E:A Vol 8 Ch 2: February 12, 2121

February 12, 2121

The following morning, Pastor Jacob’s wife Julia teleported to the Raythian flagship along with David Chapman, Lt. Col. Chris Chapman’s father, to watch over the twins and babies. Alessa and Lutia would be there during the morning as Zy’nayth assessed if the Mythicans would be a threat. If he felt it safe, the young mothers could go about their regular day on the city-ship. For now, though, he wanted them on his flagship.

General Dubasi, Jil’ana, and Tel’lok teleported down to the city-ship’s Control Room on Zy’nayth’s command then they joined the others in General Vince Cavanaugh’s conference room. Zy’nayth had greeted the Mythicans pleasantly enough, but once the door was shut, his silver eyes bored into Karken’al. His voice though calm had a thread of menace running through his typical gravelly tones.

“Before we continue,” he said, “you will cease and desist any monitoring of the Raythian Empire. Any and all monitoring. If I find that you have tapped into any of our systems or have satellites spying on any of our worlds, bases, outposts, or anything under our control, I will not hesitate to bring my full arsenal to bear upon your world. Do I make myself clear?”

Karken’al gave him a bow then turn to Jil’ana. “Everything stops now.”

“High Chancellor,” Jil’ana said looking up at Zy’nayth, “I will turn off our satellites but it also lowers our ability to keep our planet secure. I have no easy way for me to stop monitoring Raythian activity through our satellites.” She swallowed hard but didn’t divert her gaze. “I will stop all other monitoring, though we don’t have anything active, or at least we shouldn’t have.”

“If I may, High Chancellor,” Karken’al said, “our satellite system is quite extensive and we are trying to track this unknown entity. I would like to find us a way to allow us to continue to use them, and though we will pick up Raythian activity, I can assure you that we have no intention of using it against you. As I stated, we would not survive a Raythian attack, and so we’ve kept our planet, our people, hidden.”

Col. John Hagen and his team watched the exchange, unsure of what would happen. Zy’nayth had been open to talking with the Mythicans, even, perhaps, encouraged with the idea of an alliance, so this sudden ultimatum was unexpected. John glanced at Vince who was sitting in his chair, pen twiddling in his fingers, as he kept his eyes on Karken’al and Zy’nayth.

The High Chancellor studied Karken’al, Jil’ana, and Tel’lok in turn as the tension seemed to thicken the air and raise the humidity in the conference room. Zy’nayth then took his seat at the head of the table. “As a measure of good faith, you may continue your use of satellites. I will trust you in this matter.”

Ny’van, Kol’non, and Ja’val, who’d been standing near the windows of the large conference room were motioned to by Zy’nayth. “I am sure you remember my First Science Commander from our meeting yesterday. Next to him, is my First Commander.”

Karken’al, still standing, gave both men a bow. Jil’ana and Tel’lok rose out of their seats, offering the same. Then Zy’nayth gave a nod to Ny’van, “And the Vice Chancellor of the Raythian Empire.”

Ny’van received a deeper bow. “I’m much taller in person, I hope,” he said, trying to ease the tension that had started their meeting. “And I wish to assure you that we do hope for an alliance but the High Chancellor takes the security of his empire to heart. Please do not be offended by his brusque nature. You must understand that after the attack by this unknown entity, knowing we have been spied upon for quite some time is quite unsettling.”

“You’re the diplomat, he’s the enforcer,” Karken’al said with a smile.

“That is usually how things play out,” Ny’van said. “Though you would be remiss to think I am incapable of the power or authority the High Chancellor can bring to bear.”

“Indeed,” Zy’nayth said, “he has a better relationship with the High Council. Now, let us get to work. We have much to discuss. First of which, Col. Hagen wanted to dock this ship properly. I, however, want to wait until this generator or processing room—the issue with the water below the level needed for the pump—was addressed. I am not certain that it is safe to dock and that these two items may be related.”

“We haven’t yet investigated that area,” Jil’ana said, “but I can send a team down right now, if you wish.”

“It might be quicker if we send you the data we collected,” Zy’nayth said. “We have scans of the area as well as imagery of the interior. There has been damage sustained and, of course, there could still be falling debris.”

“That would be very helpful. Thank you, sir.”

Ja’val put the information on a computer chip the size of a fingernail, then handed it to Jil’ana.

“If I may,” Vince spoke up, “I think we need to cover some basics first. I had a talk with Kaven, Chris, and John last night and we have a rather enormous amount of questions. I think we may be better suited starting from the ground up. High Chancellor, General, would that be all right?”

“Certainly,” Zy’nayth replied. “Go ahead.”

“John, you have the list,” Vince turned things over to his second in command.

“You know this ship was in a pretty big battle. I’m not sure if you’re aware that she sustained a lot of damage. We’ve been going room by room to clear things out, and considering the size of this place, it’s going to take us years. It would help tremendously if we knew where key areas were: science labs, med labs, electrical rooms, things like that. We know the two main towers well enough, but we only explored about an eighth of the city in the time we were here before this attack.”

“We have some information,” Ja’val added, “but areas were not labeled. I suspect either there is a terminology or linguistic barrier or vital areas were intentionally mislabeled or a code was used.”

“Coded,” Tel’lok said. “Give me a moment to call up our files on this facility.”

“General,” Zy’nayth said, “if you knew of my coming and going to Earth, how could you not know my brother had ships near Earth waiting to attack?”

“I didn’t, at least I received no information on the matter until after the attack. Sir, to my knowledge, my people do not routinely spy on Rayth. Yes, we watch our satellite feeds but we don’t pry, as it were. Any move we make could potentially be something your people would detect. That being said, we do note if trade routes change or an area begins accumulating more Rayth ships than normal. But sir, believe me, we didn’t detect these other warships.”

“Are you, sorry for interrupting,” Chris said, seeing that Tel’lok was still looking up schematics for the city-ship, “from Earth? Or from here? I mean, you guys, your people did build the bridges, right? And there are a bunch of them on Earth.”

“We are not from Earth, but we are from your galaxy. We did spend a significant amount of time on your planet. Covertly, of course. That’s why the bridges are rather buried. If you have noticed, there is a small chamber around each bridge. There are ways to the surface from the bridge locations.”

“I believe most of them have caved in,” Zy’nayth said.

“Then I’m glad no one has tried to bridge to them,” Karken’al said. “Though protocols should be followed and the bridge tested before crossing to an area we have not visited in over a millennia.”

Tel’lok looked up, “I have located the files. Col. Hagen, if you tell me what you’re looking for, I can now locate it. First Science Officer, uh, excuse me, First Science Commander,sorry, I’m used to our rank system, and Dr. Harris, I’m going to turn this over to Jil’ana as she’s our technology specialist and let her direct you to the appropriate files. Are you finished with transferring the data from the Science Commander?”

“Yes. Just alerting my team to…uh…our agreement. And, obviously, assigning people to work on this data. Okay,” she said as Tel’lok transferred the file location to her, “wow, this info’s pretty deep. I’ll direct you guys to the file and we can go from there.”

“Simon, let’s start with Becket’s area. Anything related to medicine: hospital, infirmary, research lab,” John said. “We’ll get to your stuff next because I have a feeling there are a lot of locations you’d like to find whereas his areas should be easier to narrow down. So, Chief, where’s the medical area?”

“Jil’ana, please. I hate titles. Okay,” her eyes scanned the file and directed them to the medical information, pointing out the code for that area. “As for the location on this ship, there are a couple,” she said then told them how to access the location by using the files she had just pointed out to them. Simply click on the area and select the locate option. All files and locations should be linked as these are. I can’t guarantee it though.”

“I’m compiling a list of code names for the priority areas,” Tel’lok said, “shall I put them on the chip you gave to Jil’ana?”

“Please,” Ja’val answered as he studied the schematics, quickly clicking through all the areas available.

After four hours of requesting locations and various information, Zy’nayth said they would break for lunch. “You are all invited to my chambers. My wife should have our lunch ready. Thank you for the information you have provided.”

“Victoria is a fantastic cook,” Chris said, “can’t go wrong.”

“So this is why she swapped shifts with Sasha,” Becket smiled.

“One of the reasons. I also wanted them to meet the president.” As they walked to Zy’nayth and Victoria’s chambers, Zy’nayth explained who President Michael Stewart was, though the Mythicans already had a grasp of the various countries and rulers on Earth.

Victoria greeted them as they entered. “Nice to meet you in person,” she smiled. Then Michael, Holly, and their daughter, Hannah, were introduced.

“And these are our children, our son, Ky’nayth and our daughter, Mik’kenna.”

“Nice to meet you,” both twins said as they were introduced. Then Mik’kenna introduced the dogs who sat obediently beside them. “And that’s Ruffles, the president’s cat. Do you like puppies? Bubby and I love puppies.”

“I am quite fond of puppies,” Karken’al said, “and these two look like feisty little pups.”

“They very feisty,” Ky’nayth said. “They good puppies. We no know Ruffles very well. We learning ‘bout cats. Ruffles nice but I like puppies better.”

Victoria motioned, “This way to the dining room. We’re just serving family-style, uh, passing the dishes around. And the pups and Ruffles need to stay out here.”

Holly put Ruffles in the guestroom they were using and shut the door while everyone took their seats around the dining room table. After Zy’nayth prayed over the meal, the dishes were passed and Chris explained that the lasagna they were about to eat was a favorite among everyone on the ship.

After some polite discussion, Karken’al turned to Victoria, “You are a medical doctor, correct?”

“Yes. Came over with Becket. I just help as needed these days. I spend most of my time being a mother and teacher, though I think I learn more from my kids than they do from me.”

“With this flu that hit the entire city,” Vince said, “your help was very much needed.” He turned to Karken’al and explained how a virus had ravaged his crew, and at any given time, 90% of his staff was out of commission, including himself and his Chief Medical Officer. Victoria took the reins of the infirmary and saw them through the extended crisis.

“Did you get a lot accomplished this morning?” Victoria asked, turning the topic away from the epidemic.

“Loads,” John said. “We have locations of so many things now. Vince and I will be up all night planning where we dig out first.”

“Did you find medical facilities?” she asked.

“Yes, and then some,” Becket said. “As soon as we get things dug out, and if nothing’s been too damaged, we’ll have a lot of work ahead of us. And General Dubasi said that if anything was damaged, they’d help to repair it.”

“But it’s going to be months before we get to it,” John said.

“You will have the facility on the mainland,” Jil’ana reminded them.

“So, Big Guy, we have a huge list of things to take care of here, what are the chances of us heading to that facility after lunch?” Chris asked Zy’nayth.

“Big guy?” Tel’lok asked. “I assume that’s the High Chancellor.”

“Yeah. You know Rayth don’t reveal names and saying Supreme Commander or High Chancellor is a mouthful, so Big Guy it is,” Chris said. “He knows I mean no disrespect. I hope.”

Zy’nayth looked at Karken’al, “Would you be up for a tour after lunch? There will probably be a lot of questions, but I sense the team is eager to see what is there.”

“The more I have thought about that facility, the more I think it would be better to go in smaller groups. For example, we could just take Dr. McKenna and go over the medical facilities. Or, Dr. Harris, or any other specialist, and go through what would be their specific sections. We could team them up with their mirror specialists from my team. However, I think a general tour this afternoon would be beneficial for your department leaders.”

“Have all of the decoded layouts been sent to Simon and my First Science Commander?”

Jil’ana nodded, having just taken another forkful of lasagna.

“Then we can go through the files, there is no need for a tour. It has been a long morning of sitting around and bouncing questions back and forth, and everyone is looking a bit tired. General Dubasi, how long are you available to us?”

“Again, it’s just Karken’al. Or General Karken’al. We tend to use our forenames with our titles unless there are numerous people with the same title and forename. In any case, we’ve made arrangements to stay as long as needed,” he said. “We can bridge home when we need to in order to visit our families, and if my commanding officer needs me, he knows how to contact me, though I don’t foresee any reason for him to. So, we are at your disposal.”

“Then, if everyone is in agreement, though my team is familiar with Mythican systems, those from Earth are not. Even so, there are a few things even my team did not recognize. That means, after lunch, we should spend the afternoon getting to know each other better. I would also like to invite Dr. Pavel Zharkov to join us, just to get him up to date since we did find an astrophysics lab here on the ship, one which is nearly accessible from where John’s teams are digging out debris. I would also like to introduce the Mythicans to our family and bring in Janice, Lutia, Alessa, David, and Amelia.”

“You’re all related?” Jil’ana asked.

“No,” John answered, “not biologically. We’ve just been through a lot together, far too much, I think, and we decided that we are family. There’s nothing we wouldn’t do for anyone in our group. That being said, Lutia is the First Science Commander’s wife, Alessa is Chris’s wife and David is his father. Amelia is Becket’s wife. Janice is our head nurse and works with Becket and Victoria. Lutia is also a nurse.”

“Amelia is an astrophysicst,” Vince added, “she works under Pavel, and Alessa is a botanist. Which reminds me, will we need Doc Castor or Wells here? Are there any botany or agriculture labs they’d be interested in?”

“There is a section on this ship,” Jil’ana said, “but I just took a quick glance at the layout of the mainland facility and didn’t see anything there. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything. After all it was a quick glance.”

“We can tell them later,” John said.

“No. If Alessa is going to be privy to the information, they should be informed prior to or at the same time, just so no toes are stepped on, as you would say.” Zy’nayth turned to the general, “Vince, could you contact them to join us in about forty-five minutes. That will give us time to finish up lunch and for Victoria and I to clean up the dishes. I do think, however, that a tour with the department heads, as General Dubasi, pardon me, Karken’al, suggested. Let us, however, do it tomorrow morning, first thing. A very general walk-through. No questions. I will make that clear to our teams.”

Karken’al nodded. “That may be best.”

“I’ll help her with dishes,” Be’atta said. “We just made contact with the Mythicans for the first time in ten thousand years, the High Chancellor isn’t going to be doing dishes. I’m more than happy to help.”

“As would I,” said Holly.

“Thank you, ladies. And not to leave out another family tie, Be’atta is the wife of my First Commander.”

“So there are three Rayth-human couples?” Jil’ana asked.

“Yes,” Zy’nayth replied.

“All high-ranking Rayth too. Though we knew the High Chancellor was looking for a new way to feed, we also knew most Rayth were against it. So to find his top two commanders married to humans, that’s a little amazing,” Karken’al said.

“Rayth have taken human mates for thousands of years,” Ny’van said.

“Note you said ‘mates’ not ‘wives.’ There are entirely different connotations between those two words,” Tel’lok said.

“I will give you that, but it is not as different as you may think. It has come down to this: if the woman is called a wife, that implies that she is Rayth, if she is referred to as a mate, then she is human. But those I know with human spouses, they are wives. There are fewer and fewer being called ‘mates.’”

“Since our afternoon is somewhat free,” John said, “I’d be happy to show you around the city, what little we have access to these days. Then we can come back here and chat. I think most of the spouses are working today, so it’ll be a few hours before they’re able to join us. Unless, that is, Vince says calls them in.”

“Victoria, I hate to impose, since this has been rather unexpected…” Zy’nayth began but Victoria gave him a warm smile and cut him off.

“I can whip up something for dinner, no problem.” Then she turned to their three new friends, “Is there anything you’d prefer? Or, I should say, anything I should avoid making?”

“Octopus,” Mik’kenna said.

“Don’t worry, none on hand,” Victoria smiled, “and I was speaking to our guests.”

“Sorry. I just no want no octopus,” Mik’kenna stated firmly.

“Is this something you’ve prepared before?” Karken’al asked Victoria, knowing of the sea creature.

“No. Mik’kenna was doing some reading from one of my cookbooks, and it had a section on more exotic fare. She didn’t find the idea of eating octopus too pleasant. But then, neither do I. However, I’ve been trying new recipes out of that particular book, so she may be afraid that I’ll serve up octopus one day.”

“No octopus. Gross.” Mik’kenna said, wrinkling up her nose.

“I’d like to try another of your famous dishes,” Tel’lok said, “because this is quite delicious.”

“Well guys, you know my cooking, suggestions?”

“Mashed taytoes,” Mik’kenna said. “Oh, mashed taytoe pie!”

“That was some good stuff,” John said, referring to Victoria’s shepherd’s pie.

“Deep dish pizza,” Chris smiled.

Be’atta shook her head, “I think she wants to fix something a little more…formal…than a burger or pizza. Victoria, how about stuffed pork chops?”

“Oh yeah! Those are amazing!” Chris said. “You haven’t made that in ages.”

“That might be difficult given the number I’d have to make, but I could do a stuffed pork roast. And Chris, it will taste just as good.”

“Is pork an issue for any of you?” she turned back to their guests.

“No,” they all said and Karken’al added, “there is really no need to worry. We are quite familiar with the foods available on Earth, and what you have here. We have beef, poultry, and pork on our world, and even seafood,” he smiled at Mik’kenna. “The few things we will not eat, you have probably not even encountered yet.”

“Oh good. That makes things much easier.”

***

“As you can see,” John said as he started the tour in the Control Room, “we’ve integrated our computers into the Mythican system. Only a few of us can actually read and understand your language, but Simon was able to figure out how to integrate these workstations not long after we arrived. That’s generally what he spends most of his time doing, I think. Though, we wouldn’t be this far if it wasn’t for the High Chancellor.”

“May I take a look?” Jil’ana asked pointing to the main \workstation.

“Go ahead,” Vince said.

“You were able to work this out, though, before meeting the High Chancellor?” Tel’lok asked.

“Yeah. At least some of the basics: water, electrical, plumbing. Basically, just how to turn it on and off. That still took about a month,” Simon said. “From there it was a lot of trial and error. But I think my team did pretty well coming in blind.”

“This interface is really quite advanced, more than what I thought your technology level would be at.”

“Ah, thanks, but that’s not me. That’s the updated version, the Raythian update.”

“Have there been any issues with the bridge?” Karken’al asked.

“None. Well, except when we lost power for a couple of weeks. She eventually shut down,” Simon replied.

“Lost power? How?”

“A computer virus,” Simon said, “thanks to the Gyhan rebels. It took me two weeks just to find it. By then, most electrical was down and the reserves for the bridge finally gave out.”

“And the High Chancellor couldn’t fix it?” Jil’ana asked surprised.

“Uh, we weren’t exactly on friendly terms back then,” Chris said. “Victoria had encountered him a few times, and when this computer bug hit, she was sure he wouldn’t harm her, so we thought she could ask him for help. He was hunting the Gyhan rebels and we had some guesses as to where their next attacks would be. We managed to hit one and…well, we kidnapped him and ordered him to fix the computers.”

“Kidnapped? Really?” Karken’al asked.

“We thought we had kidnapped,” Vince corrected, “but he let us capture him. We never really had him secured, if you will. In the end, though, he saved John’s life, we got our systems back online, and eventually, we became friends.”

“The bridge’s power supply shouldn’t have run out,” Jil’ana said, her eyes still scanning the various screens and files.

Ja’val let out a sigh, “One of the many mysteries of this place. When I was finally able to get a look at it, which was quite some time after this incident, it was wired into the main electrical, which I knew wasn’t standard. Simon said he didn’t change a thing, no one from his team did. But somewhere along the line, it’s power source was switched.”

“The dock,” Jil’ana said. “If this ship wasn’t sitting on the dock when you found it…there might be more to the problem than we realized. Perhaps the energy source got tainted. That’s the only thing I can think of off the top of my head that would cause them to reroute the power supply to the bridge…plus not sit on the dock itself.”

“Source? The well or the supply on board?” Ja’val asked.

“I’d say the well, which may have tainted what’s on board.” She turned to Zy’nayth and Vince, “May I run some diagnostics using that station,” she said, pointing to the science command station.

“By all means. First Science Commander, Dr. Harris, mind watching over her shoulder so that we know how to do this in the future?” Vince asked.

Jil’ana waved them over, “It’s easy, come here.”

“Well, High Chancellor, your gut instinct to not dock this thing may have just saved this ship,” Kaven said.

“Always trust his instincts,” Kol’non said. “I, for one, am glad he has it.”

“Indeed,” Ja’val said as he set up his computer on the “desk” ledge of the workstation. “Oh, that’s an interesting set up,” he said, nodding to Jil’ana’s tablet as she navigated around the Mythican system with ease.

“Here,” she said, “all the diagnostic controls for the energy room. First, we go here,” she clicked on a tab, “and then ‘test purity’ and let it run. Should know in less than five.”

“What is the max tolerance for contamination?” Simon asked.

Jil’ana pointed to a spot on the left of the screen, “Here are the tolerance levels. Pellite is extremely sensitive to work with, so the tolerances are very low. Less than one percent. Other energy, here. Much easier to deal with. More forgiving.”

“I need to learn more about these energy sources. Get some physicists involved,” Simon said. “This is above my paygrade.”

Jil’ana smiled, “I know the feeling. Ah, good, the on board pellite is clean. Now we need to check the dock itself, and the well.”

“Can you do that from here?” Ja’val asked.

“The dock, yes, at least the ship’s end. The end of the pipeline…I should be able to…” her fingers flew across her tablet then across the workstation. “The well…I’ll see. Not sure.”

“If the pellite supply on board is fine, then why reroute power to the bridge?” Ja’val mused.

“Probably just precautionary. They may have detected the contaminate but not known if it had gotten into the system. I’d reroute immediately. Most likely, they found the issue, rerouted the bridge, fixed the issues, but for one reason or another, never rerouted the energy supply to the bridge portal.”

“How could you forget to reroute? I have days where I miss little things, but my staff would pick up on it. And I don’t think I’d forget to make sure the bridge portal was tapped into the main power source. That’s…sorry, thinking out loud.”

“I do it all the time,” Jil’ana waved off Ja’val’s remark then pointed to the workstation’s screen. “Here’s the problem. Ship end of the coupling system, that tiny fracture would allow air, or in this case, water from the gulf, into pellite coming in from the pipeline.”

“Can you purify the pellite if it’s in the containment unit?” Simon asked, taking notes.

“Depends on the contaminant. Everything can be done from this section we’re in. From this screen, we just go here, Simon can you make out the word?”

“Clueless,” he smiled.

“It means ‘decontaminate’ and, oh, this is key, you have to run the purity check first, like we just did. Once you’ve done that and found a contamination, then you come here and it will automatically know what to do to decontaminate. No guess work is involved. But, it’s best to know what you should do for what contaminate in case, for some whacky reason, the system has issues.”

“What if you can’t run a purity check, for some whacky reason?” Ja’val grinned.

Jil’ana chuckled. “The purity check is something that continuously runs in the background. The label is sort of misleading.” She pointed to the screen, “Here are the contamination levels. Three main categories: gas, liquid, solid. You can see the readings change. The purity check pulls these numbers as well as checking the coupling mechanism if you were connected to a pipeline or other feed. It also does a scan of the containment unit, something only done every thirty minutes. Once that data is gathered, it gives you the results.

“Under normal circumstances, if you were above tolerance, an alarm would sound. But, given that this ship is 10,000 years old, it was best we forced a check. Now, if the purity test is down, you’d have to run one test at a time since they use different methods. Gas, liquid, solid, coupling mechanism, and containment unit.”

“A cycle takes how long?”

She let out a sigh, “Depends on the amount of fuel in the tank. The coupling system and containment unit, those together take five minutes. The fuel…if the tank’s full and you have to do a hard scan, meaning, not trusting the data from the purity test or the constant scan, it could take maybe…eight hours.”

“Eight hours for just gas, then another eight for solids, and so forth?” Ja’val asked.

“Yup.”

“So this is an area we need to keep eyes on constantly,” Simon surmised. “If there’s a contaminant, eight hours…that could get bad.”

“Very bad and very quickly,” Jil’ana said as she called up a second screen and checked the logs, “Yup. Water got in.”

“How big is that fracture?” Simon asked.

“An eighth of an inch wide, a sixteenth long,” Jil’ana said. “Like I said, tiny. Okay, here’s the comprehensive list. They were down for three weeks to clean all of this out.”

“Wow, how much water got in?” Simon asked.

“About the size of my fist,” she said, curling her fingers together.

“And it took three weeks to clean it out? Oh wow. Sorry. Bit in shock thinking we could be toast. Back to business. If water got in, that’s a liquid decon. There was probably algae or something from the gulf, so solid; then air bubbles, so gas. So it took a week per decon?” Simon asked.

“Some contaminates can be extricated using the same method. So, say, for example, algae and mud got in. The computer knows both can be taken out the same way. So it’s quicker to run the purity test, let the computer figure out what it can batch together to decontaminate, and let it do that instead of running the three big, overarching, decons. A week seems a bit long, but then, these are old systems.”

“Back to my original question,” Ja’val said, “what if you can’t run the purity or individual tests, then what?”

“Manual. Go into resource room, there’s a way to manually check it from that area. Think of it like drawing blood or taking a tissue sample. It’s not comprehensive as it’s just a sample, but in a pinch, it might save the ship. There are a lot of redundancies built into this program. I’ll send you info on all of that, let’s not waste time right now.”

“I take it there’s a purification station at the end of the pipeline,” Ja’val said.

“Yes,” she answered. “Three, actually. Solids, then liquids, then gas, then the fuel can come into the ship. There are smaller stations along the length of the pipeline so things aren’t backed up at one end. By the time it gets to the end, I’d say it’s at least ninety-five percent pure, probably higher and most likely within tolerance levels.”

“Can these purification stations be upgraded?” Karken’al asked, “If so, should they be before we dock?”

“Considering they’re ten millennia old, yes, we could upgrade them. And best scenario would be to do it before we attempt to dock. I will have to order a new coupling ring, since this model of ship is no longer manufactured. It might take a few days. I’ll also need my core team to change it out.”

“I’d like to watch that,” Ja’val said.

“Me too,” Simon added, “and we should probably have Jack Burgeon there too. He’s the head of our civil engineering team…in charge of structures.”

“That should be fine.” She looked at Karken’al, “I assume it’s okay to place the order?”

“Of course.”

“And bill it to?” she asked, “They’ll want to charge someone for it.”

“I will pay for any needed repairs,” Zy’nayth said, “and the upgrade to the pipeline purification stations.”

“It’ll be a pretty big bill,” she said.

“I have very deep reserves,” he smiled. “And I do not wish to take advantage of this new friendship. You are doing so much for us, the least I can do is pay for parts.”

“Thank you, High Chancellor,” Vince said. “I don’t think, from the sounds of it, that it would be in my budget.”

“I’ll check the specs on the pipeline and place an order tonight, charged to General Karken’al, you can settle up with him. I’ll try to have a delivery date for you in the morning. Like I said, I think everything will need to be custom ordered, but maybe not the purification stations. Hopefully not.” She looked at the screen, “And I’ll need to use my computer to tap into the generator to check the other end of the pipeline and the pellite well source. Any questions before I turn this back over to, was it Rashad?”

“Rashad, yes.”

“Now that I know how to get in here, I’ll look around,” Simon said. “The First Science Commander would be best suited to overview everything for questions. I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

“And I don’t have any more at the moment,” Ja’val said. “But I’ll have one of my men come down and start looking at this system.”

“No problem. I’m sending you the location of the redundant systems. Sending to Rashad’s station, I assume you can pull from there.”

Ja’val nodded, thankful they didn’t have to keep sending data chips back and forth.

Jil’ana took her tablet and sat on the stairs and linked in to the generator facility through the Mythican flagship’s systems. “Shouldn’t take but a couple of minutes,” she said, “sorry to keep you all tied up.”

“Quite all right,” John said, “I’m glad we figured this out before we docked.”

“Well, I would have run standard procedures, including the purity test, before letting in more fuel, but it’s best to catch this now.”

Suddenly Vince, John, and Zy’nayth’s comlinks buzzed. “Cave in, tower two, floor thirty-six. Two men trapped, Becket’s on his way. Could use a Rayth for healing. I think…yeah, it’s bad.”

“On my way,” Zy’nayth said and ran out.

“I’ll go,” John said, “sorry, folks, little emergency.”

Vince explained what had happened, “John tries to have a Rayth on each dig team, just in case something like this happens. I’m surprised he didn’t have one in the rotation.”

“He did,” Kaven said, “saw the roster this morning. Want me to head down?”

“John will call if they need more muscle.”

Vince’s comlink buzzed again a couple minutes later, “Becket here, need more men to move stuff.”

“John and the High Chancellor are on their way. Need more?”

“They’re here and yes, three or four more. And fast.”

“Kaven, Chris…”

“We’ll go too,” Kol’non said motioning to Ja’val.

“Tower two, floor thirty-six,” Vince yelled after them.

“Becket, got the Alphas on their way and the two Firsts.”

“Too much interference to teleport?” Karken’al asked.

“I’m sure if teleportation was an option, the High Chancellor would have gotten the men out.”

“Are the floors above them clear?” Jil’ana asked.

“No. About five floors still filled with debris over them.” He paced the control room, saying silent prayers. Meanwhile Jil’ana finished her tests.

“The source is fine, and the rest of the pipeline looks good,” she said. “It was just the fracture in the ring.”

“That’s good,” Vince said. “Sorry, I’m a bit distracted. We haven’t had a cave in this bad since we left Earth.”

“Yeah, our guys are extremely careful in making sure the structural integrity is gonna hold,” Simon said. “I can’t imagine what happened.”

Vince walked over to the communications workstation and checked the roster. “Oh no,” he said and tapped his comlink, “John, is Zack one of the men trapped?”

“No sir. Sergeant Mays and Third Flight Officer. Will contact later. Out.”

“A friend?” Karken’al asked.

“Everyone on this ship is a friend,” Vince replied, “but Zachary is the president’s son. Just started working here. Engineer.” And as if on cue, Michael came running into the control room. Vince looked at him and said, “two men are trapped, Zack is not one of them.”

Michael let out a long sigh of relief. “Janice sent word to Victoria to pray and…Holly and I…the others?”

“No word yet. They’re working on getting them out. Our three Rayth friends went with the Alpha Team; they’ll get them out.” Then he tapped his comlink, “Victoria, let Holly and Hannah know Zack is not one of the men trapped. I assume he’s okay, John didn’t have time to elaborate, only confirmed that Zack wasn’t trapped.”

“Got it. I’ll pass it along. I’m guessing Michael’s with you?”

“Yeah. Keep praying. It’s Fred Mays and the Third Flight Officer who are trapped.”

“Thanks. Even Baxter and Celeste are praying,” she replied.

“We may as well go up to the conference room,” Vince said. “I’m not going to be much of a tour guide.”

“Of course,” Karken’al said. “We can answer more questions that Dr. Harris or the Vice Chancellor may have.”

“I’m going to head back,” Michael said, “but call if you need a pair of hands. Anything…I’ll go and help.”

“My team and the High Chancellor’s can handle it. And next time, just have Victoria call me instead of running through the tower,” Vince said.

“Ah, that’s probably why she tried to stop me as I ran out the door,” Michael laughed, “wasn’t even thinking.”

Ny’van settled at the conference table, “I’ll defer to Simon since my questions are primarily about the past.”

“If you have teleportation abilities, why doesn’t this ship?” Simon asked, since teleportation had just been mentioned as a way to get the trapped men out.

“Actually, it should have teleportation abilities,” Jil’ana said, “I’ll have to search the files. The Rayth had the ability before we did, but we developed it shortly after. Surprised the Rayth didn’t find it on board.”

“Interesting. You guys develop this bridge that can take people from planet to planet or even galaxy to galaxy, but you couldn’t develop a teleporter?”

“To be fair,” Jil’ana said, “they’re two entirely different things. The bridge creates a portal between one place and another, it truly is a bridge. Teleportation is…well more like turning everything into tiny little bits and shooting them out of a cannon. Oh, that’s a horrible way to think of it, but turning people into bits then reassembling them, that’s a bit tricky.”

“I think I could have done without that explanation,” Tel’lok said. “Bits?”

Jil’ana shrugged her shoulders. “Best I could do. I’m not a teacher.”

“I don’t need the answer right now,” Simon said, “but if you could look for teleporters, that would be nice.”

“Beta and Gamma teams,” Kaven’s voice came over Vince’s comlink as well as those on the two teams. Need you in tower two, floor thirty-six. Cave in, come ready to dig. Move it! Got two good men trapped.”

Vince stood, “I’m sorry, things sound much worse. I’ll take you back to Victoria’s chambers.

“I’ve been scanning to see if there’s anything we can do, teleporting or such, but it doesn’t look like there’s anything. I’m sorry, General,” Jil’ana said.

“Vince,” Kaven continued, “got a control panel stuck. Rayth are too busy digging; need their strength. Could use Simon down here.”

Vince relayed the message and Jil’ana stood. “I know the systems better and don’t have to translate. I’ll go,” she said.

“Kaven, I’m bringing Jil’ana down. Vice Chancellor can you see to our guests?”

“Happy to,” he said, then he and Simon escorted Karken’al and Tel’lok to Victoria’s chambers.

***

“Follow the line,” Zachary said, as he dumped more debris in the bin.

“You can teleport this up but not people?” Jil’ana asked as she worked her way up the line of men to where the door was blocking access to the two trapped men.

“The people are too embedded into the debris,” Ja’val said as he shoved a boulder behind him, “and nothing to lock onto. Could port a plate of steel right through their bodies and kill them. Panel’s to the left.”

The sliding doors were stuck, almost completely closed, about thirty feet ahead of them. Mounds of steel, marble, concrete, wires, pipes, and other debris blocked the way. If they couldn’t get the doors open, it would mean finding a way to break through them, and since they were blast doors, it wasn’t going to be easy, not even for Rayth.

Vince rolled up his sleeves and began hauling things back to the dumpster, helping the teams who were passing items from one to the next, from front to back. Becket and his team were helping, having just set up their equipment in a cleared room off to the right.

“What happened?” Vince asked, heaving a partial beam onto the next person.

“Was putting in the support brace,” Frank Helm said, “Jack slipped, knocked the beam, domino effect.”

“Burgeon?”

“Yeah. He’s already in the infirmary. Broken leg, I think Doc said.”

“Yup,” Becket replied from further down the line. “And Josselin Withers has a broken arm and possibly a broken rib or two.”

“Fred! Third! Sound off!” John yelled, getting some grumbles in reply.

“Good. We’re getting there.”

“How far in are they?”

“Just inside the door.” Frank answered. “The beam was going up right there,” he pointed to their right about twenty feet up, “they jumped into the next room, thinking it would be safer, I suppose. Cave in didn’t go as they hoped.”

“Going too slow,” Zy’nayth said, “Form a third line. Me and my two Firsts, up front.”

“Three lines people!” John shouted, “Move, now!”

“Be careful,” Zy’nayth said to Jil’ana as she climbed over the pile and tried to find a good place to sit, stand, or whatever to work on the panel.

“Don’t worry about me,” she said and found a spot. She pulled out her tablet and some small thin clear cables from a pocket and began using them to interface with the panel.

“You get that thing open in under five and I’ll buy you dinner,” John shouted.

“And if I don’t?” she said.

“You buy me dinner.”

She smiled as her fingers flew across her virtual keyboard. “Deal.”

“Kaven, your left! Watch out!” someone shouted.

The warrior looked up and saw another part of the roof starting to give way right over him. “Move!” he shouted and leapt across the hallway as it finally broke free. There wasn’t much debris, most had fallen already. “Everyone okay?”

As everyone sounded off, he made his way back to his side and kept digging.

“Got it!” Jil’ana said, “Opening on three-two-one…” the large doors retreated back into the walls. Zy’nayth, as nimble as a grasshopper for someone so tall and muscular, leapt on top of the heap then disappeared into the other room.

“Firsts, in here. We can get to them quicker. John, keep pulling stuff away.”

“Trying,” he said. “Fred, Third, let me hear you!”

There was one cough from one man.

“Triple time it, people. Kaven, Chris, with me, up top, kick the stuff down.”

Jil’ana scrambled to the back by the dumpster and helped load it up as things made it to her.

“Got one,” Ja’val said, “Fred.”

“Start healing,” Zy’nayth said.

“Trying. I can barely touch him.”

“My team, be ready to move as soon as they’ve got them clear,” John said.

“Becket, his face is turned to the side,” Ja’val said as Kol’non removed more debris from the body, “not breathing, or can’t breathe.”

“Oxygen, intubator,” Becket called out, “make it two. Got room in there for me?”

“We will make room if we need to,” Zy’nayth said.

The items Becket needed were passed to him and he made his way over the mound. “Hold on Fred, we gotcha.”

“I have the Third,” Zy’nayth said. The men moved positions so Kol’non could continue to dig them out while the other two Rayth used their energy to heal what they could given that their healing wasn’t as effective unless their hands were over the heart and they had good contact. Right now they had neither going for them.

“Faster guys,” John said, “come on, we are not going to lose these two. Just pull everything away from the door, come on, two more up front, there’s room. Pull, kick, throw, just get it out of here.”

“Is he breathing?” Becket asked Zy’nayth.

“Yes. Barely.”

“Soon as you get his face clear, I’ll get a mask on him.”

There was another crash of leftover debris, but this time, the lights went out. Zy’nayth groaned and let out an uncharacteristic swear.

“Zack, got a light or something I can use?” Jil’ana asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said and handed her his hard hat. She put it on, turned on the light then made her way to a panel inside the room to the right while the other men, who’d been on the dig team, turned their own lights on.

Jil’ana worked frantically at her keyboard, talking under her breath. “All right, work, come on, oh…try this and this and…” The lights came on. “Yes!” she shouted.

“Jil’ana was that you?” John yelled.

“Add dessert to that dinner you owe me,” she shouted back.

John smiled. “You’re coming in quite handy.”

“Face,” Zy’nayth said. “Becket, do what you need.”

Becket turned and quickly got the oxygen mask on the Rayth then turned back to the more serious of the two patients.

***

Zy’nayth, Jil’ana, and Zachary walked into Victoria’s chambers, covered in dust from head to toe. “They are in the infirmary, I believe they will be fine, it was very close, but we have a good team,” Zy’nayth said, “I am going to take a shower now.”

“Sir, request permission to return to our ship to clean up,” Jil’ana asked Karken’al.

“Granted.”

Holly hugged her son, despite the filth on him. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Me too,” Michael said after giving his son a hug.

“Honey,” Victoria said, “I can still have dinner ready at our planned time, or should I hold off a little?”

“What we had planned should be fine. Contact Becket, though. He would be the only one who might need a little extra time.”

She nodded and instead of just calling him, she headed to the infirmary knowing he’d be busy making sure the new patients were stable and that if needed, she could help with that process.

“Hey,” she said as she walked up to the two newest patients who were sleeping. Becket making sure all the instruments were connected properly.

“They’re going to be fine,” he said. “Nearly lost Fred. I don’t know if it was his stubbornness or the Rayth not giving up, but he pulled through.”

“Probably both,” she said, “and you shouldn’t be in here with all that dust all over you.”

“This coming from the woman who let dogs in here,” he smiled. “What can I do for you?”

“I wanted to know if dinner in an hour is still gonna work for you and Lia? I can finish up here.”

“They’re stable, was just double-checking things. An hour is fine. We’ll be there.”

She returned home and put the pork roasts, already prepped, into the ovens then set about getting everything else ready. Zy’nayth had finished with his shower and was sitting on the sofa as Zachary told his parents and the other guests about the collapse.

Mik’kenna stood up, on the sofa, beside her father and put her hands on his right shoulder and began pushing.

“Sweetheart, what are you doing?” he asked.

“Giving you massage. You work hard.”

“Ah, thank you, but it is not necessary.”

“And your braid out,” she said, “I put it back for you.”

“No, thank you. Only your mother does that.”

“I know how braid,” the girl frowned. “I do braid all time.”

“I know you know how to braid,” he replied, “but my braid is a gift from your mother to me. Only she can do it.”

“Oh. Then I just massage. Can I get you drink?”

“A glass of ice water would be nice,” he said, “thank you.”

“Miss Jil’ana fixed doors?” Ky’nayth asked, completely enthralled in Zachary’s story as his sister went to get the water for their father.

“She did, and when the lights went out, she fixed those too. Good thing she was there because your father and uncles were too busy trying to help the men to fix it.”

“And roof fell in two more times?”

“It did. Just small cave ins but still scary.”

“Mr. Jack okay?”

“Well, he’s got a broken leg, but yeah, he’s okay.”

“And Miss Josselin?”

“Pretty sure she’s okay too. You can ask your uncle when he gets here. I think he said she might have broken ribs. I had one of those a long time ago, and boy did it hurt.”

“Daddy, here’s water. I brought strawberry for you, too,” Mik’kenna said handing him the glass and the single berry.

“Thank you.”

He was thankful when, just as Mik’kenna was getting up to start her massage again, that the door chimed. He got up to answer it, eating the strawberry in one bite. Vince and John walked in. Both men sank onto one of the sofas.

“That was enough work for the next couple of weeks,” John said. “I really need to get back to my training schedule. I shouldn’t be this tired.”

“Are you slacking?” Ny’van smiled.

“In that, yes. I need to start getting you in shape,” he nodded to Zachary, “Monday. We’ll start on Monday. I should have just curled up in bed and went to sleep after I showered.”

“Then why didn’t you?” Ny’van asked.

“Stuffed pork roast,” John smiled as he closed his eyes. “No way I’m missing that.”

Karken’al’s comlink buzzed, then he looked at Zy’nayth, “Jil’ana is ready to teleport down.”

“I’ll go get her,” John said, “Ky’nayth, Mik’kenna, you want to come?”

Yes!” they exclaimed.

Victoria walked in and sat beside her husband, “Dinner’s on schedule. Do you need something now? I know using your energy that much means you need to replenish it.”

“Mik’kenna gave me a strawberry.”

“Just one?” she laughed.

He nodded then told her about the massage she was trying to give him. “I wonder what caused her to act that way. That is not like her. Very compassionate, yes, but,” he smiled and shook his head, not finishing his thought.

“I mentioned that I’d have to repay you for the neck massage you gave me last night. She probably got the idea from that,” Victoria said, still chuckling a little. “So, do you want some fruit or anything before dinner?”

“I will be fine, thank you.”

“Probably because of that strawberry.”

“It was a very good strawberry,” he smiled.

At dinner, the group talked about the day’s events, the men all quite tired from the stress more than the strain.

“I vote for a late start tomorrow,” John said.

“You really are getting soft,” Ny’van teased.

“I will side with John on this one,” Zy’nayth said. “There is much information that we need to go over, and I know Jil’ana wants to look into a few things as well. This would also give Vince and John time to assess the damage from the cave in and the next steps for that area. We can meet here for lunch then spend the afternoon on our project.”

Everyone agreed to the new plan and after the meal was consumed, and an hour of small talk, so that Karken’al and his team could get to know the other members of the family, as well as the department heads invited to join them, the Mythicans returned to their flagship as the Expedition: Andromeda crew settled in for the night.