Back Home – The Dual War
by Warringer
Chapter 41
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"Another thing... He was completely fused into that armor. There are no seams to open the armor like with the armor we know from LA. It seems he can only remove the helmet, nothing more."
Jack looked at the Shin'bi again.
"You think that we can help him in any way?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure that Washuu would be able to help him... But..."
Jack nodded.
"Can you wake him, Daniel?"
Daniel didn't say anything for a few moments.
"Uhm... He is already awake..."
Jack blinked and more than one of the Marines standing at the hatch of the LAV, as well as Janet and Carter stared at Jack or rather at the AI, they knew was in Jacks Mjolnir suit.
"Stop staring at me," Jack ordered irritated.
At his sudden, but understandable outburst, the stares were directed at the Shin'bi laying on the medical table of the LAV. The Shin'bi slowly cracked open his eyes, his face twisting into the Shin'bi version of a sad smile.
"Thank you," he said in understandable English.
"He got a translator," Daniel noted absentmindedly as everyone was focused on the Shin'bi.
Slowly and without making any move that could be interpreted as hostile, mostly because of the three Pulsers now directed at him, as well as his own feeling, the Shin'bi pushed up to sit on the table, careful not to damage anything in the LAV with his enhanced strength.
"Are you okay?" Janet asked and looked back at the screen of the CAT scanner, noting that not much had changed from his 'unconsciousness' state.
"As okay as I can be," was the answer.
Jack observed the black Shin'bi. He didn't completely trust him. Jack knew that it was hard to remain sane after a treatment he had gotten. Being forced to watch while his body was controlled by Shin'bi.
The Shin'bi was breathing calmly as he looked back at the humans, his supposed saviors. The way how he looked at each and everyone of them could only be described as stoic, even knowing that he was the way he was, he seemed to be in complete control.
"I have been consciousness for some time," the Shin'bi continued with a level voice." And I have heard that you wanted to... relieve me from my suffering."
Jack swallowed slightly, ready to do anything if the Shin'bi should try to fight them after getting it wrong. The Shin'bi didn't make any threatening moves and bowed his head slightly.
"I thank you for your concern, but I am honor bound to seek retribution. As I am in a life debt with you."
On the last bit, he looked directly at Jack, who could only blink.
"The Shin'bi are very close to the Japanese in their culture," Daniel whispered to Jack." I don't think that he can be purchased to forget that 'life debt'."
"What is your name?" Daniel than asked over the external speakers of Jacks suit.
"My name is Shugoryuu," the Shin'bi answered.
The humans and the Shin'bi looked at each other for several minutes, before Jack broke out in a grin.
"Cool, I always wanted to have my own Ninja Dragon. Much cooler than a Ninja Turtle."
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"Slipsteam Event."
Admiral Scheidt looked over to the sensory officer, Lieutenant Merdano.
"Is it Zerberoff?"
Merdano looked at this displays fore a few moment until he nodded.
"Yes, it is the Solar Tree."
Scheidt nodded to himself.
Zerberoff was one of the eldest and largest of the Solar Trees that had come to Earth, while its brethren were still out in the Kuiper Belt and couldn't be purchased to come into the inner system. But according to Shabazza, there was a growing number of those who had heard of what happened and would eventually follow Shabazza's group.
"Send him greeting and ask if he had a good journey," he than ordered his communications officer.
"He says that he is well and that the journey was interesting. He also notifies us that the Yeong Choi is ready to return to Earth."
Again Scheidt nodded. Up to date only the Ancient class ships, build by the Ancients themselves, preserved and than given to Earth by Nathan, were able to enlarge their Slipstream Field to move an object the size of a Solar Tree. And Zerberoff was about fourty five kilometers in diameter.
"He is ready to enter an orbit around New Omelos."
Scheidt chuckled as he imagined what the Dilgar would say to Zerberoff. He was unique, as he had grown from two seeds that had come down to the same core at the same time. He was more or less a dual being, two trees in one, with two separate minds that could act as one if they wanted to.
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Len'dar was still deep in thought as his aide, Force Master Dar'nen, entered his room, his eyes wide from what ever he had seen.
"Battle Master," Dar'nen all but stuttered." A large object just entered the system."
Len'dar blinked.
"What?"
The Force Master swallowed hard for a moment and breathed in deep.
"It is better you look at it by yourself, Battle Master."
Len'dar narrowed his eyes. He was pretty sure that Dar'nen had been much less nervous since the battle with the Doranians, so what was it that had resulted in a nearly completely insecure Dar'nen.
Len'dar stood up and followed Dar'nen onto the bridge of the Omelos. The bridge was much more hectic than it had been during the arrival of the human and Ferron fleets. On the center of the main viewscreen and in several holographic displays he could see something he had never seen. And especially not of this size.
He swallowed as he looked at the data that were presented on the holograms and the infos that were added to them. The object that had left Slipstream and was now heading for new Omelos was a giant tree that rooted on an asteroid. There was nothing that looked like a slipstream drive, through a human ship was moving away from the tree and entered slipstream to go home. No visual means of propulsion.
"We are being hailed by the... tree?"
"We are Zerberoff," a strange dual sounding voice sounded from the speakers, only to change to a single deep male voice." I am here to help you."
The voice changed again, to a rich female voice.
"I am here to act as space station and orbital habitat for the space born part of your people."
"Have no fear."
The last part of the voice was the strange dual voice again, as if the male and female voices were speaking at the same time.
Len'dar closed his eyes for a moment.
"We are also hailed by Brazilia."
A holographic display appeared in front of Len'dar, showing the Brazilian Admiral and head of the human fleet guarding New Omelos.
"Another part of the Protection," he noted with a grin." Through Zerberoff has volunteered for being the orbital habitat. As far as I know he can be the home of about two million people, three million if stretched."
Len'dar breathed in deep. He really didn't know what he should think now.
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"Multiple Slipstream Events!"
Admiral Robbie Jackson cursed as he nearly spilled his coffee after the rather loud announcement of Seiler. In fact he spilled enough of it to get some of the hot black liquid on his fingers. He rapidly placed the Styrofoam cup on a nearby table to shake his hand, before directing a short glare at Seiler.
"Doranians?"
Seiler looked at the screen before licking his lips a little nervously.
"Uhm... No, sir."
Jackson gave him another glare.
"Than who is it?"
"We don't have a positive ID yet. Slipsstream even was about three light seconds outside of Moon orbit. We need a little time. But it seems that we have one extremely large contact, sir."
Jackson took his coffee cup again and moved towards the large plot table in the center of Earth Defense Command. He was a little annoyed that this room got a new name every week or so, sometimes even the same as it had once or twice before.
"Can I get an image of whatever we got out there?"
"Yes, sir."
A holographic projection appeared above the plot table and Jackson blinked. The large object on the display was an extremely large spherical asteroid with a good part of it being artificial in nature. A small numeric display next to it showed that the object was very large, about fifty kilometers in diameter and the energy production of the asteroid was extremely high.
"Sir, thats not a moon. Thats a..."
"Seiler?" Jackson interrupted him with a glare before he could finish.
"Sir?"
"Don't. Simply DON'T!"
"Yes, sir."
Jackson looked back at the display for a few moments until additional displays appeared next to the large asteroid, showing a number of space ships of all kinds. He could identify some of the ships displayed. A Jurian Treeship, a Minbari Sharlin, a Centauri Vorchan, a GP transport and several other of the local races. But all had one thing in common. Their hulls looked like they had been repaired and custonized.
"Sir," Seiler noted after a few more moments." We are bing hailed by the... spacestation."
Jackson glared at Seiler again.
"Didn't I say something, Seiler?"
"Sorry, sir. Couldn't resist, sir."
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Catall closed her eyes as she looked at the display in the Hemls Center of The Home. In the center of the display she could see a blue-green-brown-white marble of a planet that was named Earth. She knew a little about the Corian Expanse, mostly because The Home had crossed it several times in the last eight thousand years. There shouldn't be a planet here that was colonized, no planet that would be possible to colonize. Yet here they were looking at exactly such a planet, full of life in the center of the life devoid Corian Expanse.
She breathed in deep. Maybe that planet had been there at all times, maybe if her people had found it earlier, it wouldn't have been colonized and free for them to colonize. But it was unnecessary to think about something like this.
Catall was the High Sideryt of her people. The elected leader of all Nomads. She, like her predecessors had been charged with guiding their people through the void of space, trying to find a place for them to live. But even after more than eight millennia, it was still a problem to find a place. Even if they stuck to uncharted space, they couldn't find a single planet. On the other side her people had gotten used to live on The Home after all these years, going as far as adapting to the sections with no gravity.
For a moment she remembered the history lessons from way back. Their old homeworld had too look very much like the planet in front of her, before it was destroyed by its sun going nova. Their ancestors had known more than a century before it went nova and had the time to discover new technologies to try and evacuate at least a part of the population. One of the smaller moons of the old homeworld had been converted into a giant space ship, The Home, and send towards the next star, where she arrived two centuries later, crossing ten lightyears of deep space.
The Ancestors had hoped to find a planet that could support them all, but they found a planet that was was home of a Quantum 0 civilization that all but hunted them away, but not without giving them a Slipstream Drive to get away as fast as possible. Since than her people had searched for a new homeworld.
Catall sighed. She could already see the reaction of the natives. Through they had rescued some of her people from slavery, they would give her those former slaves and than send them on their way, like all the other races had ever done. Who could really need the Nomads for anything else than cheap labor in space, the only thing they could really give to anyone?
She breathed in deep and closed her eyes for a moment, before she let her hands glide over the smooth fabric of the cloak that announced her status to the fourty million of her people. The only thing that set her apart from the rest of her people. The only piece of clothing, aside from space suits, that would be ever worn by a Nomad.
"Open a channel," she ordered with her smooth voice, underlayed with the constant light growl that was part of her races speech.
One of the technicians nodded in response.
"This is High Sideryt Catall of the Nomads," she said," We have come to pick up our people, like you have requested."
She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them, she looked at a hologram that showed the smiling face of a Jurian, or at least the member of a race that was close to the Jurians.
"Admiral Robbie Jackson or GDI Earth Defense Command," the man said in accent free Intercosmo." Welcome to our solar system. We didn't think that you would all come."
Catall blinked once. She wasn't used to be welcomed in any system.
"It is the last I can do for my people," she said smoothly recovering from her slight shock." We will be leaving when we have picked them up."
On the screen Admiral Jackson raised an eyebrow.
"My superiors had hoped that our people could get into a little deeper contact. But if you need to leave as early..."
Catall blinked again.
"Did you invite us to stay for a time?"
Jackson slimed slightly.
"Essentially yes. Maybe we can help you with any problems you might have, trade, that kind of things."
Catall could only stare a little dumply at the holographic display and Jackson.