Kingdoms Away 1: Jorian Cluster Archives (9 page)

The checklist began.

Chen said, “Boomerang report.”

First Officer said, “No new updates. All
check.”

Chen flicked a switch to activate the ship
“Announcement,” knowing a recorded voice would be heard throughout
the vessel. The bridge was quiet, and only the rotating blue light
above the table indicated that Verging had begun. Each Joiran knew
that the attite armor would automatically protect them but they
still made a conscious effort to activate it. Even after thousands
of years since the first attites had been introduced to humans they
still liked the attribution to their ancient cellular
protection.

At a nod from Arran the Captain
continued.

Chen said, “We are on the Verge.”

Ross said, “Triggering the Verger to
UNLOCK.”

Arran nodded. “Decoding has begun.”

Ross said, “Beginning dematerialization. We
are unsynchronized with home dimension.”

Jade studied her station and touched the
keypad. “Inputting dimensional signature, s-str-m-04.”

Chen glanced around the room.
“Transform.”

Arran said, “Activating coding sequence.”

Ross announced, “We are materializing. We are
synchronized with wend dimension.”

Jade said, “Dimension signature is
confirmed.”

Ross said, “Triggering the Verger to
LOCK.”

Chen nodded. “We have crossed the
bridge.”

Jade ran through her list. “Confirm all
systems are operational.”

Ross said, “Verger check, Converter
check.”

Arran continued, saying, “Erge check, Coder
check, Programs check.”

Jade said, “Fusion Reactor check, Toroids
check, CGD check. Initializing Flight Procedures. Coordinates.”

First Officer nodded. “Do : G5 : Us :
VA.”

Jade nodded. “Check.”

A Meta-Shield officer stepped up to the table
and put in her card. “Drepanaspis shielding has been activated,
Captain.”

Chen smiled. “All go.”

Jade touched a button. “Activating
Acceleration Sequence. We are on route for Vespa. Time of arrival
will be 1.5 years.”

“Good work, people. See you at dinner.” Chen
left for the pipe, much like a lift, knowing that each member would
be busy making final preparations. A small secondary bridge team
would be rostered to ensure everything was operational. He strode
through to the galley, hoping for a snack before dinner. They had
made the transition many times to this string dimension but they
always felt the tension before each procedure. Only matter could
travel without hindrance through this dimension but to receive
information they had to access another dimension via Boomerang. The
pipe made the twelfth floor smoothly and the door slid silently
across, allowing him access to the three-way corridor. He turned to
the right, nodding at those passing him.

He entered the galley and strode through the
room empty of bodies. He called out into the galley and was awarded
a friendly smile by Chen’s favorite chef, Chef Pierre.

“Ah, Captain, I heard you missed your lunch.
Here …” he passed over a covered plate, “… your favorite.

“Perfect timing, Simon, a little bird told
you, hey?”

“Of course, Captain. But not so little keh?
But you must eat before your dinner gets cold.”

Chen went to sit at one of the many empty
tables. Simon Pierre joined him with a glass of wine. “So what’s
the plan, Captain? What do you plan to do with yourself for the
next one and a half years?”

Chen knew his ex-lover too well. Simon was
determined to stay with him through thick and thin. “Well …”

{[VESPA] [Trimador] [Mador] [Wasps Nest]

[358701/1276/145 /spring]}

Admiral Ryad, head of the kidnapping mission, held
the message in his hand. The plan was on track and he could now
dispatch phase two. EuroWasp was finally going to be very popular
with the Nest. They were sick of being left out of the loop. The
Genetic Council had hoped to hide their Wolf project from the
Joiran Coalition. He stood facing the albino Commander Tzand. His
commander, he knew, while having no desire to let his leaders in
the Nest down, hoped they had made the right decision. Ryad
couldn’t understand his subordinate’s reticence over the matter.
Tzand had once again been quite vocal about the wisdom of such
maneuvers.

The admiral was now trying to convince Tzand
that he had made the correct decision. They didn’t want to control
the experiment, only to force the coalition to come out and
announce to everyone what their plans were.

Their spy had informed them that the general
opinion of the council maintained that there had been too many
failures to find a solution to the Hostility Prevention Program.
That the Genetic Council knew too little. This angered the Nest.
Were they not all in the cluster together? One group, fighting a
common enemy, the Sharith. It had always been that way, until
Project Wolf.

Tzand drew in a deep breath. The second
message was overdue and he was nervous. It didn’t matter what the
Admiral said; he was secure in his knowledge that a bad decision
had been made. This was exactly why the founding scientists had set
up a new system from Earth and didn’t leave decisions to insular
and autonomous organizations. He paced back and forth, looking out
over the space port. The admiral repeated himself, saying again
that Tzand had no reason to worry.

Tzand was determined to visit Erus, where the
package was going to be safely hidden. He’d miss the space port; it
was based on the actual specifications of a Nest made by a wasp,
but much larger. The many internal sections were confusing to
visitors but home to those who lived on Trimador.

“Commander, commander.” A panicked voice
sounded from outside his office, and the dark-patterned door was
flung open. “Sorry, Admiral, didn’t see you there.” To the
admiral’s annoyance the sub didn’t seem to know who to give the
package to. Tzand nodded over to the admiral. The sub reached out a
shaky hand to give the admiral a Blazer, “You need to see this,
Admiral.”

Tzand was about to reprimand the flustered
sub but hesitated at the expression on Ryad’s face.

“It’s emergency data from the EuroWasp
Commander.” The sub left to stand and await orders just outside the
now-closed door.

The admiral read the message out loud from
the Blazer’s small monitor.

“Under attack. 2IC sent with package. Help.
Attackers, unknown.” The last known coordinates were given along
with a route. Tzand’s heart thumped away in his chest but there was
no time to lose. They had to attempt a rescue. The Nest had to be
told. The shocked admiral followed Tzand out.

They worked together to call a meeting. All
Nest members currently residing on Trimador either came or hooked
in to the 2D. A young man named Ard entered the circular tiered
room wearing a space engineering uniform and calmly answered the
questions fired at him gaining respect from all Nest members.

Nest member: “How long will it take to get to
those coordinates?”

Ard: “Officially seven years at standard
speed.”

Nest member: “How fast have the crates been
tested at?”

Ard: “The last test was a year ago and the
speed was four times as fast.”

Admiral: “Hmmm. That would reduce the time by
well over half.”

Ard: “Begging the Admiral’s pardon but the
acceleration and deceleration rates would have to be recalculated
to be included in that figure.”

Nest member: “And?”

Ard: “Two years.”

Nest member: “Better than seven.”

Ard: “Admiral?”

“Yes?”

Ard: “Theory suggests we could go a lot
faster than four times.”

Admiral: “Really?”

Ard: “We could reduce the time to one year.
Maybe even shorter.”

Astounded looks stared at the young face.

Nest member: “Why don’t we do this now?”

Ard: “We’ve never had the need.”

Nest member: “Will you be willing to try to
go at an unproven speed?”

A hesitation.

Nest member: “I thought so.”

“Sorry, sir, it’s not me but a crew would
have to be assembled and I cannot speak for all of them.”

Admiral: “Quite so. Well spoken. This is of
the utmost urgency. Everyone here has been cleared for full
disclosure. The Nest agreed to kidnap a girl who is the key to
unlocking the mystery to the Hostilities and a link to communicate
with the Elysians on our terms. The Genetic Council for their own
reasons had decided to take unilateral decisions and create this
girl without anyone’s knowledge. Their purpose had been hidden
until our operative became part of the project; a minor role, but
important. The operative reported the project to the Nest. The Nest
decided to take action and take the girl with them to the next
Coalition meeting being held at Darcerus in the Spithra galaxy. We
meant no harm and only wanted to draw attention to the deceit and
alert those also in ignorance. Our point was to ensure secrets of
this magnitude did not happen again. However, it seems a new rot
has developed in our beloved cluster and attacked the EuroWasp. We
have to be careful but we need to notify the Cluster
immediately.”

Tzand, who had remained to the back of the
room, stepped in to reject that action.

Nods of support came from those who listened
carefully to his summary of the Project Wolf report. If they owned
up now, then they would not be able to help remedy their error
effectively. He stepped back.

The admiral sighed, agreed and continued,
“Nothing like this has happened before and we initiated a string of
events that will go down in history. Unfortunately, like humans of
old, we cannot die of convenient old age and be covered with a
blissful blanket of sleep. We’ll always be living with the
knowledge that we caused a catastrophe and, what is worse, we’ll
know it’s all sitting in the Archives on EO waiting for a new set
of uncluttered minds to learn of our demise.”

No one at the meeting seemed to like that
thought at all. The admiral continued and then stopped. He suddenly
looked at the young man. “Officially?” The hawk gaze continued to
pierce Ard’s young face.

Ard hesitated and then came to a decision.
“The EuroWasp can travel forty times the standard speed.”

Gasps came from around the room.

The admiral leaned forward in his big,
comfortable chair, “How did we not know this?”

Ard: “Err, begging the Admiral’s indulgence,
every division is taught that Secrecy is the ...”

Admiral: “Key to power. Yes, yes don’t preach
to me, young man.”

Ard: “No, sir.”

The admiral frowned at that ambiguous
answer.

Admiral: “So your hesitation was to protect
your knowledge?”

Ard: “Yes, sir.”

Admiral: “How would you like to become my
attaché?”

Ard: “Thank you, sir.”

The admiral laughed at the again ambiguous
answer. He had to have this fellow on his team. He moved on to
outlaying the salvage arrangement; he’d press for an answer later.
“Send out news about our tested speeds, and we’ll offer our help in
sending mock reports. The speeds are safe?”

“Yes, sir. There was only some problem with
acceleration and deceleration procedures. We are currently working
on a solution. We may have to …”

“Yes, yes, keep the details for the reports.
We’ll offer some ships as well, but under our control.”

“Excuse me, Admiral?” another person
asked.

“Yes?”

“What shall we do with the team on Erus?”

“Notify them to pack up and leave in six
months or so. We don’t want to raise any suspicions.”

“Yes, sir.”

After everyone left the admiral looked at his
commander.

They spoke for a while before Tzand turned to
leave. “I’ll do everything I can to help, Admiral.”

“I know that, Tzand. I’ll need you to help
boost up the confidence of the younger members.”

“Yes, sir.” Tzand had to leave; he seriously
doubted the admiral realized the gravity of their actions, the
results from the attack and now the repercussions. He had read the
original reports of Project Wolf, given to him too late. Had he
guessed the implications, he would have instigated a Preventative
Action Stage One against the admiral. It wasn’t personal but the
PASO was made to stop stupid mistakes from happening. However,
stupid mistakes were still made because someone wasn’t always
around to first identify the stupidity and then fix it. Now there
was this; a dangerous and possibly deadly mistake had been
made.

Tzand broke his stride suddenly and realized
he had stormed past his office. Agitated, he stalked back and
almost bumped into Ard. The young man motioned him to precede him
into the office.

“You’re very considerate, Ard.”

“Only obeying protocol, Tzand.”

Ard closed the door, indicating that he’d
come to speak privately. Tzand activated the barre, a device that
shielded them from eavesdroppers.

Tzand turned to look at the engineer. “I’m
impressed.”

“With my performance at the meeting or the
new update on speed?”

“At your audacity into letting me in my own
office first.”

They laughed and then sobered, quickly
turning more serious issues requiring their united efforts again.
Many were put off by Tzand’s white skin, hair and pink eyes. Ard
was one of the few who wasn’t overtly curious about him being an
albino and that was curious in itself.

{[SPITHRA] [Erus] [Darcerus]

[149185/371/43/spring]}

By the time Ed and Erianna returned to the castle it
was late. Ed waved to the Guardar and together they entered the
main hallway which ran straight down the center of the castle.
Large doors loomed left and right and opened to other corridors. In
the main hall the stairwells on either side were slightly recessed
and couldn’t be seen. Great pillars flanked the stairs but even
they were dwarfed by the immense hallway.