The
Nimitz left Raeb with a very unique collection of creatures aboard. It
seems that the Klicks had not only collected slaves from the Verge but
from other areas of space that man had not gotten to yet. Jen
was assigned to assist all the guests and make sure they did not get into
trouble. The first thing she needed was something that could communicate
with all these different aliens. Then she remembered her little teddy bear
friends she had met down on the moon. She eventually found Frick and Frack.
They had been assigned quarters together. Jen knocked on the door only
to hear silence inside, so she walked in. As she got about two steps into
the room one of the teddy bears jumped out from behind her and tried to
wrestle her to the ground. It was totally ineffective, and Jen said,
“What
are you doing?” The bear on her back at once let her go and said,
“Oh
female warrior friend, we did not know it was you. We heard a noise in
the hall and thought we might have someone attacking us.”
“No
it was just me, humans do that they like to announce their presents. Also
I what you to call me Jen, that is my name.” They looked at each other
and Frack said,
“Jen.”
Then Frick repeated it back to her,
“Jen.”
They both smiled and said together,
“Jen,
Jen. We like your name.”She smiled
back at them and then said,
“I
need your help. You two seemed to know more languages then anyone else
here, so I would like to hire you as interpreters.” They looked at each
other in complete confusion. Then Frack said,
“We
do not understand ‘hire’ what does it mean?”
“Well
it means I will pay you for the work you do for me.” The
two little teddy bears looked even more confused, then Frick said,
“But
we serve; Money and wealth are the privilege of the masters.”
“You
are not subjects of the Medurr anymore. You can do what ever you want.
That is very important concept to humans. Of course we have laws but as
long as you obey them you are free to do what ever you want, as long as
you can pay for it.” Jen looked at them to see if they understood, at first
she was not sure they did. Then a look crossed their faces and she knew
they got it. Then Jen said,
“So
would you like to work for me?” They both enthusiastically shook their
heads yes. So Jen continued,
“Good
what I need from you guys is an interpreter. You seem to understand more
languages then any creature here.”
With
Frick & Frack in tow she started to make her rounds to make sure all
the aliens they had rescued were alright. The collection of strange and
wonderful creatures she got to talk to through Frick & Frack absolutely
amazed Jen. Other Verge Rangers had been coming to
The
interviewing of the ex-prisoners was a long and tedious process. It had
been going on for the last three months, and everyone was getting tired
of it. The Rangers that had been doing the interviews had found out quite
a bit of information on both the Klicks and the N’ess. The most important
thing was their government structure. They seemed to have a Theocracy,
to be more specific it was the I’krl Theocracy. They seemed to believe
in some higher begins, who were trapped in an alternate dimension. They
have promised there devoted that when they return they will rule the galaxy.
It sounded pretty weird to Jen, but she also realized how dangerous religious
zealots can be. This made a lot of the Rangers rethink the danger of the
I’krl Theocracy.
They
also got a little information on the two of the Theocracies races. The
Klicks are just foot soldiers of the Theocracy. In the past the Theocracy
enslaved them and now holes their home world hostage. This has lead some
of the Rangers to think, if they could find the Klick home world and free
it, they could cause the Theocracy to lose it’s primary foot soldiers.
It is a very interesting Idea, but where can they find Hivehome, which
is the name of the Klick home world.
The
Rangers had not had as much luck finding out about the N’ess.They
knew of course that the N’ess used their robotic extensions as armor as
well as transportation. They also theorized that the shells were some kind
of environmental suits, and there are a number of different kinds, some
for battle while others were more specialized. From all the information
they collected they also theorized the N’ess had evolved on a gas giant
or some other gaseous planet. The N’ess are thought to look something like
earth jellyfish, with some kind of tentacles coming out of the bottom of
their bodies. It is not quite understood how they started to manipulate
metals, but they must have and so eventually they were off to the stars.
The I’krl Theocracy uses there scientific curiosity to create a multitude
of interesting weapons and other items useful to their goals. The N’ess
used their own scientific knowledge when making their pods as their suits
were called. After talking to numerous creatures they found out there were
at least four different kinds of pods.
While
the Rangers had been spending time with the ex-prisoners, Military Intelligence
had been going over Raeb with a fine tooth comb. The first thing they found
was that the computers had been destroyed. They were still trying to put
them back together but it was hard when no one even spoke the Klick or
N’ess language. The search of the Klick and N’ess quarters had only turned
up the fact that all Klicks did was eat, sleep and fight. The Klicks did
not even have personal quarters, it was more like a communal area where
they slept and ate. They did find what they thought might be the quarters
of the Klick base commander, but it still had nothing of value.So
the information collection had yielded very little in the way of concrete
information.
All
of this had been running through Jen’s mind one day when she was having
lunch with Frick & Frack. When all of a sudden Frick said,
“I
just remembered something. One day we were having lunch, if you could call
that slop food, there was a round up. Frack nodded in her little high pitched
voice. She said,
“Yes,
I remember. That was the day our master was taken away. He was taken by
a ….” Then she just stopped talking. After a second another voice from
behind her said,
“So
what are we discussing?” Jen looked up to see Ida standing there. She looked
back to Frick & Frack and said,
“So
what was this thing that came along and collected your master?” The two
of them looked at her and then looked at each other, they back at Jen as
if she were nuts. Frack said,
“I
am sorry what are you talking about?” Jen just smiled at them and said,
“Nothing
I must have just been thinking to myself.” She finished her meal in silence
and then left the Mess hall.
Leaving
the Mess Hall, Jen made her way to the firing range, because it helped
her focus her thoughts. She had fired off about ten power clips, but still
felt uneasy about lunch, when an alarm went off. She ran to central control
room and found Flash and Falconrune, both of their hands were blurs as
they flew across some computer controls. Jen had no idea what was wrong
but knew enough not to disturb them. Instead she just leaned back and waited
for an update like everyone else in the room. They seemed to get things
back under control after about half an hour. They sat down and there was
sweat running down both of their faces. Jen looked at them as if to say,
‘So’ but neither of them replied. Then came an announcement for everyone
to meet in the Mess hall. Falconrune was tall with hair so blond it was
almost white. He was well muscled and was all dressed in green, as if he
were some kind of wood man. He stood before the group and said,
“At
“Have
you picked up the Luculluian Merchant ship yet?”
“Well
that is a funny thing. It seems as soon as the signal hit and everything
went down the ship jumped out. All most as if it was just sitting there
waiting to see what was going to happen.” Falconrune looked around the
group; there was a great deal of concern in his eyes. He said,
“I
am giving each of you a job to help answer all these questions.” Then he
called out groups and assigned them tasks. At the end Jen had found she
was alone in a group of her own and her task was to find the transmitter
that had sent the signal from Bluefall.
At
first she thought about satellite triangulation, this worked to a degree.
After doing all the calculations and double checking her information, she
found that the signal had been sent with in a thousand kilometers from
“Shit,”
and ran out of the computer center. She still had her gun in her holster
on her hip, and so she pulled it as she ran. The lines had converged just
off of the confidence course. She could not believe some one had sent that
message from right under there noses.
She
ran all the way to the confidence course, hoping against hope that maybe
who ever had sent the message was still there. Though as she had figured
no one was around and so she started looking for a transmitter of any kind.
She knew that unless she got luck it was going to take her a long time
to find it. The idea of calling for help went through her head, but she
figured what if she called on the spy. They could cover any tracks they
might have left behind, and so she just went on looking. After about four
hours Jen had still not found anything and she was starting to think maybe
she had made a mistake. She sat down mentally going over all the calculations
she had had to make. When she was dune she was still sure the transmitter
must be there someplace. She decided to go and get a sensor gauntlet and
go over the whole area again. Walking around a tree and through some bushes
in order to get back to the path, she tripped over something. She was sure
she had not seen anything in her way, and so she turned back and looked.
There on the ground was a multifaceted silver stone. It was about the size
of her head and looked very heavy. Then she noticed there were three other
stones and something else in the middle of them. Checking it out she figured
it must be the hidden transmitter. Now she defiantly needed her sensor
gauntlet, and so ran back to camp. Picking up her gauntlet she was running
back to where the rocks were when she literally ran into Frick & Frack.
She apologized as the three of them picked themselves up off the ground.
Frack looked at her and said,
“We
have nothing to do, so we thought we would come and help you.” Jen looked
at her two little teddy bears and thought they could barely move the two
large silver stones let alone carry them. She smiled and nodded that they
could come with her.
When
they got back to the transmitter site Frack said,
“You
have stones of invisibility.” Then looking past the stone Frack saw what
Jen had surmised was a transmitter, and said
“Why
does Jen have an N’ess transmitter?” Jen looked at Frick and then Frack
and said,
“How
do you know all of these things?”
“Frick
is insignificant to a lot of other races, but he pays attention and only
has to hear thing once to remember.” She smiled at him again and said,
“So
what else do you know?”
“I
know this is probably the transmitter that talked to the Lucullus ship.”
Jen looked at him with a mixture of shock and surprise on her face, but
Frick just continued,
“’Frick
needs to know things to stay alive. The more Frick knows the longer Frick
will live.” Jen smiled a sad smile and thought, ‘The mentality of a slave.’
At that moment she was so glad the Pafal had survived the Medurr. She gave
the little teddy bear a scratch behind the ear and said,
“So
tell me more about these invisibility stones.”
“They
make a web of energy around object, this warps the light rays and it is
invisible, easy.”
“So
who makes them and how big of an object can it hide?” He thought for a
moment then said,
“It
was created by the Medurr, but since then the I’krl Theocracy have gotten
a hold of it and made there own version. This one looks like a Medurr version
though. The invisibly stones can only hide an object about the size of
a Pafal, and me thinks they are not very easy to move.” Jen mulled that
over for a couple of minutes. Now all she had to do is figure out who was
using the equipment.
She
started to do a sensor sweep of the area, but Frick & Frack had been
at it since they had entered the area with their noses. While Frack had
been talking to Jen Frick had been sniffing around. Now she said,
“Jen
ther are many scents here. I smell almost everyone from camp.” Then Frick
& Frank looked at each other and Jen could sense there was some sort
of communication going on. Jen was pretty sure the Pafal were not psionic,
but she was also sure these two could communicate without words. Then Frick
looked up at her and said,
“There
is something wrong, I don’t know what it is but it is here all the same.”
All along Jen had been scanning the area with her gauntlet, she had found
samples of every type of DNA and was checking them off against DNA records
of camp personal or the rescued prisoners. She had matched up the entire
DNA and found she had only one person left on the camp list. Ida the Fraal
she had gotten to know was not among the DNA samples. She mentioned what
she had found to Frick & Frack. They looked at each other and then
back to Jen and Frack said,
“Sensors
must be wrong Ida was defiantly here and not that long ago.” Jen looked
at them and thought how silly they looked, just like little teddy bears.
How could they know anything, but then again they had been right more then
they had been wrong!
This
got her to thinking about Ida, and all the information he always seem to
have, but always just after we had found it out from some other source.Could
he possibly be Psionic that could explain everything? Now she had a new
problem, how to question someone who can read her mind. She then grabbed
Frick & Frack by the hands and started back to the mess tent. Getting
there she looks for Falconrune, but he is not there. She asks around and
finds he was going to the firing range. Leaving Frick & Frack there
she goes down there and pulls him aside and explains her situation. He
gives her a ring saying,
“This
ring will keep him out of your head. If he is Psionic and does try to go
into your mind, all he will find is his worst nightmare. It is a handy
little thing to have.” She smiled thanks at him and Falconrune says,
“Let
me know what happens and then we can take it from there.”
Walking
back to the compound she hears the click of a blasters safety coming off.
She quickly dives for cover on the same side of the path as she thinks
the shooter is on. Then not a second later a blaster bolt hits where she
had just been standing. When she got her feet back under her she moved
to where she thought the bolt had come from. There was no one in sight.Jen
thought who knew where she was going; Frick & Frack, but they would
not say anything. Then she shook her head, they would not have to if she
was right and Ida was Psionic. She made her way back to the mess tent and
found Frick & Frack and said,
“So
what have you two been up to?”
“Ida
was telling us about all the human worlds back in old space.” Jen thought,
‘Ida, he could have scanned them and found out I was on to him and tried
to take me out. I think it is time I had a little chat with him.’
She
looked around but could not find him so she went back to her desk in the
control room; she had read a report about something important but can not
remember. Getting to her desk, it was covered in reports from all over
the Verge. It seemed that Concord Intelligence had been very busy. She
read through the reports until she found the one she was looking for. It
was about a race that was believed to be part of the I’kra Priesthood.
They were believed to be Fraal or an offshoot of the race. If this was
true it could explain Jen’s suspicions of Ida, maybe he was not a Fraal
or was this mystery Fraal race.
Now
how could she prove it one way or the other? She had discarded a number
ideas when Flash came along. She explained her dilemma and he smiled and
said,
“This
sounds like a job for Buttercup. Give me 24 hours and I will have the perfect
person to help you.” He then left her to her thoughts. Jen did not sleep
well that night. She had a dream, in it she was tied to some kind of alter
on top of a mountain somewhere. Then Ida was standing over her with a large
stone knife in his hand. He said,
“You
know too much, so I am sending you to your god.” Then he took the knife
and cut open her chest. Reaching in, he pulled out her beating heart. Thinking
in her dream she could not believe there had been no pain and the only
blood was that which had dripped out of her heart when Ida held in up.
She also remembered him saying,
“Now
I have the final component.”Then
he just flew off the top of the mountain and was gone. She had woken up
in a cold sweet, and a feeling of gloom and doom descending on her. She
could not go back to sleep, so she decided to go for a run around the island.
About
three quarters of the way around the island she noticed a light coming
from what she thought was an unused storage shed. Looking in she saw Flash
working on an intricate design on the floor and walls. Upon further examination
she noticed it took up all the floor, walls and ceiling. It even looked
like he was making symbols in the air at times. Jen watched and about when
the sun was about to rise, Flash started what looked like a rather complex
dance.She memorized by all of this
and watches every move he made. After about half an hour something started
to happen. A haze was starting to form and got thicker and thicker until
she could not even see through it anymore.The
unusual thing about it was it was in a circle about ten feet ion diameter
and about half a foot off the ground. Then the mist or what ever it was
started to move in a circular pattern. Jen watched as different colors
formed in it and swirled faster and faster until they were mixed into one.
The funny thing Jen thought, ‘It should have gone white, but instead it
looked like a big puddle of mercury standing on its side.’ Flash finished
his dance and slumped down in front off the silver puddle on its side,
to catch his breath. After a couple of minutes he seems to be back to normal.
He stood in front of what ever that silver thing was, then in a blink of
an eye a large crystal hand with silver claw comes out of the silver thing
and grabs Flash.Jen is frozen in
fear for a moment, and in that time the hand pulls Flash into the silver
liquid. Jen quickly recovers and runs into the shed, looking at the silver
thing she now believes it to be some kind of transportation device or maybe
even a portal to someplace else. That still did not tell her what that
hand had been. Right now she
did not care Flash was in trouble, and probably needed help now.She
now jumped through the portal. She was not sure what happened next, but
all of a sudden she was on her ass under an archway into a garden more
beautiful than she had ever seen in her life.
The
aromas that drifted on the breeze were subtle and alluring, while the colors
blended to perfection. At that moment a small female voice said,
“Thank
you, it has taken me many years to get it almost perfect.” Jen looked around
and saw what at first she thought was a little girl, but when Jen looked
into those silver eyes she realized this girl was much older that she looked.
Jen said,
“I
am sorry to intrude but I thought a friend of mine might be in trouble.”
The small woman looked at her with an intensity Jen could not match, but
Jen kept eye contact with her. Then the small woman said,
“You
could be right. She might be the one.” Then a voice came from behind her.
It was Flash, and he said,
“That
is why I think we should keep her active.” Jen turned and looked at him
and said,
“You
are alive. I should kill you for making me worry like that. What was that
giant crystal hand that pulled you here?” He looked at the small girl who
was now behind Jen.Then he gave
her a nod and a smile. Turning back to Jen he said,
“Jen
I would like you to meet Buttercup.” Jen turned around and instead of the
little girl she had left there, she now found what could only be described
as a giant crystal dragon. Jen was standing in an arch made by her two
front legs, and at that she probably could have walked right under the
dragon and not bumped her head at all. The creature appeared to be made
out of glass with certain parts that seemed to be made out of silver. Things
like claws & teeth. The only way to describe it was that it was a dragon
in every sense of the word. She backed away to take in the full majesty
of the creature.
Then
it spoke,
“Yes
I think I will help her with her little problem. I mean after all we do
not want her to get her brain fried.” Jen turned to Flash and said,
“What
is the dragon talking about?” Flash turned her back around only for Jen
to find the small woman she had seen before. Flash said,
“’Jen
this is Buttercup. We are not sure but we think she might be the last of
her kind.”
“And
what kind is that,” asked Jen.
“Oh
she is a Crystal Dragon.” Jen’s head was spinning, so Buttercup just took
her by the hand and said,
“I
think we should sit and have some wine.” Jen heard Flash say,
“What
an excellent idea.”
“None
for you, the last time you drank wine you started frolicking and picking
the flowers. I had to knock you cold so you would not destroy a millennium’s
worth of work.” Flash just pulled a flask out of his shirt and said,
“I
will drink my own then.” Jen looked up at Buttercup with sympathy in her
eyes, and said,
“Just
give up on civilizing him, he is a lost cause. Maybe you should just make
him a play pen.” Then the two of them just laughed while Flash was obviously
embarrassed, by the shade of red he turned.
They
made their way to a gazebo, where a fabulous meal had been laid out. They
all ate, drank and talked. Jen found out that they were in a pocket dimension
that had been created by someone named Jackabor. He had made it for Buttercup
when he found an egg beside her dead mother’s body. Flash, Falconrune and
Jackabor had avenged Buttercups mother and taken care of her all this time.
She also told Jen a little bit about her instructor and her sponsor. First
was they were both, many, many, many millennium old. It seems that fate
had picked them to be champions of the underdogs. They had probably lived
in more dimensions and seen more history then any three beings that had
ever lived, and this included the gods. Flash said,
“Be
careful with what you believe, Buttercup tends to exaggerate.” Buttercup
shushed him and then turned to Jen and said,
“It
is only fair since we think she may end up having a similar life.” Jen
looked at her as if to say, ‘what are you talking about?’ Buttercup continued,
“You
also have been chosen by fate. I don’t know what for, but it is in your
aura.” Jen looked at Buttercup and saw she was giving her a sympathetic
smile. They were all silent for awhile after that.
Buttercup
then broke the silence,
“Let’s
see if we can find your spy.” They walked back through the portal and were
in the storage shed. Buttercup turned to Flash and said,
“Technology
or Magic?”
“Technology
with a touch of psionics.”
“How
strong are they?” asked Buttercup.
“The
average is about 3 with an exceptional one as high as six.” Jen looked
confused so Flash explained,
“Psionics
was rated out of 100, but most drop it to a rating of ten.” Jen then looked
at Buttercup and said,
“Are
you in any danger?” Buttercup smiled at her and said,
“A
6 might be able to stun me if I went in with out my defenses up, but I
am not. In that case it would be hard for even a 10 to hurt me. You see
Crystal Dragons are very special, they were the original Psycs and nothing
has come close to our power since. Jen
thought about the huge creature she had seen, there could not be much that
could hurt them.
They
walked to the mess hall as it was time for breakfast, and that is where
every one should be. Walking in, they saw Ida at a table with Frick &
Frack. They joined them and nothing seemed to be happening. Then all of
a sudden Ida’s head bolted up and he said,
“Who
did that?”
“That
would have been me,” said the small female voice of Buttercup, “and I find
your thoughts very interesting. So you are an I’kra Priest.” Ida jumped
to his feet and pointed at Buttercup. There was obviously some sort of
mental exchange going on. Buttercup said,
“Your
feeble mind is no match for mine. Look and see the power you think you
can deal with.” Then there was a blood freezing scream that came from Ida.
After that Ida sat down, and it was almost as if he had been turned into
a zombie of some kind. A couple of Rangers came in with weapons drawn;
Flash motioned for them to take Ida to the lock up.
At
first even with a broke will, Ida was reluctant to talk. His belief in
his cause was so complete that it had almost become part of his core being.
Using ever means possible they finally started to get what Ida’s mission
was. He had been put into the Argeis system after some sort of Psionic’s
had caused a dimensional opening. He had eventually figured out it was
probably the creatures called the Deepfallen. After collecting all the
information he could and having the N’ess do some experiments on the Deepfallen.
He has concluded they have some sort of collective Psionic ability that
he had never heard of before. He was in the process of collecting more
test subjects when the Marines attacked the base.It
took a while longer but they got Ida to admit he had not had time to report
his findings to his superiors.
When
they tried to get more information on the Theocracies Gods. Ida just clamed
up and nothing would get him to talk about them. This led all
This
meant the Deepfallen where in grave danger.
The End