The Tal Continium Chapter 2 By: W.B. Harrell
Disclaimer: Same as usual, but if you're reading this now, chances are, you're already doing something illegal if you are underage.
Info: There has been some confusion so here are the definition of some acronyms. GN= Galactic Navy. UPE= United Planet Earth. PEVA= Personal Electronic Video Agent. CO=commanding officer, NAE Naval Academy at Earth (ex: UCB: University of California at Berkly) . Sorry my spelling sucked in the last chapter. I don't know what was wrong with my spell chec...I mean me.
Chapter 2: Opening the Door
Delta Serpentis Sector 07:00 hours The Year of Earth 326/ 2980 AD
Tal gulped as every eye in the room trained on him. Even the computer seemed to pause in amazement. "Did I hear you correctly Lieutenant Da'Bargo?" asked the CO, "Are you up to it?"
"I...yes," said Tal, quite a bit unsure of himself, "I am." Tal ran the details of the mission through his head. "I would, however," he continued, "need time to go over my notes."
The CO paused, then pressed a button on his PEVA. "Every bit of available information has been sent to your PEVA, you may have as long as you need to review the information and to make your assignment final," said the CO.
Tal nodded and made a verbal note to his PEVA to set aside a half-hour of his schedule to study of the given information. The CO heard him and laughed. "That means that you are hearby relieved of your patrolling duties and fighter obligations until further notice," he said.
Tal lept up. "You are taking Dragon Wing away from me?" he asked in a rare outburst. The CO grinned then exploded into a fit of deep belly laughter. The other officers joined in. "In a way, yes," said the CO and held up his hand when Tal began to protest, "but ONLY until you've completed the mission at hand; think of it as a vacation."
Tal didn't think of it as a vacation, he thought of it as being stripped of his command and being given a menial assignment. He sank down into his chair and had his PEVA record his new...schedule, if one could call it that.
Tal leaned away from his worktable and admired his handiwork. He had just finished customizing his PEVA, giving it a less monotone voice, a hint of personality and a memory expansion that would have put the PEVA of an Admiral to shame. He strapped on the small, yet powerful computer and sat back, staring at it's polished silver sheen.
"PEVA," he said, "review mission information and material." Tal sat back and watched as the computer's improved holographic imaging driver (his handiwork, or course) flared into action.
The computer's slightly feminine voice began to speak. "Welcome to the mission briefing for the...." then the voice cut off. Suddenly, the holographic projector flared and a disembodied head floated in the middle of the room. A harsh masculine voice took over the briefing.
"Your skills are admirable Lietenant," said the voice, "High Command was hoping that you would select to be the pilot for this assignment."
Tal raised an eyebrow and leaned against the wall, interested in what was going on. "Do make yourself comfortable," the head said as it gestured in a way only a bodyless head could, "and feel free to ask questions as this is an interactive breifing."
Tal shook his head. The head continued. "This mission is of the utmost importance, Lieutenant, as it may very well define our attacks against the Vespian threat. As you know, all of our capital ships are equipped with a cyberspace drive, a powerful supercomputer holding every bit of every possibly convievable information about a ship: it's mass, volume, capacity, along with DNA maps of the entire crew on board. Whenever the ship is commanded to make a lengthy voyage, that ship is broken down based on the information and is converted into light and is transported across our vast satellite network to the nearest point of that ship's destination. Overall, this is a very tedious and difficult task, taking hours to calculate and depending on the distance, possibly even days to actually reach the destination. Researchers on Earth have discovered a possible solution to our problems. Enter: the Singularity Drill."
A digital blueprint flashed before Tal's eyes giving important data and useful facts.
"This engine uses beams of theta radiation to actually bore through space/time and put a ship directly at it's destination with minimal movement. This engine has failed 6 out of 10 times in lab trials and the other successes have been limited. It is imperitve that UPE Intelligence have a field success before funneling more funding into a possibly moot project. Obviously, the pilot would have to be very skilled at the least and your name was mentioned many times. (there was a bit of a tone of bitterness) Your...family had a few words to say about it and the assignment was given to the Athena with the perception that you would accept it."
Tal smiled ruefully and silently complemented the machine on it's bitterness for the Da'Bargos.
"Your assignment will be to pilot a Banshee class fighter equipped with a Singularity Drill. According to plans, the drill will be operational within fifteen minutes of flight. It will be remote controlled should you choose to...ahhh...abandon your mission," said the machine coyly, "If this machine works, you will be promoted to directly to battleship captain and given your choice of vessels and you will be able to hand-pick your crew."
"When do I go?" asked Tal, sensing that there was more to this mission than met the eye.
"Right...now" said the Head and disappeared. Tal stared at his hands in horror as they faded and became such as light. He felt himself fading away, and for an instant, he ceased to exist as a whole, he was spread across the room. In a moment, he was gathered together and was gone.
Tal stood in a humongous hangar on an unknown ship somewhere. He stared out the forcefield that seperated the hangar from the vacuum of space. He knew he shouldn't, but he began to think about Kel. It had nearly been a year since his love had gone. Tal wondered where they would be now if Kel had survived.
He watched as the forcefield rippled and wandered off into his own imagination...
"Dad!" yelled the voice of a child. "Yes?" answered he and someone else at the same time. He turned instinctively to his side and smiled as he saw Kel open his arms. A child with white hair ran into Kel's toned arms and threw his pudgy little arms around Kel's broad shoulders. "Where's my hug?" asked Tal jokingly. The child turned to him and grinned and hugged him tightly and gave him a sloppy kiss on the cheek.
Kel looked at him with pure love in his eyes. He leaned over to Tal's ear and whispered, "Lieutenant, it's ready." Tal leaned back in shock.
"Say what?" asked Tal as he snapped back to reality. He shivered, still recovering from his transition through cyberspace. It was freaky enough being on a ship that did a c-space jump, but actually DOING it in the flesh were two different stories. It was downright creepy.
"I said that your ship is ready," said the young ensign. Tal nodded and headed toward the only ship in the hangar.
There was a slight buzzing in his wrist and he looked down. He had an incoming comm message. Sender: High Command. He immediatly punched in his access code.
A woman with peircing eyes and dark hair stared at him ambivalantly.
"You do not know me," she said, "but my name is Carolena Grehorio Da'bargo."
"Oh, I know you all right," said Tal bitterly, "you are my so-called matriarch."
The woman laughed, showing off a set of perfect white teeth. "I suppose you have a right to be bitter towards your family," she said, "after what your all your father did and said."
"From what I remember," said Tal, "this FAMILY of yours didn't even bother paying attention until I graduated VD of the NAE and didn't start claiming me until after the Prometheus incident."
"Do you realize how many bastards are born among the ranks of the dilute blooded Da'bargos?" asked the woman bitterly "do you know of how they would use their name to furthur their ends? The only reason we recognize you amongst our ranks is the fact that you earned your name, and as cold and calculating as it may sound, THAT is the only reason that you are accepted by the Da'bargo clan."
Tal was highly pissed. It regularly happened, so he didn't quite know how to deal with it. "JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" he yelled into his PEVA, "You listen and you listen good: you can keep your recomendations and you can keep your acceptance and you can GODDAMNED WELL KEEP YOUR FUCKING "CLAN" TO YOURSELF!"
Every eye in the hangar was staring at him. "Just what the FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE LOOKING AT?" he screamed. Everyone looked away.
"Let's do this," he said in a calmer tone of voice as he promptly cut off Carolena Grehorio Da'bargo's communique and blocked all further transmissions fromt that particular channel. It took a while as it had level Gamma security clearance.
Within an hour, Tal was suited up and in his newly outfitted ship. "This is for you, Kel," he said as he activated the lateral thrusters and took off into the black of space...
To be continued in chapter 3