Eric Olafson, Neo Viking Vol. 02

No one seemed to be surprised or take offense in that and the Klack said." I herby draft you, under the Justice and Jury act of 3423, section 12 into service of the Justice Department and herby deputize you to the position of Deputy Executioner. I am sorry to do this to you, human. But it is necessary and I hope you understand."

Again I was in a situation I didn't want to be in and said. "What about my Academy Application?"

"I will personally contact Union Fleet Command right now, please stand by."

The Klack Avatar disappeared

"I guess I have no choice in this, right?"

"Yes you do. You can decline and reject the draft. "The Belarom sounded apologetic. "I know it is sounds unfair, but if you do you also reject your citizenship. As Citizenship comes with rights and privileges but also with duties and responsibilities, as you might remember the words of your teacher as he declared you a citizen."

The X101 actually put his hand on my shoulder." The Justice department will not be ungrateful and the Union really needs this done."

The Chief Justice reappeared and with him an Old man in Union Fleet Uniform. The Old man said. "I am the Admiral of the Fleet Obrock Mc Elligott and since I was at the Assembly Chief Justice V'Thensnhk told me about his problem and yours."

The projection of the highest officer of them all, gave me a glance but seemed to look at something on his end."You aren't even due until October first, applicant., but because you are a registered academy applicant you are technically Navy thus I herby detach you by my direct order to the Justice Department until your task there is done. Should your task extend beyond October, you may enter the Academy entry tests on the next entry date in 4 month. I personally guarantee you will not miss your chance to apply."

The Klack spread his four upper arms. "Then it is settled. Chief Executioner please swear her in and get her outfitted as soon as you can. I will get all the forms filled out and work done."

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INTERLUDE 13: STAHL'S OFFICE

Admiral Richard Stahl sat in his office. The Devastator had returned to Arsenal IV her home port for repairs and re supply. The battle had drained her munitions and caused some damage. While it was considered minor damage, but due to her size and alien origin, it would take a few month to get her repaired, restocked and it was decided to use the opportunity to upgrade some of the systems and do a level one maintenance on her Union tech engines. No one was able to service her original engines of alien origin.

Most of the crew received extended shore leave. Even he was now officially on vacation and had a few months for himself. However he had no real family. Even his most distant relatives were long dead and in all the 3000 years of his long life, he never married or had a family of his own. The fleet, the military and most of all the Devastator was his real home. He was one of the 200 Immortals selected by the Guardian so long ago to guide human kind on its way to become a Galactic civilization.

So instead of taking a vacation, he sat in his rarely used office at the Arsenal IV Headquarters of the First Fleet and went over some reports and paperwork.

Everything important was of course sent to him right away to his real work office aboard the Devi. True to his pre astro origin he still called it paperwork and preferred actual printouts he could hold in his hands.

Every so often he considered to retire. His task seemed done. Terrans were no longer a helpless civilization but had risen to a dominating power in the Galaxy and beyond and quite capable of defending itself and now were firm part of a mighty alliance. The Guardian had told him he would know the day his task was done and he could step aside. He had never had this distinct feeling yet, besides where would he go? He was still immortal and biologically not a day older as the day he had met the Guardian for the first time.

One of these back burner projects of his was to find out what the Guardian eactly was and who sent this machine to meddle with humankind.

He thought this would be the most important question for humankind to answer, yet the question had never been answered and the efforts to answer it have steadily declined. Earth had become United Earth spread over the Sol system and space beyond, became a founding member of the United Stars and fought many wars, faced many daunting problems. While the Sol system was one of the bussiest and well developed solar systems, Earth became quiet and the question of who the Guardian was faded further and further from the collective minds.

After the Peace Hawk debacle, his long odyssey and the war against the Y'All and the last big clash with the Galactic Council, who was just a puppet organization of the Kermac, the question had almost completely been forgotten. Of the 200 Immortals there weren't all that many left. He smirked to himself as he reached for his mug of coffee and muttered to himself and under his breath. "Kind of stupid to call them Immortals." Most of them didn't last for more than a thousand years. Granted some were killed in violent acts, but still the term seemed wrong.

He opened a drawer and retrieved a pack of cigarettes and an old Zippo lighter that was like him now over 3000 years old. Many times refurbished and repaired. He meticulously refilled the antique with lighter fluid, the stuff still produced in small quantities at one of the few small companies still operating on Earth and lit a Camel. His cigarettes came out of a matter molecule printer and were an exact copy of this ancient brand. Being immune to disease and sickness, he experienced no ill effects. Not that he was smoking much anymore.

But in quiet times like this when he was all by himself he did.

His hand opened a multi media report folder, He had contacted a small group of scholars adnd researchers, he called the Guardian detectives to see if they had any more insights as who it was that built and tasked that artificial entity that called itself Guardian of Earth, but never revealed his true motives. Not that there was much left of the actual machine entity. He himself had destroyed the Guardian with a nuclear device, ending that machines reign and ill advised habit of cloning and thus reanimating long dead leaders of human past. Most of them never lived up to their original glory and some like the clones of Genghis Khan, Hitler and Stalin were as bad as their originals.

He never trusted that machine completely. Someone or something put great efforts in building a machine of almost god like powers and had it watch over all of humankinds development, only to take open and active control over Humans destiny once the door to the star was opened. Even tough that very machine made him Immortal, or at least stopped his aging process he needed to know. Human kind and the remaning immortals seemed to have forgotten about the Guardian and, just as Earth has become a quiet thinly populated planet, so had the interest faded.

The team of investigators and scholars had reopened the cave and found some the remnants of the Guardians machine center, it was of course destroyed and melted, but from what was left and from the things the Guardian had done it was clear, it was technology far beyond anything known.

The message of the old lead investigator was the same as the messages of him and the researchers before: No definite theories. They did send the recovered pieces to a leading Xeno Tech institute of the Blue.

He put the report back into the pile and his eyes fell on a special souvenir on his desk, it was a perfectly normal looking gray round river rock sitting on a pile of print outs. Yet it was a genuine piece of the most unusual world he had ever visited, Narth Prime.

Stahl was the only human as far as he knew who had ever set foot on Narth Prime. No one officially knew he had been on Narth Prime or that he had talked to the entity Narth Supreme. The Narth were by far the most advanced civilization, the very definition of civilization no longer really fit their state of development and even Narth Supreme had no answer or knew about the Guardian or its purpose, but then he only understood a fraction of what Narth Supreme told him. So maybe he did explain it and he simply did not understand or the Narth Supreme choose not to answer it.

He took the rock and sighed. When he set foot on Narth Prime, it was as if landing on a planet sized eight ball. It was simply an endless completley featureless plane of a smooth glass like material.

The Nart Supreme changed the environment into a depiction of an Alpine scenery complete with mountains, forrests and a crystal clear mountain stream in the blink of an eye to make him feel more at home. The entity assured him that it was not a projection or a simulation and encouraged him to take one of the rocks along as a souvenir.

Whenever he had time like this he liked to follow up on the academy and read the files of applicants.

It was a pet project of his scanning more or less randomly over a few of these every so often. He himself could not really define in words what he was looking for, but every so often one or two applications somehow was different than all te others. Well one criteria of his was that all the ones he picked were oddballs of sort. He then kept an eye on these applicants, and followed their careers made adjustments or created situations and hidden tests to further evaluate them. Nine out of then was just that, an oddball and not much else, but there was always one that emerged like a gold nugget in a washing pan, an exceptional officer and they all became legends on their own.

He had found Harris that way, who was now the current captain of the Devastator. Without doubt the best ever. Or that Purple Throar Shiss, Captain Zezz a finer tactician and outstanding officer did not exist in his opinion. This personal idea and passion about special individuals, he thought held the potential for becoming great Ship Commanders. His way of selecting them was more intuitive and not scientific or developed from countless years of Academy experience. He selected them more or less randomly and by gutt feeling alone. His staff already knew more or less what he was looking for and pre selected a few hundred files from the many millions of applicants each time a new academy year started. A file of Eric Olafson was already marked by him and put aside on a small stack of those he had selected so far.

He was just reading about an autistic savant from Africa when his GalCom unit flashed. Only a few individuals knew his personal contact code. It came over the civilian GalNet connection and was not fleet related. He noticed the logo of Schwartz industries. Rex Schwartz was like him, an immortal and while Rex never openly worked for the Union and used his Corporation in some questionable ways, Richard was certain he too had a task given by the Guardian working for the benefit of the Human species. While he not agreed with most of the things Rex did, after all those millennia they knew each other well. Richard didn't like anyone or anything with uncontrolled power. He felt that the Immortals must adhere to even higher standards than normal humans, and be accountable and responsible for all they did. Rex never felt hindered by ethical or moral reasons to do something. Richard pressed the response key never the less; Rex would not call if he did not have a reason.

"You sure cleaned house, Old friend.The whole Galaxy is abuzz with your latest space battle feats."

"Your security service and corporate snoops knew about it long before it happened. I think they code named it Red Flood."

"I do have a few sources here and there and it clearly shows you do as well, knowing the Code name of a level 3 classified document of my organization."

"I like to keep tabs on you. Even after all those years we know each other. I do not trust you. Schwartz Industries is so intertwined with the Union it would be possible for you to decide to become Emperor and change the Union into the Schwartz empire."

"You know I have no political ambitions and like you I am doing what I do to keep the wolfs away from the door. Not all problems can be solved with Translocator cannons."

"I am aware of that, Old friend, this of course has not stopped you to create a battle force second only to the Navy and arming your ships with weapons illegal for civilian entities."

"Schwartz industries manufacture and develop much of the weapons and ships your fleet uses and those units are just test and experimental samples of our development division. Perfectly legal by the way."

"This is a private call Rex, it is on highest encryption on a Network you own and control so don't treat me as stupid. You and I know the truth." Richard leaned forward." Now I am sure you had a reason for calling."

"Yes I do. I adopted a Sojonit Sister. She is barley seventeen years old but is very intelligent and she wants to join the Union Academy and become a science officer."

"A Sojonit you say?"

"I don't care what you are thinking now, Richard. I am still married to Linda and nothing will change that. She has an IQ of 410 and that should even make you pause old Battle Axe."

Richard did whistle." There are maybe 20-30 individuals in the entire Galaxy with an IQ like that, including you, Mothermachine and the Saresii High Academics."

"And excluding the Narth, but who knows if you can classify them as individuals."

Stahl leaned back to reach his old fashioned refrigerator and get himself a bottle of beer. "I would invite you but Holo avatars simply can't enjoy a good beer."

"You know I don't drink alcohol. You offer me beer now for almost as long as we know each other."

"Just trying to convince an old friend about something he's missing out." The Admiral opened the bottle and said. "I can see why you call. She is still a Sojonit right?"

"Yes, she wears what they call the veil of abstinence and she is not a fully trained Sojonit, our mutual friend on Sin 4 has raised her. It is all she knows and frankly I think it is the best disguise she could have, being my daughter can be dangerous and so she stays anonymous."

"Yes I remember what happened to your lovely Clara, but I won't open old wounds. Anyone with an IQ like that will be accepted with open arms and I will make sure she can keep wearing wig and mask even through the Academy. I won't guarantee her safety in terms of assignments and I expect our future officers to face dangers and if necessary lay down their lives, but I guarantee you her integrity and anonymity."

"That's all I ask for."

"I will call Webb myself right after this. It looks like I have a spot for her in her third year. There is a group of applicants I put together that missed a Science Cadet."

"I trust you in that completely."

"So how about Project Fish?"

"We just finished the hull. The first ship with nano compacted Neutronium wave hull and frame. It took us eighty years just to get the manufacturing process right, and it is the most time and work intensive material we ever conceived and perhaps even better than the armor the Celtest used to make for your monster ship."

"When do you think she's ready?"

"I would say four years."

"I really look forward to see that fish swim."

"Mothermachine said she now has the concept she thinks she will use for its computronic, it's the first time SII working with Mothermachine on building a ships brain you know."

The two old men started to talk about the Dai and the amazing development of over two thousand tribes becoming Union members.

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Chapter 13: Preparing Death

I received a dark red dress and hood, just like Dawn, someone had handed me a little golden pin with the Justice Logo and the sword. Then I was sworn in as member of the Justice Department, Corrections and Punishment Division, Deputy Executioner. That was one title and career I certainly had not dreamt about. After a two hour session under a Cerebral Up loader, cramming my head with laws and regulations, the Union Judge updated my CIT and said. "Don't look at me like that. Even as a Klack I can see your frown. I promise you it's going to be over soon and you will have done the Union a great service."

The ever present Union Police officer handed me a holster with a blaster." As member of the Corrections and Punishment Division you are authorized to carry up to Level VII weapons at all times. I suggest you do not advertise much what you are."

Dawn came in the room and said." I am terribly sorry for all this. I really haven't planned it to turn out that way."

"I know I can blame no one but myself. Somehow I have a great talent for ending up in such situations I don't really want."

She sighed and said. "Put on your hood. We are going to check the gallows and see the prisoners now." She handed me an official PDD in Clip board mode and said. "This part is easy. You don't have to do much. Just check off the points on the list and record everything I say and do."

She too now carried a belt with a holster.

This time we went out the front door and the crows went silent as they saw us, but then someone yelled. "Make 'em twitch a few minutes. Those bastards sold my sister to the Togar."

After we sat in the Police flier I asked." Do you know why hanging is used?"

She nodded. "It is one of the ten execution methods approved by the Union. Hanging is a truly ancient method of execution for pirates and is also used by the Navy to execute mutineers and traitors."

She added. "Union member societies usually have their own methods and most are accepted by the Justice Department. In some cases the delinquent may choose the way. It really depends on the culture, the crime and the species of the delinquent. You could hang a Klack all day long without ill effect. There was one X101 execution and they simply turned him off. Hanging can be very rough and I hope it will all go quickly."

The Gallows were a metal scaffold put up in a picturesque park. Like the rest of the city it was deep below the ice buried into the rocky core of the planet. Most of Corri-City was a network of tunnels Housing and businesses build into the tunnel walls, normally about seven hundred thousand beings lived and worked here, but the recent events and the news of the executions had swelled it to over a million, so the Police Chief told me.

The town center was built in an artificial cave of about one kilometer in diameter. Here the houses and buildings not hugging the cave walls looked very much like regular buildings with windows, doors, advertisement signs and roofs. There were ten streets coming from the tunnel arms leading to the center of the city with real Terran oaks and grass. A little fusion Sun was suspended underneath the cave ceiling.

The drab gray scaffold seemed out of place in the green park. On top of the scaffold, mounted between two upright columns, a cross beam with twenty nooses. The gallows were cordoned off by police and barriers. Robots and workers put up rows and rows of chairs on the other side of the barrier. Twenty elongated boxes were just unloaded from a cargo flyer and placed underneath the scaffold. More than the nooses it brought home to me what would happen here tomorrow.

Beyond the park and the chairs, I noticed vendors putting up tables and sales booths.

I pointed them out and Dawn said. "It is inevitable. Even though the law prohibits making executions into an entertainment circus. We cannot prohibit vendors form putting up sales stands on private property and while this aspect galls me greatly, they will do brisk business tomorrow. There will be plenty of news media, huge cheering crowds and always a few protesters, not that I think we will see any tomorrow. This is basically a military installation, even though Corri-Door is a civilian colony"