Memoirs of Kitty Siam Ch. 46

After several minutes the portal was opened and a two-way voice communication was established. Sheba's voice was of such good quality that I was not concerned about Megyn figuring out that Sheba was not a living being. Sheba was light years ahead of anything that the PGC had and even after all the years since the first PC was invented on Earth, they still had not mastered artificial voice technology for their AI units like the Annunaki had.

I knew that there were jump capable ships on Galora and on Mars, so the first question that I asked was about the possibility of us using the portal here or on Angkor to port to either of those two sites. Sheba worked on the question for a few minutes then confirmed that Mars and Galora portal systems had been reprogrammed to permit only authorized travel to either of those locations. Next I asked if communication would be possible to the personnel stationed at either site. Sheba replied that both sites had been automated and that there were no humans operating either site to contact.

The PTB was short of personnel and they chose to automate the portals that they were putting back online. Another problem was that they were installing their own automation software, which was interfering with the original Annunaki programming. This software was keeping the older sites like those on Angkor and Anora Prime from accessing the sites that were now controlled by the PTB and KC. Unfortunately there was no way that I could tell the PTB that their programming was preventing us from warning the Central Command about the enemy armada that was heading their way.

Even though the Colonel was listening in I brought up the subject of the Koloth with Sheba. She estimated that perhaps in two or three days the fabrication requested would be complete. Since I was unfamiliar with the Dushambi star system I requested that Sheba plot a course for the Koloth from the shipyard on Dushambi Six to Epsilon Eridani. I could see Megyn cringe when I verbally mentioned the location of the PGC's Central Command, but she was relieved when Sheba responded that the system mentioned was not listed. I shook my head and laughed as I mumbled "of course not", then I keyed in the proper coordinates used by the Annunaki and sent a text message to Sheba.

While Sheba was working on the calculations I apologized to Megyn for mentioning her Central Command's location, then I assured her that no living being would be able to receive the information that I had sent, or be able to listen in on my conversation with Sheba. While Megyn and I were discussing our options Sheba interrupted and informed us that it would take four days from Dushambi Six to Epsilon Eridani. Since the data from the Siegfried estimated that the armada would reach Central Command in about two weeks, we should be able to get there well ahead of them.

I thanked Sheba then told Megyn that I needed a volunteer from her crew to accompany me that could get us cleared past the Central Command's defense grid. I was not expecting her to volunteer herself. She gave me a confused look when I told her that we would be leaving at dawn and that she would need a flight suit and a suitable helmet for jaunt in an attack style craft. I also mentioned that she should pack a small over night bag since we would have to make a few stops along the way. She tried to press me for details of how the two of us were going to get off the planet, but this time it was my turn to leave her with a little mystery to ponder.

Megyn elected not to spend the night in my hut since she had a lot of last minute instructions to give to her crew. She felt bad about leaving them in a situation like this but the mission was urgent and she knew in the back of her mind that her ship and crew would be in good hands with Lt Colonel Takako Chigusa filling in while she was gone. I had some preparations to make myself, and the first thing on the list was to inform Neko as to what was happening and what my plans were. Both Neko and I agreed that the nature of my mission should be kept secret from the villagers and the military... especially that idiot Danvers.

I briefed the village elders, monks and Alphas that I would be gone for a while and that Colonel Connors would be going with me. They all wished me well on my journey, though I did not tell them that my journey would be off planet. They were used to me coming and going and being away for a few days at a time as I went on a walk-about or worked on the many non-functioning systems under the temple.

When morning arrived Colonel Connors met me at the temple as requested all dressed in her perfectly form fitting Marine flight suit with helmet and kit bag in hand. We made our way below the temple and to the portal room. I identified myself using the DNA reader then asked the Colonel to press her palm to the pad. When her hand was scanned she recoiled slightly from the tingling sensation she felt. When the security system responded, "Identity unknown, please identify." I responded verbally and identified her as "Megyn Connors, Colonel, Earth Force Marine Corps" then requested that she receive a security clearance equal to her rank as a visiting allied officer.

Once the formalities were taken care of and the Colonel was granted access to the portal network the heavy stone portal doors slid open as I entered the coordinates that Sheba had provided as our destination. Dushambi Six, was confirmed by automated voice, at the same time as the vortex beyond the portal door was building. As the gray, blue, and black colors swirled together and formed the connection between Anora Prime and Dushambi Six I took Megyn's hand and led her into the swirling darkness.

Seconds later we emerged from the portal on Dushambi. I landed on my feet, but the Colonel landed in a heap on the floor next to me. Her first reaction was to toss up the breakfast that she had eaten before she joined me at the temple. I laughed to myself think that I should have warned her about that. There is nothing wrong with eating before traveling by portal, but it is not such a good idea on your first couple of trips. After that your body gets used to it as mine had from the few trips that I had made in the past.

I helped the muscular Colonel to her feet and from the look on her face she was more embarrassed about barfing in front of me than she was worried about her queasy stomach. As I told her about my first trip though the portal as one of the biological waste disposal bots rushed forward and began to clean up the mess on the floor. While the Colonel composed herself I made my way to the console and pulled up a diagram of the facility. I expected to see that this was a facility similar to those that I had found on Mars, Galora, and Anora Prime but this one was not built under ground, this one was built into massive asteroid in orbit around a green glowing gas giant on the outer most edge of the Dushambi system. There was no indication that this facility had been attacked like the others that I had visited. Perhaps the Annunaki realized that it was better to hide this facility in a hostile environment where the Zeta would not think to look.

I pulled up the external view on another monitor and as I scanned the surrounding space I could see that this asteroid was surrounded by several more that were much larger than this one, which was quite amazing as the one that this shipyard was built in was over ten miles in length and width. Now that I knew where we were and what we were in I brought up an internal diagram of the station and asked the system to display the route to the shipyard's launch bay. The route was quickly displayed in green. The Colonel had many questions about how we got here and what this place was and I did my best to explain without going into great detail.

We entered the shipyard and found many vessels that were in various stages of construction. Some were new, and some were old and were being refurbished. Well, when I say that they were new, I meant that they were new about 20,000 years ago when the Annunaki abandoned this place. We walked past carriers, battleships, destroyers; troop transports, freighters, interceptors and such that were in various stages of construction until we came to our custom built Koloth.

Megyn was awe struck over the collection of ships here and remarked as to what these ships could do to help the PGC and the Earth Alliance in their fight against the Zetas. I cautioned her that the ancient Annunaki who designed and built this shipyard had hundreds of these ships that were fully operational and that the Zetas are still here and the Annunaki are gone. I expressed my opinion that it would take more than a few high tech warships to defeat the Zetas at there current strength. Sadly she agreed with me once she realized that I was right. She confided in me that so far the PGC and the Earth Alliance had lost every engagement with the Zetas so far, and that the only time she had seen one of their larger ships destroyed was when I had come to the aid of the SS Konrad Siegfried with the Tenshi.

When the Koloth was in sight I contacted Sheba by wireless through Dushambi's communication system and just like I did at Angkor's temple with the Tenshi, I asked her to display the diagram for the Koloth so that Megyn and I could learn it's systems. I was able to question Sheba directly about the ship but Megyn could not because she lacked the wireless connection that was installed at the base of my skull. Sheba connected with the systems installed on the Koloth and made configuration changes to allow her to converse by voice with the Colonel. Megyn did not understand the ancient version of Annu that Sheba and I were used to using so for her benefit Sheba switched to a version of English that Megyn would understand. After that was done Sheba suggested that the Colonel be fitted with a wireless system similar to mine and that her internal UT be upgraded as well since the controls of the Koloth were set display data in ancient Annu.

Sheba accessed the full body scan that I had made of Megyn on Angkor and suggested that the wireless system could be installed in the medical facility of this station if we so desired. Megyn was over whelmed by the complexity of the Koloth and the sensors and weapons that she would be required to learn before we launched for Epsilon Eridani. I interrupted her studies and explained Sheba's suggestion to her about the wireless implant and the UT upgrade. She was hesitant at first but later agreed to the procedure when I explained to her that Neko and I had the same technology installed in us. I think the thing that sold her on the idea was when I demonstrated the advanced wardrobe device that looked as if it were nothing more than a tribal style tattoo around my right wrist. What Earth woman would not want something like that?

We made our way to the medical section, which was a lot more modern than the simple system that I had used on Megyn on Anora Prime. I had her disrobe and take a prone position on the procedure table. This was more advanced than I was able to do so I turned control of the medical system over to Sheba. Within seconds the Colonel was asleep and the scanning beam was moving over her body. A stasis field was activated to keep her from moving, as the procedure required attaching the requested systems to her brainstem. It took six hours for the process to complete, and while the devices were being installed, the healing beams took care of the list of non-critical "green" items from the scan that I had done on Megyn on Anora.

Once the procedure was complete Sheba suggested that Megyn rest for eight hours or so while the healing system made sure that the implants were not rejected and give the Colonel's body time to adjust to what had been done. I agreed though I knew that this would put us behind schedule and would delay our departure time. Actually that was not a bad thing since it gave me time to get more familiar with the Koloth and its systems.

As I studied the Koloth I learned that it was similar in configuration to the Tenshi except that it was much larger and had a second seat behind the pilot, which is where Megyn's sensors and such would be located. I guess the closest thing in size that I could compare the Koloth to would be one of the old two seat World War III supersonic stealth bombers. The weapons that were installed where the same as the Tenshi as well but Sheba had the shipyard make the modifications that I had requested. There were also three bays in the fuselage, two of which were designed to hold weapons that had not been installed yet, and the third was for storage for a few small items like the crew's duffle bags and such.

I quizzed Sheba about the two empty weapons bays and was excited to learn that the weapons would be installed when we made our first rest top. Our flight plan called for a stop on a station called Qualor. Sheba explained that Qualor was a sister facility to this one that the Annunaki used for weapons research and testing and that she had found several prototype systems that would work well with the design of the Koloth. Qualor had drydock capability, but did not have the new build capacity that Dushambi had.

As we discussed the weapons she brought up diagrams of what was available and suggested that with these weapons installed that it would be possible for the Koloth to take on a destroyer or perhaps a light cruiser and prevail. Of course I was excited to have these weapons installed and was anxious to actually put my fingerprints on them.

While Megyn slept I went over both her systems and mine and learned as much about them as I could until I could no longer keep my eyes open, at that point I made my way to the medical bay and curled up in a distant corner in feline form for a well needed catnap. When I heard Megyn stirring from her induced sleep I quickly changed back to human form and went to see how she had faired after her upgrade surgery. She seemed to have come through everything in good order except that she was a bit sore and disoriented for a while. Sheba conducted a full scan on her and found no issues from the surgery that would not pass in a day or two, and since we were not anticipating any confrontations enroot to Epsilon Eridani, we both decided that it was time to depart Dushambi.

We had a bite to eat before we made our way to the Koloth since it would be a while before we had a chance to eat anything other than the snacks we would take with us. I did my usual walk around inspection of the ship before climbing aboard. Megyn accompanied me and as I touched my fingers to the living skin of the Koloth, Megyn did the same and marveled at the texture and the change in colors as the tips of our fingers caressed the outer hull. Once we got strapped into our seats I ran through the prefight check, and one of those checks was to contact Sheba and Megyn by wireless to make sure that we could communicate and that Megyn's implant was functioning properly. At first she was startled when she found that we could communicate by thought through our connection, but shortly she understood the utility of instant communication between her and me and the ship which was a much better design than anything she had experienced in her military service with Earth so far.

With the checklists out of the way we were clear to launch. Since we were launching in space there would be no annoying vibration as we broke the sound barrier like when I launched for the first time in the Tenshi. Sheba had assured me that one of the design changes made to the Koloth was a variable geometry wing structure that would eliminate and such turbulence as we made our way through an atmosphere, or transitioned from sub light to FTL speeds.

Now that Megyn had the upgrade to her UT she was able to fully converse in ancient Annu and was making herself at home in the back seat with her sensors and targeting systems. Once the FTL drive was engaged and we were well on our way we took some time to get to know each other better. We did not expect to enter into combat along the way but we needed to discuss tactics and such in case we found ourselves in a situation that we had to fight our way out of. I was pretty familiar with Earth battle tactics, but I had picked up a few things along the way since I left Udon and the academy.

After a sixteen-hour flight we arrived at the asteroid belt where the Qualor Station was located. There was no star near by and as Megyn relayed what her scanners told her about the debris field I dropped us out of FTL well in advance of our entering belt. It took us another two hours at sub light to make our way to Qualor Station. As I dodged large chunks of rock Megyn started cracking jokes about how my jerking the ship about was affecting her full bladder. Of course I had to make a few snarky remarks about how superior Annunaki flight suits to those used by the Earth Marines since I was not experiencing the same problem she was. She laughed then asked if she could borrow my suit for a few minutes. That was not going to happen, since her much larger breasts and muscular body would badly stretch my perfectly form fitting suit... oh, and I did not want anyone peeing in my suit either! I did however promise her to redesign her Marine flight suit to Annunaki specifications via her new wardrobe device once we were safely aboard Qualor Station.

As we made our final approach to Qualor Station I took a few shots at the passing space boulders to test our plasma cannons. The redesigned cannons on the Koloth were about three times as powerful as those on the Tenshi. Being that the Koloth was the larger of the two ships there was more room for larger emitters and given the additional room, the cannons on the Koloth could retract into the fuselage giving her the appearance of being unarmed. To make that illusion even more plausible, the living skin on the Koloth's hull made it almost impossible for enemy sensors to penetrate. It is always a good thing to keep your enemies guessing as to the full potential of your ship, as the element of surprise can turn the battle quickly in your favor.

We passed through the clamshell style door that protected the inside of the station from the asteroid field beyond and set down gently on the deck. Once the Koloth was powered down the door closed behind us and before our feet hit the deck the station's bots were securing our ship. A protocol bot met us and escorted us to our quarters as the maintenance bots began to install our new weapons packages. Along the way our escort bot handed us two tablets that held the designs and technical specifications on the new weapons systems. I gave them a quick look over but decided to wait until later to do my homework. Megyn did the same as she was more interested in looking at the internals of this station than she was reading about ship to ship weapons. I suppose that her being a Marine, she would be more interested if the schematics were of a new tank or grenade launcher... ok, sorry, no more ground pounder (gropo) jokes. I am sure that if I angered her she could easily crush me. For that matter I was sure that even in her early fifties she would easily be able to turn Imma into a nice neat little Ishtan pretzel in short order.

Whichever bot arranged for our quarters had an interesting sense of humor. Instead of putting us up in the Royal suite, or the visiting officers quarters we found ourselves in what could best be described as, "the barracks." I suppose that our host bots considered us as a flight crew and assigned us to the barracks normally reserved for the station's interceptor squadron instead of taking into consideration our rank and status.

I have to admit that it was better than I would expect to find on a Marine base, and I am not complaining at all, neither was Megyn. She had that, "I'm home" look on her face as she walked around and inspected the quarters. I was half expecting her to pull out a white glove, or attempt to bounce a coin off of my mattress. The Colonel interrupted her inspection of the barracks and made a mad dash for the latrine. Ok, us fly girls still prefer to use civilian terms like bathroom, but since I was bunking with a Marine combat officer I decided to use her terminology.