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About... The Death of Innocence
In 1993, thirteen-year-old Trace Williams finds himself racing down a dark alleyway. His heart was about to burst through his chest. Someone was chasing him.
His attacker catches him, and he lifts him into the air. From somewhere, he hears his mother's voice call out, "Trace! Wake up."
But he could not awaken. He was trapped in the darkness of a dream. But it was not a dream, not really. Niorun, the Goddess of Dreams has taken his consciousness from his body and projected it into the body of a fourteen-year-old girl.
Trace felt the knife, and he writhed in pain.
Finally, his mother awakens him, but not before he felt the pain of being murdered by an evil man.
Niorun watched from above, and she asked Verdandi, the Goddess of Fate, why it was necessary for the boy to suffer the death of another. Verdandi replied that it was the boy's fate, for something was planned that was more important than The Death of His Innocence.
About... The Viking King and His Sword
The year is 1505, and K'reig the Invincible sits on his warhorse at the edge of what is soon to be a bloody battlefield on the northwestern tip of the British Isles. Behind him is his army, a small band of enslaved villagers from the last settlement he raided. In front was the next town he intended to conquer with the plan to enslave the men who survived the battle. His goal was to build an army and continue his conquest.
The age of the Viking Gods has passed, but K'reig's followers are convinced he is one of the Gods, the brother of Thor. They have witnessed his miraculous recovery from mortal wounds.
In truth, K'reig is not a God. Although he does have powers, he is an imposter. He has played on their superstitions.
The Viking God Hel, the Goddess of Death, is not happy. And neither is Verdandi who is the Goddess of Fate.
Together, Death and Fate empower a Seer, and he arrives at the village before the battle. The Seer has an advantage to stop the imposter K'reig, but K'reig is a formidable foe.
And the battle begins.
The Viking King is the second short story in The Stranger series. The first story is The Incident.
About... The Devil's Lair
The year is 1865, the date is May 2. Lee has surrendered, and Lincoln has been assassinated. The Civil War is over.
But not for Darnell Jeffries and the men he is riding with. They are determined to continue the fight. They intend to emulate Quantrill's Raiders, and they ride into central Kentucky, robbing banks and continuing the fight.
On this day, Death is watching, following.
The band of outlaw rebels run into a Union garrison, and Darnell and three of his friends survive and escape. But then not really.
The men encounter a Stranger, and for reasons they are unable to explain, they are terrified of this one individual. They flee into a deep ravine, straight into The Devil's Lair.
A dark entity that resides in the ravine is more dangerous than any battle they had encountered.
The Devil's Lair is the third story in The Stranger series.
Billy Jackson
​
Billy Jackson straddled the limb and started scooting away from the tree to where the kite was stuck. The twelve year old boy was not afraid of heights, but falling fifteen feet to the rocky ground was another thing.
Joey called up to him, “Can you reach it?”
“I’m almost there,” Billy said to his younger brother.
He scooched his butt a bit farther onto the limb, and it bent slightly with his weight. He leaned forward and wrapped his right arm around the branch, and he stretched out with his left hand. His fingertips touched the kite’s tail, but a strong gust of wind snatched it away.
The wind rocked him back and forth. Terrified that he was about to fall, he wrapped both arms around the limb until the bouncing ceased.
Joey said, “Oh man! You almost had it!”
Now that the wind had calmed, the tail again rested on the limb, tempting him once more. Not one to give up, Billy gathered his courage and said, “I’ll get it this time.”
Billy inched closer to the kite, and he stretched out yet again. With no warning, there was a loud crack, and he was in a freefall. His arms flailed as he tried to grab onto something, anything. His shoulder hit a branch, and he landed on his back on the ground with a thud.
Joey cried out, “Billy! Billy! Are you OK?”
Blood began pooling onto the ground beneath the young boy’s brown hair.
Joey turned and screamed across the field to their farmhouse, “Mom! Mom! Help!” But the house was too far for their mother to hear his cries.
“Billy! Get up!” he yelled. He squatted down beside his big brother and shook his shoulder.
When Billy didn’t move, Joey did the only thing he knew to do. He ran to the house as fast as he could.
Moments later, Billy opened his eyes and looked up at the sunny sky, but something was not right. There was a light mist hovering overhead, and an eerie blanket of silence surrounded him.
“Joey?” he tried to call out. But no sound escaped his lips.
He turned his head to the right and to the left, but Joey was not there.
Billy got to his feet, and his movements felt weird. He turned and saw something that made no sense, and it scared the holy bejesus out of him. He was still lying on the ground, or at least a person that looked like him was on the ground.
Instantly, he thought he was dead. “No, no, no!” he tried to say.
He didn’t know what to do, and he started backing away. He tried to scream, and then he started to cry, yet he could make no sounds. He turned to run to their house.
“Oh, you poor thing,” he heard a voice say, and he stopped in his tracks and looked back.
A young girl was standing beside the tree that he had fallen from. She looked to be around his age, maybe older, but he was certain he had never seen her before. She took a step toward his body on the ground, and the mist in the air dissipated.
He mouthed the words, “Who are you?” Still, no sound would escape his lips, but now he was able to hear the wind blowing through the leaves on the trees.
The girl knelt beside his body, and her hand caressed his forehead. At the same time, he could feel a warm tenderness flow into his core.
She said again, “You poor thing.”
There was a different voice, and a woman walked from behind the tree. She said, “Maisy, it’s best that we let him be. They will come for him.”
Without looking at the woman, Maisy said, “But it will be too late when they get here. He’s dying.”
“Yes, you are probably right. But it is not for us to interfere. It’s his time.”
“But, Momma, I don’t understand,” Maisy said. “If I can help…”
Momma said, “Maisy sweetheart, you will understand as you grow older. They live in their world, as we do in ours.”
Finally, Billy was able to find his voice, but it was weak. He said, “But I don’t want to die.”
Both Maisy and the older woman jumped as though they had seen a ghost.
Maisy said, “Momma!”
Momma was staring at Billy and said, “I see him.”
Maisy said, “What do we do?”
Momma said, “Nothing. I believe this sometimes happens when they are crossing.”
Billy said, “Please, I don’t want to die.”
Maisy turned back to his body on the ground, “I’m going to help him.”
“But Maisy…” Momma started to protest, but then she said, “I hope you understand what you are doing.”
Maisy said, “It doesn’t matter. I feel I need to help.”
In the distance, Billy heard screaming and he looked across the field. His mother had her dress clutched in her hands and was running as fast as she could.
Momma said to Maisy, “You must hurry. His mother is coming.”
Maisy gripped Billy’s shoulder and pulled him onto his side and her small hand went to the base of his skull. On the ground, Billy’s back arched as a surge of electrical energy streamed into his body. And where Billy was standing, there was a stabbing pain deep within his head, and everything went dark.
“Billy! Billy!” he vaguely heard.
A warm hand rubbed over his cheeks, and he opened his eyes and saw his mother’s teary face staring down at him. He looked past her, past Joey, and searched for the young girl.
His voice was weak, and he called out, “Maisy, Maisy!”
His mother looked over her shoulder and saw nothing. Her attention returned to her son, and she said, “Billy, Billy! Look at me! Are you OK?” She saw the blood on the ground beneath him. “Oh, my Lord! You’re bleeding!”
Billy asked, “Where is she? Where did she go?”
Mrs. Jackson said, “Billy, I’m right here. Honey, I need you to roll over. I need to see where you’re bleeding.”
Billy said, “I’m alright. Let me up.”
Against her better judgement, Mrs. Jackson said, “OK, careful now. Hold onto me.”
Once he was standing, she said, “Be still. Let me see your head.”
She spread his blood soaked hair apart and searched for the wound. Her fingers found a raw, sticky ridge that ran from his crown to the base of his skull. It looked more like a fresh burn than anything else, and it should not have been there. Without thinking, she pressed down on it, and droplets of fresh blood oozed from the edges.
“Ouch! That hurt,” Billy said as he scrunched his head down into his shoulders and twisted away from her.
“But I don’t understand,” Mrs. Jackson said. She looked at her bloody fingertips, and then looked at the fresh scar again. “This…this…But how?”
“Mother, I’m fine.” Billy said.
Billy started to step toward the tree, and a firm grip grasped his shoulder. Mrs. Jackson said, “Billy, we need to get you to the house.”
“But Mother, I have to find her,” Billy said.
“Find who?” she asked.
“There was a girl,” Billy said. “She…”
Before he could say anything else, Maisy stepped from behind the tree, and she had her finger over her lips.
“Mai…what?” Billy was staring at her and was trying to understand what she was trying to tell him.
Maisy shook her head no, and she mouthed some words. There was no sound that he could hear, but he knew what she wanted.
“Billy, who are you talking about?” Mrs. Jackson said as she turned around and searched the trees. The thought that someone else was on their property scared her.
She said, “May who?”
Maisy continued shaking her head no, and Billy said, “Mother, you’re right. I want to go to the house.”
Mrs. Jackson took him in her arms and squeezed, and she began crying once again. “Billy, you can’t do that to me. You hear me! It’s hard enough with your daddy gone.”
#
Billy leaned his head over the washtub, and he cried out, “Mother, that’s cold.”
Mrs. Jackson said nothing. She dipped the ladle into the bucket again, and as she drizzled water over his head, her other hand rubbed soap through his hair. Then she emptied another ladle, and another, until finally there was no more blood draining from his brown hair.
Billy stood in front of her as she carefully towel dried his head. “Ouch!” he cried out when she rubbed over the scar. “That hurts!”
Mrs. Jackson put the towel to the side and looked closely at his scalp. She said, “But I don’t understand.” The ridge was no longer raw and burnt looking. In fact, she could barely see where it had been. “What is this? I know what I saw. You had a, a…”
Billy remembered the fear in Maisy’s eyes, and how she had motioned for him to be quiet, so he said nothing.
Mrs. Jackson continued looking at the scar, and her mind was searching for answers to a question she did not know how to ask. This was not possible, not without help from above.
She hugged Billy and said, “This is truly a miracle. The Good Lord, he saved you.”
The Gunslinger
Dillon Adams is your ordinary high school senior with all the normal angst of a teenage boy growing up in the nineties in Alcoy, Colorado. Well, not quite. He has just transferred to the school after he and his mother had to relocate back to America after his father was killed by an IED in Afghanistan.
While dealing with the death of his father and his mother desperately trying to find a job, he incurs the wrath of Jonathan Perkins, the most popular superstar jock in the school. Dillon had the audacity to talk with Julie, Johnathan’s ex-girlfriend. After being sucker punched by Johnathan, Dillon awakens to find himself in a corral with a bucking bronco, but he was not Dillon. His name was Andrew…Andrew Taylor.
Moments later, he was in a hospital bed, and his mother, Mrs. Adams, was concerned about what had happened.
Dillon embarks upon a journey to resolve the issues with Johnathan, while simultaneously flitting back and forth between the 1990’s and the 1870’s as he embodies Andrew Taylor. The two lives run a parallel track.
Will Dillon learn from the past to save his future with Julie, the girl of his dreams?”
Death at the Coal Mine
West Virginia,
1917
Friday…
Chapter 1
The Stranger in a leather trail coat crested the top of the mountain, and he brought the black horse to a stop. He adjusted his weight in the saddle, and he removed the wet, flat brimmed cowboy hat from his head. A breezy gust of frigid air at his back ruffled his short hair and chilled him to the bone. He removed a leather glove, and his scarred hand rubbed over the stubble on his chiseled chin. His steely-blue eyes glanced at the morning sun.
The rain clouds that had chased him throughout the night had been replaced with a clear blue sky. The sun may have been shining, but the cold air at the top of the mountain did not care. The Stranger hated the cold weather.
His horse stomped a steel shoe on the rocky trail and chewed at the bit in his mouth. Steam vapors were exhaled from his large nostrils. He shook his head, and thick globs of slobber went everywhere.
“Slobbers…that’s what I’ll call you,” the Stranger said with the merest hint of a chuckle.
Slobbers understood. He side-eyed the Stranger and shook his thick mane. More drool flew into the air.
The Stranger patted the recently acquired horse on the shoulder. He did not need to speak aloud. He was able to mentally communicate with most animals, specifically the equine species. Sometimes the communication was with words, but more often with mental flashes. The ability was one of his many gifts.
He ran his hand over the stubble on his chin one more time, and then he pushed his short hair back and placed the hat onto his head. The leather glove was tugged over his large knuckles, and he lifted the reins and turned Slobbers off the trail.
They wove their way through a pine thicket and reached a clearing. The mountain peaks on the other side were miles away.
He dismounted and walked to the edge of a rocky ridge and stared down into a deep valley. Water trickled over the edge of the precipice and joined other streams of water that had escaped from the jagged rock wall beneath him. Together, the trickles and streams were the beginning of a waterfall that flowed down the side of the mountain.
Thirty-five hundred feet below lay a sleeping town, his destination. A thick blanket of fog swaddled the unseen houses as if they were infants in a crib. The infants were about to awaken.
He had been drawn here for a reason.
Chapter 2
Death peered through the veil that separated the realms of gods and mortals. The yellow orbs in her eye sockets locked onto the Stranger on the back of the black horse.
The Goddess of Fate stood at her side. She said, “These interventions go against our rules. This mortal will create more ripples that I must contend with.”
Death, her voice raspy and tired, wheezed, “This mortal is not from this world, and our rules do not apply. I will use him as I see fit.”
Fate countered, “He and those who arrived with him should have been collected as soon as they invaded this realm. You created this!”
“And where was I to deliver their souls?”
Fate retorted, “That is not my problem, but their arrival was an abomination, and they altered the fate of many. The ripple they created is my problem.”
“The God of Justice would not authorize me to act until they were deemed a threat. By then, the ripple had already been created. It was by this mortal’s own hand that the one responsible for the first ripple was delivered to me,” Death said.
Fate was smug, “And what did you do with that soul?”
“Justice instructed me to call upon the Valkyrie…Geir, and she collected him.”
“Then, why is the ripple growing?”
Death said, “Because that being escaped…or was released, and his essence is now present in another mortal. This mortal,” she pointed her scythe at the Stranger on the black horse, “can do what I cannot. He can close the ripple. That is why I have drawn him to this place.”
“An essence escaped Geir…the Valkyries? That is not possible.”
“But yet it has happened.”
Fate asked, “How?”
“Another hand is involved…Ghost,” Death said.
Fate scoffed, “Ghost? No. You are mistaken.”
Death countered, “It is not the first time.”
“Ghost has been banished from this realm.”
Death, her voice much stronger, said, “Somehow…with help…Ghost found a way…and it was he who freed the being’s essence from the Underworld. And now––.”
In a rare move, Fate turned and stared into Death’s yellow eyes. She said, “You are wrong.”
“Be careful. I have talked with Geir. She told me many things. Did you have a hand in this?” Death accused.
Fate glanced to the side, “You have grown tired, and you––.”
Death struck her scythe on the ground, and her yellow eyes glowed red. Her voice boomed, “Do not forget who I am! And do not challenge me! Never!”
A loud thunderclap rumbled throughout the valley, and the ground trembled. Boulders on high broke free and tumbled down the side of the mountain and crashed into the depths below.
Crash of the Veridian
​
Chapter 1
Solstice Cycle 3233
The outer reaches of the Andromeda Galaxy…
Captain Louisa Katriska controlled the urge to panic as she focused on the task at hand. The young pilot was not just focused. She was hyper-focused, and thanks to her military training, she never panicked. Her steady left hand worked the Orientation Control Stick while the nimble fingers of her right hand entered commands into the navigation system.
She could see the impending event unfolding, even if Commander Torrie could not. Because of him, too much time had already been lost, and she had to be ready. Their lives would depend on her.
Why was this happening?
That thought was quickly pushed aside. Why did not matter at this moment. This was happening, and it was happening now. She could see it. She could feel it. And it was up to her to deal with it.
The urge to glance at the screen was strong, but there was no need. After refusing the initial demands by the Rasha’im to submit to an illegal boarding, the two warships had repositioned behind the VIP transport ship she was piloting. They were now in a standard attack formation, and she knew from her time as a combat pilot that they were preparing to fire. This had been an ambush and was completely unprovoked.
But why? And how had they known where they would be? The Andromeda Galaxy was a big place.
As if on cue, her screen flashed a red warning, and Lt. Barenth, her copilot, screamed out, “The ships…they’re targeting us! I think they’re preparing to fire! But…”
He continued shouting things she already knew, and she tuned him out. The thirty-six year old Barenth seemed like a nice guy, but to her he was useless, especially in a situation like this. There were reasons he was second seat on a transport ship and not a pilot, lack of courage probably being one of them. She had not wanted him to be in that seat on the bridge of her ship. That was how she viewed the small transport, as hers. Once she took the pilot’s seat on any ship, the ship was hers until the end of the mission.
Commander Torrie ordered, “Captain, full stop. Lower shields and open a channel. We must show them we will be compliant before this gets out of hand.”
Katriska clenched her jaw so tightly it was a wonder she did not break her teeth. But she held her temper as her fingers continued inputting commands into the ship’s computer. Time was running out.
Commander Torrie, her superior, was apparently more than just useless. He was a craven coward, and it was his fault that precious time had already been lost to start with. But of course, he was a political diplomat, a glorified ambassador, not a combat Commander. He didn’t even know how to pilot a transport.
Now the fool was again entertaining the idea of allowing the Rasha’im to board the ship for the bogus inspection. They held no jurisdiction over them or any other ship from Ap’suan Minor, and she had already cited the sovereignty violations. She had initially won the argument, or at least she thought she had. Arguing again would cost more time that she did not have to spare.
“Full stop! Lower shields and…” His voice was louder as he started to repeat his order.
“Shields are at max,” Katriska said, cutting him off. Her voice was like an icy dagger.
“I ordered full stop! Drop the shields! Do it now!” Torrie sounded frantic. His voice was raised. “Having your shields up is a provocation.”
“Negative. Them preparing to attack is a provocation.” She was shaking her head. “We’re already on borrowed time!” Katriska said as she hit the final key enacting her navigation plan. Right after sending that directive, she sent a distress signal to Operational Command, then she diverted all bridge priorities to her station. It was only a matter of time until Torrie ordered Barenth to try to take control.
Using the OCS (Orientation Control Stick), she began to reorient the ship in space, and there was a vibration as the impulse drives started spooling up. She steeled herself for what was about to happen.
Barenth’s terrified face looked over at her, and he asked, “What are you doing?”
He watched as her blue eyes turned in his direction. Her hand pushed back her short blonde hair, and her stare zeroed in on him. For just a moment, his brain went numb. She was the prettiest woman he’d ever seen, and his heart skipped a beat just knowing she was looking at him. But she also terrified him to his core. She had a confidence about herself that he could not even imagine. He had no doubt she could break him in half if she wanted to.
He gulped and decided to let her do her job, and he looked back at his controls without uttering another word. As if he was an embarrassed young boy, his cheeks felt hot, but there was nothing he could do about that.
Torrie repeated Barenth’s question. “What are you doing?”
There was a reason Cpt. Louisa Katriska was one of the most decorated combat pilots in Ap’suan Minor’s history, and that reason did not include being indecisive and timid. But she expected that was also one of the reasons she no longer flew for the Space Defense Forces and had instead been assigned transport duty. This was her very first flight as a Transport Services Officer, and the first time she had ever met Commander Torrie.
“What are you doing?” Torrie demanded yet again. When she ignored him for a second time, he screamed, “I ordered you to stand down! What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m saving our lives,” she answered. Her voice was laced with disgust and anger. She had no time for this…for him. “Now let me do my job!”
“Bring this ship around before you create an even worse incident. We can negotiate a compromise. That is an order!”
Barenth dared to glance in her direction again, and he timidly asked, “What is it they want?” He had already decided he would do whatever she said.
Katriska replied, “They want the ship, and there will be no negotiating or compromises. It’s the Twin Core Technology. They’ve wanted it for many, many solstice cycles. They know we have no defenses, and they intend to take it from us. If we’d had an escort as protocol requires for VIP transport, this wouldn’t be happening. We’re sitting ducks.”
Torrie said, “That’s nonsense. Ruddage assured me there was no need for an escort for this trip. If the Rasha’im did anything like that, it would start a war.”
“Not if there are no survivors,” she shot back. “Operational Command has already been notified. The SDF will be scrambling a combat sortie, but we’re out of time.”
Torrie stammered, “You, you had no authority to notify Operations.”
She shot back, “I had every authority! Even if you can’t see it, we’re under attack!”
“But, I can negotiate with them,” he argued.
Katriska gritted her teeth and said, “Yeah, after they execute us, they’ll be open to negotiations.” She knew from experience that the gangly greys were not known for fair negotiations, compromises, or anything else. And they never showed mercy.
The Veridium continued to accelerate to maximum impulse as the Twin Cores initiated the process to generate a slipstream portal. Rather than directly in front of them, the space anomaly, otherwise known as a wormhole, was developing off to their port side. Katriska was anticipating the launch of a torpedo, and that would be their escape. The timing was going to be close.
Barenth, in a calmer voice than expected, reported, “One EMP torpedo has been fired.” He may have sounded calm, but he was about to piss himself.
The Electromagnetic Torpedo was designed to disable the ship.
Torrie yelled at Katriska, “You insolent little…I’ll have you court martialed for this! This is on you! Stand down now!”
Ignoring him, she manipulated the orientation controls and made her planned evasive maneuver, and the ship rolled away from the torpedo. The timing was perfect, and she entered the slipstream as the portal opened. Hopefully, they had enough of a lead to escape into the portal and for it to close before the second ship fired. She did not expect either of the Rasha’im ships to follow into the slipstream.
“Another torpedo!” This time, Barenth’s voice was high pitched and panicked, just as she had originally expected.
Well crap! That torpedo was launched quicker than she had calculated.
She glanced at her screen and saw that the second shot was not an EMP torpedo, but instead one of their nuclear-tipped thermal missiles. That upped the ante considerably. She was no longer concerned about the ship being disabled. Being destroyed was much worse.
Barenth called out again, “The warships are moving to follow into the slipstream!”
Katriska shook her head. That made no sense. Well, in a way it did. Their attempt to commandeer the ship had failed, so now they had to destroy any trace of the failed action.
The thermal missile made it through the portal entrance and into the slipstream. The extreme forces within the slipstream were too much and compromised the integrity of its casing. That was not good. It detonated, and the massive amount of discharged energy created a shock wave, disrupting the continuity within the slipstream.
The Veridium nearly tumbled end over end, but Katriska worked the OCS and adjusted their impulse. The event would have been catastrophic under a lesser pilot, but again, her combat skills paid off.
Everything had happened so quickly, and Torrie finally stuttered, “Did, did, did they just…”
“Wow. You’re really up on this. Yes,” Katriska answered. “They just tried to destroy us…just as I warned they would.”
Katriska inwardly swore at him again, and then she swore at herself. She had not been quick enough. They were in the slipstream, but they had been hit. Well, not directly. But still, it had been a close call.
“Barenth!” she called out. “Damage report!”
Barenth was shaking and unsure of what to do. Sure, he had trained on simulators for emergency situations, but he never thought he would actually be in a real world situation. This was totally different, and his eyes were blindly searching his control board. Finally, he saw a flashing red light.
“Um, we have a…” he started saying.
“Shield integrity!” Katriska demanded when she realized he had no idea what he was doing.
“Yeah, right. Shields holding at…eighty-five percent. Wait, down to eighty.”
“Twin Core status?”
“Right. No! That can’t be. Core Unit One has been compromised and is beginning to vent.”
“Navigation!” she demanded. “What’s nav status?”
“No, no, no!” His voice was panicked. “The AI Navigator is offline. I repeat, navigation is offline and…”
“Enough,” Katriska said. “Concentrate on stabilizing the shields, then CU1. I’ve got navs.”
Barenth said, “I can’t. I’m locked out.”
Katriska entered in a series of commands, and then said, “You should have limited controls restored. Now stabilize the damn shields, then the core. Let me know if it gets to thirty percent.”
Barenth began to tremble even more, and he asked, “What happens if it gets to thirty percent?”
“You kidding me?” Katriska shook her head. “Bad things. Bad things happen at thirty percent.”
Commander Torrie said, “What do you mean you’ve got navs. You can’t actually fly this ship. The AI…How can you…What have you done? I’ll see that you never…”
“Commander, shut the hell up and leave me alone if you want to live.”
She made another series of quick commands on the control board. Immediately, a complete panoramic vista was displayed around the bridge. It wasn’t just around them, but the floor and the ceiling disappeared to reveal the darkness of space as well.
The ship did not have any actual windows. The view was generated by sensors that were positioned around the entire craft. All the ships from Ap’suan Minor were outfitted with this technology, but few pilots knew how to effectively use them.
Barenth screamed out again, “What the hell?! How’d you do that?”
Torrie stammered, “Uh, I, uh,”
This was nothing new to her. Flying combat sorties required them to have a full field of vision. Above, below, and all around.
Her focus, however, was on the control board. She began manually inputting instructions into the ship’s navigation system. In partial disbelief, she quickly realized they had a bigger problem than she had first thought. Because of the extra energy discharged into the slipstream from the thermal missile, their destination had been altered. There was nothing she could do about it.
“Torrie!” she yelled out. “Did they make it through the portal?”
Momentarily caught off guard by her directness, Commander Torrie turned his seat and watched behind them as she had directed. At first, the view was very disorienting. He felt as though he was floating in his Commander chair in the middle of space.
“Never mind,” she said. She could see one ship on her scanners.
“Yes, one of the ships is in the slipstream,” Torrie said. He turned back around. He had gotten over the initial shock and his anger was beginning to resurface. This was her fault. She had overreacted and failed to follow his orders.
Katriska began imputing queries into the ship’s computer. The AI was offline, but the computers were not. She was trying to figure out what their new destination was.
Torrie was clueless about what had just happened, but Barenth was not as useless as Katriska had thought.
Barenth was studying his charts, and then he looked over at her and asked, “Cpt. Katriska, where exactly are we going?”
Torrie said, “What do you mean?”
Barenth said, “Well, it appears that Twin Celest had been our destination. And that was the flight plan she sent with her distress signal to the SDF. Now…”
Katriska said, “If that Rasha’im ship catches us, it won’t matter. The SDF won’t be there to save us.”
Torrie said, “I demand you exit this slipstream immediately.”
She said, “That’s not how this works.”
Barenth asked, “So, where are we going? Do you know?”
She had a good idea, but she wasn’t positive, so she said, “The thermal energy discharged into the stream altered our destination. We will be exiting into another galaxy…an uncharted galaxy.”
Torrie said, “Intergalactic travel is forbidden. Abort this immediately!”
“Forbidden or not, that’s what’s happening. Even if you self-destruct, what’s left is going to exit into another galaxy.”
Barenth said, “And so will the Rasha’im.”
“Yes, so will the Rasha’im,” Cpt. Katriska said. “And if they get our TCU, they will be able to attack our home world whenever they want. That cannot happen.”
Barenth said, “But that means that…”
Katriska said, “And that means the SDF have no idea where to find us.”
The intercom aboard the ship was activated from the VIP pod, and a voice demanded, “Torrie! What’s going on? That turbulence nearly caused me to fall from my chair.”