Beyond the Shroud of the Universe (37 page)

“I had a question I wanted to ask you,” Calvin said.

“Anything,” Lieutenant Rrower replied. “What do you need to know?”

“It’s about something your grandfather said when we were talking about hero spirits.”

“Yes?”

“He said that nearly all those who accompany hero spirits will reach their defining moment in the hero spirit’s service. Is that what you really believe?”

“Yes,” Lieutenant Rrower replied. “It is something that has been borne out on many occasions. Look around you…how many of the men and women in your service have fallen along the way while you continue to press forward?”

“That’s not fair,” Calvin said. “I’ve been wounded, too. I even chose to fly my fighter into an oncoming missile to save the
Vella Gulf
. That should have killed me.”

“That is true, and yet here you are, still alive. Obviously, you are the hero spirit.” He said it as if no evidence in the world could dissuade him.

“Okay,” Calvin said, “I’ll go along with that, at least for the moment. My question, though, was about you. Knowing that I am a hero spirit, and that most of the hero spirit’s followers end up dying, you still chose to come with us. Why?”

“What you are doing may save our races from annihilation or enslavement. That alone makes it a worthy cause for a warrior. Additionally, I know that by being with you, I will be part of events that will shape the future of my race. Depending on my defining moment, I may even be remembered by future generations for the sacrifice I make. And finally, there is a definite possibility I might survive. It is a tremendously small one, but it exists nevertheless. Everything we have done and continue to do will make wonderful stories to tell by the fire when I am a white-hair. Maybe my stories will even inspire one of my grandchildren on to greatness. That is why I do this.”

“You’re crazy.”

Lieutenant Rrower cocked his head, considering. He smiled. “That is a possibility, too, I guess.”

“System entry into the Kepler-62 system,” Steropes said. “This is a five-planet system about 1,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. Kepler-62 is a star classified as a K2 dwarf. It is about two thirds the size of the sun although it is only one fifth as bright. At seven billion years old, the star is several million years older than the sun.”

“Steropes!” Captain Sheppard exclaimed.

“Oh, sorry; it’s been a while since we went anywhere new,” Steropes answered. “The system is held by the Ssselipsssiss, and we are going through their minefield. They appear to have it turned off.”

Captain Sheppard thought he heard something about “a six-pack of duh” from the front table, but he couldn’t be sure.

“I have indications of at least three Ssselipsssiss starships in the vicinity, as well,” Steropes continued. “It looks like a battleship and two cruisers.”

“That’s it?” the CO asked. “Three ships and a minefield to hold a contested system? Doesn’t that seem pretty thin to you?”

“Yes sir, it does,” Steropes replied. “At a minimum, I would have expected at least a dreadnought and several battleships, along with their attendant smaller ships.”

“Where do you suppose they are?”

“Unknown, sir. I do not believe they are stealthed, so they must be in another system.”

“I only show the three lizzie ships, too,” the DSO said.

“Me, too,” the OSO added. “I don’t have any indications of anything else in the system, aside from some ground-based defenses on the planet.”

“They don’t have enough here to hold the system if the Mrowry wanted to take it from them,” DSO said; “about the only thing they could do with those ships is destroy us.”

“True,” Steropes said. “And, having seen how thin they are here, it is unlikely they will let us go if our negotiations with them go poorly as they will be afraid we’ll tell the Mrowry.”

“I guess negotiations had better be successful then,” the CO said.

“At a minimum,” Steropes agreed.

“I have a call coming in from the battleship,” the communications officer said. “Their CO is calling, sir.”

“On screen.”

“It is audio only, sir.”

“On speaker, then, please.”

“Terran ship, this is Captain Skrelleth. I have been bidden to welcome you. Welcome. You will proceed to the fifth planet. Our ambassador awaits you there. Captain Skrelleth, out.”

“Not the warmest welcome,” noted the CO.

“The Ssselipsssiss are not known for their hospitality,” Steropes said; “however, that was short, even for them.”

“Why do you suppose that is?”

“Also unknown, sir. It is possible the captain disagrees with our mission here. It is also possible he just doesn’t like us. More information is needed.”

“What can you tell me about the fifth planet?”

“The fifth planet used to be held by the Mrowry, who called it Typhon. It is in the habitable zone and orbits the star every 267 days. It is about 40 percent larger than Earth, with a surface gravity of 1.1 of Terra’s, although over 60% of the surface is covered in water. The fourth planet in the system is also habitable but is 100% covered in water. This system is interesting in that all of the planets are oriented straight up and down in their orbits; none of them would have seasons like Terra.”

“I just received the coordinates of the meeting site,” the communications officer said.

“All right,” the CO said. “Pass them on to the helmsman and let’s get going. I’d like to get this over with as quickly as possible.”

“Sir, one of the cruisers is moving to tail us,” the DSO said.

“And maybe even sooner,” the CO added.

Three of the maroon Ssselipsssiss waited for them on the platform. The central lizard appeared to be unarmed, a politician perhaps, while the creatures on either side had both arms and armor; definitely warriors. Although Calvin had fought them before, he hadn’t had time to stop and look at them closely. The fact that they were actively trying to kill him at the time probably had something to do with that. He took a long look at the central Ssselipsssiss as the Terrans approached.

Bi-pedal lizards, the Ssselipsssiss looked more humanoid than the allied Kuji; their arms were normal length for humans, if not slightly longer, with sharp claws adorning both hands and feet. At seven feet, the lizards looked down on him, but Calvin could still see the tips of their two small horns. Their tails flipped back and forth in agitation, allowing Calvin to see the sharp tips on them; metal spikes reinforced the ends of the warriors’ tails.

Calvin knew from experience the rifles held by the warriors were high-powered lasers.

“Welcome,” the unarmed Ssselipsssiss said as Captain Sheppard, Calvin and Night neared. “My leaders wished me to thank you for coming. If you would follow me.”

Without waiting for an answer, the Ssselipsssiss turned and began walking toward a large sand-colored tent close by the platform. When the Terrans didn’t immediately follow, the two soldiers motioned with their rifles that the Terrans should go with their leader.

“They always this friendly?” Night asked raising an eyebrow.

“No idea,” Calvin said. “At least this time they’re not shooting at me. That’s a plus.”

The Terrans followed the Ssselipsssiss, who had stopped and was waiting for them at the opening of the tent. When the Terrans approached, he held open one of the flaps and motioned for them to precede him.

The interior of the tent was cool and dim compared with the outside, and it took a few moments for the Terrans’ eyes to adjust to the gloom. For all of its expanse, the inside of the tent was sparsely furnished; its one piece of furniture was a large, central table, behind which two Ssselipsssiss waited.

Where the first Ssselipsssiss had worn a simple tunic and kilt, the two waiting creatures were far more ornately dressed. Both wore red velvet robes with black trim, along with what looked like black stretch pants. Although slightly different, each of the robes had a small golden patch on the left side, and both of the lizards had gold jewelry around their necks and wrists.

“I am Ambassador Gresss,” the taller of the two said. At seven and a half feet, he stood three inches above his companion. “This is my assistant, Sub-Ambassador Kressiss. My government wishes to thank you for coming today.”

“It is our pleasure,” Captain Sheppard said. “I am Captain James Sheppard, the commanding officer of the Terran Ship
Vella Gulf
. The two men with me are Lieutenant Commander Hobbs and Captain Train. How can we be of assistance?”

“We understand you have experience fighting the enemy from beyond. Is this correct?”

“We have experience fighting a number of races,” Captain Sheppard said. “Can you be more specific on which enemy you are talking about?”

“We are fighting an enemy that uses time as a weapon,” the ambassador replied. “Have you fought such a race?”

“Yes,” Captain Sheppard said. “We have fought them on several occasions. They are skilled at using those weapons to their advantage as well as jumping back and forth between our universe and theirs.”

“Ahhh, so they
are
going to another universe,” the sub-ambassador replied. “We did not know where—”

“Yes, that is our enemy,” the ambassador interrupted, giving the sub-ambassador a sharp glance as he cut his subordinate off. “We have been fighting them for some time. Despite the bravery of our ship captains, their ability to ‘jump back and forth’ as you call it makes them difficult to fight, and we have been forced to concede many of our systems to them.”

“We have been fighting them in another chain of systems,” Captain Sheppard explained, “so their reach appears to be substantial. They have also allied with other races, which has given them additional capabilities.”

“Yes, we have noticed that as well,” the ambassador replied. “There is one race that can barely figure out which end of the laser the light comes out of, but there are other races who are more capable.”

“But they all appear to be under the leadership of the enemy who has the time weapons?”

“Yes, they do,” the ambassador agreed.

“That race is the Shaitans,” Calvin said. “I have fought them at close quarters, and I can tell you they also have a directed energy weapon that can melt metal. They are a difficult opponent.”

“Where did you fight them like that?” the sub-ambassador asked. “We haven’t been able to get close—”

“Sub-Ambassador Kressiss was a ship captain before becoming part of my staff,” the ambassador interrupted. He gave his counterpart another look. “Sometimes he forgets his new position does not deal with battle tactics.” The ambassador turned back to the Terrans. “Still, this time, the question is valid since we have been unable to get close to the enemy…the Shaitans, as you call them. We have successfully defeated their allies a number of times, but the Shaitans have proven more difficult.”

“Actually, I fought them inside one of their own ships,” Calvin replied. “We didn’t intend to fight them there, but we got stranded on their ship and had to fight our way out.”

“So you know the taste of our enemy.”

“Um, taste?” Calvin asked. “We didn’t eat them.”

“No,” the ambassador said, “I mean the nature of the enemy. What they are like. We do not even know what they look like. They have never even communicated with us. They just show up and kill us until we flee.”

“We haven’t communicated with them, either,” Captain Sheppard said. “The first time we met them, one of their ships appeared and attacked us. We were lucky to escape with our lives.”

“And yet, escape you did. Not only once, but in other engagements as well.”

“Yes, we did,” Captain Sheppard replied.

“We have a saying among our people,” the ambassador said. “‘A first victory may go to the lucky, but never a third.’ At some point, it ceases being a matter of luck and becomes one of having better skill, equipment or tactics. Unfortunately, we do not have any of those in our fight against the Shaitans, which is why we have come to you.”

“That does bring the conversation back to the point,” the CO agreed. “So, putting aside all of the diplomatic niceties, what exactly is it that you want from us?”

“What do we want?” the ambassador asked. “That is easy. We want you to go to the Dark Star and kill the Shaitans. All of them. And, while you’re on the way to the Dark Star, we want you to kill every single one of them between here and there.”

“You saw that we have a cruiser in orbit, right?” Captain Sheppard asked. “Not a fleet of super dreadnoughts, but a single, solitary cruiser? How do you expect us to go to this planet and kill them all?”

“If we knew how to do it,” the sub-ambassador said, “we would have already done it ourselves. We expect you to do it with the same skills, equipment and tactics that have kept you alive so far.”

“What can you tell us about this planet?” Calvin asked. “Where is it?”

The sub-ambassador reached under the table and pulled out a large chart, which he unrolled and snapped into clips mounted to the table. “Here is what we know,” he said. He pointed to the chart, which had a line of 10 star systems. “We are here at this system on the end. The Dark Star is here at the other end of the chain. This is where we first found them.”

“I’m not a sailor,” Night said, “but it appears that most of the information that should be on this chart is missing. The only information is the name of each system. It doesn’t tell us about the systems’ planets, other stargates or anything else that might be helpful. Am I missing something?”

“No,” Calvin said. “You’re right; this chart should have more information.”

“Our leaders asked us to withhold information on our systems until you agreed to help us,” the ambassador said.

“I understand that,” Calvin said, “but if what you say is true, you no longer own some of the systems on this chart.”

“That is true,” the ambassador said. “We hold this system and the next two. After that, they are currently being held by the enemy. I would like to say we are preparing an assault to return them to our control, but that would not be accurate.”

“So we have seven enemy systems to transit in order to get to this ‘Dark Star,’” Captain Sheppard said.

“Three of them do not have any inhabited planets,” the sub-ambassador offered; “it is unlikely you will find any of the enemy there.”

“That still leaves four enemy-held, populated systems,” Captain Sheppard said.

“Yesss, that is true,” the ambassador replied. “You will have to find a way, whether by stealth or by fighting your way through.”

“So, what will we find at the end of this chain?” Calvin asked.

“You will find the Dark Star, and around it the Dark Planet.”

“And what exactly is a Dark Star and a Dark Planet?

“It is exactly as it sounds,” the ambassador replied. “The star is dark, not full of life like the one in this system. It is a brown dwarf, a body that is in between the mass of the heaviest gas giant planets and the lightest stars. Although it formed independently, like a star, it didn’t have enough mass to ignite like a normal star. The Dark Star is at the upper end of the brown dwarf spectrum. It is able to fuse lithium but not able to fuse hydrogen. Still, it gives off enough heat and light to create a habitable environment on the sole planet orbiting it, the Dark Planet.”

“And this ‘Dark Planet’ is the home world of the Shaitans?” Calvin asked.

“We do not know,” the ambassador replied. “Certainly, their home world is not on that planet in this universe, or we would have known about it much sooner. We mapped the system a long time ago, hundreds of years ago, in fact, but it wasn’t on our list for colonization. Although life might be possible on the planet, there isn’t enough ‘normal’ light for anyone to want to go and settle there. Even at noon, the planet would never be brighter than what you would have at late-twilight here.”

“Although the planet wasn’t marked for colonization,” the sub-ambassador added, “the system has a second stargate, so we had a small observation post there, in order to watch for alien invasion. The outpost was unprepared for having the enemy appear alongside it, and the station was destroyed. A ship underway at the time made it out of the system and brought back word of the attack. Since then, the enemy has appeared more and more frequently, and in greater numbers. It is like trying to hold back the water from a dam that has burst.”

“So…if the Dark Planet is the home of the Shaitans, it is in the other universe, not ours,” Calvin said.

“That is correct,” the ambassador agreed. “We can’t confirm their home world is the Dark Planet; it may be somewhere else, but that is where the enemy appeared. We know the Shaitans didn’t arrive through one of the stargates; they just appeared there.”

“So that is where we must go,” Captain Sheppard said.

“It seems so,” Calvin said. “Another desperate mission against incredible odds. At least we have an advantage in that we’re already familiar with their technology.”

“Unless they’ve changed it,” Night said.

“Yes,” Calvin agreed, “unless they’ve changed it.”

“I only have one more question,” Captain Sheppard said. “How do you intend to reimburse us for our efforts?”

The ambassador hissed in dismay. “You would charge us in our hour of need?”

“Your civilization still owes us for damage you did to our ships in the Tau Ceti system. There is also the matter of the war with the Mrowry that the emperor asked me to remind you of. How is it that you expect us to risk our lives and equipment for you, on a task you cannot do yourself, without expecting to reimburse us for our efforts? I’m afraid that just doesn’t seem very equitable, especially since it is quite likely we will be killed in the attempt.”

“We will cease all offensive operations against the Mrowry, as soon as I can get the word to my commanders,” replied the ambassador. “Unfortunately, we have no money to repay either you or the Mrowry; the war has bled us dry.”

“We would accept a battleship-sized replicator or better as repayment,” Captain Sheppard said, “especially if it came complete with all of the latest technology.”

“I would like to do that, but I can’t promise it without speaking to my superiors,” the ambassador said.

“What can you promise without speaking to your superiors?” Captain Sheppard asked.

“Not much, unfortunately,” replied the ambassador. “At the moment, we have very little we
could
give you. We are almost to the point of eating our young or conducting an all-out final attack on the Mrowry. If you will attempt this mission for us, I will promise not to attack the Mrowry. If we
are
forced to attack them, it is likely our civilization will be destroyed, and theirs will be unprepared for the Shaitans when they shortly arrive.” He paused, then added, “It is the best I can do. Even then, we will still probably be forced to eat our young.”