Gateway, Coded - yellow, orange, yellow, red

17 Nov. 2749 AD

Lt. William “Willie” Jefferson was taking a break from the cockpit area,
he had alerted the computer of his intent to go use the head and then get
some coffee in the lounge. He had just enter the lounge area in the rotating
section of the Rostov and got a cup of coffee when the computer sounded
the collision alarm through out the ship and informed him that an
unidentified object had just been detected, via thermal sensors, at a range of
150,000,000 Km and in line with Rostov’s course. Willie told the computer to
vector the Rostov away from the object; also he wanted the computer to
shake out the Captain and the Chief Engineer.
Willie was moving back toward the cockpit area as fast as he could go,
“computer turn off that damn alarm and tell me what our status is?” he
yelled into his head set.
“The reactor is now at 12% increasing to 32%, Rostov is in a turn to take a
course 180 degrees relative from unknown target,” responded the computer.
“When will the CO and Chief be up and active?”
“Both officers should be on their feet in 55 seconds,” the computer said.
Just as Willie entered the cockpit area the computer told him that it
was ready to engage the drive. “Engage, all ahead one half, and secure the
rotating section of the ship and stow pin it” said Willie as he sat in the OODs
seat, and then the Rostov started to vibrate and as the reactor came up to
32% and the drive came up to ahead one half the vibration got worse. Willie
was checking the display and asking both the computer and duty engineer if
there was some malfunction causing the vibrations to which the computer
responded “there seems to have been an increase in the gravitational pull of
the unknown object that is enough to keep Rostov on the same course and
speed despite the Rostov’s drive engaging,” responded the computer. The
duty engineer also told him that his status was normal and he did not know
what was causing the vibrations.
“Engineer, can we increase the drive?” asked Willie
“Yes sir, in about 3 minutes the reactor will be at 68% and allowing the drive
to come up to three quarters.” the engineer yelled into his E&M set to be
heard over the noise that the Rostov’s vibrations were creating.
As Willie heard this the CO arrived in the cockpit area and took his
position, “OOD I have the conn, computer what is our status?”
“The Rostov is on the same heading as it was when the unknown object was
detected, our speed has reduced to 0.0012 of light, our increase in drive
does not seem to have had any effect. The reduction in our speed is due to
the gravitational push/pull of the unknown object reducing our delta V and
not our increase in drive.”
“Increase the drive to ahead three quarters,” said Pat and then he noticed
that through the cockpit screen the cockpit area was being bathed in a faint
light green light. “Computer what is the source of that green light?” Pat
asked, but before the computer could respond the vibration of the Rostov
had increased with the increase in the drive output and the Chief Engineer
was telling him that he had changed the optical photoelectric collectors to
mirrors to increase the drive up to seven eighths full and also he was
increasing the reactor to 98% of maximum output.
“Sir,” the computer said to Pat, “I have no knowledge of this green light nor
its source, our speed and our direction have not changed with our increase in
drive, also it now seems that the unknown object is now sending out an
optical code in this direction. The code is in three bands, infra red, ultra
violet and visual. In the visual band the code is Red - Red - Blue - Yellow. In
both the infra red and ultra violet the code is phase modulated at the same
rate that the visual band is changing color.” The computer told Pat over his
head set.
“Chief do you think that the Rostov can handled more vibration if we go to
full military, 110%, drive output?” Pat was concerned that his ship would
start to come apart.
“Yes sir, I don’t believe that the vibration is as big of a concern as the excess
electrical power that we are now generating, I am not sure how long the load
banks can dissipate this power before something gives, we are using the fuel
water to cool the load banks, but I am having to vent steam because our
condensers are not capable of handling the amount of steam being
generated by the cooling of the load banks.”
“OK chief keep your eye on it and if you think that we need to shut down or
decrease the reactor output just do it and tell me about it after.” Pat looked
over at the OOD and told him to bring up the radar system and start a radar
track of the object and the put up a tactical display of the Rostov’s current
relationship to the unknown object.
 Pat watched the reactor status on his display and when the display
showed that the reactor was at 98% he said into his E&M, “computer set the
drive to full military and engage.”
“Done,” responded the computer.
As the drive started to increase so did the vibration, Pat watch the
tactical display and was impressed that the Rostov had not changed direction
or speed to this unknown object. “Computer is this display correct?”
“Yes sir, our increase in drive output has not changed our course nor our
speed toward the unknown object. It seems that this object can increase its
gravitational pull on the Rostov to match our increase drive.”
Just then the vibration started to decrease and the Chief Engineer said
to Pat over his E&M, “Pat, we just blew out one of the load banks and the
temperature on the others has increased to 50% above rated maximum, so I
decreased the reactor output to 38% and our drive is at 45%, and that is the
good news, the bad news is we have vented in the form of steam 18% of our
fuel water.”
Pat said into his E&M, “computer set speed to all stop and decrease
reactor output to 5%. Mike, I’m shutting it down to allow things to cool off
back there, tell me when the load bank temp reaches 50% of maximum
rating. Computer change course to a 90 degree vector from relative.”
“Done” responded the computer, “Aye aye sir,” said Mike.
“Computer, shake out the crew, but leave the science staff and Marines
under,” said Pat, and he watched the display and saw that speed to the
object had just decreased to 0.00015 of light, Pat was starting to wonder
what the hell was going on, as he also noticed that the intensity of the green
light inside the cockpit area from outside had decreased.
“Captain, the load bank temp is now at 50% of maximum and dropping,”
Mike told him.
“OK Mike increase the reactor level to 35%, computer all head one third.”
“Done” said the computer, “Aye aye sir,” said Mike, and as the drive output
started to increase the vibration of the Rostov started to increase again.
“Sir, the speed and course of the Rostov has not changed, but the optical
code from the object has now changed to Blue - Blue - Red - Green,” the
computer told Pat.
“All stop,” Pat said to the computer, the ships vibration had stopped as drive
decreased to zero, and he also saw that the crewmembers that had stations
in the cockpit were now arriving at their duty stations. “OOD set the ship to
general quarters.”
“Aye aye sir” said Willie.
“Computer, set course to 180 degree vector from relative.”
“Done,” the computer said when Rostov had completed the turn.
“Computer, all ahead one third,” Pat said and as the Rostov’s drive started to
increase the vibration also started to increase along with the drive.
“Sir, the course and speed of the Rostov has not changed, but the optical
code that the unknown object is sending out has changed to Green - Red -
Blue - Blue.” the computer told Pat.
“Computer, all stop and change course to head directly at the object and
engage,” Pat said.
“Done, our course and speed to the object has not changed, the object is
now sending the optical code Green - Green - Blue - Green,” the computer
told Pat.
“Computer, all head one third,” Pat said and again as the drive output
increased so did the vibrations of the Rostov.
“Done, sir our course and speed have not change to the unknown object, but
the optical code that the unknown object is sending out is now Green - Red -
Red - Green,” the computer told Pat.
Liz, who was both watching and listening, said, “Damn, Captain that
code change is acting just like an optical guidance system.”
“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing Liz. What colors do you think are the
ones it would send out if we were lined up the way it wants,” asked Pat.
“Either all green or some combination of green and blue, but also I think that
if we were lined up the way it wants there would be no vibration in the ship,”
said Liz.
“All right, computer change the course and seed of the Rostov so that there
is no vibration or a minimum of vibrations.”
After several course and speed changes, made by the computer, and
varying vibration levels in the Rostov the ship settled out with no vibrations.
“Sir, the optical code that the object is sending out now is Green - Blue - Blue
- Green, our course and speed has not changed but our drive output is now
at 0.1% of maximum,” reported the computer.
“That is the minimum steering speed drive output,” said Liz to Pat.
“Computer, using the direction we heading in, plot our course to the object
and use that as the face of the object and then display for me the ships
attitude in relation to the face of the object,” said Pat.
Both Pat and Liz were looking at the display as the computer show the
relationship of the Rostov to the object. “Well, who ever these guys are they
know what they are doing and they want us to keep coming on in this
obvious landing pattern. The thing that pisses me off is that we can’t do a
damn thing about it, I just hope that they can figure out that the Rostov is
not built to land any were or on any thing,” said Pat. What he saw in the
display that was worrying him was that the Rostov had a slight up angle in
relation to the object, and a very good glide slope, just like an aircraft coming
in for a landing.
“OK Liz, lets you and get into our light suits and then make sue the
crew is all in their light suits and when they all have reported in that they are
in the suits lets de-pressurize the ship and secure all electronic equipment
except for the computers running this thing, and rig the ship for collision,”
said Pat. He was thinking that since who ever controlled or built the object
were much more advanced then the Rostov and it’s crew/builders that he did
not want the Marines up and active. He did not want to present a hostile
posture to these superior beings, also so much for remaining undetected.

Only Moon, 12 Th. Planet, Dragon Thingviller Star System

32 nd 30 Hour Period, 4 th Quarter, 1,934,270 CI Date

Ulv was intent on steering the Black Eyed Dragon hard into the moon.
His plan was to pop out two nuclear proximity mines and then pull a hard 12
gravity 90-degree turn up toward the gateway. The ship he was on could do
this maneuver in space because it used the surrounding star’s gravity like an
aircraft would use wind surfaces. His idea was that when the mines
detonated, some where in between the two Sheen Star Ships, hopefully, that
the one lower to the moon would crash into the moon and the other ship
may get damaged in the explosion from the mines. He knew that soon or
later the Sheen would fire a laser burst at his ship that would be phase
modulated in such a way as to defeat the rear field screens, and that more
then 20% of the burst energy would penetrate or leak through the dragon’s
rear field screens which would cause sever damage to the Black Eyed
Dragon. So far they had been very lucky, the Sheen had fired more then
3000 Mega watts of laser light at them and so far their best shot only leaked
10% or so of the 10 Mega watt burst of energy, which had impacted on the
skin of the dragon ship and had been dissipated by the haul skin.
The crew of this dragon ship were wearing their combat space suits,
this suit could maintain the average “Green Red” Norse warrior for one full
quarter, about four of our months, at full combat stress and activity with no
maintenance required. One of the things that was very unique about this
suit was the way it would reprocess all waste products through the nano
engineering unit that was built into the suit. This suit was made from an
organic material that was found by the GGLS. The suit was based on a
silicon and carbon life form that could survive on almost any form of radiated
energy, from body heat of the wearer to electromagnetic radiated energy
from power conductors. Because the suit used radiated energy as a food
source, this suit could take a one-kilo watt, 100 milli second, laser burst and
treat it like a light snack. The dragon’s haul skin was also made of this same
material as the combat suit, but the ship’s haul skin was much denser. At
the neck of the space suit were millions of micro tendrils, these would
penetrate the skin and connect to the spin and brain stem of the wearer, this
would then allow the ship’s computer, via the suit, to control the body
chemistry of the wearer and allow thought communication with the ship,
computer and other “Green Red” Norse. The “Green Red” Norse did not
communicate with the ship, the computer, or each other in the same way
that we do. Every thing was done through thought or brain waves and wave
amplifiers built into the combat suit and ship’s computer. Another feature of
this suit was an increase in the wear’s strength; it would double the strength
of the wearer. Ulv did not look physically at any display, the computer in the
dragon read his thoughts and then in his mind he would seen the information
that he wanted from the dragon’s computer. He also controlled the ship; it’s
weapons and the ship’s communications this way. The only things that he
could or would look at were the alarm displays. The reason for this was, if he
wanted to fire a weapon such as the particle beam and it did not fire, the
alarm display would tell him so. If the weapon was not available to fire, for
what ever reason, the alarm display would light up to tell him this
information. This way he would not have to make a mental inquirer if the
weapon did not fire. This alarm display was also different then what we
would use, such that its display was in infrared light.
 Ulv was not the typical Norse male, he was a member of what the
Norse and Inheritors referred to as “Green Red” Norse. The “Green Red” is
the Inheritor code for Ulv’s genetic variation of Norse. Ulv is one of the
Norse that the Inheritors had manipulated the genetic code of. Ulv’s
eyesight was in the infrared band, his eyes are made up of many more rod
cells then a normal Norse/human, and therefore about 900 times more
sensitive then the a normal humans eyes. He also had an inner eyelid to
decrease the eyes sensitivity and protect his eyes in very bright light. These
changes in his eyes made the color of them a pale gold, but when the inner
eyelid closed his eyes then had a dark red color. The “Green Red” Norse, like
Ulv, were also altered to with stand a much higher gravity force. The bone
structure was changed from a 65 to 70% inorganic salts to organic material,
to about 72 to 76% inorganic salt mixture to organic material. The chemical
salt mixture of the bone was also changed to contain about equal parts of
calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate with a new addition of aluminum
beryllium silicate. This new chemical combination and percentage change of
inorganic to organic material along with a honey comb structure of the
inorganic material, similar to that of birds, has increased the hardness of the
bone so that the “Green Red” Norse could withstand 3 standard gravities
constantly and up to 26 standard gravities for short periods of time. Another
change made to these “Green Red” Norse was the addition of another
circulatory blood system from the heart to the brain so that the “Green Red”
Norse would not black out for quite awhile under high gravity stress.
The inheritors also increased the “Green Red” Norse’s mental capacity
one and a half orders of magnitude above the normal Norse. To do this they
also altered the “Green Red” Norse to have a brain half again as large as the
normal human. To support this larger brain the body size of the “Green Red”
Norse was increased to be proportional to the size of the brain increase. This
gave the average “Green Red” Norse the mean height of 2.64 meters tall.
Other genetic changes that the Inheritors had made to the “Green Red”
Norse dealt with the immune system and aging process, the average “Green
Red” Norse had a life span of 2000 SY. Although the “Green Red” Norse
could be injured or killed they did not get sick. Also the “Green Red” Norse
such as Ulv could eat almost any organic matter and breather just about any
atmosphere, if it contained a least 2% oxygen or greater.
The Inheritors made these genetic changes to this group of Norse so
that they could be used as a trained work force with good intuitive
intelligence, and good manipulation with their hands and their hand’s
opposing thumbs. This work force could then be used to reactivate the
TTIGN, which the inheritors had shut down their side of, after they had stolen
the EMLS and ran away from their home world. The Yellow Star Coalition was
the Inheritor group that was assigned the task of reactivating the gateway
network; they also were the ones that altered the genetic make up of the
“Green Red” Norse. They did this to the Norse because the Engineering and
Maintenance Library Ship, EMLS, did not have enough robots to do the job of
reactivating the gateway network, and the “Green Red” Norse were a
renewable source of labor.
The Sheen were another genetically altered race, they were part
Norse/human and part of an amphibious race, found by the GGLS, that was
semi intelligent in that they were tool users, but they did not use fire. The
Yellow Star Coalition were going to try and use them also as a work force, for
mining, because they could with stand great atmospheric pressure, but their
intelligence was only slightly higher then a normal Norse/human, and their
alien social structure was single male dominated and clan oriented. This
made them very aggressive and although their life span was 1000 SY, they
rarely reached 300 SY due to the strife between each other.
This aggressive behavior was of some concern to the Yellow Star
Coalition; they decided to try a genetic adaptation to the Sheen. This
adaptation would be done to the females, what they wanted was a chemical
change in the brain of the female that would bond her to only the dominate
male. This change would then allow only the dominate male to get close
sexually to any female, any other males who would try were ignored by any
of the females. If the dominant male died the female would then bond,
chemically/mentally, to the next dominate male. They hoped that this would
keep the aggressiveness of the males to a minimum, but they were naive,
this only increased the competition between the males for dominance and
lead to the war between the Sheen with the Inheritors and Norse. The Sheen
of this new genetic adaptation were know as Blue 3, the rest of the Sheen
were known as Blue 2. It was the Blue 2 Sheen who started the war, they
believed that since the Inheritors had considered the Blue 3 Sheen as a failed
experiment, the Inheritors would want to do away with the Sheen altogether.
After a few of the Sheen acquired the genetic code of the Inheritors they
created a virus that would quickly attack and kill the Inheritors. Since the GA
Norse were immune to any disease the Sheen launched an attack on the two
closest planets to them that the Norse inhabited.
Ulv was intent on the rate of change in distance between the Black
Eyed Dragon and the moon, and the between the dragon and the two Sheen
ships. When both he and the dragon’s computer agreed that the distance to
both the Sheen ships and the moon were at optimum he order the dragon to
commit to the plan. The two proximity mines were released, the rear shields
were dropped so that the shields would not interfere with the mines, and the
90-degree vector change to the gateway was executed. As the dragon
poured on the speed from 0.6 of light to 0.83 of light, the Sheen ship farthest
from the moon fired its laser weapon. The dragons rear shields were coming
back up, but 22% of the laser burst impacted on the aft end of the dragon.
Ulv was intent on the tactical situation the dragon’s computer was
showing him in his mind, the proximity mines detonated almost perfectly.
The Sheen ship lower to the surface of the moon was blown into the surface
of the moon by the nuclear blast from the mines, and it impacted into the
moon’s surface. The blast of the two nuclear mines also struck the other
Sheen ship, the one farthest from the moon, full amidships. As Ulv felt the
increase in gee force from the dragons turn and increase in speed, he
ordered the dragon to vector back to engage the remaining Sheen ship, the
dragon did a maneuver that pilots of the twentieth century called a split S.
He then felt his ship get hit by the laser blast from the Sheen ship, the
dragon had dropped it’s rear shield force field to allow the mines to pass
through them, as the shields came back up, a laser burst, from the Sheen
ship farthest from the moon, hit the rear shields when they were at only 32%
of maximum. The laser burst penetrated the rear shield and impacted on the
aft section of the dragon ship. Ulv felt a slight pain in his head and the
mental connection with the dragon’s computer went away, ‘Eric’ he thought,
‘on my way’, came the response from his second in command, Eric. Ulv
engaged a switch pad and a visual display came down in front of him, with a
joystick. His main concern was keeping the Sheen ship off their neck while
they were making repairs to the dragon ship. Ulv scanned the alarm display
and saw that the main anti-gravity drive systems were down, backup photon
impulse drive was coming up on-line, long range ship’s communications were
down and the main and redundant comm. interface to the dragon was down,
weapons were up on redundant and so were active and passive scanning
systems. ‘So, I started out with three dragon ships, two including the Black
Eyed Dragon are damaged and one destroyed with the loss of its crew, not a
real good way to run a command’ he thought as he manually started an
active scan on the remaining Sheen ship. Ulv changed the vector to head
back for the Sheen ship, with the redundant photon drive system his ship
was now much slower and no match for the Sheen ship. The scanning
systems were now starting to send him data on the Sheen ship that was still
left and he could see that there was no need to engage it in further combat,
the Sheen ship was severely damaged. Just then it was reported to him that
an escape pod had just ejected from the Sheen ship with only one being
inside it and that the pod would not be able to sustain the life of that being.
As Ulv started a track on the life pod the remaining Sheen ship exploded into
atoms. Ulv set up an intercept vector to the escape pod, he knew that the
Sheen did not surrender, but he would try to save the Sheen if possible, if
that Sheen did not want to be saved then fuck’em. He did not hate the
Sheen, he did in fact have great respect for their fighting ability, but he
would not endanger his crew or ship for a Sheen that did not want to be
saved. After a few minutes the dragon’s computer came back into his mind
and retracted the manual control and display matrix. ‘Ulv, I see that your
intense training has paid off,’ the dragon said as it started displaying in Ulv’s
mind the data he required to control the ship. ‘About time Black Eyes I was
beginning to think you were on a break,’ ‘Your humor eludes me Ulv.’
‘Not to worry, what happened to the drive and communications?’
‘The laser burst was dispersed for the most part by my haul skin, but some of
its energy got to the chemical power generation system and the increase in
power crack the crystal socket in the anti-gravity drive. This caused a power
surge that has damaged several of the computer interface circuits, and also I
am very sorry to report that the power surge flashed in the drive section and
that Kat is badly burned and Carola is dead by vaporization.’ The Black Eyed
Dragon could now feel the grief that Ulv had over the loss of his life mate
Carola and via the suit that Ulv was wearing the dragon was changing his
body chemistry to help him bear his grief.
‘Black Eyes, did she die in pain?’
‘No Ulv, as with everyone of the crew, I am with them in their mind
constantly and Carola did not die in pain, nor did she die in fear. She never
even knew that she was dying.’
‘She would have liked to scream at death, but maybe it is better this way’
responded Ulv, and then the dragon started to fill his mind with data and
displays so that there was no time or for his grief.
As Eric headed toward the drive area in the dragon, he was taking note
of the different systems as he passed them, and passing on the information
to Ulv as to what he saw on their displayed status. He was able to move fast
in the low gravity state that the dragon was in, with out bouncing all over the
place, due the soles of the feet that were part of his suit. This was another
piece of organic material found by the GGLS. It was also genetically adapted
to the combat suit. This material came from an insect, it consisted of billions
of micro hairs that could grip on any surface that was some what porous, if
the surface was to dense and smooth, or non-porous, that the micro hairs
could not get a good grip, then the hairs would secrete water moisture to
produce a suction. These micro hairs also covered his fingertips, the palms
of his hands, his arms from wrist to elbow, his knees, and the seat of his suit.
Eric entered the drive system area of the dragon and found Kat lying
on her back by the chemical power generator banks. He kneeled down
beside her and checked her suit for any leaks. After he satisfied himself that
her suit had not ruptured or burnt through he tried to make contact with her
through the dragon.
‘Eric, it is of no use, she is unconscious. I put her that way so that she could
bear the pain with out going into deeper shock. She is badly burned in two
area were her skin has fused with her suit due to the heat from the power
flash.’
‘I don’t think that I can move her by my self without hurting her even more.
Black Eyes get Munin in here to give me some help moving her into the
medical rejuv tank.’
Munin is a small robot with a flexible body and six limbs. Any one of
the limbs could be used as an arm with hand or a leg with foot. The little
robot went right to work a soon as the dragon was hit by the laser burst. It’s
first internal priority, when out of communication with the dragon, was to
repair any damage to the ship’s thought communications system with the
ship’s crew. After it had repaired this comm. system it’s next priority was to
establish comm. between itself and the dragon ship.
When Munin came into the drive area it saw Eric and Kat with all its
sensors, both passive and active. The passive sensors were optical, infrared,
ultra violet, EMR, thermal, sonic and radiation detectors. It’s active sensors
were radar, low intensity X-ray, MRI, ultra sound and laser. Munin moved
over and quickly began to pick up Kat, as it did, ‘Eric, please follow me to
medical rejuv, I will need your help getting Kat out of her suit.’ ‘Dragon,
pressurize the ship in the area of the medical rejuv tank to facilitate the
removal of Kat from her suit,’ Munin asked.
Munin, Eric and Kat, who was being carried by Muin, all enter the crew
and medical area of the dragon. Munin carefully laid Kat down and through
the dragon commanded her suit to open. The suit, which looked seamless
parted down the front and the helmet parted also. Munin used a laser
cutting tool to cut Kat free from the suit, as the robot did this, Eric used an
enzyme spray to stop her bleeding and promote cell re-growth. Once they
had Kat cut free from her suit they placed her in a tank that was full of a
liquid that also had the same enzyme in it as the spray that Eric used on her.
Tubes were connected to Kat’s blood system and her urinary track and
bowel. She only choked once as the fluid in the tank filled her lungs. The
same micro tendrils that connected to her neck in the suit were in the tank
and they also connected to her spine and brain stem while she is in the rejuv
tank. After about ten seconds the dragon informed all of them that Kat was
connected correctly and that she would be in the tank 70 to 100 standard
hours, depending on how fast she responded. Munin closed the tank and
sealed it, then picked up Kat’s suit and took off with it to the maintenance
shop where Munin would repair and test out Kat’s suit.
‘Ulv, I am going back and start work on the gravity drive system.’
‘Do not go yet, we will be intercepting the Sheen life pod in ten minutes and I
would like you there to cover me in case the Sheen inside that pod wants to
continue the fight.’
‘Ulv are you certain that you want to bring this pod into the dragon?’
‘Yes, we have killed so many of them, I feel that we should try to save this
one and maybe find out a few things about the Sheen, but Eric, if the Sheen
wants to die fighting do not hesitate to kill it,’ responded Ulv.
‘Decreasing blue shift on the life pod, course, speed and rotation match in
two minutes,’ the dragon notified them.
Munin returned to the area that Ulv and Eric were in and attached a
tether cable to the floor of the dragon. ‘Dragon please iris an opening
through to the outside in the haul,’ requested the little robot. On the wall of
the dragon, on the side of the dragon where the Sheen life pod was, a round
opening appeared. Munin now scanned the life pod and was measuring the
distance between it and the dragon. ‘You are now with in the range of my
tether line,’ Munin notified the dragon.
‘Speed and rotation are now matched,’ responded the dragon to all.
Ulv got up out of the commander’s seat and moved over to Munin
where he attached the tether line to his utility apparatus, which held his
weapon and a few tools that all the crew carried. While Ulv was doing this
Eric pulled out his weapon and checked the load charge and seeing that it
was at full he commanded it off safe. Munin climbed up on Ulv’s chest, and
Ulv, who already knew the distance to the pod, from the dragon, jumped out
toward the pod, with the help of the dragon controlling his leg mussels. Ulv
and Munin floated out to the pod and when they were close Munin fired a gas
retro charge, which slowed their velocity toward the pod. Ulv hit the pod feet
first and the micro hairs on his suit’s feet gripped the pod. Munin crawled
down to the pod and after a quick sonic survey of the pod it decided where
the best place on the pod was to connect a tie down eye. As Munin obtained
the sonic image of the Sheen pod Ulv and Eric then had the image also.
They now knew where the head, and where the feet of the Sheen were inside
the pod. Munin did a quick laser weld of a tie down eye to the pod and then
connected the tether line to it. When this was done Ulv pulled them all back
to the dragon using the tether line.
After Ulv and Munin got the pod inside the dragon the wall of the
dragon irised shut, and the dragon built an atmosphere in the area of the
area inside of the dragon where the pod was now sitting. Eric took a position
at the end of the pod where the Sheen’s head would be. He stood just off to
his right and back about one meter. Eric held the weapon in both hands and
with both arms straight and with the weapon pointed down. Ulv stood at the
feet of the Sheen at about one and a half meters away and ready to jump,
either on the Sheen or out of the way, one way or the other, depending on if
the Sheen wanted to fight or not.
‘Everything is set, so open the pod Munin,’ Ulv commanded
Munin moved over to the control panel on the pod and after examining
it Munin garbed it with three hands and ripped it out of the pod. Munin then
disconnected a cable assembly from the panel and shorted the connector
pins on the cable assembly together. The pod hissed as the pressure
equalized in the pod and Munin then pried the pod open. Eric raised his
weapon to point it at the inside of the pod keeping both arms straight. The
Sheen inside the pod stood up and as it did Munin spotted the weapon in it’s
hand. Munin garbed the Sheen’s wrist of the hand holding the weapon and
with another of it’s hands Munin took the weapon away from the Sheen. The
Sheen looked down at Munin with an uncomprehending stare and the sat
down and started gasping for air. The Sheen was only half in the space suit
it was wearing and had almost died from asphyxiation. It was the amphibian
genetic heritage that had allowed this Sheen to still be alive.
Munin examined the Sheen’s weapon and reported that the power
cartridge was missing, the little robot then found the cartridge in the bottom
of the life pod and tossed both to Ulv who stuck them in his utility apparatus.
Eric commanded his weapon back to safe when he saw the Sheen drop down
into a setting position and start gasping and choking.
‘What is this, this Sheen is a female, and from what we been told she looks
like she is a Blue 3 genetic variation,’ Ulv thought the others.
‘Black Eyes, how many Sheen females have been captured or number in
body counts in after action reports?’
‘None that are recorded in my data base Ulv,’ responded the dragon.
Ulv stepped into the area that the dragon had an atmosphere and then
commanded his helmet to open. Ulv’s helmet then parted down the middle
and folded down onto his back. Ulv reached out and picked up the Sheen
under her arms, as he did this Munin stripped off her space suit and took it to
the maintenance area for an environmental integrity check.
‘Be careful Ulv or...’ it was to late, the Sheen female opened her eyes and
looked into Ulv’s face and her brain chemistry changed, she was now bonded
to Ulv until one of them died. She wrapped her arms around Ulv’s neck and
kissed him on the lips.
‘Well Ulv it looks as though you now have a friend for life,’ Eric laughed.
‘This is the first time any of the Norse have had contact with a Blue 3 Sheen,
she has the four mammary glands of a Sheen, but the upper two are more
Norse in shape and size while the lower two are just nipples. Ulv look at the
back of her neck and see if the gill slits have changed at all,’ requested the
dragon. Ulv turned her head and look closely at the area of her neck just
behind her ears. He saw the marks where the gill slits should be, but there
were no gill slits. As Ulv saw so did the dragon. ‘She also does not have the
amphibian skin pattern as the Blue 2 Sheen have, Ulv look into her mouth at
her teeth.’ As Ulv looked at her teeth he saw that there were not as many
teeth as a Norse, and there were only two types of teeth, but this did give
her a pretty smile.
‘Just as it was projected, to make the genetic changes in the Sheen for the
Blue 3 variant the Inheritors had to use more Norse genetic material. This
will probably make her some what more fertile then the Blue 2 variation of
the Sheen,’ commented the dragon.
‘That may be true dragon, but she does have the same hair pattern as the
other Sheen, even though it is pure white, but that may be from us,’
commented Ulv. This hair pattern started as a point at the middle of her fore
head and run back up over the top of her head in what could be call a broad
Mohawk style, and then down her back in a narrowing V shape that ended at
her lower back.
‘Not only that, but if the Sheen are using females as warriors then they must
be suffering a shortage of males.’ Eric injected as he replaced his weapon in
its holder.
‘Or they do not care as much about the Blue 3 Sheen females as they do
about the Blue 2 Sheen females,’ responded the dragon.
‘Black eyes form a seat for her here and then use it to do a complete
biological scan on her,’ requested Ulv.
A seat formed out of the dragon’s wall beside Ulv who then sat the
Sheen female in it and the dragon started the scan. The dragon also sent a
request to Munin to make a communication device for the Sheen so that all
could communicate with her. Munin came back with the Sheen’s space suit
and reported that the suit was functional, but of little use in a combat
situation. Munin then went over to the seated Sheen female with the comm.
device that the dragon had Munin gin up. As Munin reach out to the Sheen
female to attach the comm. device the Sheen female screamed and climbed
up on the seat. ‘Munin give me the device and I will affix it to her,’ Ulv order.
‘Lets see if she really has bonded to me as the rumors say.’ Munin hand the
comm. device to Ulv and in Ulv’s mind he saw how it was to be attached to
the Sheen female, also he got the complete information file on how it worked
right down to drawings and repair procedures in his mind from the Munin via
the dragon.
“Interesting, she has given birth at least two times and is still fertile, her age
is about 32 of our years and from the biological scan data she is in perfect
health, but she is also full of a long term contraceptive,’ reported the dragon.
Ulv acknowledged and moved over to the Sheen female while reaching
out and putting a hand on her shoulder. She smiled brightly at him and sat
down on the seat again. Ulv then placed the comm. device on her left ear
and the left side of her lower jaw. As Ulv started to step back the Sheen
female reached up and took his hand and held on tight with a pleading look
in her eyes.
‘Well Ulv it does seem that she has bonded to you,’ the dragon stated and
hoped that this Sheen female would help Ulv get over some of his intense
grief over the loss of Carola.
‘OK, but can you communicate with her,’ asked Ulv.
The Sheen female then got a surprised look on her face and reach up
with her left hand and touched the comm. device. She then started talking
and both Eric and Ulv heard the translation in their mind from the dragon.
‘I am called If’tic from Yellow Star 2, member of the19th clan of the Blue 3.’
‘Are you a member of the warriors of the star ship that you came from,’
asked Ulv.
‘Yes’ she said, ‘I was assigned to that ship called Water Monster, I was one of
six crew members.’
‘Were the other members of the crew of the Blue 3 variant,’ asked the
dragon.
‘Yes, there were five females and one male all of the Blue 3 Sheen.’
‘Are there other star ships that are so crewed within the Sheen combat
formations,’ asked Ulv.
‘Yes, the six you destroyed were part of fifty.’
‘You are almost 3 light years from your star system, in the past the Sheen
star ships could not sustain their selves for any length of time with out
support ships. Has there been modifications to your ships or is there a
support ship or base some where close by?’ The dragon hoped that she
would answer this question.
‘There have been no major changes to the basic design of our star ships in
over 500 of our years. I was not provided any information on the tactics nor
strategy concerning this mission nor any other. I and the other female
members were on board the star ship for maintenance of the ship and for the
sex purposes of the male commander and he alone of the ship’s crew knew
our mission and the details of it.’
There was now uproar of thought communications between Ulv and
Eric..... ‘That is why their response time in combat was slow.’ ‘This means
we are still in deep shit, there is probably more Sheen ships or even a base
station near by.’ ‘The Sheen technology has stagnated.’ ‘They must want to
try and control the gateway at this end and attempt to capture the GGLS
when it transits through the gateway.’
‘If that is the case then Bright Star 3 is more severely damaged then our
recon reported, and the Sheen society is in collapse and they need an
injection of technology and environmental stability from the GGLS,’
responded the dragon.
‘OK, OK, now we have more reason to get the drive repaired and the long-
range comm. system. So Eric.....’
‘On my way Ulv.’ Eric turned on his heel while giving Ulv a thumbs up signal
and looking pointedly at If’tic. He thought she was a real beauty.
‘Ulv you must show If’tic how to use the toilet and obtain food and water,’
requested the dragon.
‘Right, If’tic follow me and I will teach you what you need to know about
using this ship’s facilities. Please if you do not know what some thing is or
how to use it just ask one of us and we will help you out.’
‘Your name is Ulv and I am bonded to you for the rest of yours or my life,
therefore I will only ask you for help,’ she said proudly.
Ulv was showing If’tic how to use the ship’s water and food dispenser
when the dragon broke in on them.
‘Ulv the gateway has just activated, some thing is coming through,’ the
dragon told him.
‘If’tic follow me back the command area and put you suit back on. Make
sure that it is maintaining an appropriate atmosphere for you and then report
in to the dragon your suits status. Do you understand,’ Ulv asked her.
‘Yes, I understand and will obey,’ she answered.
‘Good, after you have reported to the dragon take a seat next to me,’ Ulv
ordered. He commanded his helmet to close and it lifted off his back,
surrounded his head and sealed. Ulv headed out for the command area with
If’tic following close behind and her eyes full of wonder about this fabulous
ship.
‘Eric, I don’t know if you would be of any help up front in the command area,
the dragon and I will keep you abreast of what the hell is happening and it
may be best for you to continue working on the gravity drive system with
Munin.’
‘I understand Ulv, but just to let you know what we have found so far does
not look like we can repair the damage with out some pure silicone and
ceramic material. Even if we had the required material I am almost certain
that we can not generate enough heat in a large enough area with the
equipment on board the dragon to mold a new socket for the main crystal
assembly,’ Eric reported. Ulv was now seeing what Eric was seeing via the
thought communication.
‘Shit, do you think that there is a chance that it can be repaired enough that
we can regain maneuverability of the dragon Eric?’
‘I think that there is a good chance of it, but I will not be sure until we have
the system tore down more and that will take a few hours. Also, if I do repair
the gravity drive system as well as can be done, it will not be enough gravity
drive to maneuver in deep space. So stay in close to this star system.’
‘You and Munin stick with it, I will not call either of you away unless there is
and emergency and I need help,’ Ulv informed both Eric and Munin.
Ulv had seated him self and via the dragon command the ship to
maneuver to a position such that the debris cloud from the destroyed Sheen
star ship was between them and the gateway. In this position Ulv hoped to
avoid detection for as long as possible while determining if the ship coming
through the gateway was hostile or not. Ulv and the dragon knew that what
ever was coming through would probably be hostile unless it was the GGLS.
The Norse still did not have the entire gateway code database to activate the
gateway. The only ones who would really know for sure that a ship had
transited the gateway were his ship, the Inheritors, who had the whole code
algorithm and could monitor the gateway, and any one watching this area,
which means the Sheen. Ulv would not be happy if it were the GGLS
because the ship was immense and would attract the attention of the Sheen,
and his ship was not able to put up an effect defense of itself much less the
GGLS. The dragon was telling Ulv that it did not think it would be the GGLS
unless it was damaged, due to the amount of time it was taking this ship to
pass through the gateway.
‘Do you know Black Eyes that you are not helping my mental state with info
like that, but of course you know. I just hope that Eric can get part of the
anti-gravity drive up and running before what ever is coming through the
gateway gets through.’
‘Ulv do not blame yourself for the condition of this ship, most other
commanders would not have done as well as you did in that last battle.’
responded the dragon as it commanded Ulv’s suit to change his body
chemistry to relive the mental stress that he was suffering.
‘That may be so, but I would have liked to have gotten back to the Althing
with If’tic, she is something that makes the damage that my Vic,’ three
dragon ships under one command, ‘has suffered worth the loss. And
thinking of her, what is she doing now Black Eyes?’ Ulv inquired.
‘After learning how to use the display matrix she has settled down and is
singing to herself, here listen,’ and the dragon linked If’ tic’s audio to Ulv.
Ulv listened for a while and was amazed, he had heard of singing, but
he had never heard anyone singing. The Inheritors did not leave any time
for the “Green Red” Norse to do anything but train mentally and physically or
work.
After listening to If’tic sing for five hours Ulv started to feel somewhat
better, be was not stressed and for the moment he had forgotten that Carola
was dead. He was sleeping peacefully when Eric woke him, ‘Ulv, I was
correct about the crystal socket, we will not be able to repair it entirely.
Munin and I will have the gravity drive system put back together in about
two hours and this will give us maneuverability if we stay in close to a star
system. We will also be able to maintain interior gravity at about 0.5 of
normal. Sorry, but that is the best we can do for now.’
‘That is one hell of allot better then nothing, great work Eric,’ responded Ulv.
‘Black Eyes what is the status of the gateway?’
‘I am very concerned about the ship coming through, it seems that it will
take about 9 hours for it to transit the gateway, I have gather a considerable
amount of data from the gateway, but unfortunately nothing related to the
activation codes,’ responded the dragon.
‘Any idea when this ship will be through the gateway?’
Ulv inquired.
‘No, not exactly, not with out knowing the type of ship and the amount of
damage it has, but I now believe that it has not come from the Inheritors
home star system.’ The dragon informed him.
‘Well we will find out just how deep in the shit we are soon,’ Ulv responded.