Eric Olafson Fleet Cadet Vol 3 Chapter 27 Fornax Events Interlude
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In all these years it was the first Stahl ran to reach the bridge of the Devi, he had barely made it back aboard and was still wearing his battered combat suit as he stomped with augmented muscles and eight tons of Terran battle gear on the bridge. Harris just informed him that another wave of Y’All ships was approaching. His mighty ship shuddered and he heard the Harris ordering all attack wings to be deployed. He reached the bridge. Harris had disappeared inside his command chair now in full battle mode. Stahl anchored his suit boots to the deck plates and switched to prime command channel. The Scanner Operator said with a calm voice.” Two hundred six units, Captain.”
Stahl was confident the Devi could deal with even this number, but the Translocator bomb magazines would be depleted and the possibility of damage and casualties among the attack wings was almost certain. This was what the Devi was made for and her crew knew how do dish out death and destruction. He had send and let countless loyal beings into battle before, but every life lost was a painful scar on his old soul.
“Primary shields at 40 percent, the Y’All concentrating fire on the weak aft shields. Delta Wing has lost four Wolfcraft.” The XO reported.
Stahl noticed dozens of Y’All ships suddenly bursting into millions of pieces. As if disassembled part by part, in a fraction of a second, yet there were no explosions.
A new ship had appeared, perfectly spherical without any markings or anything that would disturb the perfect surface.
He stared at the screen and the dark gray spherical ship of a thousand meters diameter.
This was a Narth sphere. He had seen one only once before and that too was 1500 years ago. Y’All weapon fire poured into that sphere and there were no visible shields. The Y’All ships carried weapons very similar to the Unions’ second most potent weapon, faster than light Directed energy projectors and each shot poured the raw energy equivalent of a solar eruption into the shields of the Devastator. Yet the Y’All fire splashed of the Narth sphere as if someone was using a water-squirter against a granite boulder.”
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...
The Commander still stared at the torn off rank insignia of the former Midshipman as his Desk, Then hisCom flashed with the top urgent icon. He touched the screen and a Holo transmission from Fleet headquarters solidified. It was the Old man himself, Admiral of the Fleet McElligott. “Where is Midshipman Olafson?” “Sir, the Ex Midshipman is just transferred to the brig. That subject has been dealt with swift and harsh. I doubt he is conscious. Thirty five lashes and off to Brisbane...
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...
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...
He remembered the last moments of his life quite vividly. They had led him up to the scaffold, after they had removed all his rank insignia. Commander Stone before him actually collapsed and the marines had to drag him to his spot on the scaffold. It took all his will power not to do the same and set one foot before the other. The solemn beat of the drums stopped and the Executioner asked him if he had any last words. He had none, the night before he had written a letter to his son Swybin and...
Swybar stood in the cargo bay of the Red Dragon and watched as a gang of S10 robots stowed away containers with real Loki torpedoes. His Kermac associate stood next to him with an almost feverish stare in his eyes. It would not take much and he would actually drool. The Agent of the worm was nowhere to be seen, but he expected him to be around. The Kermac pointed at a large cylindrical object that an Octobot had just lifted into the bay.” Is that really what I think it is?” “Yes this is a...
I kept my own promise and went to Hasvik and lit a torch for Astrid, Elena did the same and we didn’t talk much on our flight back. I didn’t know Astrid as well as she did, but she was a friend and she saved our lives, paying with hers. I still feel stuffed from breakfast even though it was close to five as we returned to the Burg. Midril had prepared what must have been the most calories laden and without question the biggest breakfast of Nilfeheim history. Rodney turned out to be the very...
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...
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...
Peter Baker had neither slept nor eaten much in the last days. Everything had gone wrong ever since he captured the Y’All herald and brought the being to Fornax Hub. He told them to keep the being in Stasis until fleet could arrive. He had barely left the security lock up facility aboard the stations when all lights went out and the station was boarded by Y’All and Kermac. What was odd that these Kermac fought, they weren’t the same cowardly white skinned Kermac he knew about, and still these...
Egill terminated the connection and leaned back. Algear glanced at his friend.”You love that boy and you told me so many times and yet you criticized him and snarled at him during the entire call, I do not understand.” “It is my way to show him, I care. He understands.” Algear sighed and said in complete unison with the Narth.” Humans.” Egill padded Algear on the shoulder. “ I explain it to you one of these days.” To the Narth he said.” Now can you explain to me why Eric is on the Assembly...
Istee Da Notham was out of breath as he stormed into the back office of the Dark Temple. Mitzitrone the Head priest sat behind his desk reading something and was quite startled at the undignified and unannounced entrance of his Right hand man and fellow Priest.” What in Darkum’s name? Has someone put a Stickle-Incher under your robe?” Notham pointed his arm to the door. “I saw him and I felt him. The Dark One is here and he is here now. I could feel more power than I ever felt. More power...
The memorial service for Rodney Barack and Deadan took place almost immediately after our return to the Academy. It was a solemn affair and it brought home to me just how serious the affair on Archilerb really was. I was certain the affair was far from over as far as it concerned the fleet, the Yokuta and the level of hostilities between Union and the Galactic Council. I shot two of the Kermac bastards but I knew there had to be more. The Yokuta I fought were still under psionic control...
Peter had put his ship down on the leveled landing field of Annapurna Port. There was a small collection of stone and wood buildings. The energy signature came from the largest building in the little town, the local exchange. He checked his gun, a copy of Wulf’s Tri Blast and made sure his shield belt was fully charged and operational and then left the ship. As soon as he left, his shield locked and activated the purple shimmering Para Dim Shield. It was about thousand meters to the town...
We watched him leave and as we left the training hall, Narth asked. “Lying can be polite sometimes, is that so?” I was thinking for a moment what he meant and then said. “We humans always say we prefer the truth, but in certain cases we rather not want to hear or tell the truth. Especially when dealing with others. Why do you ask?” “You said to La Lupe that you are a ruffian at best, and yet you are the best fencer and I am not certain our instructor is much ahead of your skill level, but I...
The orange haired woman took the mirror thing from her face as I left the Admirals office and she leaned forward over her desk. “There is a washroom right over there.” I gave her a thankful smile. After I had freshened up I asked her.” How did you know I needed to go?” She smiled.” I am Cheeka and I come from Phantas. “She said that as if it would explain everything. Her purple eyes sparkled amused and she added. “Phantas is an old Terran Colony, much like Nilfeheim and we all have Psionic...
The Kermac High Circle of Wizards listened to the report of their spy. He had shown them a recording of the Assembly proceedings as well. Vorneun the Intelligence wizard looked perplexed.” Can someone tell me what is going on here? I never even heard of the Fornax Cluster, what were they talking about Kermac in Y’All ships?” He addressed Nachacht the Military Wizard as he expected him to have done something in secret, but Nachacht looked as surprised but the Grand Wizard clenched his little...
Technically she was a coach operator and so it was noted on her pay slip from Red Triangle Lines Corporation, and the ship she flew was only a D 180 Long Range Shuttle, but she called it ship and despite the fact that she was the entire crew of the ship, she considered herself a star ship captain. Out here in the Fornax satellite it was not necessary to operate full size Leyland or the truly big MB Space Buses. She never had more than ten passengers and her shuttle had room for 180...
The Rama Bot lowered them to the ground at the edge of the space ship bone yard. Wind howled between the rows of ships and tugged at their suits. The man calling himself Sergei now, could not shake the feeling that they were watched. Some of the ships were clearly alien, perhaps of civilizations that joined and adopted the Common design scheme. Perhaps of vanquished foes with technology deemed inferior. Some of the designs they recognized, some of the ships looked ready to fly others had...
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Stahl’s suit shield had collapsed twice, and the scorch marks on his armor showed that he came awful close to making his ideas of retiring quite mute, but the Steel Gauntlet had managed to secure the alien ship, and the grey skinned Kermac Captain still struggled in his augmented suit fist. Stahl had grabbed him, before he could activate the self destruct. Sergeant Black Horse, a genuine Terran Apache shouldered his monstrous boarding axe and said.” Ship Secure, Big Chief.” None of the men in...
The music blasting from the speakers onto the flight deck of this small specialized space ship was called Country music and no one past the Sol system would know what it was, the man in the one person command center of the ship however grew up in Texas, long before the Galactic Ascent and he sang along, knowing every lyric by heart. He was a big man, with fists like five pound hams, a barrel chest and a weathered sun tan. So long ago he had been a Texas Ranger and now over three thousand...
Carl Kerry leaned on his staff and let his gaze wander over the peaks of the mountains and the alpine meadows before him then he looked over his flock of goats grazing on the herbs and grasses. The orange sun in the sky migt eventually be fixed by Wurgus engineers, but there was no hurry. The local star would last a many hundred million years before it begun to expand, reach the next stage in a suns life and become a red M Class star. In the process of this development swallow the Planet...
The communications officer of the Devastator reported to Stahl. “Sir we have no contact to Fornax Hub. The last message we received was a distress call and now it is silent on all channels.” The old Admiral wished the huge ship could go any faster and glanced over to captain Harris, knowing full well that the ship was already pushing its engines close to the red line. He did not want to push them any further. The mighty Devastator would be of no help if she arrived at a crisis with damaged...
The five potato shaped space ships immediately attacked. Their weapons were consistent with Y’All technology and so were their shields. Stahl looked over the scanner results and was convinced it was exactly the same as 1500 years ago. The Chief Science officer confirmed it.”Sir, these are defiantly Y’All ships. Even the power output and everything is exactly the same as it was 1500 years ago. It looks like they made no improvement at all.” If this was the case, the Admiral thought, then this...
Everyone thought it would get easier after we got used to the stress and workload, but it did not, our instructors pushed us even harder. I was sent for 24 hours into the no light lock up for having a bad shave after returning from a 75 kilometer force march through the Jungle in just my underwear and a combat knife. The instructor argued that the knife was perfectly usable to perform a shave before reporting back. Narth did not fare much better and was send washing dishes by hand for the...
The Devastator had made it. No one aboard knew very much about the old Celtest engines, except Centron the Ships AI that was also not a product of Union Tech but the ships original AI, utmost loyal to Stahl. Centron warned that the old engines would need serious servicing before they could be used again at these speeds. That would mean the way home would take much longer, unless the Chief Engineer could figure out how to service the alien engines. However this was a problem, they would face...
The Call has been made and the Herald was about to complete the first part of the mission. He had been sent in advance to gauge the strength of this union and to secure the secret of the weapon that was able to defeat the Y’All. He had not been sent alone, but with him he had 300 mighty Y’All ships crewed not only by a new generation of Y’All warriors, but also by a large number of cloned beings, called the Kermac. It was decided that the Y’All should be led this time by an intelligent...
Somewhere in the Mongolian desert, January 2097 Lt. Richard Stahl ducked behind the remnant of a wall, to reload his gun and to check on the others. “Smithers when are those Cobras coming? We need them now or we’re going to be toast.” The Chinese tanks crawled over the ridge. Stahl spit into the sand and cursed.”Never fight a land war against China and what are we doing here?”J ones his SAW man grinned weakly. “Fighting a land war with China and it isn’t looking all too good, Sir.” “Where...
I did not feel like celebrating but I sat down with the others at the big table and was asked to tell them about my time at the academy. I gave them a very rough and condensed version and I did not even finish part of it as there was too much to explain and I could tell I had lost them as I told about the formal dinner, so I recalled the events around the duel and that was well received. I also told father that I would not be here for long and that a ship was on its way to pick me up. Elena...
Richard stood by the view port in his office aboard the Devastator. The Ship was still on its way back to the LMC. The Narth were certain that the next Y’All invasion would come from this direction. He had seen the Narth Sphere during the last Y’All invasion and now that the Narth Supreme had personally told him that the Narth would be on the Union Side and hinted he would share some Narth technology with the Union he was far less concerned as he was before. He smiled at his own reflection,...
His new aide alsdo a Commander came into the office of the Admiral and said. “I am unable to raise the Commander or the Midshipman. The local police found the Laboratory empty, but found the flier of the Xenobiologist 3 miles away near the mountains. No sign of the two. There is a piece of ground burned by TKU before a cave entrance.” The Admiral leaned back and pointed at the file he was reading.” I was reading up on the Big Bone Mystery and I wonder why we never put more efforts in this to...
Swybar was the first out of the D 60 Long Distance shuttle; the two men that accompanied him followed down the ramp and looked around. One of them was a disguised Kermac, that much he knew but he had no idea who the other was, but he expected him to be an agent of the worm. All three of them were disguised as humanoids wearing heavy insulated and heated suits and cold masks. Patches on their suits identified them as civilian contractors. All his life Swybar thought it was impossible to forge...
The next day he did as he promised and took me with is rugged freight bed flier to the southmost tip of Bifrost island a deserted dark pebble beach. Most of the rocks where about fist sized but there many much bigger and a few almost house sized. “These are carried by the glaciers from the mountains and after every Longnight they go a little further till they end in the sea.” He explained, “Eventually carrying our small mountain range away to the sea.” He took the metal box with him, handed...
5009, OTT The days after her death were like a haze. I woke in the Union Clinic. It was the first time I could remember being away from the Burg. When I first regained consciousness I was floating in some kind of gooey liquid, whatever I tried I could not move and through the liquid I could see people moving. I was certain one of the shapes was father. When I woke again, I was no longer in the liquid but in the same room. All was gleaming white and clean. A man with a broad smile greeted...
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Lt. Harrison liked logistics. He never wanted to do anything else really. It fitted his meticulous character and string sense of order, to be responsible for material flows and acquisitions. He liked proper filled acquisition forms and hated the ones filled out partially or incorrectly. He expected that the fields not needed were marked with n/a for not applicable. How easy was it for the requestor to fill out these Computronic forms, why could they not pay attention to the little details,...
Prelude Part 6: Naming Day A new egg-shaped stone cut from a single two-ton boulder marked the grave of the little girl. The stone had been dug out from underneath the snow; a stonemason had chiseled the name Freya Olafson and the date into the stone and then it was carried to the cemetery behind the community roundhouse. There, also under a thick layer of snow, were the rock mounds and rock markers of the graves of the most revered. On a planet with so little land, the dead usually...
I found the Halls of Hasvik easily enough as they could not be missed. Next to the huge doors ;which were as I could see now, were made of dark wood with large Ultronit bands holding large timbers together; was a smaller metal door and I knocked there. It did not take long and another man opened, he too was dressed like the other one but he was the stark opposite of the Old man I met the day before. He was fat, Midril would have appeared like a weightless Elf compared to this man. His woven...
Non Union ships wanting to do business in Union space have to stop at one of these Checkpoints that dot the imaginary border between Union and Free space to get Customs clearance and a transponder code. While civilian ships could freely enter Union space, they could only land on Union Worlds with the proper Customs documents. Detected warships of other civilizations would result in a border alert and cause an immediate response from the fleet. Checkpoint 96 was a small ice planet with a...
The Devastator was an enormous ship and the outer corridor of Deck 54 circled the ship at the horizontal equator of the main hull. It was almost seventy clicks long. There were IST (Inter ship transport) stations in regular intervals, every 20 meters was a security door, open during normal operations that could be closed in an eye blink and reinforced with force field curtains. Dividing the entire ship in millions of individual sealed compartements.All Union military ships had the same...
Lothar’s beam burned through my chest. It felt as if my entire torso was on fire, but I was alive. I did not faint or pass out instead fulled by burning rage I ran towards him, his face was pure horror he still held the small weapon he did not fire a third time. I reached him in mere seconds, buried my knee in his groin and smashed the palm of my hand against his nose with the hope I would shove his nose bone up his brain. Something completely impossible f course, but I was furious and kept...
The image of Ardalf’s face as the sword slipped into his body would not leave me and I dreaded going to sleep even more than before. When I finally was so tiered I had to sleep I would dream and see the scene all over. One particular dream was especially disturbing as I saw my mother standing by the dead boy and shaking her head. Father was busy integrating the Steiner clan and he left me completely alone, even when I was at the burg and he was there. I spend most of my time at Uncle Hogun’s...
The last thing I remembered was the stinging prick into my neck and then a nauseating spinning sensation that dragged me into nothingness. I was supposed to perform an Orbital assault jump as part of the final challenge and to win the Reagan trophy for the Devastator. My friends and I equipped with heavy battle suits had boarded a Drop ship. Strapped into the drop rack, my suit malfunctioned and nothing worked. At first I believed I was dead, but I felt still nauseas and I opened my eyes....
Even though I had little medical knowledge, my time serving in the Devi’s sick bay and getting basic med training at the Academy I was helping with the triage of wounded and somehow remembered Dr. Dwyer my old Nilfeheim doctor as I derma-patched an eleven year old’s scrape wounds he had suffered falling while running and hiding inside an service crawl. The Casualty numbers were depressing. “943 dead among them many civilians and 1532 wounded of which more than 500 were very critical. Over...
Har-Hi and I returned to our dorm and Mao greeted us.” Have you two decided to kill each other at a later time?” “Yes we decided to postpone that.” Har-Hi answered. “That is good. Because we are complete now and I am tired to be behind in everything.” I said.” We are complete in what and where are you behind?” “First things first.” Mao replied.” You got to meet the rest, just in case so you don’t bust furniture across someone else’s back.” Mao stepped into the middle of the dorm room.”...
The ‘American Spirit’ was nothing I expected a space ship to look from the inside. It was more like a luxurious villa, complete with garden, swimming pool and green lawn. We stepped through a glass sliding door under a blue sky with a single yellow sun and on the green plant surface he called grass, was a table with umbrella and a few garden chairs. Rolling hills with forests in the distance. “All simulated of course,” Alex explained. “The walls are actually only 30 meters from us, but I...
The Bowels It could have been any Maltyrian but I was certain it was Galmy. At the same as I said her name I realized she would not recognize me. She still had these inhuman big eyes and that translucent complexion. Her hair was the same midnight black as I remembered. She said. “You know me, Captain... ?” Her eyes scanned over my uniform blouse looking for my name tag. “Captain Olafson?” She was out of uniform so I could not see what rank she had attained since I seen her last. “Yes I...
The best day in my life was when I turned seven and I could go to Union school being away from the Burg and away from my father was like breathing lighter air. Everyone had to go to Union school. That was Union Law and it superseded local law. Union school was such a long part of our society that it too became an Old Tradition and therefore was good. At school I learned that Nilfeheim was a Water-World and that we all originally came from a Planet named Earth and settled here long time...
It was the last hour of our last school day. Mr. Walters handed out the final grades and said.” This is the last time I am doing this for you. When you return next year, a new teacher will try to pound some knowledge into your thick skulls. I am going to be transferred to another school, still on Nilfeheim but they thought I be best suited to try my hand on the even wilder Neo Vikings of the South Pole.” He then shook everyone’s hand and said a few words to everyone. When he reached me he...
We entered the outmost orbit of the Dover System ten hours before the deadline. Har-Hi who stood next to me sighed. “I wished it would have taken longer. This is what I am born for, to be aboard a ship and roam the stars’”. I felt the same way and agreed with him, saying. “Me too.” The doors opened and Wetmouth stepped through, taking her seat behind the small science station at the rear of the bridge. I observed Har Hi who acted as the OPS officer of our little crew dedicating sensors...
I went down the narrow stair case to find out if there was a God living in the Old Man’s basement. Now I had reached the bottom of the narrow stair case and it expanded into a large natural grotto. The old man had a very large, and from the looks of it a natural Sub Pen under his rock. It was cold and moist and without my light it would have been pitch dark. There was no god and no mystery down here. At least there wasn’t any more garbage either. I did for a moment see a movement in the water...
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...
(List of Characters) Eric Olafson – A teenage Neo Viking leaves his home world for the first time. To travel and eventually to join the Union Navy Elena Olafson – technically a cousin to Eric, but since she was adopted by Eric’s father, she is now known as his sister. Isegrim Olafson – The current clan chief of the Olafson clan, and Eric’s father Lothar Olafson – Eric’s half brother The Ancient – aka Elkhart the Keeper. An old man claiming to have forgotten to die. Officially he is the...
The Devastator had excellent recreational facilities and offered something for almost any taste, but the most liked recreation area was called The Village. It was a small down town area complete with shops, cafés, micro breweries, night-clubs, restaurants, Virtu-show halls and theatres. The sky appeared real with moving clouds and a warm yellow sun. It would even rain or snow once in a while. The Village centered on a park with grass, trees, flower patches and narrow duro-crete walking paths....
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...