His Right Hand
- EPILOGUE -[]
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Fulfilling a Promise[]
Turbline System, Periphery
3132
Zagagel rounded the mountains corner. The site of Corden's sacrifice was in site. He was the first to come here. He quaked in various emotions as he made the approach. His choirmates followed behind him and spread out to cover any attack angles. The night haunts had been a bane but dealt with thus far. Here like any where wasn't exactly safe despite cleansing being declared over. Even though the land bridge had been cut off. Years of extermination would go on with docile reintegrated. Until then, every Turbline resident still kept a weapon of some sort.
As he approached the craters edge he thought of his mentor and surveyed the land. The scene of Corden's death was not as expected. Something was off in his mind and Zagagel couldn't put his finger on it. He approached to what he thought would have been the edge of the crater but it also gave an off strange feeling to him. Phantom Frela approached in her Seraph then chimed in.
"My dear, something doesn't feel right here." Frela observed
"I agree. Something just feels wrong." he agreeded
He looked over his instrument panels and they showed background radiation was reduced like it should be after such a long time. Enough time for half lives to decay to a "safe" human level. That wasn't it.
"Phantom Beta Charles, proceed up the side of the mountain and give me site of the crater at a higher elevation."
"Yes, Zagagel."
Minutes past as the preta jumped to a higher out lying ledge. Then when it got to a considerable height, Phantom Beta Charles pointed down. Zagagel processed the C3i info in his head. The crater was in fact a crater obviously, but there was something else about it that was off. Part of the craters symmetry was missing on the opposite side where he was. Deback walked his archangel into the crater towards the strange oddity. The geiger counters registered higher radiation as to be expected as he went thru. Then he entered the strange oddity and the geiger counters flat lined.
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Archangel Assault OmniMech
Zagagel stopped where he was. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Something was wrong with his Archangel?. The radiation here should have been the same as it was meters back. Something was out of place and his mind was telling him to keep looking. He hoped no apparitions of VDNI insanity were going to appear. He shook his head thinking of what his mentor had gone thru. He backed up and then the giger counter went ballistic. The same levels in the crater had spiked back to where they were.
Zagagel went forward with his Archangel and the radiation flat lined again. Zagagel proceeded to investigate further. Using the upper view of the crater and himself he started to map out an anomaly. That is when he started to notice the subtle shape that intersected the crater and the shape of the rock. Cold sweat and chills ran down his spine.
"Command, this is Zagagel, get Ramus the guide down here at my location. Full environmental seal and C3i capable. Prefer Tengu config C3i."
<<"Say what, sir? This is unusual request.">>
"I have an usual situation that requires his expertise."
<<"You do know that Zaphkiel has expressed orders that Ramus is not to set foot on Turbline for obvious reasons.">>
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Malak Light OmniMech
"I am counter-commanding those orders. Something has come up that needs to be looked at. Send two full choir down too to this location. Full anti infantry configs people can manage. I want at least two Malaks in Dominus configuration to deal with any night haunts that show. Zagagel out."
Site of the Impossible[]
"My my. You were right to have me look at this. Absolutely astounding!"
Ramus marched his Tengu along the subtle lines of the odd shape Deback had found. Number equations going thru his head as he mapped it out. He noted the difference in rocks also. The coincidence stumped him as to what he was looking at and the impossibility. By the time he got back to where he had started he was convinced of what this likely was.
"I have a hard time believing this myself. What we have here is the shape of a jump bubble. It is a..."
Machine gun fire came from the distance as some of the Celestials on site dealt with a night haunt or two.
"As I was saying. This looks like a jump bubble. This may in fact be the first natural jump bubble ever found. On a planet nonetheless! In fact if you go over here..."
Ramus walked to the center of the crater.
"This is the origin point of the jump bubble and makes its way that way to the edge of the crater and intersects it. If you look at the rocks here and here. There is a striking difference. Inside the bubble shape, the rock is removed or cut as you will. Outside the bubble, it is melted. Glassed."
Ramus stomped on the ground in the crater, breaking up the glassed ground. Using his claws he carefully picked up and examined it. Then in turn he scratched at the rock inside the supposed jump bubble and picked up some rock shards. He carefully looked at each one and put them in a containers he had brought.
"Outside the jump bubble the ground is glassed as any nuke should. But inside this bubble shape. The ground is unradiated, clean cut, and most of all, it is perfectly. It doesn't explain why there is no background radiation, Zagagel, that is the unnatural part. In any case a jump DID happen here. Judging from erosion, it looks like 15 years ago. We know what happened 15 years ago. The other fact that must be verified in the lab, but I am going to predict. All the ground here is pure germanium. If this is true, as odd as it might sound, the nuke interacted with the germanium deposits and initiated a jump."
Zagagel felt cold with the info. The implications were huge. Something he wanted to voice he dared not voice. The possibilities and the chances of happenings were likely off the charts in his mind. He would defer to Ramus as the man was going absolutely bonkers in thought and conjecture. Deback watched as Ramus pulled out a make shift paper and pencil. Ramus began scribbling and plotting things out on it despite the Tengu battle armor. Somethings this guide never gave up despite being surrounded by technology. Minutes passed.
"I highly suggest we leave this crater. It is not the radiation I am afraid of. We know this system causes instability in jump related matters and I know for a fact some of the predictors I have worked on in the past."
"What predictor is that?"
"It is what ever jumped likely gets bounced and returned. Whatever matter that is in this bubble. When it returns, any matter here at the time. Well. Would get crushed by instant displacement. When? I don't know. I can try to make a prediction based on the size of the bubble and some of the system behaviors. In short. Yes Zagagel, you and me are thinking the same thing."
"Corden could return?!"
"You are correct, but you must keep in mind that he was in the middle of a nuclear explosion. The virtual sun. Depending on the timing and chain reaction... yes, it might be possible..." Ramus paused and thought for a minute.
"Consider this. When a JumpShip jumps, whatever momentum, speed, what not, it had is essentially nullified when it appears on the other side. With this... That explains it. THAT makes sense. The lack of radiation here in this particular shape. It most likely got jumped and shunted. But the rock never got glassed or was heated... It is bare rock. The jump bubble may have protected the area... That means the jump perhaps cancelled it out? The heat energy? I don't know. We are in new territory. With the bounce back though. It would essentially be resetting any motion of anything. Kenetic energy cancelled out, but this? Too much to think of. I am done being in here. Lets get out of this crater. And Zagagel. I highly suggest not using nukes anywhere in this system with this new found phenomena."
The Fated Day[]
Zaphkiel was on his knees praying to Blake looking for guidance before bed. Zagagel had galvanized the Word in a different way and the Corden faction had been declining in number. Expeditions had been sent out and pirates eradicated, but the numbers of possible targets had dried up. Operations were stopped or the colonies might be found thru the power vacuum. Zaphkiel thought about doing expeditions else where further, but the resources shouldn't be spent as much. The sign for next phase of The Promise, as declared by The Master, fore told they are to wait for the sign. Then act. That was the problem with the situation as is. Zaphkiel kept on praying for some kind of direction when a radio message came in for him and started chirping.
He got up and walked over to the computer terminal to look at it. The message was of the highest priority. His eyes only. It was from Zagagel. Blake's blood what now. It was bed time.
"Heres Domini. An usual situation has come up that has far reaching meaning. I am visiting the crater as commanded. Upon arrival, there was an undiscovered anomaly. Contrary to your orders, I had Adept Ramus land on planet under two choir guards. Upon examination he has theorized that a natural jump point had formed in the area fifteen years ago. The surrounding area has a high concentration of germanium and he thinks that when the nuke went off... It powered whatever natural deposits that were here and they imitated a jump. Matter in this area formed a shape of a hyper space bubble in relation to the crater. See the recorded info, pictures, and video. Please pause and look it over before you continue."
Zaphkiel was intrigued by this information. Reading over the findings, he found his tiredness abating. The scientific mind of his looked over Ramus' findings and he started coming to the same conclusion what this was. Then the religious mind of his hit with the revelation that this might bring. His heart rate increased and he had to look away for a minute before reading over the information again. He then unpaused the message.
"Heres Domini. I suspect you have an inkling of what this means. Ramus pointed out that whatever matter that was in the jump bubble went some where and will likely arrive back. The Turbline system messes with things so much that it will bounce back the jump. He told me this is essentially a natural jump and a misjump at best. He has been on his black board back in the caves here and has been working none stop. He has been trying to predict when this matter will return. I am requesting his team be sent here and an AI that has worked with him."
"Now the matter that is before us. This needs to remain between higher levels of security. Only Ramus, me, you, and 17 other Manei Domini know about this. Me and Ramus have theorized that Corden is in that matter. When it returns. He could very well return alive. If not, artifacts and relics of the incident. Ramus has kept his mouth shut from the other guides, but someone might figure out his calculations."
"I am elated and worried. There are other implications of this find. One is that we should not use nukes here. There could be other reactions. The other is the meaning of this. Has Blake blessed us and Turbline again? For Blake. For The Master. For mankind."
The screen went blank. Zaphkiel gathered his thoughts and instantly recalled his prayers. He wasn't getting any sleep tonight. He started sending messages out from his computer to be relayed on the HPG hidden protocol network. This might be something that could turn the tide of his situation and provide more direction for The Word. Minutes later responses came in. Panic was in the voices Zaphkiel heard. Mass HPG failures were happening in the system. The newly installed HPG on Turbline had a core melt down. All HPGs on Jumpships in system were failing or frying. Zaphkiel shook with fury as he already knew what likely was going on. A clarion note protocol attack! Who would have done such a thing?! Why would someone damn mankind! Would they be able to jump out? What about Precentor Obeedah and Tauseen? The colonies? Would the Turbline system react to these hyperspace fluctuations? Fear entered him as the thought about the doom of mankind might be approaching. This was the sign foretold by The Master. The coincidence of it and the report from Zagagel. He looked at the date. August 7th, 3132...
His Right Hand - The End
- Chapter Notes from Author : 6-18-24 is when I came up with this plot line. Corden was intended from the beginning to be a sacrifical character when I began Iron Father. Ending him was one of the hardest moments in writing it, but I stuck to my guns when I set him up to end this way. Upon writing Cordens Right Hand, I wanted to take deback on his own journey and then his return to the Turbline system. Then subsequent follow ups there and then onwards into ilcan era. I had this mostly finished to chapter 7ish, but then on 6-18-24, I remembered something of a natural phemenea that a dead natural induced nuclear reactor was found in africa that some how happened millenia ago. Then I remembered how Turbline is so enriched with germanium to cause misjumps and such. Two and two came together and I wondered if a natural jump could ever happen thru cosmic happenestance. And, well, this angle was born and my planned sequel ideas to His Right Hand went into a blender. I had never read about this idea in any fanfic or BT lore of a natural induced jump. There was always some kind of time shift or alternate dimension pulling someone thru to alter history. The plot line of this angle was never intended to happen, but it is so original to me, I am going with it. PRAISE BLAKE! I regret nothing. Stay tuned for the next chapter the Iron Father series. Tentively titled 'Returnings', 'Resurrection', or Tri-something allong these lines.
Link to article on naturally induced nuclear reactor
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