As soon as he lined up the cross hairs he pressed with his thumb on a small contact on the side of his index finger and a...
The woman that stepped through a shimmering portal of dark red light, had dark grey skin, long white hair and wore a skimpy outfit which was an odd combination of bikini, medieval armor, and wispy veils. Her eyes had no pupils but glowed in the same dark red light as the now dissipating portal. Stahl suddenly remembered Sunday school and stopped himself to actually make the sign of the cross. However, he was never really intimidated, by anyone. The Eternal Warrior got up, like the old...
Hans and Mao had received UWASPS. That stood for ‘urban warfare protective security suits’. Not the Quasimodo super bulky frontal assault battle armor but a sleek body shaped suit with a vast array of sensors, very smart weapon systems and advanced stealth and camouflage capabilities, normally only used by NAVINT Counter Intelligence and Elite Special forces. Much of the suits capabilities were highly classified and a source of professional pride to those considered good enough to wear...