Vors felt a sharp pain under his arms which caused his fingers to go numb. His gun fell from his lifeless hands as Terri fell forward as her hair was freed. Terri scrambled away from Vors as a look of confusion crossed his face. He couldn't figure out what had just happened. He willed his hands and arms to work and nothing happened. His confusion turned to fear as he realized he was helpless.
Something hit his lower back immediately dropping him to his knees as his legs fell out from under him. Vors tired to regain his feet only to find out his legs were unwilling to cooperate with him.
"What the hell?" Vors yelled. "What kind of weapon is this?"
However, when Vors looked up at Jon and his people he could see the surprise on their faces too. It was painfully obvious to him that no one knew what was happening to him as pain flared in the unresponsive limbs. His arms and legs felt like they were on fire and he screamed in pain. His marines backed away from him as he looked over his shoulder searching for source of his pain.
Something grabbed his chin in a steel grip as Vors looked up at Jon as if pleading for him to do something.
"Please," Vors said. "Help me my Prince."
Before Jon could reply or anyone could do anything to help Vors his eyes opened wide as they looked to his right side.
Silence had enveloped the stunned room as a whisper was heard. "Bad man hurt Terri person," Oojoung's voice said. "Hurt pretty Terri when she wasn't Princess. Then hurt poor Terri when Princess. Time to die evil man that would hurt precious Terri person."
A loud pop filled the corridor as Vors head was twisted almost completely around. His eyes blinked for a second before they glazed over and he slumped to the ground. Vors' marines, those that still had their weapons, moved towards Vors' body as the air shimmered between them and the now dead Vors.
Oojoung faded into view facing the oncoming marines. He was crouched ready to spring. The marines stopped short and a few ran into each other as they all stared open mouthed at the Buranis standing before them.
Oojoung let out a low growl almost bear like as he lowered his head ready to pounce. "Who is next for Oojoung's smackings and teachings?" Oojoung hissed.
Two of the marines raised their rifles and took aim at Oojoung. They faltered as Oojoung let a grin spread across his face. "Oojoung wants reasons, please shoot Oojoung," Oojoung said.
One of the marines powered down his weapon and laid it on the floor. However, the other marines decided to try his luck and whipped his gun up pulling the trigger. A bolt of energy lanced out and hit the ground where Oojoung had just been standing. Before anyone could react Oojoung sprung into action. He leapt forward with such speed it was almost impossible to see him move. Before the astonished marine knew what had happened Oojoung was standing in front of him gripping the bottom edge of his helmet.
"DIE!" Oojoung howled. He wrenched the helmet forward and a sickening crunching sound filled the air. Oojoung released the helmet and the marine fell to the ground dead, hands still holding the rifle. "Next?" Oojoung said. His voice was quiet but carried through the whole corridor.
Jon finally recovered enough from the small display to speak. "Enough! Lay down your weapons and surrender," Jon said.
Oojoung took a few steps back and oddly enough shielded Jon and Terri. The last few of Vors' marines still holding weapons looked at each other and then laid their weapons down.
Mark shook his head in disbelief as he looked at the two dead figures on the floor. "I've never seen anyone move that fast," Mark whispered. A bit of fear crept into Mark as he realized had Oojoung really wanted to leave he could have.
"Mark, have them escorted to the brig. We'll figure out what to do with them later," Jon said. He knelt down next to his sister. "Are you ok?"
Terri stood up and brushed herself off, "Of course I'm all right. He pulled hair like a little girl."
Jon laughed as he stood up and nodded, "Good, I was worried about you."
"Nah, I can take care of myself," Terri said. "I was just waiting for an opening."
Oojoung scoffed.
Terri glared at him, "I was Oojoung. It was a good thing you came along or I would have done worse. I was just about to make my move."
"Uh huh," Oojoung said.
"I was," Terri said. Her full attention was now on Oojoung. "You taught me very well."
"How come precious Terri get captured if Oojoung's teaching so good?" Oojoung said.
"He caught me by surprise is all," Terri said.
"Oojoung never surprised," Oojoung said. "Oojoung never been captured."
"Right," Terri said. "I guess you were staying in our brig for the comfort and food."
"Oojoung wanted to stay," Oojoung said. A big smile was on his face.
"Sure," Terri said.
Mark had returned and caught the last part of the conversation. "I think he is correct. If Oojoung had wanted to leave, I doubt there would have been anything we could have done," Mark said.
"Doesn't matter," Terri said. "Even if he could have escaped at anytime..."
"Yep, Oojoung wanted to stay," Oojoung said.
Terri glared at Oojoung as he interrupted her. "He would still have to be captured to escape," Terri finished.
Oojoung's smile evaporated as fast as it had grown. Jon, Deatra, Gilas and Mark laughed as Oojoung got a confused look on his face. Terri folded her arms as she stood there happy in her logic. Oojoung raised a finger as if he was going to say something and then stopped and scratched his forehead.
"Oojoung has to think about this," Oojoung said. He started to wander off and Terri followed him trying to get a few more pokes in. Deatra motioned to two of the Royal Guards and they took off in pursuit of Terri.
That got a few chuckles from everyone who had been in earshot.
"Those two are something else," Jon said.
Mark nodded, "Yes they are."
"I don't think I have much to worry about with Oojoung watching over my sister. I think she's in pretty good hands," Jon said.
They had started walking back towards the command deck, Deatra and Jon's Royal Guards in tow. "Ok," Jon said. He looked directly at Deatra as he spoke. "It's time to have a discussion about the events of the past few days. Ghost, contact the Hammer and let them know they're cleared to disembark. Have Mike, Brad, Illus, Vaes, Carex and Carla meet us in meeting room."
Jon sat at the end of a long table as people arrived. Once everyone was there he started the meeting.
"Mike," Jon said. He turned slightly to look at him. "What's the situation with Atlantis?"
"We're working through her code now," Mike said. "However, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. It's going to take time to nail where the problem code is."
"Excuse me," Gilas said. "What problem code and does this affect Tatiana and the Titan?"
Mike turned a bit so that he could see them both. "Tatiana, yes; the Titan, not so much," Mike said. He looked up at Jon waiting for some type of signal.
"Go on, we're all on the same side here," Jon said. He leaned back and put his hands behind his head. Ghost shifted restlessly behind him as she listened to Mike.
"The problem is that the Atlantis and Tatiana have a subroutine in their matrix that is unwanted," Mike said. "We have to correct this problem before we bring them back online. Tatiana was taken offline just a bit ago and we're running diagnostics on both of them now."
"Ok," Gilas said. "What subroutine?"
"Oh sorry," Mike said. "It's a flight to protect subroutine, well that's what I call it. Any Eutharan vessel with an active AI that has Royal persons onboard that come under attack will attempt to retreat and flee if it sees the battle might go wrong."
Gilas frowned, "Ok so."
"So?" Jon said. Jon turned to look at Gilas and brought his hands down.
"Yeah, so what," Gilas said. "How does this affect the ship? It sounds like a good routine to have in place for safety."
"You don't get it," Jon said. "Think about it this way. You've been in a battle and have major damage. You're hold up behind a planet in low orbit effecting repairs. No one's around and the Princess is aboard. Suddenly six Invaru battleships and a carrier jump in system and start searching for you. Tatiana calculates the odds of you being found and destroyed. She doesn't like the odds, so in response, she breaks orbit and makes a dash for a fold point. You might make it or you might not, you would have survived had you shifted your orbit and hid in the magnetic poles."
"I would just order her to stop and to move to the magnetic pole," Gilas said.
"That's the point," Mike said. "You can't, once this subroutine is tripped she has complete control and has only one job and that is to return to the closest safe haven."
"Oh," Gilas said.
"The ships are still useable," Mike said. "I have restored a simplified AI to help run the functions of the ships."
"What about Ghost?" Jon said.
"She doesn't have this routine because she is a station AI," Mike said. "She's actually helping us track down the subroutine that controls this behavior."
"How much time until this is corrected?" Jon said.
"Two days or two weeks," Mike said. "I really have no idea. There are millions of lines of code to filter through."
"Well, keep me posted then," Jon said.
"Will do," Mike said.
"Mark," Jon said. "How are the new people adjusting?"
Mark leaned back a bit as he spoke, "For the most part quite well. We've had a few problems here and there but nothing that couldn't be handled. We're still fitting people into places where we need them. Right now it's by request and skill. There are a few hold outs but we've made it perfectly clear everyone is needed and if they can't choose they will be drafted. That made a few step up and a few grumble about, how did they put it, slave labor."
"You tell those hold outs if they don't want to help we will take them back to Earth and drop them off if they would rather be there," Jon said. "Right now choosing an occupation is a luxury and we need every able body person doing something. There might come a time in the future where people can choose what they want to do and not serve in the ADF but that time isn't now."
"I'll pass it on," Mark said. "We have enough men now in the marines to dispatch units to the Atlantis and still keep a sizable force on the station. I'm going to be assigning the more seasoned unit to the Atlantis. As we get more trained we'll shift more to her or other vessels as needed," Mark said.
Jon nodded, "Sounds good to me."
"What are we going to do with the crew from the Arc Light?" Mark asked. "We have had them pinned down for the better part of two days."
"That could be a problem," Jon said. "I'm of the mind to let them go on their way and return to Eutharan."
"Why?" Deatra said. "You claimed the vessel and most of her crew will want to stay with it and you."
Jon looked over at Deatra with a questioning look as he spoke, "I was joking, I don't need to start another war."
"No, the Princess is correct Jon," Gilas said.
Deatra glared at Gilas who quickly corrected himself, "I'm sorry Prince Hunter."
Illus and Vaes chuckled as they looked at each other.
Jon sighed, "We'll get to that in a second and trust me I want to get to it." Jon rubbed his temples.
"Well the issue is kind of tied together," Deatra said.
"Oh, how so?" Jon said.
"We're what my people call "bonded"," Deatra said. She gave Jon a half grin in an apologetic way.
"Bonded?" Jon said. "Care to explain that?"
"My people call it Bea'mao, the bonding of souls," Deatra said. "Eutharan females when they get of age seek out their bond mates. Usually it is someone they know and their mate isn't hard to find. However, sometimes a female will go her whole life without finding her mate. No one knows why this happens but it does and those females never marry or have children. The bonding starts the female's cycle and allows her to have children."
"You see Eutharans are a telepathic race, not a strong one but one none the less. The bonding forges a telepathic link between the bond mates and locks them together for the rest of their lives. The bond mates can share how they feel and, depending on how strong of telepaths they are, some limited communication. Like right now I can tell you have a headache and are tired. They even share their lives."
"A slight headache and nothing sleep won't cure," Jon said. "What do you mean they share their lives?"
"If a bond mate dies," Deatra said. "The other mate will die within a month. Sometimes they go insane, other times they just turn into vegetables and just stare into space never moving."
"So if you die..." Jon said.
"You will die, yes," Deatra said.
"Fucking awesome," Jon said.
"You can never bond with anyone else. This is why we think it works that way. Once your mate dies you are truly alone and your mind shuts down or goes insane," Deatra said.
"Ok, why me?" Jon said.
Deatra glanced at Gilas who shrugged. "I have no idea," she said. "I have never heard of a Eutharan bonding with someone from another race."
"When did this happen?" Jon asked.
"When we first met after you rescued me," Deatra said.
"Oh, that strange feeling I had like the world was slowing down," Jon said.
By now the entire room was watching them talk like no one else was there.
"Yes, that is one of the effect I have heard described," Deatra said. "Trust me I'm as surprised by this as much as you."
"I doubt that," Jon muttered. Then in a clearer voice he said, "There's no way to remove this. I'm not sure I'm very happy about this. I don't mean that as an insult, you're a very beautiful woman. I would just like to get to know you better before we decide to get hitched and I have to hand my life over."
Gilas jumped up, "WHAT! How insulting!
Carex blinked a few times as if he was trying to understand what Jon had just said, even Illus and Vaes gasped.
Deatra raised her hand and motioned Gilas to sit back down as she spoke, "Prince Hunter doesn't know our customs yet. I'm sure he didn't mean it as an insult and only as a question. If I were in his position I would be asking the same thing."
"I'm sorry if it was an improper question," Jon said.
Gilas nodded and sat back down.
"There is a way to separate bond mates once they are bonded," Deatra said. "It is a very brutal process and very painful. It is also outlawed and punishable by death if used maliciously," Deatra said. "It is used in extreme cases where an important person's spouse is dying and there is nothing anyone can do about it."
Jon huffed and sat back in his chair as the thought about everything going on.
"Jon," Deatra said.
Jon looked up at her.
"I'm nineteen years old," Deatra said. "I have been searching for a bond mate for over three years. I had given up and was returning to my home world when you rescued me. Before you stepped into the room my life was over and I was doomed to be alone for the rest of my life. This has given me hope; to say I'm sorry it has happened would be a lie. I'm extremely happy it happened; you have restored hope to me and my people. I'm the last in the Royal line besides my parents. Had you not come along civil war would have broken out on my world and we would have perished because of it."
"Don't you understand what this means? You need people and now you have the power to have those people. You're a Prince and not just any Prince. You're a Prince of the First Tier second to only the King. Not even the Queen and over rule your word. It doesn't matter if we're married and yes we have to get married but only when you're ready. You took the Arc Light and you can reassign her crew however you like. You can station her and the Titan here and use their crews to help you in your quest.
"Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's a bad thing. You want to get to know me? I can live with that, I'll do whatever you need to feel comfortable. Terri is now a Princess, First Tier too and ranks just below me. You want her protected? Well, this is the best way as she'll have Royal Guards assigned to her night and day."
Terri frowned, "Hey now, two guards are fine but I have Oojoung following me around and protecting me."
"Standard guard compliment is twelve," Gilas said. "Six day and six night."
"Yes, sorry but that is how it has to be," Deatra said. She looked over at a frowning Terri. "However, Oojoung can be the captain of your detail. After his little demonstration I have complete faith in him. So, I'll bestow the rank of Royal Captain on him and put him in charge of picking your guard detail."
Terri muttered under her breath as she looked over to find a grinning Oojoung.
"Oojoung make sure Terri Princess all taken care of," Oojoung said.
"I'm sure you will Oojoung," Deatra said. "Remember one thing though. In matter of her safety you out rank her as does any of her guards."
"Yeah right," Terri said.
"I'm serious," Deatra said.
"Great," Terri said. She threw her hand up in surrender and started to sulk.
"Well," Jon said. A smile crossed his face. "In that case I'm in; anything to make my sister this happy is worth doing." Jon knew there wasn't really a way out of this and he couldn't overlook the bonuses of this bonding. Deatra was beautiful and he was sure she would grow on him.
"Bite me," Terri huffed.
A few chuckles filled the air.
Deatra smiled at Jon as she realized he had accepted his position.
"Then I guess this is a simple matter," Jon said. "I'm assigning the Arc Light and the Titan here to Ghost Station for the time being. Bill will take command the Earth's Revenge, formerly the Arc Light, Carex will be his second in command. Carla will be moved to the second in command aboard the Titan."
"What about the crew?" Mark said.
"Give them a choice stay here and help out or return to Eutharan," Jon said. "We will fit up an old military shuttle, one of the jump capable ones, to take them home."
"I'll go speak to them on your behalf," Deatra said. "If I give them a choice I doubt many will want to leave."
"What about the marines in the brig?" Mark said.
"They get no choice, send them home and anyone else we have locked up," Jon said. "Put the Invaru Captain on a small shuttle and let him go."
Mark nodded.
"Now, Brad," Jon said. "How is engineering doing?"
"Well, I have good news on all fronts," Brad said. "We have two of the mining out posts operating and one of the smelters here operational. We're getting ready to bring the second online as we bring the third mining outpost online. We're also laying the hull for a new cruiser as we speak. I wanted to start small as we're still learning and this was the smallest starship that was in the database."
"I seen that when we arrived," Jon said. "I'm impressed."
"Well, the engineering from Earth and a few of the Eutharan engineers have collaborated and tweaked the designs a bit. We'll see how it works out one we get her built," Brad said. "Computer teams are already working on designing her AI core and systems. I think they have a few idea's themselves so I have let them run with it. As far as the station goes; we have all her reactors online and all systems operational. The last of the defense batteries are having maintenance done and then we should be fully operational. I have a team designing the listening posts we're going to deploy in the dead spots around the system."
"What about fighter production?" Jon said.
"We're still reworking the remaining fighters and shuttles," Brad said. "Not to mention with the addition of the Earth Revenge and the overhaul she will need. That is if we use the Titan as an example for the rest of the Eutharan fleet. I'm going to be stretched pretty thin."
"The Titan was one of the best in the Eutharan fleet," Gilas said.
"Great," Brad said.
"We can use her crew to do the refit, the ones staying that is," Jon said. "Mark, if you can find some more people for Brad's teams if you can, even if it's just temporary."
"Will do," Mark said.
Jon nodded, "Nice work all of you." Jon stood up and walked to the window and looked out at the Atlantis. "How long until the Atlantis is ready for duty?"
"A week," Brad said. "We're still making the parts we need. She was pretty torn up in the last encounter and with Atlantis offline her spider bots were inactive. Mike just now got them back online and working in conjunction with our teams."
Jon turned around and faced everyone again. "I don't want people segregated; I want everyone learning to work with each other. We have a Buranis cruiser at our disposal under the command of Vaes. I'm grounding the Atlantis and Titan until their AIs are back online. For now we will just use the Earth's Revenge and Hammer for operations. After watching Oojoung's little display I would like Vaes to send us some instructors for our marines. They should be able to set up a nice little training routine and teach us stuff we need like zero gee combat. Terri, I want you to step up the fighter training program. Use some of the Earth's Revenge's pilots to help," Jon said.
Terri nodded but said nothing.
"Sure," Vaes said. "However, Oojoung is black ops and has a lot more training than any of my people. He would make an excellent teacher. Maybe even form a black ops unit yourself."
"Good idea," Jon said. He looked at Oojoung, who was beaming with pride and couldn't stop fidgeting. "How about it Oojoung, would you like to continue training the marines? After you get done babysitting, err I mean, protecting Terri."
Jon remark resulted in him getting flipped off by a still sulking Terri, which just made people chuckle again.
"Oojoung be happy to train marine people," Oojoung said. "Oojoung even be happy to train special squad. Only after Oojoung sure Terri Princess is safe and all secure." Oojoung grinned at Terri who just stuck her tongue out at him. This caused another round of chuckles.
"Alright done deal," Jon said. "Illus I would like you to take command of the station. However, I want you to go nowhere without your marines. You're the only Invaru here and I don't want any accidents. I also don't want you hiding away; I want people to get used to having Invaru on the station."
"Sure," Illus said. "I ran a station or two in my time. I can help train the control room personnel in proper procedures."
"Listen up people," Jon said. "A new type of enemy is now on the playing field and we know little about them. They make the Invaru look like child's play. They're pushing the Invaru back and show no signs of weakening from the reports I have seen while on my way here after being rescued."
There is a storm brewing on the horizon and I don't know when it will reach us. I want us prepared for it. Something is happening in the Invaru Collective, or Empire if you like, and we're going to get caught in the middle of it. This station is going to be the last refuge of a lot of people. In the coming weeks we're going to go fishing for more personnel. Illus and Vaes were kind enough to let me know there are other people enslaved by the Invaru. We're going to try to help them and bolster our numbers while doing so. Everyone is dismissed."
Jon turned back to look at the Atlantis as he thought about what the future might have in store for him. One thing was for sure; if you had told him on Earth that he would be leading an alliance he would have laughed. He wasn't sure if he was ready for this and things were getting worse and would get much worse in the coming months.
Arms circled his waist and squeezed snapping him out of his thoughts. He turned around and looked into the tear filled eyes of Terri.
"Thank God you're all right!" Terri said. She had held it in all this time and finally let the tears flow. "I thought I had lost you."
Jon smiled as he hugged her back, "Yeah, well ditto." Jon stood there holding his sister as he watched the spiders bots crawl over Atlantis.