*****Audio File***** "Chapter 27 - Devils - Audio File" [The White Raven, Chapter 27, Devils] [Mulae Farael Battle Group, House Sparrow Carrier, Deep Space] “It’s freezing in here,” mumbles Pesa. “No talking,” scolds Chief Galae. “I’m done anyway,” says Pesa, standing and turning her exam paper over to the Chief. Chief Galae was the Master Chief in charge of Engine Room Four, and had been giving Pesa’s Host the required classes in acoustic environments. Pesa already had a basic understanding of the aerodynamic forces and structural design of spacecraft to protect them from being ripped apart when under the stress of engines powerful enough to propel a ship at the speeds required to travel between solar systems. She was looking forward to the computational fluid dynamics lab they would be studying in next. Pesa’s main question for the upcoming lab was - how? How did the five engines of the Carrier not tear apart from each other? It was easy to understand a simple ship design of one or two engines, but five engines thirty-three Sparrow Ball fields in length and one Sparrow Ball field in width was a staggering display of Daraian technology. Engine Room Four wasn’t actually a room, it was a deck the length of the entire Carrier. A Battle Carrier is built in orbit with the engines being assembled next to each other first, and then the Carrier hull is built around them. The Galaxy Ships were larger than the Carriers, and a complete mystery to most Daraians. Pesa had taken a tour of a Galaxy Ship, which only consisted of landing on a tourist deck and walking out to the observation platform and looking out at the vastness of the ship. There was a lake and rivers and an entire eco-system of plant and animal life on the Galaxy Ships. They had been originally built by the Daraians to colonize across the Galaxy, but constant war with the Kitsune and dwindling resources had turned them into very big cargo ships. The Galaxy Ships would travel to uninhabited worlds and mine them for their resources, then return with enormous quantities of product. A Galaxy Ship might be gone for a century or more before returning to Darai, or whichever planet owned the ship. Pesa was fascinated with engine design, and looked forward to studying the Carrier’s engines. She would like to study a Galaxy Ship’s engines, but that was unlikely to ever happen. A Galaxy Ship hadn’t been built in a very long time, there just wasn’t enough resources left to build another of the massive ships, and the existing Galaxy Ships never stayed long enough to get on board one for long. Pesa had been lucky just to have been able to see a Galaxy Ship that one time. “Hey there.” Pesa is pulled from her thoughts, Tonae is leaning against the wall outside the test room. “Why didn’t you take the test?” asks Pesa. “I didn’t get the study notes,” replies Tonae. “I put them out for you in the library and sent a copy to your gun-turret,” says Pesa. “Never got them,” says Tonae. “You haven’t been showing up for study session,” says Pesa. “But I’ve got a receipt of delivery signed by… umm…” Pesa checks her tablet. “Ah, yes, here it is, signed for by a Corporal Liaza last week.” “I’ll look for them,” says Tonae. “There’s a re-test next week.” “Okay, good luck,” says Pesa, turning and walking away. She knew the study notes were in his quarters at the gun-turret, but she had sent them on the day the Inspection Reports came out, and gun crews never look at the Reports. The study notes were likely buried in the pile of reports and Liaza, Tonae’s mate, would never have bothered checking if other mail was in the pile. Tonae would lose a lot of sleep if he were to catch-up with the Host. Pesa wouldn’t do anything to directly sabotage Tonae, but he was being careless and a few more well placed accidents with notes would force him to drop out of the Sparrow Academy. He would lose his Cadet Corporal rank and be forced to enlist as a private in the Sparrow Carrier Ground Infantry. Liaza would then be forced to leave the elite gun crews and be reassigned with Tonae to the infantry. Mated couples had to be kept together. Tonae should not have betrayed her. Pesa was a little surprised at how easy it had been for her to revert to being a true Sparrow. Nobody could blame her for Tonae’s carelessness, but they would also know that somehow Pesa had done it, and she would gain status among the Sparrows for being a ruthless adversary. Papa always said ‘the feather didn’t fall far from the wing’ but Pesa had assumed he was talking about him and Pesa. Mother had attended the Sparrow Academy, and mother was ruthless. Maybe Pesa was more like mother than Papa. It was already past noon and too late to go have lunch with Lieutenant Dak, and the ship was freezing cold, taking a nap would be almost impossible. Pesa headed for the Bridge, she would just report for duty early. The Helm Officer was at his station sitting calmly, but the Helm Cadet she would relieve was standing behind her seat bouncing back and forth trying to warm up. “I’ll take over,” says Pesa sitting down. The Helm Officer nodded an approval and the other Helm Cadet shot off like a bolt of lightening, probably headed for the gym or even one of the engine rooms to volunteer for extra duty. Many of the crew were volunteering for extra duty in the engine rooms just to warm up. Pesa pulled her mittens off and tapped a few commands on her station controls before reporting all systems green to the Executive Officer. Pesa wasn’t sure if he ever left the Bridge. “Two more weeks,” says Pesa checking the Nav-Computer. “Hope you wore your thermals,” replies the Helm Officer. “The Captain ordered another five degree drop in two-hours.” “It’s already below freezing now,” grumbles Pesa. “We’ll be at thirty-below before we arrive,” says the Helm Officer. Pesa already knew why the Captain was dropping the temperature in the Carrier, but it seemed excessive to her. They were following the first lead they had on where the Pirate Fleet might have gone that attacked the Demonians, but only one company of infantry were going down to the surface and needed acclimated. The planet was R783, and might be a planet or a rogue moon, the astronomers changed their minds every couple years on what it was. The average temperature on R783 was -783 degrees, but inside an emergency thermal tent the temperature would be -30 degrees. The Captain wanted everyone on the Carrier to be acclimated to -30 degrees, or at least familiar with how to function at such cold temperatures. He said that if we encountered the Pirate Fleet, there was no way to predict who on the Carrier might find themselves on the planet. Everyone on the Carrier was wearing thermal under-garments, parkas, mittens, face masks, and cold boots, it made every task very difficult. Pesa pulled her mittens back on and… A warning klaxon sounded and the A.I. voice began an announcement. *Hull breech on bridge, venting atmosphere* Pesa took a deep breath and held it while ripping her mittens off. Her pressure suit was located in a drawer under her station and she slid off her seat and onto one knee to retrieve the pressure suit. *Captain is incapacitated* announces the A.I. “XO has the Bridge,” shouts the XO pulling on his pressure suit. *Executive Officer is incapacitated* announces the A.I. Pesa glances at the XO, he looks fine, then kneels and lays down on the deck next to the Captain. “Oh, it’s another drill,” thinks Pesa to herself. “Who’s going to be tested today?” “Com-Officer has the…” the Communication Officer starts to shout. *Communications Officer is incapacitated* announces the A.I. Pesa tries to concentrate and finishes pulling her pressure suit on and returns to her seat. “Helm-Officer has…” the Helm Officer starts to shout and is interrupted by the A.I. announcing he is incapacitated. The Helm Officer next to Pesa gets up from his station and lays down on the deck. Pesa taps the console to transfer control to her station. This part of the drill is not a drill, she really does have control of the five massive engines that is the very heart of the ship. Pesa doesn’t hear the Medical Officer assuming command and turns to look for him… he’s not on the Bridge. Lieutenant Dak would be next in command but he’s not on the Bridge either. “Oh crud,” mumbles Pesa, realizing today’s drill is for her. Pesa taps the command on her station to turn over the Helm to the A.I., then jumps up and runs back to the Captain’s Chair and sits down. “Cadet Helm Officer has the Bridge,” says Pesa pushing the ship intercom button. “Damage Control Officer, I need a damage assessment.” “We took four nuke missiles starboard,” replies the DCO. “Forward Decks 23 through 45 are venting atmosphere.” “Seal the bulkheads,” orders Pesa. “There’s people in there,” shouts the DCO. “We’re sending rescue teams.” “Negative,” says Pesa. “Seal the bulkheads.” Pesa knows she will lose people, but the attackers could still be out there, her choice is to run or fight, not to engage in rescue operations. “A.I. come to 185.4,” orders Pesa, swinging the ship around to protect the damaged side of the ship. Pesa presses the intercom again. “Port-side gun-turrets, you are weapons-free to engage. Dart Squadrons hold launch. Missile batteries one through eighteen find and destroy the ship that launched those nukes.” “End scenario,” orders the Captain. Pesa stands and gives the Captain back his chair. “What did you do wrong, Cadet?” asks the Captain. “I forgot to call the backup Bridge Crew forward,” replies Pesa. “There is that,” says the Captain. “But forgivable, you were under attack and needed to act quickly.” Pesa looks down at the display on the Captain’s Chair Vid-Screen, and realizes what she did wrong. “I was thinking in two dimensions, sir,” says Pesa. “Swinging the ship around was a mistake.” “Correct, a ship this size takes a considerable amount of room to swing around,” says the Captain. “All you would have done was laps around the enemy and kept the damaged side of the ship towards them. The port gun-turrets would never have had a target to shoot at.” “Yes, sir,” says Pesa. “I should have rolled the ship to bring the gun-turrets facing the target.” “Helm Officer, at the end of this shift I want you to take this Cadet to the simulator and repeat this scenario until she gets it right,” orders the Captain. “Yes, sir,” says the Helm Officer. Pesa sits back down at her station, she’s going to need to get the simulator right the first time or she’ll miss a study session with her Host. The idea of having to go to Tonae and ask for the study notes is not a pleasant thought. ***** [Eagle Province, Airport, Planet Darai] Ring and Vel sat on top of their luggage at the side of a dusty dirt runway watching the construction equipment moving back and forth several hundred feet away. The real terminal and runways would be built over there, but for now, this hastily bulldozed and flattened strip of dirt was the airport. “We had the most sophisticated spacecraft ever built, then we got civilized, and now we fly in prop driven crop dusters,” says Ring. “They use less fuel and are more efficient than shuttling around in craft built for outer-space,” says Vel. “Everyone on the mainland has a Dart,” argues Ring. “Yea, but those Darts aren’t allowed to fly above one-hundred feet without special permission, and they have to stay above the roadways,” says Vel. “We don’t have any roads or established Dart lanes.” “I guess so,” says Ring. “House Falcon is right,” says Vel. “There has to be established air routes, Dart lanes, and flight rules, we’ve just been lucky there wasn’t any crashes.” “I want my Dart back,” says Ring petulantly. “After this is over,” says Vel. “How?” “We’ll start selling again.” “Raen and Moeth will go orbital.” “We’ll sell the one drug they can’t argue against.” “Red?” “Even Raen uses Red, it’s classified as a medical drug,” says Vel. “We can get a license, make a pharmaceutical company, and do it legal this time, and you’re formula for Red is the best on the planet, we’ll be able to afford a fleet of Darts.” “Okay, but only medical drugs,” says Ring. “We’ve been clean for eight years now, I don’t want to go back.” “I promise,” says Vel. “Ring Pharmaceuticals has a nice ‘Ring’ to it,” says Ring, glancing sideways at Vel. “Har, Har, you're hilarious… here comes our plane,” says Vel. The fixed wing single-engine propeller driven aircraft bounced once on the ground and kicked up dust behind it as it rolled towards them. Ring was fairly certain a strong wind would lift it back into the sky and blow it out over the ocean, never to be seen again. The image of a falcon was blazoned on the side of the aircraft along with several numbers identifying this particular aircraft. The pilot pushed a flimsy door open and jumped out, and ran around the back and opened a small compartment in the tail, then came over to Ring and Vel. “Gate one boarding now, have your boarding passes out,” says the pilot. Ring looked left and right, and then behind him. There was no one else here, and there certainly wasn’t any Gate one, or any gate for that matter. If not for the flimsy airplane sitting in front of him, the dusty trail that claimed to be a runway could easily have been a cattle path. Vel took the piece of paper from Ring that the Falcon ticket attendant had given them back at the former airfield, which was really just the trampled down area they first landed, and gave it to the pilot. “Everything looks in order,” says the pilot inspecting the paper. “Do you have any weapons to check through luggage?” Ring tipped his head to the side at the odd man. Ring and Vel were dressed in a Raven Master’s black leather uniform and black wings. Ring had at least a dozen weapons hidden at various locations on his body, and he certainly had no intentions of ‘checking’ them anywhere. The pilot pulled a hand-scanner from his coat and held it up, that was enough nonsense for Ring. “If you wave that thing at me, I will stick it someplace you don’t like,” threatens Ring, and then walked past the man to the airplane. The hand-scanner lit up like a festival day tree as Ring passed. Vel giggled and followed Ring, the scanner continued it’s woeful beeping as Vel approached the pilot. “This House was founded by Master Raven’s, sir,” says Vel, pausing for a moment before walking past the pilot. “House Falcon may want to consider not bothering with weapon scanners, we would consider it terribly rude if any guests showed up unarmed.” Ring and Vel climbed into the back of the airplane while the pilot looked liked he was having an epileptic seizure. Ring pulls the door shut and shakes his head. “Pure foolishness,” says Ring. “Even our youngest hatchlings are armed before they can walk.” “Did you see the new weapon the Struthian children taught our hatchlings to make?” asks Vel. “The wrist sling-shots?” says Ring. “I might get one of those.” The pilot climbed in and turned the plane around and revved the engine. The small plane bounced down the runway and then it was in the air, rattling at every seam. Ring grabbed the sides of his seat, certain he had crawled into his own coffin. The two hour flight, which normally would have been twelve minutes in a Dart, was nothing short of pure terror - Ring couldn’t believe anyone still flew in these antiquated death traps. The Demonian camp of thousands of now useless spacecraft came into view and the pilot started his descent. “We’ll be landing in a moment,” shouts the pilot, turning to look back and ensure his passengers were ready for landing - the two passengers were already gone. “What about our luggage?” asks Vel, watching the small death plane fly on without them. “I’m sure he’ll dump it on the side of the runway,” replies Ring, pulling his wings in to match Vel’s glide. “We can get it later, but I sure wasn’t going to land in that coffin.” “Look, there’s Prince Vengeance’s ship,” says Vel. Ring and Vel bank around and glide gracefully to the ground in front of the large transport ship. Prince Vengeance wasn’t at his ship and it took another hour to track him down to a transport ship being dismantled for parts. “My Lord Vengeance…” says Ring bowing slightly. “You can stop,” says Prince Vengeance, not bothering to stop working on the transport. “Raen already called. I would give you a ship to use but I haven’t a drop of fuel in the entire fleet. I can’t help you.” Two Demonians holding very large wrenches approach Ring and Vel. “No, leave them be,” orders Prince Vengeance. “These two didn’t pull the trigger on my brothers, and they are trying to help.” Prince Vengeance turns from his work and looks at Ring. “We appreciate what you have done and are trying to do, but there are those here that… well, it just isn’t safe for you here, you should leave.” Vel pulls at Rings arm and they prudently walk away. “They don’t want our help,” says Vel. “Some do, some don’t,” says Ring. “It’s the hard-liners that are the trouble makers. The ones willing to let the past go are already at the Eagle Cliffs.” Ring and Vel walk to the ‘airport’ at the far end of the Demonian camp, House Falcon has already begun construction of a matching airport. “What now?” asks Vel. “We wait for the next plane and go ask Lord Struthio if he will give us a ship,” says Ring. They find their luggage piled at the side of the dirt runway, and a small boy sitting on top of it. Ring recognizes the boy, it would be difficult not to, and Ring bows. “Greetings, Prince Mischief,” says Ring. “What are these?” asks Prince Mischief holding up the jar containing the two remaining master seeds.” “Those are very dangerous,” says Ring. “Please put them down.” “What are they?” repeats Prince Mischief, shaking the jar. Ring leaps at the boy and he vanishes. “Damn that Imp,” curses Ring glancing around and finding Prince Mischief standing on the other side of the runway. “If you won’t tell me, I know someone that will,” says Prince Mischief before vanishing again. Ring sits down on the luggage. “Aren’t we going after him?” asks Vel. “We would never be able to catch him,” says Ring. “He’ll be back.” Prince Mischief appears in the middle of the runway an hour later holding the jar. Ring doesn’t bother getting up, he isn’t going to bow to the little thief twice. “They look a little like Naylocliano seeds, but their cell structure is more complex,” says Prince Mischief. “They are probably the source seed that was used to create Naylocliano seeds, and that means they are likely the original seeds that created Demonia. That’s why you want to go back to Demonia, you’re going to try to get them to grow and fix the planet. Who gave them to you, Carina or Corax?” Prince Mischief tosses the jar into the air and Ring scrambles to catch the jar before it can hit the ground and break - Prince Mischief runs to take Rings vacated spot on top of the luggage. “How did you examine the cell structure?” asks Vel. “Electron-microscope,” replies Prince Mischief. “My brother brought a science ship with him to make medicine.” “Of course,” says Ring. “Your brother is very intelligent.” “Naw, he’s an idiot,” says Prince Mischief. “I’m actually the smart one, he just has some of the Dragon’s memories - and no, he doesn’t know how the seed works, I asked.” “So that’s how his gift works,” says Vel. “He has a genetic library of knowledge in his head he can access.” “All Demonians do,” says Prince Mischief. “His is just more advanced, he’s a cheater.” Vel ignores the boy’s jabs at his brother, evolutionary leaps or not, they are still just little boys with the same sibling jealousies and rivalries any brothers have. “If you don’t mind, we are busy,” says Ring. “Doing what, sitting on your luggage?” asks Prince Mischief. “We have to find a ship to take us to Demonia,” replies Ring. “Duh, I’m taking you there,” says Prince Mischief. “I have to leave anyway, the Commonwealth Senate is kicking me out.” Ring hears the roar of a ship’s engine and sees the Prince’s Kitsune Fast Attack Ship approaching. “The Kitsune are forbidden from ever entering the Demonian solar system again,” says Ring. “I know that, duh,” says Prince Mischief. “There’s an unmarked Dart ship in the cargo bay in case my ship is damaged in an attack and I have to escape. My Fleet will take us to the edge of the solar system and we’ll go the rest of the way in it.” Prince Mischief jumps off the luggage and walks towards the landing Fast Attack Ship. Ring looks at Vel and shrugs. “Well?” asks Ring. “What choice do we have?” asks Vel. Ring grabs the luggage. “You know, we’re making a deal with a devil,” says Ring. “Not the first time we’ve done that,” says Vel. “But, he’s a small devil, how much trouble can he cause?”