The Fight for Creation: Book 02 - Scout Warrior (3 page)

Sam hit Dort on the shoulder and said, “Have you talked to Tgon about joining?”

“I have.”

“Do you think he’ll join us?”

“The jury’s still out.”

“What’s slowing the verdict?”

“You know what it is. Let’s go see if we can help him decide. I’d really hate to leave my best friend behind.”

Sam chuckled, “You ought to see the two of you together. You look one foot tall next to him. The two of you stayed in trouble in school.”

“It would have been worse if he had not stopped me most of the time.”

“He took the blame for most of it.”

“Only because he was too freaking big to hide properly; that’s his fault, not mine.”

Sam laughed and lifted the small ship and after it cleared the teleport suppression field, it teleported to Glod.

• • •

“Where is he, Dort?”

“Why don’t you ask him?”

“You know he won’t link to me if you and I are linked.”

Dort smiled, “He’s still being stubborn.”

“He is. If you look up hardheaded in the Glod dictionary you’ll see his picture. He’s the most hardheaded person in a race known for being stubborn. Why has he always refused to link to more than one at a time?”

“I’ll let him explain that to you. He has his reasons that make sense when you know the pride of that warrior species.”

• • •

Sam received clearance and brought the ship into Glod’s atmosphere. Dort said, “He’s at the clearing outside the Quilleron Temple.”

“What’s he doing there?”

“How should I know?”

“Didn’t you link and ask him?”

“Nope, he won’t link if you’re with me. I have a transponder in one of his swords. He’s never found out I put it there years ago when we were in school.”

“Oh, you are the sneaky one.”

“I fear even you underestimate my sneakiness.”

“That’s not completely true.”

“Why is that?”

“I put one in your sword as well.”

Dort snatched his four swords out and held them in front of his face with his four hands, “Which one!?!”

“I’m just kidding.”

“No you’re not. I can tell when you’re being deceptive. Which one?”

Sam smiled and said, “Oh look, there’s Tgon.”

“Don’t think I’ll forget this.”

Sam banked the ship and saw the huge Glod look up at the descending ship and started shaking his head. Sam landed and Tgon said, “How do you two troublemakers keep finding me? There’s no way you could have known I was here.”

Dort got out and said, “It’s easy; we just follow the smell.”

Tgon started laughing and said, “It can’t be that simple. I bathe every day.”

“You can wash a groad-hog hourly and it’d still run you out of a room.”

Tgon came forward and wrapped the two in his arms and lifted them off the ground. “It’s good to see you.”

Dort said, “I’d like to breathe if you don’t mind.” Tgon put them down.

Sam said, “What are you doing here at the temple?”

“I went in to look at the two swords.”

“Why?”

“To remember my duty.”

Dort looked at the huge Glod and said, “Have you decided?”

“I guess I’ve just been avoiding finding out that I’m less than my forefather.”

Sam looked at Tgon and said, “That’s why you’ve refused to link with me?”

Tgon sat down on the ground and said, “It is, Sam.”

“Tell me what you’re afraid of.”

The huge Glod threw his long orange braid over his shoulder and looked at them, “Our forefathers saved the Realm from the Dremor. They were the chosen of another Creator and are giants in the Realm’s history. My forefather became King here when he left the Life Warriors. I just feel small in comparison. I’ve never been able to hear the trace and know I’ll always be less than him.”

Dort said, “There are many other Glod descendants of Tegen. Have any of them ever made contact with the trace?”

“No.”

“It could be that only the three brothers were blessed by the Father Creator and we are now here to carry on their legacy with whatever tools we’re given.”

“I know. I just feel so…I don’t know.”

“Inadequate.”

“That’s it, Dort.”

“We feel the same, Gon. But the Realm is facing forces that are driving us back. We should shoulder our part of the load to honor our forefathers. We are going to start warrior training and it wouldn’t be the same without you.”

“Of course not, you wouldn’t have anyone to blame for the trouble you cause.” Gon smiled and then turned serious, “That’s why I’m here today.” Dort and Sam stared at Tgon and he said, “Danielle Gardner paid for my species survival with her oath to defend us as if we were her own people. I don’t just owe a debt to my forefathers. I owe it to the Realm as well. I needed to see that.”

“We have the hard skin of our forefathers.”

Tgon snorted, “All of their descendants have that trait, Sam. It’s a dominant trait. The hard skin is not anything special.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to fight with the two of you and try to avoid being thrown in the brig during training. I can’t let the two of you go to fight without someone there to keep Sam out of trouble. I’ve seen what Dort can do to the inexperienced.”

Dort looked at Sam, “Well, we can just go now and leave him here.”

Tgon said, “Where are you going?”

Dort punched Gon on the arm, “Nowhere, I was just kidding. You’re the trouble maker. But I’m willing to work hard to keep you out of the brig. I’ve seen your school records.”

“Hmph, yours are not much better.”

Dort sighed heavily and said, “There is that.”

Tgon laughed and said, “I’ll make the link. Even if we aren’t born with the talent of our forefathers, we have each other.”

The three put their hands on top of each other and for the first time all three linked their minds. Tgon said, “We should have done this before.”

“We’ve been telling you that for years.”

Sam smiled and said, “It’s beautiful; isn’t it?”

Tgon and Dort nodded as the music played in their minds. Tgon smiled, “We would not have heard it before. It has waited until this moment in time.”

Dort nodded, “It was waiting on us and the fourth to appear.”

Tgon and Sam looked at Dort, “The fourth?”

“There is another.”

“There were only three the first time. Where are they?”

“They’re coming. We just have to be patient.”

Sam couldn’t see what Dort was talking about. He would find out when the right moment arrived. Dort snickered. Sam said, “What’s so funny?”

“The fourth isn’t ole Trouble.” Sam scowled at him.

Tgon said, “Who’s ole Trouble?”

“Ask Sam.”

“Who’s that, Sam?”

“You don’t want to know. Let’s go start our training. If there’s going to be a fourth, Robby is also going to training.”

Gon laughed, “This will be like old school days.”

Dort said, “It’s a good thing Robby was able to keep us from being expelled.”

Gon snorted, “He was in on most of it.”

“Yeah, but he was better at it than us. He never got caught.”

Gon shook his head, “He had a teleporter. We weren’t allowed to have one and he used it to escape.”

Dort nodded, “That’s what I’m saying. He was better prepared than us.”

Gon snorted and turned to Sam, “Don’t we have to enlist?”

“Being a Duke has its advantages. Jon gave me a notice to give to the Admiral over training. He’s expecting us.”

“Take me home first so I can pack a bag.”

“Climb in.” The ship lifted and headed west.

• • •

Jixie sat in her ship above Bristone and continued to organize the information she had stored. These Humans were weird creatures. They didn’t look at war as play. They looked at it as a necessity to protect themselves and others. Why would they want to protect civilizations they knew nothing about? There was no bond between them. So why worry about them? She shrugged and put that question aside. It also appeared that some kind of emotion called love drove them to do crazy things. That didn’t make sense either. However, more than three quarters of the information about their behavior was bundled around love and mating. What a waste of time! Just pick one and get it on. She was going to have to really examine humans when she enlisted. They were the ones in charge and she needed to know what made them tick. Now she had to make some decisions.

She knew she had to play by the rules they used in their competitions, so she couldn’t use most of her abilities. That was ok; she always liked a close competition. She also needed to decide what body she was going to use during playtime. It couldn’t be superior to the ones of her playmates. That was a rule she didn’t like. There were a number of species that were stronger, faster, and more capable of fighting than humans. But the humans were in charge. She might have to use that to get her way once she became a part of their playground.

She thought about the humans in the enlistment office and how they fell all over themselves assisting the female that had come in to enlist. She was what humans considered beautiful. Well, I’m a female, so I’ll use a human female form and make sure it’s a…knock out.

She had pulled a hair from the woman on the couch beside her in the library before she left so she would have human DNA to examine. Jixie looked at the hair and focused in on the cells at the base. She looked closer and saw the double helix of human DNA. So that’s how they operate. Umm, it wouldn’t be good to overdo it. She wanted to be, what’s the word, oh yeah, beautiful enough to get the males to assist her, but not so beautiful that she would have the undivided attention of every male around her. That could cause problems.

She backed out of the DNA and thought about how she wanted to appear. She decided that she couldn’t pick a form that was currently in use. It had to be someone from the past. She thought about it and smiled. The first Queen of the Stars Realm was nice to look at, at least according to everyone that wrote about her. I’ll build a form like hers. I’ll just make sure I’m six inches taller. I can’t be too short; I’ll get turned down again.

Jixie focused on Danielle’s image from the Realm’s history and moved it into the double helix and arranged the necessary molecules. She stared at the helix, made a few changes, and then focused it on herself. Bright flashes erupted from the small ship and after ten seconds, a blonde human female sat in the chair on the ship’s bridge, which had grown slightly larger to accommodate a larger body. She stretched her arms out and could feel the new body. Now this was an interesting experience. I need to take some time to get used to all of these new sensations. She fell back in her chair and closed her eyes. I also need to learn how to communicate properly. She closed her eyes and began processing the messages the new body was sending to her brain and scanned the downloaded information at an incredible rate.

• • •

Jack Callahan heard the chime and looked up to see a pretty blonde woman come through the door. He smiled and said, “May I help you?”

“I wish to enlist.”

“That’s fine but we need to handle some formalities.”

“Such as?”

“You need to know the Realm’s history. Who was the first King of the old Stars Realm?”

“Thomas Gardner, however, he was not the first ruler. His wife, Danielle, was the first. He was chosen to be King when their daughter Rose abdicated so that he could lead the Realm in preparing for the coming Eight Leg invasion.”

“Very good. Who was the first Ruler of the Bristone Empire?”

“Scotty Robbins. He was killed by the black ships when the first Bristone was destroyed.”

“That’s very good. What’s the most important piece of a Warrior’s Oath?”

“To leave the universe a better place than they find it.”

“I can see you know your history. Please fill out these forms and you’ll have to report for a medical exam down the hallway to your left.”

Jixie almost disappeared but then remembered that her new body was created from human DNA. She needed to know if it would pass an inspection. She relaxed and filled out the forms. She turned them in and went for the medical scan.

Jixie stood up against a white panel as the machine flashed a beam and the technician said, “You’re in extremely good health. It almost looks like you’ve never been sick in your life.”

“I can’t remember ever feeling bad. I’ve been fortunate.” Jixie smiled at the technician and he smiled back, “Take this to the Lieutenant and he’ll give you your orders.”

Jixie took the form and walked out. The technician wondered about the high electrical activity in the woman’s brain, but assumed the scanner needed calibration again. It hadn’t been taken offline for more than a year. He ordered a new one and teleported the unit back to the factory for overhaul.

Jixie decided that the information about humans was correct. Males just lost their minds when a female smiled at them. She placed the forms on the desk and smiled at the Lieutenant. She watched him stop processing a male recruit to take care of her first. This was fun. Now what was that other thing? Oh yeah, toss your hair back from your shoulders and bat your eyes. The Lieutenant actually walked with her to the door and held it open for her. Jixie laughed all the way to the terminal where she was to board a ship bound for training.

She arrived and noticed that all the new recruits were carrying a bag and when she looked inside one she noticed that they had packed extra clothes and personal items. The females had included a makeup bag. She knew what that was from the thousands of commercials she had seen in the downloads. She went into a building next to the terminal and concentrated. A bright blue bag appeared on the floor of the restroom and she picked it up and exited. She boarded the ship and smiled at two male recruits who stood, took her bag, stored it overhead, and offered their seats. Jixie said, “Thank you,” and batted her eyes and flipped her hair back off her shoulders. The male recruits sitting with her received envious looks from the other males close to them. Jixie also noticed that the females on the ship knew what she was doing and felt disgust at her behavior. “Umm, What’s a bimbo?” She closed her eyes and found the definition. If Jixie had an ego, she might have gotten angry. Instead she determined that the smiles were enough around other females. More than that would cause issues. She looked at one of the females that was staring at her and shrugged. The female laughed and turned around. Now where did that motion come from? She had to really search to find out what it was and why it worked.