Adventures of a Greenie: Off Planet (Vol 2 GC 22)

by Vanessa Ravencroft

Copyright© 2020 by Vanessa Ravencroft

Description: Adventures of a Greenie: Off Planet (Vol II of the Greenie Saga) © 2020

Tags: Minimal Sex, Ma/Fa, Mind Control, Heterosexual, Fiction, Military, Science Fiction, Aliens, Robot, Space, Paranormal

Published: 2020-01-28

Updated: 2020-04-22

Size: ≈ 169800 Words

Forward

Foreword to my readers

The first Volume of Roy Masters tells us about him growing up on Green Hell. It is the story of a Teenager growing up on the most dangerous jungle planet in the known universe; a plot of the Kermac to recover a Saresii shipwreck of the first age of knowledge which includes the secret of the Translocator cannons, the backbone of Union military superiority. In the chain of events, Roy's parents are apparently killed by pirates while they are on board a Union science cruiser and on their way to a planet in the otherwise mostly unexplored Spinward sector.

Roy meets a mysterious non sentient lifeform of incredible abilities, that bonds with him and becomes known as Partner.

The young man has little in common with his emotionally detached and all science focused parents, has been more or less raised by a former Marine who owns the only farm on Green Hell, growing a plant native to Green Hell that is the basis of a very potent psionic enhancing drug, sold to a pharmaceutical company as a basis of a number of medical treatments of psionic maladies.

Roy, after graduating Union basic school, is sent to an off planet college by his parents.

He prevents an assassination attempt, apparently aimed at a Klack delegation, meets the President of the United Stars of the Galaxies, learns of the apparent fate of his parents and meets mysterious Cara, officially a PSI Corps agent assigned to the security detail of the president.

In the further development of the story, Roy meets the Wurgus Patriach and the Immortal admiral Richard Stahl.

The story concludes with the Kermac scheme revealed, the president unmasked as a Kermac spy and operative and a declaration of war.

The original second volume of Roy's story takes place years later when he had become a Union Marine, with flashbacks to the time he left Green Hell.

This is what I attempted, all the way to Chapter 18, in the volume called "Galaxy at War".

To me it seemed a novel, different way of telling a story, but I am continue to receive messages and critique of my readers and fans. They express to be confused or dissatisfied with this form of the story.

I conducted a poll on my Pateron page, and while the apparent majority encouraged me to continue the story as is. I am loosing subscribers and not just one.

While I gained readers and praise for the Eric Olafson saga, Roy's story as it is told receives much critique and private messages expressing a dislike for the format.

Therefore I am rewriting the story in two parts, with a linear time line.

The current version of "Galaxy at War" is now a Non Canon story. I will eventually delete it from Patreon and Stories0nine.net. It will remain on my GalNet site under the category "Roy Master's Fragments".

Simultaneously, I am now publishing two volumes. First "Adventures of a Greenie: Off Planet" followed secondly by "Adventures of a Greenie: Galaxy at War"

I deeply apologize to my readers for the confusion and hope this step will restore your expectations regarding my stories.

I apologize to those who expressed their support towards the original version as it was told.

I promise it will tell tbe same story, and add much detail to it.

With this said, I welcome you to follow me in this new telling of Roy Master's tale.

As always I first and foremost write because I must write, but what is a writer without readers? It is you my audience that brings this our Universe to life and there is nothing more paramount than your opinionand your enjoyment of my tales.

With this I say thank you and assure you, I will do my best to entertain you.

Ad Astra Vanessa Ravencroft

Prelude

The Year is 4931 OTT, the events that occurred in the Maxwell system, the incursion of Kermac warships and attack that caused death and mayhem on Green Hell and Harper's Junction; the unmasking of the President of the United Stars of the Galaxies as an operative led the Assembly of the Union to declare war against the Kermac and the Kermac controlled Galactic Council.

The vast distances, the enormous volume of space and the fact that the Galactic Council, while second in power to the Union is not a simple and easily defeated foe.

The Kermac are an old civilization that made control and deception an art form. While they are not able to match the sheer and superior military might of the Union, their schemes and clandestine operations are of the greatest concern and danger to the Union.

Roy Masters, born on Green Hell, one of the most dangerous and deadly worlds in the known Universe, just turned seventeen.

He lost his parents to a Pirate attack and helped foil a scheme of the Kermac that almost destroyed his home planet. He and his alien pet are now on their way to Sares Prime, where he supposed to go to College. While he travels to the exotic home system of the Saresii, the Galaxy prepares for war.

Roy stands 6'2" and weighs 201 pounds under one gee. He has a very athletic body with steel-hard muscles, thanks to growing up on a world with higher gravitation. He is fiercely proud of being a Greenie.

While there are many settled worlds that are classified as dangerous to standard humanoid life, there is a world that exceeds them all and is the only garden world in the known galaxy classified as a Type X planet: Green Hell.

At first glance a lush green world with a standard NiOx atmosphere, liquid water and an abundance of native life forms that would warrant the Garden world classification A 1 it is those life forms that make it different.

There are worlds with tremendous storms, those that are tectonic very active. Worlds with dangerous life forms and other treacherous conditions; yet none are comparable.

This is the world Roy Masters has grown up, a planet he loves very much and feels deeply connected too.

His parents, biologists for the Union Science Institute fell victim to a pirate attack.

While his parents, prioritized their passion for science over their only son and displayed virtually no emotional support or interest in the development of Roy from child to adulthood, Roy found a surrogate parent in a former Marine who owns the only farm on Green Hell, growing a plant native to Green Hell.

This marine, Sam Brown who loves Roy as his own son infused him with a deep sense of what's right and honorable.

Yet, not of legal age by Union law by human traditions, his parents stipulated that Roy had to attend college off-planet.

After the events that culminated in his parent's apparent death and the beginning of a galactic war, he is now accompanied by Cara Halvagh, a PSI Corps agent and on his way to Sares Prime to attend the very prestigious college there.

Unbeknownst to Roy at that time, Cara is ordered by McElligott himself to keep a close eye on Roy, because he had become a vital element in securing the membership of the advanced Wurgus into the Union.

Chapter 1: Leaving Green Hell

The Saresii ship was the product of a Union member society, and yet to him, it was quite alien in design.

The crew consisted of only beautiful Saresii, no other Union Member species represented and all appearing like women.

The quarters he received appeared frilly and had floating furniture that reminded him of shimmering soap bubbles.

Cara ensured him that most of the stuff was made of formed energy and manipulated matter, much like Variform furniture and that it was sturdy enough even for Partner.

After they had taken off, he retired and wanted to catch some sleep, he felt exhausted.

Just as he had dimmed the lights and was drifting into sleep, he had a very vivid dream of a dry planet. with a glaring desert. Of rough canyon rock walls, with thousands of cages. In his incorporeal ghost-like condition, he noticed a filthy woman leaning against a stone wall inside one of those cages, The floor covered with filthy yellowish plant stalks.

He recognized the woman. The images made him bolt straight up in the low grav-bed, and he yelled, "Mother!"

--""--

Only ten days had passed since the Kermac attacked Green Hell, trying to excavate and secure an ancient Saresii space ship, buried there for over a million standard years.

It all culminated with the Union-wide shocking revelation that the President of the United Stars himself was a Kermac Spy.

Roy had been at the very center of these events and he had to admit, most of it it was still hard to understand.

The Kermac, the Galactic Council. A quest by these White-skinned agitators that lasted over 500, to unravel the technical secret of the Translocator Cannons.

Galactic secrets, Union politics, wide-reaching ramifications, and war. He sighed deeply as he rubbed his eyes, trying to chase the demons of that vivid nightmare away whispered."Damn them all, I am just a teenager of a backwater world. What do I know?

His beloved homeworld, Green Hell did not develop into the most dangerous planet in the known universe all on its own, and by nature's design alone.

He unraveled that mystery at the climax of those recent events. All that lethal life that did not match any genetic commonality, like the naturally evolved life of any other known garden world.

All these diverse life forms had been brought to Green Hell, by a long-vanished and highly advanced society, known to a very few as Seenians, generally and incorrectly called the Celtest.

These Seenians gathered the most lethal and dangerous life forms from all across the galaxy and perhaps beyond, brought them to Green Hell as part of a bioweapon program.

If he understood correctly, the Seenians tried to develop bioforms that could be used as a weapon against an equally long-vanished foe, called the Dark Ones.

Both the Seenians and the Dark Ones vanished long before the bioweapon project was completed.

An advanced AI machine was left behind and it somehow developed a personality and merged with a cosmic entity or spirit, someone or something truly beyond Roy's comprehension. What he believed to understand was that this machine/spirit symbiont evolved in a kind of planetary mother. A guardian or protector of Green Hell with a deep connection to all that lived on Green Hell.

The most lethal life forms somehow learned to live with each other, find a balance and evolve into the unique biosphere of Green Hell.

This entity was represented by the projection of a woman with the name Qaroniel.

She had revealed herself to him and first called him a child of Oaroniel and then as the Kermac invaded, she called him Warrior of Qaroniel.

He had seen her only once in the aftermath of the invasion. To his disappointment, she too wanted him, just like Uncle Sam to leave Green Hell.

She argued that the true monsters and true evil were to be found beyond the orbit of Green Hell, a sentiment echoed by Uncle Sam. Qaroniel told him, that he would need knowledge and skills not found on Green Hell to become its true protector.

When Cara, his Saresii friend, and mentor offered a chance to receive college education on Sares Prime, everyone he knew told him this was a great honor and a rare opportunity.

Something he had to accept and embrace. Even practical Ma Swenson told him, the day he left Green Hell, that them Doll-faces of Sares were quite advanced and smart as they came.

Those were her words.

So, he promised to everyone be good and try his best.

He had to agree that the events since his last birthday had shown him just how important education, and how dangerous ignorance could be, but deep down there was a voice of rebellion. Perhaps not as stubborn as it was before, this voice still a hallmark of human teenagers since times began; resenting the fact that there were always others telling him how he had to act and what to do.

Less than twelve hours ago. Cara, Partner, and Roy had boarded this exotic looking Saresii space ship at the spaceport of Harper's Junction.

Not able to sleep after that strange nightmare.A dream where he saw his mother and his father in a cave-like place, dirty and wearing rags and being prisoners of someone or something. Not that this was possible, both his parents fell victim to a pirate attack and perished with all the others of the UES Zengh He.

While the Saresii Ship was quite fast, it still had to cross through the entire Upward Sector. past the gaps of two spiral arms and then cross into the Spinward Sector.

In terms of distance almost 35,000 light-years. Even though the Saresii Ship traveled in Quasi Space at the incredible speed of 42,875 times the speed of light, it would take over 298 standard days to reach the destination of Sares Prime, at least if his calculation was right.

Yet, Cara had told him they would make the trip in less than 20 days.

In moments like this, he knew he should have paid more attention in school and not skip the Neural Upload sessions as he did so often, so he could escape school for his beloved jungles. He wondered how this would be accomplished.

Roy took a cold water-based shower, instead of the also offered perfumed steamed sonics, and got dressed in his usual camo-pattern Bio-seal suit.

His quarters were spacious and everything had an alien feminine character, well everything except that huge black beast, still snoozing in the big bed.

That animal was a true enigma, all Roy really could find out about Partner came from obscure stories and legends.

Some sources suggested that it was the product of highly advanced civilization, today only remembered as the Dark Ones. Perhaps the Green Hell project of the Seenians was a direct answer?

His mind had a hard time believing that this fur-covered, four-legged animal was that old. According to these legends he had discovered so far, Partner was supposed to be a Fury Beast or if Roy paid credence to an Oromal waiter of Harper's Junction spaceport, Partner was an Imperial Hell-Hound; that his four-legged friend was way more than it appeared was certain, however. There seemed little that could harm or kill his friend, except energy siphoning devices.

Partner could teleport, emit strong energy blasts from those small, always slightly glowing horns, eat pretty much anything.

And when he needed help, the Beast summoned thousands of similar, but smaller Fury Beasts. These other beasts had appeared in the nick of time defeating the landing Kermac, only to disappear once the deed was done.

Roy shared a psionic link, a strong bond with Partner and while his animal was quite intelligent, it was not sentient. It communicated with mental images and emotions, many of Partner's images made no sense to Roy.

For example, when he tried to ask Partner where the other Fury Beasts came from or where they went, all he got were confusing images of swirling colors and symbolic conditions that looked like abstract paintings of a mad man. At least that was the closest way Roy could describe what he saw when he tried to formulate his question.

He had given up trying to understand his friend. All he know was that he loved this creature as much as anyone could love an animal.

Partner raised his head, always knowing when Roy was thinking about it and a warm wave of affection came over Roy, transmitted by the mind of the animal as if to say. "I love you too." Then Partner blinked with his deep red glowing eyes and it was clear he tried to say. "Is it time to get up?"

Roy went over and rubbed the animal's belly. "Don't get up. It's still early and there isn't anything to do anyway, but I can't sleep, I had a weird dream. I want to see if I can scare up some breakfast."

Partner sneezed, licked over Roy's arm and squeezed his eyes shut.

"I said it before, you know. I bet you are the laziest sleepy beast of them all. Whoever owned you before wanted some tough beast and all he got was a big black cuddle monster."

He hugged his massive pet and buried his face in the dry, warm fur. "I sure glad I have you, though."

Partner grunted deeply satisfied and then sneezed again. Roy was certain, Partner was completely content. So he let it sleep and then went to the exit.

The door to this pink and pastel blue bubble room without any straight walls or sharp corners was a five-leaf iris and it made a turning motion and chirping sound as it opened.

The corridor behind his door had the cross-section of an egg-shaped oval, the walls and floors were made of a smooth white plastic-like mirror-smooth and translucent material.

Soft bluish light shining without revealing a real source behind the material gave it all a clinical, antiseptic atmosphere.

Cara had shown him to his quarters as they left Harper's Junction yesterday, so far he had seen little else of the ship.

Not knowing which direction to go, he hesitated for a moment and then simply went to the right.

It didn't have to walk far when he ran into one of the ship's crew. Another long-legged, very female shaped Saresii wearing a white catsuit, with fine black lines down the sides.

Her ample chest was clearly defined underneath that shinny white material and on top of her left boob the Union Flag, while a series of alien writing on the right side most likely identified her name.

If it was a she of course, despite the fact she looked like a flawless fashion model with a killer body, long shiny black hair and a beautiful face with large purple eyes and voluptuous lips; he knew she could very well be a Saresii male. From what he learned from Cara there were no visual differences."

She smiled at him. "Hello Mr. Masters, I am Doctor Seniie and the CMO of this vessel. I am surprised to see you up at this hour."

"Nice to meet you Doc. I had a nightmare and could not sleep so I decided to find the galley, scare up some breakfast and then look around a little if that is okay."

"Of course, there are no areas of this ship that are restricted to you, this isn't a Union Fleet ship."

She pointed back from where Roy had come from. "There are verbal accessible serve-matics in your quarters able to provide you with a wide variety of breakfast choices. There is a staffed Galley on Deck three. Easy to find if you take the next IST and tell it where you want to go."

"I suspected there would be serve-matics, but I wanted to walk a little."

"Why don't you accompany me to Sick Bay? I always begin my shift with a good cup of Terran coffee and a few doughnuts. I can't stand this weak Saresii Tea we're supposed to love."

"A donut doesn't sound too bad. Got any Boston crème?"

"I am sure the serve-Matic can print one."

Roy changed direction and followed the medical officer and decided she had to be female. No man would have such a nice behind.

The doctor sighed and then said. "Cara told me you did not have much exposure to other Union members on Green Hell, and that the Saresii society might be a little challenging for you, but I have to disappoint you. I am a male Saresii."

Roy blushed and remembered that Saresii were all psionic gifted and almost all of them were Telepaths. "I am sorry for..."

"Don't be sorry and don't worry, we don't dig. That means we won't go further than the open surface thoughts almost all beings transmit, it's almost like hearing a spoken conversation to someone with ears. Going beyond that is against the law and we take our Union Psi laws very seriously."

"I know, my mother is ... I mean she was a Telepath and she too spoke about these laws and always respected them. I know what digging means. She didn't do it either."

The CMO gave him a sad smile. "Yes, Cara told me about that as well. From Phantas, right? I mean your mother was from that world, was she not?"

"Yes, she was."

"Ah, the Phantas enigma. Terran Settlers there developed strong Psionic talents over the almost 2000 years of Colony history."

The doctor was thinking for a second and added."If I recall, only recently it was discovered that local pollen of a psionic gifted plant that caused the mutation. This pollen dust is somewhat akin to the dust pods of the Fire Nettle Bushes, producing the famous Calipharm that comes from your world. Leedei scientists think psionic abilities occur on planets that are near psion nodes."

"I didn't know that."

The doctor made a gesture down his body. "If you are curious about Saresii and our ways. I don't mind answering your questions."

"How is it you have female hips, and fill out that skin tight thing, without showing ... Uhm..."

"We do this for a very long time and perfected it. It is still sort of a disguise, but after almost 950,000 years it is very natural to us. Then there are Saresii Body-Shapers, these machines able to rearrange the molecules of your bodies in many shapes."

"Ah, that explains why you all look like tall legged super beauties."

He laughed. "Well, that. careful dieting and there are of course genetic changes that occurred both naturally and assisted that blur these external visual gender differences, that are more pronounced in the average Terran Human of course. We have a Body shaper in Sickbay and if you want you can try it too."

"Maybe some other time. I am sort of okay with what I got and all that."

"But maybe we could look into your Nightmare, only if you want, but nightmares often have psychosomatic causes and psycho med-science is a Saresii specialty."

They reached an IST tube and stepped in. The Saresii Doctor asked the system for sickbay and Roy said. "Sure I don't mind that, it was such a weird dream. You will tell me before you do any Psycho Surgery right?"

"I wouldn't perform it on anyone if my life depended on it. I am very much against these procedures."

"I thought you Saresii invented it."

"We did, a very long time ago, like so many other things but it was the Terrans who took it to a whole new level.

To me, it is a very controversial issue, as well as among many Medical professionals all over our Union. I am part of a growing group of physicians all over the Union, trying to outlaw it completely.

I simply abhor the fact that one person can decide what personality another person should have."

Roy never heard all that much about it, he just knew that Uncle Sam and a few other adults he knew didn't like it much.

The IST car stopped and released them into a corridor looking exactly like the one they had left, except it was wider. They did not have to go far and reached a transparent iris door with the standard Union symbol for medical services on it. A blue star-like cross with a snake in the middle. The door opened and the doctor led him into bright office in a light blue and white color scheme and gestured towards a visitor chair.

"Make yourself at home while I get the coffee going." He pointed to a blue and chrome contraption built into the wall. "This is the serve-Matic. Check if we do have that Boston crème thing on file and order two. I'd like to try one as well."

"Aren't you going to use it for the Coffee?"

"Oh no, I have an old Terran coffee machine. Using real ground coffee and percolating hot water.

There is no serve-Matic I have found so far, that can reproduce the real aroma of Coffee. A lot of the magic of this wonderful Terran beverage gets lost when it comes out of a replicator, you'll see."

Roy turned to the modern shaped serve-Matic. "System, do you have Boston crème Donuts?"

The blue field turned red. "No such item on file, one moment, please. Accessing GalNet. 233 Replication Files found."

"Check if there is Dunkin Donuts." That was Ranger Solomon's favorite brand and Melissa's parents had a Dunkin Donuts dedicated Replicator in their Restaurant.

"Information found, fee transfer completed. Molecule pattern downloading ... Processing,"

Behind the transparent door of the replicator, the molecule printing arm started spinning and begun to print the Donuts, molecule layer by molecule layer. It spun so fast no human eye could see it, but underneath he could see the donuts grow. Roy always loved to watch Food printers.

Suddenly there was a heavenly invigorating scent in the air followed by a happy gargling sound. Of course, he knew coffee and how it smelled, but this was different. He instantly understood what the doctor meant, serve-matics did not produce any aromas while making things.

He turned and watched the doctor filling two mugs from a bulbous carafe and said. "Milk, Sugar?"

"Uncle Sam drinks it black. So I try it that way first."

"Good choice."

For a small while, they didn't say anything. Eating the fresh donuts and the bitter, hot oh so delicious coffee. For the moment the world was perfect for both of them.

The doctor finished his donut. "They are my favorite kind from now on."

"And I will never think of Coffee the same way. This stuff is the Whamo."

The Doctor got up and Roy wondered why a man with a set of such nice breasts would not try to fondle them. Roy pushed the thoughts away, as was surprised by them. He hoped he hadn't noticed them.

The doctor had noticed and said with an impish smile. "I would not get done anything all day, that's why."

The Doctor still grinned and took a small device from a shelf behind him. "I am going to perform a basic health scan first and then check your cerebral activities for any abnormalities first. Simply to make sure your nightmares are not caused by any physical condition."

Roy nodded. "I never had any nightmares before and most certainly not of my parents sitting in a prison-like cave wearing rags."

The doctor waved the device over Roy and raised an eyebrow. "Are you able to remember your dream in detail?"

While three-dimensional bubbles popped silently into existence floating around the doctor's head, showing images of his brain and displaying neural activities in pulsating colored patterns while others filled with data and graphs.

Roy nodded. "Very much so, every detail. They were in a cave-like room, with metal bars on the open side. There were nine others with them, six humans, two Pan Sarans and one Klack. All wore tattered and ripped Uniforms. The Klack had a name tag with the name H'thkjik."

The doctor looked at his scanner. "Physically you are a picture-perfect example of human health, but your Pineal Gland is very active, and it appears your HPI has increased by about 200 points from what your CITI states when you were tested at first School day. A change in a person's Heidelberg Psi Index is quite unusual, but perhaps a side effect of you strolling outside in those Green Hell Jungles all day. alongside a psionic gifted animal."

The Doctor still looked at his device and Roy asked.

"Anything I need to worry about?"

The Medic looked up from a readout, his face was unreadable as he answered.

"No, not at all. You have Phantas DNA after all, and the colonists from there are known to develop and grow Psionic abilities. I suggest you have it checked every few years or so. If they ever go beyond 250 you will start developing stronger telepathic abilities yourself, but I would like to do a few more tests if that nightmare ever reoccurs. I just checked the crew manifest of that explorer and there indeed was a Klack biologist aboard named H'thkjik."

Just then Cara came in and closed her eyes while she inhaled. "They may be war-loving barbarians, those Terrans, but nothing compares to their Coffee."

The doctor gestured to the coffee maker and said. "Help yourself, I made a whole pot."

She smiled at Roy and filled a mug. "I think this stuff is the real reason we Saresii joined the Union."

Roy agreed. "I never had any coffee like this." He too was glad as the doctor refilled his mug.

She sat down and said."You are up bright and early?"

He told her the same story about his nightmare and the doctor pointed at the scanner bubbles and said. "As I said, nothing to worry about but as I told Roy if it occurs again I would run a Meissner - Norrlu test."

She glanced at it and then at the doctor and Roy had the feeling they had a psionic conversation and said aloud. "That would be advisable."

To Roy, Cara said, "It was rude of us and looks deceiving but our psionic way of conversation is simply faster and comes naturally to us."

She looked directly at Roy. "You can trust the diagnosis of our CMO, he is very good, but we have, well he has a theory about your nightmare and its cause"

Roy straightened in the seat. "Should I not know about it?"

She sighed. "We didn't want to cause you emotional distress, but as you know your mother was psionic gifted and that could have been a telepathic residue projection when she died and it finally made its way to your mind.

Psionics occurs on a different spatial level so to speak. Physical distances sometimes mean little. The Kermac makes extensive use of so-called Long Range Telepaths, able to send messages across many thousand light-years. We Saresii know of individuals of our kind who develop similar abilities. The Leedei use Psionic technology that bridges many thousands of lightyears. Things like this are very rare but not unprecedented, especially among next of kin."

Roy frowned. "I had a notion it might be something like that."

The doctor leaned forward. "The Meissner-Norrlu Test is conducted by a device that is basically a psionic energy detector that searches for the source of psionic induced dreams, but it works only when it occurs or very shortly after. I wish we had access to a Leedei Tele-Psi."

Cara put her cup down. "A Tele-Psi?"

"The Leedei is a very recent Union member and even more advanced than we Saresii when it comes to Psi-Tech, supposedly they have a device able to detect Psionic signatures and activities over great distances."

Roy only listened halfway because the possibility that his now-dead mother had sent out psionic cries for help to him was quite unnerving and did affect him emotionally more than he thought it would.

He quickly took a large sip of coffee to fight the knot in his throat and said. "I guess sometimes it is better if a patient doesn't know all the details."

She put her hand on his and said. "You are among friends, even if some of us are weird Cross Dressers in your mind."

Roy shook his head. "I didn't think exactly like that. It's just not so easy to understand. I mean the Doctor looks almost as good as you and if he didn't tell me, I never guessed."

The doctor crossed his arms and gave Roy a smoldering look. "Gee, thanks to Roy, almost as good? I spend a good hour this morning on makeup."

Then he laughed. "I am just kidding, of course, we are all more than a little jealous of Cara because she is blessed with her looks all-natural."

Cara blushed, and that made her even more attractive and a little more human in Roy's eyes.

She said, clearing her throat. "Your reaction is quite normal for a member of the Terran Human race, as the gender roles and appearances are much more defined and even after so many centuries still the core of your species interaction and behavior. We Saresii have been the same way, but that was a very long time ago."

Roy said."I read up on Saresii before I went to bed."

Cara got up. "Care to accompany me to the bridge. I want to introduce you to the Captain."

Roy thanked the doctor for the coffee and donuts then got up, to follow Cara.

Outside he said. "What I wanted to ask is, how can we make the trip so fast? Would it not take over a year to get to Sares, unless we take a train?"

"We going to take the HHW once we reach Blue Moon."

"The HHW?"

She stopped at the IST and called for transport and then said to Roy. "You never heard of the Hyper High Way connections between Core worlds?"

Cara and Roy stepped into the IST and he said with a sheepish grin. "I wasn't the most observant student in school."

"You do know the difference between ISAH drives and Hyper Jumps right?"

"Not exactly. I know that Hyper Jumping was a trans light technology of the Sarans before Dr. Isah discovered the Isah Drive and Quasi Space."

"Hyper Jumping, as it was done before the dawn of ISAH drive technology, was very dangerous, unreliable and limited to jump from gravity well to gravity well.

System hopping it was called. You may want to read up on the details if you are interested, but the general idea is that ISAH Engines are safer but have certain limits. The faster you push an ISAH engine across Quasi Space the shorter the distance can be bridged. Hyperspace Jumps are technically unlimited in distance and almost instantaneous but need gravity wells and hitting them precisely is vital. Normal Hyper Jumps could only be made from Star System to Star System. Now our Terran Friends developed so-called Hyper Highways with Gates in regular intervals, making Hyper Jumping very fast and very safe and each jump bridges 2000 light-years." She sighed. "Don't ask me how it works exactly. There are books on the subject."

Roy had listened and said. "Now that you mention it, I think I did hear Maria talk about these once or twice or so."

"The HHW net is relatively new and only Core Worlds are connected so far. Those gates are humongous, big enough for the Devi and it takes a while to build them, so that is why we fly to Blue Moon, from there we can access the HHW and be at Sares Gate in no time."

The IST had reached its destination, the door opened and in the same moment, a terrible jolt lifted them off their feet, throwing Roy against the wall. Cara fared no better colliding with her shoulder against the door frame. Red lights replaced the bluish illumination and a very male voice repeated the phrase: Red Alert, Red Alert..."

-""_- Roy's uncanny sense of danger warned him of impending danger. However, it did not give him enough time to consciously react other than being able to brace himself; his sense never told him what the nature of the danger was; he only knew the ship was in danger and that he could tell even without his danger sense. The blinking red lights and the voice calling everyone to General Quarters made that very obvious.

He checked on Cara. She was rattled and even looked scared for a moment, but seemed unharmed. "Are you okay?"

She nodded as he helped her up. "Yes I think so, I just bruised my shoulder."

"Do you need medical attention?"

"Not right now."

"Do you know by your telepathic powers what is happening and what we are supposed to do?"

She closed her eyes for a moment and then said. "We are under attack. Kermac and Nogoll ships approaching the Kappa Andromedae System, where we planned to have our fuel stop."

Her face showed distress. "We are in no imminent danger, as we just got a Wolfcraft escort but the system is home to the Bellebees. I hope there are enough assets in place to defend them." gas bag life forms living on a Jovian planet.

Because they shared some traits with the Lightning Dragons of Green Hell, they had been a life form studied and mentioned by his mother on several occasions, yet he had paid even less attention to the work of his parents than he had at school.

Cara pointed down the corridor. "We should return to our quarters. This ship has gone to General Quarters and we would only be in the way..." she stopped in mid-movement, put her left index finger to her temple and then nodded to whatever conversation she was listening to and then said to Roy. " ... but the Captain just told me that he wants us on the bridge."

Roy grunted under his breath. "I wish you guys would use the normal intercom or something. If this is any indication what awaits me on Sares..."

Cara didn't respond, but simply smiled and led him to a more solid-looking Iris door that opened and gave them access to the bridge.

The Saresii bridge reminded Roy of a fancy hair salon, like the one Maria liked at the main concourse of Ant Hill, and not the bridge of a space ship.

Nine Saresii beauties looking very much alike and only individually identifiable by minute differences you had to look for very closely, sat in reclined in comfortable bubbly looking furniture. Flimsy semi-transparent command consoles floated before them. In the centrally located recliner sat the first blonde Saresii he seen so far. Her skin color was more like Roy's and her eyes weren't as big nor purple as most Saresii seemed to have.

Wearing a pastel-colored uniform like everyone else, the commanding officer turned and said. "Those cursed Paper Faces caught us off guard, but our shield went up just in time to prevent serious damage.

The Kermac has no time for us now. Wolfcrafts tearing them to scrap."

Cara said. "The Bellebees?"

The Captain sighed. "I wish we had something to fight with, but this is a Saresii science Vessel designated as a Courier ship at the moment. But neither the Kermac nor the Nogoll brought enough assets to get even close to our thinking friends. We just wait, watch the fireworks and then go for our planned top-up."

The Captain got up and greeted Roy. "I am Captain Loran Watson, I wanted to welcome you aboard earlier but you seemed tired and I was a tad busy."

Somewhat stunned about the relaxed acting Captain, despite the Red Alert lights and the attack, Roy shook the presented hand and said. "Thank you, Ma'am."

"Why don't you have a seat, Mr. Masters. It isn't every day you can watch a space battle from a front-row seat."

Roy sat down in a chair that inflated out of the floor following a gestured command of the Captain.

One of the Saresii officers below the main viewer said. "The Nogoll are in the range of the Station batteries now, and the 45th just dropped out of Quasi to assist. Not that there is much left, the Wolfcrafts launched by System defense have already destroyed many of the Intruders."

Cara rubbed her arm. "We should still worry about the Kermac able to strike so deep into Union Territory."

Roy watched as Union Battle Ships fired on T-shaped ships and each salvo completely obliterated an enemy vessel.

It wasn't a space battle, it was a slaughter. The computronic enhanced images, allowing human eyes to follow the events in deep space, supported by the spoken commands and reports pouring out of field speakers showed in great detail how brutal and the intense war was, even in space.

A huge wedge-shaped Union battleship with glowing ISAH pods and shimmering purple shields appeared unfazed by the withering fire received by four T cruisers.

Compared to the size of the Union ship, the 800-meter Kermac and Nogoll ships looked small. Dome-shaped objects appeared on the smooth armor of the Union ship. The Saresii captain leaned forward. "That is the USS Vindicator and about to fire a broadside."

Bright purple flashes emitted from those domes and dozens of brilliant blooms of energy engulfed Kermac ships in rapid succession. Only glowing twisted pieces of debris remained, where a heartbeat earlier enemy warships had been.

While he was there, when the Kermac attempted to destroy his homeworld and this incident being the cause for this war; there was a part in him who felt sorry for the crews of these ships that turned into brief and bright miniature suns every time trans locator bombs detonated deep inside their hulls.

There was a part of him that understood why the Kermac tried to excavate the old Saresii ship and gain the secret of Translocator cannons.

This Union weapon, technically the development of a far advanced long-vanished civilization, transmitted Anti Matter Bombs at the time of explosion via a different state of space and time, only to instantly and without any time loss rematerialize inside ship hulls and inside shields. No matter how strong an opponent's shields and armor were if an antimatter bomb exploded inside their engines or their bridge, the ship was instantly doomed and destroyed.

Translocator Cannon technology ensured Union supremacy ever since Richard Stahl returned from his exile, bringing the secret of this terrible weapon along. He also realized how utterly important it was to guard that secret and keep it out of the hands of Union enemies as long as possible.

Cara still rubbing her sore shoulder said to him. "You are a wise young man."

"With you, I don't mind, but I wish I could think without everyone and their uncles listening to what I am thinking."

"Once we are on Sares we going to take care of that. You get a fine Saresii shield and the necessary training on how to use it. I told you before we take the PSI laws very seriously and we don't pry."

The Captain said. "There goes the last one. Fleet didn't even bother sending boarding units or surrender messages."

There was a tone of approval and joy in the Captain's voice. "Science, scan for survivors anyway just to make sure they got every last one of those bastards."

Cara whispered. "He's half Terran, and his father's side is the dominant one. Nothing excites Terrans more than war."

The Captain turned and said. "I doubt the Union would be what it is today without Terra. Our enemies respect the Union, but they fear Terrans."

Cara gave the Captain a knowing look."It was a wise decision Sares became Union indeed."

The lights of Red Alert faded and the Bridge was lit in the indirect bluish light from the translucent white walls.

The Captain sighed. "Ah, that's better. Cara we are going to stay a little longer at Belle Station just to make sure our shields are fine and check for structural damage. I don't want to go on the Jump with any leakages or tech problems."

"How long do you think are we going to be there?" She asked.

The Captain shrugged. "Depends on what they find but I doubt it will last longer than three days."

Cara turned to Roy and said. "That's not so bad. It will give you a chance to go down to Planet Humongous and visit one of the most unusual Union Member species, the Bellebees."

Chapter 2: Belle Station

Roy had learned that the ship he was on was a Saresii Courier and officially operated under the charter of the Science Council.

It was a Henjiitah Class cruiser and 600 meters long. It had the outer appearance of an elongated bulbous plant leaf and reminded him of the thick water filled fleshy leaves of the Glow bush. The ship was not green however but had an iridescent color of pearly pale orange. The ship was called the Gayimeera and since it was not a Union Fleet unit it did not carry the USS prefix. The crew members of the Saresii Science Academy and were closely associated with the Union explorer corps. I learned that the Saresii government, just like other member societies maintained a fleet of spaceships. The Gayimeera ran errands transported passengers and small items of special freight. Conducted medical transports and performed myriad other missions within Union space.

The Gayimeera approached a tremendous space station, and eventually passed through force field membranes and proceeded into a hangar where Union Battleships found room to land. The Gayimeera appeared tiny and like an exotic bird compared to the massive warships that were serviced here as well.

Cara explained to him that this was a Gigamon Station and it had a diameter of 36 kilometers. Roy could not really envision anything that big man-made, especially after they had debarked and he stood on a slide belt looking up a 3500-meter Uni Design Battleship, it was bigger than the highest mountain on Green Hell. It blew his mind when Cara said that this was only one of sixteen battleships currently serviced and that the station had room for two hundred at the same time.

Only Partner remained pretty much unimpressed and sat behind him on the Slide-belt, enjoying the ride.

A green uniformed Klack apologized for checking their CITIs and explained that this was a procedure for any out of system arrivals. Roy had no problem with that.

After the access controls, Cara stopped for a moment as if to orient herself and Roy could not blame her. They had stepped into the Outer Ring Concourse. According to a sign projection he spotted, it went all the way around the stations' equator for almost 114 kilometers.

Slide-ways, People movers, Ride Bots, Taxis and Inter-station transports moved troves of beings in both directions. There were civilians, but beings in Union Fleet black predominated, perhaps the crews of the battleships getting shore leave explained the dense crowds.

Cara pointed to the left. "I booked us rooms at the Sheraton. There we can get settled. While I am here, I might as well report in. In the meantime, you are free to explore the station if you like. Tomorrow we go down to Humongous, where I like to introduce you to a friend of mine, it is eager to meet you."

She was technically his guardian and he promised Uncle Sam to behave and take the great and rare opportunity to go to college on Sares.

While he really liked Cara, he wasn't so sure he would enjoy Sares, if the ship was any indication of the culture he was about to experience. "Sure sounds like a plan."

He said aloud and added, "Is there a Saresii outpost here?"

She approached a Taxi stand and said. "No, we are full Union members there aren't any Saresii embassies or outposts. I was ordered to take you to Sares, however, I am still a PSI Corps officer and there is a field office here, it is common practice for an operative to report to a local post."

She hired a larger open Taxi that also allowed room for Partner. Roy followed his big animal onto the hovering transport flyer and said. "Who ordered you to do that?"

"You have an important appointment with the Wurgus on Pluribus and since I care about you, the Civil Affairs Council decided that I accompany you to Sares and pick you up from there for the Wurgus meeting. That was our original plan, even before all these events as you recall."

He realized she would not be there on Sares while he was going to College there. "Where will I stay? I don't know anyone."

"My parents have eagerly offered to take you in. No worries you feel at home there in no time." He was certain he would not feel at home. -""- Cara was gone to report to whoever she had to go. Roy had taken a long shower and was now with Partner outside the Hotel and wondered what he actually wanted to see or explore. The station was big and impressive and certainly had great recreation facilities but nothing really attracted him.

He felt a lit forlorn and a wave of homesickness came over him. He longed to be outside in his beloved jungles. Union installations always appeared clean and orderly, but there was hardly anything alive and green.

A group of teenagers spotted him. They were all dressed in colorful Space suit combinations. One of them, a young man with blue skin came over in a relaxed manner and grinned with an open friendly face. "I'm Sobyr and I noticed your sidearm and simply had to get a closer look, it's a TKU 9 right?" "No, it's a TKU 12." The boy was about his age from the looks of it perhaps ten centimeters shorter. He had bright blue skin and coppery hair. "Legal? "Yes, I am licensed for this TKU 12 Sobyr turned to the other four beings and said. "That Dirtsider carries a genuine T12, how whamo is that?" To Roy he said. "Don't take offense calling ya a Dirtsider. It's how we call pretty much anyone, not from Belle Station."

"No worries." The open way the other guy acted appealed to him.

The other four also came closer.

There was a lizard, it had bright green skin. It was not a Shiss as it had neither four arms nor those leathery wings. The lizard being had a long, agile moving tail and was taller than the others, it moved on muscular hind legs.

Then there was a cute olive-skinned beauty with black shimmering hair cut to a chin-length bob and an adorable upward pointing nose.

The third of the bunch had an all chrome skin and looked like an android. Roy wondered if he was an X101 or a Stellaris. He didn't know how to tell the difference, but the silvery guy was not an adult.

The final member of the group was the most alien of the group and had the appearance of a Burrow Digger centipede, keeping about one-third of its body upright. Unlike the centipede life forms of Green Hell, this creature upper half lacked the many small feet the rest of the body featured, instead there were two quite human proportioned arms but with hands of only two very long fingers tapering in sharp claws and a similar long thumb. The face of the alien being was split horizontally and vertically almost like a pie and each section had a bulbous red pupil-less eye.

The blue-skinned teen said. "You and your silent huge friend look lost. We know this station like no one else. Just tell us where you want to go and we can get you there."

Roy shrugged. "Not lost, I have just no clue what to do. The ship I came with has a three-day stopover and I am supposed to keep myself busy until we go on to Sares."

"Why don't you hang with us until then? Maybe I start by introducing us to you."

The blue-skinned guy took a step back and pointed his flat hand at the girl and said. "That lovely sheila here is Aat Amenemhat. Her family is from Petra and her father is the Station Security Chief. Then we have Ncchsi, she is a Maggi-Suron from the Spinward Sector, her mother runs the Med Center here. Alejandro Rivera is a Stellaris, just got his new skin yesterday and is probably the only Stellaris insisting to be Puerto Rican."

The chrome skinned teen said. "I am not the only one, my family roots are from Puerto Rico Terra and my dad says that is very special. We Stellaris are based on human DNA after all, and our ancestors came from there."

Sobyr smiled and then pointed his hand at the centipede. "Meet Pictfram. Perhaps he is the first Xiptin you talk to, as they have joined the Union only very recently." Finally, Sobyr tapped his thumb against his chest and said with a sigh. "Yes I am Thauran and what makes matters worse of a Noble family but don't let that scare you off."

Roy introduced himself and greeted them all. "I am Roy Masters from Green Hell and that is Partner, he isn't sentient but a very smart pet. He's a Fury Beast."

The Xiptin crawled closer to Partner and its truly alien face split four ways as he said. "It is a magnificent animal and I heard stories of Green Hell. From what I have seen it must be paradise with wonderful mud pits."

Roy could not believe his ears. There was a member of a species he had never even heard off, saying nice things about Green Hell. "There is a stretch of many hundred square miles of bogs and mud pits not so far to the east to where I used to live."

The Xiptin's voice did not seem to fit the being, it sounded like a singing voice of a trained opera singer and the centipede intoned what he said melodically. "We only have a Mud tub in our home here and I would love to dig into a real deep bog, but then I probably would not survive the competition that resides in those mud pits of your planet."

Roy smiled from ear to ear now and said. "Green Hell is dangerous, yes, but if you don't disturb the balance and go with the flow instead of against it, I am sure I could find you a bog to enjoy."

The Saran girl had a fine smile and held up her PDD. "Guys they declared the System open again. Let's go out there before the professionals pick all the good stuff."

Sobyr nodded and said to Roy. "Want to come along?"

"Sure, it isn't anything illegal right?"

Sobyr made an insulting face, "Her father is the security chief, mine is the Station Commander. We might not always act like angels, Roy but this is a Union Military installation and not a Civilian world. Even the world Illegal is illegal here."

The Stellaris added. "Marines are the police here. They enforce usually before they ask."

Roy apologized. "I am sorry, I just promised to stay out of trouble and this is pretty much my first-time off-planet. Yes, I would love to tag along."

Sobyr had long lost his frown and smiled again. "It's all good. Just follow us. We need to get you an EVA suit as well."

-""- Roy and Partner followed the group to a large Inter Station transport access point and they all boarded the next tube car. There was plenty of room for them all. The Thauran tapped a destination icon.

The Lizard said. "I think we need to tell Roy what it is we are going to do."

Alejandro agreed with a nod and said. "There was a space battle just a few hours ago and the system was now declared safe, meaning once again open for civilian and commercial traffic. The fleet is certain all enemies are either gone or destroyed."

Sobyr made a wide gesture with both of his arms. "I am born and raised on this station, and there is only so much to do, even on a big one like this. So we are taking our Bison out there and see if we can scavenge some debris. Space ship metal scrap is valuable and sells well on our Xchange."

Aat, the Saran girl sat down and crossed her legs while looking up from underneath her black bangs. "While there weren't any space battles in this system before, we usually go scavenging in the Nolbu ring. That is our local asteroid belt with lots of abandoned mining bases and all kinds of junk. We think we can find us some space battle debris."

Alejandro, the chrome skinned Stellaris added. "They say sometimes you can even find artifacts, you know cultural stuff and things still good to use. Space law allows salvaging and anything floating out there is free for the taking. A few hundred Credits extra isn't so bad you know."

Roy nodded. "I saw part of the battle as we came in, and I sure could use a few extra credits, but I never been outside in a spacesuit."

Pictfram spread his thin arms. "It took me quite a bit to get used to EVA, but you humans seem to have a natural skill for it. We going to show you the basics and you be as good as we all are by tonight."

Sobyr agreed. "The suits will do most of it and the rest is like diving in a really big ocean."

According to Sobyr, they were almost at the bottom of the Space station now after the ride with the IST let them out in a much less busy corridor.

Pictfram said. "When you saw the station from the outside you might have noticed a green glowing ball on the bottom of it, right?"

"Yes I did and if I recall correctly from school I think it is the Gravo Anchor that keeps the station where it is."

The centipede made his four-way split face move in a quite disturbing fashion and said. "Yes, and we are just 600 meters above it. This part is called the Station's basement and that is where all the private storage bays and hangars are."

Alejandro brushed a key card over a locked door and said. "This is a small docking bay we use."

What Alejandro called a small docking bay was to Roy still a very big cavernous room and in its center stood an old rugged, tough-looking boxy shaped and somewhat ugly space ship. Roy estimated it to be perhaps sixty meters long and twenty high and wide. It had large flexible mechanical manipulator arms attached underneath the ships cockpit windows.

The Stellaris opened the boarding ramp. "All aboard the Calypso. We are leaving soon."

Roy made wide eyes. "You guys have a space ship of your own?"

Passing by Roy to climb aboard the Saran girl said. "It is only a very old surplus Long Range Bison. It was used by the engineers who built the station. It's almost 300 years old. We restored it a little."

Alejandro was next climbing in. "It has ISAHs but only for in-system flights. It against the law to go past the system with it, not that it would have the range anyway. Maybe you know that by law any Ship with a Union registration able to go TL must be piloted by someone who has passed the federal Shipmaster test. But no one would even call a brand new Bison a ship, this is more like a boat."

Nosy as he was Partner stomped right on in and Sobyr made an inviting gesture. "You're next unless you changed your mind."

Roy went over the short belly ramp into a small cargo hold. Sobyr right behind him said. "No it isn't a ship officially but to us, it's the Devastator.

Pictfram was all alarmed and wiggled his long fingers and his tail."Roy, your Partner beast has licked over my tail pincers, they are very poisonous. We need to get it to a Vet right away."

Roy received nothing but friendly excitement and happiness from Partner. "Not to worry Pictfram, he can eat and swallow pretty much everything and poisons won't harm him. When Partner licked you he meant to express that he likes you."

"What an amazing life form."

Partner now felt even more happy as he was the center of attention and the Saran girl started to pet him. He raised his head so she could scratch his throat. She coed."Oh isn't he adorable and so soft."

Roy grunted. "Keep that up and you need a bigger cargo hold, for him swelling with pride."

Alejandro and Sobyr had climbed up a metal ladder with railings and sat behind the controls of a small command deck.

Ncchsi held out a spacesuit and said. "This should fit you. We don't have an auto dresser but you can use that tiny hygienecell back there to change."

Alejandro said. "It's a good one, Roy. A genuine SII - EVA Engineer 7. Father insisted we had all our suits checked by the Suit Technician before he allowed us to use them."

Roy thanked them and went to get changed. Somehow his mood has improved greatly. This unexpected little adventure and these five beings he felt were well on their way to becoming friends of his was, of course, the reason. He also looked forward to go EVA and wondered how it would be.

-""- They were almost 4 light-hours from the station and near the orbit of the second most distant planet of the Kappa Andromedae system. So far their external cargo bay held a few pieces of twisted metal scrap, collected with the manipulators, and now according to Sobyr, they were approaching the area of the main engagement.

Out here in the small ship, Roy got a real sense how big space really was and to find some scrap was actually not that easy. Especially since the little bison had only the most rudiment sensors.

Roy didn't mind. He learned a lot about the Xiptin, the Sarans and how it was for teenagers to grow up on a space station. In turn, he had shared with them how it was to be on Green Hell and of course, they asked him about the most recent events as they knew Green Hell was at the center of the reasons for the war after all.

The most reliable sensor they had were Alejandro's eyes. His engineered eyes could see further and make out things in space no normal human eye could. He interrupted Ncchsi who was just about done explaining Roy the features of the Spacesuit. "Sobyr drop us to 20 km/sec and turn a little towards Galactic North and about five dots up on the Z-axis. I think I saw a reflection, high albedo."

It became quiet in the small craft and everyone was gripped by a sense of anticipation, even Roy.

After a few minutes, Sobyr the Thauran teen said. "I don't know how you do it but I got a substantial piece of mass on the scanner now."

Alejandro leaned forward and was staring out the forward viewport. "It's a big section of a T cruiser, the T bar is gone but most of the forward section is still there."

After about six or seven minutes of more silence, Sobyr said. "I read some very faint energies."

Roy asked, "Could there be still live Kermac Warriors?"

Sobyr turned and said. "Highly unlikely, I can see the thing now. There is a gaping hole where the bridge was and another one at engineering, life support is completely gone. Besides, we don't have life sensors, but if we can tow that thing to the station we get enough credits to afford better sensors."

Roy went back to the Hygiene room and detached his PDD from the Bio seal suit he had left there and then with it climbed up to Sobyr. "This is an SII Science Scanner with PDD function. My mother gave it to me before she left. I don't think it has a terribly good range but it has the finest sensors you can fit into a hand-held, according to her at least."

Alejandro took it. "And you've been jealous of our Bison. "That's a genuine Science Corps - Mark 16. Sell it and you could afford a working Surplus Bison for sure."

He activated the thing and played with the controls. "Let's see according to these on-screen instructions the sensing distance can be increased by reducing sensitivity. To do that activate Sensor Program GS..." The rest of his sentence he mumbled as he started to adjust the programming of the device.

Xiptin raised more of his body of the ground and demonstrated just how long his usual curved and coiled body was and looked over the shoulder of Alejandro without using the ladder. "Our Stellaris is a genuine Science Nerd. He probably dreams about your gadget ten weeks after you're gone."

Alejandro protested without taking his eyes of the Scanner. "That is simply not true, nine weeks max."

The chrome skin covered Stellaris voice trailed off again and then he said. "Well I can't detect any life, but there are several active energy sources. It appears to be nothing bigger than an emergency computronic or emergency lighting."

Sobyr pulled up the soft transparent hood from his helmet collar and said. "Well let's check it out before the professional Salvagers come and take it from us. Possession is the name of this game" Then he closed the helmet and the thing became a rigid bubble.

They divided the cargo hold with an energy curtain and Roy said to Partner. "Sorry, you got to stay behind. There isn't a spacesuit that fits you."

Partner blinked, then sneezed and the emotions he got from Partner were a little confused but he sat down on his hind legs. Xiptin patted the beast's side. "No worry I keep you company as someone has to stay behind in the ship and that is me this time."

Roy also folded his helmet up and he could feel his own pulse rate go up as Sobyr opened the cargo bay doors. The Thauran was the first to push himself out and Roy took a deep breath and then pushed off right after the Girl. Space seen through a viewport was spectacular, but seeing it through a refraction free space suit helmet was overwhelming and no word in Roy's vocabulary could describe what he saw, it was so completely different to any experience he had before. Even sitting on the balcony bubble of the Silver Swan. His mind had lost all sense of up and down. A short burst of his suit thrusters had accelerated him towards the ominous dark shape only noticeable because it blocked out starlight behind it, he had a distinct feeling as if he would fall, but he had no idea if he was falling up or down. His stomach felt very queasy and he had to swallow hard to keep it down, but as he neared the shape he could now see details inside the razor-sharp circle of light from his chest-mounted lamp, he forgot about his stomach and he no longer felt sick. He saw a twisted and torn hole in an otherwise smooth metal surface. Alejandro, only wearing a thruster pack as this was the environment his kind was designed for, shot past him and so did the lizard. They had reached the hole, Roy was still about 150 meters away as he watched Sobyr use the hull breach to enter the wreck.

Suddenly he felt imminent danger. His unusual awareness made his entire body tingle and he somehow knew they weren't alone.

The sudden feeling made him touch the thruster controls, the wreck became bigger and way too fast. He remembered the instructions they had given him and pulled the joystick to activate the counter thrusters. Braking speed so rapidly that he banged his forehead against the helmet plate and then he flew backward away from the wreck.

He noticed something black and ominous right next to him, keeping perfect pace with his noob attempts to fly a spacesuit. He also noticed the last of his new friends had disappeared inside the wreck.

Finally, he managed to stop his momentum into a slow drift, then tried to pull his TKU but the darn weapon would not come out of the holster. A red light he never saw before blinked at its butt.

The light of his chest lamp illuminated a big black four-legged beast with fangs and glowing white horns. Only now he calmed down enough to notice the waves of excited emotions, Partner was floating right there without any protection, moisture and traces of atmosphere had coated the animal's coarse neck fur with ice Neither the deadly radiation of deep space nor the frigid airless conditions fazed his friend.

"I should have known that you don't need a spacesuit." His voice rang hollow in his helmet, but he did not need words to communicate with his friend. Still, the fine hair on Roy's back were standing on end giving him goosebumps. The feeling of something or someone hostile had not subsided. His own PDD, not that it would do him any good was still with Alejandro.

While he was still aboard the little ship, Aat had shown him how to activate the Helmet Comm. He repeated her words as he stared on the controls at his left underarm. "Press these two control stubs of the wrist control panel at the same time." But which ones again, there were eight.

He pressed two and loud music pounded his ear and a voice proclaimed. Thank you for tuning on to Channel 9988 Pertharian Terror Metal all day long..."

He managed to turn it back off. His friends were in some kind of trouble and he could not even get the suit's communication working, or pull his gun.

Yet had to find out what was going on and help them if necessary. He planned to regain a little momentum, approach the hole and take a peek inside.

Without any reference point to his eyes he completely miscalculated the true distance to the wreck and again was way too fast, missed the wicked-looking torn edges of the torn metal by less than a centimeter and collided hard with someone wearing an alien battle suit. The impact had enough momentum to throw the other being hard into a bulkhead, Roy tasted blood, cursed his decision to participate without a little more training and passed out.

--""- Roy saw his mother and she wore a steel collar around her neck, except for a few rags she was naked. She was covered with dirt and her beautiful hair chopped, not cut, by someone who wanted to hurt and humiliate her. She was sitting against a rock wall eating what looked like raw onion. There were dozens of humans all around her looking the same. The filthy individual staring into nothingness next to her was his father. She suddenly looked up and directly at him. Her mouth formed the word. "Roy!" He tried to reach her, get to her, but he didn't notice his arms or legs and somehow he knew he was dreaming.

With this realization, he woke and recoiled in horror as a decapitated, mutilated body of someone floated right before his eyes.

Sobyr was right next to him looking down with a concerned face and talking behind his helmet.

Roy pointed to his and shook his head.

Now Alejandro came into view and pressed two studs on Roy's underarm. " ... tivate the helmet comm like this, before the system takes verbal commands."

Roy got up and almost floated away but Ncchsi caught him and then his boots connected to, what technically was a wall, but up and down became meaningful again.

There were at least five dead Nogoll and the terribly mutilated body belonged to a Kermac, at least that what Roy suspected.

Sobyr looked sick and frightened. "Your beast saved us all. I never saw anything like that. He ripped Nogoll in shielded battle suits to pieces while it ignored blaster fire head-on."

Roy still tried to get his bearings. Ncchsi said. "Your move took a lot of courage too. Ramming that Nogoll like that, he was about to shoot me."

Roy finally managed to say. "What happened?"

Sobyr pointed down the corridor. "This segment had survivors after all. Shielded in suits. That's why we didn't pick them up I guess. As we came in they waited for us and wanted the access code for the Calypso."

He made a guilty face. "I gave it to him as the Kermac came in."

Roy knew the feeling and said, "They did the same to me with their Psionics, not so long ago."

Alejandro said. "Two of them took Aat to the Calypso and said they would kill her if your beast didn't stop or if we call for help."

Roy looked around and said. "I don't see Partner."

Alejandro pointed to a spot where a dead Nogoll floated. "It simply disappeared just a few moments ago."

Roy wondered if Partner was gone to get his special kind of help again, he closed his eyes and he could feel partner, the beast appeared a second later right next to Roy. Looking at his friend and master and the emotions Roy felt were like a question, wanting to do what Roy wanted it to do.

Alejandro had moved to the ragged hole.

"The Calypso is gone."

The Thauran tried hard to stay calm, as his chin trembled. "Sorry for getting you all in this mess."

Roy said with a fatalistic grin. "At least it isn't me alone who always gets into the middle of things. We do need to tell the authorities, they will know what to do. There is fleet and a Psi Corps post at the station."

"I wish we could but we pulled the GalNet modules from all suits, yours too and tossed them."

Ncchsi hissed. "Even I was not immune to the Kermac influence." Roy looked around.

"And I even a little felt sorry for those Paper skins. The Galaxy is better off without them. I just wonder why they let us live."

Sobyr pointed to Partner."They were afraid of your animal and could not control it. I think they knew it would shred them to pieces if they killed us, at least that is what I think."

Roy wondered how far Partner could teleport. His animal did leave the Silver Swan and re-appeared on Green Hell many light-years distant. Partner seemed to understand his thoughts and transmitted the images of the station and that it was able to get there.

Roy said. "Sobyr, your father is the Station commandant, right?"

"Yes, and he will ground me for the next twenty years if we ever get out alive. Not that there is any chance they find us out here."

"Partner can teleport to the station but he can't tell them what happened and I can't tell him where Carla is since I don't know, but he can take you there and you will be able to get through to your father. He will know what to do."

"I won't let you two behind. I let you into this mess so you go."

"I will not get through to your father or anyone fast enough. Aat and Picfram's lives are in danger. Who knows where they go with that ship of yours since it can't go far."

Alejandro said. "He's right. We are reasonably safe, just hurry up."

Sobyr wanted to argue, but Roy managed to explain his plan to Partner with easy to understand mind pictures, Partner nudged Sobyr into the back and both disappeared.

--""-- Ncchsi stood by the hole and said, "They are gone for about a standard hour now. Do you think they made it to the station?"

Roy had walked deeper into the corridor turned and said, "I don't have a real connection at this distance, but I know he doesn't feel any distress. I am sure they made it."

Alejandro walked up to Roy and he too shined his light down the corridor.

"What is it?"

"I don't know, but I had this feeling that there was something dangerous nearby when I was still outside and even though the Kermac and the Nogoll are either dead or gone, I realized I still have this feeling."

"It's your first time in space and we are in anything but a perfect situation. There are dead bodies that creep me out; it's normal to feel that way."

Roy tried to pull his weapon still without success.

"I am a Greenie we have an ability to sense danger. I still feel it."

Then he cursed. "I wonder what happened to my TKU, it feels as it was glued to the holster."

Alejandro looked closer and said."This is a genuine Union Marine weapon and the TKU holster is in deep space mode. The mag-lock has engaged so it won't float away."

Alejandro opened a little compartment on the weapon and retracted a band and locked the flexible thing around Roy's wrist and said. "It looks like you haven't customized the settings yet. It is in lanyard mode now."

The red light went off as Roy tried and the weapon could be pulled easily.

"I should be called green and not Greenie. I never checked the weapon for anything other than if it was charged."

He did feel a whole lot better with the TKU in his fist pointing at the sealed door down the corridor.

"I think we should check the rest of this wreck just to make sure there aren't any more surprises."

Ncchsi said. "There is one already, we're moving."

Alejandro pushed himself off and floated to the hole and went outside. His voice said. "Sure enough this wreck just grew a set of Kermac engines, two pods and they are active."

He came back in, I can't be sure but I think we are accelerating with about 500 klicks to the second."

"You mean like FTL engines?" Roy asked.

"Yes, the Kermac version of Isah Pods. My Stellaris senses could be off as we are inside the field but if I am right we will hit the threshold in about an hour."

"This isn't a wreck either, "Said Ncchsi. "That hole hasn't been made by a weapon, there is no damage behind it to suggest a TL load going off in here and any other weapon would make a hole with tears to the inside."

Roy went to the door. "Why would they leave a ship capable of going trans-light in exchange for a shuttle that can't leave the system? I think we better find the answers before the answer finds us."

His effort to get to the bottom of this was stopped as the door would not open. It was a solid metal door and the simple enough looking controls were inactive and the handle didn't budge. So he went back as far as he could, dialed his TKU to six and fired. The recoil was enough to break the mag field bond of his boots and push him back into another wall and a thick blinding bright bolt hit that door with many million degrees of heat and a few tons of kinetic energy. Whatever the Kermac designers hoped the door would withstand, they did not include a TKU 12. It was ripped out of the frame, pulverized to a cloud of molecular ashes.

Not waiting for the others, they weren't armed anyway, he rushed through the corridor as fast as his boots let him and stormed into the breach. There was no one and he was certain now they were alone on the ship.

The room he breached was in his opinion as big as the rest of the wreck. As alien as they were, he recognized several fuel tanks and the machinery in the back looked like the part of the ship's engines.

The rest of the room was occupied by an elongated oval object. Even though he had seen Wurgus writing and symbols only once and very briefly. He was certain the writing was Wurgus.

Alejandro and Ncchsi had now also entered and Alejandro stared at the writing and said. "This is a Wurgus Sun Bomb. Ten or twelve are enough to make Kappa Andromedae go Supernova."

The Stellaris went to an asymmetrically shaped screen displaying moving symbols and then he said. "This one is set to go off in 58 minutes, two seconds after it goes trans-light."

"Would the station not be able to detect us now?"

Ncchsi spread his arms. "It is accelerating very slow. It didn't jump into the system. They probably think it's a Scavenger."

Alejandro said still studying the display. "According to this, there are 12 similar ships all accelerating towards the sun. Once they go trans-light they can't be stopped, they reenter space inside the sun and..."

Roy suddenly understood that the entire attack was just a cover to get these bombs in place. The Union so confident in their weapons, they underestimated the Kermac. They didn't have Translocators but that didn't mean they were impotent. They were second only to the Union in the Milky Way Galaxy and didn't become so big by being complete fools. Ncchsi was thinking along the same lines.

"They took a page out of the Terran book, this is what United Terra did with the Xunx and the Freons. Maybe what happens here happens in more Union systems right now."

Alejandro said. "Operation Steam Roller. Only this time we are at the receiving end."

Roy felt stupid despite the situation and said. "What kind of roller?"

"Long ago and before there was a Union, Earth sent fleets of robotic long-range bombs to every known Xunx planet and obliterated a few hundred planets all at the same time.

What if the Kermac do the same and try to blow up a few hundred suns. Fake space battles, bringing fake wrecks like this into the systems ... no Quasi space signatures then slowly accelerate. If they take out core worlds like Terra, Blue Moon, Thebes and so forth that could break the Union."

Roy somehow knew that this was exactly what was happening, the Union would be severely crippled or perhaps even destroyed in one single sweep, in less than 49 minutes.

--""-- Roy still stared at the readout of the bomb. Alejandro pointed to another small screen showing a three dimensional graphic of the local system, with its sun in the middle and eleven other green dots that approached that sun, now passing the orbit of the eighth planet.

If Alejandro was right there were less than 20 minutes left for the bomb carriers to reach trans light speed and jump into the sun.

"Can we stop it?"

Alejandro did not take his eyes off the controls and said. "Wurgus Tech is considered TL 10 and that is way beyond me."

Roy looked at the bomb and said. "Maybe I can make it detonate and thus warn them. There was no hesitation or arguing, the Stellaris and the Maggi Sauron nodded, knowing that this meant their certain death. Ncchsi said.

"Do it!"

Roy didn't want to die either but if it meant they could stop this bomb and thus show the station that there was a serious threat, then it was worth it. He pulled the two spare energy cartridges he had in his belt and glued them with Spacesuit emergency seal tape to the huge bomb. He was just about to aim his TKU at the cluster when Alejandro said. "Wait!"

Roy lowered the gun and said, "You're right! You two go outside they find you. No need for all of us to stay. I can blow this thing alone."

"That's not what I meant. Three of the other bomb ships just blinked out, and now two more."

"Blinked out? Did they jump already?"

"No, I think they are being destroyed. Three more just went."

Roy still held his blaster. "We need to be sure they are being destroyed the longer we wait the less time they got to react."

Alejandro rushed to the Fuel tanks and yelled, "Roy, don't shoot the bomb. Shoot at that Distributor junction I am highlighting with my chest light."

Roy did not ask why he simply did. The TKU bolt slammed into the contraption, his new friend had pointed out. The effect was spectacular and frightening. Whatever it was melted to slag and open pipes started to burn with a bright green fire. Roy and his friends were wiped off their feet, tossed at least 30 meters across the room and then slammed into the machinery at the rear of the ship. This time however Roy managed to twist and turn his body so he collided with his feet first and was able to lessen the impact. Alejandro, however, tore a rip into his chrome skin and blood appeared freezing instantly. Roy pushed himself off and pressed his hand over the wound.

"Everyone alright?"

Ncchsi appeared next to him holding a roll of Suit tape and said, "I think I broke my tail but other than that I am alright. Let me get some tape over Alejandro's wound. Underneath that skin, he is as vulnerable as you and me." Alejandro tabbed his ear and then his voice came on.

"I am sorry but I had to stop us. The safest way was to cut the fuel supply at the distributor before it goes to the antimatter generator. I knew we would decelerate fast, but not instantly as that would have surely killed us."

"That saved us but what about the rest?"

"Because I am receiving Standard radio. I needed to make sure they don't shoot at us."

Ncchsi said. "We are not safe yet. We are still near a bomb that goes off very soon."

"Then we should leave as fast as these suits go, Partner can find us out there I am sure."

At that moment Union Marines rushed in and it was due to their training that they didn't shoot the teenagers. Their transmitters dialed in on the radio frequency of the suits and one of them said, "United Stars Marine Corps, let's get out of here." Partner also appeared next to Roy, feeling exhausted but proud. Roy patted his Partner.

"Good Job."

One of the Marines simply grabbed him and instead of walking flew in this confined space with a speed that made Roy dizzy. They were free and the Marine went Super luminal with his suit and Roy a few seconds later. Roy yelled.

"Partner!"

--""-- As they came out of Quasi Space a few seconds later they were near the station. The Marine pointed into space and Roy looked and saw a bright new star appear and linger for a few seconds, then it twinkled back into nothingness. Roy at the same time lost all contact to his animal. It was like before, when Partner went to get help, there was a sudden emptiness in his mind. However, Roy did feel the exhaustion of his friend. He didn't even have a chance to tell Partner to get out.

"Did anyone see Partner?"

--""-- Roy and the other teenagers, all of them stood in the big office of the Station Commandant. Commodore Sybor, the Thauran father of Sobyr, Cara and a bunch of officials faced the Teens. Roy was close to tears and had to use every ounce of self-control. No one had seen Partner. An alien bomb strong enough to kill a sun had been simply too much for even his formidable friend. Cara had told him just moments ago that the psionic power of teleportation was the rarest and most energy-consuming of all Psionic powers.

The Commodore said. "Thanks to the heroic acts of these Teens we were able to prevent a war changing catastrophe. Especially thanks to Mr. Roy Masters and his remarkable teleporting beast. I was torn between scolding you for doing such a foolish thing, but the deed far outweighs any wrongdoing. Now I understand that the beast has been lost in the blast of the last Sun bomb. There is little I can say to this, but as helpful and instrumental this animal was, it was still just an animal and we can be glad no sentient life has been lost."

Roy had tried to be brave and collected but that was too much. He jumped forward and punched the Thauran in the face.

"Thanks to this animal your blue butt is still attached to you and you can make speeches. Partner was not just an animal. I loved him and he was my friend!"

Two Marines seemingly out of nowhere grabbed Roy and the Thauran came up with a bleeding nose and two teeth missing.

"Your actions of today do not condone your behavior. Marines take him to the hold, while I consider charges!"

--""-- The Marines manhandled him rather roughly and stripped him of his suit and things and threw him into an Auto-dresser that fitted him with a transparent suit and then marched him to a holding cell. He noticed a Kermac and four Nogoll dressed the same way in a similar energy curtain secured spartan holding cell.

One of the Marines said, "Punching the Commodore was a stupid thing, boy. He's going to rip you a new one. You must be nuts, doing that for a teleporting dog."

Roy tried to punch the Marine as well, but the suit held him and his effort was in vain. "You are a stinking coward. Making insults while I am tied up."

They pushed him in the cell and the Marine said. "Oh shut up, you seem to be a trouble maker. So cool off in there. If you're lucky he let you go after 30 days, and then I wait for you and show you what it means to insult a Marine."

The two activated the curtain and walked off. Roy was emotionally down to his last nerve. He should have never left Green Hell. Nothing went his way the second he had left Green Hell.

From the Kermac plot to destroy his planet to the stupid idea to go to Sares to college. No one cared about him out here. Cara only followed orders so he could swoon the Wurgus. He meant nothing to her. She didn't even say a word as he was dragged out. Partner was dead and he was in jail. What would Uncle Sam say if he heard that he was arrested and sent to jail for punching a Union Fleet Commodore? Everything was so much bigger than him and so beyond anything, he knew about. Oh, Partner why did you come back for me? You already have been safe! He sat down on the smooth cod and started crying. He did not know what to do, who he could turn to for help. Partner was gone and so was any illusion of a future that held anything for him. He was utterly alone.

Chapter 3: Humongous

He did not know how long he had cried and he must have fallen asleep.

This time there was no dream of his mother. He was certain he imagined things but there was a warm heavy arm on his shoulder and as he looked up a man sat next to him, the energy curtain was gone and the marine that mocked him stood there with a black eye and with a face of pure fright.

"Everything is going to be alright, Roy."

The man next to him wore an all-black uniform, his calf-high boots polished to a mirror shine. He was tall and had a physique as if he could go toe to toe with a Pertharian

The man's face was rectangular, with a very pronounced chin and jawline. There was a scar from his left eye to his mouth. The blonde hair cut high and tight. The man's eyes were gray as steel and there was an eerie inhuman quality to them.

Next to him sat Admiral Richard Stahl the eternal Warrior. The living immortal legend.

None of his legends, however, reported that he had a warm, caring voice. The Immortal still had his arm on Roy's shoulder and then produced a piece of white cloth out of a pocket.

"It's an old fashioned handkerchief, but I have found no high tech alternative that really substitutes."

Roy felt suddenly very embarrassed for his tears and his conduct and took the handkerchief and wiped his eyes and blew his nose. "Sir, I don't belong out here. In my jungles I know what to do, out here I can't even fly a spacesuit without making a fool out of myself."

"This is just how I felt, the first time I left Earth."

Roy looked up with disbelief in his face, "Sir, not you! Everyone knows you are..."

"I was a young Marine Lieutenant from a planet that knew nothing of extraterrestrial aliens or Faster than light travel. When I saw the first real Xunx, I almost shit my pants. A trip around our planet, aboard an airplane, back then took many hours longer, than it took me to get here after I heard what happened. Even today I wonder if all this isn't simply too big for a simple Pre Astro Marine. They did not teach Faster than light weapon tactics at Parris Island or Quantico and because I am blessed and cursed with immortality, I saw more friends die than I can count and everyone of them left an empty spot in my soul. When the day is over Roy I am as alone as you feel right now, my last relative died 2800 years ago."

Roy completely forgot his misery for a moment.

"Sir, I had no idea. You can come to Green Hell anytime. I am sure Uncle Sam would be thrilled!"

A deep smile parted the chiseled features of his hard face. "Thank you, Roy, and might just do that too, but first let's get out of here."

"Am I not charged with something?"

"Nobody filed any charges and the Commodore clearly understood the errors of his ways. You are the Unions biggest hero after all."

"I don't want that. It was a Partner and not me."

"I know Roy. I made sure your name and the details were kept out of the news, but that does not mean I and a few others don't know about it and we won't forget it either. Twenty Five Star Systems could be saved. You saved billions of lives by sending Sobyr and Partner to the Station. Thankfully we have instantaneous communication and our magnificent Bellebees instantly sent out the correct orders to every System Defense."

"And Partner paid for it with his life."

Stahl got up."Then I have a surprise for you."

Roy also got up and followed the Immortal Admiral. Stahl pointed his finger at the marine with the black eye.

"Mocking a prisoner, any prisoner is simply not acceptable behavior for a Marine." The stout marine trembled at Stahl's gaze and gasped.

"Sir, no Sir it is not. I volunteer to run the entire Concourse with full gear Sir and I will correct my behavior."

"Accepted."

The Kermac in the other cell came to the field screen and waved at Stahl. Stahl pushed contact for the two way audio and barked.

"What do you want?"

"I recognize you. You are the one they call the Immortal Warrior. You are our greatest enemy but they say you are integrity personified. Tell me what will happen to us?"

"As despicable your act was, we are at war and you are now prisoners of war."

"I knew our lives were forfeit the moment we stepped aboard the bomb carriers. I mean what will happen to all of us, the Kermac?"

"I am no psychic. I can't predict the future, but I assure you I will do my part to retaliate in kind."

The Kermac looked distressed and defeated, "We know of you. No Wizard will ever admit to it but we fear you."

"If you have something to say, say it now. I am wasting time."

"I know of another plan and I am willing to reveal it, for certain concessions."

"Sorry I don't make deals with enemies."

Stahl tabbed his Wrist Com. "Alycia can you come down to the Prisoner hold and talk to our Kermac inmates. He has something about another Kermac Scheme."

To the Marine he said. "Make sure they can't lift a finger or kill themselves before General Lichfangh was here."

Stahl waved Roy and said. "I still need to show you your surprise."

Roy was once more dressed in his Bio-Seal Suit and had his belongings back. A marine handing him his things told him that the Immortal himself ordered them to get it all. "I also apologize, Sir. Our conduct was inappropriate." Roy didn't say much and as he stepped out of the Security Office he saw Stahl talking to a pretty woman in a US Army Uniform. He waved Roy over.

"Alycia I want you to meet Roy Masters, he is a very resourceful young man. We now met twice."

The Woman had a Cara like quality to her, and while she had some similarities to a Saresii, he had the distinct feeling she was not of that race.

"Nice to meet you, Roy, I am Alycia Lichfangh."

In all the misery he still felt, he could not deny the uplifting effect of the Eternal Warrior treating him like a friend.

"It is an honor, Ma'am."

Her eyes had an even more penetrating quality than those of the Admiral.

"No one has told you yet?"

"Told me what?"

"The station went under a Saresii Psi Shield as the last bomb exploded. It was feared there could be Kermac Psionic attacks to follow."

Roy had no idea what that supposed to mean. The Woman glared at Stahl.

"Go take him to his animal!"

"Take me to my ani ... Partner is alive?"

The woman said, more to Stahl than to Roy.

"The boy and the beast have a very strong Psi bond. The Shield has severed it. They both think the other is dead. The Brig down here is permanently shielded."

Stahl grunted. "I still hate Psionics in the first place."

Roy grabbed the arm of the Admiral. "Sir, where is Partner?"

"They found your beast floating out there in an almost catatonic state. He is with your new friends. I take you to them."

The second he stepped out into the corridor he could feel Partner again and a heartbeat later, with a loud bang, Partner appeared. Roy immediately slung his arms around the big neck and kissed and hugged his friend, while he was licked. It was the second time today Roy could not keep back his tears.

The waves of love and emotions he received from his partner had never been as intense. The Universe simply wasn't as big or as scary while he had his friend and was not alone after all.

Stahl interrupted him after a while."I am sure glad you two are back together, but I do need to go back to my duties."

Stahl pointed to Roy's PDD.

"I added my personal call code. If you ever need me, call."

Stahl padded Partner and then turned and walked away. Only now he noticed Cara and his new friends standing a short distance down the corridor. He did not let go of Partner as he walked up to them.

Cara gave him a scolding look. "I said to explore the Station, not half the Galaxy."

Roy snapped angrily. "I am nothing but an assignment to you. Stowed away on Sares till it is time for the Wurgus conference. I promised Uncle Sam to be good, but no one ever asked me if I even want to be here." It came out like a flood. "I thought you be there at Sares and now I know I just order and you decided to put me up with your parents. I don't know them, could you not at least have told me that?"

He pointed at partner and said. "And then you let that prick talk like that when I thought Partner was dead?"

She took a step back. "I am sorry Roy. I know things haven't been easy for you since I met you, but I thought we were friends. I called the Admiral to let him know what happened and he actually left his ship and the war behind and took a space train halfway across the quadrant to come here personally. You physically attacked and wounded the Commandant of this base. No matter how insensitive and callous his comments might have been, it was a serious thing. Yes, I understand your emotional state at that time, but everything went so fast you gave me no time to react or even say anything." She looked sad and hurt. "I volunteered to help you from the day I heard your parents got killed. If my help was not adequate then I am sorry. Go back to Green Hell or whatever." Sobyr looked troubled. "I came to apologize for what my father said and did and for the mess, I got you in. I am sorry, we all felt enriched by your presence and would like to thank you for everything you did, saving our lives and all." Aat also made sad eyes. "If you go back to Green Hell we won't have a chance to get to know you better."

Roy suddenly felt rotten for snapping that way at Cara. What she said was true. She had his best in mind and never was anything less than a friend. Cara stepped forward and simply hugged him and pressed her soft cheeks against his. "I am sorry Roy. I don't know what it is I can do but I will try to be a better friend."

"What do you say if you wished you never said something that hurt a friend in the first place?" She stopped him. "Telepathy has its good sides too, apologies are easier because we can feel if they are sincere. Can we forget what happened and simply go from there?"

Roy was becoming a man and Cara felt lovely, soft, warm and emitted a faint but heavenly scent. He said. "Yes, please. I did not mean what I said. It was just so much. I think I still want to go to Sares. If everything I experienced was a lesson then I learned that I have to catch up with what I missed in school"

Cara held him at arm's length. "I said it before, deep down you are a wise young man, Mr. Masters." She looked a little embarrassed and added. "Why don't we all got to Arthur's have pigged out dinner and we all catch up. You and your new friends and of course, Partner."

Roy learned that Sobyr went to his father right away and thanks to the presence of the PSI corps found the Calypso right away and had no problems to use Tech Stop and Paralysators to overwhelm the Kermac and the Nogoll. Thus free Aat and Pictfram. Sobyr's father alerted the Bellebees and they instantaneously issued the detailed orders to ten thousand Union Fleet posts where Kermac battles happened and thus Union forces were able to avert a terrible catastrophe in the proverbial last minute. Cara explained that the Bellebees had no natural eyes or ears, no arms or faces but still were a tremendously important member of the Union. Bellebees could remember collectively every little detail over thousands of years and easily correlate the most minute detail with a million other details and come to a sensible solution. They were as efficient as any computronic but added intuition, creativity and a certain level of emotional response to a solution only living beings could.

That was a preview of Adventures of a Greenie: Off Planet (Vol 2). To read the rest purchase the book.

Add «Adventures of a Greenie: Off Planet (Vol 2)» to Cart