Eric Olafson, Neo Viking Vol. 02

I kept low and rushed over to Deadan who still wasn't moving. I didn't see any obvious reason why he would not move but he felt stiff and cold. I hoped against my sad conclusion of his condition that he was still alive, and just knocked out.

The empty pallet had reached the end of the conveyor line and a robotic fork lift took it and placed it into a shelf, next to a pallet that had something on it that moved! Trying to stay as much behind cover I rushed to the shelf and found the human cadet, Ninio and Potsema, tightly wrapped in plastic, Ninio still moved! It took me no time to cut the plastic open. Ninio did nothing but breathe like I never seen anyone or anything take in air. Potsema was up and out next to me seeming little affected. She simply squiggled me all over."Eric! You saved us!"

"Potsema not now! Take care of Ninio!"

I checked on the human cadet. He was dead, no question. I could not feel any pulse and even after several minutes of intensive CPR I got no sign of life!

A heavy hand dropped on my shoulder."Let him go, Cadet! He is gone!'

I turned ready to fight but it was not necessary. A Union Marine and one of our Instructors were there.

INTERLUDE :26 SIUCRA

Olnatar heard his space feeler operator tell him they located the small fleet of little boats that had escaped from the doomed Plato ship. They didn't get too far! Near or completley of fuel or with burned out FTL drives stranded in the middle of deep space. It would hardly take one ship, to destroy them. but he came that far with a thousand ships. The disgusting life forms must had their colony somewhere out here. They were moving towards the more star populated space of this sector of the galaxy.

"Grand Initiator. We are receiving a long distance speech request."

"As much as it disgusts me to see and talk to these creatures, I will give them a chance to explain where their home world is."

A different being this one apparently with insectoid features appeared on the Visualizer. "I am N'Vaant, First of the Guard of the N' Toothal. I have come by the command of Queen N'thannskknta the 674th most sovereign and sole ruler of the Klack Hegemony. I am hailing you up unknown aggressors! Let it be known to you. That the queen in her great wisdom has declared this space to be Klack and therefore Union space, you are to turn around and return to wherever your came from. We are Klack and we shall not fail in protecting our brothers and friends."

"Empty threats from a being that is no more than vermin, you will be exterminated. You may report to your queen that we will exterminate anyone harboring slaves or dares to approach sacred space! Go run and tell that queen of parasites to beg for mercy so we will be amused."

"We will be soon in range of your limited scanners. You cannot insult us as we know who we are. I have delivered my official message and now let me give you a personal piece of advice. "You destroyed a Union ship and you killed Terrans, that makes them very angry. There is a fleet of Union ships on its way and you may seek doom fighting us, or turn tail and flee, it is you who should beg for forgiveness and offer pertinence. It is not just those few ships of yours, but your race that is in deadly peril. This was a friendly warning. Make your decisions either way. The time for talk ends now."

Olnatar was furious that this insect cut off communications before he could spew a few more insults, but the Insect would soon enough hail again to beg."

The first forward units of the Siucra fleet was almost in firing range, but then their space feelers detected something that could not be. A moon size object, almost overloaded the feeler circuits had just dropped into scanner range and standard space. It was not a moon! It was artificial. A sphere of 4200 nuthum diameter. Not much smaller than the home world moon of the Siucra, and it moved!

Survivors of the Ivanhoe

"Good Lord!" Someone whispered in the crowded Scallop. "What is this?"

Nn'tik said proudly."Behold the last of the Battle Moons of the Klack Hegemony, once we had 50 of these, but that was almost 12,000 years ago. We lost many in the first Y'All war and more during Red Night, the darkest years of Klack history. Klack lost the knowledge and the ability to build new ones. One is in permanent orbit and no longer able to fly, but this one, is currently refurbished and restored in a secret project by Union Fleet engineers. It has not been comleted, and will take many years to finish if my information is correct."

Marcus snapped."We will honor the Klack and this awesome ship later, Nn'tik. Hail them so we can get inside. Communication to all Auxiliary craft of the Ivanhoe, approach that Behemoth and see if they let us in!"

"Already receiving hangar guide beams Sir! That hangar just opening would have room for the Devi!"

"I think I am going to kiss you, Nn'tik!" Marcus said and then added. "And I promise I be on Klackt next time the Queen celebrates her birthday to honor her!"

SIUCRA

It took the Siucra a few moments to digest what they saw, but one of them released a bolt of Holy Fire and the bolt penetrated the shields of the huge ship and burned a compareable small but visible hole into the huge ships armor!"

Olnatar screamed in delight."Big it is, yes. But no match for Holy Fire! It will just make a bigger explosion when it goes! All Ships close in and fire!"

N'Vaant was well aware of the limitations of his huge ship. The N' Toothal was very old and her Armor had was only replaced by thirty percent with Union Ultronit. The rest was simple steel. The shields were original Klack,, and since the ship was considered a private ship, not a Fleet unit. It had not received modern military grade weapons. He simply hoped he could buy enough time for the crew of the Ivanhoe, until the 9th fleet arrived. The good thing was that the N'toothal had only 100 Klack crew and the simple Steel armor was almost 100 meters thick. He had received the Intel reports of the Fleet and the analysts on Arsenal III were certain the cannons used by these aggressive aliens were of a much higher Techlevel than the rest of the agressors techncial capabilities. His Computronic calculated that the 1000 alien ships would have to fire three times each to cripple the ship. And since they had to recharge after each shot, he thought he had a good chance to collect the stranded crew and go to Trans light." He silently listened to the damage reports of his officers from each shot from the alien fleet. So far nothing vital had been hit." Hail the Ivanhoe crew and tell them to hurry up!"

Olnatar could not stop laughing. The weapon fire of the huge ship was sporadic and so far had only destroyed one of his ships, a ship that went to close. It was obvious that this giant had no weapon that could reach as far as the Holy fire could. He told his fleet to take no risk. And concentrate fire on one side of the ship only."If that was meant to impress us they failed. They build big but that iron ball is slow and primitive!"

"Grand initiator, there are new contacts on the Feeler horizon. This time tiny little things, but very fast!"

"First an Iron ball that is slow and now gnats, what will they send next to amuse us?"

WOLFCRAFT FIGHTERS 9th FLEET

"This is Bobcat, Attack wing Alpha calling the USS Balmung. We arrived at engagement area. The Klack monster is in trouble but they just managed to take the last Aux craft of the Ivanhoe aboard. Do we have attack permission?"

"This is Admiral Strother. All Wolfcraft, engage to destroy. I repeat engage and destroy. No mercy no quarter! The Long range sniper bun boats are in range in T-13."

Bobcat switched to Wing channel."All wings you heard Wild Bill, the first kill gets a case of Devi beer!"

SIUCRA

Olnatar was not concerned even though these tiny ships that now approached were faster than anything they had ever seen. What race would put resources in such a big ship and then build so small ones? What could these little one possibly do against a Siucra Battleship?"

The first Siucra battle ship exploded right next to his flag ship, it suddenly expanded like an inflatable toy and then disappeared in a sun bright explosion.

Grand Initiator, our targeting calcmatics find it difficult to predict the course of these little ships! We cannot bring the Holy fire Casters fast enough into the right direction!"

Another Siucra ship exploded then five right after that. There was no detectable weapon fire from these little ships, yet he got reports that antimatter explosions suddenly occurred inside the ships engine rooms!

There! Two Siucra battle ships managed to fire and hit one of the little ships, the withering energies simply made a purple energy bubble visible for a short millisecond then the small fighter ship was gone and two more of his fleet's ships exploded!

Now on the furthest magnification horizon of their Visualizer 100 wedge shape ships appeared, shaped exactly like the first ship they encountered and destroyed but by magnitudes bigger!

9th FLEET

"Giga loads authorized! Giga loads authorized!" Came the speaker message. The main battery crews of the USS Balmung grabbed their anti static rags and the gleaming red aluminum casings came up the bomb elevator. Sergeant Nick Stone grinned at his Bootnar partner." It's big boy time!"

The Botnaar wiped like a whirlwind and growled back. "They picked the wrong Admiral to mess with; Our Wild Bill loves his Giga loads!"

Nick wrote: Greetings from the USS Ivanhoe with a grease pen on the case as it slid into the dematerialization breech. The next red casing came up the elevator.

Commander Marcus had reached the Command center of the N' Toothal and stood next to the Klack. They and the rest of the bridge crew saw the USS Balmung slowly drift to fire lee as all her main batteries, all 20 giga load cannons simultaneous displaced. Twenty small suns bloomed between the Alien fleet and each energy bloom marked the former location of a Sicura ship... "That is for you Captain Saxa!" He said with a constricted throat while the crew behind them cheered.

SIURCRA

There was fear in the voice of his Distant Speaker Operator." Great Initiator, we lost three hundred ships already! And there are more of these slave ships coming! We must retreat! The Holy Fire does not penetrate whatever protection bubbles they have."

"Tell the other ships to fight to the end, while we return to Holy Space and get more ships!" He said that knowing deep inside, that all ships of the Siucra would make no difference. The insectoids was correct after all. Who or whatever these Unions were, he wished now he did not anger them. But all they had to do is pray and chant to call their masters, the Kermac would surley hear their plea. "Let us chant for Kermac help!"

Olnatar paid for all his sins in this universe as a five kiloton Anti matter bomb at the point of detonation materialized right under his hanging bar.

Ninth Fleet

Admiral "Wild" Bill Strother, COWACOM (Coreward Fleet Command) had personally taken command of the 9th Fleet and made the USS Balmung, BBG-31 his flag ship. He didn't like to sit even though regulations required everyone on the bridge to be secured in a Battle station chair during General Quarters. There were a few perks that came with his three stars and not to take every regulation as strict as a Cadet was one of them. Besides if there was something that could throw him off his feet standing in the best protected area of a super dreadnought Arsenal class ship, he would not be much safer in a battle seat. He had his hands rested on the railing surrounding the so called Command balcony. Behind him was Captain Bernhard Sassoon, completely disappeared inside his Battle viewer. It was those moments he wished he was a captain again. Yes he earned his rank and for the most part liked the fact that he was done with work every day at 1600 hours and could go home into a nice little house by the river, but in times like this he itched to be back in the thick, back in a command chair. It was there where he earned his nick name, no one dared to say in his face, but everyone said it with loving respect behind his back, Wild Bill.

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Chapter 25: On the Bridge

"Your arm is as good as new and those nasty burns on your back are all patched up in a few more minutes." The CMO of the Shetland was obviously pleased. The Old Admiral, the Captain of the Shetland and three Yokuta elders stood there waiting till the doctor was done. I didn't like them watching me getting medical aide but seeing the clouded face of the Admiral. I was certain this was the least of my worries. To me most Yokuta looked alike but I was certain, this was the Speaker of the Elders.

He seemed impatient and said. "I am sorry human cadet, for being here while you receive medical attention, I was simply curious about the marvels of your advanced medicine and I wanted to talk to you as soon as possible."

The doctor checked my back. "Sorry gents, but the liquid metal burned deep holes in the young man's back, and that takes a little more than just patching skin, there are nerve endings and a tendon to be fixed, so that will take a little longer. His ear is also still mending."

Two of the Yokuta were fascinated by extreme close ups of my wounds and tiny robots weaving tissue. The third one spread his ears." I analyzed the recordings of the earlier procedures and I know it was you who saved my life and that this was no exercise, as so elegantly suggested. While I understand the reason why the psionic suggestion was made, it robbed me of the chance to thank you. Even though I am old I do like to live and prefer not to be shot in the back. You prevented that and I owe you my life!"

He glared at the Admiral. "Now I learn that Kermac agents tried to establish a secret base on our world before it becomes Union, so they would have a backdoor into Union communications. Three cadets on the search for Yokuta music stumbled upon their operation by chance. The Kermac afraid their cover will be blown, neutralized the Cadets full knowing that three missing Cadets will cause a detailed search. To cut their losses. They wanted to detonate three Psi spore bombs. Making the entire world including the present Union crews susceptible for their psionic controls. One cadet single handedly cleared the situation and instead of celebrating him as a hero I am told this cadet are facing an investigative hearing. All this is will be addressed when we stand before your Assembly!"

Admiral Mc Elligott slowly shook his head. "High Debraman and Chairman of the Yokuta. You are correct we overstepped our boundaries when we Psi suggested you and I apologize for that. Yes the Cadet has saved your life and yes the Cadet who tried to kill you is a bigot and should not have been brought here." They talked about me, with me present as if I was not there, but I kept quiet for now. The oldest officer of the Fleet continued. "Chairman, the main problem was the time frame for this meeting. You wanted a selection of young beings talk during your freedom celebrations. It was my decision to select a bunch of first week cadets, without any track record and barley any military education, but Cadets and therefore military personnel they are!" Now he did look at me, but talked to the Chairman. "We must act upon our laws and procedures and the young cadet will have an Investigatory hearing. This is our way and our laws. Two Cadets are dead and we owe it to the parents and the families of these Cadets that we have done all things to determine why and how they died and what could have been done to prevent it."

"Then I demand that these hearings be held here right now before we leave to Pluribus! I have seen the security camera recordings and the report of your Marines. This Cadet has saved this world, many lives and I might add yours too! The fact that he destroyed half the cities mail was more than a fair trade off! We won't hold that against him."

Mc Elligott faced the CMO." How long till we can move these procedures to a more suitable venue?"

"Sir, with all due respect, I am already violating patient rights by making his treatment a public spectacle. If we talk regulations here not even you, Sir can tell me what to do when it comes to patient treatment." Then he said. "He is well enough to leave now, but I like to see him for a check-up and remove the Nanites."

The wish of the Chairman was granted. The hearing was held right away. It was a three Officers panel. I wondered how many first week cadets ever had a Flag mast hearing with the Old man of the Navy in the first week. This wasn't the start I thought I would have in my chosen profession. Even if I survived that hearing it would certainly end up in my records. Not a very good thing for someone who wanted to become a Star ship captain.

Captain McKenzie, the Admiral and a Klack Commander made up the hearing panel. Once again I stood in epicenter of events and didn't like it one bit.

It was clear from the face of the female captain, that she didn't like to be here and that she didn't like me. I had no idea what the Klack was thinking or feeling. Someone once told me that it would take years to understand the subtle ways the Klack used their feelers to express their emotions.

A field screen showed an obviously edited version of what had occurred and it was the Klack who gave the narration." What we see here are the events that took place earlier today at and below the Yokuta Nool Nort Space Port and the Nool Nort Main Courier and Mail service warehouse and distribution facilities. The Cadets were ordered to wait at the space port lobby for a Union ship to take them back to the Academy. There was a waiting time of approximately six hours. Three of them, Cadets Ninio Diobane, Potsema Pe and Rodney Barack asked for permission to explore the space port with the plan to shop for Yokuta music. They were told to be back within the hour.

The three cadets did not find any open shops but miss interpreted a sign for shop and train station, but it read mail receiving station and Conveyor belt intake, which are similar words in the native language. They stumbled upon a Kermac Spy operation, and were captured by them.

The Kermac becoming aware of the possibility that Archilerb is going to be a Union world, planned to establish a secret intelligence post right there with access to mail and the space port. They planned to be established before this world would develop and Union security would make it more difficult to establish a major espionage base inside Union territory. They also realized there would be a major search for the missing cadets and opted to go to plan B and detonate three PSI spore bombs. These spores originated from the Piostla but have been developed and upgraded by the Kermac ever since. The basic effect of these spores is that they turn even shielded and those otherwise immune to telepathic suggestions into willing slaves. The spores are very hard to detect, especially once they are inside a body. In other words. If the Kermac succeeded in their scheme, you the Yokuta and even we now be willing slaves and carry psi spore infected individuals at their command to other Union planets."

The screen focused on the three metal cylinders and Union specialists with containment fields and special suits securing them. He continued: "Now after the hour had passed, Cadet Deadan concerned about his friend Ninio went to search for them. He did not ask for permission to leave, found the same sign, interpreted it wrongly the same way and stepped into a trap. The Kermac needed time to set up their bombs, Deadan resisted the packing machine and was killed by the Kermac, by overloading his cerebral cortex with a kill pain command, a very nasty and evil way to go.