The Princess of Ressalon: Book 3 of the The Keeper of Balance - Earth

telepathy.

Chapter 1 OF ARRIVALS

The Dreadnought Star Child entered the solar system with a delivery. Dreadnoughts are a one point six kilometre long Star Ship whose central cross-section is an elongated octagon. On the six shorter sides they have connecting points for primary modules. Typically the modules are eight hundred to a thousand metres long and are usually also elongated octagons but much flatter than the main ship.

The modules attached are dependent on the ships particular mission. There are fighter bays, Great Dragon living quarters, heavy weapons, Healer bays, in fact anything required. In this case the modules were for smaller ship transport. Four Nautilus combat groups each with a single Nautilus Class warship and four Guardian Class warships. Each Guardian Class has a Fire Star attached to the front. The Star Child was also delivering more Fire Stars and a great many Eagle Scout craft.

The Star Child made a slow, cloaked, atmospheric entry over the South Pole at night and very slowly entered the Southern Ocean. Once submerged she released all the various ships she was carrying and thirty minutes later she flew out of the ocean and headed for deep space.

All I had to do was to decide where to put all this new equipment and to name the four Combat Groups. Nautilus Class warships are the primary Ressalon submarine vessels used on planets with large bodies of water. They were ideal for Earth. They are slightly larger than the largest submarine built by man and due to the technology employed, are much more comfortable. In fact the comfort levels are similar to a cruise ship, albeit one that is designed to run submerged. The entire wide bow of the vessel is one expanse of clear hull material so one can enjoy all the aquatic life as it swims past.

The original Nautilus has been running in the Earth’s oceans for a thousand years. Its primary role was to observe the development of mankind and of course to monitor for Demon incursions. Every now and then it would be picked up by a Dreadnought for a refit and the last refit had been completed just prior to my arrival on Earth.

These new submarines had been equipped to take ten SAS or Clan teams who would be sent out on the Fire Stars. I assigned an additional Fire Star per group so that at any time two teams and one Fire Star could instantly respond. Since Nautilus Class warships have three active docks, the remainder of the ships compliment could be dispatched in short order.

They didn’t need a crew but I decided that I would crew them with five Warriors ensuring that at least one was a Healer. Then I named the four groups after famous Naval Ships that people would recognize. The Victory, Bismarck, Yamato and the Enterprise. I placed the Bismarck Group in deep water on the southern edge of the Sea of Okhotsk. This would cover Eastern Russia and China. The Yamato Group would patrol the South Atlantic to cover South America and Africa. The Enterprise Group went to the North Atlantic close to Cuba. Finally, the Victory Group went to the Caspian Sea. They had to switch to cloaked flight mode to get there but that was not much of a problem.

I decided that a land based force should be established in the Southern Hemisphere and General Peters suggested Australia since they had an SAS Force with near identical training to the British. Since he made the suggestion, I sent him to Australia to convince them to join the party so to speak. When His Majesty was briefed, he decided to go as well. It seemed he thought a Head of State may have more status.

I left them to it and in a few days they left for the first meeting. The only requirement I gave them was to have the first meeting in an empty hanger somewhere quiet. Since I wanted this location as a place to rotate teams in and out of the Nautilus Groups, it needed to be close to large facilities where families could be housed. His Majesty suggested the Edinburgh Air Base in South Australia. It was a combined Air Force and Army Base and was set up to support units in the field. It sounded perfect to me.

While they were gone, Chrissy and I continued our training for the Olympics using our own firing range in the basement and several at the SAS Base. Amelia always came with us just to keep us company and often practiced as well. I was not sure why we needed to keep up the training at this level because we never missed a bulls eye. We used Arcane Tunneling Shields so the arrow or bullet travelled down the invisible tunnel to emerge just a few millimetres from the target’s center.

After doing this for a few hours every day we spent time cooling off in one of the base’s swimming pools. Amelia and I spent a lot of time diving off the highest diving board as she taught me how to do synchronized diving. It was a lot of fun learning, even more so when we started to add in some Arcane elements. The first was the ability to sync our minds. I loved this part because being at one with someone you love is amazing. The second was the ability to scan with our minds so that we could sense everything about the dive. The last was the ability to use Arcane Power to slightly alter our rotational speed. Considering the tiny amounts of time we had to apply the Power, this was a marginal advantage but, an advantage none the less.

It had been a hard but fun day of training and I was very tired when C5 woke me from a deep sleep at three AM in the morning. It seemed that His Majesty and General Peters were having some problems convincing the Prime Minister of Australia that this was a real situation. C5 warned me that the Australian sense of humor can be a little different. It seemed that His Majesty had shown the movies, demonstrated weapons and armor and was still having problems.

I slid out of bed, had a pee, splashed some water on my face, summoned my Battle Armor and jumped up on Titarth’s neck. He slightly unfurled his wings and we transferred to South Australia. We came out at high altitude in the middle of thick cloud. Titarth scanned far below and Transferred again.

We came out a hand span above the floor in a large hanger. His Majesty and General Peters had their backs to us seated at a conference table. The Australians had a full view of our appearance. I always give credit where it is due and the Australian Military deserved high praise. Without a single order, every Military person in the hanger snapped to attention so fast that chairs went flying behind them. The four armed soldiers on guard snapped to attention without any thought of pointing their weapons. The two politicians rose slowly as I was dismounting, their mouths agape.

Titarth thought, "They are stunned! Try to give them some time to recover. Of the two dressed in suits, the one on the right is the Prime Minister, the other is the Minister of Defense. Those two are the problem. The military were mostly convinced before we arrived, now they are fully convinced. The one to the right of the Prime Minister is the Chief of the Australian Defense Force."

I walked forward as the King and General Peters turned. The King bowed and General Peters saluted. I returned the bow. The Chief of the Defense Force also saluted as did all the other military personnel. I returned a crisp salute and everyone relaxed a little.

I smiled at the two politicians and said, Mr. Prime Minister, Defense Minister, can I assume you are having problems believing that Demons can attack your country? The Prime Minister looked at Titarth and replied, Not anymore! Bugger me! Is he yours? I replied, Yes Prime Minister, he is mine as I am his. Titarth thought to everyone, Rider and Dragon share a bond closer than you can imagine. Greetings Prime Minister. The Prime Minister replied, I should close my cake hole before I end up with more than just my two feet in it. Stone the crows mate, you are awesome! Titarth replied, Thank you. Perhaps we can all sit and discuss the problems together.

The Prime Minister answered, No need for anymore talk, you have whatever you need! He turned the Chief of the Australian Defense Force and solemnly said, I’ll be buggered if Demons think they can do a Waltzing Matilda on us, do whatever is needed. Let me know what you need. Keep me informed. This has a higher priority than anything else, even higher than the buggers up North. The Chief of the Defense Force came to attention and said, Yes Prime Minister.

I asked the Prime Minister, Who or what are the ‘buggers up North’. He replied, One of our neighbors seems to want to take a great big chunk of Australia away from us. We are preparing to teach the dingoes a lesson. I thought about such a situation for a few seconds and said, If someone, anyone really, tries to attack this country while we have an active base here, they would have to deal with our combined military might. They may find that somewhat difficult.

The Chief of the Defense Force asked, Prince Commander, do you have the assets to do both? It is not a simple matter to deal with a full invasion force. We estimate over a thousand fishing vessels being used to ferry troops to our Northern shoreline. That would be accompanied by an older but still potent Naval Force!

I linked to Titarth and we swapped a series of thoughts. It was not a conversation, it was way too fast to be called that. One of our Lieutenants entered the hanger, saluted and said, Yes Prince Commander, I think Titarth asked me to enter. I smiled, returned the salute and asked, Who has external security? He replied, One full strike team and the Australians have three, four man, SAS teams. This hanger is secure! The hanger next door has Fire Star 1 in full combat mode for anything heavy, Sir. I said, I am taking this meeting to another location, try your best to keep everyone else out, I would hate for someone to think their Prime Minister was MIA. The lieutenant smiled and replied, No problem Sir!

The Prime Minister said, I’ll just give him a note! He went and scrawled a short note using a whole page to do so. It said, ‘Gone out for a barbie and some tinnies. Back when I feel like it. PM.’ I was no wiser after I had read the note but if the PM thought it would do, it probably would. I sent a query to C5 to try and determine why I did not know this variation of the English language. He said he was working on it. Barbie was a barbeque and tinnies were cans of cold beer! He was still working on the word ‘bugger.’ It was not being used in the dictionary context. At least he didn’t think so. Waltzing Matilda was a folk song which was full of equally indefinable words.

I asked everyone to take a seat at the table. The Prime Minister looked at one of his four soldiers and said, We will need a feed when we get back from wherever we are going. Get a decent barbie going, get some tinnies and get decent prawns, big ones! The soldier said, Yes Prime Minister. General Peters and His Majesty both held in a laugh, I had no idea why. This was confusing! OK, so it was payback time!

I used the comms unit on my left arm rather than telepathy and said, Prince Commander to Thunder Child, prepare for visitors. The Artificial Intelligence that is the Dreadnought, Thunder Child, replied, This is Chi, area requested is clear and available. Great Golden One, transfer when ready. I looked at the Prime Minister and said, You are in no danger whatsoever, this may be a little unnerving the first time. He smiled and said, No problems mate, after thirty years in Aussie politics surprises are good for ya!

The King chuckled and said, Prime Minister, when two aliens tell you to prepare for a surprise I suggest you simply prepare for said surprise. Titarth transferred us, darkness and the absence of senses, a few seconds of shifting light and we came out under a clear dome on the exterior surface of Thunder Child’s upper hull. Hell, it even impressed me! The dome was to the rear of the ship and above the Main Bridge.

The Prime Minister exclaimed, Struth mate! Where the bloody hell are we? Then he chuckled and added, Crikey! I’m too young to croke it yet! You even brought the bloody table! Everyone stood and slowly moved to the edge of the dome overlooking the expanse that is Thunder Child. The Prime Minister said, I thought the stars in the outback were the best in the world but, it seems I could reach out and touch them from here. Where are we? I pointed straight ahead to the tiny round bluish ball in the far distance and said, That is the planet Earth.

The Prime Minister said very quietly, Well, I guess I will go down with a footnote in history after all. First PM in space. His Majesty quietly added, And you can add, first Australian PM to meet aliens, you are doing fine Prime Minister. The Prime Minister smiled and replied, I feel utterly humble out here, insignificant really. I’m really not that different from a platypus. Bugger me this is awe inspiring!

I spoke into my comms unit, Chi, maneuvering drive please, negative shift on the z axis. I would like to view the entire battle group from here. The ship started to move downwards as Chi replied, Z negative, three Destroyer Class warships are absent as is the Star Dust. The Destroyers are in Earth orbit, Star Dust is in the North Atlantic Ocean. I knew all that and Chi knew that I knew it all, but the Prime Minister’s facial expression was just so funny. He gently asked, Your ships actually talk to you don’t they? I smiled and replied, Yes, our ships are artificial life forms, they think and by our standards, they are alive with the same rights as any other person. He replied, Bugger me. C5 sent, I don’t think that is a request.

By now the entire Battle Group could be seen. Three Heavy Cruisers, five Strike Cruisers and two full Destroyer class warship groups. The twelve Guardian Class ships belonging to the three absent Destroyers were grouped together. I looked at the Chief of the Defense Force and said, Chief, this is my personal Battle Group. I have sufficient force here to protect any Nations that I choose to. I have ten Ressalon Battle Fleets to call on should the need arise. I have ten Draconic Legions of Great Dragons and one hundred Warrior Legions to call on as well. He asked, How many troops are in a Legion. I replied, One thousand!

He smiled and said, Thank you for this visit, I have some idea of the scope of the force you command. If you do not mind, please call me Admiral, I watched too many reruns of Get Smart when I was a child. That gives the title ‘Chief’ a whole new meaning. I smiled and nodded my consent even though I had no idea what he was talking about.

I looked at the Prime Minister and said, Well, are you willing to help protect the world from what will be, constant Demon incursions. He extended his hand and I shook it as he said, Yes, we have a proud tradition of helping as required. Happy to help. Do you want to draw up a treaty or would my Government be better at it? I asked, Do we need one? He smiled, shook his head as if to clear it and replied, Bugger me, I’ve been in politics too long. No we don’t, a handshake is a handshake between mates.

The Chief asked, I am likely to regret this question but, what is a Warrior. I smiled as Titarth made some arrangements. He asked a Warrior family to join us. Most of the Warriors serving with the Battle Group were single, either they had not yet had cubs or they had already had them. The Warriors have a stable population and generally each couple will have only two cubs in their lifetime. Since cubs grow to adulthood in only two and a half years they are not at home for long. There are always exceptions and so we had a few cubs with us at any one time.

The first Warrior to appear was a young cub who ran out of the entry hatch in the floor on all fours. He ran across the dome, slowed to a stop and stood. He was a little over one point five metres tall. He bowed and telepathically, in what I thought was very good English, thought, I am happy to meet the people from Aussies Land. The next Warrior was female and an adolescent. She ran across on all fours, stood and thought, Be welcome here. I am excited, you are the first Aliens I have ever met but I am Young Warrior yet, I earned my armbands only a few several days ago. She stood at very close to two metres tall.

Their parents came together in combat armor and sat proudly with their cubs. The mother thought, "Greetings, it is an honor to meet the representatives of a Nation. Please do be alarmed at our differences. The central core of our society is the gift of parenting that is freely and lovingly given generation upon generation. We only enter combat when called upon for a just cause. We are not very fond of Demons, those we destroy willingly!" They both stood to their full height of two point five metres and gave a little bow.

Very succinctly the Chief of the Australian Defense Force said, Thank you for the greeting. I wish my position was unnecessary on our world but sadly, we fail to live in peace and harmony. Perhaps one day we will achieve that goal. The Warrior family bowed once more and running on all fours, left with amazing speed and agility. The Prime Minister said, Crikey, you would need ten of Crocodile Dundee just to try and take on one of them.

I let them spend time just taking in their first encounter with space and after a long while I looked at Titarth and said, Great Golden One, can you please return us to the hanger. Seconds later we were back in the hanger. The four soldiers were preparing the barbie and had tinnies cooling in ice. Thankfully there were soft drinks as well. I was not intending to have a tinny, it was quite likely to be one hundred proof. Titarth’s mind was elsewhere for a few moments and he dropped some information into my mind. I thought his idea was great and he started to make the arrangements.

I said to the Prime Minister, On many worlds, we come across individuals who for one reason or another are given the title Chosen and prepare themselves to be linked for life with a Great Dragon. Two girls from England have accepted this offer. May they join us so they can learn something of diplomacy? He answered, Of course, we would be happy to meet the girls. Are they going to ride Dragons? Bugger, they’re lucky. Titarth transferred Chrissy and Amelia into the hanger and introductions were made. Then Akemi was transferred in and introductions were made again and I left her explaining the operational side of The Clan to the Defense Minister and the Chief of the Defense Force. We all chatted for a while until the soldiers announced that the grub was ready.

The food was great. Lots of everything, steak, lamb chops, sausages, eggs, bacon, a huge selection of salads and breads and of course, copious amounts of various types of tinnies. I met the Defense Minister and said, You are very quiet. He replied, Our Prime Minister is loud enough for a mob and I keep quiet unless I have something to add. I haven’t felt the need to add anything as yet. You have my full support, though I tend to only point at an enemy and say ‘fix those buggers’ and I leave the Defense Force to do their job. They do not need me telling them how to suck eggs. I replied, Well said, if you have a need simply ask. He nodded and said, Thank you Prince Commander.

C5 linked with me and thought, "How do you suck an egg? I will try to find out its meaning. My apologies, I will make amends once I figure it all out myself." I mentally chuckled in reply. At one stage I asked the Prime Minister, I would like to assign three Cats here, can you make up a story, perhaps testing them under Australia’s harsh climate. He agreed saying, Young Prince Commander, I could make up a story about anything you want, testing Cats, bugger me, that’s an easy one! I said, One of them is for you, you can contact us at any time and the Cat is operated by C5 so you can have most of your questions answered. He replied, Great! Sounds bonza!

Titarth, the three girls and I left a little later. We transferred back home just in time for a breakfast we could not even look at. I was very pleased with the outcome.

We were training almost every day now, so a break was welcome and of course my fifteenth birthday arrived on time. It always did! We all spent the whole weekend celebrating. Friday night was with our friends from school. They came straight after school and we had an Aussie barbie. It was something different. We gave the tinnies a miss! We spent time in the pool and the spa and then we had battle Cat races around the front circular driveway.

On Saturday the relatives came over as and when they could. While I was pleased to receive all the presents, I just was not sure if this was a good idea. I really was not going to use anything I was given. The camera, for example, that Aunty Elizabeth gave me was one of the best available, she always gave sensational presents, but my Ressalon standard defensive weapon was also a scanner that recorded holographic movies.

C5 telepathically chuckled and told me that all the presents would be put to very good use at some stage. Ressalon had enormous cultural museums where all these gifts would find a home and be displayed and studied for centuries. That sounded really cool. I wondered how Aunty Elizabeth would feel if she knew that her present would be admired and studied by multitudes of aliens. It was so good I almost wanted to tell her. It was a very pleasant day.

On Sunday afternoon Ressalon gave me an official party and people that knew me as Tez, Prince Commander of Ressalon came to say happy birthday. Titarth spent some time linked with C5 transferring people in. It was held on the Primary Deck of the Dreadnought Thunder Child. What a deck! Twelve metres high, almost three hundred and forty metres wide, that is, the full width of the central core of a Dreadnought and almost the full length of one thousand six hundred metres. Of course, if you are going to have a party and you invite Great Dragons, you need that sort of space.

It seemed like everyone wanted to meet me. I even had some surprises! The Warrior Prince and Princess came to help me celebrate. Titarth and C5 stayed close, Titarth proudly and C5 to drop information into my mind to help me sort out all the people.

Ressalon has ten Battle Forces numbered one through ten. Each contains a Battle Fleet, a Draconic Legion divided into ten Wings and then ten Flights and a Warrior Army divided into ten Legions and such like. The First Battle Force is commanded by The Prince Commanders so Titarth and I command it. The Fifth Force is commanded by the Dragon and Draconic Princes, so they are ours as well. I met all of these Commanders for the first time. Not a single one seemed worried that I commanded so much at my age. That may have been because Titarth and I commanded it all jointly and Titarth was a thousand or so years old.

We also had a full Combat Wing as our personal guard and met the very serious Wing Commanders. There were two of them, one a Dragon and Rider pair that Commanded the Wing of Dragons and the other was a Warrior who commanded the Warrior Guard, all five hundred of them. They took their duties very seriously and ensured that I knew that I could ask for help at any time. They always had ten Dragons and Riders fully ready for combat. Fifty Warriors were also fully ready to instantly be deployed if I needed anything, anything at all.

From Earth, were most of the high ranking people who knew me as the Prince Commander. I was wondering how the Politicians were handling it. C5 thought to me on very tight telepathic link, His Majesty is enjoying himself immensely, he has fought Demon Kind and thus, is respected for his deeds. The British Prime Minister is like a fish flapping on the hot sands of a dessert. The Home Secretary is having a great time of it. He has a curious mind and asks many questions. The British military are having a good time mainly being awed by the Thunder Child. The President of the United States is aghast as he realizes how insignificant his Nation actually is in the grand scheme of things. His Generals and Admirals are similarly affected. The Australians have no such issues and seem to like partying. They mix well! Your parents and Amelia’s parents are honored as the parents of those Chosen and do well. Grandfather and Emily are enjoying themselves. The Clan Members feel honored to be here. Akemi and her mate are happy to be together. The Wolf Pack are enjoying all the attention they are getting. This should be intriguing! Watch!

An area was being cleared. A young Warrior cub wanted to play fight a wolf and Chrissy’s wolf, Wolfie, was young enough to want to prove himself. A few thoughts to both from Titarth ensured that they had to be careful not to hurt each other too much. The Warrior Princess and Amelia both moved closer to the mock combat just in case someone needed Healing.

The two combatants squared off and the cub attacked on all fours. He had his claws sheathed. He was fast, but then, so was Wolfie. Amid a few yowls and yelps they played well. With sheathed claws the outcome was not ensured for either but eventually the cub wrapped Wolfie up nicely in a hold. Behind me Titarth chuckled and transformed to Thor. The cub gave Wolfie a hug and sent thoughts of admiration to him. I thought he did so with a great deal of honor.

As Wolfie moved towards Chrissy on the sidelines, there was a low growl from behind the cub. He turned to find another ‘wolf’ to play with. Thor raced towards him and the cub did a sideways jump, but to no avail. Thor had read his mind and changed direction. He bowled the cub over. As the cub rolled to regain his footing, Thor swept in again to take him off his paws. As Thor did it for a third time the cub started laughing.

I sent my mind in to join Thor’s and found the mind of a wolf. That impressed me as I realized that hardly anyone else knew that the cub was fighting one of the Prince Commanders. The cub started to get serious but still could not match Thor for speed or agility. Twice Thor had taken one of the cub’s forelegs in his jaws and thrown him across the floor. It finished as the cub leaped in the air with a sure leap that should have nailed Thor to the floor. Thor translocated and as a result, the cub went splat. Thor reappeared above him and grasped the cub with his jaws firmly locked on the cub’s upper twin spines. The cub went limp in supplication. Thor released him and backed off. The cub stood and bowed. Then Thor transformed back into his real form. The expression on the cub’s face was priceless.

Titarth thought so everyone could hear him as he addressed the cub, You assumed you could win against a wolf and that assumption would always be correct little one. What you did not do, was to allow for the unexpected! Wolves exist in packs, consider even with claws unsheathed, could you win against five or ten. Never assume you can win, underestimating an opponent is one very sure way to die. You did well today. Thank you for the fun! As everyone applauded, the cub moved towards his father. He was thinking very deeply.

The party resumed as Titarth rejoined me. He thought, The cub wanted some more fun and needed a lesson. He received both! It was also enjoyable! I thought back, He will have a story to tell his friends one day. Titarth chuckled at the thought.

I looked at C5 and thought, I didn’t know that Akemi was married. When did this happen? He replied, They have decided to be together, they will not marry. They do not see any value in it. They both know they can be killed since both dedicate themselves to fighting Demon Kind. I replied, "Well, let us help them, have her mate transferred to be closer to her. Just find an excuse." C5 chuckled and thought, Titarth has already given me those instructions. It is in progress. His name is Daiki. I replied, "Yes, I