Erica Olafson Adventures of the Tigershark Vol 7 Chapter 14 Kilkam
- 4 years ago
- 38
- 0
Shea tried to catch her breath, her suit was in restore and repair mode and the system assured her that it would be fully functional in less than an hour. Krabbel was not so lucky and her Archa friend was missing a leg. Hans and the Y’All and the marines were unharmed, except for a few bruises.
The island was destroyed, and the shaft leading into the deep had collapsed.
Hans was sitting by Krabbel who assured her that the Auto-Doc of his suit kept him pain-free and that losing a leg was not the same to an Archa as it was for a human.
Hans raised the shield of his helmet and said. “Can someone tell me again what actually happened?”
Shea collapsed her helmet and wiped her tears. “We lost Har-Hi, I saw him fight the Energy beast before it snatched me and raced through the corridor. It emitted so much gravitation and so much heat, it collapsed the caves and passages below. At last, you heard my warning and made it out in time.”
Krabbel gestured to the spot where his leg was missing. “Just barely.”
Shea looked at him. “Cateria is on her way she will grow you a new one in no time.”
Shea sniffed and said. “Energy weapons were the wrong approach, of course, to fight a being that was very like our own Ensign Three-Four and he came as fast as he could and drained much of the beasts energy, our EMP grenades then killed it. Just as a strong EMP pulse would kill a Non-Corp.”
Hans nodded. “Yes that part I understand, we know how to kill energy beings, but what was it? And where did it come from?”
Shea pulled her PDD, it was a tough combat version and despite its partially melted housing it still worked fine. She projected an image of the cavern so they all could see it. “There was something like a trans-dimensional gateway down there. I am certain it was from an ancient high tech civilization and the Drak stumbled on it while mining Magnetite crystal. I do not know how they learned how to use or activate it, but they summoned that energy being. It would have been devastating and quite capable of destroying every living thing on this world, including us. It was even feeding of my TransDim shields so I turned them off. Luckily my suit was tough enough to handle the fiery grip. I still almost cooked me alive.”
Hans also wiped a tear from his eyes. “Maybe Har-Hi is still alive.”
She looked up. “I wish he was, but how could he be? Buried underneath millions of tons of rock? Not even his suit could handle that much pressure.”
They saw the Landing tank approaching and land nearby. Hans got up and said. “We going to dig him out. No matter how long it takes. He is a Dai and deserves to have his final resting place in space, not dirtside.”
Har-Hi had stepped outside and fired survey satellite into orbit. Moments later he knew he was on a lifeless dry world with a thin atmosphere, that circled alone around an immensely bloated and weak red sun. TransDim worked fine now but he got no connection, no receiver and no relay station in range.
He went back inside and the strange armored knight was still there. He said. “if you know how this thing works can you not send me back to where I came from?”
The being said. “Everyone can use the Nexus, all you need is to speak to it in the language of the Pree, but wherever you came from is destroyed. The Star Demon has no sense other than to destroy. It is an old being and very angry at everything alive.”
Har-Hi said with an angry tone. “If that thing harmed my friends, I will find a way to kill it!”
“You are Dai-Than. It is the purpose of the Dai Than to be the warriors and protectors of Tana-Shoo. It is how you have been made by the lost sons of the Saresii and the Seenians. But mortal you are and to stand against a being that calls a star its home, is beyond you.”
Har-Hi held out his finger and said. “Do not speak of that. It is forbidden! Thana Shoo is lost and my kind roams the heavens. The faded legends of the time before Thana Shoo was destroyed are forbidden. No one shall speak of them.”
Har-Hi went back to the sickle-shaped columns. “Tell me Lord Lumis, how does this work. I must go back!”
The White dressed being said. “I told you how it works and I already gave you the gift to speak the old Pree language, but the Star Demon has drained its energy. It will take two revolutions of this planet around the old sun Rohardoor before it gathered enough energy to allow another passage. These constructs are old and the sun from which it takes its energy is old and tired.
Har-Hi fed the information into his computronic and co-related it with the astronomical data his satellite gathered. “You are telling me I have to wait 903 days before this thing can send me back?”
“Your computation is quite correct, Dai, but you are small and it might gather enough energy before that to open a passage.”
Har-Hi wanted to scream and at the same time, he was near tears as he heard that. He could go into stasis sleep and bridge the time without suffering the passage of time, but by then his friends would be surely dead and he would return to late even for their memorial. Erica would have completed her mission and be gone for many light years with a new XO, blaming him for not protecting Shea.
He touched his chest, underneath his armor he wore his Clan glyph. Without him, Erica could not go to Tana Shoo and warn the Pale Ones of the cursed Cam Elf-Na.
In all his frustration he suddenly smiled and aloud he said. “No, Erica will find a way to defeat that Star Demon, oh yes! She promised him she would go to Tana Shoo and even if the Universe was against it, Erica would go. He just regretted that he could not be there when Erica killed that traitor.
As he thought about his best friend new hope filled his mind. “Erica will turn every rock to find evidence of demise and then without fail search for him. Oh no, he was far from a hopeless state. He had the best friends in the Universe.
He was not just Dai-Than, he was also a Union Officer and he would not give up. Maybe he could figure out how this thing consumed energy. He did have twelve TKU energy packs and the finest Zero Energy generator in this marvelous Atlas suit, not to mention antimatter rockets and a genuine Translocator micro load cannon. His suit would provide him with food and water for quite a while and take care of everything else as well. And there was this white dressed Alien. He needed to find out more about that being.
He said to his Computronic. “Suit, retask satellite for high-resolution detail mapping of this planet. Launch second satellite drone. Detail star mapping mode, co-relate data to all known pulsar signatures.”
The armored being watched him and said. “What is this? A Dai-Than warrior engaging in such strange tasks fit for Fair-spirits and thinkers?”
“I am first and foremost a Union Officer, White one. I must gather data on which I will base my next course of action. From the looks of it, I am very far from Union space and perhaps the first being out so far. The scientific data I can gather will further our understanding of it all.”
Silently he was doing it in Shea’s spirit and hoped against all hope she found a way to escape.
The being said. “Tell me of Thana Shoo. I have not been to that realm since the cursed Hordes of the Dark Ones tore through that spiral galaxy to search for the twelve tokens. I have fought many of their horrors and chased after them and tell me of that Union you speak of.”
Har-Hi openly scanned the being and said. “Why don’t you start and tell me who you are and how you ended up here?”
The strange being put his left hand on his chest and said: “I am Lord Lumis, protector of Light and Life. I was once a humanoid like you. My race was among the very first in this Universe that reached the stars. Have you ever heard of the Narth?”
Har-Hi said. “Yes I have, one of my best friends is Narth.”
This obviously surprised the being and he said stepping back. “You speak the truth. I was ready to dismiss such impossible boast and yet you speak the truth. Narth are quite introvert and have to my knowledge never sought out contact, ever since they merged with the Arth.”
The man in the gleaming armor finally put his sword away and then said. “My civilization was among very first life forms in this universe that gained consciousness and built a star-spanning civilization. Even before the Nnnth left their original world. The Nnnth you must know were a species of very intelligent, very Psionic talented beings that did not explore space in ships but rather by thought constructs and they sought to find a way to transdescent time and space of this universe. Finally, they succeeded and met with an entity of a different reality and Universe. An entity of pure intellect if you will and they merged, entered a symbiosis and the result was the Narth.”
Har-Hi had forgotten to check on his satellite. The man before him knew the Origin of the Narth.
The being’s armor was made of a gleaming metal armor with many ornamental details, and it was fitted to his body like a second skin and reminded Har-Hi of Circuit’s flexible chrome metal skin. The being who called itself Lord Lumis continued. “My species, we once called ourselves the Zophim.”
Har-Hi was certain this place, the Zophim called the Nexus was still in the local group, and if the Pulsar information was correct, which of course it should be. He was somewhere in the Sculptor galaxy and about 12 million light-years from Pluribus.
The planet he was on, had a breathable atmosphere and judging by the satellite images, once was the home of a civilization.
Not much had remained, other than almost completely obliterated ruins. It also appeared that the world was without life.
The temperature near the equator, where he was, hovered just above 5 degrees on the C scale.
What the white stranger called the Nexus was inside a monolithic temple structure, built at the side of a smooth looking mountain, and so far appeared to have only one room, the hall with the gate device, that looked identical to the one they had found on Itheamh.
The apparently human or at least humanoid stranger who called himself a Knight of Light had watched him do his assessment of the situation and again the man expressed his surprise seeing a Dai doing such things.
“The Dai Than have changed so it seems and reached an impressive level of technology, but it might be the influence of the Narth. A fact that also still amazes me to a great extent.”
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“Circuit, are you there?” “Yes, Captain but there are green vapor things in Engineering.These things affecting the injector spear blades of both Chandelier diverters. We can’t tap TransDim energies right now and I switched to secondary power.” “Can we still lift off?” “Not at the moment Captain. Most of my engineering crew is acting weird and two have pulled the auxiliary reactor down into maintenance cycle. I need to contain them and get the reactors back up. We are on battery power...
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After we had triaged the wounded and contacted the Union Carriers, the news spread fast. There was an intense but very short space battle. The Na tribe and their closest allies had used their ships to bring the non-Dai troops to Thana Shoo, with many Muta-Kerr and Shiruti still in the ships. They were intended to take over the mothers and battleships of the non-compliant tribes. The Dai were fired up with anger and flew their fighters with a merciless vengeance. However, the true difference...
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The Stellaris scientist-led us through several connecting tube tunnels and stopped at another airlock module. Space is limited, unfortunately, and we can’t accommodate Nul or ... is that a Y’All?” I put a firm tone in my voice.”Is there a problem with that?” “Oh no, I voted for their admission. I just noticed the Ensign rank insignia and wondered how it managed to get to be an officer that fast.” “He joined the Union as an individual ahead of his kind. This is Ensign TheOther, a valued...
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...
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...
The words of the Pale Ones almost seemed to linger as a hushed silence took hold of the assembled Dai. It appeared everyone was waiting for the Cam’s response. Completely out of character for a usual stern and serious Dai Than, Elf-Na grinned. It was an evil smile no doubt. “And I intend to do just that, but not in the arena. The Arena is sacred and for Dai Than only. You question my word calling that traitorous Hi tribe, Okthi and reject it. I reject his declaration that this Union female,...
Lia and her crew of outcasts, dropped out of Quasi-space at a star system eighteen light-years from the trans-spatial gate. According to her admittingly outdated information, this was the homeworld of the Farnok. They were hailed almost immediately and after a few moments, Squack language communications were established, confirming the fact, that this was not the first trans-galactic contact. The being appearing on the viewer was covered with short brown fur and had general similarities...
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...
The Thauran now known as Red Dragon cursed at the Situation and cursed his Sensor Operator.”You said you detected the Silver Streak in Orbit. Where is it?” “I swear to you it was there one second and now it’s gone. I think she went over the Pole. Adjusting for magnetic interference now.” “What a worthless idiot are you? Is she there or not?” “No Captain I cannot detect her ship anywhere in the system, maybe our Sensors were damaged.” “Of course your sensors are damaged. She can’t simply...
I had been in deep space before and knew how cold space was. Yet standing here on that frozen plane with these bizarre tooth or needle-shaped rock formations, with a bright star just over the horizon giving it all a bluish shine, made it look colder than anything I had seen before and I came off a very cold world myself. Not that I felt any of it, I wore a disguised Atas battle suit, made to look like a piece of undefinable alien hardware and I also wore Tyron Suit. While he assured me I...
Har-Hi had finished his report and waited for Stahl’s response. There was none, at least not right away. The Old Admiral was staring at the Dai and then wiped his mouth. “You guys found the source of the Y’All?” “Yes, Sir we are quite confident that the Crucible is indeed that source. Along with my verbal report, I have transmitted all data we were able to gather. “While we are all confident, our Captain will succeed in destroying this source. She felt that this was a number too big for...
Deep in the bowels of Quarva, Meeze reached a rock chamber, no outsider had seen since the Mara had left so long ago, There was very little light, the faint lumination that came from dim glowing mushrooms did little to reveal more than vague shadows. Meeze had little need for light, his species was well adapted to dark places and lightless crevices. There in the darkness, something big lingered, then moved and shifted. A malleable, mass oozing with stringy goo shifted its position and a...
We didn’t have to fight the Merrimac destroyer. The mercenaries immediately signaled surrender. They all were Union citizens, and according to Hans, checking the files. They did have a notice to appear issued, but were still citizens and not yet charged with anything. The ship was bristling with illegal mil-tech, but it was registered to Nick Harlequin and not to any of the surrendering mercenaries. They also reported the demise of Chucky Harlequin and wanted to know if there was any bounty...
I knew I should have paid more attention to the Laurin Oghr, especially since I knew about the Bunthik subculture. The only excuse I had was the fact that I was drunk, but then this was no excuse because I should not have left my guard down like that in an environment that was less than familiar to me. I should have suspected the presence of more than one spy. If the situation was as serious as I believed it was, the opposing actors namely this Cam Elf-Na would not give up easily. All this...
The USS Braddock swung into orbit around one of the most mysterious worlds in the entire Universe, Narth Prime. She was the first Non-Narth vessel ever to do that in over a thousand years. Captain Mike Anderson was very aware of that. No active scanning was done. He gave strict orders not to activate any probing rays or scanners other than the passive ones needed for spaceship operations. The planet was as unusual as its inhabitants and reputation. It had no visible surface features from...
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...
After I was reunited with my friends and my ship we left Karthanian space and returned to the space dock of Fantlemo Brthail. The Karthanian engineer had returned with us. He told us, that with the First Engineer active, the old Guildmasters would be swept away; and he realized that he no longer wanted to be a Guild leader. He rather returned to Itheamh and helped rebuild it and run his space dock. In order to maintain our cover, he reverted to his alter ego of Fantlemo Brthail and only...
The incident with the dust cloud was now over six weeks ago. Down here in completely unexplored space, it really hit home how big our galaxy really was. Back home in the Upward sector with Hyper Highways and Space trains; with known planets and systems and of course with everyone connected to GalNet space did not feel as empty and vast. We had crossed the gap and now steadily went further down the Coreward sector. Our sensors picked up some space traffic now and then, but in general, this...
The Thauran behind the altar thundered with a deep voice.”What is this?” “Itz ze Meeze, stoopiz. Meeze goez now, whenz the Meeze comz backz. Ze girlz Soburz iz bettzer reazy zo goez.” Men drew weapons, none appeared to be of Union origin and aimed it at the Wheeze. One of them said.”I never have seen a creature like that, and I can not identify the hardware it is wearing but it speaks a very garbled version of Union standard.” “Pffz youze triez to doez ze speakiz witz a ringmouz, noz...
I returned to the table where Har-Hi was talking with the former pirate captains and a former Union fleet petty officer, who had dealt with the Worm and now paid the price. “We need to get back to the ship, right away. “Har-Hi didn’t lose a second and got up, tossed a few Iridium coins on the table and was ready to follow me. Lemakr, the Togar said. “What about us, Black Velvet?” “I have all the crew I need and I am in a hurry, figure it out. “I was torn between showing them some sort of...
The disguised Tigershark dropped out of Quasi-Space and as it has become our routine just beyond the utmost Elfi said. “Looks like they had contact with our galaxy before. Communication is now possible. They respond to Squack.” I got up, Har-Hi held my mask. “You should wear it, it is part of your Black Velvet trademark and flair of mystery.” “You think I have that? I mean a flair?” “In spades, Captain and I begin to learn to like this Do suit, complete with mask. It gives me that...
He had been here once before, time of other realms had no meaning here. The ground he stood on, was a polished hard surface of highly reflective properties and stretched into every direction and into infinity. The universe with all its clusters and superstrings reflected in it from the infinite sky above this surface. This was the Plane of Eternity, a place beyond the Omniverse itself. Lumis remembered when he was brought here the first time. Then, he did not listen to the name of Lumis....
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...
I was sitting on the main diagnostic table of our sickbay. Cateria had taken me out of a regen tank just moments ago and was now examining me. “What did you do, Captain? Fight a blast furnace” I could not find the emotions to smile, Tyron’s demise was heavy on my mind. “What I faced was certainly hot enough to melt metal. “Har-Hi was standing outside the privacy bubble and said. “Whatever you guys did, worked the run-away Orlan equipment is inactive and we can no longer detect any random...
The USS Gromsmaro was not a supply transporter and not a unit of the Science Council. She was a full sized, late model Union battleship under the command of Captain Bronbohr, a four meters tall Vvolti. Bronbohr was not the most liked commanding officer in the Union fleet, but there was hardly one more correct or fair. His ship and crew were among the top ten vessels in the entire spatial navy in terms of response to alert times, simulated battle honors, efficiency ratings and so forth. The...
The news of Eric Olafson being on trial had reached Nilfeheim. First noticed by Lars Igvarhein the owner and operator of Nilfeheim Radio. That Eric had become Erica was not widely known, but his legend had grown. Isegrim, Siegfrieda, Exa, and Elenna had traveled to Hogun’s Tavern. The place was packed to standing room only. Hogun had his GalNet terminal active on GalNet One and the system displayed the proceedings on the largest field screen setting possible. Aunt Freydis was assisted by...
The latest development transmitted in the tightly packed guest room of Hogun’s Tavern was greeted with cheers and raised tankards. Gunnar Peerson said. “I guess we only hear now, what a hero our Eric Olafson really is.” “It is the strong arm of an Olafson and the sharp mind of a Ragnarsson paired with the virtues of a true Norse that is at the core of Isegrim’s firstborn that enables such deeds.” Proclaimed another. Isegrim shouted. “Mighty brother Hogun, open barrels and let your kitchen...
Rex Schwartz, now fully aware of his ancient dual personality, known as Invictus Rex had, of course, witnessed the approach and the initial attack of the Tomradi. He was confident, that the latest TransDim shields would hold against anything these aliens could throw at them from surface weapons. The appearance of these huge disc-shaped battleships however caused great concern. He brought along a sizeable army of Seenian Sentmacs. Cloned humans that had been altered to be the perfect...