Atlantis Rising (15 page)

“You’re on the
station?
”
Gilas said in surprise.

“Yes, I was the one who authorized
the action against the
Marudas
,” Jon said.

“Oh, this is going to be good.
I’ll meet you at the control station of our berth, Commander,” Gilas said.

Jon stood waiting in the control
room for the platform where the tug towed the
Titan
. Marc had insisted Jon
take six guards with him, full battle prep. Four of them covered the inside and
outside of the doors leading to the station. The last two stood on either side
of Jon as they waited for their guests.

Seated at the control stations
were two from the engineering crew. They were already running diagnostics on
the damaged ship and helping Ghost set a repair schedule.

Jon’s first impression of Captain
Gilas when he stepped through the doorway and into the control room was a
surprise. The man didn’t look over twenty five by Earth standards, and was
quiet handsome. His skin almost shone in the light of the room and he kept his
copper hair cut short and combed neatly. Jon wouldn’t have guessed he had been
in a fight if he hadn’t known better. The man’s gold-flecked brown eyes took in
everything as he entered the room.

Flanking Gilas were six marines
in powered armor. They all carried rifles held at the ready. The rifles looked
like the stock Polaron guns that Jon’s security personnel carried. However, he
noticed several differences. It made Jon almost second-guess his decision to
greet this man with a minimal escort.

Gilas smiled at Jon as he held
his hand out in greeting, “Commander Hunter I assume.”

“Captain Gilas,” Jon said. He
took the man’s hand in a firm shake. From the grip, Jon knew the man was
stronger than he appeared.

“Actually, now that I have
stepped off my ship and turned her over to my second in command, I’m Lieutenant
Commander Eafic ‘Gilas’ Hajin,” Gilas said. “I prefer to be called by my middle
name, no need for you to use my rank.”

“Then I’m just ‘Jon’, if you
don’t mind,” Jon said as he released Gilas’ hand.

“You’re not Eutharan are you?”
Gilas asked.

“No, I’m Human. We’re from the
Earth,” Jon said.

“A man of an unknown race and
origin shall arrive to bring prosperity once again to the universe. He will
rise from the ashes of his home encased in armor the likes of which no one has
seen in thousands of years, an intelligent armor of a technology long forgotten
and forsaken. However, in his wake he shall leave death and destruction. A race
will be cleansed until only a few survive. He shall carry the keys to unlock
the universe’s greatest treasure. The price for unlocking this treasure will be
the tearing apart of Empires. He will welcome enemies as friends in their
greatest time of need. Glass shall hunt him in fear of his powers,” Gilas
muttered.

“What’s that?” Jon asked.

“It’s part of our prophecies
about a man who will bring the Empire back to its former greatness, and balance
the universe. Some think it is about a man who will destroy everything we know
and love,” Gilas said.

“Fate?” Jon said.

“In a way, I guess you could call
a prophecy fate. There is more to it than just what I have said. Scholars have
been poring over the text for thousands of years. Some are waiting for this
man, others think he will never show,” Gilas said.

“Sorry, but I don’t believe in
fate. I control my own destiny,” Jon chuckled.

“You think you control your own
destiny,” Gilas said. The seriousness in his voice caught Jon off guard.

One of the Marines muttered
something Jon didn’t quite catch. Gilas stiffened as he turned on the man, and
stared him down.

“Sergeant Newl, take this man
into custody. Put him in the brig, charges pending. Take four men with you and
return to the ship,” Gilas said.

Two of the marines seized the man
and stripped him of his weapons.

“Sir, I beg your pardon,” Newl
said. He eyed Jon cautiously as he spoke. “But if I can suggest I remain with
you. Station two guards here. Have one take the Corporal to the brig and then
have one other remain with me for your safety.”

“I think you should keep a couple
of guards with you,” Jon said. “It will make your people a bit more at ease.
Although, I give you my word nothing will happen to you while on this station.
Even though I don’t understand what has just transpired, I did want to offer
you a small tour of the station while my techs finish setting up your repair
schedule.”

“Very well,” Gilas said. “I will
agree to your suggestion.”

Gilas was beginning to like Jon
even though he barely knew him.

An hour later Jon and Gilas
walked side by side down a corridor toward a small reception room that Jon had
asked Kelly and Andie to set up for him. He had taken Gilas and showed him
points of interest around the station, with Ghost’s help of course. The four
guards following them bantered back and forth, as they walked. He had related
the entire story to Gilas about how they came to be here. He hadn’t really
described
Atlantis
, but that’s where they were heading now. He wanted to
see Gilas’ reaction when he saw the ship.

“So you have only been here for
about six hours?” Gilas asked. He tugged on his transport harness as it was
chaffing his side.

“Yes, we arrived just before your
fight broke out. It was Ghost who let us know who you were. All I really needed
to know was that the Invaru were fighting someone,” Jon said. “Anyone they
would be fighting could be possible allies.”

Gilas stared at Jon for a second.
Jon had a few things he needed to learn and Gilas had decided he would try to
help him as best as he could.

“That is a very dangerous way of
thinking, Jon,” Gilas said. He clasped his hands behind his back.

“How so? We need allies and
anyone fighting our enemies would be potential allies in our fight,” Jon said.

“Not everyone in this universe
thinks like I do. Not everyone is as friendly as we are. The Eutharan people
will probably welcome you openly. Though, we have our own difficulties at the
moment. To be truthful, some of the Eutharan people will dislike you for who
you are. They can’t help it. A lot of them grew up fearing the day the Weaver
of Worlds would come,” Gilas said.

“Weaver of Worlds? What does that
mean?” Jon asked.

“The Weaver of Worlds is the one
spoken of in the prophecies. He will weave the worlds of the universe together
under one flag and unite the Empires,” Gilas said.

He glanced at Jon out of the
corner of his eyes as a grin spread across his face.

“I’m sure you are him. You have
fulfilled some of the prophecies already, by unlocking Ghost Station. You will
begin to unite the Empires and fight off something even more evil than the
Invaru and their allies. There is one part of the prophecies I’m waiting for,
though.”

Jon rolled his eyes as he said,
“Here we go again. I’m not this Weaver of Worlds. I’m just an ordinary human
trying to get my planet free from the Invaru occupation. As far as the
prophecies and unlocking treasures are concerned that could mean anything or
nothing at all.”

Gilas continued as though he
hadn’t heard Jon, “And the races of the universe shall flock to him as their
last hope. Even the shadow race, hidden from all, shall come forward to serve
him and his line.”

“Shadow race?” Jon said.

Gilas nodded as he spoke, “Some
believe it is a race never before seen. Others, like me, think it is the
Vejaas. They disappeared over three thousand years ago. Some say they’re
waiting for a sign, you, to come forward and be known again.”

“Never heard of them,” Jon said.

“There aren’t a lot of records
about them. They’re supposed to be a highly advanced race and have the ability
to change their appearance. That is about all that is really known about them,”
Gilas said. “As far as trusting people, well, that is something you will learn
as you get more used to commanding people. There are those you can trust fully
and then those you can only trust partially. Then there are the ones you don’t
trust, but can use as a ‘means to an end.’ Just remember one thing, Jonathan.”

Jon stopped in front of the door
to the lounge and turned to Gilas, “What’s that?”

“You alone hold the keys to Ghost
Station. Even with your limited amount of personnel, that makes you more
important than any one person alive. Never, and I mean never, give out those
command codes. Hand out secondary codes, but always hold the true command codes
close and never let them go,” Gilas said. His face showed the seriousness of
his statement. “And to answer the question you asked earlier, I would be happy
to help you with food and supplies. I’ll even supply some of our weapons and
armor for your security personnel. The station could then manufacture those in
bulk for you. I’ll have some of my people help you get the foundries up and
running, and train your people to fly the mining ships. We can even help run
the station if you would like, while we’re here being repaired. I’ll have to
talk that over with my second in command, though, before I commit to it.”

“Well, after what we have just
discussed, I don’t know if I would be comfortable letting people run around the
station,” Jon said.

“Well, think about it,” Gilas
said. “With our help we can get you up and running in almost no time. We can
even start the upgrading process for the station.”

Jon nodded as he cycled the door
open with a thought, “You can take the harness off if you want.”

Gilas nodded and he stepped
through the doorway already pulling off the harness.

Jon turned to his security, “You
two station yourselves here. No one is to gain access to this room, unless
authorized by me.”

“Yes, Sir,” they both said at the
same time. Each man took a side of the door.

“You two can keep them company,
follow Commander Hunter’s orders as if they were mine,” Gilas said.

“Yes, Sir,” the marines said.

Jon stepped into the lounge,
grabbed a cup of coffee from the table next to the door, and offered it to
Gilas.

“Coffee?” Jon asked. “From my
world. It might be a bit bitter so you might want to add some sugar and cream.”

Gilas took a sip, “Oh, we have
this too, we call it prandle. Ours is made from the small beans of a plant
called Prandlehied. Thank you for the offer.” Gilas took another sip.

Jon smiled and said, “No problem.
I have something I want to show you.”

Jon motioned Gilas over to the
observation window in the room as he looked out it and took a sip from the cup.
Jon watched Gilas out of the corner of his eyes as he looked out the window.

“What am I looking at?” Gilas
said as he looked through the window. His cup dropped from his numb hands and
bounced off the carpet, as his eyes got wide and his jaw dropped.

Jon turned and looked at the
stunned Gilas.

“That’s a Eutharan Heavy Battle
Cruiser,” Gilas said. He looked at Jon in awe.

“Yup, she is my ship. That is the
ship that carried my crew and me here,” Jon said.

“When you said you had a ship I
never dreamed you had this ship. Jon, you don’t understand do you,” Gilas said.

“What don’t I understand?” Jon
asked.

“That ship is the
Atlantis
,”
Gilas said.

Jon nodded, “So?”

“The
Atlantis
is something
of a myth with the Eutharan people. Actually, she is a myth with almost every
race. The Empire put her into battle one time, and nothing could touch her.
After that battle, rumors said she would appear and destroy her enemies from
nowhere. There is always someone talking about having seen her at one point or
another. But none of the sightings have ever been confirmed,” Gilas said.

“I could see that if she folded
in and attacked a vessel. It would look like she just suddenly appeared,” Jon
said.

“I always guessed that too. She
was the first Eutharan vessel to have a fold drive. When she disappeared, the
Eutharan house and everyone involved in building her became tight lipped and
nothing more was ever said about her. The official report said she was lost in
a spatial event of some kind,” Gilas said.

“Well I doubt that, she is
sitting right there. As a matter of fact, we found
Atlantis
docked in an
underwater base and she had become part of that base. The base AI took over
while she was docked, and the ship’s AI was asleep,” Jon said. “However, the
Invaru destroyed that base.”

“They were probably trying to get
their hands on
Atlantis
. That ship will make things very difficult for
them and I’m sure they would have loved to tear her apart to learn what they
could from her systems,” Gilas said.

“She’s that special?” Jon said.
“I mean she is special to me because I have gotten to know Atlantis and she is
like one of my staff. Ghost is a close second though.”