Lokians 1: Beyond the End of the World (20 page)

“
Copy,” he rolled his head to loosen
his shoulders, silently thankful that there was something
preventing him from discussing his feelings with his
crew.

Back at the Carrier’s bridge, he learned that
they had found a route plotted between certain planets, which
seemed to end in a system clear across the galaxy in the
Scutum-Centaurus arm. Thewls claimed that a planet called
Sahagun
was the end of the travelers’ journey, though they
admitted it might have been the beginning of their journey. Either
way, it was as good a planet as any to survey.

Adams and Franklin walked into the room
seconds later. “We found something, then,” Adams asked.

“
Good job, all of you,” Yew said. “Yes,
we have something.”

“
We’re plotting a course for this
place, right,” the captain asked.

“
We have to clear it with our
superiors, but that is the logical course of action,” Yew
replied.

The three Humans exchanged glances. “I was
unaware admirals reported to anyone,” O’Hara was in disbelief.

“
We have a collection of leaders aboard
the Carrier vessels. I am the leader of this one,” Yew replied.
“Each Carrier has an admiral, but there is a governmental body,
which ultimately decides things, which affect the entirety of our
race. As you know…there are not many of us left.”

“
I see,” O’Hara said before engaging
the ambassador, who sat in a large chair at the far end of the
bridge.

“
What is it, Captain?”

“
I would like to suggest that we begin
building relations in order to unite against the Lokians. If the
travelers aren’t on Sahagun then I need to return to Eon. I also
need to inform Admiral Lay as it is.”

“
I am in agreement. We are close enough
to Earth now, and as you know, we would like to land
there….”

“
Allow me to confer with Adams and
Franklin, they have some knowledge on these matters,” O’Hara said
and half turned to look at the two men. They were standing by the
entryway with hands clasped in front of their bodies. “We’re close
enough to Earth to land. Do we inform Earth’s government of the
Lokian threat? Is there some sort of protocol, or can we just tell
them to prepare?”

The agents exchanged a glance and smirked.
For an unknown reason, the action irritated him. He thought it was
fatigue.

Adams spoke first. “We’ve already contacted
The Bureau.”

“
Right, they’ll take precautions and
spread the information through proper channels,” Franklin added.
“You really don’t need to concern yourself with anything outside of
finding the travelers.”

“
We’ll make sure the ambassador
establishes contacts within The Bureau,” Adams consoled.

“
What about Admiral Lay? Should I get
in touch with him for a debriefing?”

“
Don’t you think we handled that,”
Franklin chuckled. “We keep him up to dcalciumate with
everything…including your performance.”

Everything’s resolved then
. The
captain pondered the implications of landing on Earth.
That’s a
bad idea. I guess I just need to focus here.
O’Hara walked back
to the ambassador. Weh’s expressionless face and ever open eyes
left him wondering how he was going to take a negative reply.

“
The Bureau is taking care of
everything, and there is no need to land on Earth.”

Weh nodded. He then explained the proposed
journey to Sahagun, a seven day flight across space by way of
numerous, coalescence jumps. O’Hara was relieved there was no
argument over avoiding Earth.

“
Send me your agents. I would like to
speak to them.”

“
Of course,” O’Hara replied, marched
over to the suits, and let them know as much. “Well,” he mused,
“guess it’s time for the talk….”

He left the Carrier, and back on the
Explorer, he checked his comm. for the time, 07:47 Earth hours. The
captain knew his crew well, so his first stop was his own room.
There, he rummaged through his pack for utensils, and finally went
to the mess hall.

Chapter Twelve

The mess hall was extraordinarily busy, but
spotting Humans was always an easy task. O’Hara waved when he and
Swain made eye contact. The big man ran off to get something to eat
before joining his mates.

“
What’s the word, Cap? I hear we’re
traveling for like seven days or somethin’,” Martinez asked between
bites.

“
Yeah,” O’Hara sighed. “There’s no way
to travel through the center of the galaxy, so the chief navigator,
At-Emon, arranged a series of jumps to Sahagun.”

“
Shit’s wild,” Fitzpatrick
said.

“
Now, I was, um, wondering how
everyone’s holding up,” O’Hara went on.

“
Best as we can, Captain,” Swain
said.

“
Yeah, you know, we been talkin’
amongst ourselves and what not, ya’ heard? We figure you been
bottlin’ up,” Martinez added.

In an exasperated tone, the captain admitted
he didn’t want to even think about what happened back on Marduk. “I
mean, we’ve never been to war. I’m just not sure how to deal with
all of this and everything.”

Swain put his bear-like hand on the captain’s
shoulder; a symbol of solidarity. “You know, no one blames you,
right? We’re your crew, and we always give everything we have
because you do the same.”

“
Thanks. I just wish I had a better
grasp on this situation. I’m supposed to make sure everyone’s okay,
you know?” he complained.

“
Sir, if I may,” Nandesrikahl chimed
in. O’Hara nodded. “We need to focus on the upcoming task. There’s
a very real chance that Sahagun will have a Lokian
presence.”

“
Yeah,” he sighed, shoveling some
purple jelly down his gullet. Looking at their expressions of
acceptance, he returned a sad smile. “What the Hell are we eating,
anyway?”

“
Fuck if I know, but that shit taste
goood,” Martinez grinned.

They all enjoyed a brief laugh. “Okay, so,
what’ve you guys been up to? Learn anything,” O’Hara pried.

Swain beamed with pride, saying, “Well, Sir,
I have personally worked side-by-side with our alien friends. We’re
trying to make new ammunition. See, we were working with an
Element-115 alloy, I can’t call it what they do, so we call it
Swainium,” he said.

They all laughed again. “Swainium, huh?”
Fitzpatrick interrupted.

“
How’s it working out,” Zakowski
asked.

“
Haven’t made much progress, I’m
afraid; still need to test the bullets, but it’s all very
interesting. I’ll keep you posted.”

“
Man, why ain’t you tell me?” Marty
joked. “Lemme’ give you a hand with that. I wanna’ blow some shit
up.”

“
What about you,” O’Hara asked
Nandesrikahl.

“
I spent some time pouring over
historical and cultural data. Our friends are not so different from
us, to say the least. O’ course, some big changes occurred once
their planet was destroyed. They had to give up their arts; music,
dancing, all the things we take for granted,” he breathed. “I must
say, this Lokian threat is far wider than we had assumed.
Certainly, they spell doom, but even the survivors are relegated to
a mere fraction of their former grace…our Thewlian friends are
vastly dissimilar, far more than, say, Human colonists compared
with home worlders.”

Home worlders was a term reserved for Humans
born and raised on Earth. The few times, O’Hara had met them, they
were somehow different in the way they comported themselves. That
made him think about the Thewls, and how different their lives on
their home world must have been. A familiar face approached the
table, breaking his concentration.

“
Lam-Yung, right,” he asked.

“
That is correct, Captain. How are
you?”

“
We’re all just trying to come to grips
with everything.”

His crew agreed and invited her to join them.
She took a seat next to Zak. DeReaux eyed her ample bosom heaving
beneath a loose robe. Fitzpatrick squinted at him.

“
I understand,” her hue paled to a
pinkish gray when she spoke. “Fighting is never easy, not this kind
of fighting; we are all struggling to survive.”

“
Yes,” Nandy said. “I read over some of
your history.”

“
We was just talking ‘bout that,” Marty
smiled.

“
Oh,” the Thewl nodded. “Much has
changed to be sure, but our goals are the same, to live a happy
life and care for our future generations. What has changed is our
habits; no more do we idly pass the time. Every second is carefully
calculated in order to survive, to persist. We have become
militant, but there was a time when a person could be a farmer or
shipwright without the demands of strategy.”

There was something simple, but elegant in
her rendition. O’Hara was astonished by the ease of connecting with
Thewls. Once he got past their lack of expression or tone, their
emotions became evident.

“
You just came to check on us,” Day
asked.

“
I did. Korit wanted to come himself,
but he’s meeting with the admiral,” Lam-Yung answered.

“
Well, how about we go for a walk and
talk?”

The pilot looked everyone over. They had
finished eating. Glances passed and frowns of approval went around.
So, they left the mess hall to amble about the vessel. Day asked
about the ships she had seen docked in the Carrier.

“
Would you all like a look at our
ships,” the Thewl asked.

“
I think Day is bursting, here,” Swain
chuckled. “Let’s go. Let’s go.”

Phoenix Crew giggled, which made Lam-Yung’s
jaw clench. She maintained the she was unfamiliar with the sound,
but they were at a loss to explain laughter.

In the Carrier’s docking zone, they were
witness to such an expanse of steel grating, railings, enormous
sets of stairs, ladders, cranes, and innumerable rows of ships.
They paraded across a platform guarded by a tall rail. Day had to
stand on her toes to peek over. All manners of vessels stood
beneath her.

There were angular fighters, bigger ships
shaped like discs, but pinched at the ends. Some had wings, some
didn’t; some even looked like semi-seamless race cars with jets at
the rear. All of them had some weaponry, and a plethora of armored
Thewls ran about, chatting, pointing, working.

“
Can I ride one?” Day
begged.

“
I’ll have to get clearance, but it can
be arranged,” Lam-Yung answered.

They spent moments meandering about the
fighters. Day bolted off to question pilots regarding the controls,
while Marty asked about the weapons, and Swain asked about the
mechanics. O’Hara, Zak, Nandy, Fitzpatrick, and Lam-Yung looked
each other over.

“
We are not so different,” the Thewl
said.

“
Are the other races?” Nandy was
curious.

“
The Yvlekesh certainly are. They are
nothing like us. They are more like the Lokians—insects—but they
lack a hive mentality; it is something from which they evolved
away….”

“
But they’re on our side, right?” Zak
looked jittery.

“
Yes. They have no desire for
destruction.”

After meeting back up with the others, Day
stated she had been invited to ride on a fighter, so O’Hara let her
scoot. Some of the others also wanted to visit different decks.
Lam-Yung was open to anything; she left with Swain, Marty,
Fitzpatrick, and DeReaux for the weapons lab.

Zak, Nandy, and the captain climbed up a set
of stairs, a rather difficult feat, and from high up, they leaned
against the rail to observe their alien friends. Everything was
regimented, organized, and they functioned with efficiency without
being cold or hard. In fact, they were all rather congenial, and
they accepted change, and all seemed happy to coexist, if
temporarily, with Humans.

Finally, they all went their separate ways.
O’Hara bumped into the agents outside his crew quarters. They
exchanged looks, but Adams and Franklin claimed they were busy.
They didn’t apologize or explain; they just walked off, vanishing
around a corner.
Weird, they’re always together, like one
person.
He smiled to himself.

As the seven, day sojourn unfolded, the crew
spent as much of their time together as they did separately, with
Thewls, learning more and more of everything there was to learn.
When they weren’t helping deckhands, they met up to share their
newfound knowledge with each other. Adams and Franklin also
schooled the Human crew on the Grays, however the agents spent most
of their time building relations or compiling data on the Lokians,
which they sent back to Bureau HQ, which meant meeting with them
was rare.

Meanwhile, Swain finished crafting his
Swainium bullets. Martinez and DeReaux tested the new ammunition,
which used Helium-4 as a propellant. Initial tests revealed the
explosions were too powerful for their gun barrels, so new Swainium
barrels were created. They were lighter, sturdier, and dissipated
heat more efficiently.

****

The series of coalescence jumps led through
several arms of the galaxy. By the end of the week, the ship
arrived at its destination. That morning at 06:00 hours, the
captain called his crew to the Carrier’s bridge, where they found
Lam-Yung scanning the system.