The Ocoda Chronicles Book 5 Paladonians Read online

  THE OCODA CHRONICLES BOOK 5

  PALADONIANS

  DANIEL O’CONNELL

  Copyright © 2012 Daniel O’Connell

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-13:978-1497533998

  ISBN-10:1497533996

  DEDICATED TO MY ASAWA ALWAYS

  YOVEMYL

  I’ve allowed the creation of a civilization I know could one day be responsible for a war that would be so epic and destructive, it would make the T-Challa war look like a minor skirmish. Regrettably, if I don’t allow its creation, the human race will eventually turn back in on itself, destroying itself within a century of being given the advanced technology. Technology I gave them.

  How do I know this? A celestial deity we now call the Flower stone gave me a momentary gift of sight, sight into the endless possible future outcomes caused by my choice to return from a horrific future. This Flower stone gave me a glimpse of the future in thanks for saving its life.

  What options I was given were ones I dreaded, but ultimately came to accept as the only choice. I was forced to return two thousand years into my own past, and repopulate an abandoned system of moons in the Scutum-Centaurus arm of our own Milky Way galaxy. A system where a lost humanoid civilization mysteriously abandoned their society, some tens of thousands of years ago, leaving their entire civilization mostly intact.

  Now with only a few thousand survivors from the failed future I escaped from, I must build a new civilization. A society that will hopefully aid and benefit all humankind, but more than likely I fear it may one day will rise up and challenge it. Whatever the outcome may be it will be one that ensures that the human race will survive. Survive out amongst the stars for as far as I was allowed to see, and that was a very long time.

  These are the stories of over two thousand years of this civilizations creation and evolution. A civilization I am ultimately responsible for, a civilization we call the Paladonians, and who am I? I am Caleb Ocoda.

  CHAPTER ONE

  THE LONG WAY HOME

  The year is one hundred and one A.D. as we wander through our own galaxy, finding a brilliant white ship traveling through the stars on its return journey home. The vessel is called Celesta, and on her Bridge, a brooding man is seated in the captain’s chair, staring aimlessly out at the stars. His name is Gabriel Benton, he and his crew are just five, and half month into a journey to save the first group of lost humans that would have disappeared without a trace throughout human history. Nonetheless, the past two months of their journey has been anything but peaceful, as the survivors are overwhelmed by the technology of the future, making life difficult for the crew assigned to watch them.

  So you may ask why General Gabriel “Sunshine” Benton and his crew is dealing with so much aggravation. Well, Paladin quickly determined that the Paladonian civilization would not have enough people to be of any help to the Earth in the two thousand years it would take them to repopulate their society. Consequently, because of this data it was mutually agreed that they would have to travel to ancient Earth to save the millions of lost souls, which would have otherwise disappeared without a trace throughout Earth’s history. Hundreds of lost civilizations, which disappeared mysteriously and thousands of lost ships, and all their people. Paladin possessed the complete history of the Earth and its entire people. They created a governing council to rule these worlds and devised a system that would set up targets to acquire and bring back for the Paladonian moons to help build up their civilization.

  With Paladin’s help, the Paladonians created a genetic scanner that would be able to determine if a person was a viable candidate to repopulate their system, as well as conclude who must be left behind.

  Currently, the Paladonians are constructing a gateway system that will allow for travel from their worlds to Earth instantly. Nevertheless, that project is still a year away from completion as Celesta and her crew deal with over a thousand refugees on a three-month journey from Earth.

  During the past two months, Celesta, and her crew, have dealt with numerous issues amongst the refugees, as Captain D’Souza and his company of well-trained marines have been taxed to their limits with the Germanic people, and Roman legionaries, who have constantly attempted to escape. Fortunately, for the Paladonians, they lack the true understanding of their situation, and thankfully for everyone is Celesta’s ability to secure them within protective force fields, thus preventing them from harming themselves or others.

  Celesta now reports to Benton, “Sunshine, these Romans are really lacking in the manners department. This will be the fourth time today I have had to secure some of these men from attacking Captain D’Souza’s Marines. I really think we should try and bring back more lady folk next time Sunshine.”

  Benton smiles, amused, but is nonetheless unconcerned with Celesta’s report and more concerned about getting home, asking, yet again, “How many more shifts until we’re home Celesta?”

  Celesta, clearly irritated with Benton nagging, responds, “Sunshine, you really need to learn to listen, especially to me. I already told you an hour ago to stop asking me questions, which you already know the answers, too. I told you five days ago that we have at least a month left.”

  Benton, becoming more aggravated with the answer from Celesta asks, “Celesta, do ya think we can try one of those power shifts like we did in the other timeline?”

  Celesta alarmed by the request, answers, “Gabriel that is extremely dangerous. You know we risk hitting one of those temporal shifts every time we do that, we could lose a year or even more in null space and besides, the final outcome would only save us a few days travel at best.”

  Benton sits back in his chair sulking. He mopes, stating, “Fine Celesta, but one of these days I want you to go over all of Onatof’s notes and see if you can learn how to navigate through those temporal shifts.”

  D’Souza enters the Bridge with two men. One obviously is a Roman commander, while the other is of the Germanic people. He looks extremely annoyed, reporting, “Colonel, sir, it looks as if our guest has reached the limit of their patience with me, and have now request to speak to you directly, again.”

  Benton, undoubtedly seeing the frustration in D’Souza’s facial expressions, as well as the tone of his voice, asks, “What was their latest request, Captain?”

  D’Souza smiles, answering, “They asked to be let off the ship sir, but when I showed them the airlock, and I even offered to open it for them, they seemed to backtrack on that specific request, and immediately asked to speak to you.”

  Benton, trying his best to contain his amusement fails miserably, turning to the Roman commander, asking, “Ok Caesar, what do you want from me today?”

  A very angry Roman Commander grumbles aloud, as his language is instantly translated by Celesta, “My name is Sulla! Not Caesar and your officer tried to throw us out one of your ships doors when all we asked was to be returned back home.”

  Benton exhales a long-winded sigh, saying, “Lookie here pizza boy, I’ve told you the same thing every day since you started coming in here, and every day after I have told you the same thing, but no matter how I tell you I end up having to tell you the same thing over and over. Now let’s try this one more time. You and your men cannot return to your homes, not now, not ever. Hell Caesar, we ain’t even on Earth anymore. You really gotta get this into your thick Neanderthal skulls. Your men would have all died if we had left you there, but for some god’s unknown reason, we decided to save you and your kinsmen, and now every day since then I’m finding it to have been a mistake to have done so.”

  Benton angrily stands up, walking to the Roman Commander and says, “We have given your people t
he ability to learn everything that they need to know about our civilization, as well as explain to everyone who, how, and what, has happened to them. Nevertheless, all they want to do is attack the holoimage recordings and scream ghost and demons, so let me make this very clear one last time. We are in space, out amongst the stars, if you try to leave the ship you will die, and to be honest Caesar, I’m finding it harder and harder not to help the Captain here assist you out one of our airlock. Now get this through that pea sized Neanderthal brain of yours, stop being a problem and start accepting our help, because the only other choice is one-way trip into deep space.”

  The two refugees realizing they have very few options hastily elect to leave the Bridge under guard.

  D’Souza slowly turns towards Benton, apologizing, “I’m sorry Colonel, but this trip is really pushing my patience.”

  Benton walks back to his seat, stating, “Brian, you can call me Gabe when it’s just the two of us.” Benton, sitting down asks, “So Brian, tell me are any of these cavemen adapting to the holoimage training videos?”

  D’Souza shakes his head in anguish, saying, “We have a few of them who attempted to learn, but the majority are just too overwhelmed with everything else. I really doubt that any of them will ever adapt, but I do have a suggestion Gabe, if we have to do another long run like this, we really need to get some psychology major or a counselor. You know, someone like that to come with us.”

  Benton shakes his head in disgust, saying, “I should’ve listened to Paladin. They told me to take just a small group to start, but no, I had to do it my way and grab a thousand. Well hopefully next time when we go back we’ll be better prepared to deal with this crap.”

  D’Souza smirks, saying, “Well Gabe, its all destiny like you said, but it does make you wonder.”

  Benton huffs, saying, “All it makes me wonder is when I can get home and get some real grub.”

  D’Souza, who is still contemplating his earlier conversation, asks, “Gabe, you said it yourself, that we have already done this before, don’t you think if we did something different we could go home already.”

  Benton, a little concerned by that comment, but oblivious to D’Souza real meaning, replies, “Brian, all I said is that Paladin said we did this all before, and that we really couldn’t do anything to endanger the timeline. I don’t know if we could do anything different or not, or what would happen if we did, but I do know that this paradox thing is really bad, so let’s not go there.”

  D’Souza smiles, as his mind begins to wander, saying, “Of course Gabe.” However, the seeds of doubt are now planted in the good Captain’s mind, as he begins contemplating the future, and dreams of being home in his own time.

  Several days go without incident, while the Celeste, her crew, and the thousand refugees pass by the galactic core of the Milky Way. Celesta reports of multiple energy signature, mostly plasma clouds and black holes, but they do discover a surprising anomaly. Celesta immediately reports, “Sunshine, I’m detecting a stellar core moving towards the center of the galaxy.”

  Benton unconcerned asks, “So is it a threat or something?”

  Celesta now annoyed, says, “Gabriel, really now, is that all you can think, threat or not a threat. Sunshine, this stellar core is a black dwarf, which is not even supposed to exist, at least not for a billion years. Its gravitational pull can rip apart entire solar systems. This is an amazing discovery Sunshine.”

  Benton raises his eyebrow and ignorantly says, “Ok Celesta, amazing discovery. Check, got that under my wow file now.”

  Celesta, not liking Benton's flippant attitude says, “Gabriel Calvin Benton! If I could put you over my knee, I would. Why are you acting like a mindless brute? I raised you to be so much better than that.”

  Benton sighs, replying, “Celesta I’m not needed for my brain power, I’m needed for what I have in my body, and my skill. This highbrow science stuff ain’t for me.”

  Celesta was created by Paladin to anticipate and act, just as Benton’s real sister Celesta would. Her programming was made using thousands of holorecordings of Celesta throughout her life. The end result was an A.I. that was more human than any other ever created before, thus allowing the Celesta A.I. to actually think like Celesta would, and she uses that knowledge to get Gabriel interested, saying, “Really now, ok mister military genius, listen up. Imagine if we could redirect this stellar core to let’s say the T-Challa home world system. Now what do you think about it?”

  Benton sighs loudly, not realizing the stellar core’s true potential, answering, “They’ll blast it into little pieces. Come on Celeste, just look at the thing, it isn’t that big.”

  Celesta, annoyed, responds, “Gabe, there is no weapon available that can destroy that stellar core. It has the density and gravitational pull of a major star, but the mass of a very small asteroid.”

  Benton quickly becomes interested, asking, “So wait, are you telling me that thing is indestructible?”

  Celesta responds, “X’ena advanced gravitational science is currently protecting us from the gravitational effects, but only as long as we maintain a safe distance. However, Sunshine, I have no ordnance that can pierce its outer shell. The outer core is so densely packed that it is completely impenetrable. In other words, yes, it’s indestructible.”

  Benton now smiles, asking, “Can we tow it somewhere safe for further study?”

  Celesta surprised at Benton’s request, states, “Not by me Sunshine, this thing is the size of the state of Texas, and it’s moving at an ever-increasing velocity, which will eventually reach the center of the galaxy in a few thousand years. Once it gets there it will be eaten up by the supermassive black hole at the galactic core, where we will lose it forever.”

  Benton, frustrated, says, “Celesta, you are programmed too much like my sister, she used to do the exact same thing to get me interested in something, so what the hell am I supposed to do with the damn rock now.”

  Celesta smugly states, “Well Sunshine, you are the governor of an entire civilization, I’m sure you can have your scientist work on a retrieval and recovery operation. They may be able to redirect it, thus allowing them the time they need to study it.”

  Benton grins, looking at the Black dwarf, saying, “So long as we can use it against the dragon people I’m all on board for that.”

  Celesta finally announces, “Gabriel we are ready to shift.”

  Benton, remaining focused on this new discovery, easily forgets about his desire to get home, and says, “Ok Celesta.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  THE POLITICS OF DANCING

  Finally, after being gone over seven months Celesta returns to the Paladonian system. Celesta reports, “Gabriel we have our docking coordinates for the space dock on the moon of the First ones. I’ve just scanned the entire system and discovered that Paladin is not within the system. I have also detected that every moon is currently building some form of battleship, with four of those ships currently in the final phases of construction.”

  Benton looks up at the data screen, asking, “What about that damn gateway? We really can’t keep bringing people back this way.”

  Celesta reports, “I show one is complete, and in orbit around the Rooke moon, while the other is approximately a few months from completion.”

  Benton irritated, sits back in his chair, saying, “Well, at least I can carry this gateway back to the Earth, and hopefully they will have the other one ready when we get there.”

  Celesta receives her final docking orders, landing on the moon of the First ones, where the Celesta and her crew are greeted by a thunderous crowd of cheers, and standing in the forefront is Rachel Cooley, who is smiling, saying, “We missed you Sunshine.”

  Benton, hearing Cooley call him by his nickname easily becomes irritated, stating, “Hey, that’s off limits to you beauty queen.” Benton pauses a moment. He looks around, asking, “So where’s Reg and the rest of the council?”

  Cooley groans, saying, “Fighting ov
er the rights to the refugee’s you just brought back. The Onatofs and the Rookes have been nothing but trouble since you left. I think Reg is about ready to blow a gasket.”

  Benton grunts, shaking his head, he says, “I’ll talk to Caleb when he gets back, maybe we should pull all their technology.”

  Cooley rolls her eyes, saying, “Caleb has been too busy doing whatever it is Caleb does. He just left a few months ago right after he gave us Allie to take care of.”

  Benton, confused, asks, “What is an Allie?”

  Cooley grins, replying, “Come on Gabe you should know what Allie is.”

  Benton eyes go wide, asking, “Rachel I really don’t know what the hell you’re talking about?!”

  Cooley laughs briefly, whispering, “Gabe you were there when he brought the T-Challa Queen’s D.N.A. to recreate her.”

  Benton even more surprised, asks, “Wait a minute, did you just say T-Challa Queen!?!”

  Cooley confused, replies, “Yes Gabe, I thought you already knew about it.”

  Benton shakes his head in complete disbelief, replying, “No beauty queen I didn’t know about it.” Gabe now angry yells, “What the hell is alien boy doing bringing back a T-Challa!”

  Cooley, alarmed, places her hand over Benton’s mouth as people begin to stare. She intently stares at Benton, saying, “Come with me Gabe, and keep your bloody voice down.”

  The two quickly slip away from the group, as they take a nearby hovercraft to Caleb’s quarantined sector on the moon. During the half-an-hour of journey, Benton tells Rachel all about his trip to Earth, until they finally stop at the entrance of the largest domed city on the moon. Cooley enters her access code, which opens the sealed airlock.

  The hovercraft begins to speed up again as they enter the domed city. The air lock closes behind them, as Benton looks out at hundreds, if not thousands of buildings and multiple inner domes all within this one massive dome. They continue towards the largest structure in the domed city a towering stadium, which is the largest on the moon. The hovercraft begins to accelerate towards it