Heaven Saga 3: Sojourn Into Despair (8 page)

In
deep orbit of the dead Mardok prime silently moved a cloaked vessel. All around
the strangely modified Malcovin ship moved varying types of robots and droids,
some of which actually looked like Malcovin. On the main bridge sat a single
living birdman covered in gray from age. Surrounding him were dozens of screens
showing the status of the ship, along with numerous instruments scanning
outside. A blip began flickering in front of him. He opened his eyes and
noticed a strange reading. Bored, he mechanically sat forward and pressed a
button to zoom in. His long range camera showed the images a battle.

“Strange,
I thought this system was dead,” he said to himself. “Who might be fighting
whom out there?”

He
clicked the button a few more times to focus in closer. Panning the video up
and down, he saw the Avoni with its mobile suits fighting Grey ships. What
caught his eye were the mobile suits. He inspected them as closely as possible.
He jumped up with excitement, a feeling he had thought he’d lost long ago.

“He’s
come! He’s come! Oh yes, he’s definitely made to space at long last!” the old
Malcovin shouted to himself. “Those weapons are clearly based on the Talon,
there’s no doubt about that! I’ve been waiting for all these years for him to
finally appear, and now here’s the proof!” He gazed upon the battle as the
Avoni emerged the victor. “But the question is how and why they’re so far out
here?” He zoomed in and clearly saw the Mjolnir’s difference from the Raknas.
“Thank the gods, now I can return in peace. I thought I saw him in that dream
world, but now I know it’s real. He’s here! He’s here! Oh how I have waited for
him to finally come.”

The
old Malcovin activated all of his ships systems and began scanning the Avoni
thoroughly. A number of the robots and droids came to the bridge before moving
into the positions a crew would normally take.

“All
systems are operating normally,” Droid A said.

“Good,”
the old Malcovin said. “Maintain stealth mode and follow that ship. We must
ascertain everything we can before making a decision on what to do next. I’m so
excited! At last I’ll be able to have a conversation with a living and
breathing being.”

“Are
we not good enough for you master?” Droid B asked.

“I
thought we were your precious crew?” Droid C asked.

“Of
course you are! I love all of you just as well!” the old Malcovin shouted.
“It’s not that your company isn’t appreciated, it’s just I’ve longed to speak
with someone else for a long time. Someone I didn’t build that is.”

“It
appears they’ve succeeded in their battle against the Greys,” Droid A reported.

“That’s
proof they finally have the weapons capable of killing those ugly things,” the
old Malcovin let out a mighty caw, “We must follow, yes we must. To follow is
to dream, and to dream is to live, and to live is to…um…um…to live is to die!”

“That’s
depressing,” Droid B said.

“Yes
yes, you’re right. To live is to drink lots and lots of wine!” the old Malcovin
said before taking out a bottle and drinking some wine himself. “This will be
fun.” He chucked to himself.

* * *

Brian
laid in the medical lab once more, unconscious while Celi stood over him.
Outside, in the main room the other medical officers treated the injured pilots
and crew. Celi scanned Brian thoroughly only to find the infection was getting
worse quicker than she’d anticipated. He opened his eyes and sat up, staring at
the others in the other room.

“Are
they alright?” he asked weakly.

“They’re
in better shape than you,” Celi said. “How do you feel?”

“Like
hell.” Brian shook his head. “The headache won’t go away at all. It feels like
my body is on fire.”

She
grabbed a device containing a mixture of liquid and injected him with it.

“This
should help with the symptoms for now,” she said.

“I’m
sorry Celi; I just didn’t want everyone to…” he trailed off.

She
took his hand warmly. “All you wanted was to save them, wasn’t it? Thanks to
what you did we survived.”

“Tell
that to the two who didn’t make it.”

“It’s
not your fault,” she said. “In this line of work death is common. And in the
situation we’re in it’s probably the most likely ending.”

“I
know Celi, but still.” He looked away with frustration in his eyes. “Now that I
know my decisions may cost them their lives I don’t’ know what to do.”

“Just
lead as best as you can,” Celi said. She grasped his hand tighter. “It’s all
you can do; it’s all they want you to do.”

“Have
we jumped yet?” he asked.

“Not
yet,” she answered. “Zae wanted to check something out before leaving the
system. Our long range camera picked up something quite large on the other side
of the planet.”

Brian
sat in thought. “I wonder.”

“You’d
better get back to the bridge so Zae and the others don’t get suspicious.”

“I’m
going to have to tell them soon enough,” he said before stepping back into the exoskeleton.
“I might not live very long at this pace.”

“I’m
doing everything I can just to keep you standing upright,” Celi had a look of
sadness in her eyes, “What we need is a few days of rest.”

“Agreed,”
he said before leaving.

* * *

“I’m
starting to agree with Brian on this,” Baed said. She flew the Avoni near the
unusual structures in space. “The more I see the more disturbing it gets.”

“Those
structures are partially completed space colonies,” Zae said before standing up
to take a closer look. “In a few more years they would’ve been completed.”

“The
smaller two look like they would have held around a hundred thousand apiece,”
Baed said. “The larger structure would likely have been able to hold twice
that.” She put the size of the structure on the monitor.

“I
hope they can understand our needs,” Zae said. She turned on the com system.
“Jesela, send some engineers and take what we need. Their technology may be
outdated, but the Avoni’s hull needs repair.”

“I
got it Zae,” Jesela answered. “It’ll take us a few hours to obtain what we
need.”

Brian
entered bridge and joined the other two in front of the monitor

“I’ve
ordered Jesela to take what we need to repair the ship,” Zae said.

“Good,
we might as well,” Brian said. “It’s not like we can port for repairs anytime
soon.”

“Have
you given any thought on how we should proceed home?” Zae asked. “I know you’ve
been working a lot lately.”

“You’re
in the same boat Zae; I can see it in your eyes,” Brian said. “All of us need a
few days of rest. I think I have an idea to help us with that.” He went to the
captain’s chair and put a star map of the galaxy on the monitor. “Our course
should follow this route.” He put another image over the top of the first. It
showed the Avoni move towards the center of the galaxy and circle towards
Confederation territories.

“That’s
a tough route,” Baed said.

“Yes,
but the one the Greys won’t follow us by,” Zae said.

“The
Greys are a play it safe kind of military,” Brian said. “They only fight
battles they believe they can win. The only reason we won the last one was
because of a surprise, which I don’t anticipate working anymore.”

“We’ll
have to come out for a little to avoid those dangers,” Baed warned. “The
gravitational effects of the black holes can pose a problem.”

“I
know, but at least we’ll minimize the amount of time spent in the direct path
of the Greys,” Brian said. “Once they catch on to us they’ll pursue until we’re
either captured or destroyed.”

“That
does fit their profile,” Zae said. “I agree with the plan. I can’t see us
surviving many more battles in this region of space. It’s only a matter of time
before they overpower us with numbers.”

“Alright,
I’ll set the course into the navigation systems,” Baed said. She went to her
console and began working out the specifics.

“You’re
looking ragged,” Zae said.

“The
two of you look the same,” Brian countered. “The constant threat of death is
wearing at us. That’s another reason I chose this route. We need rest, badly.”

“Agreed,”
Zae said.

Baed
noticed another blip on her console.
What is that?
She thought to
herself. “Brian, Zae, I’ve been picking something up on the long range scanners
for a while now.”

“What
is it?” Zae asked.

“I’m
not sure, but I think it’s a cloaked ship,” Baed answered. “It’s maintaining a
constant distance from us.”

“Keep
an eye on it Baed,” Brian commanded. “Sometimes it’s just best to let it be.”

The
launching and cargo bays of the Avoni were a frenzy of activity as the mainatence
crew salvaged material from the unfinished Mardok colonies. Outside the ship a
number of engineers repaired the hull using they recovered. Back in the ship’s
main launching bay Jesela checked over the systems one more time to ensure the
Phase Raknas were in good shape.

“We’ve
retrieved enough material to build the ship twice over,” ensign Kaela reported.

“Thanks
Kaela,” Jesela said. “I’m glad the Mardok were advanced enough to aid us, even
if it wasn’t their intention.” She turned to address the engineers. “All of you
have given everything for the last few days so I’m ordering all you to get some
rest. We’ll be leaving this solar system in a few hours. After that I’ll join
you in whatever entertainment you’re thinking of right now.”

“Thanks
lieutenant,” each of the engineers said before leaving. Jesela stood alone and
looked at the three damage mobile suits. The door opened before Brian entered.

“Is
everything alright?” he asked.

“Yes,
as you can see,” Jesela showed the mobile suits in perfect shape, “We’ve
recovered a lot of useful materials from the colonies.”

“Good,”
Brian said. “It won’t match the color Valis likes but at least it’s better than
nothing.”

“You
look terrible,” she remarked.

“I’ve
been getting that a lot these days,” he turned and smiled, “I’ll rest as soon
as we jump. I’ve ordered the crew to go on standby for one standard day.”

“There
are some things about these mobile suits I need to run by you,” Jesela said. “Before
this began I found a way to increase the output of the Raknas by another fifty
percent, thus matching the Mjolnir. The question is to whether we pursue my
theory or keep what we have.”

“Go
for it,” he said. “What do we have to lose? I know Dreka wanted more testing
but now’s not the time to hesitate. With what we’re facing we need to play
every card we have.”

Jesela
sighed with relief. “I’m glad you agreed. It saves me the trouble of pestering
you until you break down.”

“You
were planning to do that?”

“I
could’ve asked the cook to not make pizza for a week,” Jesela said
sarcastically. “But then the whole crew would be against me.”

“Speaking
of which,” his stomach grumbled, “I don’t think I’ve eaten anything in the last
few days.”

Jesela
took his hand and led him to the cafeteria. “Then we’d better get some of that
high fat, high protein fare into you right now.”

* * *

“Jump
complete,” Baed reported.

Zae
sighed in relief. “I’m exhausted.”

“Yeah,
and we haven’t been able to look over the details of our new command
positions.”

“Figured
on doing that after a good night’s sleep,” Zae said. She stood up and
stretched.

Celi
entered the bridge. “I’ll be relieving you for the time being,” she said.

“Aren’t
you supposed to rest as well?” Zae asked.

“We
need at least one person on the bridge to keep an eye on things,” Celi said. “Don’t
worry, Brian will take my place in twelve hours and then I get to rest for a
day.” She sat in the captain’s chair. “It’s been awhile since I had to do
this.”

“You
remember how it all works?” Zae asked.         

“Of
course,” Celi answered. “One doesn’t get the rank of chief medical officer
without knowing how to run a ship.”

“Before
I leave there’s something you should keep an eye on,” Baed said. “The cloaked
vessel shadowing us in the Mardok system is still following us.”

Celi
called up the image on the monitor. “I see,” she said. She looked at the rough
outline. “I know I’ve seen this shape before.”

“I
feel the same way,” Zae said. “The shape’s oddly familiar but I can’t place it
either.” She turned as Baed stood in the elevator. “Well, I’ll be on my way
Celi. Take care of things for now.”

“I
will,” Celi said before Baed and Zae left her alone on the bridge. “It’s been
too long since I was up here doing this.”

After
a moment of playing with the computer she stood up and went to the console in
the back of the bridge. She called up the data on the disease infecting Brian.
She started running through a number of scenarios using the bridge’s computer.
I’m
going to find a cure for him even if it drives me crazy.
Celi thought to
herself.

* * *

“We’ve
successfully followed their ship,” Droid B reported.

“It
appears their ship is using a light class drive,” Droid C said.

“Their
main drive must have been damaged in battle,” the old Malcovin said. “It would
also explain the lowered output for their shields and why their ship didn’t
fire any pulse blasts during the last battle. How many spare drives do we
have?”

“We
have two heavy, three medium, and ten light,” Droid A reported. “But we only
have enough particles to charge the two heavy drives and one medium drive.”

“That’s
not counting our active drives?” the old Malcovin asked.

“That’s
right sir,” Droid A said. “We currently have three drives active as well as
fifty Q-Drives.”

“Are
you planning to help them?” Droid C asked.

“If
they’re caught in another battle anytime soon they won’t be able to come out
alive,” the old Malcovin said. “If the person I think is onboard that ship then
it’s too early in the game to let him die. I wasn’t planning on revealing
myself until we reached the border of Confederation territory, but given the
circumstances I’ll need to intervene soon.”

“It
appears they have one functioning heavy class drive though sir,” Droid B said.

“They’re
using it to keep those mobile weapons flying,” the old Malcovin explained. “If
they want to live they need as many of their mobile suits working as possible.”
The old Malcovin turned on his com system. “All engineering Droids, ready the
Talons for launch.”

“Yes
sir,” the droids responded.

“The
good thing about this is we can try the new system you were talking about
recently sir,” Droid A said. “Will you take one into combat?”

“No,
I’m too old for that now,” the old Malcovin cawed, “And the remote system
should more than suffice to keep the Greys on their toes.”

“Of
course sir,” the three Droids answered.

* * *

Brian
sat at the back of the dining hall in the corner. Jesela sat at the table with
him. The cafeteria was filled with crew members enjoying their time off.

“The
cook says we won’t have enough supplies to make this much longer,” Jesela
before taking a bite of cheese pizza. “I have a theory on why this is so
popular in the short time we’ve known about it.”

“What
theory would this be?” Brian asked before sipping some water. His plate only
had a few crumbs remaining on it.

“We
Kalaidians have been so mindful of eating right for centuries that this food,”
she pointed to the slice of pizza on her plate, “This food is completely
opposite of our mindset. But we still won’t put meat on like you do.”

“That
was the most frustrating thing I had to adjust to when I came onboard,” Brian
said. “Your people have dozens of vegan and fruit based dishes but nothing like
I was used to.”

“It
would be the same if one of us was thrust into your culture,” Jesela said.
“We’d be surrounded by piles of meat and dairy with nothing else it seems.”

“We
have plenty of food for vegans on Earth,” Brian said. “But it’s not as common
as it should be. Eating as much meat as we do is wasteful compared to eating
the grains and vegetables.”

“That’s
quite true for Kalaidians as well,” Jesela said. “We fished our oceans until
there was almost nothing left. That was three hundred years ago.” She leaned
forward. “But please, do tell me how you and Mira have been getting along. She
hasn’t said a word of it for the last year.”

“Things
are good,” Brian answered. He noticed the fish bowl he was in while in the
dining hall.

“You’re
still having issues with the multiple relationships, aren’t you?” she asked
before leaning back to relax. “Your people are bunch of prudes.”

“Not
all, just many,” Brian answered. He laughed at the truth behind her comment.
“For me it’s more like conditioning. I have to unlearn the mores and taboos
part of me during my life on Earth. It’s getting easier to deal with, but
still, I feel a little odd dealing with Seles and Mira the way I am.”

“Don’t
forget the captain,” Jesela said with a grin. “We know about your late night
visits with her have been common recently.”

Brian
grinned as well. “About half of those times I actually learn something about
running the ship.” Some of the girls nearby laughed at his comment. He waved it
off. “I don’t mean to be flippant about it; I’m trying to keep a positive
attitude.”

“We
know commander,” one of the ensigns said.

“Yeah
commander, we know you’re doing your best,” another ensign added.

“Thanks,”
he said. Brian took his dirty plate to the depositing station while Jesela
followed. He started back to his quarters as she continued following.

“It’s
good to see the crew in high spirits after a battle,” Jesela said. Brian
watched as she skipped around and danced as they made their way to his
quarters.

“I’m
glad as well,” he said. “Jesela, where do you get all that energy?”

“I’m
naturally manic,” she answered. “When I’m not dancing I’m thinking, and when
I’m dancing I’m still thinking. It drives Mira crazy some nights because I’ll
do this without rest. It’s gotten worse since Daes started making mobile suits.
Ever since then I’ve felt possessed to push it further along. I have a number
of things I’d like to try as long as were out here.”

“I’d
be glad to allow for it as long as energy isn’t a problem,” Brian said when
they came to the door of his quarters.

“Who’s
bunking with you?” Jesela asked before looking down the hall in both directions.

“Celi,”
he answered.

“Is
she in there now?”

“I
don’t think so. She’s on bridge duty at the moment.”

“For
how long?” she asked.

“Twelve
hours.”

“Good,”
she said before smiling. She pulled him down to her level and kissed him. “I’ve
waited four years for a chance to finally do this.” She gazed into his eyes.

I
have maybe six months to live, so why the not?
Brian thought
to himself. “Do you know how this works?”

“I’m
a faster learner,” she said “Just open the damn door so we can get started.”

* * *

“We’ve
determined the other ship has a hundred and twenty Kalaidians and one unknown
life form,” Droid A reported. “Their ship has taken refuge in an asteroid.”

“Good,
keep us at a safe distance for now,” the old Malcovin ordered. He looked over a
number of scans of the Avoni. “It’s still a typical Kalaidian vessel, even
updated from previous models.”

“What
is it that makes it Kalaidian?” Droid C asked.

“All
curves and comfort with no function,” the old Malcovin joked. “Its functions
are better than older models but not up to specs with the mobile suits it
carries. I wonder why it hasn’t been updated to their level.”

“Could
it be cost or time?” Droid B asked.

“Both
most likely,” the old Malcovin said. “I’ll make sure to help them update their
shields and weapons systems. The Grey’s power is immense. The only reason I’ve
lasted this long is because of the stealth cloaks and upgraded shields.”

“Our
offensive power is nothing to brag about,” Droid A said.

“No,
it doesn’t need to be with the Talons,” Droid B said.

“I
wonder if any of the Maidens are onboard the ship with him?” the old Malcovin
asked. “I’d really like to start construction on their mobile suits as soon as
possible.”

“According
to the data we’ve collected while in this part of the galaxy, the Greys will be
ready to invade the Confederation in less than twenty years,” Droid C said.

“Let’s
hope we can fix things before it gets that bad,” the old Malcovin said.