Roderick watched the tug-drones leaving their hangar and start their journey across the void of space toward the waiting ship. Their engines glowed with a ruddy orange light as they zipped swiftly across the intervening space. Their bodies were a mixture of strange organic polymers, a deep black/brown colour surmounted with crystal blue lenses at one end and the dark green cowlings of the engine housing at the other.
They were entirely organic, a series of bladders filled with hydrocarbons produced the flame for their engines. Some of those lenses hid sensors and communication equipment that were as organic as his own ears and eyes. And at the front was an array of strange conductors, bone and vibrating organelles that produced the tractor beam. Roderick could give them commands, martial them alongside the other tools required to safely manage traffic around the gate but actually understanding how they were grown or worked was beyond him.
He enjoyed working with them though, organising the traffic, preparing ships for departure, operating the gate. It all happened from his control room and it had taken a lot of trading, wheedling and a small amount of good luck to make sure he was on shift for the departure of the Odyssey. The Kasvane were very particular about who could access the drone bays but he was gainfully employed to operate them and after fifteen minutes the drones were bracketing the front portion of the Odyssey as it rested in orbit in the holding area.
“This is Jupiter Traffic control to the Odyssey,” Roderick said as he monitored the drones, “We are ready to tractor you into position for fold-gate entry, can you confirm we are clear to start?”
“This is Captain Selenu of the AEV Odyssey to Jupiter Control” the Avali’s voice sounded in Roderick’s ears, “I can confirm we are at station keeping, all engines are off and thrusters are at idle, we are ready for tractor bracketing.”
“Confirmation received,” Roderick replied following the script, “Jupiter Control beginning tractor sequence in twenty seconds from my mark… mark.”
Roderick sat back in his chair, monitoring the drones until they lit up, engulfing the front of the Odyssey in an overlapping layer of glowing blue lines. They turned slowly, engines firing and pulled the mighty Avali ship out of its parking orbit and toward the gate. Their speed was slow, only five kilometres an hour to start, slowly building up to an impressive thirty seven which was the maximum speed the drones could achieve with a ship the size of the Odyssey. It was more than enough though to slowly, steadily drag the white and orange ship out of the waiting area and into the space directly in front of the gate.
“Trajectory looks good Captain,” Roderick reported, “Tractor disengagement in fifteen minutes and thirty seven seconds, please ensure all engines and thrusters are left switched off as you approach the gate for translation.”
“Roger Jupter Control, we are coasting on guided approach,” Captain Selenu replied, “We leave ourselves in your capable hands Jupiter Control.”
Roderick continued to monitor the drones and the Odyssey’s trajectory over the course of the next fifteen minutes. Making small, minor adjustments as the big ship drifted or moved off the centreline. As they approached the termination point the gate itself began to glow and he shifted his gaze up to look out the window. From his position he could see the green glow of the gate, it spread outwards to fill the entire ring and then seemed to swirl slowly before falling away into infinity. The whirling green light seemed to be both flat and yet have depth all at the same time, to stare at it too long would make his eyes hurt.
The young human looked away from the gate and checked the glowing points of light that were the tractor drones and the bulk of the Odyssey. It was all visible through the sapphire glass wall of the control room and he made a note in the log that he had completed visual inspection before speaking.
“Jupiter Control to the AEV Odyssey,” he said in a calm voice, “Tractor termination in twenty seconds, you are locked on full approach to the gate, please remain on the vector we have set.”
“Affirmative Jupiter Control,” the captain replied, “We are in your hands.”
Roderick watched the timer then nodded, “Drone Termination reached, safe voyage Odyssey, Jupiter Control out.”
Outside the tractor drones peeled away from the ship, flying out in long arcs that would bring them back to the hangar to recharge. The Odyssey however continued forward, plunging forward at a slow, stately speed to dive into the wall of whirling green light… and with a flash it was gone and the gateway was empty once again, just a ring of advanced alien polyp floating in the void recharging its collectors for the next translation.
Roderick finished his log of the Odyssey’s departure, sealed the file and turned to look at which ship was next in the queue. The current batch of drones would be back in their bays soon recharging and the second set were getting ready to launch. He was about to contact the waiting ship with an update but paused as the door to the control room swished open and his supervisor walked in.
“Nat what's up?” Roderick asked as he pulled his headset off so he could hear her, “I’m just setting up for the next ship.”
“Leave that to me,” she said brushing back her black hair, “Boss wants you in his office, said it was urgent.”
Roderick frowned but handed over his head-set and logged out of the work-station letting Nat take over. He then slipped out of the control room and headed up a small spiral staircase to the floor above where the offices were located. Chief Gate Administrator Nevil was the boss of the station, he’d been running the place for nearly twenty years at this point and Roderick didn’t usually interact with them beyond a good morning or how are you sir.
Roderick paused at the top of the stairs and ducked into the toilet cubicle to try and make himself look a bit more presentable. It was hard though, the station didn’t exactly have a uniform or dress code, he was wearing a pair of old jeans and a shiny white t-shirt he’d picked up from the Odyssey gift shop. It showed the Odyssey flying out of the Illuminate symbol. Not exactly scruffy but he’d not shaved and his goatee was a bit scraggly, he splashed some water over his face and tried to neaten up his beard and hair a bit with his fingers.
Once he’d made himself look as presentable as possible he moved across the deck and knocked on Nevil’s door, “Come on in.”
Roderick pushed the door open and stuck his head inside, “You called for me sir?” his boss was behind his desk. He was an elderly man with dark skin, no hair and a pair of thick black spectacles wearing a light blue shirt with short sleeves.
“Ah Roderick, come in, you have a guest,” Nevil beckoned and the young human frowned in surprise, pushing the door open further. As he stepped into the room he froze as he saw who had been hidden behind the door just out of site. The figure had smooth black skin, large purple blades lying alongside their forearms and bright white eyes that glowed with their own inner light.
Atop their head was a white flower surrounded by a nest of purple leaves that hung down and sprouting from their back were six long black vines, each one topped with a white flower of their own. Covering the figure's torso was an overlapping layer of tough looking fungus that reached up the back of their neck as well. Except it wasn’t clothing but a living suit of armour growing out of their plant like skin and body. With long fingers and feet that ended in long root like tendrils this was no ordinary alien creature. It was a Kasvane, one of the enigmatic owners and operators of the gate.
Not just any Kasvane but Lord Monet who had been in the system since the kidnapping incident. Floating around the Kasvane’s head was a purple crystal, about the size of one fist shaped like an octahedron, Roderick knew enough to know that those crystals were actually somehow the Kasvane’s ships.
“I… my lord hello…” Roderick stammered, not entirely sure what was going on now at all.
The kasvane smiled, their rounded face lighting up for a moment before they waved some of their vines back and forth, “No need for the lord, I am just Monet, we don’t have titles like your Earthian aristocrats.”
“Ah sorry,” Roderick muttered lamely, “Everyone in the media always refers to you as Lord Monet… I just assumed that was correct.”
Monet laughed again, “Your human reporters are obsessed with attaching titles to people, they can’t handle the idea that we don’t have them.” he waved one hand, “Anyway I asked Nevil here to call you up, I’ve been reviewing the applicants for our intern program and have selected you.”
“Wait, what really?” Roderick’s eyes went wide, “I only submitted my application the other day when I got back. I thought they only got reviewed yearly.”
Monet shrugged, “I was here in response to that Avali business, so I thought I’d look. Your application was well written, I did a background check on you and out of all the applicants I have selected you and wish to offer you a chance to come work with us.”
Roderick froze, this was way sooner than he expected but a chance he couldn’t turn down, “I’d love that,” he said, “How soon would I have to be ready to leave?”
“How soon can you get ready?” Monet asked, “I am ready to depart Sol now my business is done. Nevil assured me you have no long term family commitments, spouses, mates, children etc. so how long do you think you need to get ready to leave?”
“Well,” Roderick tugged on his goatee nervously as he thought, “I should tell my parents, and my sister, they are on the Moon, I mean Luna. But I live here in the station so it won’t take me long to pack.”
“Very well then,” Monet glanced at Nevil, who nodded slowly and gave Roderick an encouraging smile, “If you spend today packing, tomorrow we’ll drop by and see your family on Luna so you can say goodbye and then we’ll be off.”
“Very well sir,” Roderick stammered, totally unprepared for the speed of this, “Can I ask what I’ll be doing?”
“You will be joining Rubrum’s team, one of our principle diplomats,” Monet replied, “We’ll travel from here to the gate-way hub and there I will introduce you to Rubrum and his team and you’ll get to spend the next four to five years experiencing the various aspects of our network, the work and jobs involved and get a feel for each job.”
“That’s amazing,” Roderick beamed happily, clenching his fists together to try and contain his excitement, “I won’t let you all down I promise.”
“I have every confidence,” the kasvane said with a smile, “I picked you because you are a hard worker with an open mind, dedicated and have a desire to try new things even if they involve hard work or travelling. I will see you tomorrow.”
With a soft flash of light the Kasvane vanished leaving behind just the purple gem that bobbed across the room and phased through the window out into the void beyond. It then took off, vanishing at speed into the distance.
“How… I mean… wow….” Roderick flopped into a chair opposite Nevil who leant over and gripped his shoulder in a friendly manner.
“Congratulations Rod,” he smiled, “Don’t worry about the rest of your shift, go pack and say goodbye to the team, this is a big win for us, we’ve not had a member of our station crew picked for the intern program in about forty years.”
Roderick looked up and smiled, “When they picked you.”
“Aye, I spent ten years working with them directly, another five on sabbatical and then I took up the post here as Administrator, it has been a great career,” the older man chuckled and settled back in his chair, “You’re in for a great experience and at the end of it you’ll have many choices to make.”
“This is so sudden, but wow,” Roderick’s head came up and he shook it, “I can’t believe they picked me, and what was all that about him reviewing things early?”
“It was a bit out of character,” Nevil smiled, “But he dropped enough hints that someone put in a word for you so he had a look at the intern applications early, any idea who that might have been?”
“No idea…” Reoderick said with a shake of his head, “I mean who do I know that could put a word in with the Kasvane for me?”
“Well they are a mysterious race of Elder super plants,” Nevil shrugged, “Who knows why they do things, but you listen my boy, take your time and don’t rush, listen to all they offer to teach you and come back and tell me how it all went when you finish ok?”
Nevil waved a hand dismissively, “Nat can handle it, go get ready, you’ll be representing Sol out amongst the stars, travelling from gate to gate, you may even get to see some Kasvane worlds. So get along and pack. You don’t want to keep Monet waiting when he comes back for you tomorrow.”
Roderick nodded and hurried out of the office, he couldn’t believe this was happening! A Kasvane Intern! It was a dream beyond a dream and he was going to do his best to show everyone that he had been the right choice for this!
The Odyssey was coasting through Tarvalant, leaving the fold-way gate in orbit of the biggest gas giant behind them as they headed for the outer edge of the Avali Colony system. It was a large interstellar hub and trading post, a node in the great machinery of the Illuminate economy. Material from over twenty core Avali colony worlds flowed through the system enroute to their final destination.
The shipping lanes were filled with ships from all walks of life, from massive bulk gas tankers or cargo barges transporting million ton pallets of raw materials. Then there were cargo ships moving finished goods or refrigerated transports transferring exotic foods. Then at the smaller end of the scale there were slender courier ships and private yachts transporting individual packs in comfort and speed. The traffic lanes were full of ships heading for the gate or moving toward the outer edge of the system under the aegis of Avali Traffic Control, the AIs leading and controlling the systems traffic had beacons and satellites all over and Tarva Prime and its system of three inhabited moons were ringed and surrounded by more, never ending traffic.
It was one of the Illuminate’s biggest success stories used in propaganda and history books. Over fourteen billion Avali made their home in the system and there was an annual transient population of another two to three billion. The only reason it wasn’t a regional capital or sector capital was because it was less then a hundred lightyears away from Avalon itself.
Seinu looked up from his desk at the view outside the window as the mighty dreadnought ploughed through the system. According to Ifelse they had a direct path through the diplomatic flight lane towards the edge of the system. They were enroute to Warfaisser Station for the next Ultra Music Festival so they’d not be stopping but even their presence in the system had been noted and the Governor had asked for them to stop for some PR.
“What do you think Chantelle?” Seinu asked, “Do we have time?”
“I’m reluctant to stop,” she frowned, “We are only just on schedule after the delays back in Sol caused by the incident.”
She tapped the air with her claws, no doubt moving and re-arranging the data flowing around her virtual view of the world provided by her goggles, “I’d rather not stop, they just want to mooch off Firi’s popularity, I say we decline for now, I don’t like to encourage impromptu stops as then it becomes an expectation.”
“Very well,” Seinu waved his hands over a keyboard, “I’ll decline for now and cite our tight schedule. So what’s the plan after Warfaisser?”
“Ck’akk has given us a mission for once the festival is over,” Chantelle sent over a file, “The twins asked Selenu if they could go home to visit their family for a bit, so that’s now on the docket. As BPE is closed to outsiders right now it’s an official mission, on paper we’ll be escorting residents home to visit their family and reaffirming the Illuminate’s commitment to BPE as our ally; in reality we are taking the twins home to visit.”
“That’s nice,” Seinu smiled, “I was aware they’d asked but I know Sel was having to jump through some hoops to get permission to take them home ourselves, I didn’t really want to just give them a shuttle and send them off on their own.”
“Aye Firi was grumbling about it too,” Chantelle chuckled, “I am glad we got permission or they’d have had a defender with them in the shuttle which would have been a headache, she was pretty adamant she wasn’t going to let them go alone.”
Seinu chuckled and glanced at his screens, “What about our gift to the Ouakkia pack and their new colony, will that be ready in time?”
“Should be,” Chantelle nodded as she checked some data, “Ki and Taran are having the factory produce it for us and it should be finished and ready to hand over by the time we arrive. It’ll be nice to get to deliver in person.”
“Ok,” Seinu frowned at his screens, “So that’s the next five months of our schedule, what happens after that?”
“Avalon,” Chantelle looked up and smiled, “We have some mandatory refresher training, a full debrief on what happened on Earth and the Odyssey is to host the Diplomat Collective Conference, quite a few of the older members of the Directorate of Foreign Affairs want to see the Odyssey, five more are being built at the Protion Shipyards and they’re all clamouring for them to be assigned to them.”
“Well that will be fun,” Seinu smiled, “I always like meeting other diplomatic packs and talking shop with them. Is Sah Kolhiik leading?”
“Nope,” Chantelle grinned, showing off all her teeth, “As you’re the host she is leaving you in charge, she’ll be here as Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, but she will just be a delegate, the schedule, the planning, all of that is up to us as the host.”
Seinu groaned and sank back in his chair, “Of course she’s leaving it to us, this is another test isn’t it?”
“Of course,” Chantelle smiled at him and leant forward to hug him, “You are popular, famous and blazing a trail, a new type of Avali Diplomat. So I’ve started filling the schedule with Event planning,” she raised one finger, “Once our holiday is over and there is a break whilst we are at BPE so you can spend some time with the bunnies.”
“Fine,” he sighed, “Anything else?”
“Nothing new,” Chantelle said as she patted the air, closing down holograms as she went, “That’s pretty much everything. You have to catch up with Ck’akk in three hours but otherwise nothing else major in the diary until we leave Warfaisser.”
“Great,” Seinu hopped up out of his chair and draped his wing feathers of Chantelle in a hug before heading for the door, “I’ve got a date with the twins, see you later.”
“Have fun,” she said as she followed him out of the office and headed off along the corridor toward her own office. Seinu however hopped in the elevator and asked Ifelse to take him down to the habitat level, it was going to be nice to have some time to relax.
The dome Seinu relocated to was currently refreshing the snow, meaning that it was actually snowing inside the spaceship as he stepped through the doors. They swished shut and he started to walk through the fresh powder, his feet sinking into the fluffy new layer of snow as it drifted out of the sky to settle in his crest and along his wing feathers.
The atmospheric system was very clever, the air at the top of the dome was being artificially adjusted, the temperature dropping until the water vapour in the air started to crystallise. It formed a thick fog right up near the top of the room, obscuring the view of the outside and then snow gently drifted down. It was nice and the Avali stuck his tongue out to catch some as he crunched his way across the snowfield past the small bushes and shrubs that gave the place some life toward the Avali tent set up on the far side of the dome.
The white, yellow and orange tent covered a large central gathering room full of carpets, beanbags and low Avali style furniture designed for people using the low to the ground furniture. It was similar in style to the central lounge his pack used in their habitation dome except this dome had been given over to the bunnies when they moved aboard. They had made it their own, knicknacks and trinkets from the worlds they had visited adorned the shelves and tables and the lights were very low, like a bunny village back on BPE. At the far side of the lounge an arch made of yellow fabric led through to the bathroom, except they had redesigned it to have one large open pool of water like the underground lakes and pools found in bunny villages.
To the left and right hanging curtains of fabric hid the entrance to the semi-circular passage that wrapped around the back of the tent. It was an integral part of the ship not just fabric and gave access to the private bedrooms and then the door out to the kitchen. Each dome was set up originally for visiting Avali packs but this one had been transformed into a facsimile of a BPE village, Cri and Cal had their own private rooms and Ifelse had locked them down pretty well so no one could just let themselves in. To a bunny their private room was sacrosanct, only a close family member, lover or their mate would ever be invited inside to such an important private space. Seinu was lucky in that he’d been invited inside both of the twins' private rooms in the past but today they had plans for an entertainment together.
“Hi,” Cri chirped at him as soon as he popped his head inside the tent, “You made it, Taran said you had received some last minute request from the local governor, we were expecting you to cancel.”
“Chantelle advised me to say no,” Seinu smiled as he walked inside, pausing to shake snow out of his feathers before reaching out to hug Cri and smile at Cal as the bunny walked in from the pool room, “So we ready for this?”
“Yes,” Cri smiled and flopped down on a beanbag, “You’ve been promising for weeks that we could do this.”
Seinu chuckled and moved to a chair on the other side of the table where a stack of his books and other gaming paraphernalia had been stacked up, “Ok well today is just character creation, we probably won’t start playing until next session.”
“That’s fine,” Cal chirped as he settled down, “Making characters sounds fun! I want something that can go fast and shoot big!”
“Ki is also joining us soon, and Selenu was interested so we have to wait for them before we can start.”
“Awww, phooey,” Cal sighed and flopped over the table, “I wanna start now.”
Seinu laughed and reached out to stroke his head-fur, “Well we can take this time to talk about you, how are you doing after everything that happened? Was Earth what you were expecting?”
Cal looked up, “It was neat, I am glad we got to visit it, I can see why Sher and Rowi like it so much and were inspired by the music.”
“Oh yeah the music is amazing,” Cri smiled, “And all the swearing, and casually showing your emotions! All the human books talk about how culturally humans aren’t supposed to show their emotions but they do it all the time!”
“Hell yeah they do,” Cri moved seats to sit closer to Seinu, “Even being kidnapped I learnt a lot. Like most of my kidnappers, they were really fragile.”
“Oh?” Seinu asked curiously, “How so?”
“Well,” Cal leant against Seinu and snuggled against him, “They were so fragile, they were meant to be these big tough secret agents but underneath this veneer of tough they were fragile emotionally, the moment I challenged their authority and didn’t cower they fell to pieces.”
“Well that matches up with what our study courses on humans said they are like, tough on the outside hiding emotional vulnerabilities below the surface,” Cri murmured as he clambered over the cushions to settle in against Seinu’s other side. The three of them settled down cuddling as Seinu tilted his head back and thought about it.
“I think it is a telling part of their society, they are expected to hide it all,” he said after a moment or so, “They are raised that being tough and confident and hiding their emotions is expected but a lot of them are quite insecure underneath.”
“That’s really sad,” Cal sighed, “But other than that most of them were really nice, I am glad I met Kathy. She was a lot of fun and showed us lots about Earth.”
“It was good to not spend all our time doing fancy diplomatic stuff too,” Cri said, “It was enriching to visit all those museums and galleries and go to regular restaurants.”
“Yeah,” Cal leant over and placed a hand on Cri’s arm, “We learnt a lot about each other too… we were arguing so much and I wasn’t sure how to express myself, this trip really helped.”
“You’ve both grown up a lot,” Seinu said with a smile, “I am glad you were able to work through your arguments and such, I wanted to help but Selenu and Firi kept telling me you had to work it out between yourselves.”
“We did,” Cri said, sounding a bit sheepish, “I was being blind… but we needed a kick in the tails to get us going and Kathy helped that.”
“Yeah she did,” Cal laughed, “She didn’t hold anything back, that’s another thing, she was this refined, society lady but when she saw something she thought was an injustice she went right in, no thought, no hesitation and just gave Cri and Ki both barrels.”
“She certainly did,” Ki said as he ducked into the room with them, “She didn’t hold back, at first she was reserved and polite but once she felt confident that she knew us well enough she opened up and went for us.”
Cri giggled and sat up, “She really did but it was helpful as well as being really rude.”
“Well that about sums up the humans,” Seinu said, “Helpful, eager to learn but really rude. I was surprised by how much time they spent trying to hack our systems.”
“Yeah Ifelse was really upset about that,” Selenu added as she ducked into the tent from outside, pausing to brush snow out of her crest feathers, “Even after Cal’s kidnapping they kept at it, the volume of attacks reduced but they kept trying.”
“I found it odd how they were upset if we didn’t invite them all to an event,” Seinu mentioned with a shake of his head, “When the Prince of Wales joined us on the Orient Express, so many objections and complaints started to roll into my social diary, it is why we wound up having so many diplomatic dinners during the train journey.”
“They are very odd people,” Cal said, “But it was really fun! But now everyone is here, let’s play this tabletop game Seinu wants us to try.”
“Ok then,” Sein said, “Let’s get started, Seinu smiled and opened the books in front of him, starting to set things up, he’d talk the boys through the rules and setting and help them to create characters for what would hopefully become a regular activity!
For now their adventuresome visit to Sol and Earth was behind them, the future held music and then the cold snows of BPE but for now there were just friends and family aboard the Odyssey as they voyaged onwards across the stars.
Voyages of the Odyssey - Arc 3: End
It will be continued in Arc 4!