Shadow Warrior: Destiny of a Mutant (6 page)

Krelian Research Vessel

Terran Stationary Orbit

August 1942 A.D.

The sleek, silver-colored Krelian research vessel had emerged from ultra light-speed travel, via a wormhole, and had taken up a stationary geosynchronous orbit approximately 100 miles above the surface of the planet Earth approximately one Terran week ago.

The Krelians had developed light-speed technology centuries before but were still in the infancy stages of their interstellar flight capabilities through the use of the wormhole technology. Although their technology was advanced, they were still working the bugs out of their systems. They had a stable shielding system, but their cloaking device still needed some tweaking as it was not as compatible with the shielding system as they had been told it would be by their engineers.

The Krelian crew consisted of thirteen crew members, nine males and four females: the captain, first mate, four scientists, two engineers, two linguists, one doctor, and two members of the Krelian military. The ship was large enough to house the entire crew comfortably, although each crew member, except the captain, had to share their spartan quarters with a roommate.

The crew was only six months into a six-year mission to explore this part of the galaxy, which they knew little about. The captain and his first mate were experienced pilots and had logged many hours behind the controls of starships. However, this was their first deep space mission for such an extended period of time.

They were well aware that Earth was the only inhabited planet in this star sector. They had been studying Earth from afar for many years now, but this was their first opportunity to observe it firsthand. In the week they had been in orbit, they had been monitoring Terran communications and had learned that much of the planet was engulfed in a state of war.

The two Krelian linguists on board for the mission, Tah’soon and Narla’da, were able to speak, read, and write several of the major Terran languages fluently, including English, German, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, French, Russian and Italian, among others.

The Krelians, by nature, were a peaceful race. This mission was strictly for research and scientific advancement. However, they were not naïve; they knew that among the inhabited worlds, many of them were violent and barbaric, which is why they chose Kaltor, an experienced member of their military as their chief security officer, and his second-in-command, Dal’tun.

Although theirs was a research vessel, it was equipped with the latest Krelian weaponry: laser-plasma weapons, ionized photon cannons, and a variety of handheld and shoulder fired vapor weapons, which would be used to defend themselves and their ship if necessary.

After a week in orbit 100 miles above the planet, the captain decided it was time to take a closer look at the planet and get near enough to record sound and visual images on their computers through the use of the Krelian version of high tech digital recording devices, which could reproduce the images as holographic displays for later viewing, as well as record weather and other relevant data.

“Lieutenant, take the ship down to ten miles above the Terran surface. Engage the cloaking device…now,” ordered Captain Tal’pun of his first mate.

“Yes, Captain. Engaging cloaking device and taking her down to ten miles above the surface,” replied Lieutenant Jae’nol.

The ship began its descent at a rate of about ten miles per minute. Unbeknownst to the crew, two of the ionic propulsion tubules inside of the wormhole creation device had begun to rupture slightly due to a corrupted plasma seal. Normally this would have been detected by the onboard computer diagnostics modules, but an unexpected spike in one of their computer systems, had damaged one of the mother boards. This system was designed to warn the engineers that it was on the verge of failing, but the damage prevented it from functioning properly. The ionic propulsion tubules system controlled not only the wormhole creation device, but the light-speed capability of their ship, and its shielding and cloaking systems as well.

As the ship stabilized at ten miles above the surface, the lead scientist, Valtor, who was in charge of the scientific and research portions of the mission, was not satisfied, and made his way to the bridge to express this to the captain.

“Captain, I must insist that you take the ship lower so we can obtain better audio-visual recordings and air samples,” said Valtor.

“I am not taking this ship any lower until we determine that our vessel is safe from detection,” said the captain.

“I understand your concerns, Captain, but the shielding and cloaking systems are functioning normally, are they not?”

“I have not had any reports from my engineers to the contrary,” said the captain, straining to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

“Then as soon as you feel the ship is safe enough, please take us down to five miles above the surface. Your sensors will notify us immediately if there is any type of Terran aircraft or danger present, correct?”

“Yes, but…”

“Good. Let me know when we can descend to the elevation I’ve requested. It is mid-afternoon, and this time of day is optimal for obtaining the best readings.”

Valtor turned away from the Captain in a manner that indicated that he had been summarily dismissed.

What a ruuntak
, thought the captain profanely as Valtor turned away from him.

“Sal‘chan,” the captain began as he hailed the chief of the engineering section, “what is the status on the shielding and cloaking devices?”

Before answering, Sal’chan checked with the other engineer, Kor‘lok, for confirmation, who advised all systems were reading normal.

“Status is normal, Captain.”

“Lieutenant Jae’nol, what are the sensors indicating?”

“No aircraft in the immediate vicinity, Captain. The aircraft that do appear on my sensors are flying at no more than 15,000 feet, and are approximately 100 miles to our east and west. Their craft do not appear capable of pressurization for higher altitudes.”

The captain nodded.

“Lieutenant, take us down to a position five miles above the Terran surface.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Lieutenant Jae’nol complied with the captain’s order.

Chapter
12

Ravenglass Village, England

1475 A.D.

Will never mentioned his experience in the cave to anyone in his family. Over the next several months Will went about trying to determine the location of the coordinates that the Elder had given him, which were 27° 59' N by 86° 56' E. He determined that they were actually lines of longitude and latitude. Due to the inaccuracy of maps at the time, Will used what was available, and then he made his own calculations based on the map that was shown to him in the cave.

He was able to determine that the location was somewhere in Asia. The elevation, which the Elder had given as 27,500 feet, at first stumped Will as he was not aware of any mountain with that high an elevation.

Finally, he found what he was looking for in a map shown to him by the first mate of a ship that docked in the port at Ravenglass on a regular basis. Will had off-loaded cargo from this ship enough that he was on a first name basis with the first mate, who allowed him to look at a map of Asia he had onboard the ship.

Based on the ship’s map and the map from the cave, Will determined the area he was looking for lay between Nepal and Tibet in the Himalayan mountain range. In the local languages the mountain was known as
Sagarmatha
in Nepali, which means ‘goddess of the sky,’ and as
Chomolungma
in Tibetan, which means ‘mother goddess of the universe.’ In later centuries it would be better known by a different name: Mount Everest.

Planet Altrusia

Ga
mma Quadrant, Milky Way Galaxy

Eight of the Elders were seated in their council chambers awaiting Portak’s arrival. While awaiting his arrival, they had all been discussing the Terran who had entered the star chamber a few weeks earlier.

“Who made the decision to send the star chamber portal to Terra?” asked one of the Elders.

“I believe it was Portak himself,” answered another.

“He should have discussed this with the Council before authorizing it on his own,” stated another.

The other Elders nodded in agreement. As they were about to continue their discussion, Portak materialized in his chair.

“Fellow Elders,” Portak announced without preamble, “by now I know that you have been discussing the activation of the star chamber portal by the Terran. I must admit that it was I who sent the portal to his planet several Terran years ago.”

At this admission, there was some quiet murmuring among the other Elders.

Portak continued. “I know that I should have consulted the rest of the Council before doing this, but I knew there would be some of you who would have disagreed with my decision.”

One of the Elders, Din’tok, stood and addressed Portak. “You are correct. You should have consulted us before sending the star chamber portal to Terra. They are a primitive species, and approaching them should not have even been considered for at least another eight-hundred of their years!”

Din’tok’s pronouncement was met with more murmurings of agreement from the other Elders. Portak raised his hand, and the rest of the Elders fell silent immediately.

“Normally I would agree with you, except for a vision I had the night the Terran child was born. I believe he is a mutant and must be offered the opportunity to fulfill his destiny. Besides, it was no accident or amount of luck that enabled him to find the portal and successfully access it. He was able to read the ancient inscriptions, and he would not have been able to do so if he were not of mutant blood.”

The Elders were now nodding in agreement with Portak. “Five years hence, when the child reaches adulthood, it will be time for him to choose his destiny. Therefore, I ask for your support in this matter.”

At this, all of the Elders, including Din’tok, nodded their agreement and raised their hands in unison to show their support. Portak smiled and nodded back.

Chapter
13

Clandestine Anti-Aircraft Battery Placement

Near Stuttgart, Germany

1942 A.D.

The German
Heer
had placed a clandestine anti-aircraft battery situated in the mountainous region a few miles south of Stuttgart in early 1941 in the event that Allied planes or bombers entered German airspace through this route. So far this posting had seen very little action. Originally it was staffed by thirty-two soldiers, but due to its diminished strategic value, it was now staffed by a contingent of seventeen soldiers, which included the commander of the unit,
Hauptmann
Frederic Goerner.

It was a little after 2:00 p.m., and the sun was waning slightly over the mountains to the west. The two soldiers manning one of the four, 105 mm Leichte Feldhaubitze anti-tank cannons were playing a game of cards to ward off the boredom.

“Gin! I win again, Eric,” said a smiling
Obergefreiter
Johann Freling to
Feldwebel
Eric Klausmann.

“
Scheisse
!” replied Klausmann with a toothy grin. “Not again. That’s the third hand you’ve won, you bastard. You must be cheating!”

Corporal
Freling and Sergeant Klausmann had been working together at this post for the last six months. However, they had known each other since they were six years old and had lived next door to each other in Frankfort until they were young adults. Both were now twenty-five and had been in the German army for three and four years respectively. They had both been in combat against American and British forces on three different occasions, and each had shown enough courage and bravery under enemy fire to have been awarded the
Eisernes Kreuz
, or Iron Cross, for their valorous service to the Fatherland
by the
Führer
personally.

Now, they had been reduced to babysitting a large cannon that had only been fired on the practice range twice in the last six months and playing gin to stay awake at their posts.

Krelian Research Vessel

Terran Stationary Orbit

The Krelian spacecraft had been in a stationary orbit five miles above the German countryside for approximately two hours. Valtor had managed to come and thank the captain for accommodating his request and let him know they would be through taking their samples within the hour so the captain could return the ship to its previous orbit.

The hour passed smoothly, but, suddenly, the ship’s lights dimmed for a few seconds and then came back on.

“Lieutenant, what the hell was that?” demanded Tal’pun.

“Not sure, Captain. It appears to have been a power surge of some kind.”

The captain hailed the engineering section.

“Engineering, why did my lights dim just now?”

“Not sure, sir. We’re running a diagnostic on the system now.”