The Ocoda Chronicles Book 5 Paladonians Read online

  Celesta, becoming concerned about Benton’s increased stress cautiously nags him, stating, “Sunshine, we ain’t even a few hours from home and you’re already hitting the hard stuff.”

  Benton annoyed, says, “Not now Celesta, I need this in the worst way, you have no idea what I’ve had to put up with the past few months, all those wannabe kings, and all their personal agendas. Give me a firefight any day of the week.”

  Celesta giving Benton no quarter, says, “Oh my poor baby. Do you want me to get you some ice for that drink?”

  Benton feeling cocky grins, saying, “Oh hells yeah, that is…”

  Celesta rudely interrupts Benton, replying, “Knock it off Soldier! You’re on duty. Now put it away and do your job!”

  Benton annoyed, puts down the glass frowning, he responds, “Celesta, you know I love you and all, but you’re the ultimate killjoy.”

  Several hours later, Benton is walking the length of the ship as Captain D’Souza sees him and approaches swiftly, asking, “Gabe, with the gateways finally working how long do we expect to carry over two thousand refugees?”

  Benton replies quickly, saying, “Once we gather up the refugees, it should only take us a few hours to get home.”

  D’Souza then asks, “Can we just leave them unconscious then? After the last load I think it would be best?”

  Benton smiles, saying, “No problem Cap. That last trip was no picnic. You’ll get no argument from me whatsoever.”

  D’Souza, cautiously asks, “I’ve been looking over the targets this time, and I think we’ll have our hands full with the south pacific isle groups. Some of these tribes are blood enemies of each other.”

  Benton laughs, saying, “I read the report Brian, and all I gotta say is that it’s not our problem. You and your team will grab ‘em, sedate ‘em and bag ‘em.”

  D’Souza chuckles, replying, “Gabe, I don’t think that’s how the saying goes.”

  Benton unconcerned says, “Since the saying hasn’t been made yet, that’s how it goes.”

  Two months pass without incident, as Celesta reports, “Sunshine, I’m picking up that black dwarf star again.”

  Benton smiles, asking, “Celesta, can you plot the thing’s expected course over the next few hundred years?”

  Celesta confidently responds, “Of course I can.”

  Benton, contemplating using the black dwarf star as a weapon, asks, “You sure you can get around that things gravity?”

  Celesta is shocked at Benton’s recklessness, and responds profoundly, “The gravity of this stellar mass can easily rip a planet apart, but with X’ena technology we should easily create a gravity field to avoid the effects while our people study this anomaly from a safe distance. Nonetheless, any attempt to get too close to it would be certain death, but I’m certain that in time the Bentonian scientists may be able to find a way to adapt something that will allow us to use its powerful gravity for weapon.”

  Benton holds back his drool, staring aimlessly at the massive dead star.

  Celesta, overtly concerned, states, “Gabe, I hope you understand that this could not only destroy a planet, but an entire planetary system, and if it got into the wrong hands.”

  Benton is still grinning from ear to ear, seeing all the possibilities of the black dwarf star.

  Finally, the last month of the journey has been completed. Celesta reaches the Oort cloud, as the crew begins the long process of assembling the massive gateway. The process is expected to take several days. The Paladonian side of the gateway was expected be completed just about the time Celesta reached the Oort cloud.

  Benton sends a signal back to the Paladonians, as Celesta reports, “Sunshine, I have Dorian on the holocom.”

  Benton groans, asking, “Why did you have to contact that jackass for Celesta?”

  Celeste, annoyed by Benton's complaining, responds, “Sunshine! Normally I’d cuss you out for such language, but I must agree he is an idiot. I’m sorry Gabe, but unfortunately he is the only council member currently available.”

  Benton sighs, saying, “Fine Celesta, put the dickhead on.”

  Dorian appears on the holocom, sarcastically stating, “Council leader Benton, it is ever so nice to see you again.”

  Benton is clearly not amused. He irritably states his question, asking, “Listen up Dorian. I’m not calling to check on your flower garden. Did you get the damn gateway operational on your side or not?”

  Dorian smiles callously. He slowly responds in such a manner just to irk Benton, “Really Councilman Benton, I believe a little decorum between esteemed colleagues are in order when we address each other, don’t you agree?”

  Benton beginning to fume stares impatiently at Dorian for five long minutes waiting for his question to be answered. Finally, he explodes, “Ok, you damn jack wagon! I waited for you to answer my question, and you seem to think I have all day for you, so I’ll call back when we have someone with a brain that can answer questions to show up!”

  Dorian smiles, feeling his victory in upsetting Benton, he responds, “Really now Councilman Benton, such disrespect is truly unbecoming for a leader in your positio….”

  The holocom is cut short, as Celesta reports, “Sunshine I turned him off. However, before I turned that idiot off, I did make contact with the security satellite network system and discovered that the gateway is up and ready to be tested.”

  Benton sighs heavily, saying, “Celesta, when we get back, I’m so going to pop that A-hole right in the kisser.”

  Celesta replies, “Sunshine, you know that idiot is only trying to make you follow his lead, and you’re smarter than that. He was purposely trying to get you upset, so he could make fun of your anger, and you let him win.”

  Benton exhales loudly, saying, “Well, we will see how Dorian likes winning with half his teeth knocked down his throat. I’m not sure which one of them is worse, him or that Egbert loser.”

  Celesta corrects Benton, saying, “Edgar Sunshine. That idiot’s name is Edgar, not Egbert.”

  Benton smiles, saying, “Hmmm, I’ll try and remember that Celesta.” Benton pauses. He looks out the front view port studying the marines as they start setting up the gateway.

  Individual gateways are composed of four separate components, which work in unison with another gateway to create an artificial wormhole, connecting two areas of space together, thus allowing for instantaneous travel across great distances. The four gateway sections must be all placed into specific locations from each other. Once they are set into alignment they can expand or contract, allowing larger objects to pass through all at once.

  Celesta, who has been studying the crews working conditions, reports, “Gabe, I have extended our force field to cover the workers from micrometeorites. However, I had to divert almost all our power to do this. We will not be able to do anything else until the gateway is completed.”

  Benton groans, “So no weapons, or anything else for a few weeks.”

  Celesta replies, “Really Sunshine, just what do you plan on shooting?”

  Benton can’t help but chuckle to himself about Celesta’s comment, but suddenly notices several small micro-meteors striking the shield, which makes him think.

  Two weeks pass, as the crew from the Celesta completes the final preparations for the gateway. Celesta then reports, “Sunshine I have Reggie on the holocom.”

  Benton, unconcerned, ignorantly replies, “Put his holiness through Celesta.”

  Celesta chastises Benton, “Sunshine, do we really need to go over this nickname thing again. I’m really growing tired of it, and if you don’t learn to stop it, I will tell them why you’re called Sunshine.”

  White appears on the holocom, while Benton pays him little to no attention. Benton instead focused all his attention on the data from the gateway.

  White exhales, asking, “Gabe, are you going to at least say hello?”

  Benton irritated, replies, “Reg, if you called to ask me how the damn gateway is doing again, I’m
going to personally beat your punk ass all over that ugly moon of yours.”

  White smiles, asking, “Really, Gabe, you want to do this dance?” White pauses, refocusing his next question, asking, “Celesta, did you really raise Gabe to be so rude?”

  Celesta immediately becomes incensed, yelling, “Gabriel! I told you to watch your manners! Now I have your friends thinking I raised you to be this bully, is this what you want people to think of me?”

  Benton drags his hands across his face in complete frustration. He exhales and sinks back into his command chair. Finally, he chuckles aloud and says, “Well played Reg.” Benton pauses, finally responding to Celesta, saying, “I’m sorry Celesta, I won’t do it again.”

  White smiles from ear to ear, as he asks, “Gabe, from the reports we have from Celesta your gateway is ready to go. So what’s the hang up?”

  Benton sighs, and says, “We’ve tested all the sections and it all seems to be fine, but all these damn micrometeorites that travel around in this Oort cloud have me worried, so I decided to have the men hook up a deflector net around the four sections.”

  White becomes very concerned and asks, “Gabe, where did you get the emitters for the deflectors?”

  Benton responds, “I took ‘em from Celesta. We can use our primary shields until we get back.”

  White now alarmed, points out, replying, “Gabe, are you off your rocker? Those emitters also gave you protection from telepathic attack. We haven’t been able to duplicate that technology yet.”

  Benton, still unconcerned, says, “Reg, we have the mobile psionic scramblers. Besides, once we make the connection we can swap em out and reinstall them back on Celesta afterwards.”

  White shakes his head in complete frustration, saying, “Gabe, the level of technology that allowed the Celesta to mimic Paladin’s psionic shielding is so delicate.” White exhales in anguish as he continues, “Arggghhh, you could have easily damaged or possibly destroyed that knowledge.”

  Benton, unconcerned, simply replies, “Reg, protecting the gateway is the most important objective we have here. Don’t sweat the emitters. I’m sure Paladin will help us fix ‘em if I messed ‘em up. Anyways, the debris flying around out here in the Oort cloud is pretty lethal.”

  White clearly annoyed, states, “Gabe, sometimes you just amaze me with your command decisions.” White shakes his head for a moment and, saying, “Gabe, I’m afraid we had to make some recent changes since you left. It’s been decided on a new system of retrieval for the survivors. We’re going to start sending through several transports as soon as we have a green light that the gateway is working.”

  Benton very surprised is in total disbelief, asking, “Reg, what the hell are you saying?”

  White moans, replying, “Gabe, everyone wants to expand their population as quickly as they can, so I was overruled in council. Each moon is now sending a team to recover survivors for their own colonization purposes.”

  Benton alarmed, yells, “Are you insane! Reg, they grab one wrong person. Kill one bug that wasn’t supposed to die and it's lights out for everyone.”

  White with a somber face speaks volumes, as he simply replies, “Right Gabe, and they all know it. Despite my initial wishes, this has to be the way it is done. We have instituted a strict set of rules and guidelines and everyone is on board with it. While you’ve been gone, every moon has been training recovery specialists. This is priority one for everyone and I’m sorry Gabe, but after considering everything, with Allie’s help I have to say I agree with this. We can’t depend on you alone to bring back everyone.”

  Benton now angry, asks, “So what about letting the people choose where they want to live? Is that off the table now too?”

  White sighs, responding, “That’s a work in process Gabe, but for now and until I can see if this will work, it’s each moon for themselves. Gabe, remember I still have Allie to tell me if people are being abused, or worse. If I need to call in the marines, I will.”

  Celesta reports, “Sunshine, the gateway is ready to go, the cloaking field is operational and the deflector grid is online and working at hundred percent efficiency. We can commence with testing.”

  Benton now frustrated, says, “I’d much rather blast the stupid gateway to kingdom come.”

  White, hearing that becomes annoyed, saying, “Gabe, just knock it off. We are going to open the gateway on our end. Are your people out of the way?”

  Benton exhales in frustration, saying, “Yeah Reg, my people are out of your way.” Benton enraged cuts the com. He says to Celesta, “Set course for Earth. Let’s get our survivors, before they all come charging in.”

  Celesta reports, “Sunshine, the gateway is powering up.”

  Benton gets up stomping his feet in anger, yelling, “Flank speed Celesta. Alert D’Souza of his targets. Let’s get our people in and out, and head for home.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CIRCUMSTANCES

  Four more years have passed, as the Paladonian worlds continue to build up their civilization. The Paladonians currently have several cloaked ships in permanent orbit around Earth. The initial plan set forth by Caleb and Paladin was to increase the population of the Paladonian moons to its maximum by any, and all means possible. Although White and Benton preferred a more controlled recovery process, the council chose a more aggressive method. This has so far worked with little to no repercussions to date. However, today will not be one of those days.

  Cooley suddenly wakes up, feeling a head rush and is overcome by a flash of déjà vu. A sensation she has not felt in years, but one that has finally returned with a flash of information. She screams, “ARGGGHHH! Bloody hell!”

  White wakes up, hearing her screams and instantly grabs hold of her, asking, “Rachel, are you alright?”

  Cooley emotionally upset, pounds her fist in anger on the bed, replying, “Reg, we need to go to Earth. We have a major problem.”

  White in shock, asks, “Rachel? What's wrong?”

  Cooley annoyed, and saddened by what she has seen, reluctantly responds, “Reg, this is kinda hard to explain in a rational way but please try to understand. When I was joined with the Flower stone, it filled my mind trillions of possible timelines. I can’t really see em all unless we start to diverge off the path we need to be on. Well luv, we just diverged, and in a big way.”

  White is dumbfounded, asking, “Rachel, what's happening? What do we need to do?”

  Cooley gets up and immediately starts to get dressed, answering, “I’ll tell you on the way luv, just get dressed. We need to move quickly.”

  White shakes his head, as he gets out of bed and begins getting dressed, asking, “Shall we call Cale or Gabe for help?”

  Cooley pulls her shirt over her head, replying, “Caleb’s still off in deep space doing whatever it is he does, and Gabe is like a bull in china shop luv. Sorry luv, but this is one we need to do this alone.”

  White, putting his boots on asks bluntly, “Do what?”

  Cooley stops and lets out a heavy exhalation. She pauses, thinking. How do I tell Reggie this, and if I do what could happen? No the Flower stone warned me about revealing too much, I just have to hope Reg will trust me. She replies, “We have to stop someone from purposely altering the timeline.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Cooley and White reach the hangar bay on the moon of the First ones. The port supervisor seeing White and Cooley approaching stands at attention, asking, “Counsel White, Counsel Cooley, may I be of assistance?”

  Cooley doesn’t give Reg the chance to answer, responding, “No luv, we’re just taking Cavalier out for a short trip.”

  The supervisor alarmed, says, “I’m sorry Counsel Cooley, I didn’t have the ship ready for you. It will take at least an hour for me to prep it.”

  White interrupts, saying, “Not necessary, we’ll take it as it is, we’ll be back shortly anyway.”

  The Supervisor is curious by this unexpected visit from two of the highest-ranking members in the Paladonian governme
nt, but nonetheless calls out to his staff, as they quickly pull Cavalier from the hangar, bringing it down to White and Cooley.

  The docking bay Supervisor then reports, “We haven’t cleaned it since your last trip madam counsel. The ship has been giving my team many challenges with its A.I. program. If you can give us the time we can get right on it”

  Cooley smiles, saying, “It’s not an issue.”

  Cavalier was rebuilt better and stronger. The original Cavalier was left behind when Caleb went through the gateway trap. This version was redesigned specifically by Paladin to be a mobile command center. The support fighter had its transportation pod permanently bonded to the fighter, allowing for quicker access to the cockpit. The ship has the most sophisticated technology of the era, with the exception of a ships phase shift drive. Caleb and Paladin have restricted access to this type of technology as much as possible. Nevertheless, Caleb himself helped in Cavaliers construction and personally presented the ship to White and Cooley on their wedding as a gift.

  The ship arrives before the group, as Cavalier responds, “Cavalier is online and ready.”

  White, who has always enjoyed flying the ship smiles, Cooley, noticing, says, “No drooling luv, I know how much you love to fly her.”

  White laughs, saying, “Beats dealing with the council any day of the week.”

  The two board, Cooley heads to the navigation computer and White sits at the helm readying Cavaliers systems. The engines instantly spool up as Cavalier heads out of the docking bay.

  White, impatiently asks, “Ok Rachel we’re officially on our way. What is going on?”

  Cooley bites her bottom lip, saying, “We have a rogue member on one of the recovery teams. He plans on killing the Roman Emperor Trajan in an attempt to change history, and if he succeeds everything we created, everything that has happened will never be.”

  White is alarmed by Cooley statement, asking, “Rachel, who would be so crazy to do anything like this. He must know that he will die along with everyone else.”