SPECIAL CHAPTER EDITION (if you need a clue, note what chapter we are on today) *****AUDIO FILE***** "Chapter 51 - The Base - Audio File" [The White Raven, Chapter 51, The Base] [Struthian Desert, Struthio Province] The six-wheeled desert ranger raced along the sand, carelessly running over the habitats of burrowing ground hogs, desert turtles, jack-rabbits, snakes, and even a few coyotes and prairie dogs trying to stay cool under the creosote bushes. The driver, a freshly graduated Grackle News Reporter, never gave a single thought to driving across the desert with any sense of care for the wildlife. “We’re getting close,” shouts Meaya, the passenger, and also a newly graduated Grackle reporter. “Sarae, get the Vid-camera ready.” Sarae, sitting in the back of the vehicle, tossed a soda can over the side and picked up the camera. “Don’t worry about me, just find this place. The driver slowed down and stopped next to an old worn and faded sign painted with the warning, ‘Stay Out - Jeat Struthio’. “Who the heck is Jeat Struthio?”?” asks Tullae, the driver. Meaya checked the Struthian History Book. “It says here that Jeat Struthio was Lord Struthio's great-great grandfather and came here to mine gold. Jeat brought his son Umae with him, and it was Umae that founded House Struthio twenty-years later, but Umae didn’t become a Lord for another forty years after that.” Sarae filmed the old sign for a few seconds before setting the camera back down. “That means the sign isn’t a legal order, just keep driving, lets find out what the big secret Jeat was trying to keep.” Tullae pulled the rented desert ranger out onto an old worn path and followed it for another mile before coming out onto a dirt runway. Forgotten and discard equipment were scattered along the edges of the runway, rusting in the desert sun. Tullae saw something interesting and pulled off the runway to the edge of an old mining camp. “Look at that,” says Sarae lifting the camera and filming the old mine. “I wonder if there’s still any gold left.” “Naw, it’s all boarded up. “I bet that’s how House Struthio got rich.” “Probably, but this doesn’t look like a secret military base that would be hiding a crashed spaceship with a dead alien body. Who was your source?” Meaya stands up on the seat and ignores the question while looking around the old airfield and mine. “There’s a hanger over there, let’s go take a look.” Tullae mashes the gas pedal and Meaya has to grab the roll cage to keep from falling out. Meaya gives Tullae an evil glare, he’s obviously mad her lead isn’t working out very well. The aircraft hanger looks old and abandoned as they approach. Tullae drives around to the other side of the building and slams on the brakes; Meaya flips over the roll bar and lands on the hood with an umph. A fighter Dart painted in the bright black and orange colors of House Struthio was sitting right in front of them, they hadn’t seen it from the other side of the building - and in script letters painted under the cockpit canopy was the name, ‘Roo’. “Oh crap, that’s Lord Struthio’s call-sign,” shouts Sarae. “Get us out of here.” Tullae slammed the gear-shift into reverse, grinding the gears as he did… and then froze as a shotgun was pushed against the side of his head. “You best be turning that engine off now,” orders a gravelly voice. Tullae quickly complied, his hands shaking in fear. Lord Struthio strolled out the door of the hanger and over to the desert ranger. “What do you got, Roc?” “Some trespassers,” says the gravelly voice. “How come you ain’t shot ‘em yet?” asks Lord Struthio. “Isn’t this one of your rental desert rangers?” asks the gravelly voice. “Well, what do you know, I do believe it is,” replies Lord Struthio. “I didn’t want to get blood on your seats,” says the gravelly voice. “Mighty kind of you, cousin,” says Lord Struthio poking a finger at Sarae in the backseat. “Not much meat on these three, you planning to eat them all by yourself, Roc?” “You can’t eat us, nobody does that, it would be murder,” protests Meaya. “That’s true, I don’t eat people,” says Lord Struthio. “Can’t speak for my cousin though. So, what’ll it be, dinner time with Roc, or tell me why you’re trespassing.” Meaya recovered enough to slip into reporter mode and slid off the hood of the ranger to bravely face Lord Struthio. “Isn’t it true that this is a secret military base and your hiding alien bodies here?” Lord Struthio shakes his head sadly. “I’d hoped it would be something more original. Bring them, Roc.” Lord Struthio walked back to the door of the hanger while Roc waived his shotgun threateningly at the three Grackle reporters. Meaya was fairly certain the gravelly voiced Roc wasn’t going to shoot and eat them, but the expression on Tullae's face betrayed his genuine concern about ending up in a stew pot. And Meaya couldn't tell what Sarae was thinking, he had retreated behind his camera and simply followed obediently. “No matter what happens, keep the camera rolling,” whispers Meaya. The Grackles followed Lord Struthio into the aircraft hanger, with Roc trailing behind. Whatever fantasy they were expecting to find inside the building was not what they found. Several fixed-wing motorized gliders in various stages of disassembly were scattered about. Dust, grime, and oil stains covered the floor; shared with tarps covered with tools and parts. Sarae pointed his camera at a logo of an ostrich on the side of one of the gliders with the bright orange words ‘Struthio Glider Tours’ painted next to the ostrich. “Meaya, do you see this?” asks Sarae “What is this?” Meaya demands to Lord Struthio. “Roc doesn’t like people much, so he works here, fixing and building my gliders,” replies Lord Struthio. “When one is ready I take it to the airfield next to the beach for my glider tour business.” “You own ‘Struthio Glider Tours’?” asks Meaya confused. “Gotta pay for Dart gas some way,” says Lord Struthio. “I have a few other businesses also, have you eaten at the Iceberg Restaurant? You should try it, we have some great dishes.” Dart Ships don’t run on gasoline, but Meaya understood; Darts were expensive to run. “But why, you’re rich?” asks Meaya. “Who told you that?” says Lord Struthio. “Oh, of course, you have me confused with Prince Raen from House Eagle. Unlike Prince Raen, I can’t just snap my fingers and make money pour from the sky and buy Palaces and Battle Carriers and everything else just because I want a new toy, I have to actually work for a living.” “But… what about all the cattle?” insists Meaya. “And the old mine.” “Well, first of all, my great-great grandfather, Jeat Struthio, pulled about two-hundred million from that mine,” explains Lord Struthio. “Nobody wanted this continent and he paid the Commonwealth Senate one-hundred million for the entire continent. Then fifty-million was used to establish the first settlement by Umae Struthio. He tried for years to get the Senate to give him a title and was eventually forced to buy his title for the remaining fifty-million.” Lord Struthio grabs an old chair and flips it around backwards and takes a seat. “The cattle is Province property, not mine,” continues Lord Struthio. “That pays for the medical clinic, power and water stations, roads, schools, and emergency services.” Sarae couldn’t find anything else interesting to film and pointed the camera at Lord Struthio. “So House Struthio is poor?” asks Meaya. “Of course we are,” replies Lord Struthio. “All my pilots have to buy their own Dart Ships, mine included, we’re in debt up to our ears.” “That’s why you gave Prince Raen the land to build a Province,” says Meaya. “You needed a financial genius to dig you out of debt.” “He gets something and I get something,” says Lord Struthio. “Now, why don’t you kids go get some footage of the old mining camp, then run down to the library and do a little research on the Province. I’ll call the Grackle Station Producer and you can sell a nice little informative history piece for enough to buy tickets back to the mainland.” “Thank you, my lord, and I’m sorry for the trouble,” says Meaya, obviously not sorry. An informative history piece was not going to get her hired at any Vid-station. “Run along now, before Roc gets any hungrier,” says Lord Struthio grinning. The three Grackle reporters take a last look at the dirty hanger and head back to their vehicle. Lord Struthio stands at a window and patiently watches them stop and get some footage of the old mining camp. Once the Grackles pull away and head back to town, Lord Struthio walks across the hanger to a big dirty red rolling toolbox and pushes it aside to reveal a trap door in the floor. “Did you put the tracking device on the ranger?” Lord Struthio asks Roc while he pulls open the trap door. “Yep, I’ll keep an eye on them and let you know if they try coming back,” says Roc. Lord Struthio walked down a set of stairs to the basement below while Roc closes the trap door and pushes the toolbox back. The basement’s dim lighting illuminates some ancient science equipment, and Raen sitting at a security monitor watching the hanger upstairs. “Poor as a church mouse are you?” asks Raen rolling his eyes. “So, do you get that very often?” “My grandfather shut down this research facility,” says Lord Struthio. “There isn’t anyone left alive outside Roc and myself that knows this place is here. But, every once in awhile some young Grackles hear about spaceships, dead aliens and secret bases.” “Ah, how funny, conspiracy nuts,” says Raen. “So, what are you really hiding down here.” Lord Struthio grins and replies. “Spaceships, dead aliens, and secret bases. Come on, I need you to look at something and tell me what you think.” “Seriously?” asks Raen standing and following. “No, I’m not sure what we found, and we never found any bodies,” replies Lord Struthio. “My father said Grandfather thought it was a drone spacecraft.” A string of light bulbs light the tunnel as they walk deeper underground. Dust covered old machines and equipment, and many rooms branched off the tunnel. Raen estimated they were perhaps thirty-feet underground when Lord Struthio stopped at a big iron door and slid it to the side. Lord Struthio flipped the lights on and Raen walked inside. Lord Struthio brushed past Raen excitedly and walked to a large statue in the middle of the room. “It’s a statue of a Keanuai,” says Lord Struthio. “The animal it represents are indigenous to Raunu Major, they’re called Beastie-cats by the locals.” Lord Struthio walked around the statue pointing out all the discoveries his grandfather had made. Large sections of the statue were broken away to reveal a metal structure under the stone. Raen already knew what the statue was and stopped at an opening in the statue; his blood turned to ice. Inside an open compartment to the metal structure lie a black metal sphere. The sphere was dull black and pitted with what might appear to be rust pits, but one section of the sphere was broken away and the rest was beginning to crumble. “We think it’s a spacecraft, maybe a drone” says Lord Struthio. “Ah, you found the ball, it was the only thing inside when it was found, but we can’t lift it out, not even the fragment, whatever it’s made from is very heavy.” Raen put his hands over his eyes and sighed. “You know what it is?” asks Lord Struthio. “Yes, I know what it is,” says Raen. “You should bury this room, seal the tunnels, and just walk away. Forget you ever saw this.” “Tell me what it is,” says Lord Struthio. “I'm not sure what she will do, but you're risking the Goddess killing you, and every man, woman, and child on this continent if she discovers you have this and have been studying it,” says Raen. Lord Struthio loses some of his kid-like wonder for the object and becomes more serious. “What is it?” “You’ve seen this before, you just didn’t recognize it, there are two of them,” says Raen. “One is the statue of the Ocean God on Carina, and the other is the Raven statue of the Goddess.” Raen turns away from the statue. “That ball is an Orb, it is the dead body of one of the Goddess’s species - they call themselves the Corax.” Lord Struthio tips his head to the side in the Daraian fashion and waits silently for Raen to continue. “The Goddess is not a deity,” explains Raen. “There was a war on her home world, and they transferred their consciousnesses into those Orbs; the Orbs became their bodies. The Goddess and others like her traveled in the Orbs to galaxies like ours and set themselves up as gods. The statue is not a spacecraft, the Orb serves that purpose. The statue is a power source they built after they arrived to give them god-like abilities.” “How do you know all this?” asks Lord Struthio. “The Goddess isn’t evil, not in the true sense of evil,” explains Raen. “She has cared for us since we crawled out of the trees, all of our technology comes from her, directly or indirectly, it is her. She has shown me all of this, and she has offered many times to allow me to walk away from being the Heart of Darai and live a quiet peaceful life. She does the same for anyone that discovers the truth. But, as long as I continue to cooperate with her plans and manipulations, she gives me her blessings.” Lord Struthio nods his head. “Your unnatural financial success and that odd luck you have with everything you do, is that you or the Goddess?” asks Lord Struthio. “I don’t know how much is me and how much is her,” says Raen. “And I’m not sure I want to know, but I certainly know that if I ever interfere with her plans, she’ll hurt everyone I love. And if I walk away, those I love will no longer have her protection.” “I used to be envious of your success,” says Lord Struthio. “But not anymore, you are the least free person I’ve ever met.” “Do you remember that accident several years ago with the Jackdaw Flagship, Crystal Rain?” asks Raen. “Yes, that human Lone Gunslinger boy was crippled,” replies Lord Struthio. “Here’s what you don’t know,” says Raen. “That human boy is in a coma, and his Jackdaw partner is at a mental hospital in Raven Province. During the Talon Dagger ceremony when the boy received his Talon Dagger from the Goddess, the word Keanuai was engraved on it.” “You think it has something to do with this statue?” asks Lord Struthio. “I don’t know, but I do know the Sparrow family that caused the accident interfered with the Goddess’s plans for the human boy, and look what happened to them,” replies Raen. “I remember, the trial lasted for months,” says Lord Struthio. “They got life at hard labor on Pyra.” “And the girl is still on the run, she escaped from the Hawk Carrier,” says Raen. “The point is, by messing with this statue, you are being a threat to the Goddess.” Lord Struthio turned his back to Raen and stared longingly at the statue. “The technology here could do so much good…” Lord Struthio stopped in mid-sentence. He could hear the very faint sound of Raen drawing his Talon Dagger. “That time I fought Vas, I didn’t really win, did I?” asks Lord Struthio. “No, you can’t beat any of us in single combat,” says Raen. “Vas let you win because he has that much respect for you, as do I.” “But you would kill me to bury this secret?” asks Lord Struthio. “I am a Raven Assassin, I will do whatever is necessary to protect my House,” says Raen. “I suppose this is what I get for bringing Ravens into my House,” says Lord Struthio still facing the statue. “I wonder, would you protect House Struthio with such fierce determination?” “I have never, nor will I ever, have any intent to over-throw you as the rightful ruler of our Houses,” says Raen. “But, I suspect you will bend a knee to Lord Eagle one day, we all will.” “There is a rumor that House Raven is evacuating the planet,” says Lord Struthio. “Would you care to tell me why?” Raen paused, that question didn’t fit, then it dawned on Raen what Lord Struthio’s true intent was. “You could have been a Raven,” says Raen putting his Talon Dagger away. “Your Grandfather sealed these tunnels once he understood how dangerous the statue was.” Lord Struthio turned back around to face Raen. “That certainly took you long enough, I was starting to think I would have to draw you a picture.” “You were testing my loyalty to House Struthio,” accuses Raen. “Were you really that mad at me for hiding my true plans about the Albatross?” Raen stares into Lord Struthio’s eyes. “I see, you were.” “Now I must do something very distasteful,” says Lord Struthio. “Regardless of your answer, I will fix your ship, my team will be finished in a few months.” Raen laughed. “I think for the first time ever, I get to surprise you. Don’t say it, I don’t want you to feel that you have to humiliate yourself and come to me as a beggar. You’ve realized how serious the situation is if House Raven is evacuating, and you don’t have the money to buy enough ships for House Struthio and House Cassoway.” Lord Struthio takes a deep breath and nods. “I’ve given Lord Sparrow a promissory note,” says Raen. “He has started construction of a second Battle Carrier and support ships. I intend to take House Struthio and House Cassoway with us when we leave, that is, if we have to leave.” “You did?” asks Lord Struthio genuinely surprised. “Months ago,” says Raen. “I drained the treasury to pay for the Albatross, and even then I had help, so I’m making payments to Lord Sparrow for the rest of the fleet.” “You have an outstanding loan on the Albatross?” asks Lord Struthio. “Not a loan, a payment,” explains Raen. “Rescuing an Emperor’s son is profitable, and remember the Tarle-Estae last month; two-hundred noble born hatchlings suffocated in deep space before anyone could get to them.” “It was a horrible accident,” says Lord Struthio. “I knew some of those hatchlings.” “The Albatross could have got to them in time, once the new engines are installed,” says Raen. “But, it’s only one ship, and it’s a big galaxy, and those accidents happen everyday - Space is dangerous.” “You don’t even have your Search and Rescue business going yet, and you’re already thinking of expansion,” remarks Lord Struthio. “I’m thinking of evacuation,” says Raen. “I want enough ships to leave if we have to, and if we don’t, then I’ll have a worthy empire to give the Eagle when he’s grown.” Lord Struthio takes a last look at the statue and walks towards the big iron doors. “I can help with the payments on the ships,” offers Lord Struthio. “No, you can’t,” Raen disagrees and follows out to the tunnel. “You have an annual operating budget of about twelve-million for your province, and you are personally pulling in about seven-hundred thousand from all your private businesses, most of which has been disappearing into a black fund. I suspect you’re still trying to figure out the Raven’s stealth technology.” “You looked up my Commonwealth tax record. So, what is your budget?” asks Lord Struthio. “The eagle wings sell for twelve-hundred, and I’m pushing around sixty-thousand units a month, then there’s the royalty checks, but that’s down to six-million a month in Vid-sales, and my investments are pulling a clean thirty-million, and then there’s the cattle and fishing. Mergan has sold several new drugs to the pharmaceutical companies, that’s pulling in another fifty million, and Vas is pulling nearly two million on a lecture tour. The White Raven University is showing a four million profit, and of course there’s Moeth and Peli pulling in almost three-hundred million from their black ops.” “Okay, I get it,” says Lord Struthio. “No sir, you don’t,” replies Raen. “We’re the Moeth Alliance, we are not individuals, we are one person.” Raen grabs Lord Struthio’s arm and pulls him to the side of the tunnel. “Walk over here,” says Raen turning white. Lord Struthio looks at the empty spot Raen is looking at and walks past. “She’s here, isn’t she?” “Yes,” says Raen. “We’re fine, she’s angry, but she understands what you were trying to do.” “How did she find us?” asks Lord Struthio. “She probably followed me,” says Raen. “You didn’t know she’s always watching me.” “What’s she like?” asks Lord Struthio. “Imagine a living shadow of infinite terror and you’ll be half-way there, just keep walking,” says Raen. “She’s showing mercy and giving you a chance to just walk away and never come here again.” “I will have to remember to visit the Struthian Temple and thank the Struthio Goddess for protecting us today,” says Lord Struthio. “There’s only one Goddess,” says Raen. “She’s in her Raven guise right now because she’s angry.” Lord Struthio stops and stares at Raen. Even a man as intelligent as Lord Struthio won’t have his faith stripped away. He was able to accept that the Raven Goddess was an alien being, but not his own beloved Goddess. “I’m sorry,” says Raen realizing his mistake. “I said that wrong. I meant there is only one alien playing the part of the Raven Goddess. The Struthio Goddess is not the same being.” Lord Struthio nods and walks up the stairs and taps on the trap door to get Roc to open it. Raen looks back at the Raven Goddess. “I warned you not to interfere,” says the Raven Goddess. “Try and steal the faith from another again and you will force me to punish you, my child.” “It won’t happen again,” says Raen silently swearing to kill this creature one day. Raen followed Lord Struthio up to the hanger and a moment later the ground shook and the tunnels below collapsed.