Star Wolves (The Tribes of Yggdrasil Book 1) (5 page)

The roots of the four trees which formed the hall were ornately carved with the now familiar designs reminiscent of old Earth’s celtic tribes, knot-work and anthropomorphic creatures telling stories of heroes and daily life.

Hal’s revery was interrupted by Siani, who touched his arm with a smile.

“Impressed?” she asked.

“Like you can’t imagine,” he said, shaking his head in awe.

“I’m glad you like it. Let’s get you seated. You are of course, the guest of honor, so you’ll be sitting up among the White Council.” She motioned to a table at the far end of the hall. There were already hundreds of people seated.

As Siani escorted Hal down the central aisle, many Alfar smiled and nodded to him as he passed. He didn’t know them, but they certainly knew who he was. He felt a bit intimidated; he really didn’t like the limelight.

A dozen or so people stood up from the head table as they approached.

“Haldor Olsen, let me introduce you to our dignitaries. Saeran you know already,” Saeran smiled and sat back down and Siani motioned to the next Alfar seated, “this is Gwawr, keeper of the grove of Llangernyw—she’s much like a mayor,” Gwawr shook his hand and sat down.

Siani continued down through the entire table and introduced Afanen, a tiny red headed woman who’s callused hands knew a day’s work; she represented the workers on the White council. Next was Llinos, an Alfar with a greenish tinge to her hair; she represented the craftsmen. Rhydderch of the merchants was a tall man with earth brown hair and an eager smile. Olwyn, the youngest looking councilor so far, was a delicate, fair-haired artist - she had the look of someone who saw beauty in everything. Heddwyn was next, and greeted him with a firm handshake. As a member of the scientist class, he said he was particularly looking forward to meeting Hal. Though Hal thought his sky blue hair seemed overly whimsical for such a serious man. Hal learned later the Alfar could change their hair color more or less permanently with a treatment that persisted until reversed or treated again. He knew women who would kill for that formula.

Next was Gethin, a swarthy Alfar with dark green hair, verging on black; he represented the engineers and was one of their most famous arbortects. Iforr was a giant of a man. His iron-grey hair was in perfect agreement with his serious demeanor, and his role as representative of the warrior caste. Next in line was a stunningly beautiful blonde woman, Eluned, head of the spiritual caste.

Finally Hal was introduced to Grufudd, a serious but pleasant man with a brown goatee - the first facial hair Hal had seen on an Alfar; apparently it wasn't very popular. Grufudd represented the leaders caste.

“It’s my privilege to meet all of you, Hal said. “I can’t thank you enough for honoring me with this dinner.” He gave them a slight bow.

Grufudd said, “it’s our honor, Haldor Olsen.” Grufudd closed his eyes and inclined his head slightly.

Hal took his seat between Eluned and Iforr. His crew were seated at a table adjacent to his at a ninety degree angle, close enough he could speak to Nila. They made eye contact, and he could see her mouth the word ‘Wow’. Hal nodded in agreement—wow indeed.

T
hankfully the Alfar
weren’t fond of useless speeches and unnecessary pomp and ceremony. That suited Hal just fine. They were an eminently practical people in so many ways, and he learned much over the course of dinner.

Eluned tutored him in the Alfar Atebol, which were very similar to something created on Earth a century before—the nine noble virtues of Asatru, which were: courage, truth, honor, fidelity, discipline, hospitality, self reliance, industriousness, and perseverance. They were nine in number, as the Alfar’s Atebol were. The number three and nine were highly significant in the old Norse Myths, and in the modern spiritual practice of Asatru.

Asatru was Hal’s spiritual path. He didn’t consider it a religion; to him religion meant dogma, and carried too much baggage. Asatru was the way of his ancestors prior to Christianity, although it had no name back then. Asatru simply meant true to the Aesir, which was one of the two main families of Gods, the Vanir being the other. Asatruar—those who practiced his path, revered both families of gods and goddesses; Hal always felt it was an imprecise term for his spiritual path, but after a century of use it was well known.

Asatru was the reverence of the old gods, of one’s ancestors, a respect for nature, and living things, and an awareness of the land spirits or wights; it was a path of wholeness and beauty. It was also a pragmatic path; Asatru lore didn’t talk about turning the other cheek if your neighbor slapped you. By all means, slap him back, harder, and make sure he gets the message.

Common sense stories were written down in the Sagas and Eddas, and in particular, the Havamal, which was an incredibly practical set of values and maxims to live by. That was the foundation of Hal’s spirituality: practicality and a respect for all things. Asatruar didn’t seek to convert anyone; they respected and encouraged all tribes or peoples to practice their own folk religions. His Italian friends had re-discovered their Pagan roots, and Hal enjoyed celebrating festivals like Lupercalia—what the world had once called Valentine’s Day. To Hal, diversity was wonderful, homogeneity, anathema.

After first contact with the Alfar in 2013, the world had changed on every level. As one might have expected, there was religious upheaval. For many Christians their core beliefs were shaken to the core, their roots torn up; this time had been dubbed the Religious Singularity.

By the SID’s estimate, ninety percent of Christians simply stopped practicing their religion altogether, and over the next century Earth saw a massive resurgence in the re-adoption of the pre-Christian beliefs. In England and Western European there was Asatru and Druidry, as well as the relatively new Pagan path of Wicca; The Italians had Nova Roma, and there were scores of other diverse regional practices.

The mysteries of the runestones unlocked an Earth-shattering connection to aliens. Earth’s old religions now had scholars and archaeologists all over the planet scrambling to find their own
equivalent
to runestones. The question on everyone’s mind was, if Northern European
gods
or aliens, or whatever people thought they were, had left clues for mankind, could other gods and Pantheons have done the same for their people?

“How goes the ship building?” Iforr asked Hal.

“Pretty well I think, Iforr. We have several of the Skofnung-class destroyers out in the Sol system on space trials now. These are the first of the Interstellar Armed Forces vessels—our first
warships
, as it were. We also have the Seax-class corvettes fully operational. Those are for the System Defense Force under Prime Commander Soo Kenaugh; they’re quick, but sacrifice hyperdrive for in-system acceleration and maneuverability. And the first of the Gungnir-class destroyers is rolling out of space-dock. She’s impressive! Thirty-thousand tonnes of mean.”

“Excellent,” Iforr replied, “we have much territory to explore together, we Alfar and humans, and the better equipped we are, the safer the venture. I know I sometimes sound paranoid, but it’s simply part of my job.” He shrugged.

As the night continued, Hal cemented friendships on the White Council, which he knew would serve him well. He also enjoyed their local Llangernyw brew; it was potent stuff and very smooth; as the evening came to a close, Hal wished it hadn't been quite so
smooth
.

L
ike everything else on Alfheim
, the Heyrn Coedwig Starport was mostly organic in construction, but here they made allowances for some familiar structures and equipment to accommodate visiting ships from Earth and other planets.

The White Council assigned Hal’s team a one-thousand-tonne science vessel, the
Halygen
. Just like their buildings, Alfar starships were organically grown. Granted, there was a lot more engineering than with their buildings. The ships were living organisms with a sophisticated artificial intelligence, and capable of self-repair.

Nila was standing outside a shuttle, talking with two Alfar men. "Good morning, boss!" Nila exclaimed with her usual cheerfullness.

Hal winced and squinted, then placed a hand at his temple. "Shhh, not so loud."

"Whoops! Something in the
water
not agreeing with you? Hmm?" she looked at him mischievously.

"Hi, you must be Haldor Olsen and Nila Johar,” came a new voice.

Hal and Nila turned to see the newcomer walking toward them.

"Adrianna Valerie, pleased to meet you Mr. Olsen,” she proffered a hand to Hal.

Adrianna Valerie's seductive name was in disagreement with her stout frame and homely looks. Close cropped red hair framed a pinched face with a porcine nose.

"Just Hal, Ms. Valerie. My father was Mr. Olsen."

Adrianna giggled nervously. "Ok, Hal. Call me Adrianna."

"We were expecting Elnora Kollman," he said with a furrowed brow.

"Right, well, apparently there was some family emergency and she was recalled to Earth. I'll be replacing her," Adrianna explained, looking nervous.

What were the chances of two human cryptographers visiting Alfheim at the same time? Slim at best, thought Hal. Was she the mole the President Rukundo had warned him about? "Well, I guess we're lucky you just
happened
to be here," he said.

Nila put one hand on Hal's shoulder, and with the other, gestured to the two Alfar she had been speaking to. "Hal, may I introduce, Idwal, our linguist," Hal shook his hand. "And, Talfryn, our astrophysicist."

"It's a pleasure to meet you both," Hal said.

"It’s my honor, Haldor,” replied Talfryn, “being related to Magnus Olsen does make you a rather auspicious guest."

Hal was used to the recognition, but never liked it. His family was the closest thing to Earth nouveau-royalty. One hundred-and-fifteen years ago, Hal's great grandfather, three times removed, Magnus Olsen, had been instrumental in making first contact with the Alfar; that meeting literally changed the world; in fact, that meeting changed the stars themselves.

As the four spoke, two more Alfar approached the shuttle: a woman with flame-red hair, Siani, who he’d met at the banquet the previous night, and a solidly built male wearing greenish-gold armor, distinguishing him as one of the Rhyfelwyr class, a warrior.

"Good morning, all,” Siani said. “Looks like we’re all here. Hal, let me present Cadfael, he will act as our combative systems officer on the mission."

Cadfael had a stern, cold look on his face, almost like his visage were part of his armor. He shook Cadfael's hand, and it felt as though it were caught in a vice. Lean and mean, he thought. And friendly.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road," Hal said.

The team boarded the Alfar shuttle and strapped into the acceleration-chairs. As Hal was settling in, he felt the chair start to move beneath him, ever so slightly; it quickly conformed to his backside, making for a perfect fit. The temperature also seemed to be regulated; while it was cool outside, the seat was warm.

Siani had clearly seen Hal's surprised look. "Don’t be alarmed, it won’t bite. Though I’ve been known to.” she grinned.

The shuttle engines spun up for lift-off, but instead of the whine and pulsing Hal was used to feeling, there was an almost melodic thrumming; the Alfar shuttle sang as it took flight.

W
ithin minutes of lift-off
, the shuttle was approaching the
Halygen
in orbit. This was not the first Alfar ship Hal had seen, but as they were organic, no two ships were identical. Each type of ship, whether they were research vessels, warships or transports, shared common features and form, but each was truly unique. Hal appreciated the beauty and individuality of their vessels. Most of the Alfar ships looked like thick, white, branchless tree-trunks with a truncated root system for propulsion, pointing aft.

The
Halygen
was a smallish vessel, weighing in at one-thousand tonnes and designed for scientific research; it was outfitted with a compliment of shuttles and an atmosphere capable pinnace.

After first contact, the Alfar had shared their technology with humanity, and helped nurture them as mankind made their way into the interstellar neighborhood. Although Earth ships were equipped with hyperspace engines similar to those on the Alfar vessels, the all-organic vessels were slightly faster on average, apparently due to the efficiencies of an organic ship with its own AI; Earth ships used organic jump engines bootstrapped into an inorganic ship. At nearly one-light year per hour, these were incredibly fast vessels, yet the multiverse was vast; our local neighborhood, the Milky Way galaxy, was 100,000 light years across, or a twelve year journey at full speed—one way.

"Llangernyw shuttle 312, requesting permission to dock," Siani said into the comm system.

"Llangernyw shuttle 312, granted,"
came the reply.

Hal watched out the window as an aperture in the Halygen's white belly opened maternally, reminding him of a kangaroo's pouch.

In short order the shuttle was docked safely and the crew convened on the bridge.

Captain Urien stood tall and majestic, white hair adding to his appearance of wisdom. He was concentrating on an image projected on the main viewing screen, which covered the front wall of the bridge. He turned his head as the group entered the bridge.

"Welcome to the
Halygen
," he said, extending a hand to Hal.

"Captain, thanks for lending us your ship," Hal said as the men shook hands.

“It was my good fortune to be assigned to this mission; frankly I am rather curious to see where this little adventure leads us."

"As are we all. I understand you already know the rest of the Alfar team, but let me introduce Nila Johar, my navigator," - Nila waved - "and this is Adrianna Valerie, our cryptographer from Earth."

"Welcome aboard, ladies. If you will all take a seat, I will get the
Halygen
underway."

The team took their seats, which conformed to their bodies, just as the ones on the shuttle had. The
Halygen's
antimatter reactors took a minute to charge the jump-capacitors, then the ship resonated with a high frequency vibration, again, almost melodic as the ship was pushed up, or jumped, into hyperspace.