When the Gods Aren't Gods: Book Two of The Theogony (31 page)

Mrowry Ship
Emperor’s Paw
Aft, Ross 248 System, August 24, 2020

“
We’ve only got one shot at this before they know we’re behind them,
” commed Calvin, “
What deck are they concentrated on?
”

“
Most of them are on Deck One,
” Rrower replied after a pause to consult with the Mrowry forces. “
It looks like they are trying to get to the bridge and control spaces.”

Calvin consulted the map in his head.
“
We can go up the stairs here,
” he said, sending a marker to Rrower, “
and then catch the group attacking the bridge from behind.
”

“
Yes,
” agreed the Mrowry, “
But then we are going to be trapped between the group we are fighting, and the other group that is engaged with the rest of our troops.
”

“
Well,
” said Calvin, “
we’ll get the ones attacking the bridge by surprise. The ones that are fighting your troops won’t be able to focus on us because if they turn on us, your troops will take them from behind.
”

“
Sounds good,
” growled Rrower. “
Let’s go get them!
”

“
Top, move ‘em out,
” ordered Calvin. “
Try and avoid contact until we get to Deck One.
”

“
Aye aye,
” answered Master Chief Smith, “
Sergeant Zoromski, you’ve got point.
”

Zoromski led the squad up the stairs. Although they could hear firing on several of the decks, they didn’t stop.
Reaching the top deck they could hear the sounds of fighting from both directions.

“Top, take Fire Teams One and Three and go aft,” ordered Calvin. “Take the lizards from behind and bring up the reinforcements. We’ll go forward and see about helping the forces at the bridge.”

Top took the two fire teams and headed aft, while Calvin and Rrower headed forward. Sergeant Gordhain MacKenzie took the lead, followed by the Gordon twins and Corporal Taylor. They had only gone a short way when they came to a sealed hatch that blocked their passage. Sergeant MacKenzie took a quick peek through the small window at the top of the hatch.

“Lizards in front of us, sir,” whispered MacKenzie. “There are at least three in the passageway. It looks like a couple of them are trying to cut their way into one of the rooms on the right side of the passageway.”

“We’ve got to stop them,” said Rrower.

“We will,” Calvin answered. He looked back to MacKenzie. “Are there any more lizards beyond them?” he asked.

MacKenzie took another quick look. “Yes sir,” he replied. “About 30 feet beyond the ones I told you about, there is a larger group that appears to be firing up a stairwell.”

“Those are the ones attacking the bridge,” said Rrower. “We’ve got to stop them
, too.”

“
That is going to be difficult,” replied MacKenzie. “We can take the close ones by surprise easily, but I don’t think we’ll be able to hit all of the ones down the passageway. They’ll be able to get into defensive positions before we can get close enough to surprise them.”

Calvin walked over to the window and took a
peek. “I see what you mean,” he whispered. “Worse, it looks like they’re almost through the door, so we’re going to have to hurry.” He turned to Rrower. “I have an idea,” he said, “but it’s going to make a mess.”

“What do you mean?” asked the Mrowry.

“I mean, I’d like to throw some explosives down the passageway,” announced Calvin. “It will probably kill the lizards...but it’s going to make a mess.”

“I see,” said the felinoid. He paused, his eyes distant. “The commanding officer says that he doesn’t think the bridge can hold out much longer. He says to go ahead and do it.”

“Roger,” replied Calvin. He turned to his troops. “I’ll push open the hatch,” he said. “Mac, I want you to shoot a couple of grenades down the hall to where the lizards are shooting at the bridge and clear them out. Gordons, you’ll shoot the lizards that are close, along with Corporal Taylor. Lieutenant Rrower, you keep a lookout behind us so that nothing sneaks up on us while we’re killing the lizards. Everyone got it?” He saw five heads nod, and they all got into position.

“
Gluck ab!
” commed Corporal Jamal ‘Bad Twin’ Gordon. “
I love a target rich environment, dude!
” His brother punched him in the arm. “
Ow!
” Bad Twin continued, “
I mean, I love a target rich environment, sir!
”

Calvin
shook his head as he moved to the side of the hatch and took hold of the latching mechanism. He looked up to see his troops ready and focused with rifles and trident pointed and ready to fire. “One...two...three!” he said and threw open the hatch.

The door slammed open, just as one of the lizards had raised a foot to kick in the door. Its head snapped to the right. Before it could complete the kick, Suzi ‘Deadeye’ Taylor shot it through
its right eye with the Gordon brothers shooting the ones on either side of it. Two antimatter grenades arced down the passageway from Sergeant MacKenzie’s trident to explode in the group of lizards down the hall.

Deadeye and the
twins charged down the passageway with Calvin and Rrower in close pursuit. Reaching the group by the stairs, they found a couple of the lizards still twitching, and one starting to rise. They shot them all through their heads before they could recover enough to shoot back. “Stay here and cover us,” said Calvin to his troops. He turned to Rrower and said, “Please let the bridge know that we have secured the passageway down here.”

Calvin walked down to the doorway that the lizards had been cutting through and pushed open the door. Before he could move, a laser beam flashed out from the room, missing his left ear by inches. Instinctively, he dove to the right away from the shot yelling, “Don’t shoot!”

Rrower came quickly back down the passageway as Calvin looked carefully around the edge of the doorjamb. Inside the room, he could see a smaller Mrowry sitting against the back wall holding a laser pistol in its hands. The pistol was bigger than it could hold comfortably, causing it to shake a little. Calvin realized that the shaking might have been the only thing that saved his life. The shot hadn’t been a warning shot, but one fired with deadly purpose. If the cub had been able to hold the pistol steady, Calvin might have been dead.

Rrower hissed at the youngster. “That’s not a nice thing to do to the person that is here to save you,” he scolded.

“I didn’t see him,” the child said in a soft, high-pitched voice. Calvin realized that the cub was a young female. “I had my eyes closed.”

“Now how are you ever going to shoot something with your eyes closed?” scolded Rrower further. “
The only way to save yourself is to look death in the eyes and spit in its face.”

The little cub came over to rub up against Rrower. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I will try to do better next time.”

“Don’t tell me you’re sorry,” replied Rrower. “I’m not the one you almost accidentally killed. You need to tell this male that you’re sorry.”

She turned her head to look at Calvin. “He looks funny,” she said. “Where’s his face fur?”

“Now you are being rude to the one that just saved you from the lizards,” Rrower scolded. “Where are your manners today? Now you need to apologize for that, as well.” She buried her face back into Rrower’s fur, obviously embarrassed. “I mean it,” he growled. “Now!”

She turned her head far enough for one eye to be seen from the depths of Rrower’s fur. “Sorry,” she said in a tiny voice.

Rrower reached down and pushed her away from him. “Now say it like you mean it,” he admonished.

The child gave what was almost a human curtsy and said, “I’m sorry for being rude. Thank you for saving me from being eaten by the icky lizards.” She looked up to see Rrower still looking at her. He mimed
holding a pistol. “And I’m sorry for shooting at you,” she added quickly.

Calvin gave a little bow. “It was my pleasure,” he said graciously.

Seeing that he wasn’t mad, the little cub came over to rub against Calvin. He looked at Rrower. “Is it all right to pick her up?” he asked.

“Yes,” replied Rrower.

Calvin picked up the cub and gave her a hug. “What is your name?” he asked.

“My name is Mimi,” she said as the largest Mrowry that Calvin had seen came bounding into the room
on all fours. Nearly black in color, he was darker than any of the others that Calvin had seen, except for when he had seen the commanding officer of the ship on the
Gulf’s
view screen.

It came up and
stood on his hind legs, and Calvin saw that, at seven feet tall, he was also far larger than the other Mrowry. “Might I have my daughter?” he asked.

“Certainly,” said Calvin, handing her over. “Here you go.”

The two Mrowry nuzzled each other. “Thank you for saving her,” said the newcomer, saluting Calvin with a fist to his chest. “I was sure that the lizards were going to get her.”

“It was my pleasure,” said Calvin. “She seems like a nice young lady. By the way, I’m Lieutenant Commander Hobbs, the leader of the forces aboard the ship.”

“You are wrong,” replied the felinoid. “She is a little spitfire.” He rubbed her head. “But I love her anyway. I am Captain Yerrow, the commanding officer of the
Emperor’s Paw
.” The Mrowry
was
the one they had seen earlier. “Thank you for coming. The AI tells me that our lizard infestation is almost eradicated. In addition to the ones that your group has killed, the group of ... Terrans? ... in the front of the ship has been like a whirlwind. They have swept through and killed all of the lizards that they came upon.”

He paused, listening to something via his implant. “It appears that the ship is ours again, but it will be a while before our ship is mobile. I would greatly like to speak face-to-face with your commanding officer. Would it be possible to get you to shuttle me across to your ship?”

“Yes sir,” said Calvin, “I’m sure we can arrange that. Just a second.” He commed Night. “
Night, Calvin. I’m going to shuttle the ship’s commanding officer over to the
Vella Gulf
. You’re in charge of the troops that are still aboard.
”

“
Got it,
” said Night. “
We’ll finish the clean up. It doesn’t look like there are many remaining. We found where they were preparing a major assault and hit them with high explosives first. The ship’s a mess, but we killed a lot of lizards.
”

“
Good job,
” said Calvin, “
Keep it up.
” He switched to the shuttle’s WSO. “Shuttle 02
, Calvin. Hey, Faith, can you come pick up several passengers for transport to the
Vella Gulf
? You can get us where you dropped me off.
”

“
We’ll be right there,
” replied Lieutenant Faith Ibori. “
Two minutes.
”

“
Thanks,
” Calvin replied. “
Be advised that one of the passengers is Captain Yerrow, the ship’s CO. Please let the
Gulf
know that we are coming.
”

“OK sir,” Calvin said to the
Paw’s
CO, “we have a shuttle coming to take us over to the
Vella Gulf
. Is there anything else you need?”

“Yes
, there is,” replied Captain Yerrow. “If you have any extra engineers, we could use them to help get the ship operational again. We are in a bit of a hurry.”

* * * * *

TSS
Vella Gulf
, Ross 248 System, August 24, 2020

Captain Griffin met the shuttle as it docked
, and Calvin introduced the two commanding officers to each other. He let the two COs introduce the members of their staffs that they had each brought. He fell into trail behind them as Captain Griffin led Captain Yerrow to her conference room, where they were going to have their meeting. Steropes joined the procession as it passed an intersection, coming up to walk next to Calvin.

“How’d it go?” Steropes asked Calvin.

“It went as well as could be hoped,” said Calvin, “and maybe even better. They didn’t expect us and we rolled right through them. We had a few minor casualties, but nothing serious. We even saved their commanding officer’s daughter along the way, which ought to be good for some bonus points.”

“You’re not kidding,” Steropes
said with a chuckle.

“What do you mean?” asked Calvin.

“You didn’t know?” asked Steropes. “Captain Yerrow is a prince.”

“No,” replied Calvin
angrily, “how the hell would I have known that?”

“The
black stripes are bigger and much closer on royalty,” replied Steropes. “The more black their color, the higher they are in the line of succession.”

“And since Yerrow is nearly all black...” said Calvin.

“...he is the Crown Prince,” confirmed Steropes. “You saved the daughter of Crown Prince Yerrow, Princess Merrorritor. She is probably 4th or 5th in the line of succession for the throne.”

Calvin looked
at the Mrowry officers walking in front of him, and, now that Steropes had mentioned it, he could see that there was a lot more variation in coloration than he had previously noticed. While the Mrowry troopers he had fought alongside were predominantly red in color, the officers had more black on them, and the prince was almost completely black.

Calvin felt like an idiot for not noticing previously, but combat has a way of making you focus on the important things, like who
is trying to kill you, not whether the cat next to you is more red or black. The more he thought about it, the more he realized it wasn’t his fault. “You didn’t think that was something that we might have wanted to know?” he asked Steropes. “Why didn’t you mention that?”

“I don’t know,” said Steropes. “I never thought about it.” He paused. “Now that you know it, you will also now understand that the cruiser’s name is not just meant to describe the ship, but its commanding officer. The
Emperor’s Paw
is always captained by a member of the royal family. It is meant as a play on words. All of the alliance nations know that when the
Paw
comes on a visit, it is a royal visit.”

“I don’t get it,” replied Calvin. “Why wouldn’t royalty command a battleship or something bigger than a cruiser?”

“You have to understand their mentality,” answered Steropes. “They are warriors. The emperor’s family is supposed to lead their forces into battle, not stand in the background launching missiles. The emperor’s family usually flies fighters when they are junior officers, and even when they are senior officers they can usually be found at the front of the battle.”

CO’s Conference Room, TSS
Vella Gulf
, Ross 248 System, August 24, 2020

The procession reached the CO’s conference room
, and all of the officers were seated. As Steropes entered the room, Captain Yerrow growled. “Why is he here?” he asked.

“
Steropes is an advisor on this ship,” replied Captain Griffin. “Were it not for him and the rest of the Psiclopes, we would not have this ship, nor would we be here right now.”

“I’ll bet all of that came at a steep price,” said Captain Yerrow. “It usually does.”

Calvin looked at Steropes and could see that he looked uncomfortable.

“What does that mean?” asked Captain Griffin.

“We can talk about it more later when
he
isn’t around,” said Captain Yerrow.

“All right,” said Captain Griffin. “I’ll look forward to it.” Seeing Yerrow still staring at the Psiclops, she changed the subject. “I understand that you are going to be able to save your ship?”

Captain Yerrow looked back to his host. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Where are my manners? First, let me thank you for your assistance in fighting the lizards and for sending over engineers to help with our damage control process. We would surely have lost the ship without your aid.”

“It was our pleasure,” replied Captain Griffin. “We’re always happy to kill the lizards. Our dealings with them have been...unsatisfactory, at best. They fired on us without warning and destroyed many of our fighters.”

“We were certainly happy to help, but I’ve got a question, Captain Yerrow,” said Calvin. “When we came aboard your ship, we were met with rifles. If you weren’t sure whether we were a friend or an enemy, why did you have us come onboard your ship in the first place?”

“
Honestly, it was a no-lose proposition at the time,” answered Captain Yerrow. “We were going to die without aid. Either we would be overwhelmed by the lizards or we would have burned up in the star. We didn’t know you, and you were in
their
company.” He nodded at Steropes. “If you provided the assistance that you said you would, then we were saved. If you weren’t a friend to us, by having your group come over, we at least had the opportunity to take you hostage and hopefully win some concessions from your commanding officer. Either way, we didn’t have any other choice. We were either going to be killed by the lizards or drawn into the star.”

Captain Yerrow paused. “I am sorry for the deception, but as I indicated, you were unknown to us and showed up in a ship
not of your own making. You have shown your honor and saved my daughter from the clutches of the lizards, and you have my personal thanks. If there is ever anything I can do for you, you have my word that I will do so. Unlike some, I know who my friends are, and I honor my obligations.”

“As do we,” said the ambassador, seeing her opening. “We help our friends and honor our obligations. As I’m sure you know, we are relative newcomers on the galactic stage. We would like to go forward naming you as friends of Terra. Although we are still in our infancy as players upon this stage,
we would take our place alongside you as a force for good, shielding those less powerful from the forces of chaos and anarchy.

“And well met you are,” replied Captain Yerrow. “The ‘forces for good’ as you name them are hard pressed on all sides. It will be good to add your navy to ours. How many ships do you bring?”

“I’m afraid that you’re looking at it,” replied Captain Griffin. “We are gearing up the industries of the two planets that we currently have in our republic, but do not yet have a replicator that is capable of building anything bigger than the fighters attached to this cruiser.”

“Oh,” said Captain Yerrow, who had obviously been hoping for something more than a single 3,000 year old cruiser. “Well, it is better than nothing
,” he said, recovering from his initial surprise and disappointment. “Besides, I like your spirit, and I may have an opportunity for you to increase the size of your fleet.”

“We
will do whatever we can to help,” replied Captain Griffin. “As long as it doesn’t take too long. Our home world is expecting a Drakul invasion soon, and we need to return to it soon to help in its defense.”

Captain Yerrow showed his teeth in what Captain Griffin fervently hoped was a smile. There were an
awful lot of them, and they looked very sharp. “This shouldn’t take long, but may be very dangerous. If we are successful, we may both gain from it. If we are not, then it won’t matter much to us.”

“
Captain Griffin, Bridge,
” said the operations officer, who was on duty on the bridge. “
We have an unknown ship that just entered the system from one of the unknown stargates. It appears to be heading toward the other unknown stargate.
” The system had four stargates, the one that led to Earth, the one that led to where they had fought the lizards, and two other stargates that hadn’t been explored.

“
How big is the ship? Are we able to intercept it?
” asked Captain Griffin.

“
Arges says that the ship is a courier ship,
” said the operations officer. “
We do not have anything in a position to intercept it before it can transit out of the system.
”

“
Send it to the screen in here,
” said Captain Griffin.

The screen in the conference room came alive. It split in half, with one side showing a schematic of a small ship
, and the other showing a graphic of the star system.

“That is not good,” said Captain Yerrow. “That is a lizard courier ship. It is going from a pocket system that we own
toward a system that connects to both a lizard system and one of ours. Their system up that chain has a big fleet in it. If you can’t stop that craft, they will probably send the rest of their fleet. We will be destroyed.”

“I’m sorry,” said Captain Griffin, “but there’s no way we can catch the ship before it reaches the gate.
”

Several of the Mrowry hissed in dismay. Captain Yerrow glared at his officers
, and they fell silent. “Then we are all dead men,” he said. “There is no way that we will be able to get through their fleet with just our ship.”

“Why do you have to get through their fleet?” asked Calvin. “Won’t the Mrowry send a force to come rescue you?”

“It is unlikely that they will send anyone,” replied Captain Yerrow. “We were outnumbered, and they will likely believe we were lost. Besides, we are beset on all sides by enemies; sending a fleet to rescue us will just open them up to attack from another direction.”

“Why can’t you come back with us
, then?” asked Calvin.

“We would be happy to give you asylum,” said the ambassador. “If you return to Earth, we can help you fix up your ship. Perhaps your civilization will send a rescue mission at some point in the future
, and you can rejoin them then. We are also working on building up a fleet, although slowly. When we are able, I’m sure we would conduct a mission to get you home.”

“That is probably our best choice,” said Captain Yerrow, looking at his officers. Several of them nodded. He looked back to Captain Griffin. “We may be able to help you with your fleet. I mentioned a potentially dangerous option earlier.
In the system that the courier came from, we have a Class 6 replicator that is just finishing up a new battleship. If you had that ship, you would be a much more capable force.”

“You’re going to just
give
it to us?” asked Captain Griffin. “A battleship has got to be worth...I don’t know how much it’s worth, but it’s got to be an awful lot.” Wow, that sounded lame, she thought. “Are you authorized to do that?”

Captain Yerrow showed his teeth again, as did most of his officers. Several of them made noises like steam hissing. Calvin’s implant translated the noise as .

“First of all, I am not giving you the battleship,” said Yerrow. “I am giving you the battleship
and
the Class 6 replicator. I don’t see any way that we can get it home. That means I would have to destroy a brand new battleship, which seems like a tremendous waste, or risk losing it to the lizards and end up having to destroy it later while it is shooting at me. Neither of those is a viable option. If you don’t take it, I
will
do my duty and destroy it.”

He paused, looking at Steropes. “As far as having the authority to do so, I guess that
this one
hasn’t told you who I am,” said Captain Yerrow. “I am the first son of Emperor Yazhak the Third, and I am the first in line for the throne. I speak with my father’s roar in all matters when he is absent. If I say it is yours,
it is yours!
”

“Got it,” said Captain Griffin quietly. “No, they did not tell us that you were the crown prince, an oversight that I’m afraid happens quite frequently. We will take your gracious offer and use
both of them to help defend our nations. Thank you very much.”

“There might be one small problem in getting it, however,” warned Captain Yerrow. “The battle that you saw between my ship and the ship of the lizards was just the end of a far larger battle. The lizard fleet attacked us by surprise in the system next to this. By the time we could disengage from them, we had lost several of our capital ships.”

“Capital ships?” asked the ambassador. “What are capital ships?”

“Capital ships are ships that are battlecruiser size or larger,” replied Captain Yerrow. “
Battlecruisers, battleships, dreadnoughts and super dreadnoughts.”

“Thank you for the clarification,” said the ambassador.

“In any event,” said Captain Yerrow, “our fleets started out at an even strength, but they destroyed several of our battleships and battlecruisers in the initial attack. We withdrew to this system, hoping that the battleship in the replicator would be finished and would turn the battle in our favor. Arriving in this system, though, we got word that the battleship was not ready and would not be ready for a few more days. We fought several delaying actions in this system, trying to give them more time to finish the battleship.”