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Homeworld Return - blackjack
:: 05/05/01 ::
Chapter 2
3,000 years later, in high orbit above Hiigara…
Gailaan LiirHra looked out from a large viewing port aboard the titanic Mothership and watched the Somtaaw convoy of ships slowly approach, their massive vessel named the Kuun-Lan in the center of the formation, flanked by Somtaaw Dreadnoughts and frigates of varying types. Long rows of Carriers from various kiithid formed a pair of stanchions for the Kuun-Lan and her escorts to follow, leading up toward the Mothership where the New Daiamid awaited them. Nearly the entire population of Kiith Somtaaw aside from those on the Kuun-Lan and her sister ship, the Faal-Corum, also awaited their kin onboard the Mothership, anxious to attend the ceremony.
Before long the huge Kuun-Lan made its way up to the Mothership, moving to dock gently with an extended scaffolding designed for just this purpose. The Faal-Corum had docked hours earlier, where most of its personnel had been disgorged except for a brave few who opted to watch the ceremony on a video channel rather than in person - quite a noble choice for the benefit of others, seeing as the ceremony was likely to be as important to the Somtaaw population as the Hiigaran Landfall, the completion of the Mothership in orbit around Kharak, and the discovery of the Khar-toba under those same sands combined.
Gailaan was interested in the ceremony, unlike most of his brethren of Kiith LiirHra. They had better things to do, as caretakers of the Mothership and very much every thing in orbit around Hiigara. The LiirHra were a very busy people by nature, and they did not normally enjoy standing about and watching something that they supposed would be of little significance to the daily routine of their lives. Gailaan was one of the few who both understood how important the Somtaaw "Uplifting" was and had the time to watch. He had been exempted from his duties, since they had found someone to replace him in his day-to-day maintenance work, and even now his pair of bags, one for personal items and one for necessities, waited in his empty, clean quarters. As soon as the ceremony was complete, he had to rush to get aboard the Jiik-Lari, a long-range reconnaissance frigate, where he would be running basically the ship's entire engineering team - which consisted of two people and a central computer core, he thought bitterly - for the next several months. So he enjoyed the momentary distraction and tried to forget that his life was about to be shattered in no more than an hour or two.
He felt a gentle nudge and a shift of deckplates underneath his feet as the Kuun-Lan docked, great clamps shifting into place to lock the two titanic vessels together. He swayed slightly with the motion, but barely noticed it. It was such a common occurrence that he rarely, if ever, noticed the second-long shift. Or rather, he only subconsciously noticed it - the surge of excitement that filled him he indeed noticed. Turning and striding quickly down the hall, his long legs helping him move quickly and fluidly, he reached an elevator which he took to another location of the ship.
The lift moved quickly, and after only a moment he found himself standing in front of and looking out another porthole, one which looked out over the Mothership's huge construction bay. The great mouth of the chasm was obscured by the side of the modular Kuun-Lan and the docking cradles which connected her to the Mothership, and the gaps were covered with a magnetic bubble designed to hold air inside while ships passed in and out. As always, Gailaan felt a burst of wonderment at the massive, yawning chasm through which entire Frigates could pass. The floor of the great bay was generally coated with construction tools, fighters, often a Frigate docked for repairs. The even larger Super-Capital Construction Bay on the other side of the Mothership's hull, where Gailaan could not see because of the porthole, usually held a half-completed Carrier, commissioned by one or another of the kiithid. However, for today's ceremony the floor had been swept clean, and the SCCB closed off with a thin, temporary wall. Gailaan and the window through which he viewed the sights below dangled far above the floor, in a closed catwalk which clung to the ceiling.
Sixty feet below, the commander of the battle fleets serving with and aboard the Kuun-Lan, Hjihad Somtaaw, stepped out from the massive boarding clamp, along with a small throng of other military officers - most under his command - and stepped forward to greet the Somtaaw'sa, the leader of his entire Kiith. Hjihad was a tall, dark man, decked out in full light gray dress uniform, which included several recently added medals for excellent conduct and brilliant tactics. He was imposing, being at least six feet tall - he was generally uncomfortable in the cramped spaces aboard the Kuun-Lan, but somehow he managed to seem as stately as possible while issuing orders to the forces under his command. He had commanded the entire military force stationed aboard the Kuun-Lan since the release of the Beast, and he was widely known as the authority on effective tactics against the Beast.
The Kiith'sa, by contrast, was short and heavily clad in a deep purple robe whose edges were embroidered with a metallic thread that glimmered in the harsh light of the bay's floodlights. The robe reached the deck of the bay, and made a scuffing sound as the low fringe swept across it. The man underneath was barely visible under the shadow cast by the raised hood, but he was deeply wrinkled, though he was younger than he appeared at first glance. He emitted an air of authority and power, and wisdom as well. Hjihad found some comfort in the combination of such virtues, but was slightly disturbed by the air of pride, unshakeable pride. Such pride could corrupt a leader's vision, as it had done repeatedly in the past.
"Well done, Hjihad." The heavy Kushan accent of the Somtaaw leader's speech made it difficult to understand for some, but for Hjihad - who had directly received orders from this very man several times in his life - it was a simple matter to ignore the oddities of the speech. "You have vanquished de Beast. You have done a great service for all Somtaaw." The man pronounced the word as Some-tau, a slight error which Hjihad found slightly humorous. He almost chuckled but had the decency to restrain himself as the leader of his people continued. "Your skills at leadership in de field have lifted de Somtaaw into de power circle of the de inner kiithid. For dis, I bow to you, and present you with my deepest thanks."
The Somtaaw'sa bowed slightly, and Hjihad returned the bow as was proper. Waiting a second to be sure that he had the Somtaaw'sa's attention, he spoke in a deep bass that lacked the accent so common to Somtaaw members. "Thank you, Kiith'sa. I must say, it was not wholly my skills that slew the Beast. We could not have done so without the efforts of our esteemed Intelligence officer nor our Tactical commander. I owe them, and indeed every crewman aboard the Kuun-Lan that fought and died against the head of the Beast, a debt of gratitude, for without their efforts I would not be here today."
The Kiith'sa bowed again. "I bow to dem as well. But was it not you dat lead our forces to victory, you dat organized the assault against de Beast? You dat destroyed de renegade Nomad Moon, and you dat coordinated de force dat killed de Beast's heart?"
He shrugged slightly. "Yes, my Kiith'sa, but from the bridge of the Kuun-Lan. I do not deserve half the honor that should be bestowed upon those brave souls that fought in the cockpits of Acolytes and commanded the crew of frigates against the Naggarok."
"You do yourself too little credit. I understand dat you used a particularly ingenious strategy to destroy a large Beast fleet closing in on de Kuun-Lan?"
Hjihad had to grin to himself at that. "Not ingenious, my Kiith'sa, simply taking advantage of the space around us." Back in his field of specialty, his voice picked up and gained excitement. "There was a field of crystals, and…" He noticed the Kiith'sa looking moderately annoyed at this show, and controlled himself. He ducked his head so as not to appear disrespectful. "…I shall tell you later, great Kiith'sa."
The Somtaaw'sa looked more satisfied with this. "I look forwards to it," he said in his accented voice. "Please, come with me. De ceremony is about to begin." He turned slowly, feet shuffling along the deckplates that he was obviously not used to walking upon in his heavy robe. Hjihad followed slowly, his long legs shuffling as well in order not to pass the Kiith'sa. His various officers followed more slowly, quietly chatting amongst themselves.
Surprising Hjihad, the Kiith'sa spoke over his shoulder, obviously directing his speech at the taller man. "Now, Hjihad, we must talk in private later. I wish to hear from you de status of our forces, more completely dan your preliminary reports indicated. After de Uplifting, of course."
Hjihad instinctively bowed, though the Somtaaw'sa could not see him. "Of course, my Kiith'sa. I will give you the full report later, once we have gathered the Kiith council-"
"No!" the Kiith'sa shouted, voice soft yet somehow booming with authority. The short man swiveled around in anger to face Hjihad, and despite the fact that he towered over the old man by at least a head, he suddenly felt miniscule. The Kiith'sa continued, eyes blazing, as their entourage ground to a halt. "De information must be kept between us, do you understand? None must know of de crippling blows dealt to us by de Beast. None! Do you hear?"
Hjihad gulped silently, knowing that he had obviously made a great mistake - one that could veritably end his career as commander of the Kuun-Lan's military forces. "Yes… yes, my Kiith'sa. I hear and understand." He bowed his head yet again, and did not raise it. He felt the eyes of the Somtaaw'sa drilling into his scalp.
The man turned again, and Hjihad found himself able to breathe again. "Good," he said over his shoulder, and continued his slow shuffle toward the great bay door that would lead them to the chamber where the various Kiith'sa were gathered. Hjihad and his officers followed, staying together for security, not wishing to bring any more of the Somtaaw'sa's unpredictable wrath down upon themselves.
Far above, in a skyway clinging to the high ceiling, Gailaan watched this exchange with interest, though he couldn't hear what the Somtaaw were saying. Bantering amongst themselves, even as they prepared to ascend to the inner power circle of the kiithid? Incredible. This could be even more intriguing than he had first thought.
Striding down the hall again, he reached a short arch, and ducked underneath, finding himself on a small, jury-rigged balcony. Picking a seat from amongst the thin crowd, he sat and watched the procession of Somtaaw file in and have conferred upon them the greatest honor imaginable. The ceremony took muck longer than he had expected, and finally Gailaan had to quietly slip out.
On to his destiny, he thought grimly.
He had no idea.
<< Homeworld Return: Chapter 1 <<
>> Homeworld Return: Chapter 3 >>
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