Eric Olafson, Neo Viking Vol. 02

"Alright fix me up then."

Ten minutes later my CITI had a new add on. Federal Weapons bearer License Class III. He then guided me to a Display case. "These are more advanced swords then the ones we ship to Nilfeheim." He places one on the counter. "This is the pinnacle of sword technology. A Marine Corps Issue Chain sword. Three thousand molecular compacted, mono filament Ultronit teeth with a nano coating of Neutronium. Revolving around the blade extendable to 150 cm at five times the speed of sound. Each tooth vibrates at 25,000 cycles a second. No known material can withstand this baby, except for compacted Ultronit. It will cut a Nul in battle armor in half like cutting butter with a hot knife."

I picked it up. It was heavy. He spread his hands. "Even an atomic thin layer of Neutronium is quite heavy."

He handed me something that looked like a sword handle. No blade at all. "This, my Viking friend is a mono field sword. Activate it here and you see it generates a 180 cm long purple barely visible Para-Dim force field. It is technically only two- dimensional and slide right between the molecular bond of most materials and sever it. These force field swords are also able to cut most materials up to compacted Ultronit, and it is quite effective against a shielded person."

He pointed behind him to the racks of swords and bladed weapons. "Of course we have low tech versions of every sword and bladed weapon known to the Union, for those you don't need any license. How about guns?"

"As I said I am no expert in guns and I rather stick with something I know."

"We have self-aiming weapons but you would need a Neuro connector for those. Beam Gloves and shoot fingers, laser eyes are all class VIII weapons. Meaning weapons must by law look like weapons and cannot be hidden in something else or made to look like something else, unless you have a Class VIII license."

"I think I will take that chain sword. It sure looks awesome and if it is good for the marines it's bound to be good for me."

"Good choice. It comes with a twelve shot Nuc flamer. Do recommended to be used indoors."

In its retracted state it was just underarm long and came with a matching leg holster. Feeling much more like a Viking again. I still needed to make up my mind where to go. Maybe there was a bus going somewhere interesting and in the general direction of Earth, Arsenal or maybe Pluribus.

Several of the Gun stores customers and sales persons had gone outside and I went too, to see what the sudden commotion all about. Outside and marching down the main street was group of about twenty men and women. All dressed in loose fitting sheet like robes. The robes where white and were stained with blood or red paint. The group looked unkempt and they carried simple home-made signs and banners. The signs displayed the same words and slogans the strange group was chanting: "Free Gore.", "Stop killing the living planet.", "Expel all corporations form Gore.", "Fight for the rights of Gore."

The protest group was trailed by four police men and an equal number of robots. Whatever the protest was about, the pedestrians and shoppers appeared either completely uninterested or annoyed by those protesters. The group that had stepped out of the gun store, the group I was more or less part off, voiced their opinion more vocal.

A Klack said. "Useless maggots. Gal Drifts the whole lot. They never worked in their life. You won't find a single Klack among them."

A blue faced Thauran agreed. "The Azure Emperor would never allow any of that scum on any of the Thauran worlds."

A Saran woman, at least I was assuming the olive skinned beauty with shiny black hair and a very revealing dress shook her head. "They should arrest the whole lot and ship them to Free Space. If they don't like it here why don't they leave?"

The Thauran laughed. "BoCA offered these Gal Drifts a colony of their own a few years back, but a colony means work. They don't like that and none of these Society parasites went."

A gorgeous woman with long silvery hair wearing a skin tight velvet suit and high heeled boots added her opinion. "As much as I personally want to send them to Togar and make a profit for the Union. They are sentient and have the right to express their opinions. Freedom of speech is a fundamental right guaranteed to all sentient life. I dislike that filthy scum but I would die to defend their rights."

I was quite impressed by that statement and she sounded just like Mr. Walthers, one of my basic school teachers. The protest group suddenly stopped and pelted everyone in sight with red plastic bags. A human blonde with a fanatical glare in her face tossed one in my direction. I was able to avoid it only partially, the thing burst, hitting my shoulder instead of my face and splattered me with a red stinking liquid. Only one substance I knew smelled that way, blood.

I really had to use all my self-control to reign in my impulse to tell her what I thought about this, but I would not get into more trouble. No not this time. The blood could be washed off and I had enough money to afford another night at the Crystal suite or somewhere else to take a bath and get my things cleaned. The Cops and robots already reacted. But then an open flier appeared and swiftly swooped down. In it several of the bed sheet wearing protesters and they were dropping football sized objects. The things exploded in bright white flashes. Instantly street lights all over went dark and the police robots collapsed. Several of the Gun store customers had drawn their weapons, but none seemed to work.

I turned to run inside the gun store for cover. No need for me to be involved in something I had no idea what it was all about. I rushed in and stared into a gun. Three men and a woman in blood stained sheets and hoods held guns. The bald headed Blue that served me was lying wounded on the floor and two others were quite dead. One was missing a head and the other had a fist size black hole where his heart was. A fourth Gun store employee had his hands raised.

The masked men were grabbing guns and weapons and putting them in Low grav carry bags. The gun pointing at me was held by a woman. Even the white sheet did not hide her female shape completely and there was red hair sticking out from underneath the white hood.

"Don't be a hero. Stick your hand to the ceiling and you walk out alive." I did and I wondered what the odds were to be the victim of a crime twice within two days, I was very proud of myself not to do what I wanted to do. I kept telling myself. Those were not my guns. The police was are already here and I would be on a space bus out of here, the first chance I got. One of the masked men looked out the window.

"The decoys aren't doing too well. The Tech Stop bombs did their job, but there is more police now and they are shielded. I think they shot down our flier."

The bald headed Blue did not look good. His left arm was a burned stump and he shivered, a clear sign of shock and he looked pleading at me for help. The girl covering me turned to look, that was my chance and I grabbed her wrist with the hand holding the blaster twisting her arm to her back with one move. Turning her around at the same time and in a very painful way. Forcing her like a shield before me. She yelped in pain and I took her gun with the other hand and pressed it in her back. The rest of her gang turned to face me. Aiming their weapons at me.

"Let her go, bastard and we let you get away alive."

"Your mouthpiece will die first. I blast her to bits. I don't know what gun this is but my finger is at the trigger and I am very nervous."

"Hero, you don't know who you are messing with."

"A bunch of crocks dressed like idiots robbing a gun store, right?"

"Last chance Hero. Our cause is more important than her. I shoot right through her if I have to. We are the Gore Defenders and if you even care a little about Gore, you let us do our thing."

"I have no clue who or what that is. Now quit talking and drop your guns."

Just then an amplified voice said. "This is Twilight Police. Union Police is on its way to assist us. The store is surrounded. Surrender and we will guarantee a fair trial."

The speaker of them yelled back. "A fair trial that ends at the gallows. There is no such thing as fairness when it comes to Union oppression. We have hostages and we carry Spore Bombs. We are not afraid to use them. Half the planet will be depopulated before you can stop it. We won't wait till you had a chance to get the PSI Corps here or Union SWAT. Our demands are simple. Bring a Flier to the front door and have a D 12 FTL shuttle ready at the port. We will release the hostages then."

I had aimed the gun between arm and the body of the girl. "Did you forget about me Loudmouth?"

I fired. The gun blast roasted like thunder, the bright discharge lit up the entire store for the fraction of a second and vaporized the gang members head. I fired again, even before the headless torso of the first one collapsed and another Gore Defender would never need a mask again. The remaining goons still hesitated to shoot and I roasted a third one. The woman I was holding however reacted and hammered the back of her head right into my nose. I was blinded by pain.

She screamed. "Shoot him Josh, now."

I dropped to the floor as fast as I could. Something incredibly hot singed the top of my head and then my eye sight cleared enough. I pressed the trigger once again. Aiming a beam was easier than I thought. He had hesitated to fire because his first shot had also hit the woman, her robe was on fire and she tried to get out of it using only one arm. My shot hit the man where his neck met his torso. Police robots and officers burst in almost at the same moment. One of the robots fired at me and everything went dark.

When I regained consciousness, I cursed like a Nubhir skinner. "This is the second time I got paralyzed on this Loki cursed rotting Fangsnapper dung heap of a planet."

I looked around as I sat up. I found myself on some sort of treatment bed in a medical clinic from the looks of it. At least a dozen police men, a news man complete with hover cam and a doctor were present. The doctor said. "Having those kind of burns it was a blessing the robot paralyzed you. I restored your scalp and replaced most of your ear. The hair grower injection will speed up the grow of your hair. You willhave your hair back in two or three weeks. We can implant or print you new hair right now, if you like."

"My hair?"

A man in civilian clothing shouldered himself past the police men. "Your head was on fire. The robot put you in stasis and thus saved your life."

What he said made me less angry and actually quite thankful towards that robot. "What now?"

"While you were in reconstructive surgery and in the Re-Gen tank during the last five days we checked on you, Mr. Olafson. It seems the Hero of Nilfeheim just became the Hero of Twilight. I am William Reynolds, Planet Governor and I am here to thank you."

"For spoiling a Gun store robbery? A thank you card and a free subscription to a gun magazine would have been sufficient, Sir."

"One of the Gore Defenders really had a Spore bomb on his body and he was fanatic enough to use it. We are still investigating how they got the hands on one or who supplied them with military issue Tech Stop spheres."

"I have no idea who the Gore Defenders are and what a spore bomb is, but I got a Bus to catch, Sir. No offense to your moon, but I think I need to be on my way."

"Mr. Olafson as I said we checked on you. You are, according to your planets representative on your way to Arsenal to apply at the Academy but that is not until the end of the year. You are traveling with Space Bus and you still have several months' time. We would really like to thank you. The least we can do is offer you a luxury passage to anywhere you want to go."

One of the police officers, a Spindlar if I was correct had lots of stripes on his uniform sleeves said. "The Gore Defenders are a small but fanatical terror group recruiting their members from Galactic Drifters. Their aim is to remove all colonists and companies from a planet called Gore II. That system and planet is only eighteen light years from here and since the planet is corporate owned and security is very tight, they bring their protests to other planets, unfortunately also to Twilight."

A man with blue skin and coppery hair, in civilian attire but with the badge of the Union police projected as a shimmering golden display above his left chest said. "A spore bomb is of Terran and Saresii development that came out of the war spores used by the Piostla a few centuries ago. These devices release self-replicating genetically engineered spores eating anything organic. They do that very fast and only stops expanding and reproducing when there is no organic material left.

Activating one of these hellish devices would have killed every organic life form on the Twilight strip. Twilight has no First Response team to deal with such an attack, there was not enough time to evacuate or set up containment fields. The Union Fire Department had been alerted, and they can deal with such emergencies but the closest response team was nine days out."

Mr. Reynolds took over and said. "You really did save millions of lives and our economy. Not to mention the live of one of the gun store owners. The Blue was only moments from being beyond all medical intervention."

I grunted. "It was him that made me act. I am glad he survived."

The Planet Governor said. "Why don't you be our guest for two or three days? Give us a chance to show you that this world is much better than a Fangsnapper dung heap. Even then and you still be way too early at Arsenal Gate. I offer you a personal sight-seeing tour."

"Heck why not."

The Governor kept his word and I was treated like the most important guest of state and to be honest, while it was not exactly my cup of tea, it was actually quite cool. He took me on a white water rafting trip, which I enjoyed greatly. The we went Planet side and the beautiful Night Side Town. If things were complicated on Nilfeheim due to our oddball orbit, they were nothing compared to Twilight. What the Locals called the Night side was actually and in astronomical terms the Day site as it was exposed to the star Yutoo, every time it swung around the big gas planet. While the site turned to the planet was in the same sense of astronomical correctness, the Night side as it was never exposed to the light of the system's sun. But since the gas planet was more a failed sun than a Jovian it radiated its own light and thus there was never any real night or darkness on the planet facing side. So locals called it despite all astronomic and scientific arguments, the Day Site.

At first his explanation made my head spin, but as we visited the star facing site, the local sun Yutoo was nothing more than a bright star in the sky and it did little to illuminate the stark and desolate waste land. Night Side Town reminded me of Isen Landsby. It was an ocean of many colored lights and illuminated signs and looked very festive and pretty as we approached it. There the major of the City and a declared friend of the Governor invited me to a restaurant, which was according to him the best sea food and fish restaurant in the entire quadrant. After dinner, I concluded that this was probably not too far from the truth. Of course Uncle Hogun's was the best. They had no Nilfeheim fish on the menu, but something called Salmon and it was delicious.

On the third day we were to visit Day Site Town. According to the Governor, the best way to experience Day Side and to get to that city was by Dust Bouncer. The bouncer was a huge contraption of about fifty meters length. The machine was riding on eight enormous balloon tires. It had several cabins inside with beds and a small staffed kitchen. On its top was a panorama lounge with great view of the glaring desert.

Giga Ball the enormous gaseous planet occupied most of the sky and it was one of the most impressive sight I had seen so far. The Gas giant's atmosphere was a kaleidoscope of swirling colors and two of the other big planet sized moons could clearly be seen as well. We sat in the comfortable panorama lounge while the vehicle was rolling through the desert.

He sipped at his drink and said. "The day side is much more dangerous and unforgiving than the night side. With enough warm clothing and a face mask you can survive outside on the night side for a while, but the day side is bombarded by radiation and heat. Weather has the same patterns all the time and for billions of years. Winds blow in the same direction due to the convection caused by the temperature differences and they do since this moon exists. Grinding and corroding whatever mountains this place once had into a powder fine dust, filling the valleys in between with it. There are oceans of this powdery dust out here. It is so fine that it almost behaves like a liquid, or a Newtonian liquid to be exact, it is so fine you can easily drown in it. Some of these dust lakes are several kilometers deep, that's why these bouncers have these enormous wheels.

"Most of the traffic nowadays is by fliers, floaters and of course by the only very recently completed trans planet mover connection. But Dust Bouncers still make the four day trip from and to Day Side City, mostly just as we do, for leisure and sight-seeing."

"And this dust, it is mined?" I asked.

"Yes it has actually many industrial uses, like bore hole stabilization but is mined and processed mainly because it contains also many metals and useful minerals and already in microscopic kernel size. Easy to separate and already refined to great purity. Twilight Dust mines produce thousands of tons of metal ore and minerals every day."

The steward who had just served the drinks came back up the small stair case walking backwards. I found that odd, but then a woman appeared, half of her face was burned and she held a weapon. "Stay seated, Gentlemen. I managed to escape as you can see and I got two perfect hostages. This bouncer is under our control and while the Governor will help me to get my demands fulfilled. I have other plans for you Mr. Hero."

Interlude 5: Dai

Tar-Kar-Hi stood on the bridge of the Exer-Hi, his mightiest battleship. With a concerned expression on his face he watched the core of his clan, his two lumbering Dai Mothers gaining speed. They were the pinnacle of Dai Than engineering, heavily armed, well shielded and the thickest armor possible. All this came with a prize, Dai Mothers weren't very fast and it took them time to accelerate.

Every fighter was launched to create a protective cocoon around the very heart of his clan. Cam Elf-Na had kept his promise and was in hot pursuit with the combined force of all the loyal clans with him. There was not much that frightened Tar-Kar-Hi, but seeing this enormous force on the long range scanners made him wonder if he did the right thing. Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut and simply gone to the Union without announcing it to everyone, he had hoped more of them would have seen it his way.

That over two thousand tribal chiefs followed him was quite a success but far from the seven thousand, whipped into a frenzy by Cam Elf Na and millennia old concepts of honor and dishonor, encrusted into society and deep-rooted in every Dai Than then everything else.

It was a small miracle that the rest of about nine thousand clans had not followed Cam Elf Na.

It was their way and the words Okthi Dai have been spoken and tossed into his direction, declaring him and his allies Okthi Dai.

The last Overlord of the Dai had vanished for more than 20,000 cycles and along with him the legendary mystical Urinai-Hi-Orh, the living clan mother. Every tribal lord fended for himself ever since, listening in whispered tales of the return of the Urinai and the ships return, elevating one male Dai to become the next Overlord. According to Dai Lore and custom only the Dai Lord could declare a Tribal chief Okthi, let alone this many.