Atlantis Rising (33 page)

“You see Eutharans are a
telepathic race… not a strong telepathic race, but we are one, none the less.
The bonding forges a telepathic link between the bond mates, and locks them
together for the rest of their lives. The bond mates can share how they feel,
and, depending on how strong a telepath they are, some limited communication.
Like right now, I can tell you have a headache and are tired. They even share
their lives.”

“A slight headache, and nothing
sleep won’t cure,” Jon said. “What do you mean they share their lives?”

“If a bond mate dies,” Deatra
said. “The other mate will die within a month. Sometimes they go insane, other
times they just turn into vegetables and merely stare into space, never
moving.”

“So if you die…” Jon said.

“You will die also, yes,” Deatra
said.

“Fucking awesome,” Jon said.

“You can never bond with anyone
else. This is why we think it works that way. Once your mate dies you are truly
alone and your mind shuts down or goes insane,” Deatra said.

“Okay, why me?” Jon said.

Deatra glanced at Gilas who
shrugged.

“I have no idea,” she said. “I
have never heard of a Eutharan bonding with someone from another race.”

“When did this happen?” Jon
asked.

“When we first met after you
rescued me,” Deatra said.

“Oh! That strange feeling I had,
like the world was slowing down,” Jon said.

By now the entire room was
watching them talk like no one else was there.

“Yes, that is one of the effects
I have heard described,” Deatra said. “Trust me, I’m as surprised by this as
much as you.”

“I doubt that,” Jon muttered.
Then in a clearer voice he said, “There’s no way to remove this? I’m not sure
I’m very happy about this. I don’t mean that as an insult, you’re a very
beautiful woman. I would just like to get to know you better before we decide
to get hitched, and I have to hand my life over.”

Gilas jumped up, “WHAT! How
insulting!

Carex blinked a few times as if
he was trying to understand what Jon had just said, even Illus and Vaes gasped.

Deatra raised her hand and
motioned Gilas to sit back down as she spoke.

“Prince Hunter doesn’t know our
customs yet. I’m sure he didn’t mean it as an insult, but only as a question.
If I were in his position I would be asking the same thing.”

“I’m sorry if it was an improper
question,” Jon said.

Gilas nodded and sat back down.

“There is a way to separate bond
mates once they are bonded,” Deatra said. “It is a very brutal process and very
painful. It is also outlawed and punishable by death, if used maliciously,”
Deatra said. “It is used in extreme cases where an important person’s spouse is
dying and there is nothing anyone can do about it.”

Jon huffed and sat back in his
chair as he thought about everything going on.

“Jon,” Deatra said.

Jon looked up at her.

“I’m nineteen years old,” Deatra
said. “I have been searching for a bond mate for over three years. I had given
up and was returning to my home world when you rescued me. Before you stepped
into the room, my life was over and I was doomed to be alone for the rest of my
life. This has given me hope. To say I’m sorry this happened would be a lie.
I’m extremely happy it happened. You have restored hope in me, and my people.
I’m the last in the Royal line beside my parents. Had you not come along civil
war would have broken out on my world, and we would have perished because of
it.

“Don’t you understand what this
means? You need people and now you have the power to have those people. You’re
a Prince and not just any Prince. You’re a Prince of the First Tier, second to
only the King. Not even the Queen can overrule your word. It doesn’t matter if
we’re married, and yes, we have to get married but only when you’re ready. You
took the
Arc Light
and you can reassign her crew wherever you like. You
can station her and the
Titan
here and use their crews to help you in
your quest.

“Just because you don’t like it,
doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. You want to get to know me? I can live with
that, I’ll do whatever you need to you feel comfortable. Terri is now a
Princess, First Tier, too. She ranks just below me. You want her protected?
Well, this is the best way as she’ll have Royal Guards assigned to her night
and day.”

Terri frowned, “Hey, now, two guards
are fine. But I have Oojoung following me around and protecting me.”

“Standard guard compliment is
twelve,” Gilas said. “Six day, and six night.”

“Yes, sorry, but that is how it
has to be,” Deatra said. She looked over at a frowning Terri. “However, Oojoung
can be the Captain of your detail. After his little demonstration, I have
complete faith in him. So, I’ll bestow the rank of Royal Captain on him, and
put him in charge of picking your guard detail.”

Terri muttered under her breath
as she looked over to find a grinning Oojoung.

“Oojoung make sure Terri Princess
all taken care of,” Oojoung said.

“I’m sure you will, Oojoung,”
Deatra said. “Remember one thing though. In the matter of her safety, you out
rank her as does any of her guards.”

“Yeah, right,” Terri said.

“I’m serious,” Deatra said.

“Great,” Terri said. She threw
her hand up in surrender and started to sulk.

“Well,” Jon said, as a smile
crossed his face. “In that case, I’m in. Anything that makes my sister this
happy is worth doing.”

Jon knew there wasn’t really a
way out of this and he couldn’t overlook the bonuses of this bonding. Deatra
was beautiful and he was sure she would grow on him.

“Bite me,” Terri huffed.

A few chuckles filled the air.

Deatra smiled at Jon when she
realized he had accepted his position.

“Then I guess this is a simple
matter,” Jon said. “I’m assigning the
Arc Light
and the
Titan
here to Ghost Station for the time being. Bill will take command of the
Earth’s Revenge
, formerly the
Arc Light,
and Carex will be his second
in command. Carla will be moved to the second in command aboard the
Titan
.”

“What about the crew?” Marc said.

“Give them a choice stay here and
help out, or return to Euthara,” Jon said. “We will fit up an old military
shuttle, one of the jump capable ones, to take them home.”

“I’ll go speak to them on your
behalf,” Deatra said. “If I give them a choice I doubt many will want to
leave.”

“What about the marines in the
brig?” Marc said.

“They get no choice, send them
home and anyone else we have locked up,” Jon said. “Put the Invaru Captain on a
small shuttle and let him go.”

Marc nodded.

“Now, Brad,” Jon said. “How is
engineering doing?”

“Well, I have good news on all
fronts,” Brad said. “We have two of the mining outposts operating, and one of
the smelters here is now operational, as well. We’re getting ready to bring the
second smelter online when we bring the third mining outpost online. We’re also
laying the hull for a new cruiser as we speak. I wanted to start small because
we’re still learning, and this was the smallest starship in the database.”

“I saw that when we arrived,” Jon
said. “I’m impressed.”

“Well, the engineers from Earth
and a few of the Eutharan engineers have collaborated and tweaked the designs a
bit. We’ll see how it works out once we get her built,” Brad said. “Computer
teams are already working on designing her AI core and systems. I think they
have a few ideas themselves, so I have let them run with it. As far as the
station goes, we have all her reactors online, and all systems operational. The
last of the defensive batteries are having maintenance done, and then we should
be fully operational. I have a team designing the listening posts we’re going
to deploy in the dead spots around the system.”

“What about fighter production?”
Jon said.

“We’re still reworking the
remaining fighters and shuttles,” Brad said. “Not to mention the addition of
the
Earth’s Revenge
, and the overhaul she will need. That is, if we use
the
Titan
as an example for the rest of the Eutharan fleet, I’m going to
be stretched pretty thin.”

“The
Titan
was one of the
best in the Eutharan fleet,” Gilas said.

“Great,” Brad said.

“We can use her crew to do the
refit… the ones staying, that is,” Jon said. “Marc, see if you can find some
more people for Brad’s teams, even if it’s just temporary.”

“Will do,” Marc said.

Jon nodded, saying, “Nice work,
all of you.” Jon stood up, walked to the window, and looked out at the
Atlantis
. “How long until the
Atlantis
is ready for duty?”

“A week,” Brad said. “We’re still
making the parts we need. The last encounter really tore her up. With
Atlantis
offline, her spider bots were inactive. Mike just now got them
back online and working in conjunction with our teams.”

Jon turned around and faced
everyone again. “I don’t want people segregated. I want everyone learning to
work with each other. We have a Buranis cruiser at our disposal under the
command of Vaes. I’m grounding the
Atlantis
and
Titan
until their
AIs are back online. For now we will just use the
Earth’s Revenge
and
Scythe
for operations. After watching Oojoung’s little display, I would
like Vaes to send us some instructors for our marines. They should be able to
set up a nice little training routine and teach us stuff we need like zero 'G’
combat. Terri, I want you to step up the fighter-training program. Use some of
the
Earth’s Revenge
’s pilots to help,” Jon said.

Terri nodded but said nothing.

“Sure,” Vaes said. “However,
Oojoung is ‘black ops,’ and has a lot more training than any of my people. He
would make an excellent teacher. Maybe you should even form a ‘black ops’ unit
yourself.”

“Good idea,” Jon said. He looked
at Oojoung, who was beaming with pride and couldn’t stop fidgeting. “How about
it, Oojoung, would you like to continue training the marines? After you get
done babysitting… err, I mean, protecting Terri.”

Jon’s remark resulted in, a still
sulking, Terri flipping him off, which just made people chuckle again.

“Oojoung be happy to train marine
people,” Oojoung said. “Oojoung even be happy to train special squad. Only
after Oojoung sure Terri Princess is safe and all secure.” Oojoung grinned at
Terri who just stuck her tongue out at him. This caused another round of
chuckles.

“All right, it’s a done deal,”
Jon said. “Illus, I would like you to take command of the station. However, I
want you to go nowhere without your marines. You’re the only Invaru here, and I
don’t want any accidents. I also don’t want you hiding away. I want people to
get used to having Invaru on the station.”

“Sure,” Illus said. “I ran a
station or two in my time. I can help train the control room personnel in
proper procedures.”

“Listen up people,” Jon said. “A
new type of enemy is now on the playing field, and we know little about them.
They make the Invaru look like child’s play. They’re pushing the Invaru back
and show no signs of weakening from the reports I saw while on my way here
after being rescued.

“There is a storm brewing on the
horizon, and I don’t know when it will reach us. I want us prepared for it.
Something is happening in the Invaru Collective… or Empire, if you like… and
we’re going to get caught in the middle of it. This station is going to be the
last refuge for many people. In the coming weeks, we’re going to go fishing for
more personnel. Illus and Vaes were kind enough to let me know there are other
people enslaved by the Invaru. We’re going to try to help them and bolster our
numbers while doing so. Everyone is dismissed.”

Jon turned back to look at the
Atlantis
as he thought about what the future might have in store for him. One
thing was for sure; if you had told him on Earth that he would be leading a
space faring alliance, he would have laughed. He wasn’t sure if he was ready
for this, and things were getting worse, and would get much worse in the coming
months.

Arms circled his waist and
squeezed, snapping him out of his thoughts. He turned around and looked into
the tear-filled eyes of Terri.

“Thank God you’re all right!”
Terri said. She had held it in all this time, and now finally let the tears
flow. “I thought I had lost you.”

Jon smiled as he hugged her back,
“Yeah… well, ditto.”

Jon stood there, holding his
sister, as he watched the spiders bots crawl over the
Atlantis
.

on stood next to Deatra while they both looked over the
Atlantis
. Terri and Sam, (the orphan who had adopted Jon), were holding a
conversation, as Oojoung watched over the pair. In recent weeks, Oojoung was
never far from Terri or Sam. He insisted Sam come with them everywhere. Oojoung
had become even more protective of the Hunters and their closest friends.

Oojoung had even assigned,
unbeknownst to any of them, select Black Ops personnel from the
Scythe
to keep a watch over them. He had used some questionable computer skills to get
them their placements, so that they were never far from their assignments.

Oojoung had set up a training
course for the Special Forces detachment at the request of Marc and Jon. Royal
guards were required to take the course, as were all command personnel.
Training lasted six weeks, and covered everything from hand-to-hand combat with
advanced tactics, to zero ‘G’ hand-to-hand and boarding tactics.

It was a grueling course. In the
first two days, a class that had started with one hundred and thirty applicants
was down to ninety-five.

Ten of those dropouts were in the
infirmary with various injuries. Two others would have funeral services held,
after the investigations were over. The rest either Oojoung drummed them out,
or they dropped from the course voluntarily.

Every applicant received a
warning of the dangers of the course and they even had to sign a waiver stating
they knew the risks. Oojoung did everything possible to limit the dangers of
the course, even to having medical staff standing by to get firsthand
experience on how to handle various situations.

Zero 'G’ training was done using
the
Titan
and
Scythe
. They used a weapon newly designed by Mike
and Brad. It would stun someone hit by it, but not do any permanent damage. Jon
and Marc were very pleased when they watched the simulated boarding runs.

At Jon’s urging, Oojoung had even
taken the training to a higher level for a select few of the marines. This
elite unit would form their first Black Ops team, and Oojoung would be in
charge of it. Oojoung personally selected the twenty personnel for this new
team.

Even though the basic course was
only half way through, the elite course would continue the training, and then
expand on what they already knew. Oojoung had already selected several planets
in the solar system for the environmental part of the new course. When the
marines finished with this course, they would be the highest trained unit in
the ADF.

There were a few snags, when the
training and reality came face-to-face. Tensions between the different races
ran high. However, Marc settled this by removing the offenders, and stationing
them elsewhere, usually to mining duty. It didn’t take long for their tempers
to even out, when they realized they all had to work together.

Guarding an empty mining barge
that took a day to reach its destination, and then docking at an empty outpost
for two days while waiting for a full load, wasn’t very exciting. Especially
when the upper brass made sure the crew was mixed, and that when the ship was
idle, the base was being repaired… by hand. This was actually a blessing in
disguise, not only did it teach them to get along, it allowed the ADF to get
ten mining bases fully operational and manned, in two weeks. There were plenty
of volunteers from the marines for this duty.

With the ten mining bases
operational and fully crewed, including the ships and equipment, Ghost Station
had all seven of her foundries online and running. Three were at full capacity,
and the others were at fifty percent or better. This allowed them to have a
steady supply of replacement parts and decreased the time required for repairs
and the upgrading of equipment.

Brad and his mixed crew had Ghost
Station fully operational and were in the process of opening decks that had
been shut down and restricted. This allowed the people occupying the station to
spread out a bit more, which also helped with tensions between the races living
on the station.

Mike and half his team were
installing the systems on the new cruiser, which was forty percent complete.
The other half of his team was busy stripping the
Earth’s Revenge
and
upgrading its systems. Bill had been spending most of his time split between
his new ship and helping out with the renovation of the newly opened atrium.
Jon grinned every time he saw Bill walking towards the atrium. He knew the real
reason Bill had taken ‘an interest’ in the project, and her name was Kelly
Martin. Kelly was the head botanist (appointed by Jon), and had caught Bill’s
eye at a meeting.

Ever since then, Bill had done
everything he could to be involved where Kelly was concerned. Kelly, on the
other hand, had done everything she could to make sure he was involved. At
Kelly’s secret request, Jon had been putting her through the training needed to
be a ‘second in command.’ Kelly wanted to surprise Bill when he officially took
command of his ship. Jon had already appointed her as Bill’s second in command,
even though Gilas frowned when he learned what was happening. Jon assured Gilas
it would be okay. Besides, he didn’t have the heart to split them up, he hadn’t
seen Bill this happy since before Vors shot him.

Jon watched as a worker walking
on the hull of the
Atlantis
closed an access panel. The
Atlantis
’
repairs had taken a bit longer than expected, as the engineering crews went
over her unfinished sections, and completed the work started ages ago.

Jon smiled as he pulled Deatra
closer. In the past few weeks, he had drawn much closer to her. He almost ached
when he was away from her. He was sure he was in love, and he knew she felt the
same. She couldn’t feel anything but love for Jon, because the bond made sure
of that. Jon also knew it was affecting him. However, it wouldn’t have been
difficult to love Deatra, even without the bond.

Jon kissed Deatra and stepped
back.

“Oh my god,” Terri said. “You two
need to go rent a room or something.”

“Yeah, gross!” Sam said.

Oojoung chuckled in the
background.

“Gross?” Jon said. Jon walked
towards the pair as he spoke.

Sam nodded, “Yeah, totally
gross.”

Terri nodded her head agreeing
with Sam, “Totally.”

Deatra watched with interest as Jon
leapt at them and bear hugged them then started showering them with kisses.

“EWWWW!” Sam screamed. “Stop!”

She was giggling the whole time
as she fought to get out of Jon’s grasp.

“YUCK!” Terri said. “Now I’m
going to have to go get an anti-cootie shot.”

Jon continued his assault,
ignoring their halfhearted protests.

“Eww, you’re slobbering on me!”
Sam whined.

Jon let Sam go, saying, “I’ll let
you go for now. You have been duly punished for your transgressions.”

“Thank you,” Sam said.

She scrambled away from Jon
wiping the side of her face on her sleeve.

“You, on the other hand,” Jon
said, turning to Terri and speaking as he gave his sister an evil grin. “Are to
be punished for the ‘cooties’ comment!”

Terri let out a squeal as Jon
started tickling her. She thrashed about trying to protect her sides from his
assault. “Stop, Jon,” Terri managed to get out between fits of laughter. “Stop
before I pee myself!”

“Thus is the punishment,” Jon
said. “I decree you shall be tickled until said peeing has started.”

Terri gasped, “You wouldn’t!”

Jon doubled his assault, “I can,
and I will.”

Oojoung was laughing as he
watched Terri struggle. He knew if she really wanted to get away, she could. It
was interesting to watch her play helpless with her brother. Something the pair
did regularly.

“Stop, Jon, I can’t hold off any
longer and if you don’t stop I will pee myself,” Terri gasped.

‘Commander?’ Mike’s voice said.

Jon stopped his assault, and let
Terri up as he said, “I declare this lowly servant duly punished.”

Terri jumped up and ran for the
bathroom as she spoke, “‘Lowly servant?’ I’ll show you ‘lowly servant’ when I
get back.”

Jon winked at Sam who started
laughing.

“Go ahead, Mike,” Jon said out
loud.

‘Sir,’ Mike said. ‘We’re ready to
bring Atlantis back online. I think we have removed all the problematic sub
routines.’

“Okay we’ll be there in a
moment,” Jon said. He stood up and started for the door and Deatra joined him.

‘Yes, Sir,’ Mike said.

“Sam,” Jon said as he stood in
the doorway, “you and Oojoung stay here. Terri, come on, we have work to do.”

Oojoung frowned.

Jon smiled, “Don’t worry Oojoung
we’ll be okay, I just don’t want Sam in the middle of all the technicians.”

“I’m hurrying,” Terri said as she
came out of the bathroom.

Oojoung nodded while he turned and
thumbed his com unit.

Jon stepped out of the doorway
and into the hall as Terri caught up. “That Buranis is way too over
protective,” Jon said. “I’m sure we will be watched and probably monitored by a
small Special Forces unit.”

“He cares,” Deatra said. “Your
safety is very important to the people on this station, and he knows it.”

The royal guards formed up as the
three walked down the corridor towards one of the transport tubes leading to
Atlantis’s berth.

“Oh, I don’t think he is too
worried about me,” Jon said. “I have a feeling he is more worried about my
sister.”

“What?” Terri said as she
finished adjusting her suit. “Oh, yeah. Oojoung loves me. This, I know. You
should try to get a moment alone around him.”

Deatra and Jon exchanged glances
before they started laughing.

Terri frowned, “What? I’m serious
about trying to get a moment alone.”

Jon nodded, “We know you are, and
that’s what’s so funny. I didn’t ever think I would see my sister complain
about something like that.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Terri said. “It
just gets a bit annoying, is all.”

Jon stopped and looked at his
sister. He stopped laughing and got serious, “I can have him reassigned or
order him to back off, if it bothers you.”

“Nah,” Terri said. “In a strange
way I’m flattered by his attention and secretly love him back. Besides he knows
when to back off.” Terri winked at her brother.

Jon laughed, “I bet he does.”

Then, as if on cue, a small unit
of Special Forces met them and they began walking again. Jon looked at Terri as
if to say ‘I told you so.’

Terri snickered as the unit fell
into place around them.

The commanding officer of the
unit stepped up next to Jon and saluted. He was a Buranis dressed in combat
armor and he carried his rifle at rest as he fell into step.

“Sir, we’ve been ordered to
escort you to your destination,” he said.

The unit was a mixed unit of all
the races, and Jon could tell they had been training together for a while.
There was no hostility between the guards as they assumed their escort
positions.

“I don’t really see the need,
Captain,” Jon said.

“Mr. Oojoung informed us this
would be a good time to practice escort duties,” the Captain said.

Even though Oojoung held a rank,
he had trained his personnel not to use ranks while on duty. None of the
personnel from the Special Forces units wore rank insignia unless you knew
where to look. It was to keep the enemy from identifying commanding and
higher-ranking officers on a battlefield.

“Did he now?” Terri said.

“Yes, Ma’am,” the Captain said.

Jon just shrugged, “That’s fine,
Captain. We welcome the additional company.”

Jon had put Oojoung in charge of
the Special Forces training and couldn’t really argue about how he did it.

“Captain,” Terri said. “You seem
familiar to me, do I know you?”

The Captain nodded, “Yes, Ma’am. You
flew my unit and me out to mining base theta a while back. Then you stayed for
a week and trained us on piloting the freighters.”

“Oh, I remember,” Terri said. “My
god, you have all changed. All I remember from those times were all the
arguments and fights I had to break up between you guys. I’m impressed by how
much you all have changed.”

Several of the Special Forces
chuckled.

“Funny how having to depend on
each other to survive, and having to live in tight quarters will change a
person,” the Captain said. “At first most of us didn’t get it, and we held to
our old ways of thinking. We have been at war for so long and, if you’ll excuse
me for saying, oppressed. When we got our first taste of being actually free
and able to choose what we wanted to do, we didn’t know how to react. We lashed
out at the people we viewed as enemies, which seemed to include everyone but
the humans.